BigBassBob

Hi guys, an update on the situation: Our guitarist managed to get fuel money from the venue (to quote him, he "fought like f***" for it) but we will not be playing there again in the future. As far as we're concerned the matter is dealt with, we're just chalking it up as a lesson and moving on. We're currently working on a band contract to prevent such further incidents occuring. [quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1331550883' post='1574466'] Disgraceful, unnecessary, I've never heard of such a thing ...............I mean really? a blues bass player with a pedal board??!!? [/quote] My tuner and Thumpinator are definitely a necessity... and if a blues guitarist can have two Tubescreamers surely I'm allowed the one? (But joking aside I don't use pedals in our set, only for the rockier, crowd pleasers.)

Thank you very much for your feedback guys In all honestly my gut was screaming at me to pack up and leave before we finished setting up but I stuck through it as I trusted our guitarist's judgement (he's been doing solo bookings there for a while and this is the first time something like this has kicked off.) Unfortunately none of the band are union members and all payment was settled verbally so I don't think we have much to stand on legally. In all honesty, I'd just like them to cover transport costs but from the way they dealt with us I doubt we'll see a penny... and in turn I'd like to let other musicians out there know how we were treated. Is there a venue blacklist sticky or anything in that vein on this board?

Hi guys, First off, I'd like to say I'm not a particularly confrontational person and I'm not one to bitch to the world about my frustrations but a gig I did last night has left my blood boiling and I'd like to share my story, even if it's just to vent some steam. (And I guess this is to give a heads up to any musicians in the UK who may get bookings there.) I play in a three piece blues band which was booked to play a venue called "Caffe Americano". It's a small coffee bar that likes to advertise its trade as being a live music cafe with food: http://www.americanojazzcaffe.com/ (There's pictures in the gallery of artists playing there... they do not usually put musicians where they are in those pictures... see the picture with the piano hanging from the ceiling with the door to the left? That's where they place their entertainment.) We've played there several times in the past, and each time we've struggled with space issues. Namely, this "venue" places its entertainment at the end of the room (which in itself is incredibly cramped, especially with a full house.) While it has been problematic setting up our gear and finding space we've successfully managed to squeeze in in the past. Last night was a different story. On arrival I find our drummer is already stressed out; he's unloaded his gear, the place is packed with people to the point of it being difficult to move and where we usually play the bar staff have left a pile of tables and chairs. They didn't offer to help so we took the initiative in moving them. That said, even when we'd cleared the space there was barely enough room to put the drums and bass gear up, let alone the guitar gear and PA. It took a lot of patience but we managed to set most of our equipment up save for the PA and mics. At this point our singer is stood with his headstock touching the wall, his calves pressed against the bass drum and a table at his knees. There was no space at all to fit the PA, his pedals and mic stand in. So he starts to move the table in front when an angry patron confronts him: "What do you think you're doing?" "I just need to move this table, sorry." "We've had these tables booked for TWO MONTHS!" Things begin to get heated so we speak to the management. Apparently they'd booked a row of tables directly in front of us for a party of 16 people who wanted meals. Nonchalantly they tell us "deal with it". At this point the drummer and I are debating whether or not to pack down. Our guitarist turns to us and says "look guys, let's keep this professional... if we can't set mics up we'll just do it instrumentally." We begrudgingly agree. So our guitarist plugs in and the first chord he hits is a loud one... I'm talking bridge pickup on a strat, too much volume, way too much mids and top end... a real ear bleeder of a chord. He turns down and tunes his sound in. I do the same. Next thing we know the group of 16 get up and leave. The management come up to us and say with a great deal of venom "you just cost us £500 worth of orders." I'm itching to ask why they would book a band when they've already booked practically a third of the space out to a group of people wanting a quiet meal but I hold my tongue. We still haven't managed to fit all of the kit in this tiny space yet but with that group gone we manage to. Roll on 9:15pm and the management approach us again. "I don't know why the hell you haven't set up yet but hurry up and play something!" I begin to explain the difficulty of fitting the equipment into less space that it can actually fit in when he cuts me off; "No! You've had just as much space now as you've ever had. I don't care what you have to say, just get on with it!" We do our best to set up quickly and break into our set. Within half an hour a drunk stumbles into our PA which falls off a table and hangs from the side by its power cable. Another patron comes over and puts it back for us (we did thank him over the mic too.) That and another drunk stamped on my pedal board. Yet despite our frustrations and tension we actually do a pretty tight, rocking set; the patrons enjoyed it and somehow so did we. The night comes to a close and we begin packing down. We step outside once most of the kit is packed up and chill out over a coffee and cigarette. Then our guitarist goes to sort payment out... I do not catch all of the conversation but essentially the venue refused to pay us a single penny as apparently we had "cost them service and damaged their reputation." While I can empathise with them I am perplexed as to the way we were treated. Also... it wouldn't have been such a bitter pill to swallow if the three of us didn't have to drive three hours to get to the venue and back. We didn't receive fuel money and to sum it up, the three of us are now out of pocket for eight hours of frustration and did a free gig (taking into account driving, setting up/down, playing and dealing with the venue.) The three of us kept our cool. The drummer and I packed up and went home while our guitarist decided to spend the night at a local hotel with his girlfriend. He said he's going to try to deal with the venue today and see if he can get something out of them but he doesn't seem hopeful. Thanks for hearing me out guys

I'd say either Wren and Cuff Phat Phuk B or Xotic BB preamp, depending on how much gain you want.

I picked up a 550 a while back. I'd been using an ABM 500 for years which I liked but I often wished it was a little more transparent. I find the 550, when EQ'd correctly has the warmth of the ABM series but with more clarity. Mine came stock with a pair of Shuguang 12AX7Bs (Silver dragons.) After swapping a multitude of valves in and out I found that my preferred combination was an old Telefunken 12AX7 in the position by the input and an EHX 12AU7 behind the VU meter; that pair gave the amp a minuscule amount of grit with a lot of detail.

Nice work Higgie!

Ah yeah, I forgot to mention about the adjustable threshold - makes it far easier to dial in just the right amount of compression when swapping between instruments. That was indeed something that bugged me with the EBS; active mode makes the threshold too high for most of my instruments, passive mode sets the threshold too low for a few. I know you can adjust it with an internal trimpot but it would've been nice to have control on the pedal itself =\

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1329996573' post='1550950'] Lovely!!! [/quote] [quote name='The Walloper' timestamp='1330274162' post='1554990'] The Aguilar cabs are sooo pretty. [/quote] Thanks guys

[quote name='EskimoBassist' timestamp='1329812424' post='1547604'] Nice selection, very neat. How are you finding your mxr compressor? I love my multicomp but if i was going to swap for anything else, that could tempt me. [/quote] Thanks. The MXR is really good although (to my ears) the EBS I used to have added more of its own character to your sound... was quite nice for fattening up the signal. That said, the transparency of the MXR is a different flavour, and it's more versatile. Looking back, seeing as I don't use compression a great deal, I probably would've been fine with the EBS. I definitely prefer the MXR. [quote name='Higgie' timestamp='1329885215' post='1549096'] VERY Nice board. I would love to gig with that! [/quote] Cheers Higgie [quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1329985336' post='1550684'] I believe they're [url="http://www.georgelsstore.com/"]these[/url], as is on the board above it but with caps. [/quote] Bingo.

Here's my newly completed rig: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/BigBassBob/Snapbucket/70C6D8F5.jpg[/IMG] Small and f***in' loud!

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTbUUX2_wYU"][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/BigBassBob/Snapbucket/B186ECB9.jpg[/IMG][/url]

I like it, Higgie!

Wow! I had to tilt my monitor back to see the pickup, and I can't even make out the pickguard outline! Blacker than black XD

A lovely example of a Rickenbacker

I like these basses A LOT

As others have said, the topic's a can of worms! Personally I put my compressor first in my signal chain as I don't use any filters or anything that would create a huge volume spike. My other effects are two grit pedals and a subtle chorus.

Hmmm, I guess they got lazy in the Chinese factory then?

Popped the amp open out of curiosity to check what tubes are inside. Even though the website states the amp has an ECC82 (12AU7) and ECC83 (12AX7) the amp actually has a pair of Shuguang 12AX7Bs.

Oh, and with the EQ set flat and the mid and bright switches engaged I almost sh** a brick; that's one hell of an aggressive sound!

Alright guys, the Spyder arrived this morning and I spent the good part of this afternoon playing with it. Initial impressions are positive; despite it having a valve preamp the tone is very clear and articulate (at least in comparison to the ABM) with plenty of bass and a bit of growl. It definitely has its own character but it doesn't impart too much of itself on my tone which I like. Flats sounded warm and thumpy through it with the appropiate EQing. My Rick with steel rounds sounded wild and aggressive, especially with the bright switch on. It's going to take a while for me to become fully adjusted to the EQ (I've found I've had to turn down the tweeters on my cabs as this amp has more treble response than my ABM.) but I've got high hopes for it. I've got gigs booked every weekend for the coming month so I'll have a chance to mess with the EQ live and see how it sits in a band mix (playing with a three piece this weekend and then with my usual four piece for the rest of the month.) I may look into experimenting with different valves at some point... I currently have a few JJs and Sovteks on order. Might (and that's a MIGHT) look into some NOS 12ax7's but that's a rabbit hole I think I'd be best off avoiding. For anyone interested in these, you might want to know that the specs on Ashdown's site aren't up to date: There are two speakon outputs for hooking up to cabs. There is a balanced XLR output on the back along with a balanced 1/4". The amp is branded "designed in the UK, made in PRC" so it's Chinese built. I'll post an update after I've taken it out on a few gigs.

Spyder has been ordered. I'll report back with my thoughts tomorrow evening. I'd also like to thank Pete Academy for putting up with my somewhat impertinent questions and slight rambling (this flu has been bad on my coherence... I managed to leave my WALLET at the bank today )

AHA! LOL, my apologies, I'm currently sat in bed with the flu and I'm definitely not with it. Good shout Gareth, I'll get in touch with Pete some time and make a few enquiries

Cheers mate So is Pete Academy the proprietor of a shop then?

I just listened to this again with some decent headphones. Yeah... I'll be putting an order in within a month. I'll let you know my thoughts in this thread Where did you get yours from Gareth?