London Bass Players!

[Kaiu]

Hey Everyone,

I'm moving to London in September and I was just wondering how you London bass players do it? What set up? How to transport it?

I am looking to start/join a successful rock/pop/party covers band, but I won't have my own transport. As it stands I have an Ampeg SVT 2 Pro in a rack with midi controlled effects and an Ampeg 8x10. Which works fine up in Yorkshire with a van. But down in London I'm guessing I will need something that I can carry myself.

By selling my current rig I will free up enough funds for a decent small set up and I was just wondering if you guys have any tips for gear, transport, or even just gigging in London in general?

Do any of you get paid to play (covers) in established venues? Or is it all about private parties and bringing everything yourself?

Thanks,

Ed

(p.s sorry if this is in the wrong forum)

[Tech]

i'm in the fortunate position of having a mother and a band back in south wales... i can just leave my 4x10 (she uses it as a table, no harm done!) with her and I can get to cardiff and back for under a tenner with national express (as little as £6 if I choose my times well!).

fairly easy trip, and assuming a gig is paying, what, £50, that's still £40 profit. of course you lose an extra 5 hours, but it's an excuse to read through a textbook or watch a couple of "legally obtained" films on my ipod.

that said, i'm planning on picking up a markbass combo, or an LMII (and 1x10 cab). it might be worth you holding off for a little while on buying an amp - most practice spaces will have amps there, so you could find yourself a band first and assess your needs a little. i haven't done many gigs on bass myself here as i play guitar in my main band, so i can't help you too much there. have subbed in a couple of pub gigs and it was no problem to borrow one of the other player's amps, although i wouldn't like to do that too much - i respect having your own stuff and would think twice about letting someone else use it myself.

[dave_bass5]

Hi Ed.

Where abouts in London are you moving to?

Ive lived in London all my life. Its not bad here.....in certain places ;-)

I play most weekends and sometimes during the week in two covers band, doing the usual weddings/functions etc. We never play pubs. Not sure why but its probably a money thing as they dont pay that well.
We haven't play any established gig venues (not as covers bands anyway) but we do play places like castles, palaces etc. We always take our PA unless its over 400 people, in which case we hire one in.
I also dont drive and in a way it has hindered me but its not really a problem these days.
I use a LMII + 1210R with one band and a MB SA450 + 1212L with my main band. I leave both rigs with the drummers and i travel to gigs with the drummers.
Both bands just use two cars and we manage to get everything, and every one in to them.

I do have to get a tube or train to get picked up so i only take one bass. I normally also have a suit bag or rucksack with a change of clothes in it. I can get my LMII in the suit bag if i need to but i dont now that i have two rigs.

Edited February 11, 2010 by dave_bass5

[Kaiu]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='742098' date='Feb 11 2010, 01:58 PM']Hi Ed.

Where abouts in London are you moving to?

Ive lived in London all my life. Its not bad here.....in certain places ;-)

I play most weekends and sometimes during the week in two covers band, doing the usual weddings/functions etc. We never play pubs. Not sure why but its probably a money thing as they dont pay that well.
We haven't play any established gig venues (not as covers bands anyway) but we do play places like castles, palaces etc. We always take our PA unless its over 400 people, in which case we hire one in.
I also dont drive and in a way it has hindered me but its not really a problem these days.
I use a LMII + 1210R with one band and a MB SA450 + 1212L with my main band. I leave both rigs with the drummers and i travel to gigs with the drummers.
Both bands just use two cars and we manage to get everything, and every one in to them.

I do have to get a tube or train to get picked up so i only take one bass. I normally also have a suit bag or rucksack with a change of clothes in it. I can get my LMII in the suit bag if i need to but i dont now that i have two rigs.[/quote]

I'm not sure yet. I'm going to University College London as a 'mature' student (I'll be nearly 24), so hopefully I can find a place within half an hour bus ride of UCL (Bloomsbury).

I've been playing bass professionally (earning, touring, recording) with an originals band up until now, but the chances of recreating that success with another originals band are slim, especially when combined with my studies. So I was hoping to earn part of my living while at University from a covers band.

I've had experience in a weddings/parties band before but it always required transport and our own PA. I do in fact have my own PA along with a lot of other gear, so I could be useful to an established band if I could find somewhere to store it and transport it.

While in Los Angeles I saw several cover/tribute bands making a living from residential (is that the right term?) slots, so they played the same thing every week and earned a fair bit if the place was packed out. Does that kind of thing happen in London?

Ed

(Ps sorry this has definitely moved off an amp and cab discussion, feel free to move it)

[dave_bass5]

Bloomsbury is just around the corner from me. In fact i used to live in Bloomsbury about 10 years ago.

To be honest i dont get out to see other bands much but im pretty sure there are residencies. I used to play one in the west end for a few months, a long time ago.
You can certainly make a living playing covers but i think you would need to be lucky to find one. There are so many bass players down here, were are ten a penny lol. Maybe you colud register with some agencies and see what happens. Although im not personally ive had our bands agents call me up a few times to see if im available to dep with other bands.

Up till last year i could have done with you down here. Both my bands were getting a lot of work so i had to either dep out or turn gigs down. Transport and gear wouldn't have been a problem as you could have just used mine.
Now the other band is folding at the end of the year so im pretty much concentrating on my main band.

Im sure you'll find something once you get settled. Good luck with UCL.

[Earbrass]

Hi,

I'm a (not-intensively) gigging London bassist, playing in an originals band. When I joined them I thought I'd best get "tooled up" up bought myself a MarkBass 121P combo, as the lightest, most portable gig-worthy rig I could find at the time. That was about 18 months ago, and I've never once had to use the amp. Every rehearsal room we've booked has had a bass amp provided, and every gig we've played has had amps / drumkit provided by the promoter. I'm now wondering if I should sell the combo, as it seems a shame to have it sitting in the corner "just in case" - especially as it's the most valuable bit of music kit I own. May not apply to you if you're playing in a covers/function type band: "originals" gigs, if you're unknowns like us, tend to involve 5 or more bands on the same bill, so they don't have time to swap out all the gear, or the space to hold 5 bands' amps and drumkits.