How was your gig last night?

[Burns-bass]

3 hours ago, lonestar said:

Had a great afternoon at Summer Soul Vibe Festival in Ipswich. We played a 40 min set mid-afternoon.

Exellent stage, crew and pa playing my first gig with my new Sadowsky ME.

The back line  the same SVT I played with a year ago at another festival, same hire company! Proper green room in Venue 16, with lasagne, soft drinks tea and coffee and staff looking after you.

Really nicely done.

Good to get great comments from the sound guys and I could see the foldback  engineers having a good time stage

 left of us. Which is always nice.and reassuring.

 

 

 

This sounds ace.

[HeadlessBassist]

Played my usual Everlys & Friends Live Tribute Show last night at Warners' Alvaston Hall near Crewe. First show for the full lineup in two months and was a belter, despite the ridiculous 30 deg heat. Luckily the powers that be at Warners actually had the air conditioning switched on, so playing was bearable! Two hour set straight through with no interval is always a challenge, but was very rewarding.

 

Full six-piece setup, including fake Grand Piano housing for Pete's Digital Piano!

 

[Merton]

A very hot sweaty gig playing at the new Rodeos Birmingham. Bizarre stage with the back end of a pickup truck slap bang in the middle, a solitary monitor, no sound man, a drummist we’d never met before, several drunk hen parties… had the makings of a nightmare alongside the heat.

 

On the whole though, it was great fun. We threw in a few covers alongside Katy’s originals, had a delightful interaction with someone in the break asking us to play all the artists we’d covered in the first set 🙄, and made a few new friends along the way I think. The dep drummist was fantastic, so he can come again 🤓

 

Bass as ever my sexy ACG RetroB, through Handbox WB100 and Barefaced Two10. Shoes were my Soul Cals again.

 

No decent photos of us playing (yet) so have a photo of my side of the stage 😆

[peteb]

1 hour ago, Burns-bass said:

The back line  the same SVT I played with a year ago at another festival, same hire company!

 

They've probably just got it back from being repaired after the last time you used it...! 🙂 

 

[lonestar]

1 hour ago, Burns-bass said:

This sounds ace.

It was my ideal gig, living the dream! Shame we weren’t playing for a bit longer. 

We’re back playing a full set indoors at Venue 16 in January

[lonestar]

10 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

They've probably just got it back from being repaired after the last time you used it...! 🙂 

 

HaHa 

What are all these switches for then? Does it go up to 11?  What if I turn all these knobs up to full?

Edited 23 hours ago by lonestar

[Franticsmurf]

Second dep gig with 'The Gowertones' last night - a birthday bash for the pub landlord at the Plough and Harrow in Murton, Swansea. The weather made the potential for sweaty, melting horror a distinct possibility and when I turned up, I saw we were outside which added the risk of sunburn. But on closer inspection, we were under a pair of gazebos and sheltered by a wall. By some miracle, the only breeze in the area was funneled through a gap between wall and gazebos down onto the drummer and me. I had a small USB powered fan which directed some of that breeze onto my back overall it was a very pleasant environment. 

 

We were due to play 2hrs between 5pm and 8pm and the crowd, a respectable 50-60 or so, stayed all evening. Inevitably, we played on and the second hour slot lasted well over 90 minutes, fueled by chips and coke (from a bottle, not a mirror) gratis. A great set which included 'Paranoid' (I've never played it before but what a great 'live' song) and 'YMCA' (please don't judge). My second outing for the Sterling 34HH/Ampeg SCRDI/Peavey Minimax/twin TE1x10" line up and it's really giving me a sound that I'm pleased with. For years I've heard that sound in my head but never really managed to get it and while going DI into the sound desk with my main band is good (for that line up, it makes sense), having the bass banging out behind me is great.

 

As mentioned, the kit list was my Sterling 34HH (mainly the bridge pick-up but for a couple of numbers both pick-ups selected) through an MS60B (for tuner/mute, noise gate and compressor) and the Ampeg SCRDI (with a shallow mix of distortion for the punk/rock numbers) and both bass and treble boosts selected. This went into the FX loop return of the Minimax and through two TE 1x10" speakers. The Minimax retains volume control when using the FX return so I used this to control the volume rather than the control on the SCRDI. There was plenty of volume without pushing either stage. 

 

Footwear was the now inevitable Skechers which proved both comfortable and cool (in the temperature sense) for the night. Although they only have one setting, I find that Skechers have nailed that setting and they work for me for all styles of music. 

 

Photos and video are slow to appear this morning but I will edit to add any that appear. This is one I took of the ground level kit. 

 

Edit: One came through this morning:

 

Some images from video I shot on a GoPro.

 

 

 

 

Edited 9 minutes ago by Franticsmurf

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

Played my usual Everlys & Friends Live Tribute Show last night at Warners' Alvaston Hall near Crewe. First show for the full lineup in two months and was a belter, despite the ridiculous 30 deg heat. Luckily the powers that be at Warners actually had the air conditioning switched on, so playing was bearable! Two hour set straight through with no interval is always a challenge, but was very rewarding.

 

Full six-piece setup, including fake Grand Piano housing for Pete's Digital Piano!

 

Always thought those MB combos were a great idea where you could tilt back to hear them better.

Dave

[BigRedX]

Two gigs for Hurtsfall this week.

 

First on Thursday at Rough Trade in Nottingham Supporting the brilliant Miranda Sex Garden. Lovely air-conditioned venue which was a relief from the heat and also meant I could wear my normal stage gear rather than something that wasn't going to make me pass out due to heat stroke. Played to an audience who were largely unfamiliar with our music but it looks like we won them over, and consequently sold loads of CDs afterwards. 

 

As always here's some photos from the gig:

 

 

Then on Saturday we were near Ellesmere on the Welsh border for Goths On A Field.

 

The bands play inside a barn which could have meant it was like an oven, but luckily it turned out to be marginally cooler in barn than outside in the field. My sister (who last saw me play live in 1985) and her husband who live nearby came along and seemed to enjoy it almost as much as our usual Goth audience. Plenty of people up and dancing from the first song, and the new song we were playing for the very first time got a great response. Despite the fact that most of the audience must have seen us play before we still sold a decent amount of merch and we had a number of people saying that we were their favourite band of the weekend which given who else was playing was high praise indeed!

 

No photos as yet, but I'm sure there will be some posted when everyone is back home later today or tomorrow.

 

For both gigs I was using my Eastwood Hooky 6-strong bass going direct into the PA via a Line6 Helix. Footwear was a pair of black and silver Converse-style boots bought years ago from TK Maxx 

 

Next gig is back at Rough Trade on 26th July as part of the Nottingham Pride festival.

 

 

 

[scrumpymike]

Great private party gig last night celebrating a 40th and an 80th so wide age range watching. Outdoors in the garden of one of the local farmhouses and all up for a good time. Only the 5th gig of the new band but they liked us so much that they paid us more than the agreed going rate. Same happened last at last gig so we must be doing something right. First outing of my s-s Sandberg Cali since new Aguilar pickup set fitted. Much more heft that OE pups. Didn't realise just how much in fact. No need to engage the 'deep' button on my Mesa D800+ from now on methinks. So nice to see all the old folks having such a good time. That includes me btw 🙂 

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

Great private party gig last night celebrating a 40th and an 80th so wide age range watching. Outdoors in the garden of one of the local farmhouses and all up for a good time. Only the 5th gig of the new band but they liked us so much that they paid us more than the agreed going rate. Same happened last at last gig so we must be doing something right. First outing of my s-s Sandberg Cali since new Aguilar pickup set fitted. Much more heft that OE pups. Didn't realise just how much in fact. No need to engage the 'deep' button on my Mesa D800+ from now on methinks. So nice to see all the old folks having such a good time. That includes me btw 🙂 

Yep def sounds like you're spot on with the band.

Is it a Sandberg TM4 and did you change both pick ups ? 

Did you keep original pre-amp ? 

Wouldn't mind some details as i find the Sandberg pups a bit weak too.

Dave

[MacDaddy]

Wildfires at The George, Chiswick.

Third gig. First time using the Digitech BP355 in this band. Sounds great, and the pitch shifter is amazing, no lag even when I'm wireless.

Wasn't as hot as we were expecting, and plenty of people were in the pub, many were still there for the final set when it was packed.

Shuker 3 -> Swiff Audio wireless -> Digitech BP355 -> TecAmp Puma 500 -> customised Tech Sound System 2x12.

 

 

 

[JPJ]

Just in from a very hot and sweaty early evening gig with our southern rock band. Played to 120 people packed into Hartlepool’s south Durham social club or as its known locally “Hartlepool Steelies”. Decided to take the Ashdown Head of Doom coupled with my Vanderkley 2 x 12 cab in tribute to one of my hero’s Geezer Butler who as I think we all know, played his last ever Black Sabbath gig just over a week ago. Got everything set up, plugged my pedal board into the HoD and nothing, not even a flicker of an input Vu meter. Checked everything including plugging directly into the amp but the same result, nothing nil nada. Running out of time before show time, I had no option but to raise my level in the FoH, and rely on my in-ears for personal monitoring. The result, no one noticed, and we had a great gig. Looks like I’ll be calling on Ashdown’s legendary customer service tomorrow.

[Geek99]

On 12/07/2025 at 09:25, dmccombe7 said:

100% agree. That annoys the heck outa me. Also those phones that only take 30 secs of a song  and always miss the bass solo. 😂

Dave

You have bass solos? I thought these were the stuff of legend .. a unicorn appeared, wearing a trilby hat, and then it was my turn to solo kind of thing 🦄
 

Edited 12 hours ago by Geek99

[scrumpymike]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Yep def sounds like you're spot on with the band.

Is it a Sandberg TM4 and did you change both pick ups ? 

Did you keep original pre-amp ? 

Wouldn't mind some details as i find the Sandberg pups a bit weak too.

Dave

Yes to all three questions Dave. Only compromise was I sacrificed the coil-split function. My tech guy phoned me to say that the Aguilar M pup wasn't wired for splitting. He said "I could modify it but that would probably invalidate your warranty." To be honest, it's not something I used much anyway so all it means is that the mini rocker switch doesn't do anything.  Here's a link to one of last night's mobile phone videos to give you an idea of how it sounds.

 

Aguilar AG 4M/J-HC upgrade

Edited 12 hours ago by scrumpymike

[tauzero]

On 07/07/2025 at 20:22, Stub Mandrel said:

Waiting on a cat scan to be sure it's not a brain injury.

 

Just be sure to report that on the "BC Cats" thread.

[tauzero]

After a fallow couple of months for Dirty Roses, with just a few dep gigs for the Bonnevilles thrown in, we had gigs Friday and Saturday. Friday was in Polesworth, about five miles from my house - small pub, made a bit more crowded by the pool table pushed to one side. It was cool though, there are a load of 12" fans mounted to the walls. Mrs Zero decided she'd come out as well, just two weeks and a day after her hip replacement - recovery proceeding apace. Slightly rusty but no huge mistakes other than a totally false start to Paranoid, one of the songs that's been a permanent fixture in our set for ever. Oh, and someone accidentally pulled the mains lead out of the monitor on the guitarist's side at some point in the second set so he couldn't hear the vocals. And someone came up to me afterwards and said that my Sei was the most beautiful guitar he'd ever seen.

 

Gear: Beautiful Sei Flamboyant 5 headless -> Lekato WS-90 -> Zoom MS-60B -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. Footwear: Caravelle memory foam trainers.

 

 

Second one was in Cheltenham, 70 miles away for me. Load in and out was from a car park right at the back of the long thin pub to the stage area right at the front, and as the singer was busy directing the guitarist and drummer (separately) to the hidden car park at the back of the pub, I had to unload all my gear (basses, rig, PA), which is probably a month's worth of cardio exercise for me. Large room, we were right by some opening French windows [1] although the downside to this was that there were a load of smokers outside. As I didn't know what the temperature was likely to be, I'd brought my massive fan, which proved a good idea. Initially it was a bit sparse attendance but a birthday party and a hen party showed up and the numbers swelled. There was one (relatively) young woman there who looked completely off her face (I had nearly two decades of marriage to an alcoholic so I know the look). She made rather close approaches to the guitarist and the singer (who both carefully avoided eye contact) and then when I decided to go walkabout a bit later on, she made a lunge for my bass, which I protected while beating a hasty repeat.

 

At the end of the set, we did the standard pause while pretending we've finished and waiting for someone to say "more!". And, as always, some did. I noticed that one of them was the gaffer who was just outside the French widows, enthusiastically shouting "more, more!". Well, if the gaffer wants another song, we play another song. Of course, someone had accidentally pulled the mains lead out of the guitarist's monitor, but he coped.

 

Had a moment of epicaricacy on the way home - driving along the 4 lane section of the M5 in lane 1, cruise control set to 70, and there was some dickhead bimbling along in lane 3 slower than me. So I stayed in lane 1 and went past him, and a short time later I saw in my mirrors two cars going past him, one either side, which then both went past me. Then the lane 3 hog suddenly came shooting past me just as we came up to a gantry showing 60 limit - I slowed, but lane 3 hog kept on at about 80 past the gantry and the HADECS cameras which flashed him. So he might not get done for lane hogging but he'll get a come-uppance of sorts.

 

Gear: Sei Flamboyant 5 headless -> Lekato WS-90 -> Zoom MS-60B -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. Footwear: still the faithful Caravelle memory foam trainers.

 

 

[1] "French widows in every room!" - Gerard Hoffnung

 

 

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, JPJ said:

Just in from a very hot and sweaty early evening gig with our southern rock band. Played to 120 people packed into Hartlepool’s south Durham social club or as its known locally “Hartlepool Steelies”. Decided to take the Ashdown Head of Doom coupled with my Vanderkley 2 x 12 cab in tribute to one of my hero’s Geezer Butler who as I think we all know, played his last ever Black Sabbath gig just over a week ago. Got everything set up, plugged my pedal board into the HoD and nothing, not even a flicker of an input Vu meter. Checked everything including plugging directly into the amp but the same result, nothing nil nada. Running out of time before show time, I had no option but to raise my level in the FoH, and rely on my in-ears for personal monitoring. The result, no one noticed, and we had a great gig. Looks like I’ll be calling on Ashdown’s legendary customer service tomorrow.

 

To this day many times when I think I've lost my signal I find out my tuner was engaged. Lol

 

120 is a good number.

 

Daryl

[dmccombe7]

8 hours ago, Geek99 said:

You have bass solos? I thought these were the stuff of legend .. a unicorn appeared, wearing a trilby hat, and then it was my turn to solo kind of thing 🦄
 

i'm not that good a bassist to be allowed a solo. 😂

Dave

[Jack]

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

After a fallow couple of months for Dirty Roses, with just a few dep gigs for the Bonnevilles thrown in, we had gigs Friday and Saturday. Friday was in Polesworth, about five miles from my house - small pub, made a bit more crowded by the pool table pushed to one side. It was cool though, there are a load of 12" fans mounted to the walls. Mrs Zero decided she'd come out as well, just two weeks and a day after her hip replacement - recovery proceeding apace. Slightly rusty but no huge mistakes other than a totally false start to Paranoid, one of the songs that's been a permanent fixture in our set for ever. Oh, and someone accidentally pulled the mains lead out of the monitor on the guitarist's side at some point in the second set so he couldn't hear the vocals. And someone came up to me afterwards and said that my Sei was the most beautiful guitar he'd ever seen.

 

Gear: Beautiful Sei Flamboyant 5 headless -> Lekato WS-90 -> Zoom MS-60B -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. Footwear: Caravelle memory foam trainers.

 

 

Second one was in Cheltenham, 70 miles away for me. Load in and out was from a car park right at the back of the long thin pub to the stage area right at the front, and as the singer was busy directing the guitarist and drummer (separately) to the hidden car park at the back of the pub, I had to unload all my gear (basses, rig, PA), which is probably a month's worth of cardio exercise for me. Large room, we were right by some opening French windows [1] although the downside to this was that there were a load of smokers outside. As I didn't know what the temperature was likely to be, I'd brought my massive fan, which proved a good idea. Initially it was a bit sparse attendance but a birthday party and a hen party showed up and the numbers swelled. There was one (relatively) young woman there who looked completely off her face (I had nearly two decades of marriage to an alcoholic so I know the look). She made rather close approaches to the guitarist and the singer (who both carefully avoided eye contact) and then when I decided to go walkabout a bit later on, she made a lunge for my bass, which I protected while beating a hasty repeat.

 

At the end of the set, we did the standard pause while pretending we've finished and waiting for someone to say "more!". And, as always, some did. I noticed that one of them was the gaffer who was just outside the French widows, enthusiastically shouting "more, more!". Well, if the gaffer wants another song, we play another song. Of course, someone had accidentally pulled the mains lead out of the guitarist's monitor, but he coped.

 

Had a moment of epicaricacy on the way home - driving along the 4 lane section of the M5 in lane 1, cruise control set to 70, and there was some dickhead bimbling along in lane 3 slower than me. So I stayed in lane 1 and went past him, and a short time later I saw in my mirrors two cars going past him, one either side, which then both went past me. Then the lane 3 hog suddenly came shooting past me just as we came up to a gantry showing 60 limit - I slowed, but lane 3 hog kept on at about 80 past the gantry and the HADECS cameras which flashed him. So he might not get done for lane hogging but he'll get a come-uppance of sorts.

 

Gear: Sei Flamboyant 5 headless -> Lekato WS-90 -> Zoom MS-60B -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. Footwear: still the faithful Caravelle memory foam trainers.

 

 

[1] "French widows in every room!" - Gerard Hoffnung

 

 

You're blaming the cramped space on the pool table and not those boards?

[dmccombe7]

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

Just be sure to report that on the "BC Cats" thread.

Yep i got that one. 😂

Dave

[dmccombe7]

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

After a fallow couple of months for Dirty Roses, with just a few dep gigs for the Bonnevilles thrown in, we had gigs Friday and Saturday. Friday was in Polesworth, about five miles from my house - small pub, made a bit more crowded by the pool table pushed to one side. It was cool though, there are a load of 12" fans mounted to the walls. Mrs Zero decided she'd come out as well, just two weeks and a day after her hip replacement - recovery proceeding apace. Slightly rusty but no huge mistakes other than a totally false start to Paranoid, one of the songs that's been a permanent fixture in our set for ever. Oh, and someone accidentally pulled the mains lead out of the monitor on the guitarist's side at some point in the second set so he couldn't hear the vocals. And someone came up to me afterwards and said that my Sei was the most beautiful guitar he'd ever seen.

 

Gear: Beautiful Sei Flamboyant 5 headless -> Lekato WS-90 -> Zoom MS-60B -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. Footwear: Caravelle memory foam trainers.

 

 

Second one was in Cheltenham, 70 miles away for me. Load in and out was from a car park right at the back of the long thin pub to the stage area right at the front, and as the singer was busy directing the guitarist and drummer (separately) to the hidden car park at the back of the pub, I had to unload all my gear (basses, rig, PA), which is probably a month's worth of cardio exercise for me. Large room, we were right by some opening French windows [1] although the downside to this was that there were a load of smokers outside. As I didn't know what the temperature was likely to be, I'd brought my massive fan, which proved a good idea. Initially it was a bit sparse attendance but a birthday party and a hen party showed up and the numbers swelled. There was one (relatively) young woman there who looked completely off her face (I had nearly two decades of marriage to an alcoholic so I know the look). She made rather close approaches to the guitarist and the singer (who both carefully avoided eye contact) and then when I decided to go walkabout a bit later on, she made a lunge for my bass, which I protected while beating a hasty repeat.

 

At the end of the set, we did the standard pause while pretending we've finished and waiting for someone to say "more!". And, as always, some did. I noticed that one of them was the gaffer who was just outside the French widows, enthusiastically shouting "more, more!". Well, if the gaffer wants another song, we play another song. Of course, someone had accidentally pulled the mains lead out of the guitarist's monitor, but he coped.

 

Had a moment of epicaricacy on the way home - driving along the 4 lane section of the M5 in lane 1, cruise control set to 70, and there was some dickhead bimbling along in lane 3 slower than me. So I stayed in lane 1 and went past him, and a short time later I saw in my mirrors two cars going past him, one either side, which then both went past me. Then the lane 3 hog suddenly came shooting past me just as we came up to a gantry showing 60 limit - I slowed, but lane 3 hog kept on at about 80 past the gantry and the HADECS cameras which flashed him. So he might not get done for lane hogging but he'll get a come-uppance of sorts.

 

Gear: Sei Flamboyant 5 headless -> Lekato WS-90 -> Zoom MS-60B -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. Footwear: still the faithful Caravelle memory foam trainers.

 

 

[1] "French widows in every room!" - Gerard Hoffnung

 

 

Is that twice the guitarists monitor was unplugged at different venues too ? that's an odd one.

No decent pics of the complimented SEI bass. That's not good. It should be front and centre. 😂

Dave

Edited 3 hours ago by dmccombe7

[Geek99]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

i'm not that good a bassist to be allowed a solo. 😂

Dave

Just play a blues bass line. I picked the walking section from Cold Day in Hell - should be easy for a man of your talents 

[Geek99]

4 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Just play a blues bass line. I picked the walking section from Cold Day in Hell - should be easy for a man of your talents 

Confession time 

I’d just learned it whilst waiting to go on and it was the only thing that popped into my head when the host pointed at me and said “bass solo!” 

[JPJ]

8 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

To this day many times when I think I've lost my signal I find out my tuner was engaged. Lol

 

120 is a good number.

 

Daryl

I did all the Idiot checks including changing cables, plugging directly into the amp, plugging into the fx loop, turning the amp off and on again, repeating the previous idiot checks etc 😂 but sadly all to no avail. So the amp just sat there with its two VU meters illuminated but unmoving, staring manically out into the audience whilst having an afternoon off.