Stylon Pilson

One of my biggest gig disasters was when I too figured that I could travel light and take the train. Turned out that there was no monitoring for the bass whatsoever. All I could hear of myself was the low frequencies coming from the back of the PA speakers. Oh, and did I mention I was playing a fretless? Yeah, I was playing a fretless. S.P.

I played with my 80s covers band ("A Flock Of Eighties") at the Maiden's Head in Maidenhead last night. Was worried about the size of the stage as when I've played here before with a 4-piece it felt crowded, but thankfully all 5 of us in this band are fairly economical with how much space we take up, so we made it work. We have 4 lead vocalists - the three of us along the front, plus the drummer in the shadows at the back. By process of elimination you've probably deduced that that's the guitarist in the back left corner. I've been recovering from a heavy cold, and was monitoring the recovery of my voice with some mild concern, but I think last night sounded pretty good, if I do say so myself! The audience at this venue are always great fun. The pub do insist on playing their own 80s playlist before we go on and during the break, and I imagine you don't need me to tell you the inevitable consequence of that. A nice chap did come up to me afterwards to talk about my barefaced cab. I'm assuming it was one of you lot. Come on then, which of you was it? S.P.

I have a TC Electronic Corona Mini on my board. While I appreciate that it's slightly above your budget, I can vouch that it is well made and has plenty of tricks up its sleeve. S.P.

I had two gigs this weekend, which is very rare for me, as I'm normally a two-a-month sort of person. Friday night was at The Stag in Ascot. I've played there a few times before with a previous band. It's always a bit quiet for the first set, but usually we get a fairly decent contingent of happy dancing punters for the second set. This time, they were much more restrained, and only really danced for the last couple of songs. Ah well, these things happen. I don't think it was through any fault of ours. The landlord did ask us to turn down a bit at half time, as they were struggling to hear orders at the bar, so I understand his concern. Second gig was this afternoon at Park Live. Haven't done an outdoor festival gig for a while! A fairly sedate and seated crowd who kept some distance from the stage, but we did get a gaggle of them up and dancing for a handful of songs, which was great. Having a dedicated sound engineer and monitor engineer was a luxury that I don't usually get, and it really does make a big difference. And I bumped into our own @Happy Jack who was also playing! S.P.

Thanks, these look like good recommendations. Pete

I'm looking for an instrument cable to fill the gap when 3m is too short but 6m is too long. Ideally a straight connector on one end and right-angled on the other, and a good sturdy build quality that won't let me down. Do you have any recommendations please? S.P.

I've been playing and loving a Barefaced Compact 15" for about 13 years and it's definitely showing its age. I'm looking for suggestions for what to replace it with. Money is no object, but it needs to be light. Obviously I'm considering replacing it with another Barefaced - the Super Compact looks like it fits the bill in terms of capability and weight, though in terms of being able to hear myself on stage, I do worry about it being so low down. The Super Twin might solve that issue. I'm also finding myself lusting quite heavily after a GR AT212 Slim. Any other suggestions? S.P.

Is anyone running into problems when trying to get back into the rehearsal room, with respect to different band members' attitudes to risk? How have you solved these conflicts? S.P.

A rucksack. Yes, really. Prior to lockdown, I had this big heavy holdall that I was using to transport all my cables, including a whole bunch of spares, and it was starting to annoy me, so I replaced it with a nifty little rucksack for the stuff I use at every gig, and then a smaller holdall for the things that can be left in the car because I (hopefully) won't need them. I was really pleased with this rucksack - it's exactly the right size, everything Tetrisses into place very nicely, and because it goes on my back it frees up a hand when loading in or out. Never had the chance to take it to a gig. S.P.

He says it himself in the first minute of the video - videos of playing bass get very few views compared to videos of him being a memelord. I don't watch his videos myself, but you can't really blame him for how the "system" works. S.P.

My band's starting to get contact from our regular venues again, though they're talking about autumn and winter, not summer. S.P.

I apologise if I'm being a bit thick, but what I'm looking for is a VST that I can apply to an already-recorded bass part to give it the feeling of having been played through a EHX Bass Mono Synth pedal or something like that. I'm not looking to create an entirely-synthesised bassline from scratch. As lowdown hit upon above, this is going to go into a video, and the end result needs to at least bear some resemblance to how we look and sound at a gig. From looking at most of the plugins linked above, they don't seem to have the facility to operate in this way? S.P.

I'm working on a video of Don't You Want Me with my 80s band. I'm not looking for something that exactly matches the sound of the bass on the original song, as I think that will look a bit weird when juxtaposed with video of me playing, but something that leans in that sort of cheesy direction would be great. S.P.

I'm looking for a VST plugin that will give me an effect similar to a bass synth pedal. I'm just experimenting at this stage, so I'm not looking to spend money if I can help it. Does anyone have anything they can recommend? Thanks, S.P.

The one gig booking that wasn't flat-out cancelled was to be for tonight. The venue were considering going ahead with it outdoors. But they decided not to take the risk. With a second lockdown on the horizon, any tiny hope I had for any gigs before the end of the year has evaporated. S.P.