bassbiscuits

Good work that man.

This. I tend to go wherever there’s any room left in dep gigs. I tend to find myself either side in my main band depending on the room/stage etc.

I struggle with Gibson Thunderbirds. I think they are the best looking basses in the world but I can’t cope with the shape/size/playing position etc. I don’t hate them at all. I’m just gutted they don’t fit me, and the mismatch between my body and a T bird mean I couldn’t even consider buying one.

Nice gig at Leicester’s Donkey music venue with my blues/soul trio the Andy Wales Band. First outing for my recently-acquired Ashdown ABM500 head too, which sounded beefy and fat - apart from briefly leaning my bass against the front panel which pressed the switch to turn off the EQ (why would anyone want that?) leaving me wondering for a few songs where my lovely sound had gone…. Lesson - always know the position of your knob. Good turn out tho including interestingly various punters who’d paid for a nearby blues festival but didn’t like it and instead spotted this gig in the listings and came along (and seemed to enjoy it!)

Up until now I’ve played cleaner than a Nashville cat, using Markbass heads and cabs and little or no effects. But lately I’ve been seduced by the dark side, dabbling with valve amps and hybrid amps with valve preamps. To make matters worse, I’ve bought two overdrive pedals. I feel like this is a confession…. forgive me.

That’s hurting my brain

To add to a couple of the earlier comments, I reckon my playing has improved loads through depping. Playing stuff you wouldn’t normally learn, meeting other musicians and making contacts with them etc. It works brilliantly for me.

Best “skin of teeth” dep I did was when half of the band I was in met half another band who were missing their bass, rhythm guitar and drummer in the car park of the venue about an hour before the gig which was a wedding or party of some sort. It was all a bit last minute to say the least, but as both were similar bands it had been decided that we’d probably know enough common ground to get thru 2x45mins. Not so. The bog standard stuff (brown eyed girl, summer of 69 etc) worked but I recall a Madness medley being “one step behind” as I struggled to work it out on the hoof. The whole gig was a bit of a fiasco tbh. Nobody involved has played together since either! Ive done a couple of other random one-off deps where it’s clear a band member (the singer usually) really doesn’t gel with me at all and it’s been a relief all round to get paid, say nice things and drive home safe in the knowledge that you’ll never be onstage together again! I’ve done some lovely dep jobs and also some really ropey ones standing in for a mate etc, which have been embarrassingly bad even to the most casual / drunk listener. In each case been glad it’s not my band.

If the house is empty, then whatever of my amps is closest to hand. If I’m being considerate (I do try…) then it’ll either be my Blackstar ID Beam and headphones, or my Vox Amplug / laptop / headphones and usually my Mustang bass as it’s easiest to sit down with.

🤷🏼‍♂️

I’m being thick - I have no idea what that means!?

I’ve been in bands with a few divas. It didn’t take us long to realise we weren’t getting along. Said band moved on, and I reformed another band with the members I still wanted to play with.

I use Musicguard insurance. Have done for about 20 years. Mind you, at £200 a year that comes to £4k which is probably more than my entire rig is worth anyway. Hmm.

Mine was a solo gig, so packed down my kit, took the most valuable and/or easy to nick stuff with me to retrieve my car, and then came back for the big heavy stuff. Got paid, said goodbye to the people who’d come to see me, and drove home via McDonalds.