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Very cool pic.

There's absolutely no issue with having a grown up conversation. We're all friends and we have done well over 700 gigs together and none of us are the sort to get fired up. I've had the conversation with the guitarist and the rest of the band a whole load of times and generally there's an agreement that the guitars and kick need to be tamed a little and the bass less buried but it lasts a gig or two before it goes back to the same old same old. The drummer never knows what it all sounds like because he never gets to listen from out front and we're all on iems so it always sounds fine in our own iem mixes. The singer (who also plays guitar) does hundreds of gigs a year with various set ups (solo, duo, deps etc) and literally is only worried about getting paid. I don't particularly want to walk. It's decent money and they're a good bunch to hang out with. I just feel frustrated that, no matter how often we discuss it, it always slowly creeps back to the same noisy guitar fest and that just makes me feel like I don't add anything to the sound. We get good feedback from clients and we do a fair few corporate events where pa and sound engineer is provided. It always sounds ace then. A lot of the problem is that we're largely playing wedding venues and loads of them sound terrible anyway. There's just this reluctance from him to bring the levels down and have more balance.

Need one of these: We're always asking our lead guitarist to turn down (and drummer to slow down.....and I do like a drink!). It just seems to come with the territory that lead guitarists generally want to be the loudest thing, they need reining in - so giving them control of the mix is probably best avoided.

Sean, you do realise that was not a mixing workshop, it was group therapy, yes? And if you haven't seen it....

You could stick one of these in it: https://www.emgpickups.com/bass/accessories/btccontrol.html It's the smallest option. Treble and Bass on a single stacked control.

Kate Shaved I'll get me coat...

Years ago the band I was in (3 of the 4 of us) went to a live sound mixing workshop. I think it was about £20 each at the time. There were about 10-12 people there and we learned the basics of mixing live sound. Everyone had a good time, we learned loads and sounded better afterwards. I've no idea if these sort of workshops exist but you could find one and make a day of it.

I have a 1973 R'backer 4000 that needs a refret as I would like to start using it as it was my late father's bass. I am based in Banbury and am looking for someone who is within a reasonable drive from there.

Polluted Waters

I was delighted to play a charity fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Society in Salisbury at the weekend. Having lost my Mum to Alzheimer’s, it wasn’t one I had to think twice over! A great lineup of bands - 7 acts who for the most part all supported each other. It was a really friendly atmosphere and we played really well. Our mid placed billing was definitely the golden hour and it is absolutely a contender for my gig of the year, so far. We played electric, mostly original gothic tunes. Here’s a pic, courtesy of John Armstrong, of me heading up the dusty end to channel my inner Peter Hook.

non-dairy, lactose free, Cream

Sold a LHZ preamp to Gary. Swift, easy transaction. Great communication, immediate payment. Would deal with Gary again in an instant

Average mutli-racial band

Lead-free Zeppelin

Practical common sense has prevailed... Firstly, thanks for all your input, guys. Some very interesting options there, and having done some research and pondering, I've decided not to update the pretty bitsa Jazz. You see, I traded my highly useful Cort Space Bass 5 headless which previously lived in the boot of the car and was used as a backup/teaching bass and I genuinely miss having it around. I got the bitsa and £100 in a trade a couple of weeks ago, and all I've invested in is a decent set of strings and some setup time on the Jazz. A friend of mine loves fast necked active Jazzes and has a brand new Space Bass 4, so that puts me back to where I was without the 5th string which I didn't really need. As much as I was keen to improve the Jazz, I've got two lovely Jazz basses already which are part of the permanent money-earning working collection, so throwing another £200 at pickups on a bass I don't really need isn't good sense. Thanks again for all your input and knowledge.

This 1995 Stingray had many mods since I first got it in 1996; it's not the best Ray I've ever had, but we have history and it feels like nothing else in my hand. It sounded great with ceramic pickups earlier in the year, but I think I've finally cracked the right mod for me this time (see Sabre comment below) - 2 x Nordstrand MM4.2 pickups and an Aguilar OBP-1 preamp. Each pickup has a 3-way series/single/parallel switch, and there's a 3-way pickup selector switch. I may add an active/passive push/pull volume switch at some point, but the cavity is pretty tight with wires so not too sure yet. 2 x 9v batteries are under the pickguard, in between the pickups. The neck pickup in single coil mode is real oid school, and almost like an old P Bass, so that was a nice surprise. Each pickup has the rear coil engaged when in single mode, which I prefer to the regular Stingray HH single settings of either both outer or inner coils; it just sounds better and makes more sense for me. I'm haunted by a '78 Sabre I sold in 2007, and keep hearing it on old recordings, but this bass now finally gets into that territory with the neck pickup in series with the bridge pickup in parallel - such a great tone So it's now wearing a new 90s style matt black pickguard and a fresh set of Tis. Happy days.

Charlie 1010 1100100 1010

I'm doomed - Skoda Superb estate with 1950 cubic litres of cargo space.

Sugar mice, off Clutching at Straws. Very tasty fretless.