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I've been trying to get a Spinal Tap tribute band together for years, but can't find a drummer.

Never seen the words 'stunning' and 'Bongo' in the same sentence before. However that does look rather pretty. The headstock shape does still remind me of Peppa Pig's head, though.

This whole tribute act argument bores me to death, what's the problem? If you don't like it move on to something you do like; if I stopped to add comment to everything I didn't like I'd be typing for the rest of my like and never get off page one, the sooner you grow up and get on with life the better. We're all different, accept it, don't make yourself look inadequate by trashing everything you don't like. Like it or lump it, the market for bands is driven by audience demand, if they don't want to see it they won't pay and hence you don't get the booking. The universal truth for any group of musicians is; if you want to get on you have to give the audience want to hear what you have to offer or make the audience want to hear what you have to offer and no amount of whining or whinging will ever change that Very sorry about that, one of the few things that annoy me are people who like to put others down in any way, why not try and make them smile for a change?

Thank you, Christine. You have been on the forum for 2 days and this is the most eloquent and sensible thing I read read on the tribute band subject and in response to this ridiculous post.

I've worked for the last 20 years in a show featuring imitators of everything from Elvis to Edith Piaf. In that time, there have been lots of funny and bizarre stories, but the oddness of one has always pleased me. We have a Ray Charles impersonator who is an old white gentleman who uses black make-up on stage. This already feels a bit sticky and I'm not sure how I feel about it, but..., anyway my black colleagues have never commented one way or the other, so I don't know what they think about it. There is a shared dressing-room for the male acts and one for the female acts. Some years ago I walked past the mens dressing room and the door was open. There I saw, sat directly next to each other, the white guy putting on his black make-up and seated next to him a Michael Jackson impersonator, who is black, putting on his white make-up to do MJ. The irony (if that's the right word) of the situation didn't seem to have struck any of those present. I just kept walking and felt like an extra in a Jim Jarmusch film.

Here’s my 4 HCA Sandy’s Umbo, TSBS, 48, TM2

A House In The Boonies / S13 Ep4 / Wales Final Broadcast Transcript Run Time 29’:22” Pre Creds: Presenter (Wendy) to camera “This week we’re in Wales helping Ron and Marjorie to find … A House In The Boonies” Opening Creds – Theme Music: ‘Plinketty Plonk’ Scene 1 – Establishing segment Wendy to camera: "Ron and Marjorie Blart currently live in a poky, condemned one bedroom flat in London but hope to exchange it for a gigantic mansion in Wales possibly with turrets. Ron’s a retired astrophysicist and Marjorie’s a lion-tamer so they need some land for Ron’s collection of radio telescopes and an enclosure for Marjorie’s pride of lions” Shot of lions ripping zebra to shreds – Incidental Music: ‘Banjo Breakdown’ Wendy smarming to camera: "So how did you two love-birds come to be married?" Ron and Marjorie to camera, holding hands: Incidental music: ‘Disco Love Theme for Ukulele” Ron: “We met when Marjorie’s circus came to perform at Jodrell Bank. It was love at first sight” Marjorie: “I’d never seen a little man with such a huge telescope” Music stab: ‘Trombone Wah-wah-wah descending’ Wendy: So what’s the most important feature you’re looking for in your new House In The Boonies? Marjorie: The master bedchamber must have have lots of light. And I want a snug little room somewhere to do colonic irrigation. It's a hobby of mine. Ron: I’d need an absolutely stable gravitational environment with no electro-magnetic eddies… Wendy: Right… Ron: … but it’s not a big issue as long as Marjorie’s lions are happy. Particularly Rex… Marjorie: Yes, Rex. Rex is a bit picky. Wendy: (simpers) Well, we’ll be looking at three luvlay generous properties after the break Break Bumper Music: ‘Pizzicato Plonketty Plink Plinketty Plinketty Plonk’

Terrible when that happens, it's the bitterest pill, you might as well light your funeral pyre and all around the world, in a strange town, a town called malice in fact , this English rose and the man in the corner shop along with Smithers-Jones will write to the news of the world for publication in the city but not pretty green fields filled with carnations How terrible is that?

In fact, the Vienna Mozart Orchestra dresses up like Mozart (see post above) and performs only his work. The Bach Ensemble was formed in 1978 by the esteemed Joshua Rifkin, plays Bach almost exclusively and has recorded only the works of Bach. Indeed, in the geographic home of the tribute act The Haydn Orchestra of Australia hews pretty closely to his works but occasionally chucks in stuff like Boccherini to sweeten the pot. The list goes on... In fact, it's a pretty established tradition among jobbing classical musos to form scratch bands with rotating personnel and to name the aggregation after certain well-known composers; to begin by performing a mixture of that composer's faves and rarities and then - when the steam starts to go out of it or they've made their name - to start throwing in music by the composer's contemporaries. On the other hand, you get outfits like the Bach & Beethoven Ensemble of Chicago who go off the rails and don't perform anywhere near as much of the eponymous composers' work as one might expect but instead branch off into commissioning new stuff and generally being a bit arty-farty in the community (the better to score donations from charities, quangos, philanthropists, I suppose). So - within classical music - there's a clear and living distinction between 'function bands' that play a mix of well-known covers (the LSO, The Berlin Phil) and sort-of-tribute bands such as those mentioned above. Then there are era-bands like the Academy of Ancient Music or The Consort of Musicke or The Tallis Scholars who roughly equate to I ♥ the 80's acts. New original music is regarded as terribly worthy but not as good at putting bums on seats as a programme of old chestnuts, unless it's ghastly pabulum by the likes of Einaudi and Karl Jenkins as hawked by Classic FM in between the good stuff. In fact, the more one thinks about it, the more the classical world and the pub music market come to resemble each other with the financially-driven need to pull audiences in with the offer of familiarity and / or focus.

Yeah.... that's what the JAM tribute say....

I would phone you and talk you through this... but I suspect you wouldn't be able to hear me over your tinnitus.

Bass Guitar Magazine has been raising funds for pro bassist and staff writer Ellen O'Reilly, who has been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer and is undergoing all sorts of unpleasant chemotherapy, keeping her off work until she is better. LBGS exhibitor Strings&Things donated this bass with a view to getting it signed by as many stars as possible and then auctioning it for Ellen. This is the link, in case any of you would like to own the bass, and help. Many thanks from all at BGM! (Yes, I have Ped's permission to post this.) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Totally-Unique-Sterling-By-Musicman-SUB-Series-Bass-Guitar-See-Description/222980908977

When Later first aired over 25yrs ago (pre-internet/YouTube etc for most of us at the time), for me, it was like a breath of fresh air in terms of being able to see live bands on the telly. It gave music fans the opportunity to see bands/performances that we wouldn't otherwise have access to. So, in the spirit of the above here's something that blew me away when I first saw it in summer 1993, and still does, in fact... At the time I think it was one of her first live appearances after Debut came out. I love the song, but this version, to my ears at least, is the best live version I've heard to this day. Captures the original and adds that little bit more. And I was (and still am) intrigued by the bass/guitar (?) that is used as a percussion instrument by one of the keyboard players. Anyone else got any standout moments from Later?

Could be worse, could be me waving my Beef Bag under your nose

I reckon that north of 90% of the acts on Later have not been to my taste. That doesn't make Later a bad show. Later is a good show because it features live music. Why anyone would want to take it off the air just because they don't like the acts beats me. What these people should be moaning about is that lack of alternative music shows on TV. With more choice, maybe, people would stop bleating on about Later.

Acme do cabs that go down to -6 dB at 31 Hz. They need a LOT of power to drive though. With bass cabs, you can get them to go deep, be small, or be loud... pick any two! Al, get some 18" subs for your next gig, get Cuzzie to lend you his Beefbag and we'll all turn up to experience the true meaning of heft. Of course nobody will be able to hear the other instruments or even focus their vision due to their retinas vibrating, but they are but minor drawbacks to an otherwise excellent plan.

I actually started to get trolley GAS ... no, seriously, stop laughing ... and came up with https://www.sitebox.ltd.uk/clarke-cst12-industrial-sack-truck-oclarke_6500185?paid=googlepaidproducts&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0PTXBRCGARIsAKNYfG15YVWAjE6e5U9jhnKD4qWopfRbEjIUDHizjKwf5HHJoH089U7QP2UaAjCeEALw_wcB Luckily, I had the sense to ask what the (unladen) trolley weighed before I bought it. 21Kg. Ah, right, so now I need a trolley to move around my trolley ... perhaps not.

Copied to BC Famous Quotes thread. Laydeez'n'Gemmun, we have a new record for fastest newb into FQ's. Kudos.

Ped, can we ban Christine please?

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Edit, edit LOL I was just typing the same, Going underground now LOL

Al, you've spent the last 6 months raving about high pass filters, now you want to evacuate everyone's bowels by reproducing notes at 20Hz. Get a grip man! Psycho-acoustics is a complex field, your piano test doesn't quite take all factors into account. You could roll off everything under 100Hz and still be able to tell the difference between the low E on your bass and 7th fret on the A string. Your brain knows what a bass guitar or piano sound like and the typical ratios between the various harmonics that give it it's unique timbre, so it's very good at detecting the difference between two notes an octave apart when the fundamental is chopped off. However where it gets interesting though is that musician's brains are better at this than the general population - with enough low end rolled off, some people might perceive a step from 7th fret on the A string to 1st fret on the E string as a step up in pitch rather than a step down. The Wikipedia link posted earlier goes into this.

I put some sadowsky knobs on my PM5 last week. I can now tell what the settings are without touching them!

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I was a founding member, and spent 26 years, with a KISS tribute band. We wore the full outfits and boots (custom made and VERY expensive), had custom guitars made (and existing guitars customised) and took the musical/vocal/arrangement accuracy very seriously. To me, that's what makes a 'tribute' band, rather than a 'cover' band. I even went as far as to learn firebreathing and we filled our performances with the expected pyrotechnics too.... It all paid off though... We were the first KISS tribute to perform all over Europe & Scandinavia and played numerous international fan conventions too. Over the years we played with, played for and/or appeared with almost all original and latter members of KISS as well as appearing on both of Gene Simmons worldwide TV shows. We performed for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Def Leppard, headlined festivals and launched products (Volvo etc). We also performed at music 'trade shows', played Halloween at the Cafe De Paris in Monaco and toured Japan with The Bootleg Beatles, Counterfeit Stones, T-Rextasy and Royal Family (Queen show), gaining endorsements from Washburn, Ibanez, Cort and Spector along the way.... We even discovered that KISS were keeping up date with our performances and later found that a mid song breakdown/arrangement I had created had been adopted by KISS themselves in their live show! It was very hard work, but great fun and gave me life experiences that will stay with me forever. I also spent spare time in originals bands and cover bands over the years so have seen both sides.... Tribute haters gonna hate...... usually from their bedrooms...... but I guarantee I worked 10 times harder during every 2hr tribute show than haters ever have onstage....

There we have it. @Al Krow The BB2 may well go down a few Hz lower than your VK210 (and indeed your Markbass combo) but, as has been covered by several folk in his thread, there’s more to producing a good sounding low note than how far down a line goes on a graph. I know you want to go to The Gallery to investigate further but we did that months ago - comparing the BB2 to the VK210 and the MB combo. I brought my MTD Super 5 and made plenty of use of my B string, after which we both agreed that the VK was producing (in our subjective opinions) a more pleasing tone than both the BB2 and the MB combo. The amp was flat throughout. It was apparent that the three cabs were voiced differently. Again, we were in agreement that the VK - the cab with the most present mids - sounded best (subjectively) with my 5 string bass...and we’ve come full circle to the importance of mids to a good bass guitar tone. I say bass guitar specifically because it is a harmonically complex instrument. Where the BB2 might be a more clear winner is when running sub-heavy sounds such as our octavers. A COG T16 or even a DOD Meatbox for example may well shake walls a bit more forcefully through a BB2 than through your Markbass combo. Those sorts of pedals put out quite a lot more true sub bass energy than a typical bass guitar, and with fewer overtones and harmonics, especially when the filter/tone controls are closed off. So my question to you is do you want a BB2 to improve your bass guitar sound, or do you want a BB2 to improve your subsynth bass octaver sound?

Make sure you post your dubstep version of Proud Mary

Nice choice.

Two things to note here: 1) Don't believe the quoted frequency response of any speakers. Those measurements are nearly always taken in an anechoic chamber and don't translate with much accuracy to the real world. For example: I have a set of studio monitors that are quoted flat down to 37Hz, but acoustic measurements show they actually start rolling off closer to 50Hz (still plenty of bass there, of course). Bass cabs will be exactly the same. There'll be some energy at those low frequencies, even down to 25Hz in the cab mentioned above. But it'll be a lot less than you think. And certainly less than the speaker manufacturers' marketing materials claim. 2) Subwoofers certainly have their place, but they are hellish to get right at a live gig. My mix room at home has a flat(ish) frequency response right down to 30Hz. I've achieved this through a lot of obsessive faffing around, involving use of a subwoofer; plus room EQ software to get everything <50Hz under control; plus a whole load of acoustic treatment (details in this thread for the nerds). 'Untamed', that same subwoofer creates what looks like Mt Everest in my frequency response and the low end turns to indiscernible mush. So I definitely don’t recommend anyone incorporating a subwoofer into their live rig unless they really know what they’re doing. It’s a guaranteed recipe for disaster

I don't have any old shots, all lost, but here's a good bit of stone wall from 4 years ago. Bass player in standard issue waistcoat, hat and shades, of course

It will be a start...

You need to go on Scrapheap Challenge @Andyjr1515! You could compete with the A-Team to make a functioning Siege Onager from some wood and a few pins.

Wow, that's more comprehensive than I was expecting! That looks very flexible indeed. I'm currently running an older Zoom B3 for "everything" and I've been eyeing up a B3n to replace it, but to balance out the nicer sounds I'm losing the DI and USB audio (which is how I play at home, bass into Mainstage via the USB on the B3 to play along to songs or backing tracks etc). I know DI and USB interfaces aren't exactly expensive anymore but still bit of a pain turning a £150 pedal into a £260+ purchase. Looks like the dream setup at the moment would be a Helix in a rack with the foot controller, paired with wireless in-ears and an FRFR if needed. I've always been more than happy to play direct where possible as I love the idea of a very low-volume stage. However, I'm not in a band, and play only Harley-Benton basses in the spare room so maybe a £2,500 rig is a touch excessive however this looks like an amazing piece of kit. I'd definitely prefer this over a traditional amp setup if I were to ever find a band.

Does this count as a tribute?

*wracks brain trying to think of a Down In The Tube Station At Midnight pun* *gives up*

Sometimes it's a wonder that we ever get to play at all with all this to worry about!

Ahh, see here for me is the grey area. When I said I didn’t like the dressing up thing for tribute bands, there are a few certain groups where this is different, those groups when the group and the theatre is more about the show than the music, such as kiss, pink floyd etc. For those groups the dressing up is the show, I mean it doesn’t really matter who is in the costumes or on stage, the show matters a lot more

If you went mad with it yes but a little goes along way

Lovley colour

I played for a while in a groovy little Paul Rodgers tribute band, playing stuff by Free, Bad Co, some of his solo stuff and even a cheeky Queen number or two. We made no attempt to look like any of those bands as no amount of wigs and loon pants would cover up the fact that we were all "men of a certain age". The "dressing up" thing wouldn't have worked for us, but if you and the rest of your band can pull off a decent visual resemblance to Nirvana, Peter Paul and Mary or Napalm Death, then have at it, I say. Having seen a bunch of "heritage acts" phone in some rather lacklustre shows in the last few years, a decent tribute act is most definitely a viable option, if you want to hear your favourite songs played by musicians who aren't yet victims of the ravages of time. Just make sure that if you're making a decent wedge in clubs and theatres by playing another bands tunes, that you make sure PRS know and they can chuck some royalties at the original artists.

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Welcome! Nice gear!!

Here go the opinion police again...

I do. It's weird, incredibly hot, and a lot of fun. We don't make much money - it's mostly just a laugh and a chance to play some nice venues for other fans who appreciate the music too. Got quite good at changing costumes in less than thirty seconds too.

That's the one song where I get to totally unleash my fretless slide bass - love playing it the rare times I get the chance. Never listen to the original though! This thread is sort of mixing up "hate to play" with "hate to listen to"...

This might look quite good on paper: Played bass with David Gilmour; Been in the charts; Headlined the Isle of Wight Festival All this was done after the age of 30 (to counter the disillusioned youngster earlier on)! Oh, and I killed a man while playing the Birdies Song (did I mention that before?) - rock'n'roll.

It's Christmas Eve 1978. I am playing at Portsmouth Radical Club with a jazz/dance quartet. We launch into the Birdies Song and, about halfway through, there is someone waving at the other end of the dance floor. It becomes apparent there is someone lying on the floor. The drummer at this gig is a first aider and goes over and the floor clears. An ambulance arrives quickly and they spend a good 40 minutes working on the guy before they put him into a chair and wheel him out, he looks grey. The drummer returns and I say to him "you managed to get him back then" to which he replies "no, he was dead but they didn't want to cause a panic". Turns out the chap had had open heart surgery and been told to either take it easy and live a bit longer or just carry on and face th possibility of a major heart attack. He chose the latter. We played The Queen (as you did back then) and we packed up. So, I have killed and got away scot-free!!