Leaderboard

Time for a story, sorry Many years ago lighting was expensive and I was broke. For our band I kibbled some lighting together, ahem health and what? Anyway I had two kitchen spotlight units with three different coloured halogen spots in each, a strobe attached to each and a smoke machine. It was all wired through a homemade footswitch to turn it all on and off. The smoke machine was tucked behind my massively over the top bass rig consisting of a bi-amped pair of 15's and a pair of 12's, aiming behind the drummer. When we did Motorheads Overkill I would stomp on the switch turning off the coloured lights and turning the smoke and strobes on when it got to all the false endings, if you know the song you'll know when I mean. At one gig I stomped enthusiastically on the switch at the correct moment which immediately fell to pieces leaving the smoke machine and strobe permanently on only able to be turned off at the wall. The drummer slowly disappeared from sight, then the guitarist and I and it stayed on for the remainder of the song until the stage area and crowd were completely lost in the fog and blinded by massive white strobes bouncing off the cloud. Oh how we all laughed, well apart from the drummer who was having some sort of epileptic asthma attack

Sounds a fun project, if you give us a call and chat to Dave Green(who designed the LB30)he will more than likely give you some advice(he normally does even when not asked...) on how to tie everything up... I’m fairly sure he won’t mind you being ‘inspired’ by his output stage... but sometimes he can be a tad grumpy so you takes your chances 😉

I had a Kay EB100 (tulip bass). It did go on the bonfire 😃

Kays are getting harder and harder to find these days, as anyone with any sense who had one would have spent an enjoyable afternoon pouring petrol on it and watching it burn!

A bunch of Indie halfwits, who are so talentless they are unable to join in with the opening theme, and instead just stand there with their arms folded. A proponent of world music, never heard of before or since, producing some unintelligible atonal drivel, which nevertheless is lapped up by the audience less they be accused of racism for not liking it. A former boy/girl band member trying to gain some real muso credibility to kickstart a solo career, but obviously finding live vocals a bit tough. A former legend living on past glories, much loved by the audience who are obviously saddened that the legend is past their best and the voice is not what it was. A re-formed but fatter and balder line up of a band, failing to make anyone interested in their new material. Plus a painful ‘off the cuff’ chat with a ‘friend’ or celebrity in the crowd.

Taken just now from Ebay.co.uk, used, 'BIN', with approximate postage costs. I've not selected on make, just availability, but not damaged, of course... Hi-hat £20 HH Stand £15 2 x Cymbal stands £30 20" Ride £25 16" Crash £25 Total £115 There are also packs of 'beginner' cymbals starting at £20 or so. Is that expensive as a 'get you going' deal..?

Some of that is harsh but true. However for an originals project 4 months to write and release 9 songs isn't unreasonable (depending on the songs of course). For the majority of new originals bands a handful of 25-30 minute support slots would the way to ease into gigging. No one is going to want to see an unknown band band with unfamiliar songs playing for any longer. IME originals bands don't need a PA. The venues they play nearly always have them. In the last 10 years of gigging with originals bands I have done less than a handful of gigs at venues that didn't have an in-house PA and engineer to drive it.

There were several episodes of spontaneous polite applause from the clientele throughout a very pleasant evening with my quartet at a restaurant/bar in Sutton Coldfield.

And don't forget, Bonfire Night is coming up soon... just sayin'...

Quite, Health and Safety. Or do I mean Health & Efficiency..? Anyway, the safest way to dispose of a Kay bass is to bury it (not in your own garden, obvs) or leave it in the boot of your car until you can drive to the coast and hurl it into the sea. If you're pressed for time and really can't stand the damn thing, wait until it's dark and throw it into next door's garden, preferably at that bloody plastic flamingo you don't like. Done!

His book, Kraftwerk: I Was A Robot is an excellent read.

It is indeed a Kay, as sold by Woolworths in the 70s. Didn't cost a lot then worth even less now although some think they are worth a fortune and collectable.

This is true. If there is a musician in the audience and you are playing like you don't care, you have probably lost networking and gig opportunities. Always give 101% even playing to one man and a dog. . . you never know who's listening in the other bar. I've been asked to join every band I've been in since 1985. I've picked up every gig and band because a band member suggested me or a band leader dropped in and thought I would fit into his band. So how you sound is important but how you play is even more important. Every gig is a potential introduction to more players.

Yer actual leg end, there.

Jeff Lynne's ELO at London O2 Arena last night! Wonderful songs, fantastic musicians and vocals, stunning light show and an atmosphere of smiley, happy people singing along..... oh, and my 'young at heart' Mum by my side enjoying very minute. Precious moments for sure :)

There is a different switch available, maybe thats more for you: I have a mopar purple NG-2, and have experimented with the pickup configurations a lot... as you might know all the recent Combustion and NG models have all three pickup cavitys routed already, so it was easy to switch positions. After all the testing, my ideal NG-3 switching would look like this - if limited to four positions..: middle/bridge in series middle only bridge/neck in parallel d-bird type all three Neck only sounds worse imo to the middle only. Comparable character, just less tone and definition to it. It has a bit more low oomph. neck/bridge in parallel sounds absolutely cool. Mind that the Combustion and NG models have different preamps. I like the gritty Tone Capsule a lot.

Wolfgang Flur, (ex Kraftwerk) last Friday night, in a small club in Cardiff He's now over 70, but still full of energy (more movement / dancing than he did in Kraftwerk) Great songs & accompanying videos, met him afterwards for a signed CD + poster. Nice fella too

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/headless-bass-guitar-Project/173589713614?hash=item286ac0d2ce:g:FvAAAOSw4c5bxGN9

My Babies 82 JV Squire Jazz (with Fender decal) with a Hipshot Kickass bridge,Nordstrand NJ4's,East J retro Deluxe and Gotoh Lollipop Tuners strung with DR High Beams Fender Nate Mendel with a Hipshot Vintage Bridge,Aguilar P60 and a mint rebel relic pickguard. Strung with TI flats Used to have loads of basses, but now just have these two! They do everything i need 😁

Maybe I’m having a “start all over again” this time next week I’ll be clumsily fumbling through Blood Sugar Sex Magic and getting a pink Mohawk

9 songs in an originals power trio doesn't seem enough to gig with. You need to be looking at 2hrs worth of material to gig unless its a support act or a shared gig with other bands. I normally allow 6mths to get a start up band gigging. I'll wait a year if the band are excellent and i'm enjoying it enough but if no sign of arranging gigs or preparing for it you have to ask yourself if its what you really want from a band. My current band is about 8mths into rehearsing altho its been a very inconsistent rehearsal regime due to other band comitments from them. That was made clear at start of the year that they had bookings with other bands and we would need to work around that until bookings are clear and slowed down a bit. You simply need to sit and think about what you want from a band and base your decision on that. Hopefully it works out for you. Dave

I think the pickups in those old Kay’s are microphonic, plug it into an amp and speak into the pickup, it’s basically a microphone! despite the low quality, if you run it through an overdrive pedal, it sounds pretty good.

I hang my head in shame.. I really like the look of that Kay...

Have you got one of the flamed maple tops under the paint ? Really pretty with flamed maple 😃😎 I went for gold hardware (on advice of ex-friend),active preamp and Warman jazzbar pickups

If you are wishing to gig, it sounds to me like you could be wasting time and effort with this band. A drummer without symbols beggars belief. Four months rehearsing just 9 songs. In our area you would have zero chance of getting a gig with only 9 songs, unless it was a support slot to another band. Does the band have a PA? I cannot answer your question as what you should do, I would personally walk and hopefully find some other musicians with gigging experience to work with, life is too short. Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but reality sometimes has to kick in.

It's a Peavey Zephyr. Cracking bass,gets the Americans all in a tizzy cause it's a European only model 😎

That’s great Only asked because I was 14 and just bought my first bass and i remember playing public image and exodus, Bob Marley 👍

The drummer can hire / borrow / beg them, the guitarist can put them on an iPad and read them out - jobs done.

I think it fits in just fine

Hey! Thanks for posting. Now we can see where @Marcoelwray's Elwray bass is too! For those who don't know what I'm talking about.... Congratulations on the new bass day!

Thanks for the info - it's clearly a budget instrument but it plays ok - the action is a bit high and the strings sound about 30 years old but it's actually not bad! Truss rod still works too. It's light, and I now know how old it is.

Absolutely. As I said earlier, some modern gear is designed to sound good instantly (i.e. in a shop) when playing solo, but Trace gear is made for gigging. It does indeed take time to learn how to get what you want from it. And Trace amps just don't need to be turned up much, even in big rooms. They will sit very nicely in a mix, and you ARE going to be heard, even if you're 'only' using a 150W RMS amp. But then anything worth doing takes a bit of effort. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it and it wouldn't be cool...

Yes, the TE manual is very comprehensive. I remember years ago, with a Series VI and a Wal (!) it was a struggle to get a good stage sound in hurried sound checks, and it was made harder by not having many decent PA’s. The amp had to cover the room, so it usually seemed way too much on stage. These days, with an old(er) AH150 it seems much easier. Pick a bass that sounds good, turn off the pre-shape and use the graphic eq very sparingly, usually just a slight low boost and some upper mid cut. DI into PA if the room needs it. 😎

I wasn’t that into The Lemon Twigs on first viewing but in light of the reaction on here I just watched them again and really enjoyed it.

Haven't bought my tkt yet - but I'm intending to be there! :)

Thanks for the advise all - my GAS got the better of my and an NG2 is due to arrive any minute now! 😃

OK , will 'alternative rock' do?.

Went to see Chatham County Line last night at The Met in Bury. Superb bluegrass band from North Carolina, amazing musicianship and stunning vocals. Upright bass sounded fantastic, played by Greg Readling. Brilliant venue too, first time I've been.

Used it again at rehearsal last night with my souly/bluesy/rocky project. The keys player wasn't there last night so it quickly morphed into a 3 piece blues rock trio. The guitarist always plays far too loud with a very bright tone. Not pleasant and has a million super expensive pedals that all sound very similar. Anyway, the PF50t sounded great, didn't run out of power and looks great. Still happy with the decision.

PS Taking the lid off the amp and applying Deoxit to any obvious jack contacts may save you a few bob. YMMV etc

Similar to a previous post - thank you Roger2611 :+) I 'retired' from playing Live about 20-years ago, for various reasons. I've had anxiety since my early teens (music helps me cope), but I used to get quite cross when I felt I couldn't hear other band members clearly enough to give a good, no - great performance; due to poor monitoring, sound levels etc. I digress. Anyway, back in the summer I was invited by an old mate (a drummer) who asked me to help him out with a Live performance for his Degree assessment, in the back room of a pub in London (Sarf of the river), which had a small stage and a P.A. rig, a drum kit, guitar and Bass back line ~ with floor monitors. He'd decided to use backing tracks - not a problem - and also recruited a vocalist to help out the set. Lots of other students were being assessed on the day, and there was a short (maximum 10 minutes) set up time. It was all rather rushed. We got through the set of 8 songs somehow, but - it was bl**dy awful. I couldn't hear a f*cking thing. The floor monitors were almost useless - the backing track was only coming through the p.a.. the drummer had a monitor for the click, but he struggled to keep us nailed.. not fantastic when the performance goes towards your final marks! I'm not against clicks and backing tracks - I like them, but if you're going to do it, 1. Decent on stage monitoring is CRITICAL !!! - you've got to be able to hear, almost as if you are playing along to an LP at home. 2. DO NOT rely on the venue monitor guy to look after you. 3. Yes - send a feed to the house p.a. but bring your own monitors with independent level controls, get comfortable, and rehearse with your monitoring. And good luck! :+)

LOL.. What would Farage have to say if, as part of the leaving the EU, we had to give all the words back that we stole!? Answer: nothing, he'd be speechless. (This makes Brexit quite attractive, come to think about it...)

Pop down your local chemist and buy a pack of these - you'll soon be back to thinking that the gear will make a difference and the GAS will be back

We use Drop pedals in our band - both guitarists and myself. We have a few originals that just sound right played lower (three half-steps down from already-half-step-down with our last singer and from standard tuning with our current singer) and whilst we used to change guitars to achieve it, it put a break in the flow of the performance while we changed over and checked tuning, which we didn’t like; it was even worse if we then had to change back, especially given the average set length for an original power metal band playing local support slots etc. For the guitars it was a bit of a no-brainier - the Drop pedal works great as intended. For me on bass it was a judgement call; do I still change bass and work on the speed of changeover, play the line further up, play the whole set on a 5, or try the Drop pedal. I tried it and initially wasn’t sure as it sounded a little modulated, but with the Thumpinator in front of it to give it the cleanest possible signal to process, I decided it wasn’t out of tune or unpleasant and it was plenty close enough alongside the other elements in our live performance. Tuning up half a step to standard when we changed singer helped very slightly again in terms of accuracy, though I still wouldn’t want to go any further than 3 half-steps down with the pedal no matter what the starting point. I wouldn’t use it always-on and certainly wouldn’t record with it, but for an instant change in feel for a couple of songs to vary a set, it does more good than harm. We’ve been using them for a good while now and nobody’s ever come up and said “that sounded dodgy”! 🙂

+1 for the Focusrite interfaces, I have a Scarlett 18i20 and it's excellent, I just plug basses directly into the interface.

Yeah, it works for me visually. If they can sort the switching to be on/off per pickup it'd be perfect. That said the middle pickup on it's own sounds superb.

I think everyone has their own holy grail, a bass they arrived at through influences, fave tones, feel, looks, value for money, ability to fit most/all musical situations...... endless other reasons etc...... but mainly that just feels 'right' and almost an extension of their musical self. Mine is the Spector NS2. YMMV.....

P-Tone, you say? GAS-inducing, you say? This is track that made me pick up a bass...15 seconds in... 😁

Well true generosity of spirit would have been for the seller to sell the bass on behalf of TM Stevens for a modest fee, not to exploit his name for a huge mark up.