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The Baree was a good gig. Fantastic crowd. Blue

Like @Franticsmurf last night was my first gig using IEMs only. A wedding gig near Holborn, the “wedding planner” company did a fairly poor job of considering both band and DJ (stage set up for DJ booth, “oh we forgot we’d need to put a band somewhere too…”) 75dB limit, we were not allowed amps, monitors, acoustic kit, even our own DIs and mics… We ended up in the corner, with the electric kit wedged between the stage and the PA speakers. Guitarist other side of the speakers, keyboard player out in no man’s land. The singer and I were both wireless so ended up being either side of the DJ booth, or on the dance floor with the lovely crowd. Going back to the organisation, we were proudly given a “green room” 5 minutes walk from the marquee which had no food, drink or toilet facilities, when we got fed our singer’s chicken wasn’t cooked and we ended up starting about 1 hour later than scheduled (which to be fair is standard for a wedding… just that by this point no one from the planners was around so no one was taking charge!!) We decided to shorten our two sets into one long one, and as we neared the end we played our “last song” then immediately got switched off for the DJ. Thanks to the minimalist set up we had finished, packed and loaded the van within 15 minutes 😂 All in all, the playing part was ace, my first IEM-only gig and it generally worked fine (got to check a niggle with my earbuds but I think operator error highly likely the cause) plus it was an excuse to buy a Backbeat. The crowd were great and danced all night. Just a shame about the “wedding planners” and their lack of organisational skill 😃

A good weekend for me, Sarum’s Lot (classic rock covers) played at a Pizzeria in Salisbury on Friday evening, played outside under a gazebo due to the usual British summertime weather - unusual place to play and all a little last minute but we advertised it well on all of the usual social media outlets and had a good turnout, quite a few of our regulars were there and by the end of the evening the crowd around the market square has swollen to around 150 or so, we all played well and have been rebooked to play another couple of Friday evenings there, so that’s cool. Saturday night Uncle Jack (jukebox band) played at The Constitutional Club in Chippenham, a completely different affair to the night before but great fun nevertheless, 130 tickets sold so we had a good night, I had a few technical gremlins with my IEM’s but got through it unscathed.

BLOCKBUSTARZ 70's Glam covers band at The Dreadnought in Bathgate last night, one of our fav venues. Had some issues with Handbox WB-100 DI being too hot (no pad on the desk) Bass was clipping in first set. SE fitted a DI in the break and all sorted. Great turnout with lots of dancers all night after the initial staring at the outfits for first few songs. Mobile cameras going all night from 8:30 till we finished 11:30 with a 10min break in middle. No vids or pics as yet. Group of "fans" came down from Dundee to see us after we played Beat Generator few mths back and quite a few came up from Dumfries & Galloway to see us too. Looks like we are getting a fan base Thoroughly enjoyed it. Dave

The covers band, Night Shift, played at the South Normanton Gala yesterday. South Normanton has the distinction of being on the Which short-list for the shabbiest high street in Britain but fortunately the Gala took place in the grounds of nearby Carnfield Hall. The gala is totally run by volunteers, including the bar staff, and we just got expenses plus free beer and chips. Only a 15 minute journey too. Lots of very drunk happy people dancing around to our set. It was also the first run-out for the shirt my daughter brought me back from Bali. It was a bit breezy in the field but I took off my jacket for show time.

We played a birthday party for a relative of the band's sax player last night. It was the other side of Cowbridge in sunny South Wales, in a little village buried in the farmland. I had a lift with the drummer and the sat nav decided to play games and sent us along an ever narrowing lane, until it became a farm track and then a rally stage. Several clunks and bumps later we emerged onto a real road and managed to find the venue. It was the birthday boy's back garden, complete with bar, barbecue and buffet (the three 'B's that complete the perfect gig). The whole village had been invited so volume wasn't an issue (although we're not really a loud band) and the relative jumped up to play a couple of songs with us. First time using only IEMs for me with no back line to fall back on (literally and metaphorically). I have been working with our FOH guru to get a mix I'm happy with and I've converted out keyboard player to IEM as well. The rest of the band have yet to see the light - or is that 'hear the word'? I took and used my Sterling HH - the sound cuts through nicely with this line up, which is drums, bongos, guitars x2, keys, sax, trumpet, ukes x3 and banjo along with a singer and 3x BVs. As a back up (and because I wasn't sure how much space there'd be) I took my recently acquired Ibanez EHB1000s. It stayed in the bag as I had acres. After last weeks 4 hour marathon we were all still a little weary but fortunately there was a 10pm curfew and we only played for 3 hours. Much dancing, singing along and and appreciation from the 100 or so that were there and great stage lighting courtesy of a lovely sunset through the trees in front of us.

I have 16 of these all identical

Played with The 77s last night at the Market House in Maidstone last night. It was our third gig in 4 weeks playing in Maidstone and was by far the best. Quite a tight area to set up in, but a great crowd and we ended up playing for nearly 3 hours.

Like all these "tests" the scientific methodology is so flawed that the test itself is worthless. The proper scientific way would be first to see whether simply dismantling the guitar and putting it back together with the same parts produces any change in sound. Once you can prove that it can be done 50 times in a row without any difference, only then can you start examining the the effect of replacing ONE component at a time.

Yellowhouse had a good one last night. Large sized pub in Harlow and our first gig there. They have bands a couple of times a month and it's a typical sports bar/food place. Quite a difficult sound though - it was long and low with a wooden floor, no carpets and full length glass windows down the whole of one side. The bass and kick drum was just disappearing as soon as you stood 20 feet away out front. (On stage it was loads of fun though as the bass was properly cranked up to compensate - my eyeballs were shaking. New strings on a Warwick Corvette with EMG's, a Mesa BB750 pushing hard through a pair of Barefaced Big Baby cabs.) We weren't sure if we may be a bit too rowdy/rocky for what we assumed would be a Sex On Fire/Mr Brightside crowd but had loads of people coming up after saying it was refreshing to see something a bit different from what they usually had there. Half a dozen regulars also went down the 'best band we've ever had here' convo which is always nice for the ego. Rebooks guaranteed for next year. Easy load in and excellent hospitality from the owners and security guys as well. We enjoyed ourselves. Oh, and i was back home in 20 minutes 🙂

Played somewhere in the Cotswolds last night. Aren't satnavs great? Started the day in Charmouth and several hours later ended up headlining an event somewhere else. Just bunged in the what three words link and headed off. Modern gigging. Don't even need to know where you are, where you've been or where you're going

Tonight: Ten minutes from home, round of drinks on the house, one set, massive PA provided, dep singer/guitar smashed it, I sang lead on one, done by 8 o'clock and paid in cash. Today was a good day.

I've seen more scientific method in a Laurence Fox rant.

The funniest part of all this tone this tone that nonsense affecting the resonance of an guitar is that you then go and rest it against a big, fat, tone sucking belly.

As @Dad3353@Dad3353 says, the bridge is a piezo unit so you'd want that and guts are contained in a large triangular(ish) metal box so could relatively easily be transplanted. A few people have done this with the six string guitars. I'm pretty sure you won't be able to just get the electronics though. I didn't like the look so gave it a pretty extensive makeover. There's a thread on here from years ago but I think the pictures were lost. From this, To this, And just to prove it can be, and is, gigged without worry,

So... does what you ate just before you rest your bass against the big, fat tone sucking belly actually affect the tone through some kind of resonance thing? A plate full of mashed potato absorbs the vibrations, giving a muted, Motown feel while nuts, seeds and raisins take the vibrations and creates subtle overtones that cut through the mix? And my aftermarket paisley pick guard on my P Bass makes everything sound like the 60's. I have to go now, so the nurse tells me. 😄

My basses sound different depending how much alcohol is in my organism.

Unless they’re a left-hand thread, but everyone knows that!

Well the aim was 2, one main one backup. First weighed 8lbs1, second 8lbs5, was fine with that but then one came up weighing 7lbs15, given that I’ve “gone Mustang” due to back issues it made sense to get it. Do I have a fave, yes the first one as these little basses have given me a new lease of life on playing in bands, realistically I was possibly going to have to stop being in bands so I’ll forever love the first one for what it signifies to me.

I'm not even going to dignify this with a view.

I'll need to get "Street lightning, go street lighting" to the tune of that song from Grease out of my head before I can dosomething useful 😩

Apart from one OBBM Jack lead lead that will only sit properly coiled, I have for the past 30+ years "coiled" my long leads by looping them in halves until they are at the right length to knot loosely in the middle. Despite this being supposedly terrible practice not a single one of these cables as failed during this time. IME, any other storage method results in a case/bag full of leads resembling photo 4 no matter how carefully I coil and clip them.

I’m a day late on this one - sorry - but on Thursday night I played Rebellion in Manchester with Stray. We were supporting British Lion, what with Del being good mates with Steve Harris. Bit of a hero moment for me. It was a bit nerve wracking as we had to pull in a sound engineer to take with us who fortunately did a sterling job. I gigged my Epi Thunderbird Classic 4 Pro for the first time. Loved it except for the fact that the side markers disappeared on the dark stage. It’s now been tastefully modded with electrical tape for the next gig! Also got Steve to sign the back of it for me. Anyway, we played well and the crowd were really receptive. The British Lion guys were all really helpful and welcoming and we all had a splendid time. Shall be repeating the experience in Nottingham tomorrow! Steve and I Steve’s Basses One bit of our two vehicle convoy with Maiden’s tour bus in the background!

My set up for our opening for Falmouth Soul Sensation last Saturday. FOH through Bose PA. in the Old Church at St Day. Amazing acoustics

Gigged last night and used my Player Series Jazz bass which is now back to stop pickups and Nickel Roundwounds. In the past I ran it to try and mimic a PBass ( neck pup on full, bridge in 50%, tone full on ) but last night .., I used it with both pickups on full, tone on full and then used my EQ pedal to boost 400-800hz. It sounded amazing in the rock band with gut rumbling lows ( deeper than a PBass ) and using the MXR 6 band EQ pedal I could put back some mids that get scooped with both pups in together. It fitted every song very well and it’s the first time I think I understood what a Jazz bass can really sound like. With EQ adjustment it sounded really good and different to the PBass thump. Better ?? Not sure but I like it and it’s worked out well.

Hello all has anyone got any information on this bass please

These -

Bought a bass off of Mark on Saturday, it was so nice to see him and catch up/put the world to rights. He did mention the website would be up and running very soon! I also sent an email asking about a new pick guard on Saturday evening expecting a reply on Monday… Marcus was on it that very evening and even emailed Spencer Lull straight away to get an answer! Can’t knock that for customer service!

One of our fave annual gigs - Porlock Weirfest - came round again last night. Nothing beats watching the sun go down over the sea from up on stage at The Bottom Ship. Glasto? You can keep it 😊 Mrs Scrumpy took the video just after nipping into the pub. This was as close to the stage as she could get when she came back. At least you're spared our ugly mugs. Not played SOF for a while but the crowd were hollering for it. Shame we didn't all start from the same place 😐 Watch closely for proof of the curative power of music; the guy who arrived on crutches is now waving them above his head! I'm trying to remember how to do a link that everyone can share... Silverback wrap Porlock Weirfest 2023

So back in the Spector club..took the plunge on this of reverb ..has no serial no which is strange..doesn’t look like an after market respray.. sounds and feels like a spector 34” scale so research tells me it’s and old Czech..set up was pretty poor and the paint is lifting around the headstock ..but for £500.00 I think it’s a bargain..

I have seven Vantage VP-710B's with two identical pairs. I started with one, then a spare for it, then one for BEAD, then a spare for that. Then I found one in better shape, and then one in even better shape! And one to donate spare parts. I know most won't understand, but what can i say... I'm obsessed with them 🤣

Tort definitely adds something

I just want to know how to roll an iphone headphone cable and put it into my pocket without it tying itself into knots.🤬

In my day job I work for a company which manufactures in Poland and Germany and then ships direct to customers in the UK. We have this happen an awful lot - since the unmentionable of course, before that it was fine… Basically it’s sitting waiting customs clearance and there’s sweet FA you or Thomann can do about it. It will reappear soon I’m sure. But don’t worry, your next passport will be blue 😃

If there are aftermarket manufacturers for it, there will be propaganda for it. If it can be used for one-upmanship, there will be propaganda for it. If there are bedroom players who only ever play in isolation and can obsess over microscopic perceived changes in tone when nobody can really hear it because the only part of this whole circus which actually matters in the end is the music these tools make, there will be propaganda for it.

This weekend's gig rig of choice. I've gigged the cab a few times but never the matching set. Not sure why because the 700RB (an early MK1) has imho one of the best rock/rythm n blues sounds I've heard in recent times.Thouroughly enjoyed using it and it barely broke a sweat despite a thumping loud low-end.

Back at the scene of the crime last night, where the ABM500 I'd borrowed from @merton decided that power amps were passé and decided to blow its one, taking down some other bits with it. I only had two people ask me if I was going to blow an amp this time... Fortunately the new ABM600 held up nicely and sounded amazing, let down only by its operator missing a cue and coming in half a bar too late on one song, causing us to have to stop and start again, but other than that everything went well. Apparently I was too loud, but oh well 🤣 I even managed in this unlikeliest of venues to find a kindred spirit with whom I reminisced about 80s kids TV shows, and agreeing that excluding Tom Bombadil from the LOTR trilogy was a good decision. The band's tab was also comped by the guy whose 65th birthday party it was, which is a great thing in a brewery tap! Back rehearsing tomorrow before the next gig Saturday week.

Now sent and apparently Royal Mail delivered next day. Thanks for all the interest. rob

Jah Wibble?