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A two gig weekend for me in the covers band Top Deck. Both not-for-profit outdoor community events. Friday was the South Normanton Gala, an annual event for the small town close to Junction 29 of the M1. There was a good, covered stage and a decent PA and sound crew. Back line not supplied, so I took my Markbass LM3 and Barefaced Midget T. Plenty loud enough on stage and the soundman miced it up for ‘out there’ on the field. I played my Mustang PJ. As far as I could tell, everyone before us had sang to backing tracks, so an hour of a full band changed the atmosphere and we had a loud and appreciative audience. No pay for anyone, but drink and food tokens. I was driving, so put my efforts into eating chips. Saturday was Folk in the Woods* , an annual mini-festival at the Waingroves Community Woodland. The woodland area had a coal mine until the 1980’s and has been revived into a nature reserve and community asset. Top Deck were top of the bill and by the time we went on stage England had won the football and people were streaming back from the nearby village and pub. All good fun and a couple of encores. No money, but drink and food tokens again. There was back line supplied, so I took the opportunity to use the bus, just taking my Mustang and a few bits. Guess how I spent my tokens. 🍻 Sunday I mostly spent sitting in the garden. *Not folk music, folk as in people.

Did my first gig for 12 weeks on Friday night. (back injury prevented me) It was just a pub, with my 80s duo, I was singing and playing guitar. Sometimes sitting on my stool, mostly standing. We all had a great time and with a 10.30 finish, was home with my dinner by 11.30 happy days

Hi folks I have always loved the look of Gibson EBs, possibly/probably influenced by some of my favourite bassists using them, but I have been able to find 'that' bass. Not easy to find a luthier who offers them either, however I noticed a build by Alex at AGH and asked him if he would make me something similar and here we are. Specs in brief are: Rosewood top over a 5-pc maple wenge neck through with cherry wings, 32" medium scale. Lower horn shaped to suit me so somewhat asymmetrical. Artec Mudbucker with series parallel switch and a Thunderbird style bridge pickup. V/V/T controls. Gotoh and BadAss harware (mostly because they were in my spares drawer). Sounds mega!

Southern Incorporated gig yesterday, social club in an old mining village in County Durham. Nice size room with plenty of enthusiastic audience members. We played really well, and slipped in a couple of newer songs as we ramp up to a major bike festival show at the end of August. Seemed to go down well with the audience as we received a standing ovation at the end of our second encore. Nice when the promoter hands you the money and says “after a performance like that I feel like I am ripping you off paying only this much” - job done 😎

Two gigs this weekend, and two new songs to add - blondie, call me, 4 semitones down, and BeeGees you should be dancing, which leads into Does your mother know, which was an existing song, same key, just faster, so expected some kind of an issue on them, and although there was, it was nothing unfixable. First gig at a pub that pays well, and we had a good crowd in there, some couple who were out to dance and did so from the start, and by the end the place was all moving, Could have done without the old guy who stood about 2 foot in front of me with his arm up for the last hour, but I guess he was happy. Also could have done without someone putting a pint of beer in front of the PA and then obviously kicking it over, which I had to stop to clear up. As it is I put stuff on the sub to ensure that people don't put their beer there 'Ooh, here is a not totally level vibrating surface, that is a perfect place to put a drink!' Second gig was an afternoon in a fixed marque on top of a hill, always good there although the weather wasn't good and it confirmed our suspicions about the quality of their wiring. The guitarist couldn't get his guitars not to be buzzing, adn then later on at the end of the gig, the singer sat down on the floor, which turned out to be wet, and when he hit his face with the microphone got an electric shock Someone is going to have a problem there! Anyway, apart from having to move slightly from the edge due to the rain, it went well, again the new songs went down well, all good.

Played our now monthly gig at the wonderful Sun Inn in Beverley. ( Milestone acoustic duo) It was Armed Forces day in the town, so instead of the usual acoustic guitarist who plays before us, they had booked a female singer ( with tracks) to do some wartime songs - Vera Lynn / swing stuff. Unfortunately this didn’t appear to be what the regulars wanted, so by the time we arrived to set up (an hour later than usual) most of them had departed. Anyway, we cracked on with our usual request format, and did 3x40 min sets. Had some great requests, including one from a couple who had just got engaged and asked for ’Stuck in the middle’ which got a laugh. Hardest songs of the day ( for me ) were a fast version of swing standard ‘Cheek to cheek’, (so many chords!) and then also a request for some Mark Knopfler stuff, so we played ‘Why worry’, which is a beautiful song written with the Everly Brothers in mind. It has a tricky count in a few places, but we managed it okay and you could have heard a pin drop in the room. Finished the gig with a singalong during Bowie’s ‘Starman’, the audience helping out with the ‘na-nas’ on the outro. Had a couple of booking enquiries after we’d played, so still a useful gig!

Bastile Days this Friday night. Bastile Days is one of Milwaukee's largest 3 day multi stage festivals. It's the first time we've played to a large night time crowd on the east side of Milwaukee. We have to be good. Here's the line up. I don't know how we got headliner status. Bastile Days Milwaukee 7/12 Beaux Art Stage 11:45am Tribal Belly Dance 1:15 Chris Pipkins 2:45 The Incorruptibles 6:00 Rebecca & The Grey Notes 9:15 Maple Road Daryl

Had an interesting experience at Bass Bros the other day. Whilst collecting a bass for a friend they let me try out some basses…. it was interesting to compare my preconceptions with the hands on experience and goes to show you definitely need to try before you buy. I was excited to play the Stanley Clarke Alembic but as nice as it was it didn’t click with me and would be hugely disappointing at that price! Similarly the Jaydee which really wasn’t me. The Warwick Thumb I picked up was nice but I was surprised by the chunky neck and would be a no for me. The Rob Allen was good but didn’t feel special. He brought down a Ric with a reverse headstock and it felt fantastic (I’m still weighing up the 2.6k price tag.. someone please buy before I pull the trigger on it!). And some of the less special basses like Jazz’s or Musicmans were more my thing. It’s interesting because if you said pick a bass by just looking at the website I’d have the Alembic but picking one based on what played the best it would be something quite different and a lot cheaper. PS the guys at Bass Bros are good. They even held on to the bass for about 6 months before I could pick it up (I don’t live in the UK).

Ditto! My band respect the fact that it's my PA, so they don't touch it, or any of the cables, or microphones, or microphone stands, or mains cables etc.... It's really good, as they do all of this without me ever needing to ask them.

Unless you're regularly pulling 100s of punters to venues, festival bookers aren't going to be asking you to play, but they will be looking to fill slots lower down the bill, so you job is to let them know you exist and to make it easy for then too book you, and that requires a fair bit of prep work: 1) Put together a list of festivals you'd like to play. Be realistic about where your band fits into that festivals' profile, music style and clientele and whether you have a snowball's chance of getting booked. I play at (and work for) festivals in Dorset a lot, and the following festivals are the better known 'non-specialist genre'/general punter type festivals close to you: Poole Harbour festival Swanage Carnival Teddy Rocks Weymouth Quayside DorsetFest Chesil Rocks. Plus, there's tons of village fete type litte 'festvials' around every weekend during the summer. 2) Once you've picked your festivals, follow them on Facebook or wherever so that you get a heads up when they put out a call for applications to play. Expect this to happpen any time from March to May/June for a festival in July/August. Not all festivals put out calls for applications because they already get loads without chasing people, so do a bit of homework and look through a festivals' web pages/blogs/facebook from the previous year- if they don't put out calls, then send them your EPK /details around April/May. 3) Put together a decent electronic press kit (EPK) that you can quickly and easily send out to bookers and that is acessible from your band website/facebook page. Make it very, very easy for a booker to see what your band is about. Images of lots of punters enjoying your band are better than lots of pictures of your band playing their instruments. When calls for applications go out, send your EPK with a brief email that includes your contact details (assuming you are the band 'manger'), where you're located, how many are in the band and the type of music you play (disco covers/polynesian funk/Tibetan goat folk/whatever). When applications come in, bookers have about 3 minutes to check out each application, so don't waste time with waffle/bigging yourself up, they just need the facts so they can put you in the 'possible' pile rather than the no/TLDR pile. Bookers will often approach applications with a brief e.g. 'I need a folk-punk band to do 40 minutes at 2:30 on the Friday and who will play for expenses' - so that's the sort of information you need to provide them with. Finally, and this shouldn't have to be said....but make sure the band is actually available to play at the festival you've applied for, as if an offer comes in for a Friday afternoon slot, that is not the time to tell them you can't do it. If you can't do the Friday afternoon for that particular festival, then say so in your email/application. 4) Be realistic about how much you'll get paid. Every festival has a budget and the lower down the bill you are, the less of that budget there will be for your band. Decide as a band what the minimum you are prepared to pay for is. It doesn't have to be the same for each festival - you may be happy to play Pole Harbour for a couple of drinks tokens each to get on the bookers list of bands for the following year, but want travel expenses and camping for a festival in Devon. Both are fine, but have that conversation with the band before you apply, not when the booker is waiting for you to confirm an offer. In my experience, bands who are easy to work with and bands who are d**ks cost the same money, but bands who are d**ks only get paid once. The easier you are to book and work with, the more likely you are to get booked again for better money. Dave

Nice one! I have a very similar pedalboard approach , and I'm more than happy now. :))

Swapped out the SGT DI for the Capo, so I could try routing the HX Stomp, some effects going to the Pre and others Post. Got a chance to use my Lounsberry Mo Bass Pedal, which is an awesome overdrive and doesn’t get the love IMHO! Sounding great so far!

I own the PA and the van. All I need to do is ingratiate myself with some talented, but cloth-eared musicians. Done that on a couple of occasions now! I don't charge for use of either, don't really feel comfortable charging mates for things. Tend to be the same with anything music related. Guess I'll never be rich.

I always assumed the point of them was just to mute open strings, to save one's right hand the bother.... oops?

So, a Lace Aluma-P arrived and I put it in the G4M P bass. Eventually. Be warned, either Lace don't know the standard dimensions of a P bass pickup or whoever made this bass doesn't (my money is on Lace knowing what's what), because the cutout is about 5mm too wide (both halves) and I had to make a new screw hole on the right side of both halves of the pickup. Doesn't matter from an aesthetics point of view, it's a rat bass, it knows what it is. Also, the pickup cavity is deeper than normal, because the stock pickup has the bar magnet crudely glued to the underside of the bottom bobbin, so needs a deeper cavity to accommodate this. The Lace Aluma-P has no appreciable mounting lugs (unlike a regular P bass cover) so the screws sit lower relative to a regular pickup. So there's a risk that if you use the existing screws, you could screw through the back of the bass. Now Lace know this and supply short screws. Trouble with that is that then the pickup sits far too low in this extra deep cavity. To work around this, first I used the original screws with the springs above the pickup mounting lug acting as improvised spacers, but then I had a brainwave and borrowed some screws from a bridge humbucker pickup ring (being 2.5x16mm - the Lace screws are 12mm) to get the pickup up to the correct height. I've ordered some screws (2.5x18mm - which are actually intended to be string tree screws) so things will be a bit more secure and I'll be able to return the screws I borrowed to the thing I borrowed them from. Original, super janky mount with original screws and springs acting as spacers (foam pushing up from the bottom): And done properly (albeit with borrowed screws - to be replaced) Sounds great BTW - really punchy, tight sound but not sterile. Great upgrade. Looking forward to giving it a proper razz at a band rehearsal this week.

Because of my geographic location, trying before I buy is an expensive waste of time. When I buy something new at distance, if I don't like it I can just send it back - it's cheaper than a round trip to Glasgow (or further). If I buy used then I have built up enough skills to recover all but the most damaged lemons. If you don't have the setup/repair skills necessary to get yourself out of most holes, then maybe you should check basses out in person before you buy. Most basses are "fine", some need fettling, few are genuinely irredeemable. I know what I like and what I don't so I don't tend to buy things I won't at least enjoy for a while.

We played a new venue for us called Inside the 22 in Rugby. So not only a reference to the game of Rugby in the town of Rugby, but the postcode is CV22 @Bluewine - the Zip code Daryl 😊. Nice big stage, decent PA and the sound guy Oli (also the owner) was excellent. We bashed through our set and included 3 originals, which went down really well. It's funny and flattering watching an audience trying to sing the words of an original cos they think they've heard it before somewhere. Used my goto rig of Mike Lull P4 with my Handbox R400 and matching cab, with the thumpinator in the effects loop. Band is called Southern Frontier Country Band so no prizes for guessing the genre. Here's that old chestnut Country Roads - actually one of my favourites to play - the middle eight really makes it. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/EkEq7M1eDtAWkSs2/

Only 3 gigs this weekend, one busy Bandeoke, one quiet Bandeoke, one freezing outside gig. 10 new songs for the Bandeoke gigs, of which only four got chosen but hey ho, I now have them all. The originals band is fun because I busk off chord charts which equates to two hours of improvisation, way more fun than trying to remember!

I'm going to impress my band mates with that Bastille history. Thanks Daryl

And Llandovery Motorbike Weekend on Sunday.

Caerleon Festival this Saturday: https://caerleon-arts.org/events/2024/07/13/bluesfire-2/

A rare night out for The Inevitable Teaspoons this coming Saturday at Drummonds in Aberdeen. Come down and see me mullering original tunes (most of which I had a hand in writing!) instead of mullering classic rock covers for a change

My Blues band The Ministry of Mojo are playing 3 sets at Dereham Blues Festival, various venues, this coming Saturday, 13th July. Come along and say hi if you're there. https://www.derehambluesfestival.org.uk/

I've just updated my pedalboard with the addition of the Strymon Lex........ sounding good.

Hey, if you went down and bought the Stanley Clarke Alembic then £200 would be a drop in the ocean and you wouldn’t feel so bad!

As @neepheid says our geographic location is a bit of a hindrance to trying out anything other than the usual basic "Fender" options 😒 For me to drive to Bass Direct / Bass Bros which are the closest decent bass shops with a wide range of options it's a 900 mile / £200 / 15 hours round trip. That's £200 extra I can put towards shipping / new strings etc. After many years of playing and trying different basses I have a good idea what floats my boat which helps me identify a potential "good-un". I would say 70% of the basses I've owned have been bought blind. Sorting out action / frets / electronics etc. has allowed me to revive a number of basses that initially seemed dull and uninspiring into a happily giggable state. 👍 If I find after 6 months of playing and gigging that the bass is not for me then I will sell it on. Any £ loss from what I paid I think of as "rental". Don't get me wrong, I would prefer to walk into a store where I can try before I buy but pragmatically its not an option. I do have very fond memories of living in Houston and going into one of the local chain of Mars Music. They sold nearly everything musical you'd want in a shop that covered 25,000 square feet (2,300m2)! They had a full stage set up in the centre of the shop where they would feature touring acts! The bass department on its own stocked 3 times what any UK bass shop has. 😮

Got it tidied up. Still need to get a shorter cable for the external pedal, but at least it's hidden underneath the board. I'm running the Mojo Mojo into the Bass Big Muff on dry mode as one pedal, turning the effects loop on and off, and it's monstrous. Loads of definition from the MM and glorious fuzz from the BBM. Does make me wonder about replacing my overdriven sound with pedals too. Get an LS2 or something like a Morningstar ML5 that I can control with MIDI to switch between loops and find another combination of pedals where one can be dirty and the other blends it. A rat clone and something else maybe. I might be getting ahead of myself! And defnintley ahead of my budget of £0... Other changes: I've swapped out the boost at the beginning of the chain for an EQ pedal that is doing a boost with some EQ points that I want. It really saturates everything massivley. Plus I've added a phaser because now I have more DSP than I did after ditching the fuzz in the GX. And I've got an Amp sim in there that I can turn on/off for practice.

Pic taken in a pitch black cupboard Glow in the dark lettering.

Reverb is full of scams now, normally get an offer for full price rather than a straight buy option and then they send the dodgy link. Had lots, told reverb and nothing seems to happen. Unfortunately thats the way of the world atm, full of chancer w**kers.

Good to read that you've managed to sort it.

I own the PA. I'm not sure anyone would want to play with me if I didn't

New venue for us, and one that only usually puts on solo singers with backing tracks - the landlady said they'd had 'a loud rock band with a really loud drummer' a while back, but they'd cleared the place in half an hour. Our BL had convinced her we were worth a try. She mentioned loud drums twice before we'd even set up. We were to be an 8:30 start, but with the match running over ET and penalties, that didn't happen, tho once the bouncing throng had calmed down and dissipated a bit we were able to get in and set up quickly. Slight rehash of the setlist (we started with the more acoustic songs), second set was as usual; decent gig (plus they left some of the tellys on so I got to watch the Turkey Netherlands match), good venue, lots of dancing from pretty much the get-go (I'm sure the early start to the drinking helped - I've always said 'the more you drink the better we are') and the landlord/lady were both delighted, and have given us another couple of bookings for (unprompted) more money. Blimey.

Played on Friday night with Stray and Saturday night with Verity Bromham at Alfold Rock and Blues Festival. I went down on the Thursday and camped for the first time in many many years. Sadly the weather wasn't kind and the camping part was an uncomfortable experience, mainly because the camp bed my drummer promised to lend me didn't fit in the tent! We played two really enjoyable sets. Organisation was fantastic and despite the rain all went well. I played my 64 AVRI Jazz into an MB500 via a small board consisting of a Zoom B3n, a Donner Compressor and a Joyo Orange Crush. I've changed my philosophy a bit on my sound recently and rather than getting a core tone from my amp, I'm now getting it from my board and using the amp's eq just to shape the sound for the room. I'm then giving the FOH a pre eq Di and using in ears just for the bass using the tuner out from the amp. This seems to be working well and I had some nice compliments on my tone from some other musos. We had a couple of issues yesterday. On load in our drummer's snare stand went over and a foot of the stand went through the bottom skin of the snare. Brave Rival's drummer bailed us out with another snare. I went to get my bass out of it's bag and the zip was buggered and I couldn't get it out, so had to sacrifice the zip (and the bag) - dang! Highlight of the weekend for me in terms of other bands was the Zac Schultz band. Great entertainers and a phenomenal bass player - Ant Greenwell - who was very nimble and had a lovely tone - Looked like a P Bass but through a Fender Rumble Combo - but it cut through like a Stingray - really nice - I wonder if Ant uses this Forum? Anyway, I was gonna stay til monday morning but missed my creature comforts so pitched down yesterday afternoon and drove home after our set. Happy Daze!

We played an hour busking gig at Summerfest today. Dep percussion. I'd give us a 5 on 1-10. Bastile Days coming this Friday night. Daryl

Bye Bye Johnny. Quo's version with audience singalong. Outside under a gazebo on Girvan Beach Front in Ayrshire.

No Room - Athletico Spizz 80

Sounds to me like you are hitting the limits of your desk. Ignore me, but since going digital ten years or more ago, all these problems have stopped for me. Need to eq the mic channel - no problem I have a choice of parametric or graphic eq. Need to eq front of house - no problem I have the choice of parametric or graphic eq. Need to eq a monitor bus - no problem I have a choice of ………. Effects-wise I have four busses with a pretty unlimited selection of delays, reverbs, etc. Monitors-wise I have six individual mono busses or three stereo busses. Need to adjust eq whilst sound checking - I just take my tablet out front with me. All this in a three rack space box that doubles as your stage box. Oh and I can save any number of scenes so that once I’ve played a venue with a band, I have a baseline setup for the next visit. On your last point, and as I am sure more knowledgeable folk than me will say, compression is no substitute for good mic technique and can actually be the source of feedback in certain situations.

I've had similar with mandocellos and octave-mandolins. I had to take a chance mail ordering a Goldtone mandocello as there wasn't anywhere in the country that had one in stock. That worked out well, but I bought a Hora one from Thomann which really doesn't suit me, even after fettling by my guitar tech. I'm currently waiting for a Goldone octavemandolin to arrive - hoping it's going to be good, but I've learned with the Hora and will return it if not. Oh for there to be a shop where I could go and try them all out!

@Silvia Bluejay I wondered why this had suddenly appeared over here. Good move it's bound to stimulate debate. @Gasman I love an update, the guitarist sounds grand and comes out of this well. Have you played with him since? For the record I'm in the same camp as the guitarist. I own the PA, life is too short to argue about such things and I'd rather stand my round than discuss who's round it is. It also satisfies my GAS

For the second year running we had a Church Weekend Away at a Scout/Guide centre just a 10 minute drive out of the city centre. Set in several acres of parkland and woodland it provided a great escape from the urban scene. Friday night kicked off with barbeque food followed by a ceilidh (had to look up how to spell that!) with the main event being on Saturday. The centre has dormitories and plenty of room for camping which some members used. After a year of rain the weather played ball and we had a great time outdoors. Saturday morning opened with a family service with a guest speaker and we played five songs; "How Great (Psalm 145)" - Sovereign Grace, "Day After Day" - City Alight, "Brick After Brick", "Gracious Father Son and Spirit" and "We Are The Church". The main hall had breeze block walls and a solid floor so the sound was well contained. I used my 35 watt SubZero bass amp which was set at only a quarter volume. Even then we had to turn it to face the back wall so as not to overpower the rest of the band; Cajon, Oboe, Keys, Acoustic Guitar and vocalist! Lunch was served before another bible talk and then it was fun and games for the afternoon. Try Frisbee Golf it's great fun! An evening meal was served while some people watched the England/Switzerland match on a big screen. My wife and I live a short drive away so we slept in our own bed that night. Sunday morning we were back at church to sing; "Come People Of The Risen King", "Day After Day", "All Through History", "By Faith" and "In Christ Alone". The congregation were in full voice for those! Then it was back to the Scout/Guide Centre for a picnic lunch and more games in the sunshine. I tried my hand at Kube which turned out to be rather addictive! All in all it was a brilliant weekend and we got to know some members of our church much better in a relaxed and happy atmosphere. If you haven't tried such an event I can highly recommend it.

Would love to say I was killing some Kreator when this was taken but knowing me it was probably something saft like Def Leppard 😆