WalMan

My pleasure Nik Sorry if it turned it into a potentially expensive test I am loving it as a rig. Light. Loud. Sounds marvy. Now the...about your Roscoe No I really mustn't. The Wal has come back out of semi retirement and I may revert to 4's for a bit. Anyhoo ... pint?

Tuesday in London for me. Can't wait. I bloody love that band. New albums good too. There's a video on youtube about his bass for the tour (an OLP) and rig. I've been wondering how he gets that solid bottom with gritty overtones and it appears it's all down to the twin channel Eden head (and being a fine BP) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9-wxOL9HX8 - not sure why this is only showing as a link instead of embedded, still...

My Wal was passive, then Pete added the Custom electrics

The main one I do I tend to show up & know a fair few - as they're classic rawk tracks - and busk the rest. As long as I can see what the rythmn guitar's doing can get there on the fly. Biggest problem there is that there is some duplication of songs from one of the bands I am with but in different keys, which can be a bit of a trial at times. Had another - that fell through after I'd done all the work for it - where I was given a DropBox link to the songs in the set and worked through those for any awkward bits. May have one coming up with my drummers funky function band and should get a recording of their sets to work through. Got asked some years back for another with a three pice (so no place to hide) and was told it was chord charts. Fair enough I should be OK to busk it. Turned up and was handed a folder of flysh1t. That was not a happy night. As above a setlist with keys is a great starting point. If they have MP3's of a set that you can listen trough to for the gist of the layout and tops & tails then so much the better

Not too bad all things considered

There have been long threads on this before. Do a bit of a search. I know I have put up long posts on this. before [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1366925121' post='2059209']The trick is to spend all your money on kit.[/quote] except when you sell it, or give up it comes back to bite. The proceeds (up to what you paid) come back in as income. [quote name='tonybassplayer' timestamp='1366930825' post='2059285']If I remember correctly you can only depreciate things like guitars etc over a period of years so for example buying a guitar for £1000 would be depreciated over say five years therefore giving you £200 per year to set against tax.[/quote] [quote name='tonybassplayer' timestamp='1366976642' post='2059716']Think there is a "capital asset" threshold so if its under it is a running expense that can be offset in the year ( strings fuel etc ) and above it then it has to depreciated over a few years as it is assumed, quite correctly, that the item will be in use over several years ( PA, Guitar etc ) [/quote]As below for a short time it's £250k going back down to £25k in about a year...another of gorgeous Georges stoopid ideas - well possibly not the relief but the transitional rules that cover the changes. Still unless your getting a 60's P in pristine condition not likely to bother you [quote name='Kinder' timestamp='1366984584' post='2059901'] I'm an accountant and tax adviser as well as a very mediocre bassist. The mileage rate is now 45p per mile for first 10,000 miles. The annual investment allowance (the threshold for writing off assets against tax in the year you buy them, rather than over a number of years) is now £250,000. If you're spending more than that on kit, I really want to come and see you play!! I'd probably suggest you run it as an informal partnership, so each band member is self-employed. You should strictly register the partnership with HMRC and file a tax return for that each year, plus each partner's individual tax returns. I can't see HMRC getting upset if you instead draw up partnership accounts and then divvy up the profit between each partner, only filing the individuals' returns. As has been mentioned, most bands won't be making any cash after their kit and expenses so I wouldn't bother if you're never making profits. The tax man only gets upset if you're not declaring taxable profits. Taking it to the other extreme, you can offset losses on your partnership earnings against other income. The losses would have to be pretty big to make it worthwhile though! I might regret this, but if anyone's got any questions or it's causing them sleepless nights, drop me a pm and I'll help if I can. Andy [/quote] I've offered the same before so no doubt one of us can advise if needs be. And as above unless your running round doing deps then if you play with the same bunch of guys week in week out you probably are technically in partnership and should register that. That can have its own set of quirks to work through in tax law. Chances are for a pub covers band any profit, even excluding apital costs on gear, is the square route of bugger all. If you have to make a tax return anyway then cover it off with a note in the additional info section. Function bands might be more borderline as regards profit remaining and taxable. BTW it's actually nnot just 20%, there is probably at least another 2% on top for NIC's, but if registered you can defer those.[list] [*]Keep receipts for everything. [*]Keep a note of mileage to r/h & gigs & work out on the mileage rate of 45p/mile for yup to 10k business miles [*]take income from gigs, deps etc [*]deuct expenses for mileage, r/h room hire, strings, batteries, leads, basically anything you spent to carry on your music business, but ignore gear for the time being [*]are expenses more than income? you have a loss and [i]might[/i] be able to set it off against other income, but expect HMRC to refuse particularly if you make losses every year in which case all you can doe is carry them forward to set against future profit. [*]is income more than expenses? you have a profit & there may be some tax & NIC to pay. In which case what did you spend on equipment in the year? claim against the profit to reduce it to nil, always remembering that what you claim as a deduction for gear now will come back in as income later on (that is ato simple and not entirely correct statement but to give the gist of a future problem you could be storing up. [/list] The bottom line is that in very many cases the amounts you are talking about are unlikely to large enough to bother HMRC, which is not to say you should just ignore it. You need to keep your receipts and other records against a pull from HMRC, but one would hope that once you put the details before them they will recognise that there are bigger fish to fry.

Played originals for years. Always enjoyed myself playing what I considered were good songs broadly written in a band context - though I'm sure if we had ever "made it" that might not have been the vocalists vision of the split of things and would have made years of friendship awkward, but he didn't so it wasn't. He emigrated years ago & the creative flame sputtered on for a while, but eventually died and turned into a covers band (itself looking to have its life support switched off anytime now I think) so perhaps the writing split would have been against us, but there was more to it than that. Still it never came to that. We had a good following in a smallish area, but never managed to break out. We would religiously rehearse / write every Monday night. Ideas flowed, sometimes from jams, others he (a basically non playing musician but with a way with words & vision) might hum the gist of a line and we would flesh it out - see examples elsewhere in your "basslines you're proud of" thread. Some of the happiest & most creative days in my life (child production excepted). Getting a collection of musicians that can put together originals that are not dervative and/or sh*te seems impossible, or perhaps I just move in the wrong circles. Nowadays I play in two or three covers bands, that sort of keep me amused, but all have issues (IMV). New project starting that produced an email recently that said amongst other things "[i]I've been doing some thinking and I believe we are better than the covers we're trying to do, and will flow far better if we just jam loads, record it all and use them as a springboard to really get cracking on some funky and bluesy originals. ... planning to get together ahead of this rehearsal and perhaps others to work on some concrete melody ideas, song keys and lyrics[/i]" so who knows, perhaps I'll find the spark again. I need to as what little playing I'm doing at the mo is killing me

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1363645630' post='2015367'] The whole culture around tabs reminds me of this old French & Saunders sketch. "But it hasn't got those little dots, for your fingers".... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FroICbwvJII[/media] [/quote]Ah thanks!! I love that sketch. One that always makes me chuckle As for tab & requests for same I am afraid I come from the era of the record/cassette player and going over and over a track again to work it out. I also find tab difficul to read and would much prefer finding the dots. I have had occasion to learn a load of songs in a short space of time recently and thought I'd give the tab sites a go. Either they didn't have the tab, or they did & it was largely crap and of little help, Most recently ended up writing a mix of rough chord charts with some or all of the dots (or at least a reasonable approximation) for feel.

I've always found that with the twist method it is obvious which way the gentle twist should be. Try in the other direction and you can feel that it is fighting to twist the other way. Years ago I occasionally helped a mate out with his mobile disco and was the only helper allowed to coil leads as I could do it properly and not get them into a rats nest. Had it drummed into me at that early age and it stuck with me. Now in conjunction with a decent hard case & velcro ties on everything gear goes away & comes out again the next time easily - and it does annoy me when someone [i]helpfully[/i] coils up one of my leads & I have to unwind it and start again. Thankfully normally it's a mains 4way and the old "wind the cable in tight loops round the board

As the video shows loop the cable with a twist then invest in some of [url="http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_168196_langId_-1_categoryId_255230"]THESE[/url]. Cheap as chips and no sticky residue from gaffa or masking tape

I love them & have used them for years. I have tried a couple of set of EB Cobalts recently, but while they are OK I am going back to the Elixirs. Have a set on the Wal which still sounded good at the last proggy gig I did, even though with hindsight I think that they really need changing. Whilst Mrs W still insists on telling everyone that I play in four bands, that is not actually true - rehearse with up to 4 bands might be closer to the truth - and I have not been playing much recently but still the Elixirs last for ages so as Thunderthumbs says going for a cheaper set that you have to change more frequently is just a false economy, unless you really don't like the more expensive set. I did try another brands coated set a while and really did not get on with them at all. Changed them for a new set of Elixirs very quickly, which IMO sounded so much better. I use a pick and you do get a bit of dandruff from the coating, but I have not found that affects the sound or longevity.

[quote name='Commando Jack' timestamp='1362419143' post='1999429'] This is standard practise in classical music, where a transposing instrument such as a saxophone or trumpet will say they are playing a C, but really it's Bb. It's up to the composer to make sure everyone's playing in the right key when he writes the parts out. The only issue is that this method requires the bass to be tuned in 4ths to make any sense, and the OP is not tuning in 4ths. [/quote]Fair enough & what I was doing when playing the trumpet, which might have been a better example. So RTFQ then

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1362342636' post='1998726'] Yes they are Proel UK formerly the UK's sole distributors of Mark Bass amplification, well Proel last year had a fall out with Mark Bass and are no longer their distributors, Mark Bass gear is imported by another UK company. Proel still exist very prominently in the amplification and PA field and they still represent a number of large manufacturers, and as you have rightly said their new project which is still secretly under wraps, (the only reason I know is that after my dealings with Proel UK I have remained very friendly with them as they are all from my same country, Italy so we keep in touch a lot) Well the Matamp project will soon go into production, they are planning to produce good quality bass amplification which will be badged probably with the Matamp name or whatever else they will come up with. In the meantime Proel continues to distribute Cort basses and guitars as well as many brands that do professional PA products. You can see a list of their brands on this link: [url="http://www.proelint.co.uk/"]http://www.proelint.co.uk/[/url] [/quote]Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, now it becomes clear!! Thought I recognised the chappie on the Cort stand as who had been on MarkBass for the last couple.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362415836' post='1999323'] No. There are certain sounds and playing styles that altered tunings are best for. [/quote]For example Porcupine Tree - Blackest Eyes is best played (and so far as I am aware) was played DADG. The minute you do that it becomes infinitely easier to play - at least for a berk like me. My covers band play detuned a semitone to Eb because it makes the backing vox easier & better fits the lead vox range. I tend to leave the basses tuned that way - though with other projects tuned concert they do change back and forth a bit more nowadays. When practising detuned and at r/h we talk through songs as if we were tuned concert, not detuned. So I don't say Ab when playing fifth fret fourth string, I say A. Or perhaps I've misunderstood the question

New Spocks beard album "Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep" to be followed by Andy Irvine's album picked up at LBGS13

The prog covers band I play with is at The Holbrook Club in Horsham this coming Friday for anyone in the area and interested in a selection of prog rock tunes. Some classics - Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Marillion Some possibly less well known - Porcupine Tree, Spocks Beard, UK More details [url="https://www.facebook.com/events/435692663156760"]HERE[/url]

[quote name='skelf' timestamp='1362295565' post='1997965'] Round two at the London Bass Guitar Show. A good day yesterday the noise issue was much better than last year in our part of the hall so that made for a far less tiring day. Also made talking to potential customers much easier and more productive. Show special offer on the Graft Recurve 5 left hander. Down to £600.00 for the day. This offer applies on line as well so feel free to message me or drop me a mail. [/quote]You're just taunting Bluejay aren't you

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1362247504' post='1997568'] I didn't fancy it this year because the turns seemed dull - was I wrong?[/quote] - Yes I think you probably were [quote name='visog' timestamp='1362247504' post='1997568'] Any good new gear?[/quote] Interesting looking prototype Mesa head, apparently one of only 2 in the world (the man said). All valve. 250W with a half power switch & some other interesting things. Meant to take a pic to see how it [i]actually[/i] looks like if it makes it into the real world Otherwise, as elsewhere did a couple of turns of the gear hall & it was a general thunder (low very occasionally). Difficult to try anything out properly, but had a brief sesh at the GoTo Guitar / G&L stand that was good at a low level - the guy with the airhorn wasn't pulling the plug on me & there were plenty all around giving it plenty of welly. That said as I spent most of the day flitting between the masterclass room & the theatre the noise in the gear room didn't really bother me. Stopped by the BC corner a couple of times & said hi to a few new & old faces. Bought supplies before we arrived knowing that food would be silly show prices, so apart from a couple of coffees that were about standard Costa/Nero prices only spent money on necessities like strings. Managed to dodge the bullet of anything more expensive this year, though I should have liked to bring one of the G&L M series basses home. I suspect I shall go again next year. The shows & masterclasses, even the ones I thought I might not necessarily be interested in, were worth it for me

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1362262206' post='1997810'] Another top tip from the BC corner - an 'informed' person tells me that the number of entries on the BassGear 'win an Aphex Exciter pedal hasn't been that high compared to last year. Obviously this increases chances of winning one These are cracking pedals which got a very good review in Bass Guitar Mag the other month & they retail at £155! [/quote]C0CK" Missed that compo entry. Funny postscript to the day - bass players [i]can[/i] teach guitarists things! I was up at the show today with my guitarist son. Now he is pretty good (even if it is dad saying so) but he has been working his way up in speed on some bonkers bit of metal that actually runs at 240 BPM, but had been sort of stuck at 180. We did pretty much all of the master classes & shows and Andy Irvine went through a load of his techniques, which got #2 thinking. Came home tried the piece bearing certain things AI had said in mind and was chuffed to annouce shortly after that he had got to target speed. GO BASSPLAYERS

Just back fom a fun day. Said hi to a few. Saw a few more across the room. Did a couple of "tours" of the room and managed to restrict myself to a couple of sets of Elixirs, a strap & a couple of stands. Tried out the G&L M series basses and a Carvin. The M series are very nice & been added to the list of "things I must get at some point" Again spent most of the day flipping between Masterclass & Theatre and an interesting selection of shows. Threatened to take on the baton but didn't in the end

Started GASsing for a P about a year ago after getting the ClassicJ & having had active basses since '96. The ClassicJ sounded nice on its first outing so I decided to go for a P & ended up with a Squier as a stepping stone. Last dep i did I had the P & an L2500 and ended up back on the 5. The GAS for a decent US P has slightly waned now and I shall probably keep the Squier & Tanglewater now, but you never know what tomorrow & LBGS13 will bring Hopefully NOT another bass as last year (OOPS)

Better print a copy for the show tomorrow with the following highlighted [quote]And he 
did play faster and faster until the notes rippled like a breeze 
through the heavens. 

And God heard this sound which sounded something like the wind, which 
had created earlier. It also sounded something like the movement 
of furniture, which He hadn't even created yet, and He was not so 
pleased. [b]

And He spoke to the man, saying [size=8]"[i]Don't do that![/i]"[/size][/b][/quote]

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1362154796' post='1996557'] So the Baton will be at the London Bass Guitar Show tomorrow. Who fancies stepping up to the plate and taking the bass home with them? [/quote]Could bring it back to Sussex for Friday's gig, but then I disappear for a week or so, so unless its taken on the night that might be a problem as gigwise I then have sweet FA

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1362143118' post='1996351'] A recent bad cold has left me semi deaf in one ear, the one advantage is it means I might not need [u][i][b]ear plugs[/b][/i][/u] tomorrow or just one [/quote]Ooo yes. Something else for the packing list!!

Not too bothered really. I can't immediately think of anything that I would out right refuse. There are songs that have been suggested that I didn't really think would go, but once they bed in they work fine. There are also songs in the set that have been there for years that I still enjoy, even if others in the band moan at the thought of them. Of course the way the others in the band work to a song suggestion they don't like seems to be to no give it their all, so it never gels and drops out of the set (or never even makes it in) Ultimately you are surely there to entertain the audience, not just yourself. If you are able to do that picking songs you enjoy and dodge the Mustang Sally bullet others seem to fear then all well & good