WalMan

Tom has just taken my BOD xT Pro off my hands - I miss it already even though it had been languishing in a box for a while. Pleasure to do business with him. Good comms & quick easy payment.

First gig at a dive in Reading. Punky band but with my hair"style" I still look like Hair from the Hair Bear Bunch. Band outnumbers crowd (3 mum dad & [i]probably[/i] daughter), who appear to be expecting a WMC type band. First set ends. Crowd: "You're all a bunch of punks!!" Us: "If you say so" Short break whilst they dredged up a response to that, which was "If you're punks, why's he got a w*gs haircut" Nice. Funnily enough we didn't go back.

For quick, easy & free you could also look ate [url="http://www.sonomawireworks.com/drumcore/downloads/"]Drumcore Free[/url]

Sounds similar to a dep I did with a function big band where we had to play some "music while they ate" unexpectedly. At least one of the songs played with the keys calling chords from a Buskers book (that was missing a page) sounded like the most bizarre free form jazz you have ever heard...but at the end the diners put down their cutlery & applauded I still get the nerves thing after 30+ years, particularly with the prog band. Well possibly not nerves but I do tend to retreat into my shell & can really do without MrsW bubbling away before the gig. As others have said mistakes, particularly bass mistakes will 99 out of 100 fly over the heads of the crowd - except that bass player lurking at the back taking notes - and they will come up to you after the gig and say it was great when you are feeling it was cr@p and still obsessing over all the little fluffs you made. Being able to play through and catch up / find your way out of it also helps. We had a couple of moments last Friday where the vocalist came in at slightly the wrong time, or the drummer was at the wrong point in a song and missed a fill / change, but we soldiered on & got out of it and I would suspect that unless I put the video / audio up for post gig analysis noone was any the wiser, except us

Last Friday. Drummer "[i]Why do we bother[/i]"

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1349717673' post='1829570'] Hi Col, not as yet I'm afraid . I called Matamp and they ran through a few things, non of which sorted it, plus checked all the the fuses and they were fine. They would sort it for me, but I'd have to get it too Huddersfield and it's a bit of a trek. Hamster recommended I try Steve's Amps in Surrey, but he's flat out and not taking any new work for a couple of months. That's as far as I've got. [/quote]Depending where you are you might try Peter Hall in Gerard Street Brighton who did a good job of rebuilding my Marshall Superbass...mind the only link I could find for him was on another forum, one as a rec followed by & no no no from someone else. Don't understand that one as the work he did for me on the rebuild and also my sons Engl seemed fine. Who knows?

Well thanks again

[quote name='warriorbass05' timestamp='1349662968' post='1828859'] That was awesome....well played! [/quote]Thanks, though to be clear / fair it was a cheat & three seperate tracks of bass recorded onto the multitracker and then patched onto the video not a single pass for the video

Friday. OK I suppose. Those I spoke to seemed to think the sound was good & everything defined & in its place. What I was getting in my IEMs seemed OK but others wee mutering about the sound changing & suddenly & quite drastically part way through. Came off at the end and the drummer said "why do we bother?" I fear that will be another of the dwindling gigs vetoed by other band members. I ought to have been ringing round for gigs for next year and looking for new ones, but quite frankly I feel like I can't be @rsed .... which does rather beg the question "why the hell do I keep adding to my gear roster & not just sell the lot?!?"

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1349633702' post='1828528'] hmmmmm.... something like thus is taking the p************** IMO. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r7wuiOFNOg&feature=fvwrel[/media] I can see a Solo of Duo in a bar adding a fuller voice... but that is obvious what they are doing but for a band ..?? I think I'd walk out ... [/quote]The only positive for this is that it follows the input so the harmonies are "right". I did see a band kicking in a harmoniser, but as it was a fixed not following it sounded pretty cr@p , well to me anyway.

I think I have every copy tucked away somewhere round the house, but didn't it really morph into BGM, or did I imagine that?

I may have mentioned it elsewhere, but my Wal started lie as a passive Pro1 with the pup in the middle rather than back at the bridge. Pete converted it to active in 96 - I hadn't actually planned for it just took it up for an overhaul and saw another one being converted. IIRC he told me at the time that the idea with the passive Pro's was to have a cheaper passive option the could be retrofitted with the custom electrics later if required. Pics & story [url="http://www4.cs.fau.de/~koesters/Privat/Wal/walpics/PB1680-1.jpg"]HERE[/url] (as an active) & [url="http://www4.cs.fau.de/~koesters/Privat/Wal/walnotes.html#PB1680"]HERE[/url] plus as a passive (and sorry to sully this with other basses) This is two/three tracks recorded with it last year http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cXmuH8699Q

Depends, but normally it's an approximation. Eg, for Roundabout there are bits that need to be as per, and others where I can be a bit looser & work with the drummer. For the 35 songs (thankfully seem to be fairly straightforward) I need to learn for a couple of deps in the next month it will most probably be based on chord charts. At least they seem to be a lot of two in the bar. And then there are, or were, songs we used to work out roughly at r/h from memory (sometimes flaky) and then do at the next gig as the "known" song for the encore in a set of originals. Variously songs by Slade, The Pistols, Lizzy, Tom Pettey & IIRC Boz Scaggs The best effort there was "I Want You To Want Me" that was worked out sitting in the van between sets, and played as the encore that night. Happy days

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1349281265' post='1824261'] In a miraculous burst of fertility, the singer/keyboard player, the drummer, the accordian player, and the guitarist, in my band (or their partners), all had babies within 2 months of one another this spring/summer). The band haven't had a rehearsal or a band practice since the births. I have the feeling that the band you want to audition with will be under the impression that you will have other more important priorities than band practice now that your baby has arrived. [/quote]Were they not aware of the impending bundle of joy? Congrats anyway. Now the fun starts. Still 23 years and a lot of money later you'll still be trying to get her out of the house, or worrying about Lurch who comes round to pick her up every night. Enjoy.

[quote name='jcater' timestamp='1349351393' post='1825077'] Never been to the show. How good is it? What sort of thing goes on? The website does not seem to say much yet jeff [/quote]Loads of stands from manufacturers, but make sure you have a decent set of ear plugs as even if they do enforce the quiet periods it can be deafening in the noisy times. The workshops / shows in the theatre are well worth a look - or have been for the ones I went to on the Sunday sessions for the last two years. Take drinks & food, or be prepared to pay silly concession prices. All in all a pretty good laugh. Without the seminars I might well have been round and back out in under a couple of hours, but add them on top and it's a whole day

... and or even

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1349266304' post='1823955'] Right, compressor 'how to' now up on [url="http://http//blog.basschat.co.uk/setting-up-a-compressor/"]the blog here[/url] Which will probably cause more brain sweating than it solves..... [/quote]Try [url="http://blog.basschat.co.uk/setting-up-a-compressor/"]THIS[/url] The linky in Si's post has http// twice somehow

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1349264772' post='1823930'] Not just yours. As soon as I realised at what level Simon's talk was going to be I decided to pass, because I believe you need to walk before you attempt to run. Maybe I'll be better prepared next year. I have a compressor pedal with four (!!) knobs (Digitech Bass Squeeze Dual Band) which i've been messing around with only for a couple of weeks, in an attempt to make my fretless 5 sound slightly more audible and less farty in my headphone amp and 20W practice amp. Even its manual just advises to sit down, tweak all the knobs in turn, and choose the combination that sounds better to your ears. Very little science there, admittedly [/quote]I have 8 knobs - let me rephrase that my compressor has 8 knobs, well two lots of four - plus a load of buttons and most helpfully (I think) some meters. I can sort of get there, but they always get moved in the pedal bag & then I have to start again. I should have worked it out by now really!!!

Super12T & GB Streamliner 6 here & loving it [/smugmode] I have had mine over a year now though

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1349204017' post='1823303'] I didn't mean for *every* string, just the E It will, of course, change all my patterns because the E string will then be 1/2 tone or 1 tone lower, but for some tracks this will be ace! [/quote]Ah, fair enough. I read "[i]my teach suggested that I de-tune my 4 string by a semitone[/i]" as the bass as a whole not just the one string. Hipshots are great - until you dive straight onto a 5 for the first time when all your muscle memory for songs is on a 4 with a Hipshot set down a tone and flicked down & up during songs, DOH! Tht said I should have thought if you go that path setting it for a tone rather than a semitone would be better. A semitone will give some odd pattern changes particularly for things like octaves that are easier with it set to a tone - IMO anyway. Mind you years ago when we used to do Beat It we just played it in E. I suspect that it was recorded with everyone detuned a semitone across the board if it actually plays as Eb

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1349183698' post='1822901'] Do you make a noise like a metal mattress when you're playing bass? [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkxywaZUA7Y[/media] [/quote] Something like that. Sadly I don't have Six million dollar man fingers, more like Scrapyard Challenge man I was a bit upset that I did not set off the metal detectors at the airport this year. That was always fun