mrtcat

At the risk of starting uproar I was totally nonplussed when I finally got hold of a Warwick Streamer stage one. Build quality was incredible but the praise ends there. Neck was too fat, it needed waxing regularly to keep the wood looking healthy but worst of all the volume across the strings was pants. Our local luthier, who has done some sublime setups for me, said he thought it was poor too. Maybe a duffer but I'd dreamed of buying one since I was 15 and it was a real let down.

Welcome! Small world - played a wedding at Eynsham Hall once. I'm in the less celubrious part of the shire - the town that never wakes - Bicester!

I do a little teaching for holiday spending cash. I have a few cards in the local music shop but plug my services at our gigs as does our drummer and guitard. We made some cheap business cards on the PC that we can hand out. We seem to do well and it helps that people see you play first before asking you to teach them. It's funny how many times kids call saying "dad saw you play last week and said you do lessons?". Remember to self assess tho as you'll be publicly advertising that you take money to teach. It's remarkable how many strings / guitars / amps you go thru when teaching tho - it's no wonder there's so little taxable profit!

I don't have a major problem with people who don't know basic theory as long as they make an effort to get up to speed and don't start slowing everything down. I have played with some guys who knew no theory at all but could really hold their own and when a problem arose they took it upon themselves to learn a bit of basic stuff. I've also played with people who refuse to learn anything and that never cuts it long term. I personally think everyone needs some basics under their belt but beyond that it depends on what you want to achieve. I know enough to allow me to communicate and vary stuff. Players like doddy probably have forgotten more than I'll ever know but they are pro muso's and their livelihood depends on it. I'd be sacked before the end of the first song if I tried to cut it in their capacity but I play an O'Neils gig several times a month and earn good pocket money with my limited theory knowledge.

Could go either way but until you meet him I'd keep your options open. He could turn out to be a real asset with his history. Maybe offer him a trial period if you're worried about his cockiness.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1147265' date='Mar 2 2011, 03:47 PM']In the rectory? [/quote] lol

Hey Silddx, really pleased to hear you love your new improved tone. Would you say the John East pre-amp was the main reason for the improvement? I've got a US75 and love it to bits but am sorely tempted by an East pre. How difficult is it to fit? Edit: OMG just realised John East's place is less than 200yds from my house in oxfordshire - surely it's a sign!!!

Reminds me of some chap that came to look at a jazz I was selling last year. He came in, bashed the hell out of it and then decided he was really after a ray. Took plenty of restraint not to insert the aforementioned jazz where the pope don't rollerskate!

I like the national bass strike idea but not convinced the guitards or singers would even notice

Sharp exit for you and the drummer with an invitation for the guitards to come as long as they quit whining about drum volume would be my solution. A bass / drum partnership will not struggle to attract guitars and vox if you're tight already. Good luck - it'll work out for the best!

My best mate is an engineer. He's done some really big name hard rock / metal bands in the last 5 yrs and has a great reputation in the industry and is flat out 365 days a year. To my ear he destroys the bass every time and he firmly believes it should present but barely noticeable. He always puts really heavy strings on the basses he's recording as he says it needs to be a dull low sound that sits at the back of the mix. I would never let him record me cos as a bass player i hate his approach and I can hardly ever pick out the bass on his stuff. Lots of the younger engineers seem to go this way especially with rock and metal. Might be worth seeing what your engineers philosophy is?

If you want to get paid for originals it has to be worth the money. A lot of people like to knock the "covers" thing and in fairness it amazes me how many people put themselves thru the misery of songs like Mustang Sally. In my opinion you should only expect to get paid if your act is worth it regardless of whether you do covers or original stuff. For a pub to pay a band say £200 and make the money back they would have to shift about £700 of beer. I make that about 250 pints which probs means you need to keep 50 people minimum in the pub all night. If you can do that week in week out with original material then I tip my hat to you and envy your talent. I play covers and really really enjoy it. Some people have a problem with that and claim they are "keeping it real" or think they have "integrity" by only doing originals. I believe "keeping it real" is being honest about what you genuinely enjoy and doing it. For me this is playing covers well. There's also a very good reason that cover and tribute bands can tour and make money - punters want to see them (supply and demand). In my experience most people who claim to be keeping it real and slate covers / tribute acts are only doing so to appear cool which is exactly the opposite of keeping it real surely. If you want to play Mustang Sally then good on you. I prefer to do some less well covered stuff but as a band we know that to get away with that you have to make the show really entertaining. We only do paid stuff as a couple of members of the band are only in it for the cash but we're booked solid for months. We don't do all the usual covers but we do focus on entertaining and engaging the audience.

TC Classic 450 + 2x12 cab with USA 75 Jazz played fingerstyle somewhere between the two pickups. Both pickups on full and tone at around halfway. Classic and contempory rock covers. Start at all flat and tweak from there. Minor tweaks are usually all thats needed but the odd venue can throw a spanner in the works and a complete re jig will be needed. Dont use on board compressor or valve drive as I like the sound of the guitar. Volume 3-4 so I can hear clearly alongside the drums and the drummer can hear me. Then let the PA sort the FOH volume. Nice thread - v handy

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1136774' date='Feb 22 2011, 09:51 AM']I`ve a TC Classic 450, and have used it through both Marshall and Ampeg cabs, and can get a nice warm sound through either.[/quote] Big +1 from me with this. I also have a TC Classic 450 and with a little tube tone blended in its super warm and nice and punchy. I love the simplicity of it too. I run mine through a Bergantino AE212 and the 2x12's give you something somewhere between the warmth of a 15 and the punch of 10's. I would be tempted to try the TC with a Barefaced Super 12 if weight is an issue.

I'd definitely play for free if there was a blanket "bands don't get paid" policy in place in the uk. If I didn't I'd have to give up playing full stop as I only play so I can play live. I don't really get the bedroom player thing. I currently play either a fri or sat night every week with my covers band and it pays enough for holidays, cars and guitars. I'm tempted to try forming a second "no charge" covers band with like minded individuals for friends parties etc. I'd love that kind of "no pressure" playing and it could only benefit my other band as I'd be playing more. Imagine how much more live music there would be in the pubs and bars etc if the venue didn't have to pay for it and you'd never struggle to get gigs - would defo want free beer tho!

Hey all, I play in and run Crude Measure, a rock covers band based in Oxfordshire. We're about a year in now and we're getting pretty busy and we seem to be generating plenty of demand. We've never played a gig where we've not been rebooked by the venue and we now regularly have to turn gigs down. www.crudemeasure.co.uk

If it were me I'd want to detune permanently or not at all. No way I'd want to be messing about chopping and changing mid set.

IME to get a good reaction you have to sell your soul a bit and play well known stuff. Have a wide variety too as pigeon holing yourself as a 90's indie band will simply limit your appeal. Look at a site like lemonrock or something then look at the busiest bands. I'm afraid they all do pretty much the same stuff and it's purely because thats what punters want. Bookings will go hand in hand with crowd satisfaction as a happy crowd is a thirsty crowd and that's what the covers game is really all about. I would recommend some modern hits, some classic stuff and something funky and plenty of them so at any point you can pull a run of crowd pleasers out of the bag and whip a drunken audience into a frenzy.

[quote name='Pentode' post='1126849' date='Feb 14 2011, 11:36 AM']I can highly recommend Bills' designs and plans - [url="http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/"]http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/[/url] The 'Jack' series are fairly straightforward builds and sound great. [/quote] [quote name='BigRedX' post='1126854' date='Feb 14 2011, 11:38 AM']If you've got the woodworking skills, tools and the time and somewhere to build it, I'd make a BFM cab. Otherwise just buy the Hartke![/quote] [quote name='JTUK' post='1127202' date='Feb 14 2011, 03:57 PM']I agree. Some of the efforts on here from the pics I've seen can put some cab makers to shame,[/quote] [quote name='TPJ' post='1127248' date='Feb 14 2011, 04:28 PM']+1 to Bill's plans. Look at the [url="http://greenboy.us/fEARful/"]Fearful[/url] on Talkbass as well.[/quote] +1000 to all of these. Bill's designs are fantastic and it's really satisfying. I think Discreet has a brilliant build thread that ended with one of the best looking cabs I've ever seen.

Got a Classic last year as I wanted a simple amp that sounded good, inspired confidence and was compact. Wouldn't swap it for the world now as I set it at the start of a gig and forget about it. Sounds killer, is very loud and I would only end up obsessing about tweaks if I had all the other functions. Plus the price difference is ludicrous in my eyes.

When I was 22 me and my then band (4piece rock covers - v cheesy but v fun - had only played pubs to that point) set off in a van to Austria where we spent the winter doing a about 10-12 gigs a week in ski resorts. We had no real plan other than we all saved for about a yr first then simply drove over, found a cramped cheap apartment in a small town near a big resort and blew most of our saved cash on paying for it for 5 months upfront. We got there before the start of the season and first thing we did was spend two weeks playing try out gigs for free until we had agreed a weekly schedule of places within a 30 mile radius (can take several hours to do 30 miles in snowy mountains). We'd play some bars from 3-6pm when folk we're coming down from a days skiing then pack up and move to another and play 10pm - 1am somewhere else. Most days we played twice some days just once but it was f***ing exhausting. Worst problem was constant packing down and setting up of gear. We survived the season, drank a lot, snowboarded a lot and had lots of sex (not with each other). At the end of the season we each had about £500 left to show for it which was enough to convince us to drive to Greece for the summer and try do the same again. Sadly that was a nightmare and we could only find gigs for 4-5 times a week so we all ended up doing bar work to try keep afloat. We did it for two years tho and apart from the odd squabble we got along well but it meant we all had to really work together. I was really lucky that the guys I went with were all committed and really solid guys who got along really well. I still play with two of them. the big thing about trying to make a living out of covers is that you have to take EVERY gig and you have to be able to rely on the whole band to play whenever, wherever without question. I WOULD NOT ATTEMPT THIS IN THE UK as there's simply hundreds of great bands in most towns so we would have never got this many gigs.

There's a lot of wisdom on this site and I agree with all so far. I don't like the clangy sound but have to agree that it's a very useable tone in a live set up. If you're not going thru a PA then you'll defo need to get the guitard to roll back the bass on his sound to give you room for your bass. I usually start with eq flat then walk out to where the audience will be and listen. 9 times in 10 I lower the bass a bit and boost low mid sometimes even high mid a bit. That usually gets me close and from there its just fine tuning. I never set eq based on what I hear on stage as this is generally nothing like the audience hears. Some bass players scoop the mids but I only really find I can do that when going through PA where a sound engineer can adjust guitars etc around it. As for the volume across the strings in my experience two identical guitars can be very different and a good set up may help. I would defo raise the pickup under the D & G a little and as mentioned before concentrate more on boosting high mids than treble. Don't stress you'll find it - it just takes a bit of patience working out what works best for your kit.

[quote name='janmaat' post='1125194' date='Feb 12 2011, 05:47 PM']Fact is far too little singers care for their sound both on the side of vocal chords and gear. this is a fab thing that I believe every live singer should have [url="http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicetone-create-xt/"]http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicetone-create-xt/[/url] seriously, it blew me away. there is really a lot of gear for vocalists coming out recently (boss has done something similar), so hopefully they will start bothering for their own sound at least (get their own microphone and wedge monitor at least, i am bored by singers who don't have any gear and rely on other band members for anything)[/quote] +1 If you play / sing in a band you have a responsibility for your own kit / sound. I really hate that the guitarist and singer in my band have little interest in investing in solid kit or pedals even though we are a busy band playing week in week out. I own our PA system and regularly upgrade it to help our overall sound. I firmly believe that if I didn't sort the PA we wouldn't be gigging as none of these guys would bother investing. I also have invested in a nice solid, reliable (not fancy but not cheap) bass rig so I can reproduce "my sound" at a decent level. Our singer uses a fake Sure mic that sounds sh1t and gets moody when I say he could really do with using the money he earns from the band to buy a real one. Our guitarist (who is really good) won't buy ANY pedals as he can't be bothered and still uses a small combo (I have to really work hard with the PA to get him sounding right). I agree that "your sound" comes from your playing but in a live situation there's a difference between "your sound" and "sound quality". A decent engineer will really help to accurately reproduce "your sound" at a higher level and tweak it to sit well in the mix. A really good engineer will even be able to overcome shortfallings in your kit to a certain extent by taking a DI (ie pretty much completely bypassing your kit) and sorting it out at his end. Many of us however rarely get to work with a really good sound engineer and therefore if our amps / cabs / basses etc don't cut it then the overall sound won't be great. If you're serious about playing in a band then out of respect for the rest of the guys and the audience then at least make sure your kit is up to the job.

At the risk of dragging this off topic I feel I must state that I have never heard a credible argument against earplugs. If you're not wearing them cos you're worried what others think then your not only totally stupid you're also going to suffer badly for your pig headed vanity. My father played in a band in the 70's for just 7months and in that time they played just 11 gigs. Ever since then (for the last 35yrs!!!!) he has suffered with the most mind bendingly bad tinitus. He can't bear to be in a quiet room as the high pitch whine drives him mad, he can't sleep properly and he has had to wear a hearing aid since the age of 27. He's seen umpteen specialists who unanimously attribute his problems to noise damage caused by playing live. He is now totally unable to play his guitars as he's so distraught that playing them has done so much damage to his life. He'd tell anyone who won't wear them through vanity or peer pressure that you need to grow up and accept that not taking proper care of your ears will end in misery. Sorry to rant and sorry to have hi-jacked the thread a bit but I wouldn't wish for anyone to go through the same as my dad.