mrtcat

What are people's thoughts on this? We are an all male 4 piece band operating as a business playing weddings. Our current lead singer is looking to step back from the mic and focus on guitar playing so we need a replacement. Our agents, who are a big company are clear that mixed gender bands are harder for them to sell and also bands where the age range is too broad. Not sure how I feel about advertising for a 30 something male. What would you do?

Sounds horrific..

I had one that I bought for a gig I was doing in italy with a band i was in. I didn't fancy taking a US Fender in the hold of a plane so bought a j&d jazz and took that. I sold it after I got back but missed it so much that i bought another. I've since sold the US jazz and still have the j&d. Absolutely cracking workhorse bass.

Its probably not soon enough but I work in oxford regularly and am going to Plymouth on 22nd of August.

That's really interesting. My 1024x weighs in at almost dead on 9lbs and the solo'd p pickup is so fat and meaty sounding. I had a regular 1024 that was just the same. Maybe worth trying before buying.

I've got a bb1024x and its sublime for the money. I'd sell every other bass I own (includes fender P, spector euro lx, Warwick streamer stage 1 and a dingwall ng2) before even considering selling the Bb1024x .

That's a result. I get the impression that some companies are using lockdown as an excuse to take the mickey somewhat. I'm lucky that I have a decent supplier here in northants.

Plywood is alarmingly expensive these days that's for sure.

Made a few fearful cabs before and they always sound great. I've been out of the building loop for a while so would be interested to know where you got russian birch from and where you are getting crossover components. Happy to offer any advice along the way should you need it.

You've essentially paid for an East Uni Pre and they've thrown in a bloody nice bass with it.

As with many bands we are doing a few "lockdown" tunes.

Are you talking about pa or backline? I wouldn't use either as backline. That kind of low on stage is just annoying mush and would get on everyone's nerves. In terms of pa it would depend entirely on the spl charts for any individual box. I dont think you can endorse or write off one design over the other as there are huge variations in performance and behaviour within each type.

That's awesome, thanks Douglas. The ignite vst looks nice and simple but with loads of flexibility for what I need.

I've got to put down a few bass parts for some promo videos for the band but my helix is locked in the back of the band van at our storage lockup. Don't want to make a trip out there if I can avoid it what with covid-19 floating about on every st corner and the lockup being 45 mi s drive away. Can anyone recommend me a decent free vst? Something vintagey with a bit of grit. Cheers

My main live patch for Helix floor that I use with my function band doing indie pop rock covers. Varying drive levels and a couple of eq / gain options for pick use and using my spector that has a slightly lower output than my other basses. I set my board with snapshots along the bottom and fx on the top row. Two parallel chains with one sent to 1/4 out which goes to an amp when i use one and the other chain to xlr to foh. Live.hlx

Fortunately I only really play weddings so with a bit of luck that sort of venue will be back up and running as soon as they get the green light. We usually do a lot of corporate xmas gigs and I expect that to be almost non existent for at least a year or two. Pubs may well need to do a bit more of a steady recovery before they put bands on.

This is the problem with government "advice". Its just not getting through to a lot of people in the same way an enforced lockdown would.

I'm literally amazed that venues are still allowing gigs to go ahead. We are booked for a 21st birthday party in Coventry on Saturday and the venue have said "we are happy to go ahead as long as we can square it with the staff". The client is adamant that her daughter will have a party. It looks like we are going to be the ones to pull the plug as we feel we have a social responsibility not to be involved in gigs at the moment. There are lots of rumours of a full lockdown on the horizon and that the army are preparing to mobilize to enforce it. Would actually make life a lot easier for us if they did as then everyone is clear on where we stand.

We've been discussing this this evening. With all our gigs being weddings then whoever hits the button and cancels, be it client, venue or supplier, will be the one looking at losing the most. We're looking at every booking and wondering who's going to blink first?

I think our agency are going to pull all of ours (and all other acts on their books) until further notice. I can see a lot of agencies going under.

The announcement that the govt are making as I type will essentially put an end to most of all of our gigs for the foreseeable future. They are advising against gatherings of any size from this point forward until further notice.

We have over 90 weddings in the diary this year. So far no cancellations but surely only a matter of time. The problem is that almost every gig we have is a wedding and therefore the clients have huge amounts of money tied up in them. It must be a nightmare for them. Especially if the over 70s are forced to isolate and therefore parents or grandparents would miss the big day. We played a charity fundraiser last night for forces veterans. They sold 400 tickets and only 80 people turned up. It was pretty depressing.

Literally just finished installing the Uni Pre. It's a tight fit in the cavity but it does go in properly. Initial impressions are great and there's a heap of flexibility. I have east preamps in all my active basses now because I find that sweepable mid control so useful. I'm happy and it's finished off the bass nicely for me so it will now become a real workhorse for me.

Be interested to hear how the darkglass sounds. I just picked up a Euro 4LX with Aguilar pickups and Aguilar obp-2 pre. Sounds great but the pre is really noisy so going to swap out for an East Uni Pre because I love the east pres and I wanted sweepable mid control.

Likewise, I float too. I used to anchor my thumb somewhere when I was a noob but soon realized that it would be much more beneficial to be able to have infinite adjustment as to where I pluck. In fairness it was my bass teacher that made me realise and then drilled it into me.