mrtcat

[quote name='vsmith1' timestamp='1344887552' post='1770726'] Just a bit irritated by the blatant tape covering Ampeg on the head and cab, then noticed that Ashdown was covered up for Madness bassist, then Fender covered for Pete Townsend back line. I didn't notice that the Logo Police had covered up the RR and Spirit of Ecstasy on the three cars!! I was wondering whether they'd have to cover Fender on the headstock of the Strats. [/quote] All non Olympic sponsor brands were banned from any Olympic event. Any logos not covered would have been left visible as the manufacturers would have paid a handsome fee to the IOC.

design features of pretty much anything money can buy have been selected based upon basic economics. amps with silent fans or water cooling would cost more to produce and therefore more to buy. The company making the amp would expect to sell less as essentially it's more money for the same amp (albeit one where [b][i]some[/i][/b] people would appreciate the silent cooling system). Amps with passive cooling would be larger and less likely to compete well against micro heads. Decisions about parts and designs are all part of an in depth cost/benefit exercise. Most manufactures will ultimately calculate which design will give them the best return. Personally I've never noticed a fan noise on any amp as I only use them when gigging.

Played a Sausage and Cider festival yesterday. I also ran sound for the day with my pa system. We were first band on and all went well. Crowd grew and grew through our 2hr set as the weather was perfect and widespread dancing broke out in the second set . Was nice to be able to let the PA run at war volume for a change and it was a goodshowcase for all my BFM cabs. Following us there were three other bands. The next after us was poor tbh. They described themselves as a pro function band but with the exception of the drummer (stand in pro) and the bass player (lovely sound from a fretless J) who were good the rest of the band were dull, out of tune and laclustre. I did my best to get them a nice sound but was clearly an exercise in turd polishing. Next two bands were great tho. One an indie covers band with a very energetic singer and a guitarist who works for musicman and has organised some free strings for me. The last was a folky rock band from Nothampton with a smashing bass player who demonstrated that you don't need to spend a fortune to sound good. He had an old Ampeg BassRocket combo and a fender modern player telecaster bass with flats on. He sounded awesome. Perfect for his band too. They were real gents too who all took the time to thank me. All in all a good day but more than anything enjoyed hearing my BFM PA system from out front. Oh yeah several gallons of scrumpy and loads of sausages also helped.

Anything by steel panther when playing a wedding.

[quote name='musophilr' timestamp='1344196507' post='1761138'] [b]Nobody[/b] puts a drink on MY amplifier! [/quote] +1 anyone in the band should know better and gets short shrift for this behaviour. Anyone not in the band has no business on stage and gets removed swiftly. Their drink gets my chewing gum in it for good measure.

I look after my amps and guitars but couldn't say I'm particularly precious over cables or pedals. They're designed to go on the floor so I expect them to get stood on.

Give it to the drummer and tell him "count to 9 and then put it down wherever you want". 2hrs later he's still holding it.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1344098196' post='1759812'] So can I - by loading mp3s into my DAW and time stretching them +1 semitone. [/quote] Yeah I'm more neanderthal in my approach - tech scares me.

I sing lots and play acoustic six string on a couple of quiet numbers. I'm kinda the main crowd banter guy as well which usually involves bad jokes, taking the mick out of the band and flirting with anything female.

Used to frustrate me when I only used expensive guitars. I have recently found a bass that I bought purely because I love the sound which coincidentally was only £130. It sounded so good that at the first available oportunity I bought a 2nd as a spare (well at just £130 why not?) and now have that a semitone down so I can easily play along to bands that are -1

I can vouch for a tc head with a berg AE212. Berg cabs are beautifully made and sound gorgeous. I'm keen to hear why you don't like Barefaced cabs tho. If it's aesthetics I totally agree as i think the rippled cab finish is awful and cheap looking. Sound wise tho they have a cab for all situations, can be ridiculously loud and the sound quality is excellent. Oh and holy crap they're unbelievably light.

Your guitarists have to take some responsibility here. You are a team and how the sound fits together is totally different in different bands so they can't just take the approach "well it works in my other band so it'll work here". In my experience the heavy metal guitar distortions carry a lot of low end and eat into your space. Maybe why so many metal bass players tune lower than norm to get under the guitars.

I had the GK head once. Really regret selling it and would get another in a heartbeat if cash allowed. Don't be sold on the bi amp feature tho as that's the biggest load of nonsense ever. you cant adjust the crossover point and it's set stupidly high.

We get it all the time. Weddings seem to be worst but its a simple case of if we know it we'll do it (but not necessarily straight away as more often than not they want one of your big closing numbers while half the people are next door watching the bride & groom cut cake) but if we don't we tell them "book us for your wedding / party / funeral and we guarantee we'll learn it".

My perfect bass sound and the sound that works with a band are two different things. I don't stress it when playing with a band as i start with a nice sounding bass and a simple but quality amp and make minimal adjustments (using the guitar's eq first and the amp's eq as a last resort) to fit with the drums. I prefer to let the guitar flavour the sound and not the amp. The amp is purely a tool to increase the volume of the guitar. Everything else should be tweaked to fit on top. I like to use technique over compression but am realistic and will use a little compression here and there. This is all for live work tho If I were in a studio i'd use anything that sounds good within reason.

I do everything sound wise for our band. I own the pa and am the only member of the band who really understands how to work it. I mic drums (kick, snare, toms and overheads), guitar amp (our guitaristis a legend, has a nice little 60w marshall valve combo and doesnt mind being told toturn it down if needed - this means he can drive the amp well without being stupid loud) and all 4 of us have vocal mics. I DI my bass unless its a tiny venue (my amp head vol rarely goes above 3) . Once set up, I turn mixer vol to 0 and get everyone playing and singing to make sure input gains are ok. Then I set mixer master vol to about 15% below unity and stand out front and start by getting the drummer to play. I'll tweak him as needed then pick up a bass (wireless) and start playing along. I tweak my settings to fit then get guitarist to join in and make any necessary adjustments to make him fit. I then set lead vocal mic to unity gain and all other mics to about 2/3 of the main vocals. The last stage is to play a song that uses all mics. I then make sure vox are coming over loud and clear. If needed ill boost the vox a little but 9 times in 10 i have to pull them back a little. Finally i set monitor levels so vocals are clear on stage. Sometimes I put some guitar into the mix but I'm lucky that our guys are all sensible with vol so I can use the PA to build a sound and not rather than use it to compensate for someone being too loud. Our PA is really good and can cope with big events so I can make us seriously loud out front whilst being totally in control. If needed I'll push the master vol up a bit. We have a brickwall limiter system and an eq that will kill feedback so I can confidently just slide the master vol up if customers want more volume.

That stinks. If i was in a band in need of a decent player I'd listen and meet first and worry about his logistical issues later. 9/10 and fears would be put to rest with a simple chat.

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Couldn't agree more. Healthy lifestyle is sooooo important. I have had a shoulder injury recently and let it become an excuse for not exercising. Since that point i've become miserable, stressed and have been sleeping badly. Losing my job didnt help but you need to take care of number one and a healthy body really does bring a healthy mind.

Played at Sooty & Billy's custom bike show in Northampton this afternoon. Our usual drummer was being a cock (as usual) and said £300 wasn'tenough for a covers band on a Sun afternoon so the drummer from my other project, who is friggin mint (spinal tap drum tech and session drummer for multiple big names), stepped in. Gig went flawlessly but we had to let a "Burlesque" group dance in the interval. Nowt against burlesque but these were just fat heffers in underwear. Agreed to play their songs thru my PA but got the hump big stylee after one lump gave me her iPhone to plug in so I could play her tune from her itunes. Halfway thru her dance her mate rang her and she blamed me. No offence love but if you don't put your phone on airplane mode first, dont look at me when your tune cuts out and the room is filled with the sound of an old phone ringing. Great bike show tho. Lot's of mint bikes to see.