mrtcat

Get out there and listen. If it sounds good to your ears at war volume then the drivers are irrelevant. Lots of preconceptions out there and a well designed / engineered cab will beat the sledgehammer approach of "big drivers mean big bass" anyday.

I'm cursed with ampeg gear and have always been disappointed with hums, buzzes and rattles. Not a fan of TC cabs tho. I think they're ugly and I don't like the sound. Put the pf500 with a berg or barefaced cab and you may see a difference. Disappointing these days to find an amp struggling with a strong incoming signal.

Not having a decent amp just aint an option for some. I play most fri and sat nights in a function / wedding / pub / club covers band and we take our own PA and gear. We don't do support or have bands support us. 9 times out of 10 the venue is small so bass doesn't go thru the PA system. Therefore I rely on my bass and amp sounding good to give the audience a decent sound to listen to. If you're happy playing support to other bands forever then yeah maybe a nice amp is just a luxury but if you want to get out on your own then you either need a good amp or at least a DI system (cant stand pods etc personally). I agree that it doesn't need to be expensive to sound good as there are some very good sounding lower price amps out there.

Excellent player and a funny chap but although he is very talented I don't think the funkiest player alive would be busking in Newcastle. That doesn't mean he's not very funky player tho and very entertaining to watch.

Sweet amp - enjoy

I f###ing hate that song with a passion but I concede that with most of the pork in the pubs/clubs/parties we play it would go down well. Suck it up.

Have had excellent experiences with bass direct.

Bought tons from them over the last few years and always been very impressed. German efficiency, a ridiculous amount of kit and very competitive price wise.

D'oh wish I'd seen this earlier. Just ordered some PA processors from them and my drummer lives in Wycombe. Sorry

A tad frustrating but at least he had the decency to give you £20. Many people in his situation would just be a [email="tw@t"]tw@t[/email] and either not turn up or refuse to give anything.

My enjoyment in playing comes entirely from playing live in front of audiences that are really enjoying the band. If that means playing covers of songs that I wouldn't choose to listen to at home or when out then so be it. Any time spent practicing at home or recording demos in the studio is purely out of necessity to get us out there playing live. The fact that this approach results in lots of gigs is no accident. The fact that it also results in some decent money is a bonus. I am however far more picky about who I play with. Our current drummer is on borrowed time for sure.

The King Billy in Northampton - rough n ready biker pub which puts on lots of bands (3-4gigs a week). We used a dep drummer as our current guy has made himself unavailable for a few months after the arrival of a new baby. Stand in drummer is a friend of the band and is A-MAY-ZING. Gig went really well especially considering we've only had a few hours with the dep. Dep really enjoyed it and has asked if I'm interested in joining him for an 80's big hair rock project involving wigs, costumes, makeup etc. Oh yes please!!!!

Oops just re read Skankdelvar's post properly to find he already suggests running transmitter after pedals. Sorry

I'm with Skank'swireless idea. It is also possible to run a lead from guitar to pedals and then from pedals into the transmitter pack. The reciever can sit on top of the isolated amp behind the desk.

[b]Sometimes[/b] people who take responsibility for running bands do so because it's the only chance they have to be in charge as they don't have responsibility for anything in their day job. Sadly there's a reason why they don't have responsibility at work and it's usually cos they're not management material. This is then reflected in their non professional style with the band and they simply can't cope and end up pissing people off with shocking communication. No excuse for rudeness tho.

Saw Rock Of Ages when it opened at Shaftesbury Theatre last year. That looks like a good gig as the band (a 5piece rock outfit) are actually on stage for the entirety of the show with the drummer in a glass fronted room at the back of the stage so they can fade songs in and out. The set is a bar with the band on stage. Brilliant show with tons of quality blart too.

When I was 16 I was the youngest in a rhythm blues rock band in Plymouth. Singer was a bus driver for a living and had a minibus that kept breaking down. He'd bought it from the bus company he worked for. We had a gig in Exeter one weekend and when he and the drummer turned up at my parents house to pick me up they were in a double decker bus. Turns out his van had broken down and he'd borrowed the bus from work. We were on the A38 nr Newton abbot before the police pulled us over. Seems he had borrowed without asking and his company saw that as theft - go figure. My old man was mighty hacked off when I called him to come get me from the back of a police car. Never made it to the gig and the singer got arrested then sacked the following monday morning. Singer went on to be a train driver. Don't think their so easy to nick tho.

If you like it, will use it and can afford to eat after buying it then do it. Six months down the line you could sell it for the same amount if you look after it.

Good luck, i'm sure the family will really appreciate the fact that you've really thought about how best to carry out their wishes. My guitarist says he was at a friend's dad's funeral and they had arranged to play "Love Me Tender" by Elvis as the coffin disappeared behind the curtain but a mistake by the chap's son resulted in them playing "Return To Sender".

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1332261550' post='1585747'] having finally cut down to 1 band, I had a concept for a 2nd band, made up entirely of guys in other bands, with essentially 2 line-ups that could be interchangeable at a moments notice. A kind of covers collective so that if anyone gets a last minute booking with an important gig, they can go, and one of the rest of the collective could take over. As long as everyone was fairly busy it should work.... Ever been done before? I was going to call it "The Deps" [/quote] In the process of doing something similar at the moment. Singer and I are up for gigging pretty much every night but drummer is set on 3 nights a month and guitarist has a gf that is pretty high maintenance so singer and I have started auditioning guitarists and drummers. Plan will be to play same with both bands then once both are up and running we will effectively be able to pull from either band if someone can't play. We're totally honest with all and everyone seems very happy with it.

I've taken myself to court and had a restraining order taken out against myself which forbids me from going within 2 miles of postcodes starting CV34 - it's for the best.

I appreciate massively how technical it is and how only a select few could pull it off but to me it's trying too hard and ends up not being cool at all. The human body is incredible and with appropriate training is capable of some crazy things but it gets a bit geeky and scientific when you get to that level. Don't get me wrong I'm jealous as hell and think he's an incredible player but he could be sooooo much funkier than this.