Lozz196

This looks like a serious bargain, am so tempted, so am letting you all know about it so one of you buy it to remove said temptation: https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/fender-mexican-jazz-bass/1292516762

Quite agree, I happened on Ashdown by accident, and found that I liked the combination of my Precision & Para Driver with their amps & cabs more than anything else I`d had previously, with my ABM600/ABM1000 amps & ABM410/ABM210 cabs costing only just a bit more than the high-end speaker cab that I had before. It`s the ears that make the best decisions on gear sometimes.

Hi Blue Well I wouldn`t say we`re a pro band - def hobbyists, though a great hobby it is. My reply was more along the lines that originals bands might think they`re not seeing any money, but could look at the overall picture and might realise that their band is actually driving business pretty good. I think the challenge is still the same, crowd size and bar takings, after all venues want those bar takings, whether it`s covers or originals, that`s what they`re in the business for. For us originallers we then have another challenge, getting the product out there, but in all honesty to me it doesn`t matter how good your product is if people don`t come to see you, which comes back to the bums on seats/drinks across the bar aspect of your query.

Not sure about crowd sizes or alcohol sales as mostly we play supporting bigger bands, but our gig fees and merch sales pay for hotels/flights/tourbus & driver/more merch/recording etc, we stopped having to chip in ourselves a good while back, so I`d say yes, we are driving business. We just don`t take any money out ourselves, it all goes back into the band. We all prefer it that way, rather than take a sum from gigs and sales but then have to book own hotels, put hands in pockets for recording sessions etc.

Yeah no worries - assume they just need to be 2 inches longer than for my Precision?

Just checked those vid-clips out, very VT like, sounded great with the Precision

And what was really interesting on that one Chris was those cheap Maplin PA cabs that were brought along. About a tenth (maybe twentieth) of the price of some of the cabs there, yet sounded very nice in comparison to their wealthier cousins.

Yeah good call, or choose flats that are known more for their mids than lows, such as TIs. Maybe Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats, as they`re quite near in sound to roundwounds.

I`ve just swapped string allegiance to Warwick Red Label steel rounds. Found a place in Germany doing them at about £7.90 a set, plus delivery, so buy 6 packs at a time, comes to under £55. Which is nice.

I`m very practical, so the only love I have for any of my gear is down to how it sounds or plays. Yes I buy my basses in certain colours, but it`s not that I specifically love those ones, more that there are some colour schemes that I really don`t like.

Just the one, apart from once. First off was a Markbass 212, gigged that on its own. Progressed to Barefaced Super 12Ts - I had two, but only ever dragged both out for one gig, and in honesty didn`t need the pair, it was more for "show", all other gigs done with just one. I then had a Barefaced Big Twin 2. Again gigged on its own. In all cases a single 212 was plenty for my needs.

Yep, I have done, and my gigging backup is a Squier Precision so if anything happens to my main bass at a gig I`ll have to. I`ve seen a few pros using cheap Squiers - maybe they prefer them, or maybe it`s down to the huge amounts of beer that get slung in their general direction so they don`t want to ruin their more expensive basses. Who knows, but whatever, they sound fine. My backup is an Affinity, I bought it from Grangur on here and it plays fantastic, in fact I had to raise the action a good bit to suit my ham-fisted way of playing, it was set up so nice, not a fret-buzz or rattle at all, if played "properly".

Yep, both can effect the tone mahoosively, so I keep the settings on the Para Driver the same so I know FOH gets what I want going there - I then tinker on the amps eq itself to get what I want on-stage. Great if I can get it, if not, well at least the audience hear the band as it`s meant to sound.

I gigged with 212s for a while, never found any of them not up to the job.

It`s more to do with not being familiar with the amps, not knowing if there is an FX loop, stuff like that. if I know it`s inline, only the same cables/set-up no matter where I am. Much easier than trying to see what connections are where on the back of an amp on a poorly lit stage, with middle aged eyesight .

Same here

Well I take antihistamines for sleeping anyway, as I have a bad back but can`t take pain-killers on a regular basis due to substance issues, so all I do is take two instead of one and that works well enough. I`m usually really hyper after a gig, but a lot of that is the nature of our music anyway, full-on from start to finish.

Good amps these, the rehearsal studio I go to has one, was chatting to the owner and she said she`s had it for 20+ years, never had it serviced, never had anything go wrong with it. Japhet was pretty much spot on about these amps & cockroaches surviving Armageddon (tho suspect Keef might just scrape through as well).

My only stipulations to people using my gear are don`t blow it up and don`t put any drinks on it. When using other peoples gear I follow those same rules. I always thank the other bassist for letting me use their rig/cab/amp etc. On the originals circuit it`s so much easier if gear-share is accomodated and arranged, some turn up and seem to expect it, though in all honesty you get to know who they are. Likewise you get some who don`t say thanks afterwards, but never judge on the one occaison as they may be caught up in other stuff - I`ve had this happen, yet the next time the same band/bassist have turned up they couldn`t have been friendlier or more thankful, you never knwo what`s going on on the day in question.

That`s it Bas, we do it for the sheer fun of it, recording/selling the material, and having people sing along with the words at our gigs all being part of that fun, hence why i say hobbyist even though the band does earn from it. Due to none of us taking any money from it I couldn`t say pro/semi-pro as it would be a very poorly paid profession Same here, sure we`re not a "big" band, but it`s far bigger and more sucessful than anything else I`ve ever done, and we only decided to do it for fun, see where we could go with it.

I don`t get nervous, but I put that more down to being properly rehearsed and prepared than anything to do with my personality. It`s the same with presentations at work, things like that, no need for nerves if you`re ready.

Hobbyist/Weekend Warrior for me. I do this purely for fun, and we - in general - only gig at weekends. All the money generated from the band goes back into the band, so no income at all. And similar to @Mykesbass am in my 50s, original material, with overseas tours/festivals/albums out etc having the best time of my life so far as a musician.