Lozz196

In that case - and depending where you are of course - I’d be looking at the ABM500 that’s on here for £175. Slightly less flexible eq but still very good amps. You’d be able to source an Ashdown MAG410 with the rest of your budget, possibly an ABM410 if lucky. Edit - I’ve just seen the Spyder & cab that @Pow_22 has up for sale, also worth checking out if near enough.

I think I’d have the discussion with them along the lines of, you’ve got x number of gigs lined up, after paying the new guy his share this leaves y left over after each gig so I expect you to pay me what you owe after z gigs. I’d probably deduct expenses for each of them from the y figure unless they got like donkeys.

Agree, I had far more than I would usually choose but in the band mix it wasn’t noticeable at all as drive, just a warmer fatter sound.

Keep your eyes on the Amps For Sale section, you see them go from £350 upwards

I tried out my new Ampeg Scrambler overdrive at rehearsal last night, had to have the drive on way more than I do at home volumes to even notice it, as others have said set the sounds at gigging volumes.

I’d look at the ABM600, has a much more flexible eq and has some serious weight to the sound, the valve gain really adds in thickness and some nice break up.

The true spirit of this forum

I’ve found that when learning songs playing through a compressor helps on this aspect, really helps getting the notes in the right places for the right amount of time.

Which can only be good thing imo, just not keen on the look of it

Definitely, in my last band we used to see a lot of this, bands wanting to use full back-lines (often even asking to use guitars) as "they were travelling to the gig" - well none of the other bands lived at the venue so they must have been "travelling" as well, spending an hour on a "sound check" which actually turned out to be them rehearsing their set as they clearly never did this anywhere else, and as soon as they were at the venue their priorities were where`s the free beer rather than checking out the stage/PA/lighting/sound-man/areas to display merch etc. As one old-hand said, they weren`t bands, they were groups of blokes on a Saturday night out.

Oh I get that, in all honesty I`ve more than expected to meet those types along the way. I do think it best to move on when something isn`t right, however I similarly think that it`s fair to not leave people in the lurch. I`ve moved on from bands several times but the only time I`ve left instantly was a band which had two bassists anyway. I would feel very uncomfortable leaving a band unable to gig if they had gigs booked.

Calling Sesame Street........ But on a serious note, this person sounds toxic, completely unaware that the reason for the collapses across all these bands lays at their own feet, sadly too many of those types around in music.

Indeed, from what I`ve read apparently one of the guys who sadly lost their lives could only be identified by his tattoos.

It was a young person (once they`re under 30 that`s all I can offer) with dark hair. No idea who she is though.

From what I watched I don`t think she was. Whereas another artist, well she has to be a ventriloquist as at one point the mic was held at arms length, her mouth was closed, yet the vocals were perfect.

That sounds very well organised, wouldn`t have had any issues with that as am sure the sales would have more than made up for the percentage. I think the places that tried it with us were just doing that, trying it on and when we gave them a Paddington stare decided not to pursue it.

Happened to us a couple of times. Very strangely in all of the comms that had been sent - lengthy comms mind - this wasn`t mentioned. So we said fine, you want a percentage get behind the desk and start selling.

In my old band we sold loads of tees, had many different designs as well. The main thing I’d say about merch is make it clear that it’s available, just announcing you have some isn’t enough, have it hanging up somewhere with the prices clear. We found that most sales take place at the end of the evening if regular gigs, or immediately after a set if a festival so have someone available to look after the sales whilst the band sort out the gear.