goblin

Cheers man First time playing with singer and guitarist as they were both deps, didn't have the strongest of nights myself IMO, but if other people don't notice it I'm happy

They are very stiff instruments, to the point it makes my Jazz feel too floppy to play. Of all the basses I use, I adore the Wal but due to it only being a single pickup model with tone and volume (and a coil tap), it limits me for flexibility. That's where the Warwicks come in, the Jazz is also flexible but I don't like the feel or sound of it. Once I've put a preamp in it, that may change the game, but for now the Warwicks are my top choice.

Just a couple from Friday night's gig in Didsbury with Electric Lounge, minus keys player. https://soundcloud.com/bassgoblin92/electric-lounge-live-get-lucky https://soundcloud.com/bassgoblin92/electric-lounge-live All direct into the desk so mix is a tad rough, for anyone who might be interested that was the 5 string Warwick, DId out of the Hartke

I'm with 4000 with regards to the band, but in their defence I think it's more an issue with the arrangements. They just don't quite seem as balls out as some of them should be. It sounds like the band who have the potential to be astonishing are being held back by the dots.

I love my 'Vettes, but I remember playing someone's Streamer LX Custom, and bloody hated it. The standard 5 sounded absolutely awesome tonight at Didsbury Casino though, just listening to the recording from the desk. Nice and clear, good punch in the mids, nice trebles and a good kick in the gut from the bass department. At the end of the day, it's a fantastic workhorse. I still look after it, but I don't worry as much about it as much as I do when I gig the Wal, or if I would be gigging a nice custom build. It just works, it's easily to insure (which it is along with the rest of my gear!) which means if anything happens to it, I can just get a settlement and get another one The only real downfall to it is the bloody jack socket they use, the 5er had a new one fitted about 2 months ago and it's already playing up again! Might look at boring out the hole a bit and fitting a switchcraft socket.

I use two completely different PA rigs and they're both superb, and compact. The first is an EV rig. Pair of EV SX100+, Bell and Ecler power amps and a Peavey XR800F desk which mixes and also acts as monitor power amp. No problems there, fits into the back of my Fabia with my full bass rig too! For bigger gigs, there's two VX15 subs too which are excellent! The other (which I prefer to be honest) is my function band's Yamaha system. Active so more portable, and very loud. Got a pair of DXR12 speakers which are 1100watt a side class D, and the DXS15 powered sub, then a Mackie desk. Essentially 4 boxes, and it goes between a Fiesta and a Fabia plus a 5 piece band and our gear!

Singer is a replacement for one we've just sh*t canned, I had no idea she was working with the guitarist though. However, guitarist is never coming back and I've made that clear.

I get that when I watch my mate Craig who plays for Barclay James Harvest

Been an interesting weekend for me, Friday's gig ended up cancelled, and then Saturday I was playing at a pub in Warrington. Well, Saturday was definitely a hectic day! 3pm brings me a phone call from the drummer telling me that the guitarist has backed out as his other band has been offered a better paid gig, and the singer's also doing it. That left me with two hours to find someone who could dep. Our keys player is strong enough to carry it so vocals were our main focus point. Anyway, drummer got in touch with agency to let them know what was going on, and the landlord of the pub too. Let's say the landlord wasn't happy. Since he wasn't getting the initial lineup he was promised (we had a male singer depping for a female), he wanted to dock £80 off the pay, but if we were good enough when we played then he would consider raising the price. As I was taking someone on a date last night, I really needed the money, so reluctantly packed the car anyway and set off and got there. Got setup, first set down with no sound check and we did really well given the circumstances, 'Mercy' was possibly a tad high for poor Dan, but he quickly realised and it went down the octave. No problems there! Lots of people were dancing and having fun, we even did requests too! So first set, no worries at all. Second set, same game again, lots of people dancing, it was more the funky side of the set where things got even tighter as singer was getting a lot more comfortable with it, and yet again, more requests. About half way in, I tried turning to speak to the singer in between songs and realised I was being restricted, looked around and there was some woman whom I've never met stood there pissing about with the tuners on my bass, putting it horrendously out of tune (new strings too!), to be honest I didn't turn round enough quick enough as personally I'd have liked to have cracked her in the chin with it. My public liability'll cover it! Any way apart from that everything else was fine. Packed down, before loading the cars we decided to sort the money out. The landlord tried putting his word in, told us in the first half he still wasn't struck and still wanted to dock the pay. Had my MU card on me, managed to agree a figure as to be honest I just wanted to get home by that point, and for the sake of a £30 between 4 of us, it's less than a tenner each. So yeah, certainly a pub I won't be playing again.

They sure did Is it true they once did a 21 / 22" cab specially for Tony Levin? Or is that just a rumour Looks like it's a 400 watt cab then, and my 1x15 is uprated to 300w so a combined load of 700w ain't too bad, I'd have to be driving the Hartke a bit to get that and I only get to turn it up to 4 nowadays!

Didn't buy it new, I've probably had it for about a year and a bit now but it's easily over 10 maybe 15 years old. And it could have been reconed in the past, either way I can't really complain for paying less than £100 for what I thought was a 300 watt cab

I'm just wondering, how often did Trace Elliot make none standard cabs? As far as I'm aware, the 2103x (2x10 / 2x5) is a 300 watt cab at 8 ohms. Now mine never had a model ID on the back plate, not even wattage, it's just blank. I've just converted from canon to speakon sockets on both cabs, and we've realised that the two 10" drivers are original Trace Celestions, but they're 200 watts each. This means my cab's at least 400 watts then as I haven't factored in the ratings of the 5" drivers. Has anyone on here got any ideas about this one?

I'd also agree on that, but on my LH1000 I've had the sound guy asking me to turn down in outdoor venues when I've had it on 4 in bridge mode... It's certainly got the guts

HA is very versatile and cuts well, but for me it's the LH series. Nice, simple, loud!

Anti slip mat thing, not even sure where I got it, just found it at home and lifted it Craig Fletcher from John Lees' Barclay James Harvest also uses some to stop his Mesa walkabout head uhm...going walkabout So there ya go, celebrity cult status for a little bit of rubber matting haha.

That's what I'm thinking of doing (the fan), I've got a schematics and a VERY good electrical / amp technician who can pretty much fix anything (he's currently rebuilding an original modular Moog!) I don't want to rack it though as that then defeats the point of buying it for smaller gigs, as previously said. I'll see how I get on

Well a week or two ago I went and got myself a second hand Ashdown Superfly 500 for smaller gigs so I'm not lugging the Hartke and 2 cabs around every where. However, first gig on Thursday it eventually overheated and cut out, and the Crashdown / Superfry name is now more popular! I took it out of the aluminium castings and put some rubber feet on yesterday morning, and it got through a wedding gig last night, but it still got warm and I turned it off during the break to cool it a bit more. I know the 1000 watt ones have a fan in them, I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do to aid cooling, including potentially fitting a fan inside of one. I don't want to rack it and have a fan in a rack case, as that would then defeat the point as it'll be no more compact than the Hartke!

You can get a double bass, amp, acoustic guitar, amp, flute and 4 people in the back of a LWB Mercedes A Class too!

Well personally my view is that no matter where it came from, and whether the experience was good or bad, if something wasn't right, I'd still be in touch with the seller. It's not really fair to criticise them for it being defective, I've had it before and it was simply a case of not initially noticing there was an issue, and they've paid to rectify the issue as sending it all the way back can be a pain. All you have to do it ask.

Just out of interest (incase I've missed it), have you been in touch with him about the faulty pickup?

And with regards to the appointment thing too, that's entirely fair enough. It shows that his customers are also genuinely interested, and don't just want to come in to try a fancy instrument as a chancer. It saves him a lot of time and effort that way, which is important for smaller businesses, and he'll be able to devote more time to someone who's there because they want are 100% interested, rather than jumping in between people who just want to play something expensive.

I've never really bought anything of significance off Mark, (basically a set of strings online), but when I did everything was fast and smooth, and I had no issues at all. However I met him at London Bass Guitar Show this year, and I'll give credit where credit's due as he's such a nice guy. As previously said though, with the internet era and review sites etc, one bad day which everyone has, and it can have a massive impact!

Bass - not a chance. Even though all my gear is insured, it's still my pride and joy and if anything happened to it, I couldn't be done with the hassle. If I know them and offer after talking about gear, and knowing how good they are, it's a different story and I'd be more than happy, but someone I don't really know at a gig or jam? No thanks. Amp's a tricky one, when I had the Trace head, yeah no worries as I knew it wouldn't overload the cabs. As for the Hartke, that's 4 times as powerful, so I'd be weary of anyone who plugs in and turns up. That's one of the reasons I got the Superfly, people can do no damage as the cabs over overrated for the amp outputs, and I can also digitally lock the amp itself so no one can mess around with the settings.