casapete

More love for Hartke here. Had an LH500, and while I liked it a lot I still preferred the HA3500. Classic amp, reliable and lots of tonal variation available. Like the LH, also not underpowered! They seemed to go alongside Peavey - mid price amps that are well built and offer a lot of bang for the buck. Would have another in a heartbeat.

Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul - last night at the 02 Ritz in Manchester. Full on show, over 2 hours of high energy soulful brass laden stuff. Amazing 3 ladies on vocals and groovy dancing, 5 piece horn section and a great sounding room. Heaven.

I think calling these 'flight cases' might be stretching it a bit. Don't get me wrong, if you just need a hard case to protect your amp in a car etc then they're fine ( I have a similar one which I house my GK MB800 in ). However, they aren't up to the rigours of being stacked in vans etc, and honestly don't think they'd actually survive many flights!

I have a Crown XLS, but not sure it's 'Yankee' - think mine's made in China...😄

Some possibles from Facebook you could try. https://www.facebook.com/groups/depsuk/ https://www.facebook.com/LastMinuteMusiciansUK/?eid=ARALP0vZ0qyz5DwdsT9u1jD-YLG5nzSTmrrRFrEXn7FNFavoTts59XCty9pR7VQKs4lXL1ObHldGyd08 https://www.facebook.com/groups/musiciansavailableuk/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1459261904358095/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1464698153822774/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/292495814176877/

Ha ha, used to do that all the time! Now I use a clip on tuner (don't start...) and guess what? Forget to turn the bass volume back on sometimes 🤣

My utter lack of being able to play anything remotely interesting if made to play a solo. One of the reasons I like bass is that (in my world at least) I don’t have a ‘feature’ on any songs / gigs. Was always attracted to the bass as an accompanying instrument, ditto drums. Still can’t stand either doing solos when I go to see a band, probably a result of being a 70’s teenager when such things were commonplace. And relax.....

I was once in a band where the singer would try the keys out at home, then say they needed dropping a tone or so. Of course at a rehearsal / gig he could actually reach the notes in the original key, so these came to be known as ‘front room’ efforts. Same goes for sitting / standing keys too....😄

I loved some of REM's stuff, mainly the older ones I have to admit. Whether I like a band or not, I'm always in awe of those who you can instantly recognise though, which certainly was the case with REM. Same goes for instrumentalists too, particularly guitarists. In a world of over distorted sounds with no originality, to hear someone play with a unique tone and touch still gets me every time.

Great song with a brilliant bassline. Mick Ralphs on guitar shows how effective a massive tone and not going crazy 'widdly widdly' can be too. The album version has the long solo at the end, wonderful stuff.

Amazing. Never heard of it before, but looks like a great idea.

Good call. I try and do the same, with varying degrees of success though....😁

Mmm, not sure about this- just tried it out with this week in 1968 and (by my reckoning obvs) there are a fair few cracking singles in the top 30 , 19 in my view. Most of these by famous bands or artists, the word 'famous' depending on your age though of course. Of the remaining 11 there are 9 fillers and 2 novelty maybe. To many people on here they are probably songs that are relatively unknown but nevertheless were big tunes then. Just saying....🙂

I'm definitely with the 'formative years shaping your choices' angle here. The sound of Motown coming from my brother's room when I was a kid, Beatles , Stones etc on the radio and TOTP / Ready Steady Go all still resonate with me to this day. However, unlike (it seems) most people on here, I have always liked POP music. There, I've said it. From those great 3 minute songs in the 50's/60's right through to recent stuff, I love a catchy well crafted song done well. Of course there's always been sh*te stuff in the charts since their inception, but likewise there will always be great pop songs being made - pop as in 'popular', tunes which capture a large audience by being more or less instantly likeable / danceable / singable etc. I don't have a problem with that whatsoever. In fact, I've made a living for the last 30 years in playing said songs for people to enjoy, so would perhaps be hypocritical of me to think otherwise. What I have noticed (as stated in a few posts above) is that fewer songs are standing out to me now, which of course is to be expected - after all, pop music (certainly chart orientated stuff anyway) is primarily targeted to the teen to maybe early 20's demographic. Even so, there are still gems to be enjoyed IMHO, music that is maybe ultimately disposable BUT is fun , happy and just makes you feel good. So where's the harm in that?

Great stuff, so good to have your efforts acknowledged like this - well done. 👏

Also Lee Pomeroy, ( ace session bassist with Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Take That, Steve Hackett, It Bites etc) plays left handed but strung the ‘wrong’ way up. Sounds great too.

Crikey, very impressive. Also, who knew Russel Kane played such amazing funk guitar? 😆

Similar thing with me and a Hohner B2A (Steinberger style). Loved the bass, but just couldn’t get on with the reach for the lower frets when standing. At first thought this was some trick due to it’s headless design, but then realised it was the small body/strap button position which made it so uncomfortable to play. Of course, soon after I sold it I discovered (on here) that there were some aftermarket strap button extenders available to remedy this very problem. 😡

OP has stated he's looking at a Yamaha Stagepass system selling for £519 according to his link, so guessing his budget is around that area. 🙂

For the price of that Stagepass set up, I would recommend going for a s/h Yamaha 512SC mixer amp. 2 x 500 watts , quality FX built in and eight channels which should see you right. Usually around the £200 region, so leaves enough in your budget for a good pair of s/h speakers. Probably a 1x15 + horn type of thing by Yamaha, Peavey etc which should be enough for your requirements. . With powered (active) speakers being so fashionable now, quality passive cabs are cheap and plentiful - usual places to look show up lots (eBay, Gumtree etc).

What is your current set up you are thinking of adding the cab to?

I think it's the silver cloth I'm not keen on - do they offer a black version in the bass cabs like their guitar range?

I prefer the look and protection of the steel fronts, although do acknowledge it’s probably overkill and only increases the weight (which maybe defeats a lot of the BF ethos ).

Tech 21 stuff is great. Tried a VT bass deluxe and loved it, although I currently use a standard BDDI just for DI purposes. I’ve always thought that if you need to put an expensive preamp pedal in front of your expensive amp to get a decent sound then you’re using the wrong amp! If the VT pedal is giving you a great sound , then why not just run it into a power amp for onstage use?