casapete

The Yamaha EMX512SC is 500 watts x2 into 4 ohms according to Yamaha. Whether that is RMS is anybody’s guess, but great bit of kit whatever.

I always knew I’d never be what most people think of as a pro musician - original material, record company and management involvement, trying to find fame and riches etc. I have though been a pro bassist for 30 years, doing all the stuff you need to in order to make a living - functions, weddings, corporate events and then theatre tours with tribute bands. I left a boring and increasingly pressurised job in the early 90’s that was making me uptight and stressed, and went pro which initially made me feel the same way! However, it has turned out to be the right course for me, and am soon retiring at the age of 66. I’m going to continue gigging with my acoustic duo, and the odd dep gig that may come along. I understand it isn’t for everyone, but I’d do it all over again if I had a second time around.

Not music but a comedy gig - Russell Kane doing a small warm up gig at Barton Ropewalk last night. I’ve seen many excellent comedians over the years, but this was just a masterclass in how to keep an audience laughing constantly for 70 mins. A brilliant performer, I really can’t recommend him enough if you get the chance to catch him on his Hyperactive tour in late 2024/ early 2025.

My mate Jason used to do the sound at Cafe Indie - was it him there for your band?

Just one gig this week with The ELO Experience, at the Palace Theatre in Mansfield. Only just over an hour away for me, so almost a ‘local’ gig! Sold out crowd of 530 people, nice old theatre which we’ve not played for a few years. Had a few hiccups- drummer’s IEM’s not on for the intro so I had to guess where the opening chords came! Also had a brain freeze and missed one bit in Mr Blue Sky, which I’ve never done before. A (very) senior moment on the eve of my 66th birthday! Anyway, the rest went well, and as you can see our wonderful lighting guy Rob had some new toys to play with.

Same here. My acoustic duo have done a few and were just part of the background noise really. Didn’t overly bother us TBH, not as much as the constant dad rock / folk music requests 😆

I tried both bass combos, and agree they were boxy and underpowered. However, a mate of mine had a Session 15:30 watt valve combo which was an interesting guitar amp. Could be used along with a separate slave combo in multiples to increase output which was I believe a new concept in the late 70’s / early 80’s. Before discovering @obbm on here I used ClearTone cables after first seeing them on a trade stand at a guitar show. Still using some now, great cables.

They are a few venues in my area who have started putting on gigs on Sunday afternoons, say 4pm to around 7 or 8pm. I’ve done a few and it seems to work well, often in pubs where they serve Sunday lunch and then put music on to keep people in afterwards. Home by 9pm does make a change!

Well if that’s the case Daryl, you’ll soon be joined by me - I’m retiring from my main band end of April. I’ll still be playing in my acoustic duo, and maybe the odd dep here and there, but my pension kicks in this week so I’ll no doubt be in a similar position to yourself! 😆 Oh, and a belated happy birthday too Daryl. 🎂🍾🎊

We do regular-ish gigs at The Sun Inn in Beverley, and monthly gigs in Anlaby on the outskirts of Hull. Both only 20 mins from Cottingham so would be great to see you again Paul. If you’re ever planning a trip up north then give me a shout.

I do the same, keep a list of string and battery changes on all my basses and guitars. It’s amazing how often I think they’ve recently been changed when in fact it was years ago, not months. 😆

Thanks Paul! We’ve done the requests thing for a while now. We put out request forms on the tables (say one per person) and then go through them to see what’s been asked for and if we can do them! If not then we try to maybe do another by the artist requested. We use iPads linked together which have literally thousands of songs my mate Gary has written out. We do a fair bit of material without using them, but it’s often more for lyrics than the music that we need them, especially for anything we’ve never or rarely done before. Of course there are some we don’t attempt, but because Gary is an amazing player of many styles as well as a great singer, we get away with most of them! We try to make sure most people / couples get at least one tune they request, out of a choice of 3 tunes per request form. Last night we probably had a 90% success rate - ones we couldn’t manage were ‘Boys of Summer’, something by Supertramp and ‘God only knows’! Our audience tend to be around our own demographic which makes things a bit easier- most popular stuff requested is anything by Simon and Garfunkel & The Eagles etc, but we try to mix it up as much as possible. Louis Armstrong into Miley Cyrus isn’t unheard of. 🤣

It’s an Ibanez PNB14E Mick. Parlour sized body, 24” scale and uses D’Addario strings designed for the Taylor GS Mini bass. Cheap little thing but I love it, used on hundreds of gigs either direct into the PA or via my Fender Rumble 100v3 combo. 😊

I have an Ibanez PNB14E which is a small (parlour sized) body, 24” scale and uses the special nylon core round wounds originally designed for the Taylor GS Mini bass. It’s an amazing little thing, used it on hundreds of gigs and new are only around £240. The Taylors are great things but expensive IMHO (£750 +), as are the Martin DJR range. For a more traditional sized bass the Ibanez PCBE14MH are nice instruments, again around £240 new. I’ve also tried the Guilds like the B240E which seem really nice medium scale basses. As ever, it’s probably a question of trying a few out to find your fit, although not many shops seem to carry many in stock. I’ve used my Washburn AB20 on gigs for 30 years and loved it, but since getting the short scale Ibanez it’s unfortunately become redundant. May be selling it on here soon. 😉

Played in Scarborough this evening, a return to ‘The Lookout on the Pier’ cafe restaurant which we do quite regularly. Always a great gig with a truly appreciative audience made up of many regulars. As usual we did the set list from written audience requests, and managed most of them including ‘This Masquerade’, ‘Make you feel my love’ and finishing the second set with a very extended version of ‘Another brick in the wall’. My guitarist partner Gary had a bad cold but still managed to sing all night, albeit more raspy than usual. We’re back there again in three weeks time.

One at a time usually, and then every 3 or 4 restrings it’s all off and clean fretboard / check the intonation etc. My P Lyte is the easiest bass to restring I’ve had, can do it easily in 10 mins. 😊

Having the busiest week for a while (5 gigs) including these 3 with The ELO Experience. Started off with a 6 hour trek up to Dundee on Thursday to play at the magnificent Caird Hall. Not the easiest for sound, plenty of natural reverb! Our engineer managed to tame it though and the gig went well with a lively audience of around 800 all in good voice. I love playing in Scotland, always great audiences. The gig was to replace one booked late last year which was cancelled due to storm warnings. We had really high winds this time on both the journey up and back down which made the drive even more arduous, but still,worthwhile. Friday it was a drive back down to Darlington for a gig at The Hippodrome. Another great old theatre with a near capacity audience. Just a 2 hour drive home afterwards, again in high winds. Last night we played at Sheffield City Hall, a favourite venue for the band. Had around 1200 punters in, great crowd up for it right from the off. Had to use a flown PA so our guys had a job on but they got it nailed. Home by midnight, absolutely knackered. Am playing in Scarborough later today with the acoustic duo, so hope it’s an easy one!

I’m sure you’ve made a good choice, enjoy!

I just write on mine with a Sharpie. Always change them well before they should need it just in case. First ( and only!) time I was ever caught out was at a flash wedding gig and my P- Lyte distorted for a few seconds and then died. I’m sure most folk with active basses have had this happen at some point, so treat it as a learning curve.

That’s my perception too Dave. The Rollers and the others you mention were around at the same period but not ‘glam’ bands IMO. Mott the Hoople, Wizzard & Roxy Music were sometimes also lumped in to the genre. Its obviously a very broad church. 😊

We weren’t sure if the request for some Bay City Rollers stuff was a Mickey take or not TBH, but decided to give it a shot anyway! Were the BCR glam though? 😆

Yeh, it’s a great one. Not massive but a very old place with coal fires etc. They put on loads of music and have recently started doing gigs where they have an admission charge. Coming up soon are Tom Robinson, John Verity and ex Beautiful South singer Briana Corrigan. http://www.suninnbeverley.co.uk

Played at The Sun Inn in Beverley this afternoon with our acoustic duo. We do it every couple of months and it’s a cracking music pub. Loads of familiar faces and plenty of requests, mainly dad rock stuff but also a few we haven’t done in ages including ‘Harvest Moon’, ‘Bartender’s Blues’ and someone wanting some Bay City Rollers stuff. Of course we obliged with ‘Shang a lang’ resulting in mass audience sing a long. Finished by 8pm, just as well as I was knackered after 3x45 min sets and some fingers on my right hand were complaining. A good gig though, really enjoyable.