casapete

I have a 3/4 DB that I’ll be selling soon. Will advertise it on here in the first instance, although it’s not going to be easy as I don’t have a clue as to it’s age and quality! Will maybe post some pics to see if anyone can help me with it? Lots of folk on here will be able to shed some light on it I’m sure.

We resumed our gig last night following a 4 week lay off. This has been down to band illness, followed by a cancellation due to bad weather. Anyway, last night was a welcome return to Cheltenham Town Hall, a handsome building in the centre of town. We'd only found out a few days prior that it was Cheltenham Gold Cup day, so the town was rammed with race goers which made for an interesting walk round when we arrived a bit early. The hall has a rather cavernous sound going on, but had a lengthy soundcheck (see pic) and were happy with it. The gig went well, although it's surprising how 4 weeks off can affect you - had a bit of back ache and slightly sore fingers, probably my age! We did the gig as a one off, as another gig originally planned en route got cancelled. This meant driving down from East Yorkshire and then back afterwards, around 400 miles in total. Of course, there were massive diversions on the M42 which meant driving back through Birmingham and suburbs to find the A38 back up to the M1. No wonder I'm a bit knackered today, although glad of a day off to recover. Tomorrow I'm doing my favourite gig in Scarborough with my acoustic duo, should be a much easier do!

Possibly. But are you the only one who’s ever dropped their bass when the strap came off? 😆

US company Strings and Beyond are currently selling D’Addario EXL Twin Packs for $19.99. That equates to around £8.50 a set! P&P is around £15 I believe, so if you’re buying a few it’s a good saving. However, bear in mind that you may get stung for some import duty over here. From my experience this is not every time,but obviously still a consideration before ordering.

A few that I've had in recent years. I prefer the later versions myself, with chrome hardware and non painted headstocks - made around 95/96 IIRC.

I’ve used these ^^^ for decades now with no problems whatsoever. Like that they don’t damage the bass and also don’t necessitate removing the original strap buttons. Bonus being cheap as chips and last for years.

Freeview channel 84 for anyone interested.

And afterwards, yet another Queen / Freddie Mercury fest. Is it me or is anyone else fed up of endless evenings of either Andre Rieu or Queen on Sky Arts? 😡 Thanks for the heads up. 😊

Nice bass. I’ve used P-Lyte basses for nearly 30 years now, so obviously love them. Currently own two, and both weighing around 7lbs. The necks are particularly fine, slim but somehow still good for someone like me who has played Stingrays and Precision for donkeys years. Always amazed that they have still been a bit’ under the radar ‘ for many.

I got my Backline 600 head as a spare for my GK 1001RB head. I haven’t needed to use it, but when trying it out I actually thought there wasn’t a massive difference between the two. I use a GK Neo 410 8 ohm cab, so the Backline is probably giving around 200 watts into it, and it is more than loud enough for my gigs. A good way of getting the GK sound on a budget IMO.

If it’s the GK combo you mentioned earlier, then they only work into a minimum of 8 ohms. Assuming it has an 8 ohm speaker fitted, it should therefore be giving it’s full 250 watts - it won’t run an additional cab. The Backline heads do run into a 4 ohm cab - I have the 600 model, which reckons on being 300 watts into a 4 ohm speaker load.

Probably best do this while I can still remember them - okay, most of them…. Selmer TnB croc skin 50 watt head & matching 1x18 cab ( mate of mine’s really). Fender Bassman 135 head and matching 2x15 cab ( disappointing ) Peavey 400B mk3 and then a MK4 - great amps. Can’t remember which cab. Acoustic 120 head into a 2x15 EV cab ( big improvement on the Bassman) Ampeg early 80’s SVT 300 watt valve head and matching 8x10 cab - huge sound, but huge. Trace AH500 into a Peavey 410TX - great amp and surprisingly great cab. Both hefty though. Trace AH250 ( because the AH500 weighed a ton) Early-ish Ashdown ABM500 into an Ashdown ABM410. Used this for quite a while, ok. Ampeg SVT 3PRO head. GK 800RB into a Loud Inc 410. Wonderful amp into a very underrated cab. Still got both! GK 700RB into an early Barefaced Compact, bought after trying the demo cab that toured the UK. Mark Bass LM2 - handy little amp but a bit ‘meh’. Size appealed more than the noise it made. GK MB800 - my current small rig, into the BF Compact. Used for all my function/pub gigs. GK 1001RB into a GK Neo 410 ( my current main big rig for theatres etc, with a GK Backline 600 as a spare - never used!) Fender Rumble 100 V3. Brilliant sounding lightweight combo for acoustic / quiet-ish duo gigs. Those are the ones I kept and used for a reasonable length of time. Notable mentions must also go to one or two Hartke HA3500s (which I liked a lot but for strange reasons traded for some of the above) along with a Delta ( Carlsbro) 600, and some others that elude me so can’t have liked them. Been happy with my GK stuff for 20 odd years now, and probably won’t stop using them. Always keep an eye on what’s around though, fancied an Aguilar for a long time along with maybe a newer Barefaced cab. The BF stuff came out just at the right time for me, and has enabled me to carry on working when I thought I might have had to slow down. Great cabs from a great company.

Having to chase someone for the money at the end of the night is a bummer, but over here it happens all too often. New methods of payment like Event UK do prevent this. but then involves a wait until the payment is transferred. We do a couple of regular gigs in a pub and café restaurant and they always pay us promptly, often when we arrive. Saves all that hassle when packing down, and is much more civilised. In my old band, wedding gigs were the worst. For some reason, people didn’t seem to like paying the band until the end of the evening, as if they were waiting to see how we went down with the audience before releasing the cash. Really annoying as most folk were usually pretty drunk by this time -once had to go and wake up the best man in a hotel to get paid! (Made even more annoying by the fact that everyone else involved in the wedding - venue, caterers, cake makers etc had been paid months before.) If we do weddings now we insist on payment two weeks prior to the event. Not had anyone question it yet so happy days.

I have two of everything that I use, except speaker cab. If I had to I could manage with just my monitor, so all bases covered ( see what I did there?). Years of working with guitarists who have trouble with pedals and their leads have made me minimise my signal chain to keep things simple and hassle free. Clip on tuner helps with this ( with a spare too).

I’ve been with my band now for over 12 years and they’ve all been great. That extends to our tech guys too, always pleased to see everyone. I’ve been playing with my pal in our acoustic duo nearly 30 years without ever a crossed word. Not only is he a diamond bloke but an amazing guitar player too - every gig is a pleasure. So lucky. 🙂

Another +1 for the Fender Rumble. Lightweight but sound great too.

Forgot to post this from a couple of weeks ago - I went to see ‘The Magic of Motown’ in Huddersfield. Been meaning to see this show for a while now, mainly out of curiosity to see how it catches the Motown vibe. Turned out to be a pleasant surprise, with a 7 piece band making a good job of recreating the sound, along with 4 male and 3 female vocalists covering the main Motown acts. Wasn’t sure about the bass player when I saw he was using a Stingray 5 string, but he did really well covering all the classic lines. The PA sound upstairs was pretty naff, but improved as the evening progressed. Plenty of prosecco fuelled ladies dancing throughout which made for an entertaining sideshow.

People have commented a few times on BC that speaker diameter alone doesn’t define a particular sound. Back in the day (60’s/70’s) bands used 15 and 18 inch speaker cabs probably due to the lack of choice. Marshall 4x12 stacks changed this somewhat, but I think it was Ampeg’s use of multiple 10 inch drivers that really altered the game. If you’ve ever experienced an Ampeg SVT 810 the you’ll know that tens can be a thing of beauty. I used fifteens when first starting out, my favourite cab for years containing two EV 15 speakers. However, once I’d tried my first 410 cab I realised that 10’s would work for me too. Abandon your preconceptions if you can and give other cabs a try, you may well be pleasantly surprised. 😊