casapete

1970 - you finally finished that time machine Mick? 😆

Tonight on Sky Arts at 7pm there is a Sheryl Crow gig from 2020. ‘Live from the Artist’s Den’ is small gig at The Plaza in New York. Later on the same channel at 12.15am there is a repeat of ‘Jeff Beck Live at the Hollywood Bowl’ from 2016. BBC4 have a load of Sting / Police related stuff starting tonight at 9pm.

I have both similar GK models and totally agree. The RB just has that something extra.

Howie Epstein?

Under ripe banana may come in handy for this.....

He is steady, but not in name. 🤣

Heard this in the car earlier. A great Laura Nyro song, performed by Streisand. Not a fan of hers at all but this is funky as hell, with some great players on it - maybe Joe Osborn on bass.

We played a couple of gigs this week - in Peterborough and then at one of my favourite venues, Sheffield City Hall. For anyone who doesn't know it, this magnificent building was designed in the early 1920's but not opened until 1932. The Oval Hall holds around 2,200 people seated, and we had about 1,600 people in on Friday night. It's the first time we've ever brought in a 'flown' PA system, and it really made a difference. We've just acquired a new desk too (an Allen&Heath Avantis if anyone's interested) and it needed a fair old soundcheck in order to get everything right. Despite our singer fighting off a cold, we all played well and the audience were amazing - definitely one of the best gigs I've done with the band* over the last 13 years. *The ELO Experience

Does David Bowie’s ‘ Aladdin Sane’ qualify? Also think there were some Ozzy Osbourne albums with mild puns - ‘The Blizzard of Oz’ is (thankfully) the only one I know.

Tonight on Sky Arts at 9pm - Jeff Beck Live at the Hollywood Bowl, from 2016.

My PJ Precision Lyte has one master vol along with a pan control. Suits me as I find having to turn two volume pots down ( as per a Jazz bass) to mute the bass is a bit of a pain in live situations.

For anyone that missed it, BBC4 had a half hour ‘In Concert’ of Crosby and Nash on Friday night, currently available on iPlayer.

In my previous life (in an 8 piece function band) we had to often use deps in order to carry on working. Can’t remember any booker ever complaining, but the key part of this was ensuring everybody had reasonable parts available should a dep be needed. Sounds easy, but the state of some of the player’s pads meant that deps had to be pretty experienced to make sense of the gig. As the band moved away from using parts/music stands then it obviously made using deps more difficult. Singers were the hardest to obtain, as (in my area at least) few or none of them could read music - some had trouble with reading lyrics! The larger the band, the more likelihood of needing deps. If we’d had to cancel gigs when anyone was unavailable we’d never have lasted long.

I seem to remember the MM cabs were marketed for either bass or guitar. Got an old catalogue somewhere - Clapton’s band all used them in the late 70’s. Either standard MM drivers (Eminence maybe?) or EV as an option. As you say, 1x15 or 2x12 configurations available.

Played a couple of gigs at the end of last week in Weston Super Mare and then Wimborne in Dorset. Both theatres sold out, which always makes for more atmosphere. A long journey in torrential rain but still well worth it. Absolutely knackered the next day though! 😫

I have a Ukulele bass - it's a Countryman, bought it about 4 or 5 years ago when they first appeared. Tried a few, and couldn't see how the Kala models were nearly 3 times the price when the sound and quality were so similar so I went for the Countryman. (on the right in the first pic) Used it quite a lot at first, and had so many people interested in it at gigs. Sounds great in my acoustic duo, with a nod to an upright bass kind of noise! The strings did take some getting used to, as well as the scale length but with a bit of use it gets more familiar. Great little thing though. Couple of years ago a friend of mine got an Ibanez PNB141E short scale, and I instantly loved it. Bought one straight away, and it's now taken over as my main bass in the duo (see 2nd pic). It's 24.7" scale length, and combined with my Fender Rumble 100v3 makes for a great gigging combination. Strings are the same as on the Taylor GS mini bass (which I also had but prefer the Ibanez).

I use D’Addario EXL 170 strings , and leave them on until they start dulling off too much. I get around 20 gigs out of a set, and they’re never too far gone when I take them off. I do like the new set feel, and if finances allowed would change them more often. When I use a bass that hasn’t been played for a while, the old strings thing can be a drag, especially if I only need it for one gig and can’t justify a new set just for that. Tried coated strings and don’t really like the old string feel from the off. Nothing beats the feel and sound of a fresh set of EXLs for me.

On the few times I’ve done some serious recording, I found that half worn strings seemed to be best for me. Not so dead that they gave intonation issues but not so brand new that they showed up my lack of technique with overly bright rattles and squeaks. 😂

Still occasionally get asked by audience members, and still find it a tad embarrassing. The whole tribute band thing is sometimes bizarre enough without people wanting you to sign merch IMO. Still, we’re always grateful that we have a following so who am I to say? We sometimes get asked to sign stuff by the theatre we’re performing at, often for them to display in the venue either front or backstage. Good promo for the band so no problems there.

I have the Sansamp which I use as a DI to FOH, but also have a Behringer BD121 as a spare. The Behringer is remarkable value for money, sounds really good and is ideal for what you require. Worth £25 to try in comparison, and handy for backup should you need it. I’ve lent mine to a guitarist and it actually sounded okay for that as well. 🙂

A Behringer BD121 will do the job well for you I reckon. Currently advertised at Andertons for £24.99, they are a Sansamp rip off, combining a pre amp and active DI . Really useful bit of kit, and sound great. If you really want to change your combo, a s/h Fender Rumble 100v3 has a great DI, is only a couple of pounds heavier than your Orange and can be used for smaller gigs. They sound ace, and can be picked up s/h for c.£150.

Must admit CSN&Y passed me by too in the 70's. Only 25 years later I came to realise the importance of their output, and ended up liking Neil Young's stuff the most.

Well, a first for me - playing with my acoustic duo at a baby shower! Must admit I had to ask someone exactly what one was. Turns out it’s just a get together of the mum-to-be and her friends and family. Gig was at a local Italian restaurant earlier today, and they asked for some quiet-ish background stuff during and after the buffet. The father-to-be was a lovely bloke (who we later found out is a well known footballer) and had invited some of his mates along too. We played a mix of recent tunes as well as some older stuff which I was surprised they knew / requested. We were well looked after, and nice comments from many of the guests. Gave out a few business cards as well so hopefully may lead to some more stuff. Home by 6pm so a nice change for me.

We kicked off our 2023 gigs at the now customary Hull New Theatre, a great place. Sold out house of 1330 people who come to see us play in our 'hometown' venue every year. Always a bit of a nervous one (nobody wants to fall on their ar*e in front of a local crowd), we played well and threw in a couple of songs we've not played for years which were well received. Also significant for me as my 9 year old grandson came along, his first gig etc. He actually loved it and didn't fall asleep even after a long day at school! Home by 11pm so quite a novelty for me. Next week we're in Weston Super Mare and Wimborne so back on the road for real - hoping the weather stays mild.