casapete

Played at a party yesterday, depping with some old friends. It was in the garden of a cottage in a small village in Holderness, and is an annual event where everyone knows each other and really enjoy themelves . A lovely do with great punters and ace food and drink too! Used my bitsa Jazz bass, with a GKMB800 into my old 'Loud Inc' 4x10 cab, which still sounds as strong as ever. Glad I didn't sell it on when I got my BF Compact, as occasionally it's great to have a change. The band play 'Dad rock' stuff which always goes down well with the gigs they get. The drummer is John 'Cambo' Cambridge, who played in David Bowie's early band 'The Hype' and then on the 'Space Oddity' era stuff. John actually introduced Bowie to Mick Ronson following playing with Mick in top local band 'The Rats'. He's a top bloke, great company and a wonderful drummer so it's always a pleasure (and an honour) to get to play with him, even though I've known him for over 40 years. ( John has recently written a book about his early days with Bowie and Ronson - for anyone interested it's called 'Bowie, Cambo and all the Hype' , is available in paperback and a fascinating read.)

Great looking bass and interesting write up, I’ve fancied a Reverend bass for ages, yet not played one as they are still quite scarce. Any idea how heavy they are? Saw Sheryl Crow’s bassist use one at Glastonbury and was hooked.

Just get a Fender Rumble! Cheap as chips, sound great and easy to find s/h. Then treat the family using what you would have spent on the expensive stuff.

On BBC4 tonight (Friday 19th) there is some Stevie Wonder stuff. Starts at 22.40 with ‘Stevie at the BBC’, followed by the ace ‘A Night of Wonder’ at 22.40. Probably on iPlayer for a while too I would think.

Always liked Hall and Oates. Seen them a couple of times live and they were absolutely superb too, especially with their late bassist T-Bone Wolk. (Enjoyed the 'Daryl's House' series of videos on YT in case you've missed them.)

I’ve used GK amps for years and generally love them. However I only just manage to tolerate the tone controls being configured the ‘wrong’ way round, i.e. treble on the left through to bass on the right. This has been the case which started with my favourite amp, the 800RB, then on to the RB700/1001 series and even the little MB range. I notice the recent Legacy 800 model has addressed this now, so may have to look into getting one, if only to solve my ‘problem’. Not sure if any other amps have been the same layout? I think the many years I spent before my GK period ingrained me into thinking Bass to Treble / L to R was the correct and intuitive way.

Wonderful stuff in these uncertain times.

This! 🙂

I’ve been on both ends of this situation and know what it’s like. Rehearsed a few times at my folks bungalow when in my teens. The neighbours were a lovely lot who got on with our family, but eventually had a word with my dad who wasn’t aware of the noise as we always rehearsed when my folks were out. Scroll forward to fairly recently when living in our last house, end of terrace Victorian. Shortly after we moved in, there was the sound of what appeared to be someone playing drums in our kitchen. Literally couldn’t hold a conversation or hear the TV above it. Popped next door to have a friendly word with the parents of said drummer, and they were quite defensive, saying he was studying music at college and needed to practice. Reluctantly agreed to certain times we were prepared to put up with it, which of course were soon forgotten. Eventually had to threaten them with alerting the Council, and they took up my recommendation to get the lad an electric kit. We could still hear him rehearse but nowhere near as bad as the acoustic one. Oh yeh, the parents snubbed us for the next 10 years too, as it was our fault obviously. In fact they were one of the reasons we moved recently. Now live on the edge of a village where quiet is the norm, which suits us fine. I have a well insulated room where I can make some noise if I want, and mentioned to our neighbours to let me know if I ever bother them - so far no problems. If I wanted a full band rehearsal then I’d book a rehearsal room somewhere rather than risk good relations with folk nearby. Only noise that bothers us is the daily early morning cockerel opposite, but we’re happy to let that continue rather than rock the boat. I think everyone is entitled to reasonable amounts of quiet wherever they are, although understand it’s all relative to the neighbourhood and it’s location.

Yup, me too. Because they sound reasonable people I’d be willing to consider other options.

Must admit, I think I’d be looking around for somewhere else to rehearse where nobody was affected by it. Or even just try headphones in the summer months? Less grief for all concerned.

Beat me to it - going up a gauge should sort things.

They worked okay for me. However, I have one ear canal a bit smaller than the other, and managed to get one plug properly stuck in it. Mrs CP wasn’t over happy about being woken up when I got in at 2am to try and remove the offending item. Took half an hour with tweezers, lesson learned!

Interesting piece from yesterday's i paper. Musician Nile Rodgers has said the most valuable lesson he has learnt in his career has been "not to be a music snob". The Chic co-founder, 69, said " Any song in the top 40 is a great composition because it speaks to the souls of a million strangers. As an artist, that was the greatest lesson I ever got" I'm basically in agreement , just wondered what other BC folk make of this?

Absolutely this. So many bands overcook it with PA and backline for smaller venues like you mention, it really doesn't warrant it IMHO. Small guitar amps and a Fender Rumble 100 work for us in many places. The Yamaha is a much underrated bit of kit, and we still use one for our country band and acoustic duo gigs. Works brilliantly with most cabs - we use either Bose 802 or EV passive cabs, even sounds great with some old Peavey HiSys cabs we occasionally utilise.

May seem harsh, but in reality probably the better option. I’ve been in situations where deps have turned up at short notice due to other band member’s careers, and the band has suffered as a result. If everyone was doing it, the band wouldn’t exist, so more honest to specify what level of commitment is required from day one. (Also, have you ever tried to get a dep for a rehearsal? 😆)

Had a couple of nice gigs this week. First was our monthly acoustic duo gig at a local pub. Plenty of people in, including Andy, an old band mate of mine from years ago who now teaches music in Beijing. Haven't seen him in 15 years, so great to catch up. Then at the weekend we played at Marlborough College in Wiltshire as part of their Summer School programme. Originally planned for during the Covid lockdown, it was nice to eventually get to perform there. As it was a stand alone gig now (originally one of a few darn sarf) this involved a 5 hour drive each way so a bit of a slog for us. An amazing venue, originally designed for classical music and theatre, so a challenge for our sound tech but he coped really well. Great support from their crew too. Needless to say though the gig was fantastic, a lovely sell out crowd and we were well fed and watered. Absolutely shattered next day though!

+1 for forScore! Use it in my acoustic duo, probably 1000’s of songs easily accessed.

I would add that most function bands use their own PA’s, unless they are only doing huge events at large / unusual venues where there may be a hired rig available. In my 15 years of playing the function circuit this only happened a handful of times.

We’ve accepted that closures and diversions are now a permanent part of our travelling to and from our gigs all over the UK. The change to night works on major routes has impacted our travel times considerably, most often on our route home after a long gig when we just want to get back. So often we travel miles down motorways with 40 or 50mph speed limits due to road works with nobody in sight working there at all. Diversions have become normal, and with some being an extra 20 miles +, it can be very frustrating. One of the drawbacks of the job I know, just have to accept it.

Definitely the latter Bill......😆

On a few occasions I used an 810 and also a 610 with my amplified acoustic upright, and found that feedback was a problem, presumably due to the speakers being directly behind the body of the bass. From my experience I would go for a smaller cab / cabs like 1x10’s or 1x12’s. Agree with Bill’s post above too.

Think I've said this before, but I'd happily pay more to see my favourite artists in a small venue. The notion of paying similar ticket prices to see people on a video screen from the back of a stadium somewhere is just crazy IMO. If only people didn't allow themselves to be ripped off like this then the situation would soon change. Was hoping to see Springsteen next year but checking the prices this morning when they went on sale I'll definitely be giving it a miss. Seen him a few times in smaller venues than football grounds so will hold on to those memories.

That would be down to you I’m afraid - personally wouldn’t suggest not fully disclosing anything where insurers are concerned, as they will do their best to evade paying out over the slightest detail. Can’t remember what I’m down as without checking my policy, but think it mentions theatre as one of my places of work. ‘ Pop group’ is obviously high risk drugs and rock n roll stuff to them.... I seem to remember questioning why a company wouldn’t insure me under that category a few years ago, and they said it was high risk as imagine the claim if I had an accident whilst giving Mick Jagger a lift home after a gig! Wonder if they still use that example these days.