seymourfluid

Spare strings Spare lead Tuner 15 cans of cider 15 cans of Bitter 15 cans Stella The beer was £5 a pint. Sold the Stella to the guitarists Sold the bitter to the singer. Drunk the cider. Got paid as well. Thats showbiz. :-)

I don't understand why anyone would want a rack tuner. If you are putting on a show, the last thing you want to do is turn your back on the audience. When I'm at a gig and the band finish a number and everyone dives for the tuner, I lose that connection. Even though the song has finnished, if the band members are interacting with each other, smiling at what the frontman says even though it's inane crap, you don't loose the audience and the show flows smoothly. SeymourFluid

Hi, with the last run of gigs I have done with the John Otway band, I have repeatedly found one or both of our guitarists standing on my F***ing lead every time I wanted to move so I have splashed out on an Ashdown Freebass unit. I tried it for the first time at the Robin2 in Bilston. :-) Crap. There is a very noticeable noise wash underneath everything making it unusable for live performance. I have subsequently tried it on another amp with different leads in another venue with the same result. The shop have taken it back and tested it and comfirmed the noise, but say that it is on all of the systems they have and so have refunded my money. This is so disappointing. I am one of those here that love the Ashdown sound. My 500 EVO II rig has never let me down and I had high hopes for this. Back to the drawing board. I think a big spike on the neck of my bass to remind the guitarists there is someone behind them!! Cheers, SeymourFluid

Thanks for the responses. I was going to buy a few sets and play so I’ll get a set of each.

Hi, Just bought a Hofner CT club bass in dark cherry and love it. Given that I spent years trying to find the right strings for my MusicMan sterling, anyone have one of these and any recommendation on the right strings to use? People keep telling me to use flatwound but I hated them on the MM. Cheers, Mark Thomas

[quote name='PJ Phillips' post='116698' date='Jan 9 2008, 12:29 AM']Add Harlow to the list! There are at least four other bass players local to me too. pj[/quote] +1 to Harlow and the maniac guitarist in our band plays with Eddie and the Hot Rods in his spare time. Ya can't get more Essex than that! Seymour

[quote name='bassmandan' post='130366' date='Jan 29 2008, 11:22 PM']hey SF!...... how tall are you? Can't be much more than two feet by my calculations.... [/quote] LOL Flight case, then 1 x 15, then 2 x 10 then head. Stands about 6’ 6”. Works for me.

As above, cab up round your ears. I use a 1 x 15 with a 2 x 10 with tweeter on top and have the 2 x 10 at ear level for my own monitoring giving me the frequencies I need to hear. With the speakers round your knees you'll find if you walk to the front of the stage you're loud but on top of it you get very little. I'll assume you have a guitarist next to you because you shouldn't have any problem if it's a 3 piece. Guitar amps are very directional so don't run your backline flat. Get the guitarist (again I'll guess your next to the kit and he's on your outside) to angle his amp slightly away from the kit and you angle your gear slightly in to the kit. A few degrees can make all the difference. Also look at the frequency range he is using. If you have two guitarists in a band I find you usually get the lead guitarist with a load of top cutting everyone's head off at the front of the stage, with the rhythm guitarist having a more mid range setup. It’s quite easy for bass and rhythm guitar to fight for some of the same frequency range and it gets a bit messy. If you have on stage monitoring, keep the stage as clear as you can. Don't fall in to the trap of trying to reproduce a full band sound on stage, just ask for what you need to hear. I take cues from lead vocal so that goes in and lead guitar and I only tickle that in if angling his amp doesn't give me enough on stage. The rest I don't need. Oh, and get those bastard guitarists to turn down as well. Oh, and if there's a keyboard player in the band sack it.

Very easy mate. Leave. A band has to be fun to be in, or you won’t progress as a musician. Now that you have got the bug of being in a band, you need to scour the local press, adds in music shops and find a group of musicians that like playing the kind of music you like, and are just a bit better than you so you learn but are not too intimidating. Don’t let leaving a band because you are scared that you wont find another one stop you. You can always start your own and you can always line up something else before you leave. New musicians have to be nurtured. It’s a scary time when you start out but the best thing you’ll ever do in your life. Anyone that acts as it seems your guitarist has is not a musician in my opinion. He’s a w***er. A band can only progress as a unit at the speed of the most inexperienced person and it’s the job of the most experienced to help the rest learn and progress. If all he wants to do is throw his weight around and play god, it’s the wrong band, not withstanding the fact that being in a work band , if it goes wrong, can damage your relationships at work. If you do decide to leave, don’t go in all guns blazing. Be the adult in the situation. Have a quiet word with them and explain truthfully and succinctly how you feel. If the manager has any management skills at all he’ll understand and the guitarist will look bad, not you. If he hasn’t, your better out of it anyway. Good luck.

The bass on a recording is usually there but gets lost on most HiFis and personal stereos with poor headphones. I have a good quality PS with GOOD quality headphones and the bass lines are in your face. I also find the my car CD player with the bass turned up is good for this. Seymour Fluid

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='114712' date='Jan 6 2008, 02:49 PM']There's [url="http://www.eurohire.co.uk/"]Eurohire[/url] in Basingstoke (M3 Jct 5). You could then pick the A33 up to Reading and get on the M4 from there. According to their website, they've got an Ampeg rig. Hope that helps.[/quote] Christ, that was quick! :-) Thanks, I’ll have a look at their web site. Seymour

Hi, I’ve got a gig at Bristols fleece and firkin with the John Otway band on 12th of Jan and I have decided to treat myself. I’ve got a full Ashdown rig (AMB 500 EVO II, 2x10, 1x15, Line6 BOD XT Pro) but I’ve always fancied either a Mesa Boogie or Ampeg rig so I thought I would hire something for one night to try out before I buy. I think I’d like to try an Ampeg SVT II pro and maybe hire a Rickie 4001 with it. I can’t find a hire place around the Bristol area. Anyone know of a good company? I will be driving from Harlow in Essex but don’t want to go in to London unless I have to so I could pick up on the way, so Reading, Swindon etc , basically the M4. Thanks for any help. Cheers, Seymour

Sorry, my fault. I have a propper rig, I've got a full Ashdown rig, 500watt head, 4x10, 1x15 and line6 bod xt pro. The idea is the band I play in, John Otway big band, are going to go out and play small venues. This means keeping gear sizes down for both the stage sizes and transport costs. I have a trace elliot that I could use but the ashdown has visual impact for smaller gigs but not quite enough head room. The speakers cant handle the bass end of the 60 watt amp as it stands and so an upgrade would help, but if I upgrade to larger power speakers, i have the option to use 60 watt small rig, 500watt small rig with not much throw or a full rig for most of the larger gigs. Just would give me some flexibility. I think.............Anyway, thats the plan. :-) Seymour

HI, I need some advice please. I’ve got one of those small Ashdown perfect 10 minirigs and I want to replace the speakers. I’m thinking of replacing them with a pair of 250-300 watt 10” jobbies but I don’t know what to buy. I may use a superfly through the cabs as a small but powerful 500watt rig. It’ll scare the sh*t out of the rest of the band if I don’t tell them before hand. :-) I was looking for Celestion orange label BN10-300S for the "clarity and punch" until I realised they are trade only. Any ideas? Thanks, Seymour

Anyone gigging this Saturday while the rugby world cup final is on? We have a gig booked in derby, two sets starting at 9. Bugger that. I had to phone the front man and get him to organize a support. We are now on at 9.45, one set. I just hope it doesn’t go in to extra time!! Seymour Fluid

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='54807' date='Sep 3 2007, 04:19 PM']Seen Otway three times, the first time (many years back) was with just a guitarist (not Wild Willy Barrett), other times just him and Richard. Pants-wettingly funny. Presumably he also tours with a full band then? Would like to see that. Folks, if you ever get a chance to see Otway live, take it, the man's a genius. Welcome.[/quote] Full band has been together for 15 years now. Otway has a very fluid show. He goes out with his guitarest Richard Holgarth as a duo. He go's out as solo, duo with max splodge, duo with wild willy, duo with atilla the stock broker and then with the full band in three different formats. He's a busy boy! :-) If you look at his web site, it usualy tells you the format of the show next to the gig. If you get to a band show, come and say hello, I may even buy you a pint Mr Thought. :-)

[quote name='OldGit' post='54567' date='Sep 3 2007, 08:48 AM']So did you play on the second Hit?[/quote] Yep. No 9 in the charts, Top of the Pops, Party and gig at the Palladium…………..It was a blast! Got pissed at TOTP’s in the “Star Bar” with Badly Drawn Boy. The bar staff where really happy to see us because in the last few years of the show, most of the artists where too young to drink in there. We kept them busy. :-)

That will be the football club in bognor regis? I remember it..........vaguely. Nice hospitality at that gig. :-)

Apparently I don’t qualify for care in the community. :-(

Hi, Nice to find a UK bass forum. Informative and fun. Nice. Been playing bass for the weird and wacky John Otway for about 15 years now…..and still have a day job as a medical electronics engineer. :-) Gear? MusicMan Sterling, a load of Ashdown gear they give me at trade and a line 6 XTPro. Makes a nice sound and loud enough to compete with our stunt guitarist Richard Holgarth (Otherwise known as “The C*** with the axe” or “F***** Jimmy Hendrix”. You get the picture. Cheers PPL. Seymour