dmccombe7

Last nights outing with Emergency Exit punk covers band at The Dreadnought in Bathgate. Love this venue with both bands. PA and lighting already in place with great SE's. Owner or Manager whichever is there on the night are both top guys and look after you really well and are so easy to get along with. Has to be one of the best run venues i've ever known. Anyways the gig wasn't very busy maybe around 20-30 folks in. It holds approx 150 but they were all up for a dance / pogo almost all night from approx the 3rd song. We did our usual invite to "Big Hastie" to come on stage and sing Into The Valley with us and as a treat we let him sing Hurry Up Harry as well. Just great fun. From what folks were telling us including one of the SE's who was on his weekend off but came along to see us, that Fri nights have been extremely quiet recently and tonight was fairly busy for a Fri night. My attitude to quiet gigs is that they are just paid rehearsals. Band played well altho guitarist had hand cramp a few times but he carried on like the trooper he is. Only one more gig this year before the band takes a break and considers whether they want to continue. No ill feeling within the band but a personally a little disappointed. Guitarist has been doing it originally since 1977 but on and off over the years. Been constant last 16 yrs and i think he's getting a little bored with it. We'll get together in the New Year and see how folks feel about it. I've only been with the band 3 yrs so i still enjoy playing the songs as they have so much energy and the band are all just really nice people. Used my Sandberg MarloweDK into Shure Wireless and then the Mesa TT800 and SW 210 & 115 cabs. The Marlowe sounds amazing thru the Boogie channel on this amp. Every note is so clear across the neck but has a wonderfully warm deep tone and with the flick of the Brightness switch i get a terrific edge for those more rasping type songs. So happy with this Mesa rig, plus i can lift the amp with my little finger whenever needed Dave

Like so many bassists i have cursed both drums and printers alike so its a difficult choice to make I jest of course and have never cursed a printer. Dave

Nowt wrong wie printer chat, its equally as off topic as drum chat. Dave

WOW busy time for you @Muzz. Quite varied styles of gigs too. Dave

That's why i hate doing birthday parties as not everyone there will like Glam Rock altho most women will get up and dance to any decent band and we've been quite lucky that most have appreciated what we do. Many of our gigs with the Glam band are set up thru our singer who was doing these venues as a solo Glam artist with backing tracks and its just moved on to a full band. He still uses the same character and appearance for both so he is instanly recognised as that character. Dave

That just reminded me that i have points with Andertons too. Dave

To be fair once i realised the punk band might fold i took up on an offer for another band and currently rehearsing with them so its not all doom and gloom for me. Just sad to see a good band fall away. The new band being an 80's rock band with male and female singers much the same line up as our Glam band using same male singer and guitarist. Its like one big happy family that shares musicians here. I've left the door open if the punk band still wants to do the odd festival or biker rally kind of gig for guys that are fans and tend to follow us. Dave

Skoosh for you Good luck with it and keep us posted on it if you don't mind. Dave

100% my view as well. I couldn't just carry on knowing that something isn't working. Its one of the main reasons our punk band is failing and we are having "a break" to see how we feel about it all and if its worth carrying on. I personally think its finished TBH. We've already had a friendly meeting at our singers house to openly discuss what we all think. Please note that we all get along really well and have no personal issues within the band so its easy to say what you really think and feel. Turns out the original member who we were worried about being a bit upset is the one that doesn't think its worth carrying on and i think once you get to that point its just not worth pushing it any further. Dave

Would love to hear more bands doing that style of music. You just don't get it much these days. Dave

I had no idea Rics had that kind of issue. Worth remembering if i ever decide to get another one. I had a polar white Ric in 80's but i don't think it had the sharp edge binding and possibly more like the S version. Its the only bass i have no pics off. I didn't keep it long approx 6mths and moved it on as it didn't give me the tone i wanted at that time. Dave

Sorry to hear you're calling it a day with the band. Don't know what age you are but i fully understand and appreciate your reasoning behind it so no point in offering suggested solutions but hopefully we'll still hear from you on BC @Mudpup. You need to do what's right for you. I can only hope that like me you take a break and get back into playing again but with people around you that appreciate what you do and bring to a band. All the best in whatever you do with your time off. You'll be back Dave👍

When did you place the order and with what supplier. Just curious. Dave

I started this thread and once Mesa announced they were shipping to UK again i put my order in thru Andertons. It had a 3mth pre-order and to be fair it arrived approx 3mths after order placed. I know when i checked their website after i placed my order it changed to a far later delivery date possibly due to what @agedhorse mentioned about filling many back orders. I did find out that Guitar Guitar had never actually placed an order for the TT800 in their initial orders once the UK supply was reinstated so i'm guessing that would have caused a delay if you then wanted one from them. They had placed orders for the WD800 but for some weird reason not the TT800. On a positive note i'm finding that Boogie channel does everything for me with just a tweak on the Sandberg VM4 i can go from solid deep bass to a nice clicky edged bass tone. Altho i've used the 2nd channel on occasion i keep going back to the Boogie channel. What i have found with the Boogie channel is that the active bass does take the amp into very slight overdrive from the 12 o'clock position but only when you dig in and i really love that. If i ease off a touch that solid tone comes back nice and clean. I think i just hit the sweet spot with my bass volume full and amp gain at just a touch below the 12 position. Master at 11-12 in a fairly loud Glam band. I'm also finding i don't really need the gramma pad as the HPF seems to reduce any low boom even on hollow wooden stages where i've had trouble in the past i can now play without the pad and it sounds so nice. No matter where i tweak the EQ on the amp it remains clear across the 4 strings which i definitely don't get with my Ampeg SVT7 or HB WB-100. So glad i waited for the TT800. Its made my life complete. Dave

That turned out to be a wonderful night of Glam rock with BLOCKBUSTARZ at The Stair Arms in Pathead near Edinburgh. Wasn't actually a Biker Rally but a private function invite only. We had folks there from Denmark (approx. 20) Germany, Belgium and Holland along with the various Scots & English contingent. Dancing from the first song with the dance floor full before the 1st set ended. 2nd set we had the floor packed from midway thru the first song. It seemed to be the foreign bikers that started off the dancing and they were well up for it from the sound check when we had cheers, whistles and loud clapping so that was a good start. Started at 8:30 and finished at 12 with a 15min break but what great fun was had by everyone there and for us. Some gigs just have a great atmosphere and you want to keep the party going and this was one of those nights but we literally ran out of songs. For the first time we played every song we've ever done. Superb night. Going home very chuffed. We were told by the organiser that several people had approached him for details on the band and asked where the feck did you find such an amazing band. That was a nice wee compliment too. Several folks also thanked us for a great nights entertainment and we kept getting asked for more. We were due to finish at 11:15pm but alas we simply ran out of time and songs We've been asked if we would consider playing bike rallies in Germany but probably never happen. I'd need to renew my passport. Do passenger planes still have propellers on long haul flights Bit of a nuisance trying to pack up as the dancers continued with backing music from the organiser but several folks both male and female offered to help load our cars but most were worse for wear so we thanked them all but said it was fine and easier to track where things are when loading if we do it ourselves. Always nice to be asked tho. Easy drive home with very little traffic so that was a bonus. No pics as yet but will post if any become available. You can probably tell that i'm fair pleased tonight Dave

Off to a biker rally tonight with the Glam band. About 1hrs drive on outskirts of Edinburgh meaning i can go across country and avoid the by-pass rush hr at 4pm. Looks like we're doing the full set list tonight so that's gonna be approx 2.5hrs standing with platform boots. WHOO HOO. Dave

Think what you are doing is part of the show and makes for great entertainment IMO. When i see a band play i do find it very unprofessional when they are discussing what song be played next or the singer is telling the band what song is next. Our guitarist uses some pedals and needs time to change settings for some songs. I don't mind if the singer is announcing to the audience that this is a song by XXX called YYY but its more when a singer turns round to the band to tell them. Its a bit sloppy as someone mentioned earlier. I'd love to see you guys do the request gig. That must be great to watch and for me a huge respect for having that knowledge and ability to be able to do it. Even if the songs aren't perfect covers its still such an amazing achievement. Bet its a lot of fun too, for both the band and audience. Dave

To be honest we normally have a set list with encore(s) added at bottom and asterix at possible songs to drop if needed. We would either decide on the night to drop the ones marked or the singer could make that call on the night but to be honest we generally don't drop songs unless specifically asked to stick to 2x45min or 1 hr sets. Typically we play 2 sets at 1hr 15mins and 1hr 20-25mins. I do have the key marked for one song mainly because i used to play it in another key and its easy to forget. Think what annoys me most is that if i didn't raise it tonight then we'd all turn up at the gig with different versions of the set to be played. We had discussed and agreed sticking to 2x1hr sets and that's what we price on but that seems to have got lost in the wind. If we ran over it would be because we wanted to rather than being forced to because we priced it for longer. 2x1hr sets is just nice for me and my fingers don't get sore and i don't lose too much sweat in that Glam gear Dave

Anymore info on the ink tank thing. Not heard of that except in the workplace. ? Dave

Gig tomorrow and band still haven't agreed on what our set list will be. Why is it i'm always the one chasing up set lists for a gig. I detest it when we dispute on stage what we do next hence having a set list on stage for everyone. We've even had gigs where we had different sets on stage. Problem is we added some new songs in and removed a couple but it was done on the hoof at the last gig. Looks like i just have OCD when it comes to set lists being prepared well in hand so i'm not running about trying to print stuff out for others who don't have printers. Dave

Unbelievable attitude from the venue. You should have made them aware that in the event of electric shock or death they would be liable to see how they react. I'm finding this all a bit unbelievable how stupid some organisers are. Dave

I just wouldn't play out in the open at all unless it was a glorious sunny day with no risk of rain. That's virtually never in Scotland. At the end of the day i'd rather stay alive than not. Water or dampness and electricity just don't go together. I've spent too much money on good gear to have it ruined because some organiser can't do their job properly. I've also spent too many years living to throw it all away for same reason. You'll get no thanks if it kills someone. Just remember that you would be liable if you agreed to it. Dave

I'm same. If its for a friend of mine i won't take my cut but i expect the others to get their fair share of the fee. I also expect the others in the band to do the same. I think both my bands tend to agree on this. We have done freebies for band members birthdays kind of thing even tho i never bother celebrating my own birthdays but i'm sort of ok with that. We've also done freebies for a guy that lets us use his 8 bedroom holiday home with large function room and pool area for free. He seven supplies all food usually BBQ grub so its usually a great day / night out and only 25mins from my house. Dave

Setting up on grass and outdoors like that just looks like a recipe for disaster so i'm afraid i wouldn't be doing a gig like this. My H&S head comes on. It annoys me when organisers get it wrong but expect the band who have put the effort in to take a reduced fee because of bad management. At the end of the day its not your fault the tent blew away. Its a tricky one but that set up is a no no for me. Dave

Yep i agree with you on the drummer issue, best let that one alone. I'm sure the others in the band will have noticed the same issues but with age comes less tolerance for good old fashioned hard work and experience. Yep i'm not so keen on the late night driving but our roads are very quiet after a gig. I usually arrive at venues when its still daylight so that's not so bad. I do love a Sun afternoon gig with the Glam band. Start 2pm home by 7pm. Take care with that late night driving Daryl. We like you too much on here. Get the youngsters to drive, probably doesn't faze them at all. Dave