stewblack

I don't know what to do

One of the most stupid/hilarious anti Harley Benton comments I've read recently (and they're almost all just cut and paste by people with zero real life experience) was a guy who says once he'd cut off and thrown away the awful strings it was a much better bass. The instrument came with D'Addario strings as standard.

Oh bloody hell

Thomann have the Squier 40th P Bass 100 quid off...

Dammit you know me so well

The Beatles are becoming increasingly significant to me. Or perhaps I ought to say their significance is becoming increasingly clear to me. The more I study what they did, the more I learn of the context within which they did it, the way they anticipated musical genres by many years. Their songwriting skills, their experimental side, their willingness to work with the creativity of others, their ability to absorb influences of other great artists of the time, and the blueprint they created for future generations to follow all suggest to me they were pretty damn important. I wasn't of the Beatle generation, they'd gone by the time I began my musical journey. They excited my instinct to kick against the establishment which seemed intent on repeatedly telling me how amazing they were. So I didn't pay them any attention until the 90s. My drummer at the time told me to go listen to a couple of albums, and I was genuinely astonished. Abbey Road was one and it blew me away. I couldn't imagine how it must have sounded to folk when it first came out. Mind boggling I assume .

Well that's always a possibility of course

The future's looking pink I think

What do we prefer?

You are absolutely correct. I didn't think of that. Thank you.

Spent Friday and Saturday being driven to gigs by the singer, which was nice. However, a smallish car meant taking a smallish rig. I chose an RCF powered pa cab. As much to see how it performed as anything. Used a small preamp to get some eq control and compression. Come Sunday the final gig was in a much bigger venue. I was in my own car by then (heading home post gig) so space less of an issue. I keep cabs dotted all around so grabbed one out of her garage, and as I always carry my Elf I set up a curious hybrid rig. RCF on top of the generic 15" which was driven by the Elf. Tried the DI out of the Elf but it appeared not to deliver much volume at all to the RCF. So I came out of the headphones socket instead and wow! Anyone gives you a scientific reason mixing cabs and speaker sizes can't work, my advice is just try it . I think by the way the Elf would have handled the venue just fine but with the RCF in there too it was huge. Very few people came out which was disappointing but we got paid and the management want us back so that's a win. A nice three hours set to round off a great gigging weekend.

All The Kids Are Super Bummed Out. Wonderful album by Luke Haines and Peter Buck. https://youtu.be/vVICzNSqKtM

That @Woodinblack is rock an roll in a nutshell. Brilliant. Love reading about these crazy load ins. Love doing them a lot less.

First time at the Cider Press on the Gloucester Road in Bristol. One of those lively student boozers where you play to a succession of different pub crawls. Friendly staff and a happy landlord. Job done.

Played outside last night. Yep, you read that correctly. The place has a huge covered courtyard, open to the elements both ends, and we set up in a line. The space we had to work with was long but narrow so the drummer had to go at the end. The sound was weird, our drummer plays with finesse and a light touch. I couldn't hear him for much of the gig, he couldn't hear me at all. I set up a kick drum mic in the break and fed it to my in ears which helped keep us locked in but increased the weirdness of the sound. On the positive side, they loved us, and we're definitely coming back next year for a few more dates. I played through a PA cab to save space so I can car share for tonight's gig. Used an amp sim on my Mooer Prime P1 and it sounded fine. Decided to give my Impure Guitars, Luna bass a run out. It was very lovely.

It depends on who I'm with. Even the folk who hate my favourites and like stuff I can't stand will have some crossover with me. Only go to gigs with one particular friend and we know where our tastes join and where they are poles apart.

DNFTT

Hilarious

Oooh

Having watched Bass The World's short clips using the JHS Pulp n Peel, I must confess to experiencing serious GAS. It's a ton of cash for a single pedal, but it seems to alter the bass sound significantly, and for the better.

Woohoo!

Used this last night (apologies for crap pic, quick snap taken before packing down). My first time gigging the Source Audio pedals. I've had them forever but I'm nearly there with these two. Despite hours spent levelling the volume most were still way too loud, but I'll get there. It's the issue of bedroom levels versus gig levels. But I have some good sounds and I can call them up via the midi thingy. I actually cannibalised my SA board and my Joyo mini pedal board for this set up. It was a wrench, but silly to have these boards just because they're nice to look at!