neepheid

I drive. Public transport is a non-option - spotty timetables in the city and utterly hopeless out in the 'shire. Also, last buses way too early for playing gigs. Rehearsal space is 30ish miles away in rural Aberdeenshire - good luck getting a bus out there. Sometimes in the interest of taking less motors to the gig, I'll drive as far as the drummer's house then we'll go together from there. Or the drummer will pick me up on the way through to a gig in the south. He's got a bigger car than me. So, for the sake of argument, let's see how public transport works, using google maps for time estimations etc. Let's say I have a gig in Fraserburgh (played there last Friday, so a real world situation). Car takes about an hour, bus takes 2, so already there and back that's 2 hours stolen from my life I'll never get back. Want to get there for 8pm for a 9.30pm start. Well, the bus stop in Fraserburgh is a 5 minute walk from the pub, laden with gear - that'll be fun in the height of summer - so getting the bus which arrives at 8pm will make me late, better get the one that arrives before at 7.22pm then hang about like a plum waiting for my compadres to arrive. At least I can have a beer while I wait. Play until 12.30am, pack up, load out, probably takes us to 1am or thereabouts. Oopsie poopsie, no buses back to town - first bus back is at 8.30am. So, either find somewhere in a teeny tiny NE Scotland town to hole up for the night (good luck with that) or spend half my gig earnings on a taxi back to town. If you think I'm going to participate in any of that charade, in the immortal words of Judas Priest - you've got another thing comin'. Happy to forego the beer.

Rude! And we've had folk in their 20s ask us for Pink Floyd. You never can tell!

With the covers band it's safe to play a 'Spoons song, no bugger knows them I once made the mistake of noodling "I Wanna Be Adored" (a song we don't do) and some pished guy was all "STONE ROSES, YAAAAS!". Thankfully he was too drunk to remember by the time we got started, phew!

I haven't, sorry. There, someone answered

Covers band gig success == good audience reaction, repeat bookings from venues. Money is nice, but "paid rehearsals" sap the soul. Originals band gig success == getting a gig in the first place, having anything that can even be technically described as an audience, people coming up and saying nice things afterwards.

Go away BBVIII, you're drunk...

That's really nice of you, thanks!

The distance really doesn't bother me (you don't live in Aberdeen for your entire adult life if you're bothered about having to go places sometimes to get stuff done), it's just time and safety. If I didn't have the gig the night before, I'd probably travel down the day before, take my time, stay over somewhere nearby then toddle over on the day.

Hmm, maybe it might be worth my while to drive all night nearly the length of the country for a spread like this...

starts whistling the theme from "The Great Escape"...

Dispatched 21/06 at 6am. Heard hee haw since. Surely I'm due a gurgle from the customs plughole today... In the meantime, enjoy your basses! I hope the neck on my D5 is roasted to within an inch of its life like your P5...

How long was it stuck at "The goods have left our warehouse and are on their way to the border."? I'm into the fourth (working) day of that, with an intervening weekend it's getting a bit old and my F5 key is going to file a restraining order against me.

I don't have mine any more, but I don't remember any volume dropoff, not that I use the volume knobs much, I mostly use them like switches. There's one song when I do a fade in, and that's not enough for me to be bothered with a volume pedal, just roll the volume knob. Maybe the volume pot needs a bit of attention - get some magic spray in there? Nice basses though, would still have mine were it not for a period of financial dark ages.

Yes, I'll have the word salad with extra nonsense dressing please.

When I saw the title of this thread, I was expecting a story about a revelatory truss rod adjustment or something! The Epiphone Jack Casady is a good lazy person's bass - it's loud enough unplugged to play along to a laptop (the speakers of which generally suck the bass out of things anyway). Done that many a time when I cba with ampage, the sessioncake or even plugging in the USB interface and headphones.

The young 'uns can surprise you sometimes. On Friday night, a young lass, I'd say under 21 (but everyone looks young to me now) came up to the singer and asked if we could play Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage"! We can't, but that was certainly an unexpected request! If older songs have been featured on popular TV shows or some viral video then they can work. And it continues to amaze me how many young folk dance to "Bad Moon Rising"...

For a change, someone took video at the gig and it didn't suck (bless folk for trying but the sound quality is usually bloody awful on these). May I present - a cautionary tale for bands who leave their bassist with nothing to do for half a song... VID-20230625-WA0001.mp4

I don't think that particular malaise is limited to professional musicians these days. This weekend warrior also drives the smallest, most economical car he can get his gear into. On the plus side, can drive into Low Emission Zones.

Second night of a double header, in a new (to us) venue too. Grays Inn in Aberdeen was the place. Things got off to a positive start, relatively easy load in from a lane round the back of the pub then only up a few shallow steps, pretty decent - and there was no waiting around as they had already the tables from an area facing the bar where we could set up. But man, it was hot. There's no point in air conditioning a bar in Scotland 360 days of the year. Unfortunately, this was one of the 5 where it would have been nice! Towel in use during load in and setup, hadn't even got started playing yet! First half was a bit quiet, we started at 9 but the beer garden was open until 10 so that limited things. But we had a few folk in, and the singer's getting better at his banter so we were having a laugh with the people who were there. More folk came in when the beer garden closed so that helped. Second half went well, got some folk up on the dance floor - if in doubt, play Summer of '69. Yes, pure camembert, but it works! Oh man, it was a hot one though. I was towelling my face after every song and I was thoroughly damp by the end, ewww. But it was a successful debut at a new place and we've got a repeat booking from them so all in all I'm pretty happy with my night's work. Also, probably because of playing last night too, I personally thought I played really well, very few mistakes, band was tight, honestly it felt like being part of a tightly working machine. Love that, when everything clicks. The aforementioned back lane had become a LOVELY wind tunnel when we were loading out - so good that we hung around a bit after packing the cars because it was so refreshing. Cue adopting the pose from The Shawshank Redemption after Andy escapes from the poop tunnel. Epiphone Jack Casady for bassage last night, and it was sounding fscking amazing. I love that bass so much. Get a room!

I had a Tribute L-2000 a while back, so have used the same setup. Do you use it in plain active or active with treble boost?

Was there an update to the rule book that I missed?

I think we play quite different types of venue, you and I... "side of the stage" - err, stage? We're at floor level where the pool table used to be and there's nowhere to swing a cat, never mind hide a fan!

Yup, it was a hot one last night. Sweat in the eyes is the worst

Some folk, eh? As for the G&L Tribute, well I can't speak for all of them, but my one has greatly exceeded all expectations I can reasonably have of a £350 bass. I bought it with the intention of changing the pickup to a split MFD so as to create a sorta SB-1, but the stock pickup is actually great sounding and I ended up leaving it the heck alone. At £350, I'd normally expect iffy hardware, but the bridge is the same unit as found on the USA models, and the tuners are tight with none of the play and general vagueness you usually get at this price point. I've been delighted with mine. Finish is flawless, fretwork is good. The only thing I think I will change is the pickguard - it's been two years now and I'm still not loving the tort.

Well, that was great fun. Played in the Balaclava Bar in Fraserburgh last night - a bit of a hike but it's fast becoming one of our favourite places to play as the folk up there are usually up for a good night! First half was OK, bar was not super busy but we still had some folk up dancing so can't complain. A very convenient swell in audience numbers came in just in time for the second half. Lots of folk up dancing, enjoying themselves, great interaction with MOST of the audience. We ended up playing for 15 mins extra because they kept asking for "ONE MORE CHOON" Joe Public continues to surprise and dismay in equal measures. First the good - a young lady came up to us and asked if we knew "Brain Damage" by Pink Floyd. We don't, but it's always encouraging to see people asking for stuff which came out before they were even the formation of a twinkle in a parent's eye. Then the not so good - some old Sir Richard Head III who had been annoying the whole night, asking us for stuff we don't play then getting annoyed at us for not knowing (err, we're not a jukebox, and we play well rehearsed covers of songs we know thoroughly - we're not a jam band who can play "anything" but with varying degrees of success - not dissing those kinds of outfits, it's just not something we want to do). At the end he came up and started bending my ear about not knowing song X, Y and Z and telling me I should be improvising or some pish. It took all my powers of professionalism to not tell him to fork off. Jesus, if you don't like it, get lost, there are 50 other people here having a great time, you won't be missed! ADDITIONAL: back to the good - I must have been in a good mood - as I was tidying up, a young lad came up to me and asked if he could have a go on my bass. Normally I'm a hard "no" but for some reason I risk assessed it, he seemed to be on the level and not pished so I said OK. He was very respectful and was pretty good too - played me a bit of RHCP and some Muse and he was really good. Thankfully it was unplugged - I don't want to do myself out of a job! Polite guy, thanked me afterwards, and went on his way. Happy days. Played the G&L Tribute LB-100, nerds. I was going to take the Triad, but at rehearsal on Thursday I noticed that the truss rod could do with a tighten and didn't get around to doing that before the gig. That LB-100 is one heck of a bass. For £350 new, it was an absolute steal. If the question is "which P bass should I get?", the answer is the G&L Tribute LB-100, even if you've got a grand to spend IMHO. Buy two! No, I don't work for G&L, nor am I sponsored by them (one can only dream!)