tauzero

Afraid I haven't been able to make it either. Sorry about that.

I'm glad it's not just me. I mainly play fretless so that's an additional issue - the notes sound not just a little out but seem to have no bearing whatsoever to the guitar. I finish up looking at my fingers and the guitarists's fingers to make sure that I'm playing the right notes. Doesn't always happen but the times it does are when we're most of the way through a two hour practice where we've just done song after song.

Tascam GB-10 (or one of the Bass Trainers) - no aux in but you put the music onto it.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1375788019' post='2165528'] You should sell yourself to the venue or promoter in such a way that accentuates the things that will make your band attractive to them while playing down those things that might put them off. If the venues you are approaching don't want blues bands then simply don't mention the blues word. Since you mainly play classic rock it will hardly come as a surprise to either the audience or the venue if you are also playing a handful of blues numbers as well.[/quote] Indeed, but if you mention the B word in the initial exchange, without realising it's a turn-off for the venue in question, it's rather hard to recant it, although not impossible to play it down. [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1375788019' post='2165528'] If your guitarist continues to sell your band in a way that is preventing you from getting gigs maybe it's time to get someone with a bit more marketing savvy to approach the venues. Alternatively you could always send another member of the band back to the venue a week or so later this time describing your band just as "Classic Rock" and ask for a gig. [/quote] It's more me and Mrs Zero who actually approach venues, and as we're just about to have a bit of a blitz locally, we're trying to find a happy medium in describing ourselves (we'll throw the word "blues" in if the venue has a history of having blues bands on) - the guitarist has to be led gently away from Facebook to avoid excessive use of the word. Trouble is, our Facebook page actually has the title "The Lightning /Rock/Blues/Band" (yes, that is the punctuation - that's the guitarist for you, another reason we don't like him getting near the Facebook page). At least I'm the author of our website so what I put in is what goes

[url="http://thelightning.co.uk"]The Lightning[/url] are playing at the Actress and Bishop in Birmingham on August 9th along with Medusa Rising, in a charity fundraiser for [url="http://www.happyhedgehog.org.uk/"]Happy Hedgehog[/url] which is, as its name suggests, a hedgehog rescue organisation. Hope to see some of you along.

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1375635892' post='2163718'] Just to add my Harley Benton EUB, at the cheapest of the cheap end of the scale, was sent in a huge box sandwiched between two moulded polystyrene slabs, that sucker wasn't going anywhere. [/quote] I bought a new Palatino EUB (the Harley Benton is a rebadged Palatino) which was sent in a huge box sandwiched between two moulded polystyrene slabs. The neck was broken off. So it's not perfect protection...

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1375453684' post='2161646'] It's not a genuine fender, its a bitsa painted purposely in nitro to get it to relic quickly, and to be a fair replica. I'm not going to sell it, [/quote] Well, that's no good. Only Fender have the secret of how a bass turns from pristine to looking like sh*t in a fortnight.

One of the covers bands I play in plays primarily classic rock, with some originals and a few (maybe three or four) blues numbers. The guitarist, the only original member left, persists in describing us as a rock/blues band. However, when one uses the word "blues" when trying to get gigs, regardless of whether one also uses the word "rock", venues tend to say "no ta, we don't want no blues bands round this way". Obviously this is different for full-on blues bands as they're actively seeking the sort of venues that want blues, but do any other mainly rock bands use the word "blues" to describe themselves, and is this sort of reaction prevalent?

Thomann also do a flight case for it for £200. Also, the Hiscox STD-EBP might do the job. Or look for a generic oblong case and use foam to make the bass a snug fit in it.

Why not take some pride in it and look after it instead?

My Sei Original 5 headless fretless My Antoniotsai 5 - the one with the dragon on it, not either of the other two My Warwick JD Thumb A natural Ashbory Mk II A Sei Flamboyant 5 headless fretted

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1375361871' post='2160261'] So why not buy an actual bass? [/quote] It's not an either/or thing, you know. I own an Ashbory, an Ashbory Mk II, about fifteen conventional basses, and an NS WAV-4. Owning the Ashbory didn't mean I couldn't have a conventional bass. Just because you don't like them doesn't mean that there aren't those of us out there who appreciate them for what they are and not for what they arent.

I started playing bass in 1975, and back then it seemed to be [i]de rigeur[/i] to play fingerstyle. The music press would frequently pass comment along the lines of "I was disappointed to see that he was playing with a plectrum". So I don't think that pick playing was as prevalent as you might believe from watching TotP.

Mondeo estate - fits 4x10 cab, guitarist's Peavey combo, 2x Mackie SRM450, 2x10" powered monitors, large-suitcase-sized lights case, small amp, small mixer, effects pedalboard, leads bag, mic stands, speaker stands, two basses, myself, and Mrs Zero. Less practically, I have used a Lotus Elite 2.2 with a 1x15 cab on the front passenger seat, and a Triumph Tiger 900 with a Gallien Krueger 200MB on the pillion seat, leads and effects bag and sleeping bag on the rear rack, and Westone Quantum cricket-bat bass strapped on top of that.

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1375358869' post='2160195'] If you're doing that, you may find this site useful: www.largesound.com. Have a look at the user forum, there are several people there who like tinkering with short-scale builds with plastic strings. [/quote] They also sell things like Ashbory tuners which will take super-thick strings. I've got all the stuff ready to build an Ashboryalike, I just haven't got round to doing anything about it yet.

Having just come from the M D Phillips thread, I must admit that when I saw "Westone Thunder 3" I briefly wondered if it was a Westone Thunder 4 that had been visited by the master.

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Make me smile (Come up and see me) Bad Co - Can't get enough, Feel like making love Mott/Brucie - All the young dudes T Rex - 20th Century Boy Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama and, of course Mustang Sally

What's the actual address of cheddatom's studio?

It's on ebay too, for £169.

I'd go for an EA iAmp head and reasonably hi-fi cab.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1374490042' post='2149202'] Favourite Stanley track ever is probably "Desert Song" from "Schooldays" - John Mclaughlins playing on that is just superb. [/quote] Knowing that John McLaughlin has played on a track is quite sufficient for me to decide to avoid it altogether.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1374666470' post='2151482'] That's very true, but I tend to be sort of 'living the lyrics in my head' when I'm performing. (Hope that doesn't sound too pretentious for a newbie who only does jam nights! ) [/quote] That would lead to serious existentialism problems for me and Mrs Zero, as one of my songs is about when we split up 30 years ago. I do have another song about us getting back together, but the guitarist is having a hard time trying to play it.

Not an experience I particularly want to repeat. Not the pre-gig stuff, anyway, though the gig itself was good. We, The Lightning, were playing support to Seventh Syndicate. The venue was supposed to be sorting out the basic drum kit, with the respective drummers bringing breakables. The venue organiser emailed Mrs Zero via Farcebook at 3.30 (we were supposed to be getting there at 7) saying that she couldn't get a drum kit after all. She had phone numbers for both me and Mrs Zero but didn't bother using them. Mrs Zero isn't a Farcebook addict and so didn't get the message. Then the organiser told us that the main band's drummer had injured her leg and wouldn't be playing. Our drummer would have had to journey back to Redditch from Tamworth to pick up his kit. Eventually Mrs Zero asked the organiser to ask the main band (who hadn't yet arrived and were closer to home than us) to bring a kit. I'd already gone back home once for my stool in case we finished up playing a set that would last longer than my back did, then again because the extension reel that the venue had provided was completely shagged. Then I finally got to plug in the bass, and got no sound whatsoever. Thought that the amp had gone funny on me, so went home yet again to pick up my little Crate Powerblock. On the way home, thought I might as well pick up my 1x12 speaker as well, just in case. Got back to venue, plugged in 1x12, and got sound! I haven't yet mentioned that the venue has no car park and the closest one is about a five minute walk away. You can park outside to load and unload but that's it, and it means going through a long one-way system, so after the initial load-in I carried everything from the car park. When Seventh Syndicate turned up with the drumkit, the drummer showed remarkably undamaged legs but there were only three of them (band members, not drummer's legs). It was actually the lead guitarist who'd broken his foot and they'd decided to go ahead as a three-piece. So after all that, we finally struck up and had a really good time of it. Mrs Zero was wearing a bright orange wig as part of a fundraiser for the MS Society, which subsequently got passed round the pub. Audience enjoyed it and so did we. And Seventh Syndicate were enjoyable, despite being a man down. Photos of the evening taken by an audience member finished up on Facebook: [url="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.547077801996523.1073741828.100000829252794&type=1&l=3894607ff4"]https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.547077801996523.1073741828.100000829252794&type=1&l=3894607ff4[/url] And even Youtube: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1JnNaMF7M"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1JnNaMF7M[/url]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1365010902' post='2034150'] I believe dear old Sam Fox prefers the company of women these days. [/quote] She seems to have left the price tag on that bum-bag she's wearing round her frontal nether regions.

Sennheiser HD419 for me - around £40. Very good bass response.