gafbass02

I wouldn’t have a clue where to start with that! I don’t even have photoshop! It’s ok though, after 30 years gigging I don’t really need any more pics of my with a bass in my hands 😂

Thanks. That’s what I first thought! Despite not having smoked in a long time!!

Two lovely shows for me this weekend, I used my old jazz bass for the first time in ages (and now cannot feel my shoulder and my back is killing me!) …. But my sound engineer loved it and asked me to use it forever 😂😫 Sat was just a local pub jobbie, but apart from the cramped conditions and sweltering heat was a lot of fun. Sunday was a headline slot at a local festival, which is always a total blast…tempered somewhat by the news that my father is critically ill just before I took to the stage. I managed to sneak a quick crowd shot whilst the house lights were up briefly between songs, which was nice Although the best snap of me has caught me with a plectrum in my mouth which is somewhat unflattering!

Yeah, this is a real issue it seems. I’ve actually inherited a couple of open mics from sacked hosts because they’d allowed this exact situation to propagate. I’ve since given up hosting them, just too much hassle.

I keep a few cocktail sticks in my gig kit bag for just this reason. But yes, ideally thread lock.

I’ve had some success with these in the past. Also handy for cymbal whacking. https://www.fender.com/en-GB/accessories/miscellaneous/fatfinger-guitar-sustain-enhancer/0992180100.html

Going ampless has been the best move I’ve made in 30+ years of gigging. I have a simple and cheap set up that works perfectly well. The only downside is if the drummer clips a mic (rare) it’s a bit uncomfortable, but not a huge problem. But I’m lucky in that we have two engineers of our own, one of whom goes to every gig. I use the iPad app to control my monitor mix on stage, and our QSC PA with sub can handle the bass effortlessly. I put my IEM signal through a zoom ms60b for a bit of amp sim, and keep a simple preamp and eq pedal in the side chain in case I use my frfr cabs instead of IEMs (the odd festival perhaps). Job done. I connect via a custom made cable which carries guitar and headphone signals in one.

I’ve had a few dealings with him too, and he’s been nothing but a gent and a legend every time.

Solo acoustic set in my local for me last night. Went well, no drama, people sang, people danced and nobody knocked the PA over. win.

No amps anymore. I’d like another genz Benz contour 500 2x10 (the last amp I owned) if one came up, but I’m on IEMs now, and Headrush 112s if I’m doing a show without our engineer and don’t want to trust the in house people.

Yeah, behringer here too, I use the app, it’s ace.

Spend a lot of time getting to know your sound at volume and through your rig, and then go back and forth tweaking the IEM signal path to be as representative as possible.

I’ve spent a long time tweaking my iem signal route to accurately reflect what I’m sending to foh, (compensated for the headphones), so that if I tweak the onboard eq (or passive tone) it’s in line with what the audience are hearing. This took bloomin ages to get right though!

I know!

Mine was just insane. I took the covers band I play for to my local, where I’ve played literally hundreds of times with other acts and all my mates go etc etc. It’s much smaller than our usual venues, so I knew it would be a squeeze, but I was totally unprepared for the sight that greeted me when I arrived! Cases and cables were just everywhere, it was utter carnage. We started playing and a few songs in, the power to our area died. It took ten minutes to get it back on and the router connected to the iPad for the Xair mixer again. Next song - the mic stand on the guitar amp just randomly collapsed…and the guitarist’s board locked up and had to be restarted. Then the power went off again. Another ten minutes later we were back in business (again) - when the singer’s acoustic battery ran out. Engineer ran up and switched it while he switched out to electric for a song. Back to acoustic again for the next song and his transmitter failed…so the engineer switched it for a cable mid song… …which failed in the next song. Then the drummer threw up all over his kit…. A lot. I mean a LOT. Then he did it again….and again…so much it splattered my bass as it bounced back off the snare head. The entire kit and drum mat was just coated in the stuff. And the walls. And the drummer. And basically everything else. We stopped. Singer did an acoustic song to finish the show whilst the drummer went white and scraped chunks off his kit…Gig was over. … Until the drummer decided to keep going, and so we pressed on and did three more songs with the poor lad looking very peaky and a tremendous smell hanging over us... Show must go an’ all! Crowd loved it, we had a great time and are being rebooked for a higher fee. We’ve not had a single issue at a gig in three years. I think all three years’ worth of minor niggles caught up with us in one night! Sorry, no pics, the pub was too full of people dancing for the engineer to even see the band and we were all busy dodging chunks!

Nothing fancy last night, a well to do pub in Alcester, it felt like a jazz gig, we were playing to terribly middle class people sat around little tables. They enjoyed and so did we, but it was very different! Playing my local tonight for the first time with this band.

Waste a moment by kings of Leon, I know nothing about them, so have no concept of whether it’s well known or not, but it falls flat quite often.

I use a rolls, fed from a zoom ms60b with amp simulation, it works great. This then goes to a custom cable from designacable which takes both guitar and headphone signals.

Had a change, I wanted to go back to my smaller board as it’s festival season (shlep season!) This still allows me to run a separate chain to my IEMs with amp sim etc (or to my Headrush cabs) and then send my main signal to FOH. The EQ on the right is for a few notes in a royal blood song.