taunton-hobbit

See, this is where I'm at a disadvantage - I'm only a Sound System - but were I to gig again, I'd (usually) take my Crown 2000 (cos it's lighter) - if the gig 'mattered' I'd get someone to heave my three Matamps in........I can hear the difference, but I don't suppose anyone else would.....but the brownie point count is off the bloody scale!

I'm quite at home on a big one (stage, that is) - have fond memories of doing the Kings Hall at Herne Bay (Kent), before they sub-divided it, the stage was huge and about eight feet up - we had a fight break out 'down there' and watched it travel like a seawave up and down the hall......The lighting guy used a Lime Flood on me for one show (the place had a 'proper' lighting gallery & control room - shame about the House sound, really) - amazing experience - Taggs Island was another biggie - the auditorium had a dome roof which we lit with the world's first prototype sound to light system....I love big stages!

I had a couple of agencies that would feed me work, back in the day. One I hardly heard from, but it was usually good money and a good gig - the other one - well let's just say I groaned when I knew who was on the phone............if you are seriously considering this route, you need to be prepared for last minute gigs & strange places, so flexibility is a must.

Musky - three shredded wheat.......... Talking of 15" speakers, which we were, back in the thread, I just got my Matamp 300 slave back from the tech, and teamed it up with its (long lost) brother, playing a 'variety' of blues cd - frighteningly, I knew Clapton from about twenty feet (never played this album before)- I worked with God several times in the sixties/seventies - something must have stuck (!). I can recommend a couple of Dubsters & some Mackies as ideal for the average living room - I'd hate me as a neighbour................

I agree (reluctantly) with Blue -'they' just don't get it - I blame I pods & the current social climate, face it, we're all getting older (some, like me, more than some) & the women I meet think grandkids and Eastenders are the poodles parts - as I detest both, it's all a bit of a lost cause. Just bought a new, second hand 'Rocking the Blues' album - yes it is relevant to the above, just think about it.............

I reckon you'll be well pleased - as you've already found out, Alex is always ready to offer advice/help, always been pretty happy with my dealings with them.

And off it all goes again - I have no doubt that there are some very good musicians on here (& one or two 'names' hiding in the wings), but none of us should be above a discussion - this 'my way or the highway' crap is juvenile in the extreme........

There was a reason why Jamaican Sound Systems 'back in the day' used 18" drivers - they pushed air, and lots of it (whether the 'sound' was any good is another matter entirely) I currently have two Barefaced Dubsters (twin 15's), and they're pretty good at destroying eardrums. Little speakers sound nice, but they don't (imo) kick ass....Talking to my amptech earlier & he mentioned that 'most' pub bands now use a couple of speakers on poles, and that's it - sweet - If I ever get to that, I'll hang myself............

Don't be a wimp - I drove to Bristol to pick up the Worlds best known Matamp 300 slave (the green beast with the iron crosses) - currently being fitted with new sockets/input caps and KT120s - face south-west and pray people! Yeah, the mighty shall walk amongst us...........

I loved the one who asked me to do some Queen (I run a DANCE sound system) and the pub owner (masturbatory fantasist) who walked around trying to present my semi-installed 1k system as his own to potential customers - fell flat on his tight, sancitimonious face when he got back from holiday and found we'd removed the bloody lot, staples 'n' all...we did larf.....

Try roll of carpet felt in the bottom of the cab - might sort it....

Rep to me - 'you should stock a load of other brands so that customers can see what great value our kit is'. me (thinking deeply....'that'd cost about 30k and we got our sales up 20% last year without that stupidity') S'bloody dear wallpaper - some people..........

Always worth a try - Alex will have 'em back if you don't like the sound (you pay carriage) - I think that's a very fair offer & gives you the chance to get to grips with the kit in a Real World situation............

I had Geno & the Ram Jam Band a week after the California at Dunstable and some pillock agent tried to threaten me, allegedly 'cos Ms Green The then owner of the Cali was hacked off - I told him (& her) to do one...............

Slightly off-topic, but I'll risk this - I was standing on a green patch in Uxbridge in around 1971 when a council-hired jcb went deliberately straight through a row of 16th century cottages and flattened the lot - I could have cried......

No wife - no problem (right arm aches a bit)

I'm with the Space Oddity vote - it was the song that did it for him (puts on tin hat) and, way out on the left field (& not that easy to sing properly) - London Boys..........

Fabulous - I belong to a generation when the Beeb wouldn't look at Black music - Musical apartheid in action - I ran one of the few Black dancehalls in London for a few years - best years of my life!

No-one can seriously mourn the passing of the Hammersmith Palais? - it was a dingy converted tram depot with a leaky roof and crap pa!

The world, has moved on.....Festivals were a big deal, back in the day. (so was the Crystal Palace, before it burned down) - most of us are old enough to have seen the movement of music from vinyl to cd to internet....the world around us changes and we mourn the Good Old Days.....every street used to have 3 or 4 aspiring bands, but that was then. I wonder if the audience really cares, or indeed exists to support the financial leviathan that grew out of free milk and camping in Glastonbury - I am beginning to think that even I might live longer, but we shall see - anyone who really knows where this is headed will make a lot of wonga..........

^^^ You were lucky - most firms forbid the handing out of 2nd hand boxes in case they get done if the box ends up dumped illegally - cost one little shop 15grand in fines/fees................

Just an observation, there being some [i]very[/i] nice stuff here - but most of it is 20+ years old. I relate to all of it, being a soul 'n' reggae freak; but I'm [b]old[/b]- what happens with those that follow us on, where is it going, and with whom? I was lucky to be starting with Bowie, Clapton, Chris Squire, Peter Green, Brian Auger, Jon Hiseman, Matt Ross, and many other fine (and forgotten) heroes - I worry that I'm not seeing this calibre of talent emerging today - somebody please tell me I'm wrong!

Have a look at Matamp? Their stuff does most stuff, and better than most..........

^^^^ Nice product - I'd be frightened off asking how much.......

A couple of simple rock 'n' roll short numbers - Great Balls of Fire/Long Tall Sally?