BigRedX

This. My gear is all repairable and/or replaceable - it might not be cheap and it might take some time but it can be done. Myself, particularly now I'm in my 60s, maybe not so much.

I don't want to rain on @Linus27 parade, but I hope this is the soundcheck. Otherwise why is no-one down the front and what is that carrier bag doing on stage?

The best thing you can do is to not concentrate on it. I can tune mine out a lot of the time. Unfortunately reading this thread has made it obvious again!

This assumes that all bands and the music they play is equal and interchangeable. Maybe that's the case if you're playing generic covers, but for everyone else it's not. It doesn't bother affect me in the slightest what other bands charge (or don't) because they are not my band, and they are in no way a substitute for what we do, and therefore not seen as competition. While we do have a figure in mind when venues and promotors are asking us to play, what we ask for gig is on an individual basis, and playing in front of a new audience who may well all want to buy CDs and T-shirts afterwards can influence what we ask for.

I can't help you with piano recommendations, but bear in mind the following: 1. There is no volume control or headphones socket on an upright piano, and when played enthusiastically they can be loud. May be a concern if you have neighbours with adjoining walls. 2. They are big and heavy. check that you'll be able to get it into whichever room you want to have it in. I had to turn down the family upright piano because it wouldn't fit around the corner at the top of the stairs, assuming I would have been able to get it up the stairs in the first place. 3. As has been said you need to factor the annual tuning cost. 4. Don't buy anything with a wooden frame. I will never stay in tune in a modern heated house. 5. However it should be possible to get something serviceable for free. Here in the UK people can't even give away old upright pianos. So if the situation is similar in Belgium and you are prepared to wait and see what is available you could end up with something nice for the cost of transport and a full service and tune once it installed at your property.

But there's no point (IMO) in having a "transparent" amp if you cab(s) aren't transparent too.

Does it matter having a "transparent" amp when the cab(s) are likely to be introducing far more colour to your sound.

Is it the bikini top?

Made fretless by completely removing the fingerboard.

If I was looking for a hardware synth now, one of the Hydrasynth models would be top of my list.

Ah... It's actually a short jacket and a long skirt. Far too hot for the jacket. I wore the skirt but not the leggings I usually wear underneath to spare people a glimpse of my pale hairy legs. Sometimes you have to live dangerously if the weather demands it...

What big leather coat? I haven't worn leather since the end of The Terrortones.

Next two gigs for Hurtsfall: Supporting Miranda Sex Garden at Rough Trade in Nottingham on Thursday 10th July. Opening will be the excellent Modern Coven. Then on Saturday 12th July we'll be playing second to last on the second day of Goths On A Field: We'll be playing at around 8.30 in the evening just before headliners Attrition.

I'd be reluctant to buy anything from Modal until the new owners have demonstrated that they are in for the long haul and will be supporting all the current models.

My basses (and guitars) have been bought in order to be played. Currently the only instrument I gig is the cheapest one I own - Eastwood Hooky 6-string bass - but that's because it's the only one with the correct string configuration and scale length for the music my band is currently doing. However I have gigged all the instruments that I currently own depending on the band I was in at the time. Also I only practice using the instrument I am going to be playing at the gig. There's no point in using a different one.

I have the opposite problem with glasses. My long distance vision is ok, but everything close up is out of focus. For work I have "occupational" glasses which are for reading and computer screen use with the balance shifted towards computer screen use. I tried full varifocals and they were terrible for me for all the reasons described by others in this thread. For playing I have a Helix Floor which has a nice big display and scribble strips that I can read fine without glasses and I have a pair of gig glasses that I use when setting up and if I need to do anything to the computer that runs our drums mid-set. These are out of the way on the computer stand and I only need to wear use them during the set if something has gone wrong. Because my glasses are needed for near vision I can't really wear them when standing up and moving around because they make all objects more than 2m away out of focus and make me feel dizzy if I wear them while moving.

It really depends on the bands and how dedicated the musicians who are in more than one band are. I think that covers bands can be more flexible as to who is on stage, original bands not so much. I've done originals bands with deps and it's never been as good as having the proper band member on stage. Those deps that had a couple of rehearsals weren't too bad even if the musical vibe wasn't quite there. Those who thought they could wing it with recordings of the songs we were going to play and some practice at home on their own came unstuck, sometimes quite spectacularly. Also not one of them could follow simple dress code of "wear black, no obvious band or brand logos, no trainers for guitarists". If you are a band with a definite image and stage presence, having someone on stage who obviously hasn't made the slightest effort looks totally crap and in retrospect it might have been better to cancel the gig. I have tried four times to be in more than one band and every time it has not been a success. Originals bands thrive on the last-minute important gig. If half the members aren't available because they are playing Dad rock covers at the Dog & Duck it's going to acrimonious. If members are in two originals bands there is always going to be jealously if one is doing better than the others. As an example the band I'm in currently weren't doing a lot of gigs when I joined. They were mostly writing and recording, so when the opportunity came up to join a much better known band (in the same genre) who had an album out, a publishing deal and some fairly high-profile gigs, I jumped at it. For a while it was possible to be in both bands, we had separate set rehearsal nights, and our gig schedules only overlapped when both bands were playing the same event. I had a strict rule that I wouldn't try and use my membership of one band as a direct means to get gigs for the other. However over the last 2-3 years it was obvious that fortunes of the two bands were shifting, and there were starting to be problems with my availability as my first band was getting more and better gigs. When the singer of the second decided to call it a day at the end of last year, I used it as an opportunity to tell the others that wouldn't be joining them in their next project as my other band was too busy for me to be able to dedicate sufficient time. It looks like this was the right decision. The band I'm still with are very much on the "up". We have on average a gig every other week until the end of the year and two gigs already booked for 2026. We're currently finishing off our album for release later this year. As far as I know the other band have done nothing in the last 6 months.

I've travelled on the train with musical instruments loads of times and like others it has never occurred to me to check if there was a maximum allowed luggage size. Besides I've seen people with enormous suitcases that take up far more room than any bass ever could. One thing to note - last time I did this was on the EMT Nottingham to London and my bass in its Mono M80 case was too bulky to go in the overhead racks.

Hurtsfall played the Nottingham Craft Beer Festival in Sneinton Market on Saturday. If you are not playing covers these events can be a bit hit-or-miss and on top of that we were the last band playing that day, so we didn't really know what to expect. Sneinton Market is currently the "happening" area in Nottingham where all the interesting independent shops are situated in units in the old market buildings. On arrival we discovered that the beer festival had taken up the whole of the Avenues area and was entry by ticket only. However to allow people to still use the shops you could get in but didn't get a wristband which was required in order to buy beer. As performers we all got wristbands but I don't recall being asked to show mine before being served. There were two stages - one outdoors where unfortunately the performers seemed to be mostly ignored and also had to compete with all the other music - there appeared to be at least one DJ set up on every avenue, and the other in The Grove where we were playing. Probably the most convoluted load-in so far this year. There was only one entrance and some of the avenues were blocked off half way along the length meaning that getting all the gear to the venue involved not only negotiating all the beer festival attendees but also doubling back on yourself to get around all the blockages. Certainly not as easy as the last time we played at The Grove when it was possible to park directly outside the venue. Thirty minute turnaround between performers, whilst someone played on the other stage. No time for a proper sound check, set up, just one verse to make sure we could hear everything in the monitors and a couple of minutes to get changed and then we were on. Luckily there was nothing "miss" about this event. The venue was packed (that's not that difficult as it is really tiny) and it appeared that quite a few people had come specifically to see us play. Cue dancing, singing along to the songs and cheering in between. We even got our first proper encore. I'm a firm believer in both bands and the audience have to deserve an encore. None of this coming back on stage just because a couple of your mates have shouted "more". We were technically past the live music curfew but the sound engineer said do one more and so we did. Even sold some merch afterwards although at this sort of event you don't really expect to. Load out was much easier as the festival was over by the time we had everything packed up and we were able to leave by a much more direct route. As usual here's a couple of photos: Next gigs are on 10th July Supporting Miranda Sex Garden at Rough Trade in Nottingham, followed by Goths On A Field festival on Saturday 12th.

IME Rotosound strings "go off" even if they are just sat in their packets on the rack in the musical instrument store. Either switch to a different brand, or only buy Rotosound strings direct from Rotosound at their stand at a music instrument show and fit them within a couple of weeks of purchase.

That will tend to remove the fundamental from every note from C on the A string downwards. In practice even with the steepest of filters there will be enough of the fundamentals present on all the notes down to low B for your brain to be able to use the non-filtered harmonics to properly detect the pitch of the notes being played.

I suspect that the 5U height specification might be the sticking point. IME ready-made light-weight plastic racks tend to come in multiples of 2 or 3 units depending on the brand. The only ones I have seen that don't conform to this are custom-made plywood with aluminium cladding rack cases which are much heavier. You may have to go for 6U to get something suitably light-weight.

IME scale length does make a different on a 36" Overwater Original or the 37" low-B on a Dingwall, but 35" on a budget bass not so much. If a manufacturer can make a 35" scale bass with a decent sounding and feeling low-B they can probably make a 34" scale one too. Neck construction, stiffness and the rigidity of the neck joint (if it's not a through-neck bass) are the most important factors.

MIDI over USB is not the same as traditional MIDI using DIN cables which is a peer-to-peer connection. USB over MIDI requires one of the devices to be the "host" This usually means a computer or a dedicated USB Host device. Unless either the Zoom or the MIDI foot controller are capable as acting as a host device you will need something between them to do the job. As usual Zoom don't tell you much about the USB MIDI capabilities of the MS60b+. Some of the Disaster Area pedals might work but the couple I had a look at don't appear to be host devices.

Is that your actual bass in the photo? If so it looks as though you have already tried a taper wound B-string. If not try one. IME The extra inch of a 35" scale bass makes little difference to the clarity of low B. What I have found that works are all the following: 1. A heavier string. 130 is the MINIMUM I would consider for a low B. If you look at string tension figures for those manufacturers that publish them, the standard 125 low B has a much lower tension than the other strings. 130-135 is a good compromise between getting a more balanced tension and for the string to not be too thick to make playing uncomfortable. 2. Taper-wound string. 3. Moving the pickups away from the lower strings. I'd drop it a couple of mm more from the low B compared with the height away from the G string 4. If the bass has a bolt-on neck making sure it is as tight in the neck pocket as possible. With the bass about a tone way from standard pitch slacken off the neck bolts about a turn. Then bring the strings up to pitch and once this is stable tighten up the neck bolts. This method uses the string tension the pull the neck as tightly as possible into the pocket. IME getting the best sound and feel out of the low B is all about neck stiffness and neck joint construction. You can't do much about the neck stiffness but you can make sure any bolt-on joint between neck and body is as tight as it can go.