EmmettC

I only did a bit of function/wedding stuff when I was still living in Ireland, and wedding bands there are certainly a lot cheesier than in Scotland. I still have to wear a shirt and tie, but there's a lot less Enrique Iglesias and Garth Brooks, maybe I've been unlucky with what I saw in Ireland, but my sister's wedding band a few months ago were the cheesiest thing I've ever seen, great musicians, but awful songs.

I've had this problem a lot, it's particularly annoying when the item is not in the UK, to be fair it's usually my fault because I'm using the mobile site.

I assume everyone who is out gigging had public liability insurance, you get it free with MU membership, the insurance won't cover you if you're equipment isn't PAT tested. It's a big risk going out without insurance, there's such a large risk of someone getting injured because of your gear, particularly during get-outs.

I've always wanted a 5 string Jazz, but I never found a Fender that did it for me. The Sandberg is the first Jazz 5 that I've really liked, I don't mind that it's a copy it does what I want it to do. Is a 5 string jazz even a copy of a Fender Jazz, the original only had 4 strings........

If you have insurance for your band having a valid PAT test cert is usually required, they will probably never ask to see it unless you need to claim on your insurance.

I also have a heavy SR5, in fact most of my basses are pretty heavy, but I find them all fine for gigging as long as I have a good strap. I used a borrowed Yamaha at a jam once with a cheap strap and my shoulder was sore within 3 songs. Incidentally, and unimportantly, the heaviest bass I've owned was a Fender Modern Player Jazz 5, which is the cheapest Fender you can buy.

It's my full time gig now and I really enjoy it, the key is to get in a band who really want to be good. Get a very big set together, and know it inside out, get lots of medleys together, but keep them simple enough so a dep can follow the band without too much stress. In Scotland the standard wedding is 7-8 set up and 8-12 playing, so not that long a day compared to a job, though we do travel quite far, and overnighters are pretty common. Most Scottish wedding bands will do about an hour of Ceilidh spread out over the night, which is why we end up playing in England and Ireland fairly regularly if one of the couple are Scottish. As mentioned above, if you enjoy playing a really varied set, and don't get too upset at having to play Maggie May or Sweet Home Alabama it is a great way to earn a living, or at least supplement your earnings. It's all worth it to get to play the solo of You Can Call Me Al a few times a week.

[quote name='Greggo' timestamp='1456699588' post='2991628'] I don't suppose getting a 45mm nut is likely to work if I sanded it down either side? [/quote] Not a precut one, the strings would be too close to the edge of the fingerboard.

I really like the figuring in the fingerboard. Looks amazing.

A wedding for me (as usual) last night, I'm still getting used to in-ears. I always seem to end up with one in one out so I can hear my amp and the drummer, I just don't feel as comfortable locking in with the drummer using just in-ears. Our sound engineer thinks I should get some iems that allow in some ambient noise, my Shure in ears are very isolating. Good gig though.

No it's wood!

What strings should I use on a red bass? Is this the right place to ask? Don't rely on people to do anything sensible

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1456577430' post='2990418'] When did they go to a passive option on the active Deluxe? [/quote] The pickups on the American Deluxe are passive, but there is an active preamp. It's quite common to change the pickups and keep the preamp. Active pickups are less common, EMG being the main one that springs to mind, as far as I know changing EMG pickups to passive would mean changing the rest of the electonics too, but no such problem with your bass. Change the battery, and try it through another amp, in fact try changing everything in the chain before doing anything drastic.

I like browsing all sorts, I only play 5 strings, but I love eyeing up a lot of the 4 strings too. If I'm looking for something in particular I post a wanted ad and search.

I sold a G&L Tribute L2500 thinking they were pretty common and easy to replace, I have never found one as good as the one I sold. I have tried an American one that was as good, but over twice the price.

Another one for the polytune clip, the only clip on the picks up the low B reliably. I have quite a few other clip on tuners around the house but none of the others are as fast or accurate as the tc. I still always use a TU2 for gigs though, I think it looks wierd having a nice instrument with a piece of plastic hanging from it at a gig.

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1456338428' post='2988064'] If you'd consider a 4 string I would highly recommend a nice Ibanez Musician, particularly the MC800. I had the loan of one recently and it sounded fantastic. [/quote] Funny enough I own an 81 Ibanez roadster, which seems to share some DNA with the musician. It's on my list of stuff to upgrade, I think a set of Dimarzios and a John East pre at some stage soon.

Rather than start another topic I thought I'd leave some thoughts here. I bought a Sandberg TM5 a few months ago, and although the bass and pickups are everything I was hoping for, the pre-amp just didn't do it for me at all. The bass boost in particular seemed to to be a low-mid control, and boosting the bass just didn't sound good to me. I have a John East MM pre-amp in my Musicman, and I really like it, so it seemed like an easy choice going for a john East for my Sandberg. I would have liked the Uni Pre, but there just wasn't space in the jazz to fit it, and routing seemed extreme, so I went for the J-retro deluxe. John kindly fitted a third switch to the control plate for my coil tap, o could have done it myself, but it's nice that the switches match. First impressions were great, just as expected, I find some of the passive pan options a bit odd, but I love the eq section. The big surprise for me was the passive tone knob working in active mode,I read it on his site, but didn't give it much thought. I play in a wedding band, and I try as best I can to sound at least a little like the bass on the original tracks, but as a band we tend to leave little or no space between songs, so I can't do much fiddling. That's where th passive tone is so useful, I set the active eq where I like it, leave the tone fully open for more modern stuff, and use the passive tone to roll off the top end as needed. The whole things sounds great, and the same as the John East in my Stingray 5, it has transformed my bass. I think a Sandberg TM5 with a J-retro deluxe might be my bass-for-life, though I still want a VM5 too.

I was born in 78, so a YOB would probably be a musicman, but I don't tend to play 4 string basses anymore either. I don't think there were many 5 strings, in a modern layout by 1978.

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1456184073' post='2986474'] Good call. One of my options is a YOB '66 Jazz. I just haven't found the right one yet. [/quote] I would hold out for the right year-of-birth Jazz, it would definitely be a keeper, and very appropriate for such an important birthday present. I was born in 78, and I've always got my eye out for a YOB Stingray, I think it would be the only bass from 78 that might be worth having, or be significant. Happy Birthday by the way.

HD350 and 2 cabs, for big and small gigs. Sandberg TM5 for big and small gigs. Stingray 5 because it's too modified to sell, Ibanez Roadster because it's too cheap to sell, Larkin acoustic because it's a custom (people don't buy customs), P bass because it's too nice to sell and Squier Bronco because it's actually my girlfriends. Now I don't know how to justify 4 compressor pedals, 3 drive/distortion pedals and at least a dozen other pedals, but they are useful for distracting my 2 year old when I want to get anything done.

Hi Mark, I don't know if you remember me, but I was the sound engineer and manager in Fredz in Cork and the bass player for Fred. I started reading your diary today, I wasn't surprised to enjoy it as I still recall your articles, but I haven't gotten very far so I don't know where you are now. I've been living in Edinburgh for 14 years now, and I've been making a living playing bass here in a function band, it's great playing gigs for money the major drawback is I can't get involved enough with original music anymore, just the odd dep gig. I still think for function band stuff the UK, and Scotland in particular is the place to be, though a lot of my musician friends are doing really well in Dubai. I don't get hung up on the definition of pro, but I know I would prefer to listen to (early) U2 than a Victor Wooton album, but Victor Wooton is far better than Adam Clayton, they are both pros though. I hope you're doing well wherever you are.

My favourite bit of the forum is the build diaries section, but people seem to take so long. I think they are doing it on purpose, they know I'm really eager to see how it's progressing so they don't do anything. I mean what other reason could it be? It's not like it's hard, or they have other things to do.