peteb

Nope, never had any issue at all. Every sound engineer who has used the DI has always loved it. I know that it is transformer balanced, which the spec claims will 'avoid any hum/noise issues and eliminates the need for an external D.I./Line Driver' and that there is an amp ground lift (that to be fair, I thought was the same thing).

I've got a Caveman BP1 Compact, which sounds great to me. It has it's own baked in sound (basically enhanced low-mids) that I like, so you would have to be happy with that. I think that it sounds great, it's got a top quality DI and sound engineers seem to like it. https://www.caveman-audio.com/products/bp1c/

It may do, but it is more likely that you need to practice with a metronome and work on how to improve the way that you listen to your own playing! You are not alone - timing and consistency are what sorts the men from the boys and the thing that really makes you a top player. I've been playing for fifty years and they are the two things that I'm still working on!

That's the whole point of jam sessions like that! Some of the most memorable nights of my musical 'career' have been blues jam sessions (admittedly with semi-known experienced players, rather than with novice players getting up)!

That's a hell of a P bass collection!

That goes against the whole point of inviting relative novice players to get up at a jam. The idea is that inexperienced players can get the opportunity to learn how to play with other musicians and develop their playing, especially how to busk / improvise. I would hazard a guess that the guys who slagged you off were not that great themselves! I'm glad that you had better experiences with later blues jams.

That's fine, in that case the simple solution is don't go along to a blues jam. However, you said that you don't think 'there are many people who couldn't play at a blues jam'. That is certainly not true! Plenty of people think that because they know what a pentatonic scale is, therefore they can play blues because it's easy. Then they get upset when it becomes obvious that they suck. If you have the technique to play a relatively complex heavy metal riff and can play in time, then you're good to go (to a certain level). Same with most other genres. Just about anyone can play a blues scale and know a couple of blues licks, but that doesn't mean that you can play the blues convincingly and when you are playing blues, there is no way to hide behind basic technique. You really have to know how to interact with the other players on the bandstand and have a bit of melodic nous not to sound completely cr*p. Nothing will find out a poor player quicker than a blues jam! I would suggest that one of the best things you can do to become a better musician is to learn how to navigate a blues jam, even if playing the blues is never going to be your main thing.

Having been in the house band for many blues jams, I beg to differ!

To be fair, the bucket in that venue can be quite worthwhile. I used to play there several years ago with a hard rock covers band for £150 plus the bucket. The bucket was always considerably more than the basic fee! Oh, by the way, no one cares if its a three-piece, four-piece, five-piece or eleven-piece! You get paid to generate value for the venue (i.e. bring in people they can sell beer to). No one cares how many band members are on the stage, just if they can entertain the crowd.

Out of interest, what does the MNT212 weigh?

I used to have two Berg 112 cabs and they struggled - the two cabs were not loud enough, yet alone just one! I moved them in to get a CN212, which is great - I've never done a gig where the 212 wasn't loud enough.

A Berg CN212 apparently weighs 22kg

I would like the tribute band to get more of the better type gigs that we do, but it's a bit difficult at the moment, partly due to the BL having a few health problems and we really need him to get those sorted. It would be great to get the 'occasional' blues band to play more, but again there are issues with a couple of the guys being so busy elsewhere (not to mention that the main dep for the guitar chair is the aforementioned BL of the tribute band, who needs to recover from his issues with his back). I would like to get some more deps, especially for the blues stuff. I used to think that I was pretty good at networking and such, but perhaps I need to step that up again.

People want different things from music, bands and entertainment in general. I would imagine that many people go to your gigs to relive a part of their youth, maybe dress-up, have a few drinks and dance around the proverbial handbag. Nothing wrong with that, they're having fun and being entertained by you. But for many, it could just as well be a UB40 tribute or watching Mama Mia! Plenty of people love watching blues bands and are probably more connected to the music than they are music from their past. I'm not saying that dancing never happens, and it is always good if any band work on entertaining the audience, but you will have a different atmosphere to a glam band gig! Still people are there enjoying it, so it's still all good. With the best will in the world, I don't see your BL going onstage and knocking out Wig Wam Bam anytime soon! But that's cool - just work with the band you're in and be as good as you can within that remit. I've played all over the UK playing blues festivals and had great fun - I would jump at the chance to do something similar again!

I think that we can confuse what is an expensive bass and what bass a pro is likely to use! From my experience of many years of gigging, working on stagecrews and knowing people who do all of that for a living, I would say that the most common bass used by jobbing pro bass players is probably a basic American Fender Jazz! Add an extra point if its's from the 70s, you've had it a long time and it's got a few marks and simple mods. Other common ones would be a P bass, a Sadowsky or a US Lakland, followed by perhaps a Stingray or a Yamaha BB. If you were to spend £1k or so on a simple s/h Am Std Jazz, it wouldn't look out of place if you took it out on tour a week later!

I don't really know @chris_b apart from what he posts on here. However, I do know that he used to play with a guy (unfortunately no longer with us) who was an exceptional guitarist. He seems to have a lot of experience and work a lot, playing gigs at a pretty decent level. You, I'm not so sure about. Exactly how good are you, what gigs do you do and at what level? Why should I give your opinion the the same weight as his? Perhaps a little bit of respect for people who have that sort of experience and are most likely better than you wouldn't be amiss?

£1.7k seems to be a sweet spot at the moment for a really nice secondhand bass! If you shop around, you should get something really cool. I have never pulled the trigger on a genuinely expensive bass, even though I have considered it at times. The most I have ever spent is £1.65k on a s/h Sadowsky 5 string a couple of months ago. The thing is that I currently have four basses that I have spent that sort of money on, as well as a couple that I paid around a grand for. I am fortunate that I am in the position where I don't necessarily have to sell these days every time that I get a new bass, unlike a few years ago! That is not to say that I didn't part-ex a nice Xotic 5 string to get the Sadowsky.

Not really. It might help you to enjoy 'just doing pub gigs' a little bit more and, possibly, increase your options for other gigs that you might be able to do.

My question would be, why wouldn't you? I'm guessing that you could afford it and if you had a better instrument then it might make you play better / sound better / enjoy the experience more. Add to that, other musos might take note of your improved sound and more professional quality gear and start to consider you for other projects when they need a bass player, some of which might possibly be a step up from only playing pubs.

Well, yes and no! The guy that I mentioned makes a living from playing bass and decided that he needs a P bass that was completely bulletproof, complete with a quarter sawn neck / CS pickups, etc to handle every pro gig that he gets called for. I seriously considered getting something similar, but decided that I couldn't justify the extra cash as I already have a really nice 70s P bass that is always going to be my main bass, so paying the extra £1.5k wasn't worth it when I could get a really nice AVRI with a pretty similar spec, but without the quarter sawn neck! As I said in another post, you can pick up an American Std for £1k or so, which makes it difficult to justify the extra cash. But, for guys that are going to get that boutique P bass as the one that they use all the time, then it's certainly worth it for them!

The BL of the first regular gigging band with a following that I played with, once said to me 'buy right and pay a little more in the first place and it will save you a lot of money in the long run'. He was quite right and I've followed his advice (in the main part) ever since. Whenever I haven't, I've always regretted it! You don't need to spend big on a bass that will cover every gig that you are likely to get called for. If people were to ask me for advice, I would say these days to buy a s/h Fender American Std Jazz Bass if you need a 4 string bass. You can pick them up for a grand (give or take) these days, and no BL or sound engineer is going to be less than happy if you turn up on a gig with one. You will still be gigging it in 30 year's time and it will justify the additional money if you we originally looking to spend a bit less, many times over. You should note that things change over time - ten years ago I would have advised people to pick up a s/h Stingray, which were really good value at the time and look at what they go for these days!