peteb

Good question! I suppose that it's just if I wasn't to use the wireless for some reason (forgot to charge up the transmitter or whatever), I would still have the tuner / mute to plug straight into. I don't have pedals fighting for space on my mini pedaltrain board, so there's no reason not to take the tuner pedal. It's not as if I haven't got a TC clip-on tuner for checking the tuning backstage, but to be frank, I'm just used to (and trust) the pitchblack pedal.

I'm surprised that you think this, as I've got a GLDX16 and it is certainly the best wireless that I have ever used (and I've gone through a fair few over the years). I've never had any issues with it at all, and I play a variety of venues, from small pubs to theatres / outdoor festivals with big pro stages / lighting rigs, etc. If I could find one s/h for a reasonable price, I would get it just as a back-up. I quite like having the receiver on my pedalboard, as it means that I don't have to carry a rack around and it makes it easier when I have to use a house rig, etc. Mind you, my pedalboard at the moment contains just the GLDX16 receiver, a tuner and a compressor...

Not metal enough either...! 🙂

I assume that you are referring to Dan McCafferty??

Do you know what the push button next to the mid control does? Edit: I guessed it was a frequency switch, but I can't quite make out what the the bottom frequency is, even when I have zoomed in on the picture.

He does have a bit of a point. The vocals define what the band is about to a large measure and while the drummer doesn't necessarily have to be great, he at least has to be solid. That is not to say that, generally, a guitarist isn't more important to the sound of a band, but there are many times when you have seen a band get a more experienced drummer once they got a record or management deal, because the old guy couldn't immediately cut it at the higher level they were going to play at. You can carry a mediocre guitarist or bass player to an extent, but not a drummer.

Wasn't it because he started out making flightcases??

Unfortunately the demand for live music has! With increased bills and a likely recession around the corner, this is unlikely to get better any time soon. I am certainly not saying that musos shouldn't get paid for playing (far from it), but we all have to bear this in mind when setting band fees in the current economic climate.

The occasional car issue at the end of the night are just part of being a muso really! What annoys me is driving on a motorway to a gig, only for it to be closed at one o'clock in the morning when you're driving home. Always good fun playing Zep tunes and unleashing your inner JPJ. I was always a massive Zep fan coming up, but I hadn't really had to learn too many of their tunes prior to joining the tribute. Once I sat down and started working out JPJ's parts, I was surprised at how much I picked up from him without really realising and how much he had influenced my playing!

I think that there are about seven 'best tribute to Led Zeppelin’ acts knocking about (I know, I'm in one of them)...!

Great gig on Friday with the Led Zep tribute at the Cluny in Newcastle. Great venue, great sound and went down a storm to more than 180 paying punters who packed the place out. Newcastle is one of the towns that is keeping the gigging circuit that I frequent alive. Let’s hope that places like the Cluny can keep going and survive the current mess that the country has got itself into. All in all a great night, right up until after the gig when I found that I had a flat tyre and a striped wheel nut and didn’t get the 100 miles or so back home until 4:30 in the morning…

Last night at the Cluny in Newcastle

To be fair, having a banjo anywhere near the stage is far from ideal...!

For me, the great and criminally underrated Mars Cowling (bassist for Pat Travers)

I like the first album and I love a lot of Kotzen's stuff, but could never get into the second album...

I used to get Lo Rider Nickels (same gauge) from Amazon for around £20, imported from the USA (one set at a time to avoid duty). They seem to have tightened up on that, but you can still get them at £31 with free postage...

Just bought it off Amazon - if it is anything like the Deke Leonard stuff then it will be worth reading...

Off the top of my head, the bass chair with the original Bad Company lineup, or maybe early Whitesnake. I can't really say Thin Lizzy, as they just wouldn't have been Lizzy without Lynott. I would love to have played with Pat Travers as well. Gov't Mule might be my current dream bass gig of choice...

It is basically a hi-mid cut from what I can tell - at least, that is how I use it...

That's true, but there are different levels to what is considered to be playing it well. I might claim to be on a higher level than a lot of guys that who play on the pub circuit and I have played a national circuit with people who have toured with household names, etc but there are guys who who will obviously get gigs way ahead of me to play on proper tours. The likes of Tony Franklin will be at least a couple of levels above that. There's another level of musicians who can turn it on in a recording studio on demand (I'm not saying that Franklin isn't one of those guys). There's playing it well and there's playing it well...

But there are differently levels of musicians and what constitutes 'nailing a performance'. I'm guessing that I probably play at a higher level than a lot of 'the people on here', but I'm no Tony f**kin Franklin...!

You say that, but in reality we can all only dream of hitting such heights...

You have to remember that Bush and Gilmour would have been asked to participate in an event that they supported (The Secret Policeman's Ball) and put together one song. KB may have sung a duet with someone else (not sure if she did on this one or not). They would have thrown together a bunch of musos that they had been working / drinking with, to perform one song. Remember, this isn't a bunch of kids in a bedsit - it's a bunch of top players, some of whom are very well known. Time is money at this level and, more to the point, everyone is very busy. This is a cause they support, but it isn't vital to their careers and the point is to show their face They would have done one rehearsal, worked out what they were going to play and then, probably gone to the pub. They were never going to not feature DG playing guitar, as he was arguably the best known person worldwide on the stage (certainly the most successful). It was a throwaway, one off performance - a chance to play with friends and support a good cause. I thought that it was fine for what it was, although of course, it was never going to hit the artistic heights of BRX and his chums in their bedsit.

Tony Franklin's hair was a bit half-hearted compared to Nick Beggs' more extravagant effort!

But could you really? Could you have put together an arrangement at a brief rehearsal and then played it the next day at a big one-off charity event, in front of a large crowd and TV / video cameras? Its one thing to say that, 'of course, I could have done it better than Tony Franklin, Dave Gilmour et al', its another thing for that claim to be credible.