peteb

I think that you have to be careful making blanket statements like that. I currently have two American Fenders, both made in 2009 (a 57RI P bass and an American Std Jazz) that are very nice, well built basses. I have also played a 2011 American Std P bass that was probably the nicest P bass I’ve ever come across (including various vintage models, etc). However, virtually every American Fender from the 80s or 90s that I have played have all been awful. I have a 95 Jazz that is far superior to any 80s or 90s Fender that I have come across, but certainly not as good as the more recent US built ones.

I thought that the whole point of this thread was that it was 'bothering' you...

I can't give you a technical reason why, but in my experience it tends to be connected to whether it has a Class D power stage.

I haven't got a later LM3, but based on the difference in volume between my Italian 500w rated LM3 and the 800w Mesa D800 (spoiler, the Markbass is MUCH louder and generally has more umph), I'm guessing that there would be. Bear in mind that I actually liked the basic tone of the D800, it just wasn't loud enough and didn't cut through.

What about the earlier Italian built LM3s??

I actually thought that the D800 was the best sounding Class D amp I had heard, but I still ended up getting rid of it (to be replaced by a Handbox R400) as I thought it lacked something, especially at volume in a band with a lot of keys. Also, it wasn’t massively loud for an amp rated @ 800w (a common issue for me with Class D amps). I also have an old Markbass LM3, a great amp that I think does what it does really well. I may be wrong, but I always that the old Markbass amps were not actually Class D. It is certainly pretty loud, a proper 500w. My Mesa Mpulse is still by far my favourite amp…

The thing is that bands are not corporations with defined recruitment policies and it's pretty obvious that the friend would have been an automatic choice if they had known that he was going to be available. Every music scene is as much about contacts as anything else and this lot have admitted that they have wasted your time and that it has nothing to do with your ability or personality. If you walk away with as much good grace as possible then you have increased the reach of your contacts and increased your reputation as a good guy to work with. Who knows, they may very well recommend you the next time another band that they know are looking for a bass player.

Also, I think there is another outfit called the Petty Heartbreakers doing the rounds

Apparently, this announcement was due to Carlos Ghosn's great escape from Japan...!

If only you had asked two weeks ago - I did this journey the weekend before last. Not much help I know.

Blue, I know that this is a bit of a thing for you, but sometimes I prefer start-ups. There are only so many half decent gigging bands on the circuit at any one time and the good ones tend to have pretty stable lineups. There's nothing worse than going into a not so good band and then have to tell them they're doing it all wrong - they tend not to like it 😕 At least with a start-up, you can get to have a say in the players involved and how the band will go about things (both musically and offstage). There's no guarantees, but if you get the right people and if you are realistic, you can usually get something going reasonably quickly. It's a good idea to learn a repertoire of commonly played songs, so at least you can pick up deps while you're looking for another band.

But they did, which is the point! I've just been reading Bernie Marsden's autobiography. When Whitesnake started they had a drummer called Duck Dowle on the first few albums; a great pro drummer who was a good fit and who they all liked. But as soon as Ian Paice became available he was replaced. All the rest of the band thought it was harsh and knew it easily could have happened to them, but they all agreed it it was the right thing to do. Unfortunately, sometimes that is part of being in a band. No point in getting upset about it, even though it is frustrating. It's no reflection on you, just move onto the next band...

We may have been neighbours (I lived on Churchfield Road). I moved there in 83/84 and moved up to the frozen north in January 86.

So did I...!

I had forgotten the Trades - another up the outside fire escape job! Not the worst load in around, but it's inevitably raining and the fire escape is above an alleyway where all the bins are kept so it always smells a bit ripe!

The PA we had (remember that this was back in the 80s) included 4 x Martin bass bins (the cheese wedge shaped ones), four substantial mids cabs, tops & separate horns enclosure for each side, a large flightcased desk, a horribly heavy amp rack and a big FX rack. The guitar player and soundman who owned the rig used it to start a PA company later on (still in business today, not using the same gear). We had to get that lot up an outside fire escape at a couple of gigs (including the White Lion in Warrington if I remember correctly), but nothing as bad as Edwards.

This was back in the days when we used two 412s (in flightcases), an 8u bass amp rack, valve guitar amps (in flightcases) and a large double drum kit (in flightcases). In fact, the only items that were not flightcased were my bass cabs (a 410 & a huge 215). Fortunately, there was an always an in-house PA when we played there...

To be fair, the fire escape at Edwards was indoors, but gawd it was steep! Nightmare getting flightcases down it at the end of the night...

The load-in at Edwards No 8 back in the day was so bad that it still occasionally pops up in conversation, over 30 years later! Did you ever have to load out down the fire escape at the back? That was even worse...

I've always assumed that you wouldn't be playing to the same crowd in the last set that you were in the first at 8 o'clock, that there would be a constantchirn of punters watching the band then moving to another bar and maybe coming back later?? I think that the UK model of 2x45 sets plus encores makes a lot of sense for a night out watching a covers band.

Totally agree. The reason I never engage with SBL in any meaningful way is that most of the stuff he seems to promote has very little relevance to the gigs I do, or even the gigs I would like to do. I suspect the same applies to many of the youngsters who want to get started as a gigging bass player and would be Scott's target audience.

I've always heard referred to as a 'short change' or a 'quick change', never as a 'short 12 bar'

From what I've heard, it was more to do with what he fancied playing on any given night rather than whatever pickup band (cheapest guys available rather than 'session' musicians) was on the bandstand. I'm sure that whoever was playing with him would know the song perfectly well, but just had to follow the great man and what he decided to play.

I'm not so sure about that! Certainly when he got older, ol' Chuck wasn't too fussy about when the changes happened or what key he was in at any particular time, but when he started out he was laying it all down for everyone else to follow...

And remember, Johnny B Goode stays on the V chord for two bars (rather than one bar of V, followed by one bar of IV) before resolving back to the I for two bars.