Sean

I’ve got a Pedaltrain Nano that I bought from a guitarist in Work. It’s 14” long and will take the DHA, my TC SpectraComp mini pedal, TC PolyTune mini and a standard size chorus pedal. There’s no room underneath like on the large PedalTrain boards to fit a power supply unless I get cunning with some spacers and longer machine screws and adapt the feet. Time to investigate a hack I think.

Bit of a cry for help with a pedalboard snag. Now then, I have a couple of well loved pedals that run on 12v and when they're on my big pedal board that's not a problem as I have a T-Rex Chameleon that does all the voltages I need. I'm putting together a small pedalboard (4 pedals) and wanted to use a One-Spot and daisy chain the power. The big problem here is that the DHA VT1 pedal I have doesn't sound anywhere as good at 9v. I decided to start looking for a solution and found this: http://www.godlyke.com/power-all/godlyke-power-all-accessories/iso-pump-voltage-converter $40 from the USA. Hmm, s bit steep but it's a solution. Postage is $48.50 plus there'll be the tax stuff meaning it'll be about £100 by the time it's landed. My last holiday didn't cost that much and I knew exactly what I was getting. There's no magic in that iso-pump device so does anyone know of some equivalent available cheap in the UK or a very simple 9v-12v conversion solution for one pedal?

That's a crackin' elevator pitch

Once you become familiar with G&L switches you can make the changes instinctively - I do. The L2000/2500 with those MFD pickups is astounding! It’s really Basszilla through my big rig. I have a mod on mine that does the inner single coils in parallel, it gives a Faux ‘Ray sound on top of all the other fantastic combinations. The 3-band East Pre-amp mod helps with the shaping too. G&L MFDs cut through the mix too.

Here’s a BB1100S for peanuts from a fabulous retailer... http://greatbritishbasslounge.com/product/yamaha-bb1100s/ It’s the owner’s bass and comes with an excellent pedigree. You can spend the leftover money buying me a thank you gift 😉

Obliterated by so many cover bands in so many pubs that just don’t get it 😩

I totally get this. I’ve been a bassist/guitarist/singer longer than I’ve been an engineer, Product Manager or anything else (other than the biological stuff obviously).

Exactly. I like a bit of a concept but reasonably loose. There’s a Gloucestershire band called Masterplan, it plays Britpop; Oasis, Blur, Pulp, The Who, The Kinks, The Jam, Supergrass, Ocean Colour Scene. Definitely a strong thread there. It gives a framework that would mean no AC/DC, no ABBA and makes getting a setlist sorted a bit easier. It’s miles away from Tribute but very focused and gives customers a real sense of what they’re getting. I’d be more likely to get off my backside and go and see a covers band if I knew what I was getting. Does anyone here have a similar themed band!

I do. It’s a BIG list of tick boxes but ultimately it adds up to satisfaction and a feeling that you’ve made some good music. The tick box list is a lot of what we’ve covered already, good people, good gigs, productive rehearsals etc. There’s compromise in every band but what I’ve found as I’ve got older is that every band is better than the last one because I keep learning from mistakes and short-comings. Over the past few months of not gigging I’ve had time to reflect on what I want the next band to be and I have a very solid vision. The guitarist and drummer are the pick of the litter in all ways and the singer is a professional actress/singer and seems very promising. I even have a vision of us playing at the Kings Head Theatre Pub in Islington. I’ve never played there but it’s a great venue with a great atmosphere. Q. What did I learn from the last band? A1. 4kW PA is way too much for a pub/bar band. We were too loud. It was the singer’s and he sorted the sound. My bass was DI’d everywhere even though I have Big valve amps through 6x10 or 8x10!! A2. Be choosy with venues and don’t be afraid to stand your ground for the few you want. Most of the time it earns you respect especially if you’re a damn good band and the punters love you. A3. The Fleece in Bristol is a fantastic venue when full and delivers a massive buzz when you get it right.

Most bands that I've been in over the years have had some sort of theme, gimmick or genre that has made communicating or marketing that band as a product fairly straightforward. For example I've been in a Blues Brothers tribute band (very defined), a pop, disco and soul function band (less specific but easy to sell or describe to anyone including potential punters), a 1980s Classic/Arena Rock Cover band (GNR, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Starship, ACDC). All of these are dead easy to describe when someone asks, "what kind of stuff do you play, mate?". I've always believed that as a busy successful covers band you're there to provide entertainment for the punters of your customer i.e. please the landlord by giving his punters entertainment they enjoy drinking to or pleasing the bride and groom by playing music the majority of guests know or can dance to. There are many variations on this theme but the basics are the same, keep the punters happy. I'm currently putting a female-fronted rock/pop covers band together and our current song suggestion list appears so random that I cannot get my head round what kind of band this is going to be or how to approach venues with an elevator pitch. For me there needs to be a thread that runs through the all material and at the moment we have Highway Star, What's the Frequency Kenneth?, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Video Killed the Radio Star, Who Knew and Jesus He Knows Me on the rehearsal list. These were ideas put forward by the guys in the band to see how we gelled initially. A few questions really from all this: For those of you that are in non-tribute or non-specific covers bands, how do you describe what you do to potential paying customers/venues? Or to random people asking, "what kind of stuff do you play, mate?"? On what criteria do you choose songs that get added to the set lists? Does it matter to you? I'd appreciate any advice as I'm struggling with this one...

I've played in bands for 30+ years and I started at 14. My most recent regular gigging band did its last gig in August. The singer moved away (job relocation) ~150 miles and consequently the logistics of gigging and rehearsals just became impractical for him. We decided to call it a day and the one guitarist took the opportunity to get out because he had health issues that made playing painful for him. Following the last gig, the other guitarist and I took the opportunity to set up an Aerosmith tribute band and we were lucky enough to find a fabulous drummer and second guitarist but just couldn't find a Steven Tyler. Auditions were interesting and we met some excellent singers, just no one to fill the role to the level needed for a good working tribute act. It's been frustrating and I've missed gigging a lot. Gigging for me has always been the payoff for the effort put in, it's the drug that just hasn't been there and at the moment doesn't look like it's coming back soon. In a couple of weeks I'm going to a rehearsal with the (healthy) guitarist and drummer from the band that broke up in August and we're adding a female vocalist that is fantastic. This will be a four piece (bass/drums/guitar/vocal) cover band of classic pop/rock songs but we've not yet worked out a theme or what our schtick is yet. We had a brief run through four songs a couple of months ago and it all came together quickly. The chemistry between me, the drummer and guitarist was still there and evident and the singer fitted in. There were no transport, noodling, boozing, attitude or lateness issues. If this band gets to gigging, which I have no doubts it will, it'll be a few months before we get there but it'll come as relief to get some normality back and to carry on doing what I've always done.

All good answers so far but does it have a name?

No problems here. Great comms very much appreciated. Another Basschat winner.

@Dazed I suggest a chat to Martin at http://www.mjwamps.com/ He can give you exactly what you want with driving the power section really hard at volumes you can’t hear in the next room. Not only will he build a bass-specific small amp, he can also fit PowerScaling to any amp you buy off the shelf. Top bloke, very approachable and does he ever know his stuff...

I heard from a source that was very close to it that Ashdown all-valve amps were sub-contracted out to another UK builder. Any truth in that?

Probably a tough call for a lefty but buying a new G&L Tribute can work out the same price or more than a used US model. Plus the used US model won’t depreciate whereas the Tribute will lose near half its value. I have a Tribute and a US and although they are both modified quite a bit the US one is a league apart from the Tribute. Finding a lefty US L2500 or L2000 might take some time but I bet it’ll be a cracking deal and more than likely seriously slow moving stock so probably the seller will be open to offers. Awesome instruments and the pickups are like nothing else out there.

You’re getting sick of it again as it’s being blasted at us all day at the moment. We all know it but what’s it called? So many Christmas songs have that same rhythmic figure in them, the BA-BOOM, BA-BOOM, BA-BOOM that seques into the next section or chorus. it usually has sleigh bells over it. The most sickening example is at 1:40 on Mariah Carey’s All I Want... It’s not just Christmas songs, Abba’s Waterloo also has it (0:39) and so many others. Does it have a name?

My 2001 G&L L2500 is a special build in basswood with an ash cap so it’s light as any I’ve played ;-) I think this video shows it well

Nicely! The only solution. I’ve never liked Sandbergs, none I’ve played have ever given me the right vibe, I think they’re sterile. Similar to Clover, another bass in the same camp. Any Stingray I’ve played has bags of character and cuts through a mix well. It’s also iconic and looks the business.

I use a similar set up when travelling. Spotify running in parallel with GarageBand on iPhone so I can play along with tracks.

I’m glad I’m not the only person who’s had this happen.

I’be played a Root Master at Pirate Studios in Cheltenham and the guys in the band kept saying how good it sounded. I was running my board with a DHA preamp into the FX return and bypassing the Ashdown pre.

I’ve always fancied one. Amazing bang for buck secondhand. My Laney Tube 400 has the same 8xKT88 layout but very different front end. How versatile is the VBA?

That’s absolute bonkers! What’s the set up? Master/slave?