JapanAxe

This Saturday I'm out on second guitar with Rebel Heroes (Bowie Tribute) at the Old Court in Windsor - tickets here. It's pretty much standing room only now so that's just £16 a head, not £20 as per the poster.

By the time you’ve learned, say, a chorus and verse from each song, you may as well have learned them all in full and have 3 to 5 new numbers to play rather than one slightly longer one. They take more work to get right as the structure and transitions have to be agreed, learned and remembered. That said, a medley can be worth doing if its impact is greater than that of the original songs. The Grease medley springs to mind, and that has the advantage of having been issued as a single already.

Ready for action last Saturday. I apologise on behalf of my bandmates for their music stands. Obviously I don't use one...

Another gig with this amp last night. The stage was a decent size but very enclosed, causing a bit of bottom-end bloat - a small tweak of the Room EQ control instantly sorted it. The passive controls are quite subtle but the Room EQ is very effective. Also enjoying playing with a bit of dirt in the sound - not obviously distorted, just colourful.

I’ve successfully used my 801 at a big band rehearsal!

Par for the course with big bands - it’s rare that all 20 members will be available on a given night. I’ve sometimes been paid expenses if the rehearsal room isn’t local to me. I’ve also volunteered to stand in at other (non-big-band) rehearsals as a way of getting in as a dep and/or broadening my experience. To the OP, entirely your decision whether it’s how you want to spend your time.

No, only the guitarist has a wedge monitor - drummer has IEMs.

Thought an update might be in order: Party band startup: Hideously difficult to get us all together for rehearsal, never mind gigs. Big gaps between rehearsals and a fair amount of chopping and changing of numbers. Some progress in that a nice venue has been booked for a promo gig in front of an invited audience, where audio and video will be recorded for a showreel to tout around agents. Glam band startup: Original bass player baled. Tried out with bassist and singer from an existing band with a view to a merger - wasn’t going to work. Then lined up guitarist and singer already working in another band, and I switched to bass. Singer is still on board (until she decides she’s not, I suspect), we’re currently auditioning guitarists. Early on I volunteered to take on the job of making tracks work for this band, so bought a digital mixer which we have successfully used for ‘silent’ rehearsal and recording (drummer has an electronic kit). I have also edited the backing tracks and added vocal cues to the click. Turns out about 50% of players are vehemently against clicks and/or IEMs… In the meantime the guitarist in a band I have previously depped with had a stroke so I am covering their gigs at least until the end of 2025.

Formal: the concepts of modal interchange and borrowed chords. Informal: in an unfamiliar musical situation, watch the singer, listen to the drummer. That principle has served me well.

Last night was third time out with my recently acquired Fender TB600 head, via my BF Super Twin. Bass was my AVRI 63 Precision strung with Chromes. Venue was a gopping estate pub outside Bristol but the staff and punters were friendly enough, despite medically inadvisable levels of inebriation among some of the latter. Suffice to say that I enjoyed the gig, thanks to (1) the sound coming out of my rig, (2) the playing of the lead guitarist.

There’s a row of stuff like that at the back of A. Remus Sound in Gloucester.

Yes, going wired (via Behringer P2) is the worst case scenario where wireless simply doesn’t work - never had to do this since I got the XSW.

That's what I use, under similar conditions, and yes I get that too sometimes. Then again so do other people in the same band on completely different frequency ranges. I haven't found a solution other than going wired!

I often have to roll off some bass on the amp when playing through my Super Twin.

I use the Boss WL20 but both Tx and Rx are rechargeable. Boss WL50 has rechargeable Tx and board-mounting Rx which doubles as the charger for the Tx. At the SW Bass Bash @stewblack showed me his really neat system that charges both Tx and Rx in a little portable dock between gigs - can’t remember the brand though.

I have to disagree here. The 12XN range are pretty hi-fi sounding, but the 10CR cabs have a distinct ‘vintage’ coloration to them. Go for whichever you prefer.

Sounds to me like your volume pot has lost contact to ground.

Best: Boss WL20 wireless setup. For many years I resisted going wireless - didn’t want to digitise my precious analog signal, another thing to go wrong etc. In reality I can move about the stage without restriction, go out front to check FOH mix, and change guitars much more quickly than with a cable. Absolute game-changer for just over a ton used. Worst: JAM Pedals Harmonious Monk tremolo pedal (for skinny-string use). Just did not float my boat. At all. Sold on within a week.

I was going to bring a reel-to-reel tape recorder and a selection of high-end mics but I couldn’t because I don’t have any of those things! But seriously although I could hear differences between one PA system and the next, I would struggle to put into words what they were. I could happily use any of those systems on a gig tbh, either solely for vocals or for other stuff too.