Len_derby

Rural and small town Derbyshire, £200 - £250 for what usually amounts to 2 hours of music.

Another great bass-related day. A special thank you to Simon for all the background organisation. Also really nice to chew the fat with friends old and new. Brilliant cake again made by Jo Sharman.

[quote name='Si600' timestamp='1462005276' post='3039441'] It's next week! Hopefully you're all excited and looking forward to it [/quote] Absolutely!

Newtone are very local to me. Great strings, great company. The person now in charge is Neil Silverman.

It sounds pretty shabby if it's as you describe. I don't think I'd want to go back. I've just come back from a pub gig where the professionalism of the landlord in his attitude to us was just about the opposite of yours. My point being that in this game you win some and lose some.

Congratulations SB. If this one doesn't work out, let me know. I have a few contacts locally who may be useful to you. As for an audience for that material - definitely. I have a bunch of mates who get as many gifgs as they want in the Derby area playing just that kind of stuff. They are called The Real Deal.

This looks brilliant Andy, your usual ultra-high attention to detail. I might has missed it on an earlier post, but are you installing any pickup system?

Firstly, welcome back! All of the basses you mention have fans on this forum, and hopefully some will be along soon to give advice and opinions. Personally I can recommend the Yamaha BEX. Not too easy to find now but a lovely hollow body bass guitar.

Great post. Thanks for putting it up. Nice to acknowledge your 'superfans'. We all need those, especially when far from home.

Hi John, Somehow missed your posts so far. Welcome from a fellow Derberian.

There's a venue in my home town that puts on tribute bands very regularly. A lot of them pack out the place and I think it allows them to take the financial hit on originals acts that don't sell so well. One thing I have noticed is that it's a noticeably different crowd who go to the tributes. I have non-musician friends who go out to see tribute acts but have no interest in seeing originals or even normal covers bands.

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1459353310' post='3015728'] Thanks Len .. I'm being swayed towards the micro cube even more now Just wondering ; if the model I chose has an xlr socket, could this be played through a p a to increase volume ? [/quote] It can indeed, there's a handy XLR socket just for that. But, unfortunately if you do that the combo's own speaker switches off which means you can't use it as a monitor. You can on the cube 100, which has been really useful at times. If you can live with the low volume the micro cube is grand. An inbuilt drum machine and tuner! The effects are a bit cheesy, but aren't they all? 😉

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1459352452' post='3015709'] Mmm, TBH I prefer the bass micro cube. May end up getting that , and or cube 60xl [/quote] I have a Micro cube and a Bass Cube 100. Both are, for me, great pieces of kit but neither in my experience will be loud enough do anything but a restrained drummer. The micro is a great practice amp and will hold its own with acoustic guitars and cajon. The 100 is great for small gigs but just doesn't go loud enough for anything but quiet drumming. If you were to jam with a drummer I think you'd find it underpowered. It has a small footprint but still weighs about 18kg. My Barefaced Midget and LM3 is even easier to carry and has never been drowned out.

Hi Freddy, I have a Yamaha TRB 5, never played an ibanez. The Yammy is indeed 35". I also use a Warwick Corvette 5 and a MiM Fender Jazz 5, that are both 34". I can honestly say that the extra inch on the Yammy makes no perceptible difference. Someone (Raslee I think) has a Yamaha 5 for sale on the For Sale bit of this forum. I'd buy it if I didn't have one already.

[quote name='bassace' timestamp='1458991448' post='3012633'] I've just pulled off a prestigious gig for one of the bands I'm involved with to play at a country fair in the summer. I won't say where but it's all a bit top drawer. So this morning I told the Mrs that I've got a meeting with the two young events organisers next Tuesday. Her reaction was 'and what will they think when some beat up old geezer turns up?' Got me thinking. [/quote] Firstly, congratulations on getting the gig. If the two organisers know anything about the business they're in they shouldn't bat an eyelid about your age. You should just need to make sure that they're confident that you and your band are competent to deliver.

A lively night with my folk/punk originals band 5 Hills Out at the White Swan in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The pub was rammed with people starting the long weekend off in style. This was the second well-paying gig in two weeks and we have several more in the diary. This just goes to show that playing original songs can pay off. We do no covers at all. My personal experience on how to make playing originals work is; Have good songs with quality arrangements, Play them well, there's no chance of doing a sloppy cover version while the crowd singalong covers it up, Put on a good show, playing with conviction, If you're genre specific, as we are, make that totally clear on your publicity, Seek out venues that have a reputation for your genre. Happy Easter everybody.

My personal recommendation with your budget is to look seriously at Yamaha. Although I love Fender 4 string basses I've never been impressesd with their 5 strings. Certainly not the ones you'd get for £500. I have a Mexican Fender Jazz 5 as a passive back up, and it's miles behind by Yamaha TRB 5 at a similar 2nd hand price.

I hate this kind of situation. If you have taken on the job of booker it's your reputation that gets damaged when having to cancel or renegotiate with the landlord. It's happened to me before and I wont tolerate it anymore. Assuming you've collected band member's diary details and they've made commitment-type noises. It sounds like you've done that.

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1457859685' post='3002310'] This post is obviously by someone bitter and twisted who got asked to play "Hi-ho" at a wedding and has never fully recovered [/quote] No! 😄. Never had to play it, luckily! Mr Beck is, as we know, a stellar guitarist with a distinguished career. But to maybe 95% of people he's a one hit wonder.

Jeff Beck.

On Friday night my folk-punk originals band 5 Hills Out played at Ye Olde Talbot in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. There were a few 'firsts' both in terms of songs and line-up and all in all it went well. Our own Andyjr1515 took a break from making his fantastic basses and guitars and made the 40 mile round trip to see us. What a gent.

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1455702999' post='2981527'] I have just received a modern faker from a well known person (as long as you know the page, the secret password and today's fish ). I posted a review on a certain social media page. I will do an edited version of the review on here sometime next week, when I have received my new scratchplate and Rickenbugger (tm Jon Price ) TRC. [/quote] Seen the review and pictures Karl. Looks great. Have you any experience of that gentleman's 5ers?

Thanks for the tips guys. They are such an iconic shape. I think I'm going to have to scratch the itch and buy one sooner or later.

We have a couple of students from Gernany at work, over on an exchange scheme. They have little money and not much free time but they tell me one of the 'must visit' sites for them is Liverpool and specifically the Beatles sites. They are both 22 years old. As far as they are concerned it's one of the top things to see and celebrate in Britain.

Anybody got any experience and advice concerning 5 string bass Fakers? I've played some supposedly high-end 5ers that have had poor b strings and I'd like to know how the Fakers measure up.