Norris

I've been on here for decades and I'm very familiar with Daryl's threads. Just this one seemed a bit different and some of his recent posts might have indicated a slight lack of confidence / self deprecation. I'm much reassured by his reply though 👍

I saw them a couple of weeks ago on the current tour in Leicester and thought they were excellent. Maybe it was just an off night or a bit of fatigue creeping in? They are not spring chickens any more.

I'm a bit curious why you started this thread Daryl. Interesting topic, but I hope you are not thinking of bailing, because it sounds like you are in with a good bunch of people.

You've not done something silly like turning the volume down on your bass have you? Or batteries running low? Either that, or like others have said you are ridiculously loud. Another Rumble 500 user here btw. That has plenty of power for pretty much any situation.

Just so many great basslines - and there's another!

Absolutely! You can't sum up XTC in one track because they are so musically diverse. At least listen to the sublime bass line on Mayor of Simpleton before writing them off 😉😂

Back at the White Hart in Melton. I do like the sound there. It was very quiet when we started setting up, but livened up ok. Perhaps a little too lively from the young teachers celebrating the birthday of one of them - only two full glasses dropped and smashed. They moved on after our first break. We normally play here on a Sunday to a nice relaxed atmosphere, but it made an enjoyable change to be a bit more "in your face". I got a nice balance on the Big Muff with enough fuzz to be able to tell it was on too. GT-6B before it, Rumble after it. The Stingish bass (Sterling Sub5 with Retrovibe Stinger preamp) is a definite keeper - a load more compliments on my sound and it's so comfortable to play too. What wasn't comfortable was accidentally stabbing the tip of my fretting index finger on the sharp pointer of a temperature gauge only 24 hours before the gig. It was a lot sharper than it had reason to be, went in at least a mm, and spilt a fair bit of blood. Paracetamol numbed it to start with, but adrenaline is the best painkiller.

I think I have mine on the 8th notch of the end pin. I always seem to set it too low and then have to raise it 😂 Similarly I only fit the one "fake body bit", the one that leans against your hip.

It's like the advert that's on at the moment where a young kid is playing a strat, then jumps on a pedal. The guitar sounds exactly the same. So he jumps on it again... and it still sounds the same. Just looked it up... EDF advert Edit: apparently he can actually play a guitar though

After our gig on Friday we were inundated with media forwarded on to us: 66 photos and 14 videos. The same people were there at our gig on Sunday and... nothing! (So far). So you'll have to put up with the single photo I took, this time from behind the drum kit for a change... Our second visit to the Donkey (now the Donkey Venue) since the change of management. The old regulars are still boycotting the place, but we still managed to fill it. It doesn't quite have the same vibe though - it's lost the "specialness" we used to feel. It was hot again, and great fun though. However I seemed to use up my annual allocation of cockups in the first spot, starting off in the wrong key on the very first note and continuing downhill from there. Ah well, I got them all out of the way in the first 6 songs so can look forward to playing the rest of the year flawlessly 😂 Usual kit: Stingish bass, GT-6B, Big Muff again (but didn't actually engage it!) into Rumble. Shiny black DMs. Compliments this time included my lights: a pair of Thomann Stairville CLB4 RGBW(?) 4-way bars with a couple of mini kintas bolted on top. Now, it's a simple formula: band plays, beer gets sold, band gets paid. I'm not quite sure if the new management have quite got the hang of it yet though. We could have done without hanging around after we finished loading, for 20 minutes waiting for them to stuff some notes into an envelope. 🙄

Not quite as sophisticated, but I have some lights like these which are very cheap, surprisingly effective and are rechargeable via USB. Apologies for the Amazon link... https://amzn.eu/d/3CG5H8O

After a few weeks off while the guitarist was touring, we were back at the Railway in Countesthorpe last night. Unfortunately nobody told us about the Indian streetfood kitchen set up in the carpark, and I'd turned up with a bellyfull of Chinese takeaway. Moot point anyway because they had packed up and gone by the time we'd got the kit in. Slightly quieter night than recently, which was good because we could actually set up. Normally it's a right scrum. It was hot! It went pretty well considering I hadn't picked up a bass since the last gig. Lots of compliments on both sound and playing. Stingish bass through the GT-6B, and then via my new deluxe big muff, into the Rumble. DMs

We've never had a "set" list, more a menu really. Funnily enough it's written on the back of a cereal box Edit: Oh, and I'd better explain that the lady was taking a photo of the "Kipper" sticker on the drum head - she used to follow the band in which the guitarist and drummer played, in the 70s.

I bought a pedal from Ian. It arrived the next day in perfect condition. Very smooth transaction, thanks.

I think they just get better each time I see them. Great gig at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester tonight. Awesome!