sharkboy

I caught the Plant juggernaut as it swept through Belfast last night, and I can happily confirm all the praise it's been getting here - Percy was in great form, and his band were superb. The support band were The Last Internationale, the new group from RATM/Audioslave drummer Brad Wilk, and they did indeed rock

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1416256169' post='2608422'] Having been on both ends of the 'corporate event gig' I'd have to say it depends on the corporate event. Christmas parties for small to medium sized companies can be a total hoot. For one thing, most of the punters are decidedly up for it and they aren't paying for the alcohol. Even at so-called 'industry awards nights', the dance floor can end up looking like something out of 'Caligula' with punters stage-diving onto tables while others are bumping uglies upstairs in the gallery. Frankly, some of the best audiences I've played to have been substance-crazed worker drones off the leash with the spouse safely parked back home. OK, some events are a bit dinner / dance with plump matrons in posh frocks and the paternal boss earwigging convos. But the [i]other[/i] kind of corporate gig puts the average club gig well in the shade. The pay's good, too. [/quote] Good point, well made I guess it was the latter type of event that I was thinking about - I'm always up for playing "Caligula" style events!

Interesting debate so far. I take the point about doing it for the love of music but, ya know, sometimes it's nice to get some money doing what you love! From my perspective as someone with around 30 years in cover bands, it's been a long, mostly fun trip to get to the point where we were making decent money. Our first regular gigs were in a town about 40 miles outside of Belfast for the grand total of £70 (back then, we were a 6-piece, since slimmed down a bit to 5), so it paid for a couple of pints and a KFC on the way home. At the peak of Britpop, suddenly every bar wanted live bands and as we were "britpop friendly" in our set, we were gigging 3-4 times a week, every week. Over the course of 2 years I found myself making twice as much with the band as I did in my day job. However, I'm glad I kept the day job as this changed pretty quickly and a lot of bars realised that instead of paying £4-500 for a band, you could chuck some guy £50 to bring his box of records along. Suddenly the choice of gigs disappeared, bars that were once our bread and butter were DJ-only and the money started to dry up. We still had some good regular spots but, and this is the important part for this debate, we never dropped our fee. We knew we were worth it, we had a track record to stand over that and by god we weren't going to compromise. Nowadays, we're still playing and still charging and finally there seems to be a bit of an upswing in live venues again. We're getting interest from venues and towns we'd never played before and we've even started to do an "introductory offer" for anyone who baulks at the fee initially, where we'll do the first couple for a reduced fee on the grounds that if we pull the punters and the bar likes us, we'll renegotiate. Hey, art it may be, but its also an industry so why not use industry tactics? One last thought about the wedding/corporate side - I've never been a fan of these events. We don't do a particularly wedding/corporate-friendly set (mostly classic/indie rock), and when we do do weddings, its on the understanding that they get the same type of material (we do let them pick the set from our list of covers - we're not monsters! - and will try to learn the first song if it's appropriate). If they want the typical wedding songs they can hire a DJ to play them. This seems to work well. Maybe it's the old rebel in me, but corporate events just seem like a sell-out too far

As much as I love The Who, I can't think of them playing My Generation these days without flashing back to the Spitting Image take on the song: "People try to put us down, just because we're still around". There was loads of angsty music back in the 60s, right beside the insipid pretty boy (or pretty girl) pop songs. Same with the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and - surprise surprise - 10s. Nothing's changed and I seriously doubt it ever will, despite Simon Cowell's best efforts. Hell, just look at what happened a few years ago when RATM became the Xmas no. 1 single!

[quote name='simon1964' timestamp='1414155258' post='2586509'] +1. We do "By the Way" (Drop D) [/quote] That bloody song is a curse! I've got our keyboard player trained to shout "Hipshot!" in my ear as soon as the song is finished

I was so stoked to hear this news earlier - I had tickets to see the great man in Belfast recently, but it was cancelled due to ill health. Here's to a full recovery and a return to what he loves doing most. Now for my NWR story - don't worry, it's on topic! Some years ago, Wilko's R&B trio were playing in a tiny venue in Belfast. The gig was on the 1st floor, so we were queuing on the stairs before the doors opened, chatting about the impending show. I had heard that NWR was playing with Wilko, and was raving about him to my pal. Just then, a voice in my ear says "Aw, thanks very much mate!". I turn around to see the man himself right behind me, bass guitar case in hand and grinning from ear to ear. Apparently, he'd heard me drop his name, and had been standing there for a few minutes listening in We chatted for a few minutes, then went into the venue to enjoy one of the finest gigs I'd ever experienced - top bloke!

[quote name='Reissueplayer' timestamp='1412611302' post='2570362'] I'll keep an eye out for midgets then. What about Schroeder? I read somewhere they cut through the band noise quite well. They don't seem to get much attention anymore though [/quote] I'm a recent Schroeder convert, currently playing through a 1212L and 15L and it's incredible how the B&C neo speakers cut through the rest of the noisy buggers in the band! I think the lack of attention they get now is because they don't have a UK dealer any more and so aren't as easy to get as before. When buying the last cab, I asked Jorg Schroeder about this and he explained that he had to drop the previous distributor because there were issues about them passing off used cabs as new. It's definitely worth getting in touch with him if you're looking for an extremely lightweight and reasonably priced cab, and he's happy to keep the import costs down as much as possible (he adds with a subtle wink ). There are plenty of custom options available to ensure you've a real one-off cab

Me with the alternative indie cover band My more traditional cover band, The Arms of Venus De Milo, at last year's Rock For Alzheimers charity gig in Belfast - £8k raised so far and RFA 15 booked for 7 Feb 2015. Nothing like a blatant plug for oneself!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1409603852' post='2541497'] Turn up with a silly haircut, no amp and no manners then be preapred to hear what a clean DI coming back at you via a beer and piss soaked PA wedge from the 80s sounds like [/quote] Now where's that "like" button? I'm happy to let a few friends use my stack, as they know that if they blow it, they pay for it, and they'll owe me some serious favours afterwards. If someone turns out expecting to use it without even having the decency to check in advance, then they'll quickly get very familiar with Mr DI Box and stingrayPete's piss-soaked monitors. We once had a well-known comedian turn up at a function that we were playing, insisting on using our PA only to spend the first 5 minutes of his set complaining about the sound and the mic (for the record, they were both more than fine). Our singer's response earned him eternal kudos in our eyes - he went up, took the mic off him, switched off the PA and told the comedian "looks like you'd better speak up, f#@ker!"

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1409563046' post='2540804'] Just a slight word of caution. A lot of us were fit and perfectly capable of lugging 4 x12's, 2 x18's, 4 x 15's back in the day. Now a lot of us are not, due to lugging those cabs up and down stairs 4 times a night for years. Lift properly, learn the lesson us owld gits learned the hard way [/quote] Quoted for painful truth! As a recent convert, I'd second recommendations for a good lightweight 2x12 and a class D head. My TC blacksmith is amazing, though not the cheapest. The RH750 would be a fine substitute, and is versatile enough to cover any sound you might want. There are plenty of good options for 2x12s out there, and if you've enough left in the budget you could always buy 2 for more versatility!

Rise of the living thread alert! I've been toying with a set of side LEDs for the old Stingray, and was considering going the Fret FX route. I checked their website and dropped them an email, but as I've not had a reply yet and their website looks like it was created about 10 years ago (all that was missing was a "look us up on MySpace" link!), I've got to ask- are these guys still in business? If not, is there anywhere else that does these quick to install LEDs?

Thanks for the advice people, lots to consider here! I reckon I'll just keep an eye on the marketplace for a whie and see what comes up!

Right, as part of my major rig upgrade, I'm contemplating getting rid of the GT6B as it all seems a bit of overkill and I barely begin to scratch the surface of what it can do. I am hoping that with the imminent arrival of my TC Electronics Blacksmith head all my overdrive/pre-amp boost/compression requirements will be sorted out. I figure that leaves me with delay and chorus (and possibly octaver) to sort out - I'm already using a Digitech BSW, but mainly to piss off the guitarist (is there any better reason?), so the synth and wah is sorted. So, my question to you - what's the best stompboxes out there to give me what I need? I really don't want to go to boutique prices (with my recent purchases I may regret downsizing the cabs because if I spend much more the mrs might make me live in one!), so say around £100 per pedal. So far I'm liking what I hear about the EBS Unichorus and Octabass, but they're kinda out of the budget. So, not too much to ask for, I know, but anything else out there that can give me what they do at around half the price?

Hey all I've decided that it's time I stop with the very occasional posts in the marketplace and get more involved in the forum. Name's Gerry (aka sharky), and I've been playing for...well, lets just say it's been a while! Around 20 years ago I decided it was time to get a serious bass, so I set aside the Westone Super Headless (remember those?!!) for a new EBMM Stingray, and it's been my weapon of choice ever since. It still sounds like chili'd honey and is, for my money, the best guitar I've ever played. I've got a Stingray 5 and Sterling SUB which I use as backup, and just got rid of my Streamer 5 as I never really got on with it. Everything goes through a Roland GT6B, with a Digitech BSW added to the setup for shits and giggles. On the rig front, I've just put together my ultimate set-up. I've been using an Ashdown Little Giant (1000W) into a Warwick WCA115ND and what started as a Behringer 2x10 but which quickly had the speakers swapped out for a couple of Eminence. I've just recently picked up a Schroeder 1212L from the marketplace (thanks Chris, it's bloody great!), and in my upgrade frenzy, I've now added another Schroeder, this time a 15L, currently winging its way across the Atlantic. Now, worried that the amp just won't cut it with such great cabs, I've just today treated myself to a TC Electronics Blacksmith. Can't wait to that arrives to give it a good workout!