jezzaboy

The last 2 US G&L`s I have owned from new both had issues. One had a faulty tuning peg and on the second one they hadn`t attached the earth wire from the bridge to the pots! There is a lot of complaints on Talkbass about their quality control and the amount of time it seems to take to get anything resolved. I wont be buying anything new from them, not that I can actually find anything for sale anyway.

Don`t agree with you re the 10 inch speakers. I play in an acdc tribute band with a heavy hitting drummer (a requirement really along with 2 x Marshall bampots) using a Rumble 500 2 x 10 and have never failed to be heard even when not going through the pa. I have used mostly 15 inch speakers in the past and don`t really notice the difference to be honest. But hey, it`s horses for courses, whatever works for you.

@la bam I use the Boss WL 20 and this is made for passive basses and the WL 20L is made for active basses. There is a difference as I found that when I plugged the WL 20 into an active bass it gave a buzz through the speaker. A bit crap really as I didn`t know this when I bought it and had I know I would have chosen something else. I`m guessing it has something to do with the passive one having a built in cable tone simulation to quote Boss.

Sorry to hear that Dave.

What is this "brings in more money than it cost" madness that you speak of?

Played the Cathouse in Glasgow with my acdc mob last night. It`s a bugger of a place right in the city centre. You can`t drive down the street due to a bus gate and if you could there is sod all parking. Oh and there is a rather steep set of steps leading up to the main venue. Because of this we used the venue`s backline. I arrived at 4 pm and asked the guy where the Marshall heads were to go with the cabs that were there. He got the heads out but no speaker cables! Luckily enough Kenny`s music is just down the road so jumped down and got a couple. Then we discovered that the bass drum had only 1 leg and there was no drum seat, cue drummer boy rushing home to get the missing gear. The good thing was there was a Rumble 500 for me which is what I use anyway. Not to self: never trust what it says on the venue`s list of gear! Only played for 1 hour due to Bon DC being on after us but we had a blast and went down really well, maybe a little to well for the other mob but it was a great night with lots of nice comments. But gigs in city centres are getting harder all the time.

I didn`t have a decent di pre amp after selling a few this year so bought another Digbeth pre. Oh and a Fender Player 2 P bass in white. The P is a bit naughty tbh as it`s the last thing I need but hey ho!

Being the (mediocre) bass player in an ACDC covers band, playing wise I could be easily replaced. But I own and run the Facebook page, the pa, keep on top of dealing with venues and run the group chat page. The last bits have fallen to me as no one seems to want to do them. Our drummer recently left and I have had to find a dep to play tomorrow night, you would be surprised how hard it is to find a good drummer who can do the Phil Rudd thing. It`s a bit like the Rick Parfitt thing, it looks easy until you try it! If the female singer or rhythm guitarist left that would be it as trying to find replacements for them would be too difficult. Band chemistry is just as important to us as being able to do the gig. The singer has found the drummer leaving pretty hard to accept as he has been there since she joined in 2020 but hopefully I have a new guy lined up so we will see where that goes. To conclude, playing wise yes, easy to replace but taking everything else into account, no.

We don`t have a manager as such but lately I seem to be taking on more. Singer usually gets the pub gigs as she is quite bolshy especially when asking for money but she now has 3 kids under 10 and a full time teaching job so I have started to deal with promoters re gigs. Our drummer recently left and I have taken the lead in getting someone in as it seems that none of the others know anyone whereas I am the only one who goes to gigs and have built relationships with other bands. I`m now the only one in charge of the facebook page as drummer was the other person involved in that: one of the other members wants joint control of the page but posts crap on theirs so that ain`t gonna happen. Everyone is asked about what the band is doing but they um and ah so much that in the end a decision has to be taken. I do the set lists, arrange the studio for rehearsals, own the pa and when I look at what I have just written, I seem like a right bossy boots but I`m not, it`s just sort of left for me to deal with things. And no doubt one day I will get pissed off with all this and jack it in.

If you are looking for something simple, light and around £450 second hand, £600 plus new, a Fender Rumble 500 is damm good bit of kit. Add a second 2 x 10 Rumble cab and you get the full 500 but on it`s own it will fill small to medium places. I know as it`s what I`m using in a rock band at the moment and there is a lot of love on here for it.