Happy Jack

Here's the same song, same band, same drummer, but now a live gig in a fairly large Club on a Saturday night.

Here's the leccy kit in action at a low-volume semi-acoustic gig on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

The Junkyard Dogs have used a leccy kit at small / low volume gigs for years, initially a Roland TD-1 and then latterly an Alesis Crimson. They're both very much entry level kits with virtually no bells & whistles at all, and no attempt to look like the real thing. A leccy kit takes up significantly less space at a gig (especially while being set up and broken down) plus Paul the Drums is a bit of a shed-builder ... he don't do 'quiet'. Paul whinged incessantly at first, and especially about the Roland, because the feel wasn't right. He is a lot happier with the mesh heads on the Alesis, plus (despite being a total luddite) he now routinely re-configures drum sounds on the fly, sometimes in the middle of a song. @Silvia Bluejay and I record every single gig we play. Listening later I really struggle to hear which gigs were live kit and which were leccy. That may be down to my hearing, but that's at least as good as the non-muso punters in the audience - if I can't hear the difference then they can't either. As to the look, I got a small banner made up with the Dogs' logo which attaches to the frame rail of the leccy kit. Effectively it's an over-sized kickdrum head showing the band's name and that's what the non-muso punters see, not the wiring.

It doesn't matter how good you get; there will always be someone better than you, or at least someone you think is better than you. It doesn't matter how bad you are; there will always be someone worse than you, or at least someone you think is worse than you. Forget the destination and enjoy the journey. What scares ME late at night?

Yup. Basschatters bought the lot. 🙄

We have the same leads ... two of them. In fact, I remember when a Basschatter first discovered them on special at Lidl in "the middle aisle" and posted about them. We nearly lost long-standing members in the rush to get them. 🤣 The problem here was that we had those leads at the back of the stage (for backline & lighting etc.) but we were using the stageboxes - if that's the correct description - to power things at the front of the stage.

While I'm asleep, I dream about the gig. I was looking around as I played and noticed that - as with many Clubs I have played - it's very obvious that much of the decor has been cobbled together on the cheap, presumably by Members volunteering to help. In my dream I was fixated on this poor-quality work. Wake up, get out of bed, down to the studio and plug the whole f***ing PA together but I know what's going to happen. Sure enough, everything works just fine. I'll lay you odds of 100-1 that if you plugged a tester into the socket we used for the Stage Right sub it would have shown a fault ... seriously defective wiring at that point. It was the one thing we didn't isolate (well you don't, do you?) and - even more irritating - two of the four of us there actually had testers in our bags. 🙄

The Junkyard Dogs set up at a big Social Club on Saturday night, large hall and a very nice stage but audience a bit thin on the ground - it was the third week of January, the temperature had barely risen above zero for three days, and it was the band's first gig at that venue. No matter, treat it as a combined audition for future gigs and well-paid rehearsal. Which we bloody needed, I can tell you. Powered subs on each side of the stage driving passive tops, 13A sockets under metal flaps across the front of the stage so no messy cabling, everything is set up so it's time to switch it all on. Stage Left sub is fine, exactly as usual; Stage Right sub produces an enormous hum. Play music through the system and Left is just fine, Right is very, very faint ... lots of hum, very little music. Hmmmmmm. Literally. It sounds a lot like a ground loop so flick the Phase switch on Stage Right. Nada. Not a sausage. Bugger all. The hum is still there. Replace the XLR cable from PA to Stage Right. No change, the hum is still there. Switch the Main Out L/R cables at the PA. The hum stays with the Stage Right unit and doesn't shift to the Left. Switch off Stage Right and unplug everything. Count slowly to five. Plug it all back together and switch on. The hum is still there and the clock is ticking. Out Of Time. Game Over. Insert New Coin. Switch off Stage Right and unplug everything, then run a long Speakon cable from the Stage Left passive top to the Stage Right passive top. It works perfectly; we now have the entire PA being driven by the Stage Left powered sub. Play gig, load out, go home, go to sleep.

Looks good to me, no jarring changes in quality between cameras, well-chosen angles, neat cross-cutting. I like your drummer too - very tight.

This ^ is bang on the money. Very impressive bass for the money but when I had mine I had yet to realise that I am fundamentally a P-bass sort of guy so I just didn't get on with the Barts.

I was at NAMM with @Silvia Bluejay when they launched these (in orange, not purple, natch) and I was dead keen to try one. They were $329 IIRC. When I played one, frankly it was a bit 'meh'. It was a perfectly acceptable cheap Chinese bass, but it had no Wow factor at all. If they're now $629 (just five years later) then I'd be inclined to wait for a pre-owned model to be listed for sale by a disappointed owner.

"The Mazeti neck has the standard long 34 inch scale, and the geometry of the Fernandez body required me to move the bridge back an inch, and the neck I also moved slightly, so the bridge saddles intonate nicely at around half their adjustment range." The Master at the peak of his form. I was particularly impressed by the nut. 🤨

Is there any chance you could give me that guitarist's number?

Does Suzi Quattro count as "Americana"? 😉😂

Ahem ahem ...

In truth? Probably the 3/4 Zeller I sold to make way for the 4/4 Zeller. 😂

I play a 4/4 at larger indoor gigs ... that's "larger" as in more room for me and my gear, so a nice big stage or something. Trouble is, that's only a dozen or so gigs a year. For outdoor sunshine gigs I play my 3/4 AliKat because obviously it really sparkles in the sun. For all indoor gigs where space is at a premium I play the Kolstein Busetto that I bought a few years back from @bassacewhich originated on Basschat with @Clarky I believe. Now I've bought a KK Baby Bass which I'll use at jam sessions where not only is space limited but also I will be at the mercy of whoever claims to be "doing the sound" and the bass will be at the mercy of passing punters. It's horses for courses, innit? Not entirely sure I've actually answered any questions here ...

17 Watts You Never Give Me Your Money 1971 Cider With Roadies Revolution In The Head

Staying with the Repair Shop concept, YouTube is awash with scarily clever people doing astonishing restoration work, resto-mods, and complete rebuilds as a way of getting people to watch a 20- or 30- or 60-minute YouTube video. Maybe trawl through a few dozen of those, find some suitable craftspeople (phew! just for a moment there I thought I'd typed "craftsmen"), and offer your case up as a content source?

If you're just 1cm short on the nut, I'd be astonished if that left you light on the windings. Don't see how sustain on a fingered note could be affected by what's happening above the finger.