Happy Jack

Some people have a bass face. I clearly have a singing face.

+1 Where do people find the time to discover these awful people? And where do people find the time to stick around long enough to get annoyed by them?

Everybody needs a shot of R and B, so come on down to my surgery ...

Just as a matter of interest, do any graphic designer Basschatters offer a (paid for) poster design service? Sounds like there might be a market, if the price is right.

Left over from the year during which our house was a building site, here are various units that we accumulated. The BT version is a plug-in hub thingy with three extensions, and the TP Link version is a plug-in hub thingy with one extension and the manual. Happy to split if you don't want both. Free to collect from either WC1E 7BD or HA1 3RG. If that doesn't work for you, bung me a fiver and I'll post.

Let's not get started on band communication ... PLEASE! It's not been a good couple of weeks for me in that regard.

I'm in the happy position of finding it easy to remember the words of songs I grew up with, and mainly singing in bands that play those very songs! On the other hand, ask me to sing something post-1980 and I have the same trouble as Les. Even when I feel that I have the lyrics down pat at rehearsal, the extra pressure of live performance can throw me so that I need a crutch. My mic rig includes a personal monitor (previously a Wharfedale WPM-1, now a TC Helicon VoiceSolo). For songs I struggle with I usually stick a Post-It note (or similar) to the monitor so that it's just below my mic, and that will have the first word of each line on it. After a couple of successful performances, I'll replace that with a Post-It with the first word of each verse. When that's going well I can dispense with the reminder. BUT ... it's crucial that you actually dispose of whatever reminder system you use. Otherwise that temporary crutch will quickly become permanent. The lead singer in my main band is a good guitar player and an excellent vocalist, far better than me, but he fell into the trap of needing 'lyrical prompts' many years ago. He used to tape them (as sheets of A4 paper) to the back of the PA cab in front of him, but as they grew and grew they got heavier and heavier - I'm not making this up - until even gaffa tape wasn't enough to keep them in place. So when I upgraded my phone from my old Galaxy Note II (if you're not familiar, it's a big phone roughly half the size of a tablet) I gave it to him. He bought a clip-on holder of some sort and now stores all his 'lyrical prompts' on there instead, which is far neater and more reliable, besides being much more discreet. What worries me is that many of the songs in our list we have been performing together live on stage for nearly 10 years ... and he still needs that crutch. I don't even sing these songs but I know the lyrics easily well enough to sing them myself without an aid.

Pretty sure it doesn't ... there's no tweeter! Even if it does, the Trace 208 appears to cost the same as, or more than, the cab I'm after, and would have all my hard-earned dosh going to a Yankee megabucks corporation rather than to craftsmen here in the UK. 10 years ago I was one of Alex Claber's first regular customers, partly because I like his cabs, and partly because I want to support people doing stuff in the UK music industry rather than just channel money to the USA and China. I'm happy to be dealing with Tricky Audio, and I suspect I'll get much better service from them than I would from Peavey! Now if only Mike Lull would leave Seattle and re-locate to Uxbridge ...

How much of a PA is he looking for? Those two letters cover an awful lot of ground ...

Bwahahahahaha!!!

Nope ... sorry ... once a thread includes an actual death on the dancefloor, nearly dead just doesn't cut it.

Vultures, you're a pack of bloody vultures! OK Chris, you have first dibs.

A few years back we were offered a pub gig in a rural village, but only on condition that we played Sweet Caroline. We assumed that this was intended to be humorous but we rehearsed the song anyway and went to the gig ready to take the piss all the way through. Hit the opening notes and ... the entire pub froze, stopped whatever they were doing, stood up, and sang along to the entire song. It was the pub's song, and every band who played there had to be able to play Sweet Caroline. I imagine there was a back story to it, but we fled into the night without discovering it.

You're going to be asked to play things?

And your point is?

I bought a Crazy 8 recently and I've been seriously impressed with it, so much so that I'm seriously considering selling my Barefaced OneTen to part-fund a Crazy 88 (the 2x8 version). My needs are well catered for in the big-rig department. I have three more Barefaced cabs (610, Compact, Midget) and oodles of power on tap, so any full-fat rock gig is dealt with. More and more these days, my focus is on the 'sensible volume in a small pub' gigs, plus the 'stage monitor for my DB on a festival stage' gigs, and my thinking is that having an '8' plus an '88' gives me three different options while retaining effectively the same sound. I'm talking to Tricky Audio at the moment and I was surprised to find that they have never yet been asked to build a Crazy 88. I get the impression that people wanting more than a Crazy 8 migrate to the fEARful 110 but that's not really where my head's at. What's the experience of the Basschat Collective? Anyone played through a Crazy 88? Anyone reading what I've just written find themselves shaking their heads and thinking "No, No, No"?

Give him time, mate, give him time ...

He's going to be SO chuffed with them ...

Yes, but the guitarist will be able to lay down better versions of your bass lines, no problem ...

In my experience, getting sacked is way more fun than quitting, and leads to better stories too.

So Nancy, what are we going to call you from now on? Although I suppose you could argue that Who Left Nancy Johnson still works.

Define "large". You could buy a new, modern, Chinese Hofner for as little as £230: https://www.gak.co.uk/en/hofner-ignition-violin-bass-sunburst/83408?gclid=CjwKCAiA6K_QBRA8EiwASvtjZd1QJw2SdiyxSi4kL9Hf-Tb7sC7MfShpL5yvcCfGfgkX9i-Pv2X9ahoCmasQAvD_BwE That would NOT give you the 5lb lightness or the quality under the hands of a genuine German jobbie - the "sustain block" down the middle adds at least a pound to the weight, the cheap finish is just that, cheap - but at least you're not spending much. Far better IMHO is to buy a genuine vintage one from the late 60s or early 70s. Spend enough time looking and you'll find one for less than a grand, and you won't be spending that money ... you'll be investing it. If you want to try a genuine, all-original 1964 (worth somewhere North of £2000 in today's market) you're very welcome to come round and have a bash at mine.

Anyone else - yup, these were very widely used in the 60s and through into the 70s, including artists as unlikely as Dennis Dunaway of Alice Cooper. Less robust? Far from it. The construction of a violin bass, just like any other classic-style instrument, makes a box girder which is actually phenomenally strong. In theory, I could stand on my 1964 violin bass without breaking it. I don't plan to test that theory, but feel free to try with your own instrument.