Greg Edwards69

Good Halloween fun on Saturday night for us at Starr Sports, Canvey Island. Load in and set up appeared to go smoothly, and we was ready for soundcheck within an hour. I still thinks there's work to do, to assign several tasks to other band members to get make it even quicker, however. Being a hallowed party, we went a little heavier with some of our first set, adding Enter Sandman, Run To The Hills, In the End and Zombie (yes, I know). For the second set our singers dressed up and we added a few halloween themed party songs that we learned especially for this even - Thriller, Monster and Ghostbusters that went down amazingly well. I think we may keep the first two in permanent rotation. Ghostbusters was a bit messy and my left hand cramped up toward the end of it - it's a bitch of a riff to play on the bass, and we purposely sped it up! Kudos to Ian Martin Allison for his Vintage Synth Pack — the Mini Mogue sounded perfect for Thriller. I'm not one for buying presets, but synths are not my forte, but it's made be consider trying one of his regular packs.

Halloween party in Canvey Island

I meant to add. I had the headrush frfr-108 for a while - apparently designed for guitar and bass. More power, a bigger woofer and a deeper frequency response than the Behringer B1C. It kept up with a full band in a rehearsal room fine but still needed an hpf to protect it - as I discovered when my drummer plugged his Roland trigger unit into it and damaged the woofer with a particularly deep bass drum sample. It was a good job the woofer was easily replaceable and not expensive!

Have you seen the new Spark Edge? Looks to be a more useful proposition than the Behringer. Spark EDGE – United Kingdom - Positive Grid Although, for bass, I still think it's more for practice and acoustic jams. I doubt it will hang with a drummer.

I wouldn't want to use one without a judicious hpf. Thre frequency response is 60 Hz – 20 kHz (±3 dB). Without a hpf it would be easy to damage the woofer.

Set length is rarely dictated, so we usually elect to do 2x60min, or occasionally 2x45min. If we're playing straight through we will do 90min max. Either way, we usually get asked to play "one more song" and then "one more song"...

Next? No idea. But I got a couple of tickets a few days ago for Iron Maiden at the London Olympic stadium next June. Bucket list item almost ticked.

I had one of these when they first came out. Really wish I'd kept it. I recently bought the short/medium scale EHB1005SMS. Very lightweight and incredibly ergonomic. There are also non-fanned fret options in the EHB range if multiscale isn't your thing.

The Markbass MB58R range of cabs is worth a look. Similar weights to the Bareface and GRBass - kind for kind - and a bit cheaper. I have no idea what they sound like, but I'm presuming they'll have a more coloured tone compared to the more neutral sounding BF and GR offerings. PS, a GR Active cab is on my wishlist.

I’ve had a strap button work loose and nearly fall out. Strap locks are all well and good, but no use if the strap button itself falls out.

Generally yes, I take a spare. I have on occasion taken just one for logistical reasons without issue, but it's always in the back of my mind that something could happen. Besides, if we're being paid to provide a service, we should be prepared and have a contingency plan for potential problems. I got fed up with taking two 34" basses to gigs just for one to stay in a gigbag all night, so last year I bought a cheap Jackson Minion as a "hope I never need it" backup. It's really no fuss to transport and will get me out of trouble if the worst happens. Also, when I change strings on a bass, I keep the old set in the bass' gigbag, just in case. FWIW, I usually only take one bass to rehearsals, but those spare strings will suffice in that situation.

EDIT: Whoops, just read last OP's post above that this isn't required anymore. But I'll leave the below in place in case anyone else need a similar solution. Take a look at Brevo (formerly SendInBlue). Lots of customisable templates and can also handle SMS and WhatsApp campaigns. The free tier lets you send up to 300 emails a day (so you should be able to break your 700 recipients down into smaller groups spread over several days via a workflow). We use it at work just as the SMTP server for our more complex MarketDirect CrossMedia solution (it used to be called Direct Smile - you may have heard of it). But Brevo seems to be a very capable solution for a project the size and scope the OP needs. We went with Brevo for SMTP has it seems to get through spam filters more than some of the other providers, although Hotmail/live accounts still seem to be quite aggressive. FWIW, most SMTP servers need to be 'warmed up' before sending loads of emails out. But if it's something you do regularly, and the numbers you're saying it shouldn't be a problem, which you can break into smaller chunks as I said earlier.

The Fender Rumble is often praised in these parts for good reason. Great sound, easy to use, light weight, and enough volume if you play with other musicians.

Same here. I reckon at least 25% of our average set requires me to play with a pick for "that sound". If my fingertips get too sore by the end of the night I'll often switch to a pick to alleviate the pain. Although luckily our usual set closers are pick songs.