Greg Edwards69

It would appear that Ibanez have used an alternate material and not actual Luminlay. There's several review floating around the interweb stating the glow doesn't last long. I have a little UV torch I bought when I tried UV nail varnish in the past as a side dot solution. The torch works fine, it's just the material that's crap.

Well, not today exactly, it arrived Saturday, but close enough. It's a new to me Ibanez EHB1005SMS. Short/medium scale (30-32") fan fretted 5-string bass. Found in the B-stock section at Andertons for a decent price (£699 inc official gigbag and shipping) I've been thinking about one of these for several months now. It's not my usual thing at all, but I've been curious about fan frets, and this one ticks a lot of other boxes as well. I'm a 4 string player at heart. I played a 5-string exclusively for many years (and had a 6-string for a little while), but I realised I played it as a 4-string with a few extra low notes on an extended thumb rest. However, my band's repertoire has been edging into genres that need lower tunings. I've been making do with the pitch-shift on my Helix that works rather well, but I can't be bothered to set it up at home to practice (and I've been through somewhat of a journey finding a small practice device that handles pitch-shifting - so far settled on the Katana:Go). I've been curious about fanned frets for some time now, but being vertically challenged, and with a limited budget, I didn't fancy going up to 35" of the regular Ibanez EHB series, or 37" of the Dingwalls (although I'd love to try one). I've been having so much fun with my diminutive Jackson Minion that I thought I'd give this 30-32" model a go. This should also prove useful in tight spaces so I don't end up clumping Dave, one of my guitarists, around the head! I'm also very conscious about weight and balance. This is a little under 8 lbs (I haven't actually weighed it myself, but it feels very light). And I could tell immediately when I first saw this design that would balance very well and give easy access to each end of the neck. I quite like that the back of the upper bout is slanted, so it brings the bottom of the bass forwards a little - like a built-in beer gut. All in all, the entire design appears to be well thought out - function over form. Thoughts so far. Handles and feels great. Feels perfect on a strap and doesn't change position when seated (and still balances when seated). The fan frets are easier to adapt to than I thought. The extra string however... Needless to say I haven't played a 5 string in a while! Still, I guess it's easier than the mental gymnastics of switching to BEAD tuning on the Helix. The strings are dead. I know it's B-stock (meaning it could be a customer return), but I think it still has the original strings on. New set delivered to work today to install later this week (if I can work out how!) The preamp appears quite powerful (although difficult to tell with dead strings). I'm not a big fan of active basses (I can't be doing with swapping batteries - and I've broken a couple of battery clips on past basses and pedals), but at least this one has a full passive mode, where the treble pot becomes a passive tone. I've yet to determine if the passive mode works without a battery. If it does, I'll be very happy. Still, once I've changed strings, I'm hoping this will be able to achieve "that" modern 5 string tone. It didn't come with the straplocks that the bass originally ships with, only the strap buttons. Not a problem for me as I don't use straplocks anymore - I have a strap permanently attached to each bass with rubber washers. However, these straplock buttons don;t work as well with rubber washers, so I've ordered a new set of larger buttons Those who know me will know I don't like skinny or thin necks. This was a gamble, but it appears to have paid off. It's comfortable wide and doesn't feel like it's going to snap. Fret markers. This is my main, and only gripe TBH. The roasted maple neck and fretboard is lovely and all, as are the abalone markers, but I just can't see them. The side dots are luminlay (or something similar), but again they disappear into the wood colour under normal light, and charging them up with a UV lamp only lasts a few minutes. I've spoken (emailed) fretlook.com from whom I bought block inlay decals for my G&L. They've said they should be able to design a set of similar block inlay decals to fit this fretboard. That should make things much easier. Obligatory "fresh out the wrapper" pic below.

I remember one pub we regularly played at had air con, but it was broken. We had an August gig and I was dripping like an egg sandwich before we even started playing. Even the windows, which had steamed up, we couldn't open due to noise complaints. Apparently, a new resident, who had moved into a property near the pub - that's over a 100 years old, on a busy high street - complained to the council about the noise. IIRC the landlord also had to take down the hanging baskets of flowers outside because the same resident complained they exacerbated their hayfever!

Hey any chance you could share that with me?

Essex International Scout and Guide Jamboree. Holy moly that was good fun! Most fun I've had with my trousers on for some time. We were looked after incredibly well by the team and treated like VIPs (we even had a young man who took upon himself hold up a couple of umbrellas to shade us from the sun whilst we were eating... bless him). The tech team were equally as helpful and accommodating. Indeed, the monitor engineer said he was so happy when he saw our tech rider, that me and the two guitarists use Helix devices and no backline. It made his day when I said we're all happy to have the same monitor mix as well. The kids were up for a good night from the off. Singing, jumping and dancing as soon as the drums kicked off "Chelsea Dagger". And they kept going for the following 75mins until we finished. There were several video and stills cameras recording and broadcasting to the big screen on either side of the stage (including one at the front of the stage on a sliding gantry that one of our singers relished by gurning into it several times). And they even found time to put an Instagram reel together by the morning. Incredible stuff. Hopefully we'll get a copy of the full recording in good time to use for promo. A proper festival vibe. Felt like rockstars for the evening. Hopefully get to do it again next year. PS There's nothing quite like kicking in an octave effect when you've got all those subwoofers as your disposal. *explosive*. Instagram Reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-Hm6xPI7HN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Yep. I had one on a Warwick CCL combo around 25 years ago.

As another bassist who doesn't drive, that looks like a fantastic solution. Personally, I'd need a powered version with something like a Quilter Bass Block docked into a recess, as I currently use a powered frfr speaker. I know you're planning on making your own cover, but IIRC Roqsolid can make custom covers if you send them the measurements.

We’re looking forward to next Wednesday, playing on the main stage at the Essex International Scout and Guide Jamboree. It’s a massive event with a couple of proper festival sized stages, with big screens and huge PA systems. We did this event a number of years ago, playing to around 10,000 kids and staff from all over the world, so we’re very much looking forward to this one again.

Usually plan for 2 x 45mins or 2 x 60mins (or a single 90min set if no break), with a couple of extra songs, just in case, as many gigs end up with the "one more song" chant. So having one or two ready at the end of the set list is quicker than deciding one on the spot.

Indeed. When the #BLM movement gained a lot of traction following the death of George Floyd, I mentioned something on FB cover bands group about re-evaluating some of the songs a lot of cover bands play. I used "Brown Sugar" as an example (a song I haven't played in donkeys). It didn't go down well. I was accused of being overly woke and being in shit band if that's the sort of crap I play... even though I said I don't.

It's not so bad doing a medley. This can work quite well if the genres or rhythms work well together, and it keeps people on the dancefloor. We've done the same thing several times. One old classic for us was "Shake A Tailfeather > Do You Love Me > Twist And Shout". We've also done "Pinball Wizard > Summer of 69" and "Good Times > Superstition" a few times too. But proper mashups... meh, not so much.

Indeed, we played it (by request) at a wedding at the weekend. Probably the song that went down the best all evening. On the subject of doing alternate versions of songs, whatever you do, don't do a mashup. Well, not unless it's really, really good! We tried Rock Candy's "Don't Stop The Sandman" years ago. I actually played it quite well, but imagine the pub audience's disappointment when they heard the opening riff of Enter Sandman only for it to segue into Don't Stop Believing. Never again.

We played "Sit Down" at a gig a few months ago because one of the singers was convinced it would go down really well. We haven't played it again since.

Wedding gig last night for the daughter of one of the guitarists. As such, the band and partners were graciously invited to the whole day, which meant a rather early start in order to get in before all the guests arrived to set up followed by a very long day. Out other guitarist, who usually sets up half the mildly complex PA was also unavailable for this one as his wife gave birth to a baby girl the day before. We’d planned for this with my brother stepping in for him. He’s depped with us several times before so I knew he’d be okay, but this was his first experience of gigging ampless, relying totally on IEMs. I’m not sure he totally loved the experience and now wishes he had bought new foam tips for his old IEMs that he hadn’t used in years, as the silicon tips didn’t seal that well. I was also anxious before hand and got a little stressed during set up as I knew I had to wire up most of the PA more or less on my own. I think going forward, we need to give everyone individual tasks to do to make this process easier and quicker. The set was handpicked by the bride and groom (not something we usually let happen), but we agreed it just this once. They love alternative music so we got to play some heavier numbers with a few classic bangers. Luckily for my brother, it was a shorter single set of around 80mins rather than our usual couple of one hours sets as they had also booked a “superstar dj” who rounded of the evening with some old classic and modern metal. Totally broken by the end of the night and had a well deserved lay in this morning.

I’ve seen the same thing many times but on the other hand, I’m in one of those type of bands as well. I recognise that us cover band musicians a hard audience to please, but l also realise that’s not who I’m playing for. If those “cover band bingo” songs continue to get good reactions and keep the dance floor filled, then I’ll continue to play them.

My band fell into that trap years ago. We'd build up momentum and then lose the audience with a lesser-known, albeit great song, that we put in because we like it. We realised in time our job was to entertain the audience, not educate them. Songs like Sex on Fire and Mr Brightside are seen as something of a cliche amongst the cover band community, but, they always, always work, so we suck it up and play them! Another piece of advice we were given by an agent, from feedback they had received for all of their artists from a number of venues was skip the slow songs. Whilst the singer may love to belt out a power ballad, or the guitarist to get lost in a lengthy pink floyd solo, the audience will get bored. Get them up dancing and keep the energy level up.

Wedding this weekend. It's for the daughter of one of the guitarists (Dave... the guitarist's name, not the daughter's), and they've asked for some alternative music and a couple of special requests...so yay! We have songs by the likes of Volbeat, Linkin Park, Reef and Foo Fighters to play with. The other guitarist (Richard) however is unavailable for this gig as he's expecting a baby to arrive imminently, well, his wife is anyway. So my brother (Ross) is stepping into the breach to cover him. Only had a couple of rehearsals with him and he's done a grand job learning his parts. Richard usually manages the new digital mixer, however. But I have a pretty good understanding of it though, so we should be okay, setting up and sound checking may take a little longer and turn the air bluer than usual. Oh, and our super-sub Sophie is singing with us again. The whole band is invited for the entire day, so it will be a long one! Getting in the venue at 10am to load in and set up drums and PA, with my brother arriving after 11am as he has a longer drive, and do a line check to set his mind at ease as he's never gone ampless before. Hopefully, enough time to nip home and get changed in time for the Ceremony at 1.30. Speeches and food at 4pm by which time I'll be starving, but it should give us time for a quick sound check. First dance at 7pm then we're on playing up to 90mins straight through with a hasty pack down to make way for the DJ. I haven't felt anxious about a gig in a long time, but I am for this one.

Thanks for that. Very useful. Bookmarked for future reference.

We started doing the same thing a few months ago. We don't generally play venues that require a full mic'd drum kit, so for the last few years we had only been sticking a mic in front of the bass drum. But our drummer had been saying he's been struggling to hear the rest of the drums properly. So we plonked an overhead above the floor tom side pointing toward the middle. What a difference in the IEMs that made! And if need be, we can add a little into the FOH mix too. Our drummer is somewhat a professional. He's a grade 8 full-time drum teacher and used to be in a couple of touring originals bands - he's quite discerning and likes to get things "just right". He's said this is the best drum sound he's had in his ears, ever. FWIW, he's also mentioned a few times that in many venues, he's noticed drums are unnecessarily mic'd where they needn't be. So many times you'll see a bass drum mic, a couple of overheads and a snare/hi-hat mic, but nothing on the floor tom. The snare rarely needs any help in modest venues, and the bigger the drum - the more help they need. Not unlike bass guitars needing more powerful amps and cabs than our skinny stringed brethren.

I know right? Bride and groom actually requested it! Not your usual wedding set list

A handful of songs for a wedding next month last day under the sun - Volbeat In Too Deep - Sum 41 Born in the USA - Springsteen Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry

Usually my Audio Technica ATH-M50x at home. Or I can use my Sennheiser IE400 Pro gigging IEM's if I need a quick run-through of something before we start playing.

I only use gigbags and the straps don't get in the way. I pull them taught and upwards behind the bass when loading them into their gigbags. Nylon and neoprene straps all the way. Not keen on leather ones.

I have the Dimarzio system on my electric guitar and it certainly is low profile. However, I would be concerned about the plastic clips damaging the OP's instrument finished in that location. Rubber washers here too. I had a moment of enlightenment after many years of using Schaller and Dunlop systems and getting frustrated with the strap button screws working loose... "If I have a strap for each bass, why am I removing and reattaching them every time I take it out of its gig bag?" I replaced the buttons on my basses with their original buttons and screws and permanently attached the straps with rubber washers. Rock solid

Yep. It's still a learning process for us. Some of the venue's we play have a stage with a little bit that sticks out in the middle where the singers stand, with the speaker stands either side. We have no choice but to put our single sub on one side. We set up in a rehearsal space of similar size to the typical venues we play at, and ran QSC's helpful calibration guide to find a baseline for sub and tops volume settings. This way if we have a reference to reset to if we ever find the sub is overpowering the room (like we did at the last gig. We run the sub from the mixer main output and the top from the subs, so for us it's easier to wire the sub in and not need it, than set everything else up only to find out we do need it. Our tops can't be high passed any lower than 100hz so we set the sub's crossover to 100hz as well. We noticed that the sub appeared directional when placed closer to one side of the room to the other - you could definitely tell what side of the room it was coming from (I wonder if this is due to the 100hz crossover) and sounded more consistent when centred, so ideally we'd like to centre it whenever we can. Which brings me to... Would putting a single sub at the back of the stage, up against the wall, centre-ish be an option? I realise the stage would be louder, although more felt than heard, and boundary loading would give it a little help too. I understand there could be a time delay, but we're only talking 2 or 3 metres front to back in the average UK pub. I high pass my bass at the subs corner frequency directly in Helix, and the bass drum on the mixer so we don't overload it.