Played a large birthday party in a hotel. Granny is sitting right at the front and doesn’t like all that loud “bump bump” music. We just pretended to keep turning it down until granny left the building.
Bass#1 - main bass
Bass#2- backup bass
Bass#3- too many
EDIT:
Bass#1- MIM Fender
Bass#2- Squier
Bass#3- Indulge your wildest dreams coz you won’t be buying it anyway.
We had a prima donna vocalist once… always complaining about his gear. The industry standard SM57 mic wasn’t enough… he went through a whole range of mics. Then he couldn’t hear himself and ended up with in-ears… I swear the only reason he got these was so he could pull them out and have them draped around his neck… like when Tom Jones undid his bow tie.
His best complaint was when we were playing the annual farmers’ ball. He claimed that some rum-looking agricultural type jumped onto the stage and threatened to punch his pretty-boy face in… he complained that none of us leapt to his defence. It was hard not to laugh.
I wish I’d get kicked out of my band. I don’t want to be the one that calls time on the whole sorry mess, but I’m afraid I’ll have to.
EDIT: I’ve had a lie down with a cold flannel on my head and feeling much better now…
The trumpet player I played with had a serious drink problem. When he was on the wagon it was great… when he was drinking it was awful. The sound guy had a quiet word with me and told me that he would take him completely out of the FOH mix… so it was just me and the occasional cornet/keyboards player
Plus one on the clip-on mic. Ensures consistency of tone and volume… and you have the freedom to leap about (in case… as a bass player… you’re bored with being the quiet guy at the back).
Mine is a Sennheiser summat-or-other.
I played tenor sax in a large functions band for years. When we used our own PA I barely heard a single note I played. When we played larger gigs the soundguy brought his own PA in (about 20 KWatts) with enormous monitors… and I heard myself.
Wearing earplugs helped… a bit like finger-in-ear folkies… but the only real answer is a monitoring system that’s up to the job. Never tried IEMs but I imagine they would work very well.
If I played sax in a band again I’d get my own monster powered speaker and rig it it up myself… but… if you’re in a section I’ve found it’s much better to get a monitor mix of the entire section… then you can hear all the beautious harmonies and make sure your timing and phrasing is spot on.