Bassman68

In my late teens, many moons ago, I joined an originals ‘Rock’ band playing twin harmony guitar solo ala ‘Lizzy’ but at the lighter spectrum of songs (Think “Whiskey in the Jar” & “Sarah” ish?) We managed to blag a Sunday night gig on the outskirts of the Eastend of London, in an old venue, known to my parents in their day, which sadly no longer exists. We set up, soundchecked etc. & didn’t notice the Sunday night clientele, which turned out to be ‘Biker night’….. We ripped into our opening song, to be met with a stoney silence at the end (similar to the Blues bros at Bobs country bunker?) If it hadn’t been a late winter’s evening, I’m sure we could’ve seen tumbleweed blowing across the dance floor… We chose a heavier song next, which was received with the odd bang of a pint glass on tables. My dad spoke to the barman, who said “They like ‘em, otherwise they’d be throwing those glasses” After a review of our sound, which we decided to make ‘heavier’ & a very busked “Born to be wild”, we made it through the night, We even got asked back. Just a complete fish-out-of-water experience at the time, to a green teenager, over the years I’ve played a few Biker meets & love them…

I’ve had very good experiences dealing with BD up until early December when I placed an order for a Gator pro double gig bag.. Normally, my orders have turned up within a couple of days, after 10 days of not hearing anything, I phoned to be told that they were out of stock (still being advertised on their website?) & they wouldn’t get any stock until January? Disappointed at no courtesy information on this front, I cancelled my order & got a refund..To find elsewhere that everywhere else was out of stock in the UK… I ordered again from Andertons, £30.00 cheaper & e-mail updates on availability….

Leave it as is, You can tell everyone it’s a Sire then? 😂

Got to agree with BigRedX here.. I’ve encountered the drop out problems with my Smoothhound system a couple of times recently & it’s not much fun at all reaching to plug a lead in,Halfway through a song, in front of 30,000 people at a festival? I still use my Smoothhound on my pedalboard at pub & club gigs, as I’m unlikely to have interference problems from wi-fi signals & multiple IEM systems. For my bigger stages/gigs, I’ve gone back to my Sennheiser system..

I have a Bart MM in my ‘87 Stingray 2 band eq. IMO it provides just about the right level of mids, sometimes missing from the eq? Set both the bass & treble to halfway allows some wonderful midrange ‘honk’ through?

The original era speakers were made by Celestion & were Kevlar impregnated, with the Trace Elliot branding on the (was rather small?) dust cap..

Amp? You’re lucky…. My main gig is without backline, IEM only, I use my multi-effects board but that’s providing the feed to the D.I. I’m not using much in the way of effects but I do have a small amount of Compression & a Pre-amp sim. I couldn’t do without the tuner function & volume pedal.

Never was impressed with the original BBOT, that moves about & digs in the side of your palm when string muting? I have one of each on my Fender’s.. Gotoh on my Jazz Fender Hi-mass on my PJ Can’t hear too much of a difference, but I find the Fender Hi-mass, more comfortable?

Isn’t that the Mono gigbag that Bagsieblue was selling on here?

Following…I’m in a similar situation, I do use a dual bass gig bag,a Warwick Rockbag which I’ve had for about 10 years now? It’s done me proud, but the zips are starting to go.. I’ve been looking at both the Mono (Pricey, Less storage) & the Gator (5kg empty!) as a replacement..

My recent addition to my bass family, a Squier affinity Precision.. I needed another inexpensive bass to take out on the road with me, that would suit the music I’m currently performing? It scratches so many itches I’ve had regards to a wanting a P.bass, something with a maple neck for a change, & white in colour.. The build quality is quite surprising & it sounds like a ‘raspy ol 70’s Precision’ thanks to the ceramic pickup somehow? I’ve taken it all around the country since I got it & it’s now part of my main armoury, I love it although it’s now created GAS for a Maple necked Jazz bass with a PJ configuration? Not a ‘worst’ purchase but I bought a Smoothhound transmitter system, which although great, has let me down on a few stages with interference issues…This has mostly been down to multiple in-ear systems & our string section using wireless systems ( I play with an ELO tribute band & we tend to move about on stage?) so I’ve had to return to my old faithful Sennheiser ew100 system, running on non wifi bands… The Smoothhound is great with my other bands doing pub/club work, So I’ll keep it for now..

I wanted a pedalboard receiver & ended up going for a Smoothhound system. I know you stated you don’t like the ‘dongle’ type transmitters but the Smoothhound easily converts with a female-female converter & a short lead, to a strap mountable alternative?

Not my cup of PG, Really not into the retro styling but I’m sure Mr Pratt will sound wonderful through it?

Sorry to dispel the myth, but the S3000 & Energy are totally different. The 3000 necks were black in colour (& outsourced from a moulding supplier), The circuit was a PS1 which was an active treble boost only, they also came with polished gold hardware. When Status started to produce their own graphite mouldings, the series4000 was the second of their bolt-on neck models. These came with a moulded body, Status moulded graphite neck (where you could see the weave) & the same PS circuit. By now Status were spraying their hardware with a matt gold finish.. The Energy series was brought out as a more cost-concious instrument, being passive toned by nature with an op-amp to raise the gain of the pick-ups, these came with the first headed option bolt-on neck & were available only with a Walnut body. What’s on offer in the advert, looks like a special order, Check the serial number out with Status themselves if anyone is interested in buying, this will prove if it’s legitimate or not? I only offer this information as another ex Status employee…

Looks to me like it has a stacked bass/treble, so not one of the original Energy series?

It’s a ‘92 John

Yes, The wharf. At least we’ve managed to reschedule for early December..

We’ve had to cancel tonight’s gig in Tavistock due to fuel issues, we played Neath in south wales last night. The issue being, getting down to Devon & then the returns home. Anyone else having problems due to the current fuel crisis?

More theatre dates for me last weekend, Friday night was in Telford & then we moved onto Stockport Plaza Saturday, A fantastic old theatre with beautiful decor….

Had a busy weekend heading west for me. Friday night in Maidenhead, Then onto Exmouth on the Saturday night, A quick overnight stop in Bridgewater, where we managed to bump into Martin Fry & ABC, who’d been playing in Exeter, Then rounding things off with Sunday nights gig in Western-super-mare.. Heading North next week…

Tbh, I can probably count on one hand the number of opportunities I’ve had to get away with driving a ‘Big rig’ on a stage? It’s complete overkill in club’s & pubs especially with decent P.A & foldback & almost every sound engineer I’ve met likes to keep a fairly quiet stage to avoid feedback issues? The outdoor events I’ve played this summer have had fantastic monitoring, both wedges & IEM. Over the years I’ve become less & less precious about my sound as what I hear on stage can be completely different to what an audience hears? My tone these day’s is down to the bass & strings I play & I certainly don’t miss the humping of gear late at night?

No backline for my current gigging situation, Everyone’s using IEM’s. We’ve all gained an extra tablet to control our monitor preferences. So now it’s.. Basses Smoothhound Boss GT6B DI’d feed to desk It doesn’t half make set-ups & pack-downs quick

Shattered today after two days of gigs & driving.. Drove from Essex to Aberystwyth to do a show Friday night, with an overnight stop in Walsall to do Saturday nights gig in Market Drayton before driving home last night. Still wouldn’t change a thing though 🙂

Had a busy week, last week, with 3 festivals & an outdoor theatre gig. The highlight once again was playing to 30,000 people at Carfest South on the Friday..

I use an IPad on stage most of the time for set lists & chord charts, scanning files & pdf’s. Last night, the mic boom gained another tablet for the bands in-ear monitor mixes. It’s all getting very hi-tech to a ludite like me?