Newfoundfreedom

Football

Well that's that then. Final gig with the band this Sunday. Too many people pulling in different directions so I'm out before it starts to effect the friendships I have with the rest of the band. I made it clear from the start, before we even played a note that the band was very much a hobby, and I wasn't interested in, and don't have the time or inclination to be out gigging every weekend. 12 gigs in 10 weeks, plus practices in-between was breaking point for me. I still have to earn a living in-between gigs while the rest of the band are financially independent. It's been fun for the most part, even a couple of the gigs were enjoyable in the end, but it's become obvious that some of the band want to do far more than I'm willing to commit to, and while they love gigging, I honestly don't think I ever will. It's a shame really. Things were really starting to come together and we were sounding pretty good. Still, we raised a fair few quid for a local charity supporting children in care, so it's not all bad.

Never heard of these before. I've just looked them up and I'm intrigued. I might have to invest in one. Although they're a bit on the pricey side.

1. Originals band. Great! Get your creativity hat on. That's what it's all about for me. I haven't heard of two of the bands they mention, but 90's pop / rock. I can get onboard with. 2. Sounds OK, but the last "life got in the way" statement sets alarm bells ringing. 3. Eagles tribute band. I think I'd rather hang myself. 4. Original metal band. Definitely up for that! 18-30.....Erm......nope! I think I'd have to go with option 1.

I quite like it. I'd like to hang it on stage with a piece of fishing wire. Along with a phantom of the opera mask and a single white glove. Then play a bass backing track so it looks like the bass player has been involved in an awful experimental invisibility accident.

I never really had any aspirations to be a "musician" in my teens. Now in my mid 40's, and I still don't. I started playing bass at 15, because a few of my mates wanted to start a band and needed a bass player. I liked hanging out with my mates so figured I'd give it a shot. 30 years later and my motivations are pretty much still the same. I love hanging out with my mates and making music, but dislike most other aspects of being in a band. I really hate gigging, and generally, having done a series of jobs over the years dealing with idiots on a daily basis (bus driver, doorman etc), I have absolutely no time for the great unwashed, so I have no desire to mix with them in any context. Not even as part of a band. I can't stand the endless discussions about what song we're going to learn next, what will get people dancing, where we're going to play. Etc, etc. I'd happily just sit in a room every day, jamming with a small number of people, just for the pleasure of making music and hanging out. Sadly (although understandably) the rest of the band don't see it this way. So i think my days as a bass player are numbered. I've never really seen the bass as a "solo" instrument, and if I wasn't playing with other people I don't think I'd even bother to pick it up.

I think to some degree it's also the platform. There are still plenty of young and keen bass players around, but young people don't really do old school forums like this. They get all they need from Facetwitgramtube. I've yet to see a photograph thread on here entitled "Look what I had for dinner". (Heads of to start "look what I had for dinner" thread)

My air bass is magic! It's totally invisible until after 6 pints. Then it comes out for everyone to see.

I'll never "get" jazz. I'm not doubting the blokes ability to play, but to me that's just a load of meaningless noise. Then again, I suppose many people would say the same about music in the rock genre, which is where I'm much more at home.

Yeah. They even pink torpedo up in sync. Amazing talent that. 😜

I'm definitely more in the "Go f*#k yourself!" and flounce off category. 😂

No it's a bonus. 😁

Yeah but don't forget it also works the other way around too. Run a bass through an octave pedal and into a guitar amp with a few guitar effects thrown in, and we can do away with guitarists altogether, ala Royal Blood. 😋

For me it would be my Donner wireless system. Not having to trail and cables is priceless. I've seen a lot of people posting about the more expensive wireless systems, but I picked these up for 15 quid on eBay. 6 hour battery life, less than 2.5ms latency, and a range of about 100 metres. Absolutely rock solid, never cut out or stuttered once over dozens of practices and several gigs. Best £15 I ever spent.

Yeah, but can it dance?

Are you already using a PA for the test of the band? In which case why not just use a small class D (or even some kind of pedal) and DI straight into the PA. I often use my Bugera Veyron set to post eq and DI straight into the PA and it sounds superb. A cheap enough option and you can't get much lighter or easier to carry.

I totally agree with this. It's certainly true in my case. I still listen to pretty much exclusively the same bands I did in my teens. I've hardly gotten into any new music for years, and even then, never in the same way as I did then. It's weird, but for someone who likes playing music, I don't actually listen to much at all any more.

I made one out of an old neoprene phone case (like wetsuit material) Works a treat.

I think it certainly would if every gig were like that one.

I highly recommend it. It's certainly the best move I ever made. 😉

As some of the regulars on here may or may not know, I now live in Bulgaria, having made the break from the UK 4 years ago (hence the forum name). I'm a newborn bass player, now I'm my mid 40's, having not really played since leaving school at 16. I've tried joining / starting many bands over the years in the UK, but due to very busy work / life commitments, nothings ever really got off the ground. So, quite randomly, I met a few other British musicians out here in my local area. Now this might not sound like a big deal, but this is central, extremely rural Bulgaria, not a holiday resort. So the chances of us meeting in the first place are extremely remote. Plus my wife is the singer, having done the club scene in the UK for many years singing and running a karaoke business. Anyhow. We decided to try and get something going a few months ago and after a bit of hard work and rehearsals, we've done several gigs in the past few weeks. We decided, as a band (especially given the local pay rates) that it was never going to be about money, so we may as well try and raise some money for a good cause. So all the gigs we do go towards raising money to support a charity helping children in care here in Bulgaria. Tonight we played a local, extremely rural bar in a small village, which was probably 80% Bulgarian, 20% British (due to our promotion) audience. It was an absolutely superb gig. Outdoors in the heat of summer (30C degrees at 11pm) and the audience, both Brits and Bulgarians were brilliant, and we managed to raise a fair few quid for the charity. (zov.org.uk if anyone's interested) So here's the icing on the cake. After the gig we were given this by the owner and staff of the bar. It's a framed, printed bit of paper which is absolutely worthless at face value, but to me it's priceless. It says. Thank you MissEducation (our band) Keep doing good things. Bulgaria is as much yours as it is ours. From Krichmata (the pub) Lesicheri (the village) Best payday I've ever had!

Option 5 Send it to me. It's so purdy!!!!

I can't comment on the particular speaker you're taking about, but on smaller gigs I D.I from my amp head into the PA to save space and carting my cabs around and it sounds just fine. In fact I'd go as far as to say it sounds great, and we don't use any subs. Just standard 15" PA speakers. Granted this is slightly different to what you're talking about as it's the PA and not the amp head doing the legwork, but I can't see why it wouldn't work pretty much the same running the amp directly into a PA speaker. I just don't see what the benefits would be over using a dedicated cab. In a band situation if you are limited for space and the band already has a PA then it makes sense to utilise it. If you're taking about using a PA speaker just for the bass, then why not just use a small, lightweight cab, which you already own?

Yes I know. You said in your initial post you don't have the budget for a powered cab. My point was you don't need a powered cab. Running from an amp head into a passive PA speaker is technically exactly the same as running into a cab, except the PA cab would be full range and voiced differently. However, it would work exactly the same way.