Stub Mandrel

Seeing James tonight supporting Band of Friends*. He's mad as a box of frogs 🙂 Planning to see him gigging with Norman Watt-Roy on bass in the near future. *Who are amazing, I have stories...

Bith my bands are gigging this weekend, before a quiet August.

I've struggled with most conventional earplugs as they are too severe for me, even ones designed for 'club goers'. Recently found some Studiospares Pacato earplugs, they are 16dB ones with only 10dB attenuation at less harmful low frequencies. Nice comfy fit with removable filter so you can wash the insert.

By way of experiment... from last night. Bass isn't very audible, fortunately. VID-20240727-WA0007.mp4

Cool 😎 How do you embed a video without using YouTube?

I think non-bassists would be surprised how often we gig with a rig that cost castly more than the basses we play through it!

Last night Bluesfire finally played my local, the Park Hotel. For some reason they had decided to squeeze us into the main bar, instead of the big room upstairs. At least it meant an easy load in. We expected a good crowd as we are well known in Barry and the gig was shared well on FB. We also had several people come from Cardiff and Penarth, good to know we can pull a audience in. Someone from Cwmbran who saw us at Borough Blues festival a few weeks ago brough friends, including a frend of my partner who hasn't seen her for 4 years! Also some very good local musicians turned up. So lots of people crammed into a medium size bar gave an excellent atmosphere. From the star there was cheering rather than applause, although virtually no dancing with the lack of space. We were very tight, although on two songs I felt convinced I was out of key, but it mah have been a weird effect of standing in a tiny space between my cab and the Pa... after a verse it sounded ok. A couple of songs people probably thought I was really creative as I flailed around trying different lines searching for the rig. Got bludgeoned into some extra songs so despite my defence of 45+45 elsewhere we ended up doing 50 + 60. Alex got loads of praise for his guitar work, including from a guy who is a brilliant player and has been a figure on the south Wales scene since the 70s. So, a really awesome evening, plus I was able to carry my gear as it was only a minutes walk away

Not too bad, but the tone controls are optimised for hifi. I improved it by removing wadding I put in and cutting a port. It was meant as a bit of fun using stuff I already had when I couldn't affors a practice amp, but it turned out OK. Better days now, I mostly use a Joyo Bantamp and a PJB C2, which is 2x5 and sounds great.

Put a new grille on my home built 4x3" combo. Needs a bit more velcro on the 3d printed support.

Not complex, but the 'proper' bassline to Pride and Joy. I've winged it a few times, but the original is a fun walk that ocassionally steps in unexpected directions.

For a change I'll bring my home practice rig, and some unusual basses. Current thinking: Joyo Badass 50W hybrid head. PJB C2 cab. Hohner Jack V professional. Kay (Teisco) Tulip. + whichever bass feels right as no. 3.

My cab has a -3dB point at 35Hz. An (utterly different) Ampeg 8x10 SVT is 40Hz or 50Hz for the high power version, so plenty of cab styles do go low(er). I'm happy with 30Hz, not because it needs to be that low, but because it doesn't need to be any higher, at least with my kit (which has plenty of headroom). I find my amps bass control is enough to tame boomy rooms.

My view (which may be a minority one) is that the troublesome frequencies from handling noise putting your palm on the strings etc. are effectively sub-audible, that is below 20 Hz where we hear them as a 'purr' or thump rather than a musical tone. This is full octave below our E string and well below even a low B at 32 Hz, so a 12 or 18dB/octave filter at 30Hz will stop all the non-musical sounds like a wall with minimal effect on the fundamentals if our equipment is able to reproduce them. Personally, I would only look at a higher frequency (say 50Hz) if I was using a speaker with limited high-end response or a lower power amplifier and I wanted the extra headroom.

A killer for keyboards, bass and some kick drums.

Having been bullied myself, I understand, but we all have to be careful first reactions don't just pass on the pain. I sometimes post before I think.

I've only come across multiple sets with early starts (8pm) or late finishes (1am). The 2x45 + encores is definitely embedded in the culture around here, although we usually do more if there isn't a hard curfew and the audience want it. But we don't flog a dead horse either. Only exception is one venue that does 5-7:30 ish on a Sunday, and we normally do 45 + 60 + encores.

Hang on... he's talking about bands dragging out the end of the night. If you're booked for a three hour gig, you probably start earlier and are likely to be playing a venue that has a high turnover of punters. That's a different animal. Perhaps you might want to think about why you took his comment as a personal slight, rather than just someone else's experience.

My brother's band used to do that Then they realised that 'leave them wanting more' is a good strategy that leaves the audience on a high and pleases landlords and landladies.

I can't believe how many 'open mic regulars' spend years honing the same three songs. Fortunately some others take pride in having learnt two or three new songs each week.

It was John McVie in the womble suit on at least on occasion.

No-one's ever noticed! I've been using my Affinity skills elsewhere:

You stop seeing the cone move when you handle the bass or hit a string.

Or one of these: