chris_b

Your drummer's got crazy wall paper in his front room.

For a cover band, we were loud. I had to buy an 800 watt amp because the 500 watt amp was running out of steam. So we'd been asked to turn down many times, but once we were asked to turn up! The drummer was visibly wilting by the end of the first set, when we were asked to turn up even more! I was right at the limit of my earplugs by the end of the night.

All the hours I spend on here. . . . . . . . my wife doesn't thank Basschat!!!

When the song starts I'm usually OK, but it's the count-in, between 1 and 2, that my mind can go blank.

Before I joined, thankfully, the band was asked to play the "anthem" at the end of the gig, so the keyboard player started God Save The Queen. About 2 bars in the manager rushed on stage shouting, "Not that Fecking anthem!" The whole place stood up and sang the Irish National Anthem! This was in the 70's and the gig was in an Irish club in Willesden!

He was the singer with Was (Not Was) amongst others has sadly died. Love this guy's voice. . . . . and the Dinosaur thing

Sounds very good.

I remember every bass I played on every record I played on and I had no success at all. That was their first hit. They went from starving in a flat in SE London to total success. I'd remember every second if that were me.

I would have guessed Precision bass. Sounds like a contender for the Wilton Felder Ponk thread. I really don't like this P bass tone, but when you listen to the final track you hear what the engineers can do. As long as you give them definition they can fill out the rest of your tone in the mix. Again, this was intended to be heard on transistor radios, so no bass frequencies in the sound.

Good move. Very nice sounding bass.

I would assume that they would have told you if you needed IEMs or didn't need to bring an amp. 90% of the bands doing the gigs you describe are using their own back line and vocals only PA systems. You are well set up for that scenario. You are right to be gathering information with the intention to hit the ground running, but don't spend any money until you've spoken to the band and had at least one rehearsal.

Do you want 4 string or 5 string? Is weight a problem? There are several good Fenders in the classifieds. I'd check them out first.

The OP asked for first steps. . . . . . . . . . and you lot are trying to advise him on how to run a marathon!!!

The Spotted Horse was my local. I don't know the Castle, but we used to queue up for a pint at the Duke's Head. One of the worst places to get served in SW London on a sunny Sunday lunchtime! Not blaming the staff, just the number of people trying to get a pint in "on the river".

No, they are sensible concerns. Unless your guitarist has 2 full stacks, you won't let the side down with your gear. You'll be fine for the gigs you are describing. Learn to walk before you try to run. Good luck.

According to Roger Sadowsky, Warwick send a person from Germany to the Chinese factory every 9 weeks, for 2 weeks, to oversee and check on all aspects of production and quality control. I'd be surprised if the Metro Express could ever be described as "poorly made".

We had a Friday, Saturday and Sunday gig many years ago in a big Victorian pub called the Ladbroke, which was in an area of Ladbroke Grove that had been cleared for demolition. They hadn't knocked anything down and squatters had moved in (these would now be very posh multi million pound Victorian Villas!). At least once a weekend there was a fight that would have made a John Wayne western proud. Like the Beano, a cloud of dust with arms and legs poking out of it at all angles! We were OK, our stage was 5' high and we were told, "Never stop for any reason. Just play through it, till they're either exhausted or dead!!" I've hardly seen any fights in pubs since then, but these days I don't often gig to audiences that have that amount of energy any more!

I'd go for the Squier, every time.

Best check how long you need the string to be first. I had a B string that only just made it over the nut by about an 1/8th of an inch! DR strings and NYXL's are fine but that set (can't remember the make) was a close call.

IMO that green Dingwall has the best tone of all his basses so far.

Trevor Preston, one of the Sweeney script writers, used to collaborate with the song writer in one of my bands from many years ago. Nice guy. Apparently all the Sweeney scripts had to be vetted by the BBC because they thought the excessive Police violence was being overstated. Trevor interviewed ex-Flying Squad people so everything he wrote was accurate and authentic, but the red pen still went through quite a lot of the "naughty" stuff.

On 95% of my gigs I get no FOH. My objective on a gig is that the stage sound is constant and my sound is exactly the same. IMO that is best achieved by bringing my own gear. So I'll always take my rig. If I don't use it that's fine, but I have been promised back lines and found inadequate or broken amps and once a mains cable with no amp on the other end of it! I have also had blank stares when I asked where the monitor was, and monitors that sounded more like a black and decker drill. Being self sufficient in the sound department is the best advice I can give.

Back then Fenton Weill were the cheapest of the cheap and subsequently the worst of the wosrt. You'd have got a better sound out of a tea-chest bass.

The US versions of my Ampeg SVT3 had a mains power outlet for powering addition gear. That plug was blanked off on my UK amp. I just assumed it didn't meet our regs in some way.

Drop Roger Sadowsky an email. An NYC bass is a fully custom order. Tell him you don't want neck dive. Chambering isn't an option, it's what he does to all his $6k basses. With his focus on detail and his A list clientele in the upper echelons of the bass playing world, I would be surprised if any of his NYC basses had serious neck dive.