Paul S

Gig with my blues/rock trio Toredown last night - the second gig into our monthly 'residency' at the Shamrock in Ipswich. Set up is getting quicker as we've played there a lot and pretty much know where everything goes, what the levels are like, so we arrive later and just dive in. Which means I can leave home later by which time the Friday traffic has calmed down. I managed to get parked just down the road, which is a bonus. I wouldn't say it was packed but by 10pm it was busy, most of our regulars were there. We played a couple of new songs that were, frankly, under rehearsed and not as tight as we'd like. Got away with it but next time they will be on point. Other than that, we played well, went down well, picked up some new followers. The staff there love the band, which is great. Unusually there was a bit of bother and one of the punters, who I hadn't seen there before, had to be escorted out although that didn't impact on us. This was my first gig with a bitsa 50s Precision with its newly fitted Retrovibe single coil pickup. Could be a game changer, the tone is just exactly what I want, sat perfectly in the mix with bite and grit. Also guitarist Alan sat his amp on a stand which made a massive difference to the overall balance - I think last night ws the best we have sounded. A12 was shut on my return journey, diverted through small roads following a caravan of lorries so it took an extra 30 mins, got home at 2am. Still, a good gig and £100 in my pocket can't be bad.

Most places we plug and play - feedback just doesn't happen. Just a couple of times we've found a room where the vocal mic or kick drum mic feeds back and then it is the same as with any other pa - find the mic that is the culprit (OK, we only have a choice of 3), then the frequency, then cut it until it stops. I am probably the least technically minded of anyone in your acquaintence but even I can manage this Still, probably too late now.

Yes. The Hohner was better than the Spirit. There is a passive, PJ Hohner with a bolt on neck, the B2B, which was my pick of the range. The P pickup, especially, sounded more organic and P bassy. I also had a Yamaha, the 5 string BX-5, which I should never, ever have sold. That is a country mile better than Spirit or Hohners - a quality instrument. That is a pretty good call. I read on here recently someone had one that was a nightmare but mine was gig-ready straight out of the box. All I had to do was tune it up.

Just out of curiosity, Bas, what was it about my band's RCF EVOX 8 set up that didn't hit the mark?

This. Except I'd go for one of the Hohner B range.

Indeed. They say Live and Learn but I struggle with the 'learn' bit.

I have Android/Chrome and get that but only on Basschat. I don't visit many forums (fora?) but the others are fine.

Eric Johanson, stumbled on him chasing YouTube links a couple of years ago. His first album is great, not a dud track on it.

Yes. My band uses a pair of RCF EVOX 8 for pa and I go straight into that. For home/situations where I need my own back line I have an RCF 732-A. Never sounded better.

I recenlt bought this Thomann gig bag and it fits all my short scale basses just fine https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_gigbag_deluxe_egitarre.htm It is a weeny bit longer than some guitar gig bags, at 112cm. £27. My problem was I then rummaged about to find other things to offset the delivery cost

Need/want. Two different concepts. I have a Harley Benton PB Shorty that cost me £65 new a couple of years ago. It is a perfectly decent bass and would cover all my gigging requirements perfectly. Do I need anything else? Of course not. Well, maybe another one as back up Do I want anything else? Of course I do! Does it matter? of course not!

Sad, really. Layne Staley was so very good. Such a waste.

Just remembered one I used to play years ago - the theme to Inspector Gadget

Doesn't take long to adjust once you have the hang of it. Back when I had a use for all of them I used to swap between Uke bass, short scale fretted, long scale fretted, long scale fretless and EUB quite a bit and I wouldn't say I was the most accomplished of players.

If I am playing somewhere that has a sound guy, and having stood listening to drummer smacking the bejeezus out of his kit for 10 minutes, I usually play Disco Inferno as it is nothing remotely like the music the band plays. But, usually, I only just about finish the run down to the opening verse before the guy says 'OK, that's fine. Drummer, can we just do the snare again....' If it is just the band in a pub I don't bother.

My band has an RCF EVOX 8 pa system. There is some kind of voodoo with these that the stacks can be placed behind you and not feed back, so we don't need monitors, just something to attenuate the volume in your ears. In my case I turn down my hearing aids! When we play bigger venues I just use whatever monitors are provided as I am, perhaps strangely, really not bothered much by my on stage sound, only what it sounds like out front. As long as I can hear what I am playing, that is fine for me. But it isn't generally going to be a million miles away from what the desk is getting from the DI on my pedal. And if it is there isn't much I can do about it anyway

I'm another 'amp-less, get my tone from a preamp and go through the pa' type. I have the best bass sound I've ever had, no backline to worry about. it is so liberating!

This thread is a paradox. Asking recommendations for an amp without a fan means as soon as one is recommended it has a fan.

I was born in '57 so probably aware of music from the early to mid 60s onwards. My parents listened to a lot of 'foreign' stuff which, even at the time, seemed a little odd. I'm sure there was more to it than this, but these stuck in my mind - Los Paraguayos, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass , Nana Mouskouri. And, not quite the same, a lot of Bert Kaempfert (maybe that is why I like the plink of a pick on flats?) They did travel abroad a bit before it was fashionable, so maybe that was what it was about. More exotic than Southend Anyway, I had a sister who was 5 years older than me and she used to listen to lots of pop chart songs, played them to death. She got into Mowtown, played them to death. Heard it Through the Grapevine, over and over and over and over and... Not so much Beatles or Stones although she did have Sgt Peppers and played it over and over and over and... Then at senior school I got to listen to blues and heavy rock. Caught up with what I'd missed and enjoyed what was contemporary, discovered live music and that was that I like most stuff these days but blues/rock is where my heart is.

I wouldn't worry, its the internet. That always happens.

Ben bought one of my spare pickups in the simplest, no-nonsensiest kind of transaction that makes doing business on this forum a joy. Top chap, even though cybermen scare the bejeesus out of me.

My relationship with fretless is much the same as with a 5er. if I am in a band situation where I need/have use for one I thoroughly enjoy playing it. But if I don't I immediately default to 4 string fretted and anything else languishes in a cse until I take pity on them and move them on.