warwickhunt

Gigging presently makes up 50% of my total income... and the tax man knows it.

Music is all about emotional response... well it is for me. I like to hear the drummer putting in subtle accents and variations of dynamic, the guitarist pushing the tone of his amp/pedals etc to elicit the feeling etc etc and likewise I want to feel my bass/rig responding to my input. I don't always get that with certain amp / cab combinations, hence I've come (partial) full circle back to using my Thunderfunk (yes I actually bought back my first TF). I certainly never felt it when I tried IEM where I was ONLY going through the FOH PA but I'll confess I just dipped my toe in that dirty puddle. My response would be that yes heft matters to me and my response to what is occurring on stage.

I play in 3 different bands and we basically all have access to a shared Google Calendar. Individuals put in their 'not available' dates and if a gig is offered to any of the bands it is a case of check to see if members are unavailable, if not... take the gig! I'd imagine with 12 people you are going to get a LOT of unavailable dates!

Which raises an interesting point... if a EU person buys an item, they pay their VAT (or equivalent), if they then sell that to the UK (who will charge VAT on a used/2nd hand item), can the original owner claim local/EU VAT back?

Yes, 25% is a good ball park. I've just had the very same discussion re a simple 'swap' of basses with a guy in Europe. I pointed out that we'd both have to pay for shipping and budget to pay our respective governments approx 25%, despite the items being used, with tax paid when new and neither of us actually 'selling' an item for money.

I find this genuinely interesting because I've owned fan fret basses and basses with Buzz Feiten altered nuts etc which would mean I 'theoretically' was in better tuning than the guitar player... so did that mean we were now MORE out of tune with each other? If all musicians playing tuned instruments are using standard tuning and intonation than stringed instruments would be in tune with keyboards and each other but if one person starts using tempered tuning (Frank Gambale / true temperament any one?), you'd be out with the others.

Do you want to borrow my Boss units and see if they suit? My old brown chorus died and I got the new (blue) chorus but the Octave is original. I may even have the chorus back up and running soon as I established it is the switch which is an easy replaceable part.

You are stuck with whatever method/setting is done at the point of design/production. Often as per acoustic guitars there is a fixed bias set across the strings which helps you out but can get messy with certain string gauges. You just learn to not hold notes or play pairs of strings/chords higher up. Some basses do offer the opportunity to offset each string with adjustable slots etc but it is again, approximation.

Really? We've gone through all these stringent negotiations and still haven't sorted it out re Ireland but there's a lax attitude to earning money et al on an ad hoc basis? Sorry, I should say that isn't a dig at you, I am just genuinely surprised that you can just rock up and play these days... now if you could just slip this bass that I've seen for sale in your van! Enjoy. I went over with a band 25 years ago on a self promoted tour and it was an experience that still brings back smiles and memories... rose tinted glasses, as kipping on floors wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

No replacement for displacement, so even though you are (according to the manufacturer) only getting 50w more, you'll notice quite a difference. As to which speaker; if the combo doesn't have a matching extension I'd opted for the same manufacturer and same diameter speaker as is fitted (2x10). The science is that you don't need a 15" to get bottom end and 10's for the highs (even if you could bi-amp), you are better off with all drivers the same size... caveat being that sometimes mixing them can work but it is less predictable.

What is the score with musicians working/playing in Europe now (post Brexshit)?

I bought a Puma 212 combo when they had a fire sale of Tech stuff in the UK and I'm 99% that it was a Class D power section! <edit> The weight would certainly point toward Class D.

Is your buyer aware they'll be paying import taxes? I sold a bass to the States some years back and (wrongly) assumed they knew that... they didn't and were annoyed at me!

As you were @fretmeister... I was using the Super Alloys!

They never started off as bling and bright as some strings but after losing the initial edge they just remain consistent.

I love them! I bought a load a while back when they were on offer but all gone now. The pair I've just taken off my main bass have been on for 7 years (40-50 gigs every year) and though they had lost a little top end they were still 'perfectly' useable. I gave @LukeFRC the heads up to them and I think he's taken a shine to them.

Changed my email address incase it was related and that seems to have sorted it.

I'll try that now.

I did email/message but obvs folks can have hands full.

This post isn't me bragging that I can play a lesser instrument, it's an observation that sometimes a change is definitely as good as a rest and I wondered how many of our die-hard bass players had ventured out of their comfort zone to play other instruments. After 42 years as a gigging bass player I decided a new challenge was in order (tbh I was feeling a bit jaded with the gigging scene etc). Now I can strum pretty much most songs that I do on bass and with 2 mins prep I can busk through known tunes; as a result I decided I needed to get out and see how gigging a new instrument might inspire me. This all coincided with my wife deciding at 52 years of age that sitting at home wondering what it was like to gig live, needed acting upon (she can sing and has always sung around the house/with friends). As such we formed an acoustic duo 'The Jack Doors Duo' and set about learning sh*t. Established in 2 weeks that I could knock out 50-60 songs, refined it to 30 and got a gig... that is after the quagmire of amplifying an acoustic and getting the best from a small PA etc. The gig went well last night, teething trouble with rogue frequencies on the acoustic and plectrum choice (yes, you only find out at the gig what will/won't work best) but felt good. Must have acquitted ourselves as we were asked if we could do every 6-8 weeks. I have to say that the main point was that it is a very different experience to be the backbone of a band playing bass and supporting the overall band, as opposed to being the sole musical source for a performance. Lots of variables to consider, leading to various considerations for improving my performance and the equipment... now if only the log in to Guitarchat actually worked, I could start buying different sh*t.

Nope but there's nowt as strange as folk! To be fair I'm lead to believe that he does listen to punters... but only a vocal minority have his ear and what they say goes!

I've first hand experience of this and wouldn't disagree BUT with regards to the OP trying to get started in new venues, time would be better spent going for gigs in venues where they 'generally' play/listen to a certain type of music. I've known venues where managers fall into opposing camps; those that are oblivious to the style of music and put anything on (generally so long as it is cheap) and those who manage established music venues who will rarely veer from the tried and tested (no disrespect but often 'blues' in the broadest terms). The latter used to bug me as I once played such a venue and we didn't stick to their usual style of rock/blues (doing rock/blues but in different styles) and LOADS of punters loved us and said it was such a refreshing change... manager simply said we had played the wrong music and wouldn't be getting back in his pub!