TimR

[quote name='Alfie' timestamp='1388427044' post='2321878'] I have no idea. Wikipedia also left me none the wiser. [/quote] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Dunnery He formed It Bites in the 80s. The band had/has a close niche following. But you don't get famous wearing a black faded t-shirt playing 80s prog rock. There's a fair few arguments that go on in the It Bites forum concerning him.

tbh the song has been covered by many bands. Next time tell him you were playing the Iron Maiden version from the bootleg recording of a Siberian gig in '85.

You get them occasionally. Usually they'll say something like "The bass line in X doesn't go like that." To which you reply. "Well it did tonight." There are some oddballs around. The problem is you don't know who he is or who his friends are. They might all be musos who frequent that pub and have the landlords ear and if you're friendly you'll get asked back. Smile politely and say thanks then make your excuses and polish your fretboard or something equally distracting...

You guys DO know who Francis Dunnery was, don't you? He's certainly not famous for dressing down. Lol.

Thanks Nigel, always good to hear from Francis. He's right of course. Some of us continually evolve, Maddona, Bowie, Kylie, and Francis, Some get stuck performing the same ego like Keith and Robbie. It works for them. Me, I feel I evolve slowly and looking back I've been something different every 8-10 years. Dr Who said something on the Christmas Day special along the lines of "We all change and go through different stages in our lives, it's important to remember who we were and what we did, because we're not the same person now, but they are part of who we are now." Dr Who can be quite profound sometimes. Me? I'm a runner this morning, in a 10mile race.

We played at a party John 'Nobby' Dalton from The Kinks was at. The guys asked hm to stand in for You Really Got Me. He said he didn't know it and they played a Beatles tune instead. Then we played You Really Got Me, lucky he didn't know it really. We didn't seem to either. Lol.

Got it at about 1:48. Brilliant. Very clever.

[quote name='sykilz' timestamp='1386412885' post='2299745'] I recently started doing proper regular pub gigs, 4/5 a month, and my mate, who plays rhythm guitar, says " where's your spare bass, what if a string goes?". Never in 26 years playing have I broken a string. The guitarist has done three mid song changes in the last couple months. Glad I'm not a guitarist! Still, if they had proper BIG FAT strings like us, perhaps the problem wouldn't occur! [/quote] Funnily enough. I think I may have broken one string at a gig. A string I'd done the boiling water thing on back in the '80s. A few years back I did a New Year's Eve gig and the singer asked me if I wanted him to bring a spare bass. I said I'd got a spare but won't be bringing it, just spare strings. So tuning up waiting to start the set and my E string goes floppy. No worries, I'll change it. Turn the tuning peg to loosen it and nothing happens. The machine head had snapped! Moved all the strings up one place during the first verse of the second song and played a three string bass for the entire night. Some tunes were not as rehearsed.

It's getting harder to find IDE 2.5" hard drives. I read somewhere that the iPod won't format more than 160Gb so they may well be using drives much bigger anyway. Sounds good though.

I replaced the battery in my iPod photo. It's now 9 years old and gives a bit of gyp every now and again. I think it's due for another battery. It's easy. Maplins do a tool kit, or get one cheaper off ebay. All you have to do is source a hard drive. A great thing about these iPods is you can use them as a portable hard drive. Taking away that facility was a bad move apple!

New amps come with power leads. Used amps should too. I wasn't impressed when I had to buy a 1/4" jack-jack cable when I spent nearly £700 on an amp and cab in a dealers. But the amp definitely came with a lead. And a cardboard box. And instruction booklet. And some silica gel packs.

[quote name='Jonnyboy Rotten' timestamp='1386348277' post='2299156'] Correction - the ebay one is free 48hr delivery within the UK. [/quote] Are you sure? A second class parcel is £2.60.

[quote name='Jonnyboy Rotten' timestamp='1386342741' post='2299048'] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-Mains-240Volt-Kettle-Plug-IEC-C13-1M-5A-TVs-Monitors-PCs-Adapters-Printers-/281207239898?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item417941f4da"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-Mains-240Volt-Kettle-Plug-IEC-C13-1M-5A-TVs-Monitors-PCs-Adapters-Printers-/281207239898?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item417941f4da[/url] [url="http://www.comms-express.com/products/uk-mains-lead-5amp-iec-female-lead/"]http://www.comms-exp...ec-female-lead/[/url] [/quote] The first item says ask seller for delivery options. The second item is £4.95 for standard delivery and £9.95 for next day delivery. You can't get a lead for £1.50!

I would be surprised if you can buy one for £1.50. B&Q £4.99 Maplins £10.99 I can't think where else you'd get one less than a fiver.

Watch out when you have a 300-500w amp. They don't always have "soft start". This is just a circuit in front of the transformer that prevents a big inrush current when you turn it on. I grabbed a "spare lead" from my bag at a gig. Turned on and nothing. Went through everything and swapped leads with another. All was ok. The drummer chucked the lead in the bin because it was broken (save me from idiots). I fished it out and took it home and left it on the kitchen top to replace the fuse. Fast forward to next gig, same thing happens. Except it was the same lead. My wife had helpfully put it back in my lead bag because it was 'lying around'. Anyway, turns out it was only fused with a 5amp fuse which had blown due to the inrush. My 'normal' one had a 10amp in it. So, check what size fuse your amp needs and don't assume they're all the same.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1386254615' post='2297774'] Thats just not the case IME. If you have a player per track in the song and no overdubs then you can get a whole band down in one take if they are [i]really[/i] good. Usually you will then overdub the vocal - even in Nashville. Then you get to mix, and that will still take upwards of 10 hours for the first track in the EP and if the instrumentation or feel changes much between each song, then subsequent mixes will take as long as likely as not. It can be less you're right, but when it is its because everything worked in the room, and there was no need to make any arrangement choices, not even to help the dynamic though the track, no issues with any of the tracks siting in the mix correctly, and the way you tracked every instrument was such that you needed no real filtering at all. In truth, thats mighty unrealistic IME. And I believe whole heartedly in capturing the sound you want as best you can at the mic! [/quote] That is down to the engineer to explain though. If you have a band turn up and expect to spend a day in the studio and walk away with a finished track, he should be advising them to the contrary. We went into the studio. 2-3 hours of setting up and getting levels. We knocked up about 10 live tracks during the rest of the day. He gave us a live cd of the bare-bones recording to take away and listen to. As you say, that's where the fun starts... Having the band at the mixing stage is asking for trouble, but it's difficult to explain to non technical musicians that they've done the recording and it cost £x for the day but it's now going to cost £y for another 3 days of engineer time. Most of them just don't get it.

Well I guess they're not going to admit it. I would try to appeal to their better nature and suggest as you helped them out a £25 donation for amp hire wouldn't go a miss. If it's the GK 2x10 you're looking at around £120-£180 for a new driver. Ouch! My second hand cab was only £250.

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1386083211' post='2295480'] ... I think the Batt-O-Meter thingy just shows the voltage remaining in the batteries. So anything up to 9v or 18v if it's an instrument running two in parallel (or series, whichever is it). It's basically a voltmeter with a 1/4" jack cable. As for leakage relating to voltage...the general consensus I've read online is that batteries are much more likely to leak when running low (i.e. just before or after they go flat). Hot conditions, like the boot of a car on a sunny day, are also prime contributors to leakage. Allegedly. Nice one! That's a bargain [/quote] So the fact that most pedals run on CMOS technology at 3.5v means you're throwing batteries away when they've still got plenty of life in them. To make best use of the multimeter you need to take regular readings of the battery and take note of the voltage. Then when the device stops working you'll know the minimum voltage it works at and plan your replacement stratedgy. As soon as you use a battery (new it'll read 9.6v) it starts developing internal resistance, they'll read around 8.5 for ages, most devices will operate comfortably at 7.6v. Leakage is more to do with age and storage but yes used ones will have more pressure of hydrogen has in them.

I'm surprised that device doesn't work, it's got a gold plated connector. Seriously though. How does it know what voltage is the minimum required for that particular device. Actually how do you know? I think most devices have led indication on them don't they. I'm not sure how the voltage left in them relates to the likelihood that they will leak. I thought they just leaked.

[quote name='Dom in Somerset' timestamp='1386073191' post='2295241'] Get a copy of Mel Stein's How to Complain. Full of useful advice and case studies. The last time I had any reason to take legal action the small claims court cost about £80 to start proceedings and there could be further costs after that. As a rule don't make any threats you can't (or aren't prepared to)carry out, a solicitor's letter has no legal clout , it is just worded in a way that people find intimidating and shows that you are serious enough to pay for the letter.A full range of legal sounding phrases are outlined in the book. I used it to successfully get damages from a company that destroyed something of mine without spending money on a solicitor. [/quote] Precisely. And the OP hasn't even had a friendly chat with the other Bass player yet. Which should be his first course of action before starting a thread on a forum where everything gets blown out of proportion.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1386068056' post='2295160'] You might find the solicitors letter will cost £25 and still not get any response. [/quote] Indeed. As I say depends on who you know, how much the speaker is worth, whether the other bass player has a job etc etc. Me. I'd just buy another speaker and get on with the rest of my life.

[quote name='Les' timestamp='1386065511' post='2295111'] You defo need to speak to him first. He might be a stand up guy and completely mortified by what's happened and want to put it right. We can put the public crucifixion on hold till after we hear what he has to say. [/quote] Exactly. It's not going to go to court you're looking at around £50+ for a new speaker. Talk to him, if that doesn't work get someone to send him a solicitors letter threatening action (someone on here is bound to be able to write you one). If that doesn't work, walk away and chalk it up to experience.

I would get a quote to fix it or find out how much a new speaker will cost and add £20 if you're fitting it yourself. Then contact the venue and get contact details of the band. Get in touch with the band, tell them how much it's going to cost and ask them to foot the bill. Take it from there. Next step would be a solicitor's letter...

Analagies rarely work. As I wrote above; Watts are fairly meaningless.

The power figures are fairly meaningless. The speaker power is just the electrical power the speaker coils can dissipate before they melt. The amplifier power is a measure of the current it can deliver before the transistors release the blue smoke. The danger of having a big amp driving small speakers is you can either overheat the coils or more likely the speakers will move too far (called over excursion) and break mechanically. You will hopefully hear this happening. The danger of having a small amp is the same but the added danger is that the amp could overheat before either of those things happen. You always need to listen carefully for distortion when you use gear and recognise when it's doing damage. However, not all distortion is bad, depends how long and how hard you drive everything.