TimR

The appropriate volume for a venue. A lot of guitarists seem to like the 'sweet spot' on the amp. I'm sure they used to put amps off stage in a mic'd soundproof box. Great on a big venue but it's not going to happen at the Dog and Duck. And guitarists seem to have magic ears that can hear gold cables.

In the 90s it took me 2 hours to get through immigration because I had my laptop and a 'letter of sponsorship' for a Canadian company. I was just passing through the US. The first 10minutes was a customs guy with a dog asking the same 3 questions in rotation, each time with slightly different phrasing. It then took 3 hours to get through immigration to Canada. The parting comment from the Canadian border official - "We could have made this a lot harder for you." One of our agents was crossing the border and was asked if he had any commercial goods. They opened his 'trunk' to find a 2ft length of scrap pipe he was throwing away. Queue a half hour back and forth. These guys don't mess around. And they have guns. Don't get angry, just answer the questions, and wait until they get bored or someone else more suspicious comes along. I think I saw the entry requirements to the US have changed and you now need a visa before you fly, you can't fill in the card on the flight like you used to.

Gimme Some Lovin'. Spencer Davies Group - Blues Brothers film.

As @peteb points out. Some riffs are impossible to play without the open string. Open E pedal, jumping up to E on the 12th and playing the octave above with pedal notes on the open. You run out of fingers very quickly.

If the original is in Eb on a 4 string then (for example) octaves from open Eb to 12th fret Eb are easy to play. On a 5 string the Eb is no longer an open string so you're jumping from 4th on B to 11th fret on E.

Drop D for the Eb songs.

The real question is... which note do you use for the transcription...

I meant it would struggle to produce the volumes we are used to now at the very low end.

Sorry. You're quite right. That's bizarre. Guitar is written on Trebble cleff and I was sure bass was written on bass clef on octave above what it sounds. Wonder where I've got that idea from then.

It's also worth noting that the bottom E on a bass is 2 octaves below the bottom E on a guitar. It's also lower than a lot of brass instruments. The range of instruments across the arrangements was then already reasonably balanced. The average band's portable bass gear of the 60s and and 70s also didn't normally have the power to deliver huge bass. The gear I was regularly using in the mid 80s was 250W max but more often 100/125W combos.

The 60s and 70s tracks that were in Eb usually have basslines that use the A string 6th fret as the lowest Eb.

Striking the balance between underselling and overselling is going to be hard. I'd be wary of basing future relationships with a new singer on past relationships with past singers or behaviours of members while things haven't been going well within the band. I'd be concentrating on where the band is heading and where you want to be, how you see the singer fitting in. What can the new singer bring to the band? To be honest, expecting a new member to just slot in and sing what they're told is going to be highly unrealistic. Look at it as a new start, a new opportunity, albeit with a bunch of ready to go, rehearsed songs. I'd say in six months' time, a bunch of those songs will probably have been replaced with ones that suit the new singer. The band all have to be on board with that. The important thing is the style and direction of the band. Be wary of someone who comes along and starts suggesting a bunch of songs they already know from previous bands that don't align with your style. You're looking for them to be suggesting new songs in keeping with your style that the new singer knows. And have a projected date for the first gig and state how often you initially want to rehearse to get to gig standard. Without that the new singer won't know how quickly you're expecting them to learn. Unless it's an originals band, in which case things will be a bit more complicated.

Pubs seem to like it. It's better than facebook for finding local gigs and you don't start doom scrolling news of Trump.

Exit... Stage Left, is an essential listen. It's basically a live 'Best of' all the songs on the first 8 albums up to and including Moving Pictures. Pre 1981. Then in the 80s and 90s they were releasing an album every 2 years. I agree with Power Windows as a great album to listen to, but a lot of what came after was very pop oriented and possibly doesn't stand up to the test of time.

Can't even spell System. 🤣

Ibanez put pattern machineheads on their affordable basses. It's the only issue I've had with my bass that's 20 years old. I replaced 2 machine heads with Ibanez stock machine heads when the original broke, and they also subsequently broke. I have now upgraded them all with Gotoh machineheads which are miles ahead of the stock ones. The fact that the premium Ibanez basses come with Gotoh machineheads tells me that's an upgrade.

The OP said give it a week. It's only been 4 days... If you're young - just do it. See where it goes.

There's nothing Intelligent about machine learning. If we knew what intelligence was, we would just program the massive biological computers nature has provided, properly from birth. There will be no artificial intelligence until we know what real intelligence is.

Check your wife hasn't blacklisted it on the Firewall. 😉

Fingernail length.

Have you tried turning it off and then back on again?

The way it was explained to me was: If you are a shop, your inventory costs you money, you're paying for floor space, you're probably paying for a loan to purchase the stock. If you have an item that isn't selling, its making a loss. You have no emotional attachnent to the gear. You're better off dropping the price and getting rid of it and buying something else with the money, that's more likely to sell for a profit. If you are an individual, you probably don't have a loan on that specific piece of gear (but you may have a credit card bill for other gear) and you won't be equating floor space in your house as costing you money (it is, you are paying to run your house). The costs are hidden and it's not so urgent you clear the space and sell the gea unless you need the space for something else. You also will be emotionally attached to a piece of gear. It only really becomes an issue when you run out of space at home and need to declutter, or the bailifs come round...

Last Saturday, big local pub. Loading the new car took a bit longer as it appears my cabs don't fit side by side, they're about 0.00001mm too wide. So had a bit of jiggery pokery taking stuff in and out to rearrange. Arrived at the venue about 15minutes later than intended (leaving 45 minutes to set up before start time). Parking was a bit of a struggle, but I managed to get lights set up and all my bass gear in with plenty of time to spare. There was no sign of singer, who arrived at 8:30 for an 8:30 start. 🙄 Played really well, we are well rehearsed but quite gig rusty, so some tunes and particularly endings weren't as rehearsed. Audience loved it, some singing along, a bit of dancing. Booked back to do 2 more gigs. Will see if we can move tables to create a proper dance area next time.

I played with a 'drummer' who couldn't dance. He wasn't a very good drummer either.

Probably. Did you buy as a guest on Amazon?