TimR

I'm sure the only reason bass bodies are the weight they are is to prevent neck dive. You need the COG to be at the bridge end to counteract the turning moment of the neck. If anyone can come up with a strap that attaches to the neck instead of the body and still keeps the body in a playable position then that's the way to go. How did the Steinburg basses work, aside from being headless?

Playing at home? What's that?

Mainly to create engaging content. Which seems to be working. And no doubt a bunch of BassChatters will now head off to YouTube to add more views following your free advertisement.

Since 1987. McKenzie Qmax 100. A 15" 100watt 15" combo. Trace Elliot GP7 SM 300. 300watt 15" combo. Warwick ProFet 5.1. 500watt head with 2x 2x10" 210pro cabs.

In a previous band I 'hired' the PA to the band for the gigs. PAs are hard work to deal with, transport, maintain and store. It's not just owning something and letting people use it. The drummer got fed up with the arrangement and decided he'd own the PA. Fine. We paid him instead. But then he started asking people to store bits of it because he didn't have enough room and for people to drive to his house to bring bits to gigs because he had to fit drums in his car. Booking gigs is a ballache as well. I'm happy to take the money that the band leader is offering for the gig if it means I just turn up with my gear, play and go home. I'll carry some gear and help set up. But means I don't spend an extra hour loading my car and unloading it or put up with a garage full of gear that's mainly used by everyone else. I've been there and done that. It should be up front what people are getting paid for though. In my day job no one gets paid the same.

Did your amp tech not check these as a matter of course. That's probably the root of the failure.

It'll be mains bourne. Something was running in the building that night that's not normally running. As others have said possibly a fridge. I'd go hunting around if it happens again. Maybe someone bought a drinks fridge in for an event.

A DI to cover the amp breaking. Just have to deal with less volume through the vocal PA.

Found it quite easily but to save anyone looking.

Yep. Sound engineer just needs a signal. He can work out the rough settings while the whole band are playing the sound check and then fine tune during the first number once the room is full of people. You can tell whether the sound engineer knows what he is doing by how quickly his thumb comes up. 😉 I played a mini festival recently where each band had about 30minutes. The bass player was wireless and spent ages walking around out front bashing his bass and listening from different places. No idea what he thought he was achieving.

Roger Waters seems to be popular at the moment...

How about Norman Watt Roy?

That's usually why we transpose. Did have a car crash at one gig in a band I was in. At the practice before the gig the singer asked if we could try the song in another key. We tried it but weren't sure it was any better. The drummer provided the setlists with keys and intro musician written next to the song, so we had an instant view of how the song started. So I kicked off with the iconic bass intro in the key on the list which was the key we always played in... and then the rest of the band came in... unfortunately some of them had made note of the proposed key change on their music during the practice...

Assuming the original is actually in Eb. Quite often songs were slowed down and sped up, sometimes the band tuned to whatever piano was in the studio (or not).

Yes. It was 7am!

The song is in concert Eb. If there were piano or Brass parts, the pianist would have to be playing in Eb. Any Bb Brass would play in E. This is why a lot of motown is in the flat keys. It's easier for the Brass to play.

Yes. Never learn a song note for note until the band have jammed a verse and chorus a few times and agreed it will work. Then all go away and learn it properly. You can get through several ideas per rehearsal that way. Plus when people turn up having not looked at any songs they don't like, you can decide where their priories lie and decide on your priorities to suit. I'd always consider it a bonus if people suggested a load of tunes I already know and know will go down well at gigs. Means you get on the road quicker and can introduce new/more complicated material at your leisure.

If you get a 'cheap' unit to try, it needs at a minimum compression, threshold, and gain. If you don't understand compression it's a good idea to get some free mixer software and play with some free plugins to see how it works.

I have Lozz's Keely Bassist and it's always on. In particular its good to have the amp gain high so your soft playing is still loud but soft and rounded and as you get louder and dig in, the attack and hard dynamics still come through but don't overdrive the input. It's a case of using it very subtly.

Yes. Neither of those are benevolent dictatorship. They were just out and out dictatorships. You don't even get that in a workplace without ending up with a high turnover of staff.

In my experience there's always two people who get together with an idea and then go looking for band mates. From then on in there will be one person who does the lions share of the work and the other person will claim it's their band. 🤣 I'm not sure any band is run as a pure democracy, as if 3 people want to play a tune and the remaining 1 person doesn't then those 3 are often overruled by the minority. I don't know what you'd call that when all referendums must have unanimous vote result.

That's psychopathic narcissism. You need a certain element of that to be a singer.

Benevolent dictatorship. Someone listens to everyone's ideas and makes decisions and leads. I want to be in a band with a leader who has vision and direction. I've been in too many democratic bands where actually you end up with a random bunch of songs and each member doesn't really like many of the songs.

20 gigs a year for a 4 piece gig requires a lot of coordination. Especially if anyone has a family. That's pretty much every other week. If you've always done 20 a week then anyone joining will be aware of that. But someone being in 2 bands won't be able to co-ordinate at that level. If the band has slowly increased gig levels then there will become a point where giging isn't sustainable unless you get deps in.