mike257

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1330683293' post='1561398'] I pressed that button once and my PC got off with the guitarist's girlfriend and was sick in my gig bag. Never again. [/quote] Tea all over my laptop, well done sir. On topic - I've done this with a few bands now, if you've got a good drummer who's comfortable with a click then it's easy to achieve and can sound great. Only ever used it for adding in a few samples/synths/drum loops but mixed a band the other day who had all kinds of backing vocals and bits and pieces in there - say what you will about the musical rights and wrongs of it but they sounded fantastic. All really tight musicians (and all four of them singing real live harmonies too) who could have put on a great performance without it so it wasn't covering up for anything! Techy wise, I've done it (or seen it done) with iPod/Pads, mini-disc, laptops, even a Sony PSP (drummer liked the big bright screen!) - if you're happy to run your backing as a single mono track, then you can knock up a stereo mixdown with your click panned hard one side, track panned hard the other and use a stereo to dual-mono cable. Decent monitoring for your drummer is important, the headphone amp of your playback device probably isn't enough so they'll need a dedicated headphone amp and a decent pair of in-ears to keep track of the click over the racket they'll be making!

[quote name='shizznit' timestamp='1330511671' post='1558469'] When my band was dropped by the label I sold most of my kit (had to...used to live in a private rehearsal room and I had no room in the house) and hid away for a couple of years. During that time I had absolutely no intention to join a band and work from the ground up again. I was invited to join a couple of working bands with tour commitments out of the UK, but when I started to spend more time with my family and friends going back on the road lost its appeal. I also thought that there were lots of younger, better looking and more talented lads out there doing it that can put up with a lot of the bulls**t that I couldn't...so I felt passed it (even at 27yrs old!). I even stopped going to gigs because I felt envious watching other bands being successful. I was in a bad state musically. But, I kept playing. I used the time to study and develop myself as well as teaching other guys and it kept me ticking over for a bit. A very close friend of mine who is a respected session musician took me out for a coffee one day and very bluntly told me to get my head out of my ar*e and get over it. He thought that networking by working as a session musician would lift me back up and if the right opportunity would come back around through doing that then cool. He hooked me up with a couple of the agencies he works for and over the past 7 years it has now developed into a very healthy second income for me...to the point whereby I could probably give up my day job. Okay, some of the work has been pretty crappy and nothing to sing about, but I am in the network and active. I am a hired hand at the moment and I haven't found a full time job with an artist yet, but I have found regular work with a couple of artists in the UK and over in the US. My covers band is always quite busy which also earns me a few extra quid. I am now planning to put together a new band to start writing and performing my own material which is something I never thought I would do again. In the meantime I can still teach and session for other artists. I am a very happy musician Anyway, in a nutshell...what I want to convey is that you shouldn't give up on your musical ambitions if there is a bump in the road. That small break after my deal fell through took my eye off the game and took me a long time to get back into the swing of it. Always try your best to keep the momentum going…something that you will enjoy doing and contribute to will come around if you keep trying. Bass players are always in demand. [/quote] I'm 27 and after 13 years of gigging feeling exactly in the same place as you described after a bad year of let-downs trying to pull a new band together - it's cheered me right up reading your post! And to the OP - don't ever give up! The last couple of years I've played more and more guitar (mainly as a songwriting tool) and have gotten that into it that I've sold a few bits of excess bass gear and assembled a pretty tasty guitar setup for a minimal outlay. Love the challenge of being out of my comfort zone on an instrument with which I'm less experienced, and it doubles the opportunities available. Maybe something like that would be good - another instrument, a fresh perspective. Even if you land in a band as a bass player, the 'view from the other side' you'll have gained is invaluable if nothing else! Good luck and don't forget why you started playing in the first place!

[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1324138030' post='1471215'] A good way to get around this, like they do at Manchester Academy (3 and Club are the only ones i've seen so far) which is use a splitter snake, to send the original signal to FOH and the monitor desk too. Seems to work pretty well for them and they always seem to have a good sound both on and off stage. Liam [/quote] If you're looking for a way round this in a 'one desk' setup, you could always use a small splitter and feed each vocal to two channels on the desk (if you've got enough spare) - send one to the masters and use the other to feed your auxes, you can EQ and process seperately to minimise your feedback. Happy days.

Another Wizard fan with a Squier P/J here - got a Thumper and an 84 in mine. To be honest the J doesn't really do it for me, although that's more my preference and no criticism of the pickup at all. I use the P pickup pretty much exclusively and it holds its own against other (much more expensive) basses. Andy's service is excellent too - he tweaked my 84 to be a better match for the Thumper and for the tone I was after rather than just throwing a stock set in the post. Top bloke.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1330103595' post='1552888'] I agree with the hangers being an issue but what about one of the large stands you can get for multiple instruments. One per room, too big to get knicked and very useful for a small outlay [/quote] Don't know about too big to get nicked - mine folds flat in seconds. Get them, but screw the buggers down!!

Apparently on the last Foo Fighters album (and subsequent tours) Pat Smear played a baritone for most of the songs - explains the super-chunky rhythm sounds they've got going on. Never had my hands on one, not sure I'd know where to start fitting it in to arrangements between the regular guitar and bass, would have some fun finding out though!

I was going to chime in with an unneccesary dose of opinion but I'm now too busy wetting myself laughing. As always, excellent work Skank!

I'll join the love in - traded a Stingray for a redburst California JM4 on here a few years ago, its a stunning instrument. Plays like an absolutely dream and is just so versatile, I've never had to fight to get a good tone from it in any situation. I've heard people say they are more modern sounding and can't nail 'vintage' tones, but with flats and the neck pickup I get beautiful Motown thump forom it. Rounds and both pickups I can get a great growling Jazz/Stingray hybrid tone for rock stuff. It's my swiss army knife bass! I'd have another one in a heartbeat, every time a PM pops up for sale here I get severe GAS pains.

I was shopping for one for my guitar board and ended up grabbing a George Dennis 'Wizard Rock' volume/distortion pedal for under £20 on eBay. They seem to be discontinued, but one shop in the states had them listed at $200 brand new! It's an optical volume pedal, so no pot to wear out and get noisy, and it's active so can be placed anywhere in your signal chain with no worries about impedance etc - doesn't have any added gain, just allows you to cut. They do a full range of effects (Wah, mod effects, a few drive effects) built on the same optical volume pedal chassis - you can quite easily ignore whatever effect is on board and use it purely for volume control if that's all you need, the way the switch is fitted you would have a hard time accidentally engaging it. Well worth grabbing if you see one at a good price, much better than the cheap plastic volume pedals floating around ebay. EDIT: Just seen this one: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/George-Dennis-Wah-Volume-Pedal-/160743023548?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item256d07e3bc"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/George-Dennis-Wah-Volume-Pedal-/160743023548?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item256d07e3bc[/url]

In the past when I'd used (battered and abused) Ashdown in house backline at a local venue I'd really never got on with it. I ended up using another bassists whole setup when I depped for his band (one of my bandmates had absconded with our lockup key for the weekend!) and it completely changed my opinion. It was an ABM900 with an 810, had to use his Fender Jazz too, and it was one of the absolute best bass tones I've ever had. Really growled and cut through nicely without overpowering the guitars. I loved it!

Really sorry to hear this mate, it was clear how much passion you had for this band. Might not feel great now, but these situations often lead to new opportunities, and like you say you've had a lot of positive growth and learning as a muso from it so its by no means been time wasted. Don't take too much time out, and don't shy away from leaning on contacts you've made whilst in this band to get word out that you're available - sooner or later, the right thing will come up for you. Good luck!

Yeah, the California JM is a belter, mine is a definite keeper! You'll fall in love with it if you get your hands on one.

[quote name='SidVicious1978' timestamp='1328991953' post='1535864'] is that the modded-p of doom [/quote] It is! I couldn't ever part with it, we've been through too many battles together!

Great stuff! I've had no hands on with the RME stuff but I've heard nothing but good things about it.

I couldn't part with mine - a late 90's Squier Affinity P-Special - I'd have less attachment if it sucked, but its actually a lovely player. It's been pimped out with new electrics and hardware and still gets the odd gig from time to time. I would definitely miss it if it went.

I'll chime in with consensus on the pan pots - hard left/right to assign to groups, and the group pans (and everything else) generally stay in the middle. Too many variables in your typical small club for stereo to work effectively.

Four mixes is pretty luxurious really! I've always been happy if I can hear the kick, snare and myself, anything beyond that is a bonus. Guess it might be different if you're dropping in for a dep/session and aren't used to the songs, but in originals band I've played with we've always worked out the kinks in the practice room so that we can get by with minimal/crappy foldback. I think Lozz has it right on the money in terms of monitor priority. Maybe things could be helped along by the keyboard player buying himself an amp/powered wedge for his own 'backline'.

Of course, plenty of guitarists share your point of view, and I've seen a good few Les Paul style guitars where the owner has whipped out everything except one volume pot and wired it all through that - could always give it a go!

I've used one pickup backed off to switch from dirty to clean (well, to 'a bit less dirty'!) on a single channel amp. A lot of overdrive/distortion boxes for guitar will also clean up nicely and give a range of useable tones with adjustment to the volume knob, so it's worth having that versatility. Of course, you can just put everything on 11 and forget about it, that works just fine too!

I've used Screen King (screenking.co.uk) in Prescot, they're 15 minutes out of Liverpool and pretty good price-wise. I've still got stuff left over from about 6 years ago and the print is as good as new!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1328618565' post='1530006'] The recent Dick Venom & The Terrortones set list: RockinRollin' VampireMan StickyPants Trance Attack Of The 50ft Frankenbride One Eyed Jesus Cadillac Twist Lilly & The Killers Love Me Tendons, Love Me Goo Astrotrash From Alkatraz Invassion Of The Spider Queen Test Tube Floozy Goo Get f***ed Up Good [/quote] You win. Best song titles ever!

PM coming your way!

Haha, the shipping takes the shine off a little bit! Makes it closer to £30 than £20 for each pedal - I've got three in my basket (Crunch Distortion, Tremolo, Delay) and with the 5% off and the shipping it's coming out at £78. I can save a couple of quid if I go airmail instead of express delivery, but for the save of £2.50 I'd rather just get them! Still cheaper than UK prices, I'm just gonna have a scout on eBay before I push the button.

Website is looking great, and the gear list makes me want to cry. Keep up the good work!