ern500evo

So, did any of you guys actually get a Photon yet?? 

30 minutes ago, TimR said:

Looks like the admins have got a lot of banning to do on that group then! 

10 hours ago, gareth said:

Post a link please

https://www.facebook.com/groups/depsuk/permalink/10158389653438021/

I’ve just checked back in on the original Facebook post, it’s still ongoing and now has 712 comments! 😄

1 hour ago, Doddy said:

Has anyone mentioned the MU rates? They reckon that the fee for a pub band, playing for up to 3 hours, should be £129 each, plus you can add on travel, porterage and a late finish fee. 

The FB ad which made me start this thread was full of people quoting MU rates 

2 hours ago, spike said:

A similar thing happened with our band last year. We needed a dep drummer for a pub gig and our guitarist put ad on Facebook offering £80. We got loads of flak along the lines of how we were devaluing live music, stealing money from professional musicians, no decent musician in their right mind would take this gig etc. etc. , it went on for days.

 

In the meantime we were contacted by several drummers who were willing to do the gig and we ended up with a pro drummer who was honestly the best drummer I have ever played with but was happy to do the gig for £80 rather than just sit at home complaining on Facebook. A couple months later we offered him a wedding gig for three times the money.

 

There seem to be loads of 'professional' musicians on Facebook who don't seem to realise that pub gigs and functions are separate markets. If you are a pro musician who thinks that pub money is a threat to your livelihood you are in the wrong job IMO.

 

That is pretty much the same flak this guy was getting.  Stuff like “my function band doesn’t go out for less than £2k” yet when you point out that you’re probably not the market he’s aiming at then, you get a torrent of abuse! How some people don’t see the distinction between a pub covers band and a quality function band is beyond me. I remember seeing a promo vid of @EBS_freak band, it was a while ago now, but the professionalism and musical ability was outstanding. The guy asking if any local guitarist fancies earning £50, is clearly aiming at a different audience. At least you’d think it would be obvious 

1 minute ago, uk_lefty said:

The real issue I suppose is would you as a dep either be experienced enough to just turn up and play (v experienced player), or have the time to put in to learning a set (different keys, song endings, etc. Time spent depends on experience as a player and of the set list) just for £50?

I do understand that. I think, from reading the guys posts, he’s assuming most guitarists that play in the local cover bands will know 90% of the songs on the set list anyway. He seems pretty humble about it, kind of “look, I know the moneys not great, but it’s a £250 gig and our guitarist can’t make it, does anyone fancy it?” Some of the replies he’s had have been so rude. 

3 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Just thought I'd check and take the opportunity to make the distinction - as I'm sure you're aware (not everyone is, it seems) it's wildly different for originals bands, you're minted if you "make it", but at the other end of the scale it's £50 after doing the promoter's job for them and expected to be grateful that your existence was acknowledged, nothing or even worse ... pay to play.

 

I physically shuddered as I typed that last bit!

I remember those days! I was happy to be out playing our own music back then, at about 19yrs old. I’m not sure I’d be so keen now!

3 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Presumably you're talking about covers band fees here.

 

Aberdeen city and shire - £250-400 depending on distance/ballache to get to the venue.  Out in the sticks tends to pay better than the city.

Yes, it’s just a standard local pub covers band he’s in. The fee for covers bands doing pub gigs seems to be fairly uniform. Although, you wouldn’t think so by some of the replies he’s getting 

2 minutes ago, fleabag said:

He made a mistake by using the word function ?  I dont get it.  Whats that got to do with anything ?

Function gigs would normally command a much higher fee than a pub gig, so everyone assumed he was offering £50 for a high paying gig. 

A couple of years back, I joined a Facebook group for dep musicians. We were looking for a guitarist at the time. I didn’t leave the group so still see the posts on my feed. Yesterday a guy put up an ad looking for a dep guitarist in Bristol for a pub gig. He made the mistake of including the word ‘function’ in the ad, as the fee was/is only £50. He’s since changed it to pub gig, I think he more meant, it’s a pub gig with the standard function type set list. For the last 24 hours; it’s turned into one big argument amongst group members about the fee. Being from Bristol, I know only too well that most pubs here will only pay £250-350 for a band, this particular gig is £250. The OP has remained polite throughout, but he’s been absolutely hammered by some people. So I thought I’d seek the opinion of the BC membership, which generally seems to be a level headed bunch. Are pub gigs paying significantly more than that where you are from? 

2 hours ago, Naigewron said:

Back to individual pedals after a long stint with the HX Stomp and then the HX Effects.

 

I had to look twice then, I thought it was two Alpha Omega Ultras! 

These look like a really versatile pedal. I heard a demo of one on a fairly low gain setting and it sounded epic! 

On 06/01/2022 at 19:45, tegs07 said:

Bristol: Massive Attack, Portishead, Idles, Roni Size, Yola, 2/3rds of Banarama. I’m sure there’s loads I’ve left off.

 

Edit: Thanks to contributions will add:

 

The Brilliant corners

Claytown Troupe

Gary Clail (on-u sound system)

Nick Kershaw

Wayne Hussey

Tricky

Roland Orzibal (Tears for Fears)

The Pop Group

The drummer from The Brilliant corners is a very good friend of mine, and I used to be in a band with the guitarists brother. 

Wayne punkdude is still around, I see him on some Fb sales pages and musicians groups. There’s quite a few names that have come up in this thread that I’d forgotten all about! I remember Xliddx pretty well, could be pretty robust when debates got heated. Also remember the fact that he wore gloves when playing and owned a Warwick Chrometone Streamer. I remember Billbass or billonbass(?) he lives not far from me, he probably left when he got the Rag n Bone man gig. He’s a monster player and a really great guy too 

5 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

Try some Mark King tape.

Try some Mark King tape before it was Mark King tape. I think it’s made by Fender and you can only buy it at Macaris 

That’s an absolute steal 

I too gassed for so long for one of these. When I finally decided to go back to heavyweight though, I just couldn’t find one anywhere. Fantastic amps 

19 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Well, unlike Dungwall/Fartgas, a P with SS through a tube amp actually sounds classic and great, rather than like a sterile lifeless wet fart of a cliché that induces puke reflexes.

I’m getting the inpression that you’re not fond of Darkglass products. I might be wrong though, it wouldn’t be the first time. Just a hunch 

Watched it a few times now, Nate Navarro is a beast of a player 

Demo by Nate Navarro 

4 hours ago, fretmeister said:

 

No. I'd like one (I miss my original AO) but at the moment I play live in a Big Band only and for home playing and recording / writing I do everything with Helix or a selection of plugins. 

I only have 1 bass specific preamp pedal these days - the Tech21 Steve Harris model. That is the most versatile preamp pedal I've ever known and will do McCartney through to Lemmy.

 

I suspect if I got the Photon it would be great fun at home for a while, then I'd start not bothering to plug it in and just going direct into my PC again... and then I'd look at it and think "there's £400 I'm not using, what else could I have if I sold it..."

and that would be it.

 

I'd love it if Neural did an AO plugin though. The Parallax gets very close but it's not quite the same.

I think an AO ultra would be more than adequate for my needs. I use backline more than in house PA, so I’ve always got my EBS TD650 and Barefaced Big Twin 2 behind me. There just doesn’t seem to be a huge difference in price for what appears to be a lot more pedal. Would be nice to set up three presets for various levels of drive/tone. I only use flat out distortion on a few songs, the rest is more of a subtle drive. I found a sound clip of the AO ultra with a hump in the mids, the drive only on about 10 o clock, blend about midday, and the mod all the way to the alpha side, and it just sounded so good! 

1 hour ago, Kev said:

 

I would say that the B7K and AO drive circuits are quite different.  All Darkglass of course, but generally the AO is thicker and fuzzier than the B7K.  Less metallic clank.  

The more video reviews and demos I watch of the AO, the more I like it. Definitely seem to prefer it more biased to the alpha side though 

8 minutes ago, Kev said:

 

If I still used pedals I may well have, I built my last board around the Adam, and an Adam with AO tones sounds superb.  For many it could be the only device they need for live use, studio use and home practice, particularly if you go ampless.

It certainly looks super versatile. It’s way overkill for what I’d need, but I do love the options it gives. I was leaning towards a B7K ultra in the new year, but for not a massive amount more, this seems like such a good option. 

Has anyone been tempted enough to actually pull the trigger yet?