Toddy

Mmmm,, My money would be on Kawai,,,,,,, seriously wacky some of em,, but the very few examples I've seem were tremendous quality, ,very briefly had a rocknroll Kawai quitar and sold it to the guy who runs the fansite, the only one he had ever seen!

These are great vids Scot, thanks for sharing them,, practising furiously !!,

loved my 4x10 combo,,never had as many compliments about my sound since!,,and what is it about everone wanting light gear,,would hate to be in a band with someone who wont help carry the pa and all the gear in because its too heavy!!

[i]Casino gig went well,,lots of dancers etc, ,better than expected tho..oh an free champagne,,, result....[/i]

[i]Stockton Casino,, no idea what this will be like,,with " New Retros" 80s tribute,,will let you know,, wherever you are have a good un![/i]

Yes Ive experienced this,, was going to write a long list of reasons, but seen as your not going to even read this (lol) a couple of points, its horses for courses, at the moment 5 and 6 stringers are woefully unfashionable,, ignore this at your peril,,Even Guy Pratt said in an interview,, "god ive even got a couple of 5 strings somewhere,, what were we thinking?" if you turn up with an old Jazz everyone relaxes and guesses you know what your doing,, plus,,most popular music at min, really isn't in 5 string territory. yes metal etc can be different,, but my fav heavy bands didn't need a 5,, you can ignore trends and fashion,, but they wont ignore you...for now,, my 5 string stays at home...btw,, no malice intended,, and have a good new yr !

Same ere dude,,,,, no clip....

mykariokeversion.com spelt wrong no doubt ! ha,, really good, cheap, and you can customise them yourself on the site with a click of a mouse,, change key, add click track,,drop out any instrument you want, vocal etc,,, tis worth a look Regards J

Hi Mike,, First,, all the best with this, if you choose to do it,, I am not one for replying much on here,, but pretty surprised how negative some of the comments have been,, yes you have to be careful etc,, however,, I've been in exactly your situation doing jobs that drive me insane but reasonably paid and just ended up being a wage slave! You have a lot going for you,, if you have a good van and ive seen your faceboook for it, and you can FOH engineer to a good standard your going to be a popular guy,, contacts are the thing but I could have done with you three times last week!,, will send you a pm for your number..especially if your a tech type a lot of engineers are buying these digital desks which enable a recorded performance from every gig,, this type of stuff is great for bands, rig up an ambient mike in the room,,along with the desk mix,and you can achieve a really nice live recording , all value added etc,, It can be very seasonal of course but a lot of PA hire companies started this way! and availability is key,, my last employer could not be expected to give me every friday off,, but was turning down a lot of gigs,, now were available were looking at 15 gigs in August alone. Secondly it looks like you can do a bit of managing,, boy does the industry lack basic communication skills!,and you can play,, from my experience in the UK, I personally have never been called to dep with a band that needed me to read, i would love it to happen!! however, in reality, you just get given a list of tracks and get on with it, so potentially you have work here too,,, but if you have a committed band,, that can fill a floor at functions etc, and all behave themselves you should do well,, again, the trick is how available you are,,,a really good agent (not only big in the county of xxx etc) I mean a national one,, will after a showcase , fill your diary for you,,yes times are hard and occasionally have to step in the odd WMC,,but good paid work is out there for bands which want to entertain,,its a real shame good original bands have to travel a much harder route to work regulary, however,, it is what it is. Best of luck with it! If you want a list of good agents, pa hire companies, bands, that need trans port etc,, just send us a pm... Regards John www.heartofglassuk.com

Its a point thats always worried me too......imagine how many quality basses have been produced in the last ten years!!,, Must be a hell of a lot of bedrooms full of em.......,, its a where do all the lost biros go syndrome. ha...

Yo Dandelion,,,Scunny ere too!! ha,, cant be many of us.............

errrrrrrrrr,,,Dancin on the ceiling!!!

Dude, ne lincs ere, Gis a shout if ya need owt. Ha It's a great forum.

Good thread,, Re stage amp as a monitor,,,was never really happy with my ash down sound,,and not in a position to start spending at the min,,so, Bass straight into di box,,,,out to the engineer who has all the options with his new digital desk,,he sorts a brilliant punchy sound,,,sends the new punchy sound back to me down the multicore,,use this feed into my amp,,,,,voila,,,,can still turn up on stage if I want,,, ha he can even mute me...he can even send me a monitor mix if I want!! ,,really really happy with this set up,,,it's turned a tired ol ash down into a monster.........

+1 to the above,, Butlins crews and weekends are awesome,,,

We carry an HK actor system and its a great piece of kit,, we often use the in-house stuff too as loads of venues we play have a decent system,, but of all the pro engineers we use like and trust the HK,,

hey hey Guys,,,some amazing stories , just an update on the OP,, bless she did us proud and made it to Wales for the weekend,, will load some pics when time,, the old thing is currently holding her own and covering approx 600 miles a week on gigging duties,,, good ol sprinter...

Thisnameistaken, I have no idea who you are,, but you are officially my new hero.....

Oh gosh,, really sorry to hear... Met Jim at the opening of a music shop in Grimsby donkeys years ago,, everyone was drinking champagne,, and he asked for a cup of tea,, classic.. Sadly missed

Pubs slightly different game,, a lot drying up,, boo hoo venues like the Crosby, must admit come across the divide problem myself,, seems especially in London, (probably get some flack for this,, hey ho,, no offence meant or intended) that most acts are trying to promote themselves hence all original material and being cool,, where up the north if you don't entertain "you aint comin back" and covers bands get the gigs.. If you really wanna earn some cash for covers the Holiday camp circuit are the best paying gigs,, however, that another thread completely,,, Most busy pub bands around my area are out most Saturdays tho.....most area have a forum (like this one) advertising gigs and bands wanted the Scunthorpe Entertainer Forum, for example works exactly like this one and is where most go for info about stuff,,guess you need to think about where you wanna live an have a look...

Dude,, yeah,, still a lot of WMC work around the northern area your thinking about.. doubt there has been many changes since you last saw them,,bless the Moorhouse empire, Northallerton WMC, and Sheffield area clubs,,etc Most seem to book through agents, tho not all, tis the standard set up. couple of 45 min cover sets, bingo, disco at the end stuff..and hell yeah you will need transport of some kind,,, no buses round these areas at 1am lol,,, can give you some contacts if you wish,, best of luck with it.

Ha, thanks guys,,, you've done me proud,, almost forgot how many times we ran out of Diesel,,,luckily looks like the sprinter will live again,,, we dont need the air con pump anyway,, ha,,if we get to wales will post a pic to prove it and thanks for making me feel a bit brighter...

Do you have humorous band van stories to cheer me up, Bless our Sprinter, today the power steering pump has fallen off, dunno how the heck to get to Wales for Fri ! and I'm sat ere feeling pretty fed up,,last month the alternator packed in,, door fell off in Yarmouth a while ago,, ignition packed in ,, wipers flew off the other night,,, arghhhhhhhh,,,,, to be honest she does pretty huge mileage,, actually reading this back sounds like a clown van.. Saying that, we have had hours of fun on the road,, plenty of water fights on the A1,, oh but we do have to carry tomato sauce,, cos the bleedin sat nav has a chip on its shoulder,,especially the last ten miles to the venue and takes the country route. Please tell me its not just us !!