Simon C

Friday was our (In Progress) 1st gig outside of Jam Night. So 17 songs rather than 4. We weren’t as tight over the 17 as we are for 4, and the error to song ratio probably went up a bit. It was my company’s Christmas Party and I’d agreed to pick up and drop off the hired PA gear (a faff). We had 2 hours to set up and soundcheck and took 1h52mins of it 😀. The high / lowlight was finding out that the only monitor we’d managed to position an hour into set-up to be feedback free (space restriction in the restaurant), didn’t have the jack plugged in properly and was indeed feeding back😖. So we had no foldback. The singer couldn’t hear herself. Luckily a couple of us had in ears with us and a long connector that reached the desk so we sorted her out ok. People seemed to enjoy it, some dancing and plenty of singing. Overall we enjoyed ourselves and were reasonably pleased with how it went.

We’ve a gig in early December for which I am going to have be the sound tech (me as roadie was already baked in for it). I figured being able to hear the FoH sound, at least during soundcheck, is probably going to give the audience a better experience. I’d been thinking about wireless for a while, so being the sound tech was the required push. After reading through this thread (thanks to everyone who responded) and a bit of YouTube research I went for the NuX C- 5RC. The main things for me were: 5.8GHz, easy to charge and not too expensive. I checked them out at home today- they seem to work well.

My 2023 strategy was similar, though bike and ski stuff for me. Bass gas was held of by doing “research” - I.e. have no fixed idea about which bass I wanted to buy with 2023s work bonus, but look at what was on the market place here and in some of the physical music shops. The SE Bass Bash also helped. The research was fun and all was resolved with a scouting visit to GuitarGuitar on New Year’s Eve , then down on again in Jan 2nd to pay for the 2nd hand Rick 4003W that was hanging on the wall but didn’t get as far as their web site.

Very disconcerting. I comfort myself with the thought that The Undertones (minus Feargal Sharkey) are still touring and one would feel short changed if they didn’t perform Teenage Kicks.

I think I have the definitive answer Dave @dmccombe7. Fretless active jazz with flats 🤣:

I was brave enough, or maybe daft enough, to give the fretless a run out. Due to the dep guitarist being unavailable we switched songs to make it easier for others to join us. So the pub was treated to punk on a fretless. The host band even had the good grace to have my vocal mic low in the mix at the start which gave a me a bar or 2 to (almost) find the pitch 😀. 3 bands didn't turn up which meant a runaround for the organiser to fill those slots. It became a Blues Jam - which was fun.

Jam Night on Thursday. The host band set up the stage in a different orientation. I think it probably worked better. It's not really attracting a following yet - it's an out of town venue, so hardly surprising. The stage area is bigger so it does mean I'm less concerned about whacking the singer and can thus use my long scale basses rather than the headless shortscale - my G&L L2000 got a run out. We were asked by one of the other bands if we fancied doing a half gig with them. Probably neither band is at the stage where we can do a full gig yet. 10 - 12 songs so I think we should be able to manage that. The guitarist and I are keen on it, so I think there is a good chance we'll do it. This is us doing Price Tag. I'm not sure what happened with Vicky's voice with "Look to the Left" and "Look to the right". Hopefully we can sort that out at the next rehearsal as I think this could be a good gig starter for us. James' rap is good.

The mute was bottoming out on my 4003W before it engaged with the strings on the treble side. I thought it was probably a case of the bolts needing to be reset. The tech at GG had a look and decided it needed a new mute. He had to take the whole bridge assembly apart to fit the new mute, which sounds like it was a bit of a job. It was done under warranty though, so no cost to me. It seems to be working ok now. So hopefully that’s all the teething problems sorted out.

I bought an MXR234 pedal from Paul. The item was as described. Paul communicated well and sent the item shortly after I had paid. I’m a happy purchaser.

23 is very good - Kudos. I think we were down to “fingers on one hand of a bloke who’d had an accident with an angle grinder” at this stage last year.

I mentioned “Canada” over on the “How was your gig last night” thread. They sometime do the same Jam night as my band “In Progress”. The BL plays her tele well and sings well, but in “Canada” she is the drummer (she plays the kit well too). The bass player plays well and the lead guitarist and singer has a voice that’s different enough for them to have a good shot (IMO). He liked my Walnut Ric, so he gets a few plus points for that 😀 (and would have had a few more if he’d said the player was also good😜).

"Accidentally in Love" - it's on the Jam Night list. Many believe it to be by "Counting Crows", but I'm fairly sure it's by Shrek 😊.

Yes teles are cool. Thanks re my PRS. It plays really well too. It sounds pretty good with me playing it, so in the hands of someone who can actually play, I think it will sound really good.

A PRS SE 24-08 is the answer. NGD today.