Low End Bee

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1370875109' post='2106694'] It always was ridiculous Borrowed their guitars and drums, had they? [/quote] Correct. On the non musical side it was never really about that. It was more about trousers than anarchy.

I got told a very interesting story by somebody who would know of how the whole 'punk scene' really got off the ground in the first place. I'm saving it until I can wirite it out properly with spelling and punctuation and everyfink. Then I'll submit it to whatever the online equivalent of Sniffin' Glue is. Anyway as I might have said before UK punk 76-80 'ish had huge variety and experimentation. Not at all the sea of sub Ramones stuff people might have you think. If you don't like it for ruining the career of ELP or Plantagenet Escapade or whoever blame the shallowness of A&R men rather than moaning about punk. The arty sounding 'Midnight Circus' got their demo tape rejected by EMI. When they re-sent it in under the name' the Flys' they got signed...

Sounds fantastic. I'm excited for you!

Our regular engineer mixer man is so busy jetting off around the world doing properly paid work that we have to wait months to use him.So we went to a new studio for our next EP. The chap said he liked our stuff and he'd produce as well as engineer if we wanted. We had a listen to stuff he'd done before and it sounded up our street. Lively, band in a room with a bit of old school warmth. We had a band meeting and decided what the hell. We'd let him do whatever he wanted on this one. We thought it may take the pressure off us and make recording more relaxing and fun. Our normal man will just ask us if we're happy. and we kind of self produce with little feedback. He got the drummer to tune up how he wanted. He twiddled with the guitarists amp without any interjection. I left my usual Sansamp in it's case and went through some modded old valve DI. All I said to him was I normally like a bit of grit in my sound. Through the cans it sounded very clean but this definition helped. On play back I was a bit thrown as the bass had drive but sounded much fatter than I would live. In the mix I liked it though. We all agreed it was more fun leaving decisions to someone else and having helpful suggestions and positive encouragement. There were lots of bits of valvey and vintagey kit used, Whether this will make us sound awesome is a moot point but it certainly puts a smile on your face and feels cool . We're putting the vocals down tomorrow and should have the mixed results by the end of the week. I can't wait. It must be nice to have a big budget and spread this over a few days though. I was knackered last night.

It's like reggae. You either feel it or you don't. If you aren't stirred by a slightly out of tune cheapo guitar played with intent move on. The Pistols, the Clash, the Damned, etc. all turned into great rock bands. The real heroes though were the Tights. the Valves, the Carpettes, Fast Cars, etc. who released some great singles and didn't outstay their welcome. It was fun and gave me and scores of others the freedom to get a bass, form a band and write songs without all that boring learning and theory stuff first. I was going to 3 or 4 gigs a week at the time. The variety was glorious. In a week I would see Prag Vec, Spizz Oil and the early Adam & the Ants. None of them are what is thought of as typical 'punk' now. I lost interest when nearly every band and punk had a studded leather jacket and a mohican. I find that hardcore/Oi stuff too formulaic.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1370548674' post='2102626'] Those are both lovely looking instruments. Congratulations! Is the Stormbird set neck? [/quote] Yes. The finish around it would shame many a Gibson too.

Thanks all. A pity the fantastic candy paint doesn't come across in the pics. I had a little tinker last night and and managed to get to grips with the 3 point bridge and it's a player now. What a compromise design that is though! Anyone else do a replacement apart from Hipshot? Loving the sounds it puts out. I may switch the volume and tone to two volumes as that's more useful for what I want out of it. Might push my luck and see what they'll do me on a Hi-Flyer bass to cure my short scale gas too

Thanks to the lovely chaps at [url="http://www.eastwoodguitars.co.uk"]http://www.eastwoodguitars.co.uk[/url] ,who obviously recognise a trashy retro band when they see one, Sam Jetsonic and I have shiny new toys to play with. I've just had a couple of hours with my Stormbird and it's great. Lovely fret job, nice chunky neck, hardly any neck dive and nice beefy tones. I love the metallic blue too. Came with a cool case as well. What's not to like? Well the bridge is a bit of a pain to tweak but that's Gibson's fault originally. I might go for a hipshot upgrade if I really can't get on with it. I wouldn't give the supplied strings to a QPR supporter. A played in set of D'Addario pro steels transformed it. Weight is a bit heavier than my Precision but that's an exceptionally light one. I was a bit worried about this endorsement lark in that I would be lumbered with a lemon. It's really very good though and is much better for clown whoring at gigs than a sunburst P bass. Apologies for the dodgy camera phone pics. Sam has gone for this Sidejack DLX which looks good enough to eat. Knitting needle wobbler bar not shown.

I replaced mine with a TC 450 Classic. It really does a very good job. Although it's not got the 'heft' of a Terror. Unfortunately I'm DI'd on all gigs these days and even with a -40db attenuator I couldn't get a reasonable FOH sound. If the Terror had a good DI output I'd have kept it. They do sound glorious to my ears.

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1370012203' post='2095548'] I checked Nige's once, and I haven't been able to look at my own since [/quote] Explains the gloves....

I see what you're saying but unsurprisingly quite a lot of us are in bands. Subtefuge is the way to go

I didn't know the other 2 before we joined a previous band. We're very good mates 6 years later. I couldn't be in a band where I didn't like the members.

John Hall and the Litigators.

I must add I do lend my rig out a lot and most have turned out to be perfect gentlemen too.

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1369399160' post='2088758'] this if the promoter/organiser/FOH says they advised ALL bands that they needed to bring (preferrably DI-able) backline gear then i would consider it but only on how polite the would be users wanted to be about it just rocking up and plugging in might suggest that the organiser may have told everybody else (apart from yourself being first on of course) that there would be backline bass available (ie YOURS!!) sounds like you just need to figure out exactly who is taking liberties and administer the low end bee lesson [/quote] Here's one from a couple of years ago: Promoter emails saying he has bass combo available but to get if the bands want to use their own or share great. Sort it out amongst yourselves. I email saying I'd like to use my small TC rig as it sounds good in the venue and if anyone would like to share it let me know beforehand as I'm happy for them to use it as long as they're careful with it. No emails back. I email again asking if they're sure. No emails back. On the night we soundcheck first as we're going on last. I unplug the kettle lead and take it with me as I know what is about to happen. It does. Two bass players have learned lessons and had to hump a 4000lb ancient and abused Trace combo from the basement store room that cuts out intermittently during both their sets.

Have a good one Mike!

I'll happily share my rig if sensible people ask in advance. The crap attitude of turning up on the day with just a bass and hoping for the best deserves a lesson being taught.

Very chuffed to have two new songs arranged and completed at rehearsal last night. One of them clocks in at an epic 1minute and 25 seconds!

[quote name='Oneandfive' timestamp='1369386941' post='2088559'] I completely agree. I'm not sure about lack of venues either. On the contrary, it seems to me that in a time of austerity landlords have to try a lot harder to get people in through the door, and that includes putting live music on. [/quote] We've enjoyed the pub gigs we've done in the past and I'm sure we'll do some again in the future. I've been spoilt though. I like a stage and a decent in house PA these days. Plus 'originals' bands seem to put the wind up landlords for some reason. Their numbers = selling beer logic goes right out the window when confronted with the unknown.

It's all about the gloves.

[media]http://youtu.be/V6_i-13KIZU[/media]

I bought a Roland Cube from Conan. Terrific to deal with in every way.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1369228313' post='2086572'] I've played a couple of the guitars. They are alright for the money, but the overall feel if one of a generic modern instrument made with generic modern parts that happens to have the approximate shape of something weird from the 60s or 70s. The bassist from another Nottingham band has an Eastwood Airline Map bass (short-scale version). The output seems very weedy - I always have to turn the input gain up to full when he uses my rig to get anything like the same volume from this bass as I get from mine. There are other companies making retro-look basses that do it much better. Which model are you looking at? [/quote] Not the Airline map ones. Don't like the look of them. The HiFlyer short scale and Stormbird have caught my eye.

Anybody got one or played one? [url="http://www.eastwoodguitars.co.uk/"]http://www.eastwoodguitars.co.uk/[/url]

There's a pub near me that isn't allowed to sell a certain brand of beer by their brewery. However if you ask for a 'pint of special' you will get that very beer from an unmarked tap. If you advertise a 'special bass' you could always be PM'd for pics....