StingRayBoy42

Cheers for the reply - just to be clear, I'm considering the VT Bass Against the VTDI NOT the BDDI. I like the BDDI but it's not really suitable for this particular board. Anyone know if the VT Bass is basically the VTDI without the DI?

Has anyone used the Sansamp VT Bass AND the VTDI? Are they (more or less) the same except for the DI out? I'm toying with the idea of building an upright/electric doubling pedalboard- love the Sansmp VTDI for electric, but they're £200 s/h and they don't often turn up so I'm looking at the VT Bass instead. Anyone have any insight? Ta!

<shameless plug> I haven't tried any one the ones you mention, but I'm selling a Boss NS-2 for £35 if that's any use? https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/506140-boss-ns-2-noise-suppressor-further-price-drop/ </shameless plug>

VERY cool photo - Footwear details, please! 😀

Accidentals get a bit tricky... in fact, they're an accidental waiting to happen.

Bass sax player here! Some suggestions: Ain't nobody Forget You I feel good Pick up the pieces Seven Nation Army Sir Duke I wish Tequila Don't start now Billie Jean

Just ordered it (NOT from Amazon! (yes, I'm *that* bellend...)) thanks for the heads up.

TOP TIP! You may already know this, but if you get a Bass clef part, read it as if it's treble, knock three flats off the key signature and you've got the right notes.

For noodling, it's the Tacoma Thunderchief. For 'proper' practice, it's whatever Bass I fancy (probably the StingRay or the 5 if I'm practicing for 'that' band) -> Thumpinator -> VTDI -> Markbass 801. The 801 is a lovely little amp, but the VTDI *really* brings it to life.

There's a couple of patches for the SA C4 that recreate it. I just go raw, personally!

I do this in one of my bands. I don't play it as well as this... Great song, a ton of fun to play amd always goes down a treat wif da yoot. 'Levitating' is another corker if you like that sort of thing, which I do.

You can die from exposure.

Glamtastic!

SUNDAY! There was a thing in the daytime first, I'll shout when I get to actual Last Night. The first outing was a Morris do (Morris haters (ie: anyone with any sense) close your eyes for a bit now, I'll tell you when you can open your eyes again). We (Beorma Morris (the answer to a question that nobody has ever asked)) had been invited to dance with the Witchmen (who are very well respected in the Morris world (and rightly ridiculed everywhere else)) along with five (?) other sides outside a pub (!) in Isham near Kettering (pronounced "Ket'rin"). Picked up Selly Oak's finest Japanese Trombonist, drove to Ket'rin in glorious sunshine, arrived to freezing cold, grey (gray?) skies and rain, stood round (outside, in the freezing cold and rain) watched idiots dance around, shout and clout sticks together for a bit, did a few dances (I didn't dance, I played Sousaphone but it was SOFJT's first ever public dance (she they dance as well as playing Trombone (and fiddle) but not at the same time)), questioned my sanity and life choices and complained about how cold it was. Quite a few people there, they enjoyed it, we were good (I found this out later, I can't tell), the rain eased off eventually and a good time was had by all (apart from the cold). Played the Sousaphone, wore New Rocks (Reactor 55s I think) and a kilt. All done, packed up, back to the car, heating on full, saw a garden with a full sized sleigh and two ghastly fibreglass Reindeer (I love a hideous christmas tableau), head off to Stratford (-upon-Avon) for the final gig of the weekend and year. Morris haters, open your eyes, we have finally reached actual last night. LAST NIGHT! The Sax Pistols at The Stratford Alehouse, Stratford (-upon-Avon)! Eight piece brass band (Two tenor saxes, alto sax, bari sax, trombone (SOFJT), drums, Sousaphone (me), BL alternates between trumpet and alto sax). Fantastic tiny little micropub, packed to the rafters when we got there, stage about the size of an EHX nano pedal so I had to stand in front of the door (!). I was still wearing my Morris hat and kilt when we arrived, it turns out (some of) the band have a (sort of) steampunk vibe anyway, so I just went with it. Very quick setup (I had to clear the stage to make enough room to get the Sousaphone out), pint of Stout (on the house!), all acoustic so no soundcheck or anything and then we were off. Opened with 'I wanna dance with somebody' and the full house absolutely loved it - it is a pretty impressive sound. We did a few carols in between the usual stuff, the BL was getting the audience involved ("Sing it for the baby Jesus!" sort of thing, hilarious), the drummer was brilliant (first time I've played with him), the BL is a fantastic player and proper lovely bloke, and the Trombone player (SOFJT) is just *superb* and really shines in that sort of lineup (funky pop tunes, do your own thing), harmonies, solos, countermelodies, joining me on Basslines... they're *such* a good musician, a real joy to play with. Went down a storm, I think most of the audience were friends of the band TBH but it was great to play a packed (if tiny) venue, and have a laugh with the audience between songs. (The place was so small and full, there was nowhere for me to park my pint, so I had to ask a woman right in front of me to loook after it and pass it over between songs. Hilarity ensued.) Played Sousy, wore animal print Converse. And a kilt. Highlights were the Trombone in 'Just a closer walk with thee' (Old New Orleans style hymn), the audience singing 'Sir Duke', the breakdown in 'Uptown Funk' and going for a walk into the audience in the last song - turned around to see the BL had joined me. Fantastic night and a really lovely last gig of the year.

SATURDAY! Still not last night, bear with me. Cantina Band at Hennesey's in Digbeth, Brum (again). Loud, fairly rowdy Irish bar the Saturday before christmas... what could possibly go wrong?! Let's find out. Managed to park right outside (the car park had an old K8 phone box as the ticket machine which was very cool (if you're a nerdy phone box fan (I am))). Setup all normal, stage was just about big enough for us all. Guitarist was using a Kemper that he'd borrowed from a mate, which sounded a lot like his normal amp if I'm honest. He was excited about it though - kept talking about triple rectifiers, whetever they are. Rowdy (but seemingly OK) crowd, few mates of the band in, all good. A few up dancing for the first set and a few singing along from their tables, the DJ arrived halfway through first set and managed to unload his stuff through the stage (as we were playing) and set up - unfortunately, he unplugged our desk while he was at it, so the vocals all disappeared for half a song (probably no bad thing TBH). He seemed to be loving it, he was air-drumming along... turns out he's an ex-student of our drummer. The crowd interaction section in 'Blitzkrieg Bop' ("I'll say A! O! then you say "Let's go!"") went down a treat, people were pretty much queueing up to join in, 'Seven Nation Army' was very popular (not sure if you're aware, but drunken rowdy lads LOVE that riff and often improvise their own profane lyrics about what Darren does (or does not do) in his spare time), 'Anarchy in the UK' was well recieved, all good fun. Short break to ingest legal poisons, then the manager dropped an absolute BOMBSHELL. They were showing the big fun punching game (Dyson Furious (?) and Etchy Uzbek (?) would be hitting each other in the face for the entertainment of all and sundry) so would we mind only doing half an hour for the second set? You can imagine the white hot fury we unleashed at being told that we'd be finished for about 9 o'clock (which meant singer and guitarist could go home and watch Tegan Ferocious (?) and Itchy Offset (?) beat each other senseless (for entertainment)), but we managed to contain our collective ire and not let it affect our performance. Second set was good, full dancefloor by the end, wireless wander (through the dancefloor, right to the back of the pub, back round past the bar and finish up in the middle of the dancefloor) was great, paid, finished by 9, pack up, load out, back to my Pop's crib in the hood (Moseley) for 10 (!) for a pint of homebrew Pineapple, Mango & Spiced Rum Cider (ABV: Plenty) Played the Sterling -> small board -> secret weapons -> MB CMD121P, animal print Converse. I've had worse nights!

FRIDAY! I know that's not last night, we've been through this. Azura 3 piece at The Old Crown, Digbeth (Birmingham). Early start, the load in and setup had all been done by the time I got there (at 6:30!) which I was furious about again. Cool place, we were out the back in a sort of massive permanent marquee with rows of bierkeller style benches and tables. It was a ticketed event (supposedly 'Bad Santa' themed), the third Friday of three. We were billed as a nineties/noughties band (?!), so we'd made the effort to learn *three* 90s/00s songs as we're consumate profeshionuls. Got my gear set up, quick line check, then hang around for a bit and take advantage (responsibly) of the free drinks tokens we'd been given. Quite a few in there by the time we went on, but they were all sitting on the benches and not many got up on the dancefloor. They were enjoying it though, a few groups of drunken, rowdy lads singing/chanting/shouting along (especially to 'I predict a riot'... drunken, rowdy lads love that one apparently... good job we didn't do 'Seven Nation Army') and a few folk got up and had a dance so it was all good. Singer/Guitar/Keys/Henry snapped a string, so I had to entertain the mob for a bit while he got his spare out and tuned up (unfortunately, no system has yet been invented that involves him getting it out and tuning up before we start playing... we have our finest minds working on this seemingly intractable quandry), but they were a very understanding rabble, so no harm done. The drummer managed to get a fag out of a packet and light it while playing (and not missing a beat (like I say... consumate profeshionuls)) which was hilarious, me and S/G/K/H cocked up the words to 'Escape (The Pina Colada song)' as we do at pretty much every gig (again, no system has yet been invented that involves us actually learning the words (or in his case, reading them off the iPad that's attached to his keyboard (In my defence... there are lots of words and all the choruses (chorii?) are slightly different to each other (and I don't want an iPad on stage (and I don't own one))))). Went down well, lots of positive comments from the mob (and the organiser) which was nice. Quick break, back on for round two, quite a few dancers up (hooray!), everyone loving it until the organiser came and told us there'd been a noise complaint from one of the neighbours (Let's not get into the 'This pub's been here for about two hundred years, why in the name of God's trousers would you buy a flat near it and then complain about the noise, you absolute frotting felchspoon?!' discussion) and we had to do one more song then finish. We were FURIOUS at being told we'd be finishing even earlier than the really early finish we had booked as you can imagine. We did two more - we *had* to do an encore so I could visit the dancefloor, which was packed by this point. The organiser was incredibly apologetic and offered us a handful of yet more free drinks tokens to make up for it (which we respectfully declined (apart from the drummer and his mate, who weren't driving)) but we managed to contain our abject misery and packed up in fairly short order. Load out (complete with incredibly drunk scottish man talking to us as we loaded the van), pack the car, back to Bewdley at a reasonable hour for a *very* stiff Gin (Hendrick's (41.4% ABV)) and (Fevertree (I think I'm supposed to be boycotting Fevertree for some reason but I can't remember exactly why, so don't tell anyone) Elderflower) tonic. Played the StingRay -> small board -> secret weapons -> MB802 -> PA, Cherry Red/Oxblood DMs. A good night and a decent payer. Cheers.

Remind me NEVER to diss your shoes! Not that I would of course... far too much of a gentleman.

Just worked out that's why it's called Pitchers! 😳 EDIT: Just realised Pitchers is also a sport thing *and* a drinking thing, so for a sports bar that used to be a cinema... 👌 I blame the lack of sleep.