skidder652003

Oh Yes, don't we love this! Me and the Drummer put up with this from the Guitarist all the time! Uses my leads when his break-does not replace his own, ever Uses my guitar stands (2) has never bought his own Asks to borrow my Fast Fret - never to be seen again Asks to borrow my Servisol - now apparently I "gave it to him!" And the last and biggest bugbear-after every rehersal has never once got a round in, ever, even when i handed him 500 notes after selling his guitar for him on gumtree last week! In 6 years has probably got 5 gigs to my 100's So, yeah, Im his bitch...but... we gig regular, get good money and we all get on Its a compromise that at the end result is all about gigging (and me and said drummer do have a laugh about it)

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1464575657' post='3060429'] Lots of differences between the UK and the US. Over here, you give a bar owner a CD, guess where it will end up. Blue [/quote] yes I should have added you will need a stack of CD's ! The most important part is the sales pitch, be friendly and polite, tell them you have a few dates in other pubs in the next town and that the band members used to be in this band and that band. I find most landlords pretty friendly if they're not stressed, so getting them at the right time is important. Some like to try new bands and inject freh blood into their "roster" of acts, some can't be bothered and rotate the same "turns" year after year. Its a long game and takes time to establish yourselves, pubs close and open all the time, the main thing-don't give up!!!!

Landlords by and large are Luddites, you will need a Live Demo CD and a good pair of leather shoes. Find out where all the live band pubs are in your area (www.lemonrock.com if you're in the South of England) and call in at approx 11am in the morning when the guvnor is having a cup of tea before early doors (not Monday by the way as thats his day off). Have a good patter pre arranged in your head and most importantly a diary of free dates in your pocket. Also tell him/her that its usually £x amount per gig but as its your first time, lets call it £x-£50 and if you (or more importantly, the punters)like you then its £x per gig, good luck, playing is the easy part, getting the gig is man's (the bass players) work.

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1464418536' post='3059285'] Played ln another pub with a noise meter. It was set so low that even the crowds cheering and clapping set it off! Another band who came along to listen told us they counted it going off 15 times! As Bassbiscuits commented above, we also had to play classic rock so low with no balls to it. Funny how the quieter you play, the slower you play We wont be going back. Shame as the crowd loved it! [/quote] Not telling Granny how to suck eggs and all that, but were you not able to take the main power from another socket not affected by the meter, ie the room next door etc?

[quote name='essexbasscat' timestamp='1464377843' post='3059071'] To the OP; have you had your hearing tested ? Here's why I ask. I bought some ACS ER17's and with them in, I discovered I had real trouble hearing vocal parts, including my own. I would take the earplugs out in order to be able to hear the vocals for harmonies. As a result, I heard the harmonies and I now have tinnitus (what a surprise). It drove me up the wall, as it appeared to be a lose /lose situation. I started threads on here about monitors, earplugs, all kinds of things to get to the bottom of the issue, all to no avail. Almost in desperation, I went to an audiologist to get their opinion. Both ears were blocked with wax, one around 80%, the other even more. A lot of the wax had been rammed in deep by the earplugs . The wax was microsuctioned out, a great job (but that also has a risk of making tinnitus worse) Then came the hearing test. Turns out I've lost the ability to hear the higher frequencies. This meant the higher frequencies were (in my perception), quieter than their cousins in the lower frequency ranges (where the mids live). The earplugs were reducing the higher frequencies to the point my impaired hearing couldn't detect them. Solution ? The audiologist made me a pair of moulded earplugs with 9db of overall attenuation (i.e. ER9's) and I can now hear vocals with plugs in - hooray !!!!!!!!! (do the dance + have a beer) Strange thing is, now I've got used to the 9's, I'm able to detect more of the higher frequencies with the ER17's in. Maybe me ears are acclimatising ? Good luck OP, I hope you get it sorted [/quote] Thanks for the advice. Ive had extensive hearing tests since my op 5 years ago and wear a hearing aid when out in the pub etc. I also have higher frequency loss hence why I probably struggle with the acs plugs. Ive ordered the 10db filters to swap for the 17db ones i have now and we shall see (or hear) how these work. Also the previous advice about putting them in from the start of rehersal rather than when it starts to get too much half way through is great advice, many thanks guys!

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1464331155' post='3058437'] Are these the moulded plugs? Did you get a pair? Swap to the other filter? [/quote] yes they're the moulded ones (cost quite a lot as I remember), but only got the one as Im completely deaf in my left ear (unavoidable as the result of an operation) so unable to swap filters.

Ive noticed probably since day 1 that when I put these in (well only one actually as Im 100% deaf in my left ear), a real reduction in clarity with the band to the point where I cannot literally hear the guitarist at all, and we're a seriously loud 3 piece rock band. Its so bad that I don't use it at all and Im worried about damage to my only remaining one good ear. Is this normal? Im wondering if the filter is defective? Ive ordered another one (at a slightly lower DB reduction range) but Im curious if anyone else has had a similar experience or should they sound exactly the same as without a filter albeit at a reduced volume (as per the sales pitch)?

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1464295382' post='3058308'] [url="http://www.gruvgear.com/duostrap-signature"]http://www.gruvgear....strap-signature[/url] Get yourself a harness type strap like this one, to help spread the weight. I have seen them at a cheaper price than this. [/quote] probably very useful but terribly uncool, reminds me of a baby harness for runaway toddlers!

if I were you, I would look at the excellent range of used cabs on sale here rather than spending new, especially Ashdown stuff.

No effect whatsoever IMO, had both castors and rubber feet, exactly the same. Snake Oil for the modern bass player.

[quote name='mingsta' timestamp='1462221663' post='3041298'] Yeah, the drummer doesn't need a monitor as he has his own mix from the desk going in to his headphones with the rest of the band in but no drums. He then mixes to taste with his drum and click when this gets to his drum unit. I'm now leaning more towards getting a 12inch wedge monitor such as the Thomann The Box Pro Mon A12. [/quote] I wouldn't recommend those Thomman "box" wedges, a bit underpowered IMO. We picked up a pair of active RCF art 310 PA speakers which are designed to be used as wedge monitoring and are incredibly loud, you can find em used for about £300 a pair if you look around

[quote name='Chownybass' timestamp='1462092984' post='3040130'] I don't think the game has changed either. People like Scott and I are never going to be able to make - for instance - a jazz bass and compete with Squire. They make a solid instrument at an economy of scale that we could never HOPE to compete with. What we can do - is fill up the niches with well thought out and soundly constructed instruments. When making stuff in smaller runs, the things you'd cut to save money when manufacturing thousands, don't really matter. Want a bone nut? Sure why not. Doesn't affect my bottom line particularly much. So with no distributors taking a margin, and doing our own distribution, it's perfectly feasible to make a musician friendly instrument at a good price and of good quality - as long as we work in the niches. That's not to say we're not going to try stray outside them from time to time. It's not for the faint hearted though There is a gap in the market for us at the moment to get stock into independent stores, as a few don't want to deal with the major brands at the moment. Agile brands like us, that can be flexible on stock levels, price and so on will always find a way to wiggle into the gaps. I've often considered blogging about what it takes and took to get Chowny off the ground. But then I think I'd be the only one interested in reading it. [/quote] Now I have gas for your NT-J bass, thanks a lot! http://chownybass.com/product-category/nt-series/

great song, very Bowie!

they're quite often 8ohm so you can pair them up and go down to 4 ohm if you fancy playing bigger venues. For most pub gigs one cab is enough so a 4 ohm cab is fine, to be honest an 8ohm cab on its own is also fine as the actual difference in volume isn't all that great, but the real experts will be along soon enough....

Untill I have the opportunity to touch cloth, I wouldn't want to commit.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1461531957' post='3035527'] Duff reasoning. If he bloke nicked an OBBM cable, he would break no more. Get two, then, and let him swipe one. There; problem solved. No need to thank me. [/quote] very good but regretfully he has several cables, guitar to pedals, pedals to pedals, pedals to amp, all sh*t, he will appropriate and collect...no more, it must end (he doesn't even get a round in after rehersal and we've been going for 6 years), Im a diplomat and a compromiser.

[quote name='Malcspring1' timestamp='1461523549' post='3035415'] Well after many recommendations I bought one from OBBM. Bombproof build quality fast delivery and to say that it is a top notch cable it was very reasonably priced. Thanks to all for your assistance. I really appreciate it. [/quote] good call! I would order more but the guitard's cables always break and he pinches mine, so no way am i spending good money on that f**kstick's lazyiness.

from the OP it sounds like you have a decent bass and a great amp but a pretty awful speaker, there's the weak link, the elephant in the room! If I wasn't going to ditch the lot and start again, my route would be to upgrade the speaker to (probably) something barefaced, and a great DI pedal for lots of options with blending with FOH, obviously Im a bit biased, but a DHA pedal is the mutts nuts for grit and "dark"

bloody hell, not again!

Another OBBM fan here, needed a monster thick speakon for my valve amp to speaker, supplied a superb cable, not too expensive, twice as good as anything commercially available.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1461164395' post='3032060'] Things to avoid:[list=1] [*]What key was this one in? [*]Oh, I never listened to that. [*]I'm playing the 'Live In Newton Abbott' version off YouTube ... haven't you checked that out? [*]I thought we might do this one reggae-style. [*]I don't worry too much about tuning - it's only pub rock, right? [*]I find that envelope filters work with pretty much everything. [*]Who the feck forgot to bring the beers / can you skin up in here? [/list] [/quote] Hey dont knock the live in Newton Abbot version on YouTube-thats me!