Franticsmurf

My experience of IEM is positive and I use it all the time for my main band. However, it took me a while to get it 'tuned' to my liking and also it took a while to get used to the isolation (compared to wedge monitors) when pretty much all you can hear is what's in your ears. Some bands mates can't/won't get used to it and have gone back to wedges. So my advice would be to start out with something cheap (Behringer P1 or P2) and a relatively simple wired approach, using decent but sound blocking MP3 player ear buds (I have a pair of £10 Sony ones which are now my back-ups) to get a feel for the whole experience. If it's to your liking, there are plenty of wireless options and earpieces and a dedicated thread on BC with all the info and opinion you'll ever need. And your cheap wired system will act as a back up or even a home silent practice outfit. I'm currently using a G4M WPM 200 transmitter/receiver kit plus Linsoul KZ ZS10 earbuds. For the main band, as we use a Behringer X32 desk, I have a Behringer P16m personal mixer which links to that desk (and the X18, I believe) via 'Ultranet' (their proprietary system) which allows me to create my own personal monitor mix from 16 channels on the desk. For dep gigs, I can use my Behringer P1 to take a feed from the DI so that at the very least I can hear my own bass playing. As it has two inputs, I could also take a feed from an aux out or headphone out of the main mixing desk for an overall monitor sound. The added bonus of good IEM is that it manages the volume and can protect your ears from silly on stage sound levels.

As mentioned in my 1 Sept post above, I had problems with my Lekato WS90 wireless system for the bass at a rehearsal. As a result, I went and replaced the unit with a JOYO JW02S in a hurry as I had a gig the following week. It worked fine last Wednesday and last Saturday for the gig. At last night's rehearsal there was nothing from the JOYO kit - no sound at all. I checked everything in the chain and ended up using a lead, which worked fine. When I got home, I tried the JOYO and it worked, with no problems. Curious and suspecting an issue in the rehearsal venue, I tried the Lekato kit - it worked fine too. More frustrating than a worry. My current theory is that the WiFi kit in the rehearsal venue is interfering with the wireless systems as I've eliminated the bass (I used two different ones) and the channel pairing (I went through them all and the pairing indicator was confirming a link). I have a gig next week at the rehearsal venue (a village hall) and I'll take both systems to try again. I always have a spare lead just in case. The rehearsal itself was ok - we went through the first half of next Saturday's set as they are the newer songs and we needed to polish them off a bit. My fingertips were sore after an bust week of rehearsing new songs for last Saturdays gig (different band) and playing the gig itself so I used a pick for all the songs. I'm used to playing with a pick and it works for the rockier/punkier stuff anyway but it's definitely not for the soul/funk stuff we do. Still, a useful exercise to rty out new sounds and experiment. Sometimes it's easier to stick to what you've always done, but for me a rehearsal is a place to try out different things even if I don't end up using them.

Being relatively new to this depping lark, one thing I have noticed is that I have spent more time learning the actual bass part to the songs, rather than working out my own versions which I do with my main band. I have always been someone who thinks that a covers band (but not a tribute act) should be bringing something new to the set in terms of arrangements so that there is an identity to the band regardless of the actual songs played. To me this includes tempo, instruments, solos, fills etc and I try to personalise the bass lines within the context of the song. I think that in some ways this has made me a little lazy in terms of learning parts as I can always use my philosophy to fudge over difficult bits. But over the last couple of months I've done a lot more depping and I've made a point of learning the original parts, as regardless of the way the band plays the song, the original version provides a good starting point and usually a reference should things go wrong. In preparing for dep gigs, I think I've become a better bass player and certainly my self confidence in being able to play the proper parts has increased. That in turn has given me the confidence to take on the depping roles.

Were you watching us last night. 🙂

Personally I use a pre-amp pedal as part of my DI chain. My current choice is an Ampeg SCRDI but, of course, it's down to taste. I like to have the option of a compressor and tuner and recently I've been using a noise gate. All of these come from a Zoom MS60b and the reality is that I could use it to give me an acceptable rehearsal pre-amp patch too. The beauty of that pedal is that if you or some one else suggests using chorus/octave/other on a song, you can easily call up something to try it out on the fly. I originally bought my MS60b so I could do just that with the intention of using a dedicated pedal for the final board. However, through all the iterations of my board, the MS60b has rarely been off it.

For the most part that has been my experience too. Rowdiness may have been the wrong word and I didn't mean to imply a negative, just a lively audience which may have distracted me from my crib sheet 😀 But there was one gig (as a duo a few years ago) in a local rugby club where it was a nightmare - no separation between us and the dance floor, we both got covered in beer from the constant and energetic dancing with beer glasses in hand, broken glass everywhere, people grabbing microphones (I'd managed to switch mine off at that point) and while there was no actual violence, it wasn't a pleasant atmosphere.

I played a gig as a dep bassist in my mate's band last yesterday. I had 2 weeks to learn 32 songs most of which I hadn't played in any form before and a third of which I'd never heard before. It was at a rugby club where a local derby match was being played so the prospect of post game rowdiness was high. And it was in a smallish marquee on a day when winds and thundery showers were forecast. We set up in the morning, pre- game, during several heavy downpours and the water was running into the marquee under the sides and across the band area. There was only staging enough for the drums so when I got there everything else had been placed on beer crates, duck boards and in the case of the keyboard player, an old door. I was stood on the upstream side of the band area and only had a couple of old rubber car mats for my pedalboard. Fortunately the stage had enough room for the Trace Elliot cabs, which were only for monitoring anyway as I was going through the main PA. In the gap between set up and gig I was able to go home and make a mini riser for the pedal board and a folding duckboard for me which I deployed when I got back for the soundcheck. The anticipated rowdiness wasn't there and we kicked off at about 5.40pm, playing all the way through to 7.30pm when the crowd started making their way home after an all day session. I managed to get through all the songs with few 'creative lapses' - the drummer reminded me when to come in on one song and there were a few fumbles on transitions between choruses and middle 8s. We had a full tent of dancers for pretty much the whole gig and best of all, no river flowing across the band area. Kit was my Hohner Jack into a Sine HPF, MS60b (for noise gate and tuner only), NUX Sculpture compressor, EHX Bass Clone, NUX Voodoo Vibe and into the desk via my Ampeg SCRDI, with a signal to my Peavey Minimax 600 nto apair of TE 1X10 cabs, one angled for the drummer the other angled across to me. The original plan was to take a split from the SCRDI into my Behringer P1 monitor and via radio to IEM. But one of the cables in that chain was playing up and all I got was crackles and blips so I gave up on IEM, retaining the earphones as ear protection. As it happens, the monitors were good and I could hear myself nicely. After rejecting the idea of wearing wellington boots as being a little out of character with the rest of the band, footwear for the evening were a pair of black shoes, brand unknown. Morning set up. My pace is stage left. Duckboards

I have a dep gig on Saturday which has seen me spending the last two weeks learning a 32 song set list pretty much from scratch. I've played 8 of the songs before in bands, albeit in different keys and with different arrangements. Of the rest, there were 9 I heard for the first time when going through the list and the other 15 I am familiar with to a greater or lesser extent, having heard them on the radio over the years but never played. I was only given the keys; no charts or equivalent. I almost turned the gig down as it meant so much work and at a time when my main band was coming back to life after our summer break. But it was a favour for a mate and he's seen me right in the past with dep gigs and stepping in for me when asked. Last night was the first (and only) rehearsal. I was nervous as the band has a high standard. It's one thing to play along to the recordings but a completely different thing to play the songs in a band setting. I'm happy to say that it went really well and all those little bits I was unsure of seemed to go well. All the parts I'd worked out fitted and true to their word, the arrangements were almost identical to the originals. Where there were differences, I was able to read the BL's cues and come in/stop/slow down as required. Highlights for me were Oliver's Army, Pump It Up and Born to Run which, once I'd got the bass parts nailed, were great fun to play. There were a couple of songs in the set which, if I never play them again it will be too soon, but that's personal preference and I understand they go down well with the target audience. As an aside, we rehearsed in a local village hall. Just over 30 years ago, I rehearsed in the same hall with a band doing Britpop covers. I was the rhythm guitarist but as we worked up the band it became clear that I would be better suited to bass (the 'bassist' was a better guitarist than me - as were most people 🙂) and I moved over to bass duties. It was the first time I'd been a bassist rather than a person who occasionally played bass. Good memories. This was the debut of my Hohner 'The Jack' through the Peavey Minimax and TE 1x10 pair in a band scenario and it sounded great. I was complimented on the tone several times and there was plenty of volume left in the amp. It's a big gig so I'll be DI'd into the PA on the day, but I'll have the stack behind me for monitoring and a little extra 'oomph' as the band is generally very loud. I'm also working on a personal IEM mix so I can guarantee to hear my bass, and manage the on stage volumes of the others. If nothing else, the earbuds will act as ear plugs. Last night's kit. The pedal board has an HPF set to about 50hz, MS60b providing noisegate and tuning, NUX compressor, EHX Bass Clone, NUX Voodoo Vibe (currently my favourite modulation effect) going in to the Ampeg SCRDI.

In my current band, I'm one of the more experienced members and so I tend to have a decent say in terms of arrangements. The bass parts are always left to me and I'm pretty knowledgeable about guitars and keys sounds and arrangements so I will sometimes offer up an opinion on those. I work closely with our sound engineer, mostly with setting up and problem solving 'on the night' as I tend to be able to remain calm under pressure (so he told me at last night's rehearsal, which was a nice compliment). The BL tends to pick the songs and that's fine as he knows the his vocal range and the abilities of the less experienced band members. He also does research on the gigs as we tend to do bigger functions through contacts and word of mouth, so we can tailor the set to suit the client. We all have a yes/no veto and I have brought a few new songs to the list. As an occasional dep I would not offer suggestions on any aspect of the band unsolicited, and even when asked I tend to stay within the bass player sphere. I have been asked for song preferences within a suggested set list but even then I will try and gauge the vibe before answering. In each of those circumstances I feel the level of input, control and influence are what I would expect and what I am comfortable with. I left a previous band largely because I had limited input, limited control and no influence and it wasn't an enjoyable experience.

Decent set list but also lots of information to work with.

Well done @Blondy. When's the next gig? 🙂

I ended up in that situation for a band I played in regularly. 😂 The BL changed arrangements on a whim, added new stuff, mashed songs together and all with little or no prior discussion. Often it would be during the gig, but never with a rehearsal. I didn't like it and as the rest of the band didn't either, we left him. But I have to say that with hindsight it gave me self confidence playing and enabled me to deal with the the surprises that sometimes arise in dep gigs.

It's good to hear from the 'other side of the fence' and there's much to learn from that point of view. I have only played in bands a few times where we used deps for temporary replacements. My overall experience was poor; it was usually drummers we used and with one exception they clearly had not done any specific preparation for our gig and they never took up our offer of a practice run through. Technically they were (mostly) competent but it was all very generic drumming and no specific fills. And the BL would always have to count them in for the tempo. The one exception was a drummer who filled in as a last minute dep when our regular drummer had a domestic emergency. It was a tradition rock n roll gig and he was very professional despite only having about 45 minutes notice. He knew it was a rock n roll gig and he came dressed in a decent jacket and black trousers, he knew the basics and more importantly, the style of drumming appropriate to the gig. He kept it simple where necessary, there was no showboating and had it not been fr the acknowledgement we gave him at the end of the gig, no one would have known he wasn't a regular band member.

I've just started 'proper' depping (as opposed to helping out with bands I used to be in). I've done several gigs for one band and I have a gig next Saturday with a new lot. Both bands supplied setlists via Spotify. I had three questions - Are they all in the original keys, are there any surprises with arrangements and what's the dress code? For both bands the answers were yes, no and we don't have one. The reality for the first band was: Original keys? Yes, apart from the two that weren't which I found about about on the night - one of which I had to transpose on the fly, the other I had a few minutes to work on. Any surprises? No. Apart from the the one where our regular bass player signals the rest of the band to come in and the one where the singer always gets lost in the middle and may come in early or late... or on time (again, only made clear on the night). Dress code? No. But they all decided to wear shorts and Hawaiian shirts on the night. To be fair, they were a great bunch and we had a laugh and none of the issues mentioned actually caused real problems. The band I'm playing with next Saturday have a reputation of being more 'professional' but in the last week I've had an avalanche of WhatsApp messages discussing the final set list (which has changed several times), keys and rehearsal dates. And 75% of the set for this gig are songs I've never played before, with perhaps 50% that I don't really know at all so I've put a lot of effort into getting familiar. Out of necessity I will be playing this gig with a cheat sheet. My approach is as a dep I am doing them a favour and enabling a gig that otherwise would not go ahead, so I have earned a bit of leeway (particularly if its at short notice). But I am also part of the band for the night so I will do my very best to fit in with the band ethic (look/feel etc) as it's their reputation on the line. To a certain extent that would include deciding what bass to use from a visual point of view. My go to clothing if there is no guidance would be black trousers, (usually decent looking jeans), a lightly patterned shirt and maybe a waistcoat, with black shoes. Although I do BVs and a few lead vocals, for a depping gig I would not usually offer to sing as that's an extra thing that could go wrong. I expect an equal share of the fee and I would not expect to have to pay any deductions for PA etc that other band members have agreed to. I would always want to see the setlist before giving a definite yes or no and I would be totally honest about my ability to nail the songs. It's in no one's interest to say yes to something you know you can't do, so the set would dictate the notice I need, as I'm not the quickest learner. Good habits? Mainly I try to remember that I am the hired hand and I'll aim to stand at the back and not try to stand out.

That's my preferred style. 😀 To the OP - good luck and enjoy.

I would not want to be in a band that was associated directly (or indirectly through the views of one or more of its members) with extreme views such as the ones mentioned in the OP. Anyone who knows me knows that I avoid talking about even the less radical, everyday politics because I don't believe it is relevant to the bands I'm in and it's an easy way to begin an argument. I have severed ties with one 'friend' who turned out to (or perhaps developed over time) fairly racist views. It was a very easy decision to make and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

I had my first rehearsal with the Hulla band for two months last night, and it was the first time I'd played 'live' for about 6 weeks. We were down four members of the band (we're usually 13 so there was more than enough for a coherent sound). Everyone was fresh after the break and keen to play and I think that is what made the session a really great couple of hours. We just played through a number of the more up tempo songs on the provisional set list for a 40th birthday gig on 20 Sept. There was quite a bit of improvising (which is rare in this band) and we finished early (which is also rare). Highlights: We played a nice version of 'Take Me To The River', a bit more laid back than normal and which spontaneously became quite slow and funky in the middle, with some great and appropriate guitar noodling from the BL (who doesn't normally noodle). We went into that section and came out of it with no real cues and at the end we all agreed we should that kind of improvisation more often. We did a version of 'House of the Rising Sun' and instead of our trombonist taking the lead breaks as she wasn't, there yours truly took over and played some improvised bass riffs and - whisper it so they won't hear on BC - an actual bass solo for which I got several compliments when we finished. Lowlights: It was the first time I'd used the radio transmitter for the bass for 2 months and something had gone wrong with them as the sound I was getting for the soundcheck was more akin to an old ring modulator being played through a tinny transistor radio speaker. Not sure what happened there but I swapped to analogue technology, in the form of the spare lead I always take with me, and the problem was solved. I decided to take my Hohner 'The Jack', purchased from these hallowed halls, as it hadn't had an airing for a while and it sounded and played really well.

Don't knock it on the head because of one bad stage sound experience. From my own experience, the worst time to contemplate your future with a band is 'the morning after'. 🙂

A 'BC Absence Thread', if you will? 🙂

If I don't know the venue, if I'm playing outside or if anything looks dodgy I use an RCD circuit breaker on my main power block. I went wireless years ago to give me some isolation from my backline. In my current band we have two working electricians, so they are always on the case regarding venue electrics.

The main thing that makes a gig ideal for me is a good response from the crowd. I find that I, and bands I've been in, respond well to an enthusiastic crowd. Usually the performance benefits and in turn my level of enjoyment increases knowing that we're on top form. Icing on the cake is genuine compliments from the punters. Pre-gig, I like to know that there's somewhere convenient to park, that there's a proper stage separated from the audience, that the landlord/venue owner understands live bands. There should be fair recompense and ideally soft drinks on the house. A changing room and back stage toilet is good from a convenience point of view. Post-gig, I like that buzz from knowing we've played well, a swift breakdown of kit and an easy load out.

I was at their Hammersmith Odeon date, with Michael Moorcock reading from his books between songs and, if I remember correctly (it was a Hawkwind gig so the memory may well be ...er... tainted) Robert Calvert in his flying helmet. Great gig, great album. I haven't seen the DVD.

I used mine to record all our early originals and it had a great sound on the recordings. I wasn't experienced enough to realise how good it actually was. And when those first two photos were taken, I was till a guitarist who played a bit of bass.

This is the earliest photo I have of me with a bass guitar - a Colombus Jazz with matt black strings. Bedroom Arena, 1986: The first time I played bass live. I'm hding on the left with the same Colombus bass as above. The band was 'Mr McHenry', 1992: 2024 Hullabaloo Festival playing with '50% Dave', the support act to my main band: Depping with 'The Gowertones' in July 2025:

As a nipper I'd been to my mates with a bunch of friends - my mate played bass and guitar in the school orchestra and the rest of those present, bar me, played instruments and or sang. I was handed the bass guitar when we started to jam. I liked being part of 'a band' and shortly after saw a bass guitar in a second hand shop. It was £17 - I have no idea what it was. By the time I'd saved up it had gone. Then, for my 16th birthday my dad bought me an electric guitar. I taught myself to play it and by the time I went to college I was writing songs with my best mate from school, who was a drummer (and had been with me on that jam session several years before). I played guitar in the first three bands I was in (playing predominately originals) but they got nowhere and I began to realise that everyone played guitar better than I did. And also that we always had problems with the bass guitarists. I was offered a chance to play in a covers duo with another mate - he wanted a bass guitar player and by this time I'd picked up the 'bassics' while recording originals. I enjoyed the bass and when he suggested getting a drummer in I was suddenly in a band. Since then (that would have been about 1993/4) I have mostly played bass in the bands I've worked with. Occasionally I'd take on rhythm guitar duties and during a 3 year period in a 5 piece I'd swap bass and rhythm guitar roles with another member of the band. But I always came back to bass an always described myself as a bassist who plays a bit of guitar. I still have some of the fire - it depend on the music I'm playing and the people I'm with as I tend to feed of other people's enthusiasm. I'm currently learning a set of covers for a one-off dep for a mate and I'm struggling to get any 'fire' as I don't know most of the songs and none of them really inspire me to play. I changed in terms of attitude from 'whatever' (when I first started in a cover band - it was the attitude of the guitarist/singer to playing songs properly and it rubbed off on me as we were very busy) to 'I want to play my best on this' which is my approach to everything now. In terms of basses all that really changed was my self confidence in playing a big bass as I'm only 5'7" and in the early days I thought the 4-in-line headstock basses looked silly around my neck. Now I don't care. First bass was a Colombus Jazz which I used for recording and the occasional gig. Mine was a great bass - I loved the sound on tape and it played well enough that I learnt all the basic stuff on it. My latest bass is an Ibanez GR300EM, light weight for longer gigs and as a partner to my GSR205 5 string.