Franticsmurf

After reading the original posts I thought I'd try the Sonicake too. It's on the board and sounding good at home. I have yet to use it live but so far so good.

So important and often overlooked.

That looks gorgeous.

I've had a Bespeco (volume only) pedal for years. I've gigged it and used it as a foot rest. Cheap, cheerful, quiet. I think they're less than £20 on Amazon. I've just added a Sonicake Vexpress (volume/expression pedal) to my board - it has a smaller footprint than the Bespeco. I've only had it a few days but so far so good.

And club politics in South Wales. 😃

You could be describing one of my last pre-lockdown duo gigs, except it was a rugby club. They'd just won their league and you can imagine the state they were in by the time we arrived at 8pm. The club song was Sloop John B, to which there were many and varied lyrics. I think we played it four or five times throughout the night. I was covered in beer - not thrown at me but splashed over me as they jumped up and down. One grabbed my mic to sing but having anticipated it, it was switched off. He then proceeded to fiddle with the catches of my leads case, slurring 'which one is the volume control' at me. I couldn't wait to leave and won't be going back.

I'm in the process of moving to IEM for one of the bands I'm in as I'm taking on BV duties, but the drummer prefers to hear my bass through my amp and speakers. The other band is old school at the moment. I have no problem with either option as my bass rig (Peavey Minimax 600 and 2x TE110 cabs) is less than 20kg in total.

We had a contract through the agent. But on the night we felt it was best just to co-operate, because we could. The 'I'm paying you' element was sort of said in jest - difficult to explain unless you were there but there was definitely no overt threat, more a 'he had no right to book you as I'm the one with the money' kind of thing. My point was to highlight the internal politics that happen within committees. Had there been a direct threat, we would have been out of there and chasing it up later with the agent, and spreading the word on the local musicians forums.

Neither was I - so I thought. But these things creep up on you. 😃

When 'the committee' get their hands on things, it's rarely good news. We were booked as an Eagles tribute act at one club by one member of 'the committee' but the chairman wasn't happy about it. First we knew was in the interval, when the boss came up and told us, nicely, to play a variety in the second half. When we explained we were booked as the tribute act, he said words to the effect that it was not him that booked us, but that him that would be paying us, and that he was going to have words with the booker. Fortunately, the same line-up played cabaret gigs too so we quicky drew up a new set, played it and got paid The original booker wasn't happy but we referred him to the chairman.

I see what you mean. No, mono out but in both ears. Mono amp.

My Peavey MiniMax 600 has both and a built in tuner.

Chris Squire - generally from the first Yes album I owned, Yesshows, and specifically this bass solo from Ritual. At the time (way before the Internet) I only had the audio recording and I was convinced this was a guitar solo because in my limited experience, no bassist played like this. I don't think I've come close in terms of technique and I don't own a 4001 but I do tend to play at the dusty end of the neck, often play with a pick and I like that gritty sound (where appropriate).

EHX Bass Clone is my chorus of choice.

Hi Joseph, welcome back.

Oh, the irony. 😃 I had the phone call at 11.30 this morning and I said yes, mainly because the singer is a mate and they needed a bass player at short notice. I decided to do the gig and see how things worked out before deciding whether to make it a long term commitment. I'm just back from their rehearsal. It was better than I expected. The old singer is taking a much less prominent role and the two guitarists and the keys player are very good (I've worked with the keys player before). They are also putting a lot of effort into it and it shows, with great vocal harmonies and nice arrangements. It's still very much a 'music of the Eagles' act rather than the full blown tribute.

Stop it! 😃 If this carries on, I'll have a rainbow catalogue of pick guards. 'Monday, it must be Infra Red checker pattern pickguard day'. I have a tort PG on order, and a paisley one too, both from Amazon. Now I have to order a black one. 🙄

I have a MS60b which sits on the board to provide me with the odd spot effect (currently delay, flange and a couple of specific EQ settings). In the event of a problem with one or more of the other pedals, or a lack of space (it has happened) it would give me all I needed to complete the gig. Be warned that the batteries (2xAA) don't - I had a low battery warning from a fresh set after about 60 minutes of intermittent use. The unit prefers a high current (500ma) power source. Solid as a rock and great sounds. I also use a B1Four - mainly for home/headphone practice with a set of sounds that loosely mirror my main board. For a big and/or remote gig, I'd take it as a back-up. Feels a bit more flimsy but I've had no problems. The editing software for both (Zoom Guitar Lib or ToneLib) is a must.

"Finally found the Dog and Duck. Any chance you can help me in with the kit? Most of it is in the first van..."😃

Someone who doesn't perpetuate the common drummer jokes. Someone who can catch a flying drumstick and return it in one smooth movement. Someone to have a pie and a pint with during the second movement of the inevitable long guitar solo.

Welcome AmericanSwede.

Not a failing, just different. I couldn't have played in the Eagles tribute band without having another band to allow me to play the range of styles I like.

And me. Thank goodness! 🤣

As I said we were using the residency angle as a promotion of the band ('we're good enough to get a regular booking') so we would invite potential bookers to see us. If we knew there was a function gig on offer, our set would contain some function standards. Like you, nothing wildly different, but varied enough to showcase what we could do. As I recall (and it was a while ago) we got 4 or 5 wedding gigs, several birthday parties and quite a few pub bookings as a result. And one Christening! (The father saw us at the pub and asked us to play the post Christening party, everyone else on the guest list was blissfully unaware of what he'd booked until we kicked off with the pub set he'd specifically requested. He was not popular afterwards, apparently).

For us it was as we were able to use the gigs as a showcase for what the band could do, and also over the residency period it meant we didn't get stale playing the same stuff all the time. (It happened later when the set list stagnated and was one reason I left the band. Comically, I depped for them several times over the following years and didn't have to learn any new songs. 🤣) But on the other hand, if the venue has booked you it's probably because they like what you do and so why do anything different? It might be worth chatting with the venue to see what they want. And, of course, judging what the punters want.