Paid to NOT play bass

[tvickey]

I'm effectively being paid to NOT play my bass. 

 

No, I'm not so terrible at bass playing that folks are paying me to put my instrument down (put perhaps that day is not too far off!).  We have Octopus as an energy supplier and have been joining their winter "saving sessions" where we're paid to NOT use electricity (e.g., between the hours of 17:30 and 18:30 on a given day, announced in advance).

 

So, when I would normally come home from work, fire up the amp and start jamming away... I just keep everything turned off.   So far I've been paid a whopping £1.09.

 

  

Edited November 28, 2023 by tvickey
typo

[ahpook]

Wow.

 

If I did that for a month that'd be the best paying gig I never played !

 

 

 

[BigRedX]

You still play your bass, just not with the amp switched on. I do nearly all my practice with the bass unplugged, and only have it plugged in when I am sorting out the sounds on my Helix that I am going to use for a song.

[Silvia Bluejay]

Or you could use a battery-operated headphone amp, or indeed, you may NEED to buy yourself a lovely acoustic bass guitar... 😉😎

[neepheid]

Epiphone Jack Casady FTW - the lazy boy's bass.  Makes more than enough sound acoustically for solo practice vs. laptop speakers.

[neepheid]

4 hours ago, tvickey said:

I'm effectively being paid to NOT play my bass. 

 

No, I'm not so terrible at bass playing that folks are paying me to put my instrument down (put perhaps that day is not too far off!).  We have Octopus as an energy supplier and have been joining their winter "saving sessions" where we're paid to NOT use electricity (e.g., between the hours of 17:30 and 18:30 on a given day, announced in advance).

 

So, when I would normally come home from work, fire up the amp and start jamming away... I just keep everything turned off.   So far I've been paid a whopping £1.09.

 

  

 

Also, we saved £1.53 during our saving session.

 

[Lfalex v1.1]

1 hour ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Or you could use a battery-operated headphone amp, or indeed, you may NEED to buy yourself a lovely acoustic bass guitar... 😉😎

 

I've sat through several power cuts with a bass, a Nux Mighty Plug  and my phone. 

 

 

[ahpook]

1 hour ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Or you could use a battery-operated headphone amp, or indeed, you may NEED to buy yourself a lovely acoustic bass guitar... 😉😎

 

See, this is the attitude we like to see !

 

Head to toe...pure player

 

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by ahpook

[Burns-bass]

I think the OP is joking and probably understands the various no-amp practice methods out there. 

 

I used to get paid a mileage allowance to cycle to different NHS work bases and considered myself (for that travel time) to be a pro cyclist.

[Switch625]

So do you have to turn off your fridge, internet router etc too?

[JoeEvans]

So could you install solar panels, a wind generator and a battery bank, then book out 24/7 no electricity use sessions? In theory, obviously...

[ahpook]

10 minutes ago, Switch625 said:

So do you have to turn off your fridge, internet router etc too?

 

This kind of scheme usually asks that you don't run anything high power things like tumble-dryers, heaters or experimental fusion reactors.

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by ahpook

[JoeEvans]

Thinking it through, you could get meters installed for ten imaginary flats (7a, 7b etc) and get an Octopus account on each of them, book out 24 slots a day for each of them while you live off grid, and retire?

It vaguely reminds me of the time when Tesco offered so many clubcard points on baked beans that one guy bought literally thousands of tins and made a pile of money out of it.

[ahpook]

It's usually peak time only - they want to avoid buying energy when it's most in demand, so they reward customers who don't, for example,  join the tea-time power spike.

[taunton-hobbit]

I hope they've done the sums -

 

 

27 years ago, Hoover offered two free international flights with any £100 purchase. Today, it’s remembered as the worst sales promotion in history.

 

😎

 

[MacDaddy]

1 hour ago, ahpook said:

or experimental fusion reactors.

 

 

 

 

[tvickey]

5 hours ago, BigRedX said:

You still play your bass, just not with the amp switched on. I do nearly all my practice with the bass unplugged, and only have it plugged in when I am sorting out the sounds on my Helix that I am going to use for a song.

Good point!  Yes, I do occasionally grab my bass and noodle around unplugged (usually when there is an idea in my head that I want to try out quickly). 

[tvickey]

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

Also, we saved £1.53 during our saving session.

 

You really made me smile... I just watched that recently (but obviously NOT during the saving session!).

[tvickey]

1 hour ago, Switch625 said:

So do you have to turn off your fridge, internet router etc too?

No... I leave some of the 'vampire' stuff on... I just don't use lights, oven, bass amp.

[tvickey]

1 hour ago, JoeEvans said:

So could you install solar panels, a wind generator and a battery bank, then book out 24/7 no electricity use sessions? In theory, obviously...

I do already have solar panels installed... and I have had many 'solar powered' bass sessions. 

 

I thought about getting a Tesla Powerwall, but if you do the math it's not really worthwhile.

[tvickey]

1 hour ago, JoeEvans said:

Thinking it through, you could get meters installed for ten imaginary flats (7a, 7b etc) and get an Octopus account on each of them, book out 24 slots a day for each of them while you live off grid, and retire?

It vaguely reminds me of the time when Tesco offered so many clubcard points on baked beans that one guy bought literally thousands of tins and made a pile of money out of it.

What they pay you is relative to your average use during that hour.  So even if I had 26 imaginary flats, if my deviation from the 'average' use is still the same then there wouldn't be an advantage.

[Maude]

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

Epiphone Jack Casady FTW - the lazy boy's bass.  Makes more than enough sound acoustically for solo practice vs. laptop speakers.

And there just happens to be an unplayed, Sparkling Burgundy one on eBay for a monkey. 

[nilorius]

7 hours ago, tvickey said:

I'm effectively being paid to NOT play my bass. 

 

No, I'm not so terrible at bass playing that folks are paying me to put my instrument down (put perhaps that day is not too far off!).  We have Octopus as an energy supplier and have been joining their winter "saving sessions" where we're paid to NOT use electricity (e.g., between the hours of 17:30 and 18:30 on a given day, announced in advance).

 

So, when I would normally come home from work, fire up the amp and start jamming away... I just keep everything turned off.   So far I've been paid a whopping £1.09.

 

  

Lucky You !

[Cliff Edge]

British Gas here. They have a deal whereby any Electricity used between 11 am and 4 pm on a Sunday is effectively half price via a refund to the account. My wife now calls herself the Sunday washer woman as the washing machine and tumble dryer get a good workout, along with whatever is used to cook dinner. My practice sessions don’t use much if any power as I use a laptop and a Focusrite with IEM’s so guilt free. 

[JoeEvans]

9 hours ago, tvickey said:

What they pay you is relative to your average use during that hour.  So even if I had 26 imaginary flats, if my deviation from the 'average' use is still the same then there wouldn't be an advantage.

So you're saying that if I fire up the fusion reactor for few days first, that should do it?