How was your gig last night?

[Bluewine]

On 09/12/2019 at 16:15, dmccombe7 said:

Thanks Blue that's very much appreciated especially from someone with your amazing experience and talent.

Its simply a great fun band to be in. We have a great laugh doing this.

Dave

Thanks Dave,

If it's a fun band to be in you've beaten 90% of the battle.

I'm a guy from the 60s & 70s. I'm probably 80% enthusiasm, 10 % talent and 10% experience. 😆

Blue

 

[dmccombe7]

8 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Thanks Dave,

If it's a fun band to be in you've beaten 90% of the battle.

I'm a guy from the 60s & 70s. I'm probably 80% enthusiasm, 10 % talent and 10% experience. 😆

Blue

 

I'm more a 70's & 80's guy but agree on the enthusiasm, talent and experience. Same for me.

This is the first band i've been in where the money is great. Its an odd experience too. As you know, and stated many times, i was never in it for money but now that the money is "available" i'm finding that it's having more influence than ever before.

Dave

[FinnDave]

9 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Thanks Dave,

If it's a fun band to be in you've beaten 90% of the battle.

I'm a guy from the 60s & 70s. I'm probably 80% enthusiasm, 10 % talent and 10% experience. 😆

Blue

 

I reckon I'm about 5% talent (I know which end of the bass to blow into…) 20% experience and 75% practice - these days I play through whatever we are gigging/rehearsing next every day for at least 2 hours, sometimes up to 6. Current band doesn't have a fixed set, just an ever-expanding repertoire that we can dip into. Makes it more interesting, but there's a lot to remember!

[Bluewine]

On 11/12/2019 at 03:38, FinnDave said:

I reckon I'm about 5% talent (I know which end of the bass to blow into…) 20% experience and 75% practice - these days I play through whatever we are gigging/rehearsing next every day for at least 2 hours, sometimes up to 6. Current band doesn't have a fixed set, just an ever-expanding repertoire that we can dip into. Makes it more interesting, but there's a lot to remember!

I wish we could schedule a 2 hour rehearsal.

Blue

[FinnDave]

7 hours ago, Bluewine said:

I wish we could schedule a 2 hour rehearsal.

Blue

We have all-day rehearsals, but not very often, maybe 4-6 a year. My playing at home is on my own with CDs or i-tunes, just learning the songs and trying out different approaches to them.

[stewblack]

First proper gig with a new band on Wednesday. Massive black tie gala dinner event for a football club. 

The band grew from the ashes of a previous line up which the BL burned to the ground in a fit of pique when I left. 

The four of us fulfilled a commitment to play a wedding not long after the band split and decided to stay together. 

A midweek gig is always a massive bonus to any musician but not going on until 11.15pm after the celebrity guest had finished his role as auctioneer guaranteed a very late finish. 

Our singer had fallen ill the day before but was determined to battle on. She had virtually no voice, was almost fainting from the pain of stomach cramps and ended up nearly passed out in the loo minutes before we were due on. 

We clambered onto the stage debating how to fill an hour and a half instrumentally, when she staggered on and croaked an introduction. 

Come 1pm she was still going and although we had padded an amended set with lots of long unscheduled instrumental sections we got away with it. 

What a woman. What a night. 

Edited December 13, 2019 by stewblack

[carlsim]

Last nights gig... played a 4 string bass for the first time on a gig in 20 years... always play 5... only did it as I was considering buying one.

Now - not so sure... so much more work on the hands, i forgot how much more versatile that extra string makes a bass.

What to do...

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, carlsim said:

Last nights gig... played a 4 string bass for the first time on a gig in 20 years... always play 5... only did it as I was considering buying one.

Now - not so sure... so much more work on the hands, i forgot how much more versatile that extra string makes a bass.

What to do...

Did that a few weeks ago, due to a lovely Fender Aerodyne. Everyone said it looked great (and it does), but I did mess up a few songs that I hadn't remembered were harder to play.

[Stub Mandrel]

3 hours ago, carlsim said:

Last nights gig... played a 4 string bass for the first time on a gig in 20 years... always play 5... only did it as I was considering buying one.

Now - not so sure... so much more work on the hands, i forgot how much more versatile that extra string makes a bass.

What to do...

 

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Did that a few weeks ago, due to a lovely Fender Aerodyne. Everyone said it looked great (and it does), but I did mess up a few songs that I hadn't remembered were harder to play.

So from this, we can deduce that 5-strings are actually for nesh folks?

🙂

[jacko]

Should have been playing at the Pine Marten, Dunbar tonight but storms earlier this week have caused structural damage so they've closed down. First time we've blown the roof off before we've even got there. 

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

So from this, we can deduce that 5-strings are actually for nesh folks?

🙂

Nesh? As in 'unusually susceptible to cold weather?' Not specifically, it wasn't that chilly!

[itu]

400 women and less than ten men jumping up and down! Quite a gig. Sound at the stage was cloudy, but everywhere else sounded good. Only one "We want more" shouted, before the DJ let us go.

[Graham]

Bittersweet.

We were on great form last night, the sound was good, a decent sized, dancing audience in our favourite public venue and the band was firing on all four cylinders.

However, it was our last show of the year, and the last one with our guitarist who is moving from Sussex to Edinburgh next week.

He's one of the best guitarists I've played with and perfect for covers bands - can nail both Slash/Van Halen solos and Nile Rodgers rhythm parts (and actually play the Nile Rodgers riffs like they're meant to be). He also really thinks about arrangements and works out parts that fit in a 3/4 piece band ), particularly the modern pop songs that are less guitar orientated.

To top that, he's one of our best friends and will both sorely missed and hard to replace.

[Mudpup]

Great gig in a fairly local pub for me :-) Its a place thats known more for Britpop/Oasis/Killers sort of stuff - most of the bands that play there fit into that bracket anyway - we're a bit rowdier and rockier than they are and i've thought that maybe its not the best place for us. But its been steadily growing there and last night was absolutely rammed out mainly with people that wanted to see us because we provide something a bit different. Everyone kicked off from the second song and didn't stop dancing and singing the whole night. And the regulars are lovely too - we've got to know them pretty well.

Our regular geetarist was at the football up north so we had a dep for the night. He's absolute gold dust and a total fit for the band - he works on the material constantly, is totally reliable and a really nice bloke too. Loads of punters were filming him (he is a bit poop hot on the lead stuff) and all came up to say hello to him after - really nice to see :-) It's quite funny because he really enjoys depping for us and deps his own gigs out with his regular band to do our ones.

So, a really nice one...........until i got home to find a missed call from the drummer. I called him back and found out he was stuck in the van with a flat battery with a 3 hour wait for the AA. I offered to drive back and help but he was settling in the cab with a sleeping bag.

UPDATE! The AA actually took 8 hours to get to him......appalling service!!

Edited December 16, 2019 by Mudpup

[King Tut]

Played with Stray at The Red Lion in Gravesend. We had a reasonably sized and very enthusiastic audience - a great night. One young lad turned up with his dad and a bag full of LPs. He told Del he'd been listening to them all his life and asked him to sign them as they were his inheritance. I used a new (to me) Ashdown MAG 600. It was paired with a Nemesis 4x10 and I was keen to try it out. The tone was absolutely to die for, but to be honest I had to massively crank it to hear myself. To be fair, I wear earplugs and I was standing close to the cab so mebbe it was all passing my knees, but it didn't sound like a 600W head to me (or whatever it is into 8 ohms). I'll persevere with it though and try it with a taller 2x12 stack next time. I think having the deep switch in might also have limited the amount I could drive the front end - hope I can make it work for me as it sounded schweet. Anyway - last gig of the decade for me, next up we'll be supporting Hawkwind in January at Minehead 😎😎

[dmccombe7]

If its a 600w into 8 ohms its probably putting out a lot less maybe around 300W. If you add another 8ohm cab you'll get that full on 600W power. Or use a 4 ohm cab.

Pretty sure i played that venue back in 80's during a wee mini tour.

Dave

[King Tut]

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

If its a 600w into 8 ohms its probably putting out a lot less maybe around 300W. If you add another 8ohm cab you'll get that full on 600W power. Or use a 4 ohm cab.

Pretty sure i played that venue back in 80's during a wee mini tour.

Dave

Cheers Dave - yeah I get all that, but comparatively, my other heads with similar rating cope admirably (as I remember) through the single 4x10.

[taunton-hobbit]

1 hour ago, King Tut said:

supporting Hawkwind in January at Minehead

Butlins ?

😎

[King Tut]

5 minutes ago, taunton-hobbit said:

Butlins ?

😎

Yeah man!

[stewblack]

Played a pub which shall remain nameless. Been there several times, landlord is not my favourite person on earth, place could be nice but is a bit filthy. 

Bouncers are excellent which is a good thing as there's usually a fight and twice now our guitarist has been attacked by an angry punter. 

I put my Bugera Veyron through a Trace 15" cab which is loaded with a Bugera metal coned speaker taken from an old Behringer cab. Left eq flat but eventually tweaked bass down / mid up as the room was a bit boomy. Dirtied things up with Sansamp type patch on Zoom pedal, P-Bass with flats and it sounded phenomenal. 

Good crowd, got paid, hideous journey through a lot of rain and standing water, then crashed at a friend's house en route home as its a long drive. 

Closer to home next weekend, but not as well paid. Swings/roundabouts. 

Edited December 15, 2019 by stewblack

[dmccombe7]

36 minutes ago, King Tut said:

Cheers Dave - yeah I get all that, but comparatively, my other heads with similar rating cope admirably (as I remember) through the single 4x10.

Wouldn't be something silly like active / passive switch in wrong place ? Just trying to throw in some suggestions.

I'm not a big fan of Ashdown to be honest. Always found them a little bland. The only one i liked was a Spyder version that had a great tone thru an Ampeg 810. Can't remember what the volume setting was like tho as it was a rehearsal room. Tone was fantastic but not a lot of variation on it was its only downside.

Dave

[caitlin]

4 hours ago, Graham said:

He's one of the best guitarists I've played with and perfect for covers bands - can nail both Slash/Van Halen solos and Nile Rodgers rhythm parts (and actually play the Nile Rodgers riffs like they're meant to be). He also really thinks about arrangements and works out parts that fit in a 3/4 piece band ), particularly the modern pop songs that are less guitar orientated.

To top that, he's one of our best friends and will both sorely missed and hard to replace.

Please can I have him? I don't have a gig at the moment and am really not a terrible drummer at all.

[King Tut]

3 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Wouldn't be something silly like active / passive switch in wrong place ? Just trying to throw in some suggestions.

I'm not a big fan of Ashdown to be honest. Always found them a little bland. The only one i liked was a Spyder version that had a great tone thru an Ampeg 810. Can't remember what the volume setting was like tho as it was a rehearsal room. Tone was fantastic but not a lot of variation on it was its only downside.

Dave

No I was playing passive basses into the passive input. My eyes told me I was driving the pre quite hard but I never heard anything nasty so maybe they're like some Trace amps where you really have to push the pre.  I can experiment with this at home. Its no great sweat as I bought the amp on a whim and have other stuff that serves me well. I'd just never had an Ashdown analogue head and heard lots of good stuff about their warmth and heft.

[King Tut]

12 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Played a pub which shall remain nameless. Been there several times, landlord is not my favourite person on earth, place could be nice but is a bit filthy. 

Bouncers are excellent which is a good thing as there's usually a fight and twice now our guitarist has been attacked by an angry punter. 

I put my Bugera Veyron through a Trace 15" cab which is loaded with a Bugera metal coned speaker taken from an old Behringer cab. Left eq flat but eventually tweaked bass down / mid up as the room was a bit boomy. Dirtied things up with Sansamp type patch on Zoom pedal, P-Bass with flats and it sounded phenomenal. 

Good crowd, got paid, hideous journey through a lot of rain and standing water, then crashed at a friend's house en route home as its a long drive. 

Closer to home next weekend, but not as well paid. Swings/roundabouts. 

Have you got the MOSFET or Tube Bugera?

[stewblack]

4 minutes ago, King Tut said:

Have you got the MOSFET or Tube Bugera?

It's the MOSFET. Very clean, very loud, very good. Just a bit too clean for me.