How was your gig last night?

[cheddatom]

7 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

... this was a song we had been doing for 4 years or so and had done it loads of times.

 

sh17 happens! 

 

I did my first ever dep gig a couple of weeks ago. I put so many hours into rehearsing because I was desperate to not make a fool of myself. Halfway into the set I count in the wrong song (on drums) and the whole thing falls apart. We had to stop and start the correct song after I'd been reminded. I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed on stage, but no-one else cared. 

 

My main band, we rehearse 1-2 times a week, gig twice a week on average, the set only really varies in the number of songs, so we should know them all inside out. The singer still regularly messes up the arrangements and we have to adapt - this is on songs he's been doing for 10 years!

[BigRedX]

Hurtsfall at the (Old) Angel in Nottingham.

 

The sound is always a bit hit and miss in a room that is taller than it is wide, but by ditching the backline entirely and putting everything straight into the PA made balancing everything up much easier. Also the fact that we use very little in the way of massively overdriven sounds gave us a much better definition to the mix than the other bands. New song went (almost) flawlessly - I did have to stop the intro after out singer started talking over it as it's quite subtle if we don't get the downbeat we're all over the place for the first verse. Otherwise form a performance PoV this could have been the best gig we have done post Covid.

 

A couple of action shots:

 

 

[dmccombe7]

52 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Hurtsfall at the (Old) Angel in Nottingham.

 

The sound is always a bit hit and miss in a room that is taller than it is wide, but by ditching the backline entirely and putting everything straight into the PA made balancing everything up much easier. Also the fact that we use very little in the way of massively overdriven sounds gave us a much better definition to the mix than the other bands. New song went (almost) flawlessly - I did have to stop the intro after out singer started talking over it as it's quite subtle if we don't get the downbeat we're all over the place for the first verse. Otherwise form a performance PoV this could have been the best gig we have done post Covid.

 

A couple of action shots:

 

 

Is that an old Shergold bass you have there. Nice 

[casapete]

We played at the 'Fields of Gold' festival last night, in Ashton under Lyne on the outskirts of Manchester.

Small 3 day festival that was originally a 2 day event but they bolted on the Sunday too. Was a bit disappointed

that the regular MC Bez of Happy Mondays wasn't doing it this year, as would have loved to meet him.

Not a great turn out, maybe due to the lousy weather forecast which turned out to be wrong. A very balmy

evening with the rain holding off until we were nearly home.

 

There were some great bands on, including 'Stax of Soul', a brilliant 9 piece soul band featuring our very own

@thunderthumbs on bass duties. They have a 4 piece horn section - two trumpets, tenor and baritone saxes

and sounding so good. Lovely guys too.

 

After a lot of confusion regarding arrival and set up times, we went on (for the first time in the band's history)

without a proper soundcheck, just a line check to make sure everything was on. Very nerve racking for the 

first few songs, but the sound techs did a great job. All in all an enjoyable do, and a nice change from our 

usual theatre stuff.

[BigRedX]

14 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Is that an old Shergold bass you have there. Nice 

 

No, it's the modern Eastwood copy based on Peter Hook's actual Shergold Marathon 6 String bass. Having played the real thing briefly in the 80s (the bassist in a local band I was a big fan of had one) it is, as far as I can recall, almost identical. Peter Hook thinks so too, because last time I saw him play live he was only using the Eastwoods.

[dmccombe7]

2 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

No, it's the modern Eastwood copy based on Peter Hook's actual Shergold Marathon 6 String bass. Having played the real thing briefly in the 80s (the bassist in a local band I was a big fan of had one) it is, as far as I can recall, almost identical. Peter Hook thinks so too, because last time I saw him play live he was only using the Eastwoods.

My twin neck Shergold in late 70's had a 4 & 8 string necks. They didn't make an 8 string and we agreed to convert their 6 string neck to an 8.

Fantastic basses. Will have a look at the Enfields. Not heard of them before.

Happy days

Dave

Edited September 5, 2022 by dmccombe7

[thodrik]

Played last night at the final night of a local rock festival. 

It was our fist proper gig since last November when we opened for the Wildhearts and even then one of our guitarists missed that through COVID...

Anyhoo, the venue was jammed. Very sweaty and very much like a pre-pandemic gig. There ended up being a mosh pit in the last song that spilled over on to the stage resulting a large semi-naked man crashing into me, also bashing the jack socket in my Vigier Excess, resulting in the jack socket falling out of the bass with the lead still attached! The bass was somehow still working, albeit with the loose lead and jack socket hanging from the bass, so I just kept playing until the end of the song (and with that the gig). 

Inspected the bass when I got home and discovered that the problem was that the nut that holds the jack socket in place must have been knocked loose and then fell off. An easy fix. I've had the bass for 18 years now and it has always been used as a 'workhorse' bass rather than a 'boutique' bass, so it has had a few bashes and knocks over the years.

All being said, it was a pretty fun gig and the band are looking to finally get things going again after a period of job changes, house purchases, engagements, marriages and kids over the last couple of years which tend to happen to people in their 30s.

[BigRedX]

4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

My twin neck Shergold in late 70's had a 4 & 8 string necks. They didn't make an 8 string and we agreed to convert their 6 string neck to an 8.

Fantastic basses. Will have a look at the Enfields. Not heard of them before.

Happy days

Dave

 

Here you go.... Eastwood Hooky Bass 6 PRO

 

On the whole I'm not a massive fan of the Eastwood business model where they take classic weird guitars and basses of the 50s 60s and 70s and make very approximate copies of them using standard modern off-the-shelf parts. It might make for a more reliable playing experience, but they lose much of the quirkiness that made the originals special. Their "copy" of the Ovation Magnum Bass was particularly bad. However the Hooky Bass uses so many items that can't be replaced from the "parts bin", mostly due to the neck width, that all the important bits had to be created specially for this bass.

 

This bass for me has replaced both of the previous Bass VIs (by Squier and Burns) that I had been struggling with due to their narrow necks, and it some point I'll be buying a second one as a back-up for live use.

 

[Len_derby]

Yesterday we made our third visit to The Crossroads Tavern, Alfreton, Derbyshire.

It’s the old town post office converted into a bar, and their slot for live music is Sunday afternoon. We enjoy playing there, the crowd is always lively and enthusiastic. By the time we finish, 6.30 ish, most of the bar is bladdered and singing along. But, within 15 minutes most of them have gone. Some to the curry house next door, some on busses back to Derby and Nottingham and others just shamble off into the distance. Another fun afternoon, only mildly spoiled by a wheel falling off my trolley. 

[Franticsmurf]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Afterwards the drummer decided to quit at christmas so the guitarist decided to quit then and there.

So that looked like it for the group.

I used to share the ride to and from gigs with the singer and sometimes the other guitarist in my old band. Inevitably after a bad gig there would be arguments. Never anything that resulted in a long walk home, but there's be 'lively discussions' about the night's performance. The most common topic revolved around the singer's total lack of preparation which usually resulted in missed lyrics, random arrangements and random song choice deviating wildly from the set list (we played a mix of heavier blues and modern rocky pop - Born To Be Wild, Dakota, Psychokiller, Walking By Myself, Heartache Tonight to give you a flavour of the set - and then he'd throw in 'Leaving on a Jet Plane').

 

My point is that it's never good to get into that kind of discussion immediately after a gig as emotions are running high - and this applies to positive emotions as well as the negative ones. 😃 The cold light of a Monday morning sobers everyone up and the real decisions are made then.    

[MacDaddy]

Bunkfest, or more accurately Bunkfest Fringe, last night.

 

Depping gig, for 'The Soul Seniors' featuring @Happy Jack of this parish doing his maiden gig on keys. We were playing on a covered stage in a pub car park. There was a Sound Engineer, but he was doing the job at at a few places so was flitting between venues.

 

This was my first gig in a couple of years, and TBH I felt it. You can be as prepared as possible - practicing and rehearsals - but onstage in front of a crowd is different. It took a couple of songs for me to feel at ease, then I started to enjoy it. The songs helped, classic soul, with a bit of funk, and disco, great basslines for a bassist to play.

I had a couple of 'lapses of concentration' but nothing major. Fortunately I was rescued by the band when I missed an end cue and kept playing, it ended up sounding like an intentional break 😆

[obbm]

Saturday night was the second visit this year to the The Portreath Arms, in Portreath.  Nice friendly crowd and all went well. Even got them up and dancing.  My set-up was my recently acquired MM Sterling, strung with DRs (why did I ever sell the previous three?) into  a Sansamp Flyrig into a Markbass Nano (set flat)  into a BF One 10.  Great tone, nice and growly. As we don't have drummer it was more than loud enough.  Landlady very pleased and wants us back again.

 

Problem is it was the last gig for a while as the guitarist is starting a new job and needs to devote his energies to that for the foreseeable future. Sad in a way as it was finally all coming together.  I think the motivation is there to continue but time will tell.  In the meantime I shall be visiting the local Jam nights to try and meet a few more musos.  

[uk_lefty]

Saturday night, private party for a friend of the signer. Bringing our own PA gear except some speakers in situ. Sound issues all over, sadly. The room was small and there was some weird reverb on the bass notes. If I played a note that would usually go "dum" and end in this place it would go "dumMmMmmmmWhooooomph". Worse still notes below A caused a swelling mush of low end. The singer couldn't hear his monitor, and I usually rely on that monitor too. 

 

Still, nice crowd of people enjoying themselves and celebrating their friends birthday. Once more we had a request for a song I've never learned but the band had played years back before I joined, so I had to busk my way through... Made harder by the singers notes being chords for a guitar with a capo at the 2nd fret, quite hard to do on the fly! But we got through.

 

Don't know about anyone else but if I make even small mistakes it haunts me forever. I don't know if the audience notices at all but it bothers me a lot. Plenty to work on in rehearsals this week!

 

[dmccombe7]

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

Here you go.... Eastwood Hooky Bass 6 PRO

 

On the whole I'm not a massive fan of the Eastwood business model where they take classic weird guitars and basses of the 50s 60s and 70s and make very approximate copies of them using standard modern off-the-shelf parts. It might make for a more reliable playing experience, but they lose much of the quirkiness that made the originals special. Their "copy" of the Ovation Magnum Bass was particularly bad. However the Hooky Bass uses so many items that can't be replaced from the "parts bin", mostly due to the neck width, that all the important bits had to be created specially for this bass.

 

This bass for me has replaced both of the previous Bass VIs (by Squier and Burns) that I had been struggling with due to their narrow necks, and it some point I'll be buying a second one as a back-up for live use.

 

I was hoping they might do a 4 string version but dont see anything there. 

Dave

[dmccombe7]

40 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

Saturday night, private party for a friend of the signer. Bringing our own PA gear except some speakers in situ. Sound issues all over, sadly. The room was small and there was some weird reverb on the bass notes. If I played a note that would usually go "dum" and end in this place it would go "dumMmMmmmmWhooooomph". Worse still notes below A caused a swelling mush of low end. The singer couldn't hear his monitor, and I usually rely on that monitor too. 

 

Still, nice crowd of people enjoying themselves and celebrating their friends birthday. Once more we had a request for a song I've never learned but the band had played years back before I joined, so I had to busk my way through... Made harder by the singers notes being chords for a guitar with a capo at the 2nd fret, quite hard to do on the fly! But we got through.

 

Don't know about anyone else but if I make even small mistakes it haunts me forever. I don't know if the audience notices at all but it bothers me a lot. Plenty to work on in rehearsals this week!

 

Was one of the mics picking up your bass causing the long drone you mention. ?

One time in a well known Glasgow rehearsal studio the drummers mic was picking up the bass on certain notes. We narrowed it down to his own personal mic (shure 58/59) that he bought on ebay and he reckoned it was a dodgy copy as his other mics didn't do this. Our drummer owns our PA and almost all the mics of varying types.

The studio has a good quality well looked after PA system.

Dave

 

Dave

[uk_lefty]

8 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Was one of the mics picking up your bass causing the long drone you mention. ?

One time in a well known Glasgow rehearsal studio the drummers mic was picking up the bass on certain notes. We narrowed it down to his own personal mic (shure 58/59) that he bought on ebay and he reckoned it was a dodgy copy as his other mics didn't do this. Our drummer owns our PA and almost all the mics of varying types.

The studio has a good quality well looked after PA system.

Dave

 

Dave

Not sure really, it definitely could have been. We're spending four hours on Weds night getting our PA out, all our gigging gear and setting our levels and making sure we all know exactly what we are doing. The lads only used the PA system once or twice before I joined and they're still learning more and more about it. The guitarist has in-ears now, a very expensive fancy set, and that helped because though we didn't have ambient mics he could hear conversations going on over near the bar! My hunch is the main issue was sound pinging around the room but if we know the PA gear inside out and all the little troubleshooting tips then we will be better at managing these things in future.

[Obrienp]

10 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

Not sure really, it definitely could have been. We're spending four hours on Weds night getting our PA out, all our gigging gear and setting our levels and making sure we all know exactly what we are doing. The lads only used the PA system once or twice before I joined and they're still learning more and more about it. The guitarist has in-ears now, a very expensive fancy set, and that helped because though we didn't have ambient mics he could hear conversations going on over near the bar! My hunch is the main issue was sound pinging around the room but if we know the PA gear inside out and all the little troubleshooting tips then we will be better at managing these things in future.

I’ve had my SM58 pick up my cab off-axis and cause a rumble through the PA. The low cut filter helps (if you have one on your channel strips). On the odd occasion we have had the luxury of a sound man, so I get him to turn my mic up when it is needed (I’m only allowed to do a bit of backing vocals) and mute the rest of the time. The main singer’s SM58 Beta seems more resistant to off-axis interference but they are quite a bit more expensive. I used to use an AKG D5 and that was even worse for off axis interference. The right mic and careful placement can help but it is difficult to avoid this kind of stuff if, like us, you get to play in cramped conditions like most pubs and village halls.

[dmccombe7]

7 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

I’ve had my SM58 pick up my cab off-axis and cause a rumble through the PA. The low cut filter helps (if you have one on your channel strips). On the odd occasion we have had the luxury of a sound man, so I get him to turn my mic up when it is needed (I’m only allowed to do a bit of backing vocals) and mute the rest of the time. The main singer’s SM58 Beta seems more resistant to off-axis interference but they are quite a bit more expensive. I used to use an AKG D5 and that was even worse for off axis interference. The right mic and careful placement can help but it is difficult to avoid this kind of stuff if, like us, you get to play in cramped conditions like most pubs and village halls.

yep that sounds like what we experienced as the bass amp (an ampeg 810 cab) was facing forward and adjacent to drummers snare so his mic was slightly behind the front edge of the bass cab. Was def a weird one.

I'll let him know about that off-axis issue.

Cheers

Dave

[uk_lefty]

9 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

I’ve had my SM58 pick up my cab off-axis and cause a rumble through the PA. The low cut filter helps (if you have one on your channel strips).

Have already sent to the drummer/ sound-man in training and the guitarist who is an engineer and likes all this technical stuff. Thank you!

[Greg Edwards69]

1 hour ago, Obrienp said:

I’ve had my SM58 pick up my cab off-axis and cause a rumble through the PA. The low cut filter helps (if you have one on your channel strips).

This. We engage the low cut (hpf) on every mixer channel part from bass guitar and bass drum. It cleans up excessive low end picked up in vocal mics a treat. 
 

A good parametric eq pedal can help that “one loud note” issue that plagues bassists in certain size rooms. Find one with an hpf and it’s even more useful in challenging rooms. A note of caution, be careful notching out excited frequencies if your backline fills the room, what sounds awful on stage may be fine out front.

[Franticsmurf]

3 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Don't know about anyone else but if I make even small mistakes it haunts me forever. I don't know if the audience notices at all but it bothers me a lot.

Yes, me too. My experience is that most times the audience don't spot it unless it's a particularly spectacular fail. Watching a recent video of us playing, I squirmed my way through the version of 'I'm a Believer' I sang (for the first time) as my vocal was not quite a semitone flat. But on the night I was told by several people, friends and strangers, that I had a great voice and sang well.  

 

I suspect the time of day plays a part. Towards the end of a gig, as the alcohol has flowed, most of the audience are no state to discern mistakes. 😃

[dmccombe7]

Had a bad mistake last week doing Into the Valley by Skids. Bass E string detuned to D for it. Bass starts and after a couple of bars the guitar joins in for another 2 bars. That was fine until i went to the  next line a bar early causing the guitarist to get lost and the drummer couldn't come in with his cues. At one point myself and guitarist were on different bars, he stopped and i just kept playing the intro riff until they came back in. That's the worst start i've had in  many years. Some of the audience who had been drinking a fair bit said to me at the end of the night that they thought i was having a wee bass solo 😂

Happy days but it's live music and sometimes things go a little astray 😀

Dave

 

[MacDaddy]

5 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

Bunkfest, or more accurately Bunkfest Fringe, last night.

 

Depping gig, for 'The Soul Seniors' featuring @Happy Jack of this parish doing his maiden gig on keys. We were playing on a covered stage in a pub car park. There was a Sound Engineer, but he was doing the job at at a few places so was flitting between venues.

 

This was my first gig in a couple of years, and TBH I felt it. You can be as prepared as possible - practicing and rehearsals - but onstage in front of a crowd is different. It took a couple of songs for me to feel at ease, then I started to enjoy it. The songs helped, classic soul, with a bit of funk, and disco, great basslines for a bassist to play.

I had a couple of 'lapses of concentration' but nothing major. Fortunately I was rescued by the band when I missed an end cue and kept playing, it ended up sounding like an intentional break 😆

 

Further to my previous post...

 

Set up was  Shuker no3 (first time gigged) ➡️ Swiff Audio wireless bug ➡️ Hardwire pedal tuner ➡️ Obbm patch lead ➡️ Behringer BDI21 ➡️ P.A.

 

[msb]

I’m in the House Band that’s done a Sunday Jam for the last twenty five years , and sometimes the Sunday jam will be the most enjoyable gig of the week. Certainly the case last night. Oh there were some moments of horror , no jam is complete without both extremes , but there was certainly some great playing , and a great case of fun. 
Here’s a bunch of the usual suspects.

 

 

[martthebass]

Nice little gig in a local WMC at the weekend. Some of these places are feeling the pinch already so it was nice to see a decent crowd as the night went on.
 

https://www.facebook.com/molly.moo.1044186/videos/2026015460919710/