How was your gig last night?

[Kiwi]

Tonight we did a posh private wedding at a large Edward Luyten designed property in Haywards Heath. I'm not actually sure whether we were playing at one property with three houses or three separate properties because there were no fences or boundaries marked between them, driveways all seemed to share the parking for the event and the properties all shared variations on the same address name.

Anyways, tonight I took the Spector Euro 6 as usual and I thought I'd leave the stingray at home so I could take the red Celinder I bought recently from the Gallery. Before the gig we had a rehearsal at Pease Pottage and ran through some potential songs for the set list. One song went well enough for us to give a go tonight too - Estelle's American Boy.

We were all in marquee in the garden and had to set up in front of the guests as well as haul all the gear through the kitchen who were getting ready to serve the main course! Possibly the worst logistics yet, this year. Anyway we managed a super quick set up but there was no opportunity for a sound check so the first song was a bit wobbly levels wise but we worked through it.

Personally I like playing marquees because the acoustics are usually deader than a dead thing and that means we can all hear ourselves which also means we can play really tight. The Spector usually handles most of the songs and I use it with the mid scoop on the shuttle turned on to remove a little of the aggression and I use the bass boost to fatten it up a little too. I turned off the mid scoop for the jazz because jazz basses are normally already mid scooped enough, but I did use it when using the neck pickup to get a nice round p-bass tone.

Both basses sounded great tonight. The Spector was its usual growly self although a little boomy towards the low end but it was shoving a lot of bass out there into the audience under the rest of the mix. I've found my EBS 212 neo cab doesn't really throw super low end into the crowd very well which is good for me because it means I can turn it up on stage a little more with the Spector. I've been listening to a lot of gospel since the last gig and I managed to incorporate more bluesy style riffs in the songs that were blues based (like the motown stuff) and generally played with a lot more confidence when I tried pushing the boat out a little musically. That was really satisfying, I think my playing overall was a lot fresher after a 4 week break too. The gig seemed to go really well, we got to help ourselves to christmas dinner each to eat and the booze was free (although we didn't indulge).

Have to say I'm now head over heels with this red Celinder. Although it sounded good in the shop, I was a little disappointed with it when I got it home and tried it at practice levels, it didn't seem to have the warmth and growl that I heard in the shop and I more or less put it down to the colouring of the Mark Bass head. However at stage volumes it was... ...gorgeous. I don't think I've ever said that about a bass I've ever owned before, but that's how I feel about it. Its the perfect jazz tone for me. Full, sweet high end, crisp and growly with any pickup combination, the instrument has a little 5th fret/G string dead spot but the rest of the bass responds very smoothly and evenly across the neck and I could hear it very clearly in the mix all the way through both our sets.

Oh and the growl, did I mention the growl? Sweet mother of god, this thing growls like junkyard dog. It handled almost all of the songs I used it for superbly. I even used it on the Chic stuff and it did OK, but still couldn't quite replace the stingray. (I play the stingray differently to how I play the jazz so the sound and feel was all different.) It growls as much as the Stingray if not more, I couldn't believe that I was finally hearing the jazz tone in my head that I'd been searching for all these years.

So I'm besotted with this instrument at the moment, it looks like a junkyard dog too with all the scratches and bumps and other cosmetic faults but its definitely a keeper. We did American Boy and I tried the standard riff to begin with, quietened down for the verses, did a bit of latin/house disco variation under the rap section and finished off with some full on solid slap. It was dreamy! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, smooth, warm, growly, funky jazz bass!

Yet again the presence of a load of player wear has proved to be the sign to watch for!

PS: I also put round wounds on the Celinder P-bass at last just to see what it sounded like and, after lowering the action quite a bit, its a really lovely bass too. Maybe sounds a little less substantial and heavyweight than a well played in 70's Fender P but very growly and (unlike a 70's P) super fast to play. Its very easy for me to get around on. I'm going to have a lot of fun exploring this one too.

[Delberthot]

First of the Christmas party nights for us tonight.

About 160 people there, 140ish of whom were attractive women.

We set up before the guests start arriving then sit down and have a 3 course dinner as part of our contract. By the time Christmas comes, I've already had half a dozen turkey dinners.

Due to start at 9.30 but a bit later tonight due to their being a bit more people than normal.

Started with 'Mama Mia'. 140 women, the movie out recently, can't go wrong really. From the first bar of the first song until the end of the night, the dancefloor was packed.

At the break I checked my phone and the singer from my rock band had text me to say that the gig tomorrow was cancelled. disappointed at losing out on a rock gig and the associated cash that goes with it but I can now go hell for leather since i don't have to save my fingers for another gig.

Second set was the bollocks. Had one of the best gigs in a long time. Played a good few requests we'd never done before but we'll try anything. 'Come on Eileen' wasn't bad but the one that stood out was 'Town Called Malice'. i wouldn't say that i was a huge Jam fan but I like this one.

I seem to be going back to my old sound since I installed the active circuit. Bit like Duff McKagan live. Very growly, clicky sound. totally different to the sound I was getting with the gold warmoth passive. I play with my fingers but still manage to get that clicky thing going on.

Had a good look at my setup during the gig. more and more I'm planning on selling my GK 700RB II when the digital GKs make their way over here. It'll take up much less room as well. Come that time I'll fire the GK and Fender rack tuner in a 4u rack in the for sale section.

[WalMan]

[quote name='bassninja' post='347251' date='Dec 6 2008, 02:22 PM']The New Inn, Littlehampton. Rough looking boozer, but salt of the earth really.[/quote]
Pretty much my local, and it's tiny, but I was busy myself tonight with the last one for the year ([i]unless any deps come up, but as the last one I did was about 10 years ago I doubt that[/i]) People keep telling me we ought to get in there, but I have to point out once we were in no one else could.

So far as my w/e went it wasn't too bad.

It is a year since we did the last gig with our keyboard player (and on that night the #2 guitarist) and I think it is probably safe to say he has left the band, just never actually said as much

Friday in Southampton we tried a slightly different arrangement of gear on stage, which partially worked as the two guitarists were together which looked better for the dual/duel guitar bits. The new guitarist is normally lurking behind me and unseen for much of the time, but he is doing some backing vocals now and we are managing to swap around to get him to the limelight at relevant points. It partially worked, but needs refining as my amp was too far forwards so the drummer was losing it a bit.

The gig was a leetle bit of a "bring out some of the older stuff 'cos we are going to need everything tomorrow" night, but we got through largely unscathed and they were up and dancing in the second set - the first set needs a rejig as it starts OK but is all a tad medium paced/slow and less well known stuff thereafter.

Last night (now) in Chichester went well (though again flagged a little during the first set). As ever for the Fountain the crowd were well up for it and singing/dancing pretty much all the way through. Its always a pleasure to do gigs like that.

A few senior moments for me. Confidence is a bugger when it gets you to go off on one and get lost -note to self: really must work on the theory harder! That said I suspect very few noticed.

Hard work as ever as they are longer sets than we normally do. Usual is 9 'til just before 10 then 10/10:10 'til 11/11:15 depending on licence & strictness of stopping times. Tonight was 9 - 10:10 and then 10:30 - 12:00 (and would have gone on longer but we really had to stop so they could chuck everyone out)

G&L was sounding frickin' marvellous as ever and blending in with the two guitars really well. I love it for the rock stuff we do.

Scary point of the night (well most of it to be frank) was the one young lovely stage centre, which in the Fountain is pretty much stage everywhere, who had been necking shorts that suddenly caught up with her early in the first set so that she spent the rest of the night alternating between looking on the verge of the most spectacular technicolour yawn (probably all over my Line6 short board with me taking the collateral damage) and dancing like a mad thing. Amazingly (to me) she got to the end of the gig without doing the former much to my great relief.

So another gigging year over for The Alibi as Steve is off for his usual Chistmas holiday in a couple of weeks. Back at it in the middle of January with some new venues to try out, and possibly some new covers / rearranged songs we used to do with the keyboards that ought to work as well if not better to perk up the first set.

[tombboy]

Played Norwich UEA with 'From The Jam' Friday night.
Great fun and the headline act were four decent fellas. Bruce Foxton is a legend to me and seemed a little embarrassed when I told him that.

Anyway, Sandberg PM4 D.I'ed into FOH and my TA503 rig used for backline with monitor foldback. Sound on stage was crystal clear. Apparently it was awesome out front too.
Couple of piccies.

[bassninja]

The New Inn, Littlehampton. Rough looking boozer, but salt of the earth really.

[quote name='WalMan' post='347690' date='Dec 7 2008, 04:43 AM']Pretty much my local,[/quote]

Present company excepted, o'course...

Edited December 7, 2008 by bassninja

[Dr.Dave]

Absolute banger at a Harley Davidson function near Leeds.

Bit of buzz from the 54 reish's single coil pup but what the hell - it sounded massive - and a bigger than normal stage to bounce around on with it.

Great people - charity calendars featuring their naked wives and girlfriends sprawled over the bikes to go home with - and offers of a pile more work from various organisers etc.

Plus all the free Newcy 'dog' I could sup - which was substantial once we'd finished!

[Alun]

A birthday party in a veeery posh converted barn just outside Abergavenny playing Latin and gypsy music on my Wav electric upright with two guitarists and a violinist. Lots of fun, but my left shoulder was aching like hell as I haven't played upright for a while.

Previous night was a hot sweaty blues gig in Swansea, and the night before that was a brilliant gig in the Limelight, Crewe with [url="http://www.panicroom.org.uk"]Panic Room[/url]. All in all, a pretty good week's gigging

Cheers
Alun

[Dr.Dave]

[quote name='Alun' post='347827' date='Dec 7 2008, 01:06 PM']and the night before that was a brilliant gig in the Limelight, Crewe with [url="http://www.panicroom.org.uk"]Panic Room[/url]. All in all, a pretty good week's gigging

Cheers
Alun[/quote]

Be interested to hear anything about the Limelight, Crewe. We're doing the ZZ trib there soon with Dr B supporting

[Alun]

It was the first time I'd played there but everyone kept going on about it having gone downhill so was a little nervous. I liked it - decent stage, great sound and I really liked the room.

From the stage:




and the stage:





Only downside was that a lot of lighting rig was out, according to our lighting guy, 15 out of 60 were working. Still enough to make a decent show though.

Cheers
Alun

Edited December 7, 2008 by Alun

[MacDaddy]

Played The George II in Luton. Beset by technical problems, tripped the cut off switch, battery died in wireless transmitter (didn't have time to check it, as had it repaired and it was brought back during soundcheck, which we had to do as we went on), guitarists amp packed up.
But we rose above it all, and the crowd screamed for more. Well maybe not screamed, but we got an encore.

[NAS]

God, this is a long thread - needs to be divided into chapters - months?
Friday night, P.A. and sound gig with Tom The Frop at Holt Fleet. Nice room - full width stage and some decent power supplies. Sit down dinner Christmas party so not on until 21:30. Sarnies and chips plus "a couple of drinks" to fill the rider. They'd even set out a table for the mixer without me asking. Sub woofer really came in handy for the "in between" CDs and the bass drum. Bass player has an Ashdown 4x10 which usually does the business really well without going through the P.A. Usual two acts of TTF madness, lots of Beatles, lots of hats and wigs. Guitar sound really good tonight - even when all three going (two double up on keys). Vocals clear although Sennheiser mics much clearer than Shure for some reason. Citronix radio mics worked fine (jump down and sing with the girls in the "mosh pit") - no battery failures. Got paid at end of gig too which is always welcome. Finish at midnight, small run of disco numbers as we pack up, back home at 01:30.

Saturday night. Pub gig with Crambazzled at The Queens Head Wolverley, so doing sound and playing bass. Lovely village, lovely pub, but we're playing in an alcove 10x10 feet including bench seats. One speaker has to sit by the bar at head height (beams). The sub sits by guitar one. Drummer uses Yamaha electronic set which is great for space but never gives that instant wallop I really need to stay in touch. Mic up both guitars through the P.A. and use the sub to give the drums a bit of oomph. This actually works well as we have a really quiet local crowd who want to sit and chat - but they do pay attention and applaud every number. So with total volume control through the desk I can set the overall level quite low while getting a well balanced mix. Guitar two still plays solos that sound like a weasel being strangled, and the drummer takes some scenic route breaks away from the metronome, especially during Message In A Bottle.

Use the '75 reissue Fender Jazz (love the neck on this bass), the Boss ME-50B, SWR SM900, and Epifani 2x10 and 1x15. The cabs sit on the bench seat side by side, 15" pointing at the drummer, 2x10 pointing front. Turn down the bridge pickup and tone on the bass, flat on the ME-50B (gets used for small amount of "natural" compression, sub octave, reverb and distortion on a few numbers), drop treble and upper mid on the SWR. Takes away the sizzle and fret clank, but suitable for this gig. Upper register stuff in "Alright Now", "I Predict a Riot", and "Sex On Fire" actually sounds better.

Two 55 minute sets, two encores, then pack up and drive home (back at 01:30 again - early night!).

[tauzero]

Saturday night was The Pickle in Acocks Green, Birmingham. Stage is tiny - we just about all fit on with the keyboard player teetering on the edge, so it's a good job she only plays about a quarter of the set. Not much audience activity until the third set, where it picked up with a couple of songs that we've just put into the set ("Brown Eyed Girl" and "I'm a believer") going down particularly well.

I normally use the GK 200MB for this gig due to the tiny stage, but decided to try the Hartke HA1200 that I fixed up a while ago instead. I reckon it sounded better than the GK, possibly partly because it's bigger (helping the bottom end) and it's ported with a rear port rather than sealed box, so I think it would be louder for the same driver (and they have, in fact, shared a driver). Very pleasing.

[Merton]

Saturday - last gig for a while with our female singer as she's off on maternity leave. All a bit emotional but a cracking wedding gig, packed dancefloor and 3 encores I played like a lemon in a couple of songs in the 2nd set but generally the band was cooking on gas. Had some weird issues with my pedal board but fortunately only during the verse of "Honky Tonk Woman" so I had time to fix it Decided I really must get my arse in gear and finish my 1x15 cab, the bass was sounding cracking but the single 15 of the combo alone would've sounded even sweeter with an identical twin...

We'll miss P, but when she's back next year it'll be awesome. Her dep is a pretty fine singer but I've known P since we were 13 so it's gonna be a different relationship...

[jakenewmanbass]

Playing with a 20's band in one of Londons finest art deco hotels The Park Lane hotel on Piccadilly. It really is a lovely ballroom and very fitting for the band I was with, Oscar Bernhardts Charleston Charlies, good fun band. Nicest thing of all was it was my fourth gig in a row that finished before 9.30pm
NICE.

[ardi100]

First gig with my new double bass. No PA, all acoustic. Small room, hot and sweaty and my hands ache but it was great!

[bassace]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='347665' date='Dec 7 2008, 02:21 AM']Tonight we did a posh private wedding at a large Edward Luyten designed property in Haywards Heath.[/quote]

Actually it's Edwin Lutyens, dear. A bit too posh, perhaps.

[tonybassplayer]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.......last gig of the year and normally a very special night as we always play a one set xmas gig to about 80 special needs adults and the joy on their faces is absolutely priceless.

It's always an early start/fiinish gig and our singer was always on a tight deadline ( 7.30 start ) but at 7.10 it was our drummer who we were worried about with frantic calls and texts being sent.

At 7.45 we had no other option other than to get the keyboard player to play 'two finger drums" ( he traded in his Yamaha keyboard with programmed drums for a "pro style" Roland Juno about a year ago ) so after a minute or two practice off we went in to a sloppy version of Valerie but true to form they were dancing within seconds and the night was a roaring success !!

Quite honestly I have never been so relieved playing the final note of a gig !! ( the drivers waiting to collect the audience and take them home etc must have wondered where the hell they got the band from !! )

Very valid reason for the drummers absence but better communication needed next year I think !!

[vmaxblues]

Had a great gig at one of our local music pubs, we had a great crowd, we had a killer sound and everyone had a good time, we ended up playing three sets, and all this with a sprained wrist!

[OldGit]

8.30 am Saturday telephone call ..
Steve's ill... been D&V all night, not allowed out to play etc.
By the end of the call I had the D too ...
posh wedding gig, 18 month booked, They've seen us twice and chose us from a load of other band they'd seen ..
our main USP is Steve and me bouncing banter off each other and the audience, playing trad folk tunes morphed into rock songs and witty calling.
So in one fell swoop I was I dire need of a singer, squeezbox player, musical director, dance caller, joker, foil and half the PA, lights, and the disco unit which all live with him ...

So very nerve wracking morning on the phone to all my ceilidh and barn dance mates to find stand ins ..

Eventually we got a box player/musical director/tune leader from Loughborough and a caller I've worked with here in S Wales...

So very posh gaf, tiny area for the dancing which had pillars and a Christmas tree on it. We setup with no noise and had to sound check to a full room. Super fast sound check. We had a bit of trouble as the two guys who know how to plug in and twiddle the two mixers we use were the ones missing but once we'd managed to pipe the foldback into the foldback amp rather than the FOH amp all went well ...

I just about managed to sing lead on the two rock songs from our set that they really, really wanted us to do but we had to change the key as my voice is totally different to the normal singer's, and playing in the new key and singing lead for the first time was a tad challenging, especially with no practice at it at all Can't say i stunned them but no one threw eggs either

Overall the audience reaction was great and we only told them about (sea) Sick Steve and the stand-in musicians at the end, a big round of applause....

Gear wise I had a swift lesson this week from Mark at Bass Direct on the MB VLE and VPL filters and tried a few ideas throughout the evening. I also had my early christmas present Gramma pad. Hard to tell if it made a difference because of the unusual gig, and amp changes, but everything sounded pretty good and I didn't use either the compressor or zoom SVT modeling all night ... That all bodes well .. we will see whan back to normal working volumes ...

[niceguyhomer]

A gig of mixed fortunes for us - did a Johnny Cash at the local prison. We've been having sound problems the last few gigs so the guitarist and drummer went down the night before to set the drums / PA up and set basic levels. They shouldn't have bothered - when we all fired up the sound was dreadful. It was a high paying gig so nerves were a bit frayed as we couldn't get a decent sound.

Who causes the sound problems? The guitarist - with his painful, overly processed solid state mess of a sound. His sound is f*cking awful and the 60 cycle hum from his Telecaster was louder than the bass. It pisses me off (as an ex guitarist).

Then the singer announces he's losing his voice - great.

Then a bit of good news..."free bar all night lads, don't be shy" ....fantastic! sh*t, no we're all driving

Then more good news...." er...instead of your usual 2 x 45 minute sets, can you do 1 x one hour instead?"...Lovely jubbly.

We did our one hour set and went down really well. Then the disco fired up as soon as we'd finished and I had to walk past his speakers to put my bass back on it's stand. The 2 million decibels nearly took my head off and I didn't put the bass on the stand properly and I saw it hit the floor spectacularly out of the corner of my eye.

It's doesn't appear to have been damaged thank God cos that would have been the final straw.

I've told the singer that I'll be looking for something else in the New Year - the spark of enjoyment has gone now and the guitarist is causing problems with his dreadful sound and incompetence (which he won't acknowledge) riding the desk.

It's a fantastic band when all is well but time to move on methinks otherwise I'll be hanging my boots up and I don't wanna do that.

Excuse the miserable post - I had to get it off my chest.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='bassace' post='352740' date='Dec 12 2008, 02:32 PM']Actually it's Edwin Lutyens, dear. A bit too posh, perhaps.[/quote]
For me? Definitely. I'll stick to my middle class pretentious ways, its what I know best.

[Dr.Dave]

Don't pack it in ,Alan , there's something out there ideal for you and that'll soon get the smile back on your face.

Tank de Lawd your bass wasn't jacobsed !!!

Edited December 14, 2008 by Dr.Dave

[Smash]

Bad times last night, normally a packed pub in the dead centre of the city, a guaranteed crowd, a very lively and quite hostile atmosphere (in a good way) but no dead as a Dodo played to about 8 people, band fall out over singer breaking a cymbal, oh dear oh dear. It's either a new band for me or hang my boots up....... and its my birthday too nt getting any younger, rubbish. sorry folks for a low post.

[niceguyhomer]

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='354175' date='Dec 14 2008, 12:45 PM']Don't pack it in ,Alan , there's something out there ideal for you and that'll soon get the smile back on your face.

Tank de Lawd your bass wasn't jacobsed !!![/quote]

I won't Dave - no real plans to retire yet. I still love playing bass and just want to have a good time. Still fancy doin' some blues.

[BigRedX]

Non-existent...

Been looking forward to this after three full-on hectic weeks of work with unfeasible overtime hours in order to get 2 big projects out of the door in time for Christmas. What do we find but the pub closed with no signs of life within and no explanation.

Now seriously hacked-off with the whole thing. The band has only done two gigs this year and one of them was just a 20 minute 4-song set. We've spent 18 months dicking about with replacement lead guitarists and TBH none of them have the same vibe of the original guy.

Right now playing music is pretty much the only good thing going on in my life, but I see little point in being in a band that doesn't do any gigs (which is the only time I come out of my rather shy and geeky shell).

All I want is to be able to play some music in front of a reasonably appreciative audience maybe once a month. Is that too much to ask?

Sorry for being probably more depressing than Homer, but I needed to vent.