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Here's a quick run-down of the Gear I've collected recently. Most of it sees the light of day at Gigs, but there are some bits that I only use on rare occasions.
3k/5k P.A. Rig. It always seems the bugbear when you're trying to get a Band up and running. Nobody EVER has a fucking P.A. With that in mind, Craig came forward with the cash to buy one, so we'll never be stuck again. He bought a Passive Rig to start with, which was ideal for rehearsals and smaller pubs, but I then got an e-mail from an old Music College mate, asking if I knew anybody that needed a fucking big Wharfedale Active rig. When Craig saw the specifications of this one, he HAD to have it! Bins, Mids and Tops, all with built-in amplifiers, along with a pair of matching active floor monitors for very little money, as the lad was in dire need of some ready cash. Because I don't do that many Gigs these days, we started hiring it out to Pub Bands in the area, and over the past couple of years, we've added Mics, extra stands, monitors and all the usual accoutrements needed for a full Gig. We link them together for bigger Gigs, so we've never been short of the volume most Bands need for Pubs and Clubs round here. With Craig being deaf, he got bored watching me mixing all night, so he bought a set of Stage Lighting for him to operate at the same time. No, he's not rich-it was his redundancy money, and he wanted to buy something useful before he frittered it away. (I MUST remember to post some pics of the gear up on here soon).
Fender Precision. (P/J pickup configuration.) I'll never get rid of this old bastard. It has a myriad of 'sounds' ready to dial in, and it's set up perfectly for me. I've used it in everything from an Old Time Dance Band to a "Metal" Band, and it always punches through. Over the years I've made various changes to the hardware, including a Wilkinson Bridge, Grover Titan machine heads, and upgraded the pickups and pre-amp, so it's sort of evolved into the Bass I always wanted.
Just to give me a larger sound and playing Pallete, I've also acquired a couple of extra Basses recently. The pictures below should explain better than words could. One is a Precision Bass with a Mirrored Scratchplate (No-NOT a fucking pick-guard! I'm English!) that sort of echoes the Phil Lynott/Thin Lizzy ethos. Quite handy for the Band I was latterly a member of..................The other one is a Jazz Bass, that I was lucky enough to be offered for a fucking silly price, because it needed a fair bit of work done to it. I ended up having to strip it back to it's component parts, re-finish and re-build it before I could use it in earnest. I'm pretty chuffed with the way it turned out, though. It plays and sounds geet lush! Enough patter, here's the photo's:-
Precision 5-string. I had a Vester Clipper that I just couldn't get a 'feel' for, but a mate of mine liked it. I had always wanted to try a 5-string and he had one. Instant swap! It's one of 'those' with the Active Electronics, with 2 Jazz pickups installed despite it being a Precision. No fucking idea why, but I only wanted it because it had five strings anyway, and the fact that it actually sounds nice was a bonus. The latest addition to the collection is pictured below.
The Bass(turd). This started life as a shitty Music Man Copy, but the pickup and the neck were much better than the rest of the Bass, so I decided to use them on a Project I had in mind. Everybody in the fucking world seemed to be buying an EUB (Electric Upright Bass) at the time, but they were stupidly expensive, so I thought "Fuck It" and made my own. Wor Lass donated a lump of mahogany that was left over from the construction of her posh fireplace a few years ago, and with a bit of routing and drilling, I soon got the neck and pickup to fit into it. A bit of chamfering to allow access to the top of the neck, and a bit at the bottom to balance it out, and that was the shape decided. I clagged a couple of shaped bits of different coloured veneer on the front, to surround the bridge, then nicked a couple of my Son's 'Custom Flames' from a kit he was using on his car, and stuck them on the veneer to highlight them even further. I mounted an old mic-stand socket into the base, them welded a bolt onto a metal rod, to enable me to take the stand out for travelling to gigs. I had a pretty big old Gig Bag to carry it in, but it was about an inch too short, so I simply cut an inch off the headstock to get it to fit. Most Bassists thought I had committed Blasphemy anyway, so that made very little difference to their opinions. It went down well with the '50's Rock'n'Roll Band I was in at the time, and the audiences liked it, so it fulfilled the role it was created for. I still have a fuck around on it in the house, just to keep my hand in.
AKG Twin-Channel Wireless Transmitter. This was a recent Birthday present, as an upgrade to the old Nady setup I was using. The Nady was becoming a bit temperamental to start with, coupled with the fact that it was on American Frequencies and our Wireless Bands are being changed, which meant that it was starting to get interference from everywhere, so it had to go.
Alesis 3630 Rack Compressor. I had tried one of these in the Studio a few years back, and I liked the 'edge' it gave to my sound, but they were bloody expensive at that time, so I didn't bother. I saw one on e-bay with "no reserve" a couple of years ago, bid a fiver for a laugh, and won it!. I stuck this and the transmitter in a 2U rack case, and they rest on top of :-
Peavey Max 700 watt Amp. I had to go out and buy this in a hurry when I got a Gig whilst my old Trace Amp was being repaired and serviced. It superseded the Trace for bigger Venues, as it has enough stand-alone power not to need to go through the P.A.
Kwiktune Digital Tuner. I've found this essential equipment over the years, because it stop all the arguments about "who's in tune" or not. You can have a disco blasting, Concert Chairmen announcing Bingo, noisy mates shouting the odds in the dressing room, and nothing gets in its way. When the little green light comes on, the tuning is fucking RIGHT!
La Bella Flat-Wound strings. These cost a bit more than the usual cheap crap that I used to use, but a VERY famous Bass Player let me have a shot of one of his Basses with these fitted, and I was hooked. They have enough 'zing' to cut through most sound mixes, and retain enough 'balls' to let the bottom end stand out as well.
Here's a picture of the stacks I was using when I got sick of Band 'stuff' and packed it all in. From top to bottom:- AKG Wireless Transmitter, Alesis 3630 Compressor (both in flight case) Trace-Elliot 350 Amp, Trace-Elliot 4x10" Cab and Trace-Elliot 1x15" Cab. Standing in front of this lot is probably what made me deaf in the first place...............but it was lush!
On the right is the new (to me) Hartke 2x12" cabinet that I acquired recently. Combined with the old Trace 1x15", it was ideal for smaller stages, or nights when my back was simply too fucked to carry the big stack.
Update on the Equipment front:- The full Trace-Elliot rig has gone now, split between a couple of lads who needed different bits for their respective Bands, so at the moment, I'm the proud possessor of the Peavey amp, the Hartke cab, and an old 1x15" that sits where the small Trace cab used to. I've used the 'new' stack on a couple of dep gigs already, and had compliments on the sound, so I've no worries on coping with any more that come in.
I never thought I'd end up owning another Twatmobile, but recent events have changed all that. Craig was getting a bit bored with having to carry most of the P.A. in his car, because it meant he couldn't have a drink, so another Van was sought and obtained. It's just big enough to fit the P.A. inside it, as well as my gear if necessary, so it does the job perfectly. What really surprised me, as this is the first van I've had that isn't a Transit......the fucking heater works! That means I don't freeze my knackers off on the way to and from Gigs. (Strange thing - I drove the fucker all over the country, and got smiles and conversations out of the daft Bull Horns on the roof, with no problems. Then some cunt nicked them when it was parked in my own fucking driveway!)
