Author Topic: Gig with Musical Youth (Read 1808 times)

jacko · « **Reply #30 on:** July 25, 2012, 04:11:10 AM »

Have a great gig V. We're on a 3 week break :-(

Graeme

rustyg61 · « **Reply #31 on:** July 25, 2012, 05:50:23 AM »

Have a great gig Jazzyvee!

jazzyvee · « **Reply #32 on:** July 26, 2012, 01:59:36 AM »

Just to let you know everything went great for the gig. We were using the house band's back line which was a warwick rig. 4x10 and 1x15 not sure of the amp but it had lots of lights and shiny stuff on it. :-).

DS-5 was ok but did crackle a bit when first plugged in but after it warmed up it was fine.
Anyway here is the story.
In the dressing room both myself and the guitarist like to warm up before playing live so had our guitar/bass out and playing stuff unplugged. Then we find the dressing room is shared with about 4 other bands and virtually all the musicians were stopped in their tracks when they saw my bass. So then all the questions were firing like what bass is that, how much did it cost, how beautiful it looks, what the wood, what the hell are all those knobs for, it looks like you have a mixing desk in that bass. None of them had ever seen an alembic before so they all wanted a photo of it so out came the phones, iPads, camera's to take pics of it.

When I finished playing my set and came off stage there was lots of raving about how great the bass sounded. Which was good to hear because from where I was situated I don't think I was hearing the full sound as I was on a small riser with the bass rig about 18 behind me. But I'm pretty confident that if it sounded good back stage, then it must have sounded great out front.

I was really happy with the way the bass felt to play. The balance was perfect as Europa's are.
As it was reggae I used the neck pickup with the filter fully closed and CVQ off and just cracked open the bridge pickup with its filter about half open to get more of an attack on the note on the last track. But having said that, there was still a nice attack on the note with just the neck pickup selected. I was really just experimenting to be honest but I also know my experience of hearing other bands play at that venue, that electric basses tend to sound woolly there and I wanted to make sure there was some clarity being heard out front.

So there we are, it's had it's first public outing at the Birmingham Symphony Hall, what better place to start it's live music career with me.

We have another gig on Friday which I will put as a new post.

Jazzyvee

jazzyvee · « **Reply #33 on:** July 26, 2012, 02:02:51 AM »

I have a gig on Friday 27th July 2012 with Musical Youth at The Nags Head Blues loft, London Road, High Wycombe. HP11 1BA

If you are interested in coming along, let me know and I may be able to get one or two names on the guest list. Can't guarantee that though.

Jazzyvee

jacko · « **Reply #34 on:** July 26, 2012, 02:07:12 AM »

Were you in the main hall V? I used to love hearing classical music in there - the acoustics are incredible.
Can't make it to high wycombe I'm afraid although I did go there once in 1984 for an interview with Parker Knoll - in IT, not making their chairs though !

Graeme

jazzyvee · « **Reply #35 on:** July 26, 2012, 02:31:18 AM »

Yep Jacko we were in the big main hall. The acoustics are great but I've always found that electric basses don't sound as good there as other instruments. That could of course be down to the sound engineer or my ears because I generally find bass sound from large live stages in the main muffled and less than clear except Stanley Clarke and recently Marcus Miller.

Jazzyvee

(Message edited by jazzyvee on July 26, 2012)

rustyg61 · « **Reply #36 on:** July 26, 2012, 04:50:07 AM »

Glad the gig went well & the new Europa passed the audition! Has it become your favorite bass now?

jazzyvee · « **Reply #37 on:** July 26, 2012, 06:57:39 AM »

I think it is my favourite now Rusty but not my first choice of bass to take out on all gigs since I'm not up with the controls to feel comfortable at the moment. Reggae gigs I guess would be fine because there isn't that much tonal changes I'd need to make on a gig. But I'll be using it next week on a festival gig doing some Jazz/funk stuff from Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Grover Washington Jr and Lee Ritenour.

But for my next gig I'll be using the black Europa.
jazzyvee

rustyg61 · « **Reply #38 on:** July 26, 2012, 08:57:02 AM »

Well, it's definitely my favorite of your basses! It's good you have a variety of choice!

jazzyvee · « **Reply #39 on:** July 27, 2012, 05:19:33 AM »

Trust tonights gig to be on the same day as the Olympic Games opening ceremony..... :-(

I hope someone turns up. Bad planning by the venue.

Jazzyvee

jazzyvee · « **Reply #40 on:** July 27, 2012, 03:04:55 PM »

Well Bad planning indeed, we drove all the way down to the venue and the manager told us the gig has been cancelled.
We couldn't get hold of the promoter so had a long drive back.

Jazzyvee

edwin · « **Reply #41 on:** July 28, 2012, 12:26:47 AM »

Yikes! I hate it when that happens. The last time for me was a gig in Cleveland, which was about 500 miles out of our way. We didn't even get to talk to manager. We showed up to a locked venue. Of course, that didn't compare to showing up to a gig at a theater in Milwaukee and finding the fire department watering down the last ashes of the building....

I hope you get something out of the promoter for your troubles.

rustyg61 · « **Reply #42 on:** July 28, 2012, 12:35:04 AM »

WOW Jazzyvee! That sucks! I hope they had a cancellation pay clause in their contract!

jazzyvee · « **Reply #43 on:** August 30, 2012, 02:49:33 PM »

I've got a gig in Trafalgar Square tomorrow Friday 31st August 2012 with Musical Youth. It's a free gig and we are on-stage at 19:00. So if you are around London at that time please feel free to pop along and even say hi.

http://www.btlondonlive.com/whats-on/live-music

Jazzyvee

jacko · « **Reply #44 on:** August 31, 2012, 12:58:49 AM »

Wow!. You get some great Gigs Jazzy!

Graeme