First gig with new bass
I played my first gig with the new bass yesterday. It's the first time I have really played it properly. It was fun.
The gig was a charity do to raise money for a protest against some Shell operation in County Mayo. It was in the rather large garden of an ex-guest house on Woodhouse Ridge, and there were several dozen people there, quite a few of whom played sets. There were just the 3 of us, Guy Julier on violin and Angus on accordion, and we played for about half an hour.
The bass worked really well through the Ampeg. I got a graphic equaliser pedal for it to deal with the impedance matching problem, and it was really belting it out. I think I'll try using the pedal with the bass guitars as well, and see if I can get more power out of the amp with it. I do need to remember to check the height of the ceiling before setting the bass up. The frame holding up the gazebo we played in was lower than the head, and I nearly bashed it.
One thing I hadn't anticipated was how tired my left arm would get. I should have realised. When I first starting learning the flute my arms used to get tired. It's not the weight of the instrument that's the problem, it's the weight of the arms. I now understand why upright bassists sometimes hit an open string and let their left arm drop for a bar or so. They really do just need a short rest.
The band on after us begged to use the amp, so I had to give in and let them. It did sound good, although the girl playing bass was using a POD, so I don't know how much of her sound came from that.
The gig was a charity do to raise money for a protest against some Shell operation in County Mayo. It was in the rather large garden of an ex-guest house on Woodhouse Ridge, and there were several dozen people there, quite a few of whom played sets. There were just the 3 of us, Guy Julier on violin and Angus on accordion, and we played for about half an hour.
The bass worked really well through the Ampeg. I got a graphic equaliser pedal for it to deal with the impedance matching problem, and it was really belting it out. I think I'll try using the pedal with the bass guitars as well, and see if I can get more power out of the amp with it. I do need to remember to check the height of the ceiling before setting the bass up. The frame holding up the gazebo we played in was lower than the head, and I nearly bashed it.
One thing I hadn't anticipated was how tired my left arm would get. I should have realised. When I first starting learning the flute my arms used to get tired. It's not the weight of the instrument that's the problem, it's the weight of the arms. I now understand why upright bassists sometimes hit an open string and let their left arm drop for a bar or so. They really do just need a short rest.
The band on after us begged to use the amp, so I had to give in and let them. It did sound good, although the girl playing bass was using a POD, so I don't know how much of her sound came from that.