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Okay , now let’s debate the differences between two strands of hair Fellas,Lol! I’m being a bit facetious here, but sometimes ,things are already good enough to work for what we need to gig or record with. And there are other factors as well at play to take into account.
Mostly how we feel at the time of actually playing.Who we are playing with, the actual room, the audience, the jerk manager telling you to turn down.
Even when recording there are other factors like, how does it sit in the mix, the compression being used,eq,etc.
I think it’s great to hear all of these opinions and test results. But I sometimes think it can be a bit much as well. Kind of chasing the proverbial rabbitt down the hole as they say.
Im just glad there are so many great options that are affordable!
Now about that $50 Gig Lol!
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12-07-2024 04:08 PM
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i posted a clip someone made of me playing through the tc combo deluxe
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And that’s my point in a big nutshell. Find a sound you like and enjoy it. There is no single objective specific “Fender Deluxe” (or any other) sound, so attempts to get it are doomed to failure unless you luck into what you think it is. The general characteristics are the best we can reliably and consistently get from the right rigs.
Originally Posted by jads57
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Sounds really good Jack Z. Such a drag musicians needed to put a tip jar out for pay. I’m sure the venue pays very little,which is due to lack of attendance and ringing of the tills. Sure glad at our age we did most of our gigging when it was just lousy pay and all the smoke you could inhale for free,Lol!
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It's not horrible pay. We typically get $75 or $80 each + a free meal. Last wednesday we got $70 in tips so it sort of makes it on par for a jazz gig. Originally Posted by jads57
But obviously not great pay either!
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Well the new $150 with tips included,is the old $75 we made on weekdays at local bars. Funny how pay has really gone down and not kept up with other occupations.
Kind of a Sad Telling of a musicians career. And to add more salt in the wound,teaching and recording has also gone down the tubes,sans the lucky few!
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The $80 in tips was split between us so actually the gig paid $70 + ($40 in tips) last week with tips. Wish it was $150, lol. Originally Posted by jads57
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Jack I live in Pittsburgh. Where do you play out in your area?
Originally Posted by jzucker
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Jack Z years ago, a musician friend of mine taught me a very important lesson. He said “You either sell tickets or drinks, and we ain’t selling tickets!”
Most of the ways a pro musician could make a modest living,are now gone,due to technology and social preferences.
Most people connect via computers,IPhones,etc. Even when they are together. It used to be the band or music at a venue. Which sometimes was attached to a Bowling Alley, Lol!
Now people who are part timers just do it for Beer and maybe Gas $
Even the lucrative jingle dates here in Minneapolis, have been replaced by kids in their parents basement doing it for fun!
The sad thing is the little creativity that came from actual professional musicians is now pretty much gone!
It’s cheaper to have one or maybe 2 people create the song, jingle,gig,etc. And the audience doesn’t care,as long as they are entertained VISUALLY! That’s why real creative music which requires LISTENING, is almost a thing of the past. Incredibly Sad!
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The disparity is stark and has been for most all of my adult life (65). A relative handful of musicians make six figures or more per year, a tiny sliver make seven figures or more, and the other 99% make five figures per year if they're lucky. Playing music has made me a hundredaire. IMHO in jazz the financial deterioration seems to have started around the time of bebop, which attracted a small audience to tiny clubs, which therefore couldn't pay very much. Bebop, which takes active effort from the listener to understand, was never going to be popular radio fighter. Pop music stands for "popular," of course, and jazz may be respected but it's not popular. Since the 40s, it has not been popular. Audience tastes changed and the music changed away from the tastes of most audiences.
Jazz can really only function remotely viably in very large urban areas like New York or Los Angeles, where even if only 0.1% of the population is interested out of 8 million or more people, that's enough to keep clubs more or less filled up. Somewhere like here (Minneapolis/St. Paul, about 3 million people in the metro area) there is a paltry handful of clubs that feature jazz and those are fewer in number all the time. With no demand, the economic realities are hiring amateurs, who don't really care if they get paid, instead of hiring people who want to make a living playing music. Venues are on the edge of going out of business all the time because the economics of running a club or restaurant are brutal; they don't have spare money to pay musicians. Many do go out of business. The places that do make a consistent go here of it sell tickets to dinner shows (the Dakota and Crooners), so there are two revenue streams: ticket sales and food/drinks sales. Both of these can feature national acts; there are smaller venues that feature more local musicians. There is some potential for corporate gigs, which will pay a band rather than necessitating sitting out a tip jar, which doesn't really look good in that setting. Nursing home/senior housing places also often bring in live music once or twice a month.
But even among "pop" musicians, incomes have fallen dramatically with the rise of streaming- which basically does not pay artists for the use of their art to make a profit for others. It is perfection for Big Music: a few companies control the record labels and they also have financial interest in entities like Spotify, so they collect money on both sides of the equation. Gotta keep those executives in cigars, champagne and caviar (not sure if hookers and blow are as popular as they once were in that world). Apple, Spotify, YouTube, etc., make huge revenues which they keep rather than paying on to the content creators who make them possible. And content creators are apparently happy to go along with getting screwed financially in order to get "likes" and streaming plays. I refuse to use Spotify or Apple Music for this reason; I buy music digitally most of the time (I really don't have room for more albums and CDs than I already have); I buy through Bandcamp when I can because the artist gets a better share of the money than through Apple iTunes. Plus, on Bandcamp, many of those recordings are self-produced and there isn't a record company skimming money off the top either.Last edited by Cunamara; 12-08-2024 at 05:00 PM.
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So the Dakota Bar was mentioned in the above post. I used to play there quite often at the old St.Paul-location. Even had a steady trio gig on Mondays. I occasionally play at the Minneapolis location.
But it’s mostly Black Gospel and or a Louis Prima type music thing.
And even then I’m lucky to make $100 as a sideman.
Crooners which is owned by Mary ? owns a bunch of nursing homes, and got into the club business as a hobby. She has figured out a way to have mostly local talent sell tickets to their shows, and split the house proceeds. It can be good if you have a popular show.
Jazz does t really sell that well here,and rarely has. But just good live music was always a good bet in T.C. area in the past.
Probably still better than most places for its population size.
But really even then most pay is playing for the door and really small guarantee.
Its unfortunate but time marches on and being a musician is almost like being a gunslinger in the past.Sure had a cool aura about it. But the reality was harsh. And there no longer any gunslingers,sans paid hitmen,Lol!
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I have one steady gig these days on wednesday nights in highland heights. Duo with a bassist. We're off until Jan 8th though Originally Posted by Wildcat
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So back to the Tone X One pedal. I was reading and watching demos of this pedal. I didn’t realize it had actual knobs 3 to be exact. Apparently you can also use them for compression,noise gate,reverb as well as treble, bass, middle.
And it has 2 settings you can switch between. And also able to store 20 different patches? Wow!
So I just went ahead and got one off of Reverb used. I figure if doesn’t work out I’ll just sell it and go with T.C.Deluxe pedal.
Im just hoping it’s as easy to use live with my Fender Tonemaster 1x10” powered cab.
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Well I just bought the T.C. Deluxe as well, Lol! Heck for $100 almost a no brainer. Now I’ll need to get rid of my Quilter U.K.Super Block!
Jack Z this is all your fault,Lol!
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I remember reading an interview with one of the old West Bank musicians (Dave Ray or Tony Glover, maybe Cornbread, IIRC) who noted that in 1969 they got $350 for a quartet gig, and in 1999 they still got $350 for a quartet gig. In '69 they could make a living. Now you'd be lucky to get the same even before accounting for inflation- corrected for inflation, a $350 gig in 1969 would be about $3000 today! Originally Posted by jads57
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Well I did the same thing thanks to Jack!
Lol!
Originally Posted by jads57
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I just had a conversation with a pianist who has had a couple of albums favorably reviewed in Downbeat.
The pianist has a regular gig in a good size bar in a California vacation spot.
I'd assumed the gig was paying decently. But, in fact, the pianist pays the bassist and drummer and hopes, at a minimum, to break even. With good tips, it's better than that, but not great.
Another bandleader (albums too, but not reviewed in DB) recently told me the same thing. Pays the sidemen and hopes to break even. Different venue. Probably $300 for the band would be a reasonably good gig.
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It's pretty common for independent jazz artists that want to gig and promote their albums to finance their gigs. I know people who do European tours and they end up costing the leader a few thousand euros. This holds true even in more popular genres like metal for example, it's not unheard for bands to pay five digit numbers per year for touring, studios, publicity etc.. Makes you wonder if it's worth pursuing. 99% you are not making that money back..
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That may have worked back when people were still buying albums, but now with streaming there's little income there either! In fact many acts consider albums to be promotion for the tour, where they can make some money. Originally Posted by Alter
I'm glad the I came up when there were songwriters to back up, song demos to play on, occasional commercial work, and even weddings and Bar Mitzvahs! And still I taught 4 days a week. I finally decided there had to be better ways to make money in music, and I went in search of those.
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So what are your thoughts regarding the two pedals? And if you get rid of the SBUK, what will you use as an amp? Originally Posted by jads57
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Still waiting to have both pedals arrive in the mail. As far as an amp I have a Fender Tonemaster 1x10” powered cab that I will use these pedals with.
Currently I have several Quilter Combos 1x12” and 1x8” as well as a Tone Block 202 head for bigger gigs with a 2x12” small open back cab.
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