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And he we are again, what are transparent compressors good for in a pub band? Not about to try and teach anyone to suck eggs, if you know this stuff, sorry for the post, if you are not really interested please skip it, if you want to know why a compressor might help you in a live situation when it apparently 'does nothing' or 'kills my dynamics' then feel free to have a read. Its like a very cut down compressor 101 chat I gave once, which some of you are still scarred by..... Originally compression was supposed to be a transparent tool to prevent an engineer from having to ride a fader throughout a take or a mix. All it was supposed to do was keep that level more even - as often as not by just slightly modifying the envelope of the input sound, hence the attack and release control. And with VCA compressors they pretty much achieved it. But before VCA compressors there were Vari-mu compressors (real tube compressors), Optical compressors and FET compressors. All these types have pluses and minuses, they all have different attack and release curves all of which do more than just transparently alter volume and help out an engineer. On top of these types of compressor there is tape compression and and amp/driver compression - no driver is completely compression free when you push it hard, no amp is compression free when you push it hard, all overdrives and distortions and fuzzes are also compressors, just totally not transparent ones. The best ever compressor you will ever experience is the pair you have strapped on to the side of your head all day. Yes your ears/brain are simply the most powerful compressor you can buy. The quietest sound you can hear is equivalent to your ear drum moving the width or a single molecule apparently, whilst the loudest sound you can hear before deafening yourself pretty much instantly is hundreds of thousands of times louder (you need to look into the way sound pressure level measured in micro pascals and decibels work as units of measurement). That amazing set of compressors on the side of your head has an unfortunate side effect, without a direct reference you are almost totally volume blind, small changes in volume are beyond you to describe, you can not reliably perceive them. Unless they are compared to a level that has not changed and is not changing. Obviously bigger differences are easy to perceive but the differences that can make or break a mix, if you aren't listening to the the mix happening at the time, nope, not a hope. So a deliberately transparent compressor you can't hear working on your signal in isolation, until you are doing way to much with it, and thats about when you feel your dynamics disappearing, because you are doing huge amount of compression in order to hear anything much at all. In a mix way less compression would be 'enough' to change the envelope of your signal to make your instrument be easier to hear, but you aren't in a mix so in order to hear anything at all you put way too much compression on. Thing is, a studio engineer has the time and choice to select the right type of compressor for the particular part of a track he/she wants it for and then set it up just so. What it does to an instrument in a mix then is help prevent 'masking', this is where the envelope of the signal drops in such a way, either because of the player's technique or their instrument or their preferred tonal choices that some other instrument makes it hard to hear when it plays at the same time. Near the end of a mix when two instruments are masking each other I have found that a change of as little as 0.1dB can sometimes make a real difference to the way a pair of instruments sound in a mix. Back to live then. If you are trying to use a compressor to help you be heard in a mix you need very very little for it to make a difference. If you are using compression for a definite effect then you may need bucket loads. If you like your tone as it is but feel you sometimes 'disappear' in the mix and are constantly turning up, then a transparent compressor, set just right, could be the answer to the fight. But you need good critical listening skills, you need to do this 'in the mix' unless you have great metering on the pedal to help you out otherwise you probably will put too much compression on the sound in order to hear it happening. Compression is difficult to master when you are in the safe space of a mix down with no distractions and lots of time to experiment. In order to make it 'easier' to use many pedals have no 'confusing' metering and not all the required parameters to really control the compression. This is a double edged sword, no metering and 'doing it by ear' are nigh on impossible with a transparent compressor unless you are setting it up in situ in the mix. On the other hand a full featured compressor is waaay to complex for an average bassist to get the best out of, and also remember that little detail about setting it right for a particular song? Well you cant with an always on compressor, so you have to set it to help you a little bit all the time, and that's another skill. Ultra low ratio (1.5 to 1 even), very low threshold, slow-ish attack (50 to 80 ms) and fast release (less than 30ms) giving not more than 3dB total compression on the loudest parts is probably a good target for a general touch of compression type of setting on bass live IME. No you cant really hear or feel it if you are just playing solo (dont be concerned if when playing normally the 3dB light doesnt light up at all, you are still getting some compression if your threshold is set right). In the mix you will be easier to hear, whether you are a loud or quiet band. Not because of tonnes of compression but because your individual note envelopes are changed just a smidge so that the post transient part of the note envelope is a touch louder than before. Hope that makes some sense, probably not though

My BB2024X arrived I was worried for a short while that it'd be just the same as my 1024x ....and I'd be a few (!) quid poorer....but the more I've played it (only had it a few hours) the more the differences really show. First thing was the weight, noticeably lighter than the 1024x. The neck on 2024x is slicker with slightly less clunky dimensions (I've not measured! Just my initial feel), the neck near the heel is finished much more smoothly meaning access higher up is a lot easier, quite noticeable. Finish much much nicer (to be expected though given price difference). Frets are also not as 'tall' which certainly adds to the playability. Sound-wise, there isn't a lot in it as has probably been expressed elsewhere, and they are currently wearing different strings so not an accurate comparison, but the 2024 seems a bit more articulate and even across the board....but maybe only the player can tell! Overall, couldn't be happier! Merry xmas to me

I had a Mesa Boogie RR 2x18 that stopped the UK from lifting off into the air.

Now then. Some of you may recall the Smitten Kitten thread from a while back. I fell in love with a five-string Mike Lull NRT5, sold a bunch of basses and put in an order. Six months on, the photo below dropped into my inbox today with a brief message saying Mike Lull will be building it this week, so hopefully I'll see it before Christmas. I guess it's pretty rare to see his work like this, so posting here. I am heartedly excited. P

I've had a look and can't see mention of this elsewhere. Alan Cringeon is a valued friend. I've followed his career as a luthier for at least 11 years, from the early days. Many of you will know him and his work, either directly or from various bass resources. I won't go on but I would like to offer my congratulations as a Salace 5 String E-Type has just been awarded the accolade 'Fretless Bass of 2017' by Bass Guitar Magazine. I know how much time, effort and pure craft Alan has devoted to building both basses and guitars over the years and I for one am dead chuffed for him. Peter

In that case, I can only conclude that most bass players are unaware of what a comp is for and what it really does - and therefore don't know how to use it properly. And the effect of proper use in any case is likely to be so subtle that it will be less than the difference to be got from using a different bass or a different set of strings. So in the chaos of your average pub gig it's hardly worth bothering with a comp pedal and therefore you can save yourself a considerable amount of cash by not buying one. So I will do what I have done for decades, rely on professional engineers and producers to do their thing, and save myself a ton of mental grief and anguish simply by not thinking about pedal comps ever again! It would seem that one would be better off directing one's time and effort into being a better bass player rather than dabbling with forces one does not understand... Thus will the geeks inherit the Earth! These compressor threads are a fecking minefield! I'm out!

We've just got an early Xmas present! The Contour is one of 5 instruments cited in the 'Best Acoustic Basses' category of Bass Guitar Magazine's 'Gear of the Year' round-up for 2017. According to the citation: "...the tones can't be denied." The Contour is the only electro-acoustic bass guitar to be selected from the premium £1500-plus price bracket. We're well chuffed with that!

You'd be best off to replace the 1/4" in the cab with Speakon, or have it done for you. 1/4" is fine in its original intended application, telephone switchboards, but where speakers are concerned there's nothing about them to recommend.

I'd put the percentage who hold that belief to be closer to five. Don't confuse religious fundamentalism with political conservatism. Even on that the percentage of American voters who are true conservatives is nowhere near half. As with true liberals it's more like 15%. The vast majority are actually centrist, with leanings one way or another, but not strict agendas. OTOH the percentage of Americans who are numbingly stupid probably does approach half, but occasionally something happens that reaffirms the potential for hope that we still have a future, yesterdays election result in Alabama, for instance.

Mine arrived yesterday, it sounds amazing out of the box so I can't wait to get fiddling with the settings!

It's good to see you publicly embracing your inner Bill Oddie Maybe you could change your user name to Owl Crow in homage to the great man? PS - you forgot Freebird.

Was it still functional afterwards?

Hi Chiliwailer I have spare strap extension that you are welcome to have. No charge. Let me know if you want it. It might be better to wait until the new year before posting due to the Christmas rush? You'll have to drill two holes in the extension piece, one at each end, (easily done) and one hole in the guitar for the extension to swivel on. It rests against the existing strap button to stop it in the correct positon. I'll send a pic. Frank.

I would stick with the spector, I've never found a rick I can get on with and also find Ricks to lack versatility

Adam tried to impress Eve by 'doing a Jaco' but she said it was aimless noodling.

Bit of fun - I wanted to see how the Harley Benton would sound. Not bad as it happens. Its a very functional bass! I fret dressed it and set it up and it plays great. Baseball bat neck. Compared to what was kicking about 25 years ago, cheap basses these days are great !

Both of these issues are now fixed by the way. No idea if it was something done at your end or just me rebooting my iPad, but all is well now!

Fair points, Bill. I've been watching a lot of Matt Dillahunty's phone ins on YouTube recently, so my view is probably unfairly jaundiced. I do appreciate that the people who call him and try to claim the man in the sky exists are not truly representative. Alabama was very good news. Well done Doug Jones.

He was there but it took me too long to take the picture... he will be missed...

Not a bass, but I recently purchased some stage lighting from Gumtree for £60. When I went to pick the gear up (from a private school, as it turned out, who just wanted to clear some space), I thought to myself, "these look pretty good quality!". There were 8 Selecon fresnels, and 4 zoom spots, with very substantial tripod stands, T-bars, and two dim/chase controllers. Anyway, I sold 4 of the fresnels for £260, a controller for £100, and two of the spots for £230. A very tidy little profit, and I'm still left with 4 fresnels, 2 spots, the tripods and a controller. Not sure whether to even keep them, because they take an extra 45 minutes or so to cool down after a gig. LED is the way to go for a pub band that just wants to pack up and get home after the show ...

You can run 2 instruments - use the main input for one and the Aux in (full fat) or a Loop return (LT) for the other. Then Just set Path A for 1 instrument, and Path B for the other and keep them completely separate. Just remember to also set the outputs separately as well so they go to different board channels. If neither path is stereo then just split left and right on the XLRs. If, for example the bass is mono but the guitar is stereo then use the 1/4 outputs for 1, and the XLRs for the other

my Hartke 210XL cab is the exact right height for putting a desk fan pointing at my bed. Coincidence? I think NOT. Very clever, Larry

You're in good company, I don't think Lemmy had ever played a bass until he started playing with Hawkwind, and he didn't do too bad!

Yup it’s interesting and clearly shows I have too much time on my hands! Night shift can get boring!

Same pickups and hardware, the darker stripes in the neck are mahogany on the 2024X vs something else on the 1024X. Body is meant to be slightly more contoured on the Japanese model, along with the heat and vibration treatments. The neck is nicer overall, looks like a rubbed oil finish and more attention paid to rolled fingerboard edges etc. Otherwise not much between them, if you're not 100% sold on whether it would be a keeper and are just shopping around trying various basses I would just go for the 1024/1025 and then consider the pro model if you fall in love with it!

Oh yes, I can see that for you, but it's just one more step on a CNC router for the mass produced stuff. They're doing the same sort of cuts for the cavity panels anyhow...

I've had the utter pleasure of playing Doug's actual Spector and yes, it definitely does have a Jazz neck profile (as do the signature models yup) and OMG what an instrument!

Yes. I don't need a compressor for 'remedial' reasons, but I like the Diamond bass compressor because it instantly makes a bass sound big, fat and lush.

When my wife was in the hospice, during the last month of her life, I picked up the new Slash album (at the time) Apocalyptic Love. Great album and I was stunned by the vocalist Myles Kennedy. Who was this guy and where did he come from? I then discovered Alter Bridge, Myles' main band. After my wife's death, I bought the Alter Bridge album ABIII. On that album is a song called 'Wonderful Life' which could have been written about my experiences with my wife in those last few weeks. I still struggle to listen to it sometimes now and my tattoo tribute to my wife, on my arm, has extracts from that song included.

Lazy engineering is lazy engineering. Getting a mix to balance live is full of variables though and sometimes, just sometimes a heavily compressed bass is the best the acoustic of the room can support at 'war' volume. Its not always a lazy engineer, they may have tried everything else first. Admittedly at the level most of us play at they probably havent given the bass more than a couple of seconds thought in the mix, you're lucky if they have sympathetically eq'ed the bass and kick to work together rather than fight each other to be honest. But thats why I have great gear, run my own PA and always do a soundcheck (even if its only 10 minutes)

Woof!

Luxury, we used to live in an old Behringer 4x12 on the pavement.

You should absolutely always choose a bass that you find comfortable. I tend to that think whatever instrument you learn on has implications for what you may or may not find comfortable. I learned to play on a Ric so don’t have any problems in that respect ( & mine balance fine; I’ve had a couple with bigger headstocks which were a little neck-heavy, but no more than most Fenders I‘ve had) whereas for me a Fender Jazz is about as uncomfortable as an instrument gets (and all the Jazzes I‘ve owned have nosedived, bar one which weighed a ton). Obviously YMMV.

You need to remember that about half of them will be creationists and thus don't get an opinion on anything to do with maths.

The success of people like Lozz and Ambient is truly inspiring to me. I play in original bands too and I'd love to get to that point, even if I am still working my day job. Playing covers in the pub at the weekend has absolutely no appeal to me at all - nothing against it, it's just not for me. I've left many pubs because of bands playing "classic rock covers", even if they're playing them really well, it just grates for some reason. It's all subjective isn't it

I've had both and for me the Spector was superior in every way, although less iconic.

Is it not possible to hire an instrument while you're over there? Or borrow one?

Sly & The Family Stone December 10th, 1969 Madison Square Garden. Band Of Gypsys New Year's Eve 1969 Filmore East Blue

Don't forget, the thumb is a finger. Sometime I do it for ease (just on the E string) because if I were to try it with (other) fingers, I'd need to shift up and rest my thumb on the pickup; and if its horizontally not there, I'd need to either find the pickup (to rest on) or float my right hand around in mid-air, guessing. I suppose the correct solution is to buy a 5-string, since they have a 34" long thumb rest built in.

I've already expressed at length how I think there are great basses, and I am a fan. Had I the cash right now, I'd be snappping off your hand for one of your cut price Cuntour S's. However I now cannot unsee that the headstock reminds me of Mr Greedy:

But ultimately, especially on the second hand market, buyers set the prices, not the sellers. Nobody will actually buy that used Yamaha for £780. He'll keep relisting it at lower prices until it sells, probably around the 400-450 mark (which the original seller could have got had he put it up as a buy it now item).

'Crook'

Correct. The original seller should have done his homework.

Can't work out what's wrong here? The guy bought the bass at the lower price, legitimately and is now trying to sell it at a higher price, again, legitimately. It remains to be seen if anyone will buy it at the higher price. Why's he a crook?

Hi folks, here's a bass solo from a gig in Japan with my band Preston Glasgow Lowe. Hope you enjoy it! [media]http://youtu.be/8OX_FrN52ho[/media] Cheers, Kev