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Did live sound to help a friend out. First time in a decade doing live sound for someone other than my band! Desk was a soundcraft ui24r, perfectly nice bit of kit, not a brilliant ui but ok. Never used one before, so a bit in at the deep end. I thought he was going to bring his Midas Pro 1 though, bah humbug! Band is a Stones tribute band so drums, 2 guitars, bass, vocal, bvs. Sound checked in 30 minutes. Had a blast. Apparently best on stage sound they've had, which is nice. Oh and the punters reckoned it was the best band with the best sound they've had in the venue ever. Pretty chuffed really, guess I've still got it then 🙂

Our seven piece swing/Dixie band finally played our first gig since the start of Covid and it was touch and go until the last minute due to the drummer's wife being very sick with Covid, luckily he tested OK in the afternoon so we could play. Not a big audience but the consensus was that the band was "on" and I think it was our best gig so far, everyone was ready to play and the sound was great. I used my Shen SB100 with a Boss wireless and a Schatten Design preamp(volume control only) straight into our Bose PA and I play the tenor banjo for the Dixie set. As usual we did two swing sets and then I switch to banjo and a sax player covers the bass parts on Bari sax and we play a Dixieland/trad set that always goes over well, lots of fun with various mutes, trombone glisses, drum solos and screaming clarinet parts...love it! Almost two months to the next gig but it's great to be back.😊

Given the name of the band, there's an obvious irony here ...

A month since my last update, and progress has been, let's say - incremental. After applying a couple more coats, the plan was to give it a week or so to let the layers of Danish Oil harden off, after which a final (or so I thought!) light sand to smooth it, before one last thin coat of oil, which should have resulted in the expected lustrous, satiny sheen I've achieved from this process before. The hardening phase was rudely extended by (having successfully dodged it for 2 & a half years), me finally being afflicted with The 'Rona, which was thoroughly horrid. So that basically added another week, and once I'd recovered sufficiently to be able to perform basic manual tasks (whilst still being a brain-fogged snot factory), it got a gentle and thorough wire-wooling, then that last coat of oil. To my surprise (and mild dismay, considering how long this was taking) the finish on the body wings set to a very varnish-y looking bright gloss, quite different to the expected satin finish on the neck & centre sections. The oil itself was also slightly gummy to the touch, not cured properly hard. However, after various pissings-around & experimenting, I found that, quite counter-intuitively, T-Cutting the shiny bits seemed to remove the top layer & restore the expected satin finish, and also seemed to encourage the stuff to harden off properly. So after a lot of buffing, coughing, sneezing and sniffing, this is where we are: And I think that's a finished finish, apart from removing some little bits of Danish Oil residue from the top & fretboard edges. Then just a couple of little aesthetic jobs to do, and I should be able to start welding & nailing all the bits back on.

Well then, finally I got this. Proper NSD thread will follow but for now this would do. Spector Euro 5 Classic, ridiculously good craftsmanship and sounds great, too 😀

It's always struck me as odd that, whilst most people view it as normal for instrumentalists to work at their craft, practice scales, acquire theoretical knowledge and so on, many seem to think that singing well is all down to "talent". Proper singers know different, of course and will learn vocal techniques and exercises and practice just as any musician does. They know that having a decent sounding voice (which is something one is born with) is only a starting point. Shame there aren't more who think that way.

On Bank Holiday Monday the covers band took part in a charity festival at a local pub. It was to raise money for the local Air Ambulance. It was the first time our newish drummer, Guido, had taken part in such an event. The multi-band setup requiring quick turn-arounds, no sound-checks and borrowed kit freaked him out a bit. I think he got used to a much more leisurely, comfortable way of doing things in his native Sicily! Not to mention the dusty trailer soiling his immaculate jeans 😆. He did well, though. Hopefully plenty of money was raised. The flying blood wagon does a lot of business around here, what with the outdoor activities of the Peak District and the motorcycle hot-spots.

I brought the gain back to 12 o'clock and a little bit lower and i could still hear it when i played hard. UPDATE :- Leszek got back to me today and with the settings i have on the amp he said the pre is being overloaded. You cant run these amps at low master volumes when at home. He suggested running the master at 100% and adjust Gain to suit. I did that and it works perfectly altho very very loud even with gain just off the bottom. I then dropped master to 50% and brought Gain up to the "crunch" marked point on the gain and still sounded ok. I then hit the drive button on and i could hear the valves working harder. I tried playing quite hard even at those high volumes of 50% and no farting distortion now. Leszek suggested i always run with master at full and adjust Gain for my working volume. So it looks like the pre-amp was overloaded because the master was so low. I've not had an all valve amp for about 40 yrs when i had Marshalls. I've had valve pre-amp ones where i addjusted the gain to get that slight distortion and adjusted my master for working volume. All valve amps appear to be a different way of working. Leszek said these amps are not really for home use. I have a punk gig on Sat night and will really put it thru its paces. One thing i would say is that the tone is almost like a modern sounding amp with the depth of an all valve amp. I've never come across that kind of tone before in an all valve amp. So so nice. I'm now back to being happy again.

The Question I'm Asked Most Often Is ... "Is that a cello?" BUT The question I'm asked most often by other musicians is, "How do you do those harmony vocals?". There doesn't seem to be a thread anywhere about BVs, so I thought I'd stick this here. At every live gig with my two main bands, I bring That's a Pedaltrain Nano (plus an extra pedal off to the left) fitted on top with a Diago mains power distribution and underneath with a battery pack that can deliver up to 1A - note the label on the Harmoniser pedal. The bread and butter end of the board is I still rate the red Mic Mechanic as one of the most useful things any vocalist can carry, a genuine Swiss Army Knife of a vocal pedal. https://www.tc-helicon.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DDW The green Duplicator is, essentially, a Mic Mechanic with the Echo function replaced by live ADT, really useful if you need a voice 'thickened up' on stage. https://www.tc-helicon.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DDX In The Junkyard Dogs I route lead singer Rick through the Mic Mechanic and drummer/BVs Paul through the Duplicator. In Damo & The Dynamites I route lead singer Damo through the Duplicator and I put my own voice through the Mic Mechanic solely for some subtle pitch correction ... essential (IMHO) if you're going to use a harmoniser of any kind. Ah yes, the harmoniser. For that we need the other end of the board. Since The Junkyard Dogs routinely sing in 3-part harmony there's no call for a harmoniser pedal. For those gigs, I swop out the harmoniser for the TC Helicon Voicetone X1 (on the left there). I've always sung and I carry a tune well, but my voice is a muddy baritone which simply does not cut through in a pub rock setting. The X1 is frankly a bit of a novelty act thing; it has eight settings, of which just one I find useful but thats OK, I only need that one setting! https://www.tc-helicon.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DE4 With Damo & The Dynamites it's a whole nother thang. The drummer doesn't sing so all the BVs are me, and we do a lot of stuff where the song is 'made' by the harmony BVs ... think how lame a lot of early Elvis would have sounded without The Jordanaires. To achieve that I use the TC Helicon Voicetone H1, and that's the pedal that gets noticed; used wrong it's the most complete train wreck you can imagine, but used right it can really deliver. This pedal has the facility to run your guitar/bass through it which will automatically set the correct key, which is cool but of surprisingly limited use. Firstly, if you operate it like a pedal (i.e. with your foot) then you are either restricted to a single set of harmonies or you have to kneel down and fiddle with it between songs. Secondly, if you play a fretless bass or a double bass then the smallest error in your intonation can have catastrophic impact. 😂 I keep the whole board at waist height beside me and operate it manually. Note the Tippex marks at E and A for easy location on a dark stage. As an aside, on one occasion I used this pedal to tune my bass at a gig ... I sang each note (EADG) with the pedal correcting my pitch, and tuned to it. https://www.tc-helicon.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DE1 When multiple harmonies are not needed but I still want it to sound as if more than one person is supplying BVs I switch to the TC Helicon Critical Mass. This is something of a halfway house between the Duplicator and the Voicetone H1; it can be used in quite a subtle way but it certainly beefs up the sound of a stripped-down 3-piece. https://www.tc-helicon.com/product.html?modelCode=P0CGT I should probably state for the record that I am NOT sponsored by or affiliated to TC Helicon ... I just like their pedals. All five of these were bought by me, with my own money. Speaking of which, all these pedals have increased in price substantially since I bought them, by well over 50% in a couple of cases. On the other hand, we now have blue passports. For context, in the unlikely event that someone wanted to duplicate precisely my vocal pedal board today, and bought new all the way (I always buy pre-owned if I can), they would still have change from a grand. That's including the Nano and both power supplies. If my board got nicked and I needed to replace it, I would expect to spend half that figure. Now ask yourself how much a half-decent bass guitar costs ...

Ah, great. I keep forgetting the WB is best with the output maxxed. Believe me when that power stage starts to glow at the gig, your life will change 🙂

August 26th: This evening we played at a new venue for us, just south of Stockport. The evening was slightly marred by me getting yet another migraine, just before we were due on stage. Three Zapains and 15 minutes in my car in the dark sorted it out so that I could play. There was a short panic when I rooted through my pockets and found empty pill-strips. I thought I'd taken all of my tablets and had none with me to use, but it all worked out. We stuck to the crowd-pleasers. Although there were a lot of their regulars missing, because of holidays and such, we went down a treat with those who were there. One of the more involved crowds we've had for a short while. Back there in November and hoping to break into the pub chain that has that venue. - - - - - - - - - - - - - August 27th: The evening saw us at one of our regular venues in Leigh. The PA was overly bassy and boomy - even just with recorded music with a flat EQ on the player and bass rolled right off on the PA - and I ended up having complete nightmares with my bass sound. I practically had it on nothing for a lot of the second half. We usually invoke what I call 'The C**t Code' when someone in the crowd falls into the gear. We stop dead on any disruption. Of course, there was the inevitable whizzed-up bald guy. You know the type, big stupid grin, shaved head, trying to take over the show from the band, who inadvertently turn into their backing. Yeah, he's the one.... The punters usually give up and move on, not that the prat ever notices. He had probably been drinking all day and was idiot dancing wildly in front of us to impress all the punters in the pub (he failed miserably - they all thought he was making a total c*ck of himself). We knew it was coming. He fell into my mic, so I stuck my bass sharply into the back of his head and shoved him roughly away. So... out comes the code... I announced the next song as the last one - and so it was. The crowd were just limp. The sound had been too much of a problem for us and we were glad to stop and get out a little earlier than expected. The prat came up to me as we were putting the gear near the exit and slurred incoherently at me (probably to ask if we were doing any more, so he could carry on his grisly cabaret), so I told him about the C**t Code and thanked him for saving us 20 minutes playing time. He just looked confused. Take the money and run, I say. - - - - - - - - - - - - - August 28th: The jam night in the evening started late, as the Christening function in our venue didn't want to stop. It's good that they were having such a good time. They carried on until the jam night punters started pouring in through the door around 7pm. We were a number of the usual players down, but you might not have been able to tell that on the night. We made the best of the players that we had and I ended up singing a few songs and had some surprise help which was nice. - - - - - - - - - - - - - August 29th: Bank Holiday Monday. I walked the dogs then I had a bath and at around 2pm, we set off for a festival, near Blackpool. We were due on at 5, so we got there around 3pm and met up to spend time with our drummer and his wife. We were asked if we could go on a bit earlier as the band before us had rather a lot of a mishap with their guitarist failing to turn up, so they didn't play. We were asked to cover their spot for an increased fee. When our guitarist Ian arrived, we hustled onto the stage and played a longer-than-expected set. We went down really well and we look pretty certain to be doing it again this time next year. Lots of compliments from audience members and other musicians, as well as the organisers. A day well spent. Nice that my wife managed to come along for this afternoon, as she is struggling with quite a lot of severe abdominal pain and is struggling to eat or drink at present.

This came up in a search under Musical Instruments & DJ Equipment -> Performance & DJ Equipment -> Mixers https://www.gumtree.com/p/audio-dj-mixers/mixer-/1428234891 (https:/ /i.ebayimg.com/images/g/OPIAAOSwsfJiNYtL/s-l800.webp)

I don't think it looks bad on him - an amp has been sent from poland to the UK, there are plenty of things that can go wrong in that process. Seemed a reasonable question. And then we see that he is responding well to the issue, I would only read that as a plus on the company. You really can. Maybe not with this amp, but you certainly can with 'a valve amp'. If it is not the correct way to use this amp, maybe future builds should get rid of the master volume?

But hold on here. You're the customer. You have paid out and are unhappy. It's good that you are getting the service you expect but I see no issue at all with seeking the input of other users, with more experience of the amp. I can't imagine there is any reputational damage at this stage.

The luthier told me he found the machine head that way, without the screw, to me seems impossible to lose it because I've never unscrew it.. By the way.. I found the distributor of the machine and I've been lucky because he had a spare part, it arrived yesterday

Anyone fancy it? Gig is at the Black Prince pub in Abington Square, Northampton, doors open 7-30pm. Small venue, about 150 people. Ticket is FREE (oh, go on then, you can buy me a pint!). Send me a pm if interested.

The Bottle of Evermore ～ Led Zeppelin

I am rapidly falling in love with this for pop and rock…anyone else have one of these?

Bodged the finish - it ain't a pro job in any way, shape or form, but I like it. The wallpaper was embossed, so unless I put 200 coats of lacquer on it was never going to be smooth, so we have a smooth, textured finish. My burst is iffy at best, so you are never going to see this for sale on here as a perfect finish. I've still got the bridge and headstock attachment to fit but it's close to the end (I hope).

Love my Pawn Shop model (2nd one I've owned, never should have sold the first)

And who’s not gonna plug in a new amp immediately?

I saw this quite a while back, it’s a great cover

All my custom Shukers are 32" to the open fret, including the latest:

I posted a question about the Kala "Journeyman" U-bass some time back. I'd not seen one in the flesh, and wanted to try one out. Several months back, when in my local PMT branch, I was discussing this version of the U-bass with a staff member I often chat to. He suggested I order one, and if I didn't like it - I could simply return it. So I ordered one, and it took several months to arrive. So long in fact, I'd almost forgotten it. Apparently, there weren't any in the UK, and bear in mind that the UK distribution centre is just a few miles up the road from me. I'd previously owned a Kala U-bass, and as I've mentioned before - I just didn't get on with the strings. I know others have said that's not an issue.... but for me it was - so I ended up just not playing it. Anyhow, on spotting the Journeyman, I felt like trying again, especially as the one I'd seen online had flatwound strings. Mine has rounds - but that's OK. In any case it would be a simple swap to fit flats (wouldn't it?). My first thoughts were that I had more of an instant bond with this than the last one. The strings felt a much better / more comfortable gauge, "feel" and tension. Moreover I instantly liked the sound too. It's quite different to the rubber string version. It sounds less DB-like (which was one factor I liked about the other version) but still sounded great anyway. It's also very loud unplugged - notably more than the version with rubber strings. I'd say it's possibly as loud as my old Ibanez acoustic bass.... maybe. Amplified, it's got very different sound characteristics to any of my bass guitars. I can still get a tone that's a little like an uprtight (ish). Now I need to play it more to get used to the scale, and I need to take it to rehearsal to see what it sounds like in the mix. I'm looking forward to taking it to one of the folk club pub-jams I sometimes tag along to. Very happy

Personally, I think it's been explained that all is being sought is the experience of other users. You might want, also, to consider the journey that Dave has been on, to arrive at Handbox's door. It appears that Leszek is being very helpful, and that's good customer service. Certainly better than suggesting a customer lacks skill and/or knowledge.

And that's what I'm talking about. You must know the whole case to comment about it. And posts like this wouldn't appear if you just write support first. If support fail then feel free to write everything about it wherever you want. But, imo, it's easier to ask support first, because it can be a really easy problem to solve, than write tons of posts about your disappointment. That's the thing. And I hope that make sense. On a more personal note... You have probably 2 options. You setup your amp wrong. There's something wrong with tubes because sounds comes from amp so it's work (at least to some extent). I think that both are easy to solve. And if not Leszek always give you 2 options: refund or exchange for a new one. That's how he approach to all the clients. You are not alone with your issue. And again, it's not about "no talk about gear issues" but "ask me first and when all fails and you will be dissapointed about my help or approach then feel free to write about it".

Hi all! Leszek asked me to write here his request for all present and future owners of Handbox gear. When you turn on the amplifier for the first time and you have problems or have any questions about your existing gear, please write directly to Leszek. Preferably via facebook. Leszek is always available to help and tries to answer every message as quickly as possible. However, when he sees that you write about problems, that are most often related to lack of skills or knowledge than real factory defects on the forum first, he's a bit "annoyed" because people reading the Handbox thread may think that his products are nothing more than faulty and poor quality. And, as most of you know, Leszek will never allow himself to sell defective equipment to customers and he cares about his reputation a lot. So before you write about your issues on the forum, write directly to Leszek first so users reading this thread won't read mostly about technical problems, but rather discussion about the sound, pros and cons of his amps and your opinions and suggestions Thank you for your understanding.

The black rider - Tom Waits

Re-titled to avoid (further) confusion.

Fair do's but when you receive a new amp at home and you have neighbours both sides, there's not a lot of opportunity to crank it!

For anyone interested, i have started a build post where I will document my limited successes and no doubt, a long list of failings before I finally turn it over to someone who knows what they are doing!

Higgins Boson Blues - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

the heft in the double pickup bass is crazy!! Sounds massive!!! And the bartolini in the orange sounds very nice!! am still thinking I might grab another with a maple neck!

A Dano Longhorn is what I normally gig with , but these shortscales are what I tend to spend my time goofing around on these days. Also a Gretsch baritone guitar that didn’t make it to the photo.

Wooden It Be Nice ～ The Beech Boys

I picked up Waynesworld's sunburst Sterling Ray 25CA last week. I already have another of these in the Lake Toluca blue finish which I'm now in the process of stringing E to C. I've been pleasantly surprised with the quality of these particular basses. I used to own a Ray34CA which punched way, way above its price point so when I saw these used, with the simplicity and looks of the 4 string, I thought I'd use them as a reliable, familiar means of getting back into 5 strings again. Been very impressed so far. Now I've gone and bought a Ray35, it will be an interesting comparison - 2EQ vs 3EQ etc

"No real instruments were harmed in the making of this recording."

Im in the middle of shooting another review video (the editing takes time and I work a dayjob - I dont do YouTube for a living lol)....when this one is complete, Ill start the answer video even if there isnt 500