bassbiscuits

I use IEMs in two of my bands but also always use my bass rig onstage. The IEMs are great for getting a decent mix of everything else on stage (including any clicks, tracks etc) but for me there’s no substitute for the feel of real live bass onstage either.

Good gig with the Andy Wales Band at Leicester’s Dos Hermanos Bar. Second time we’ve played there and word seems to have got around as it was pretty busy. First band gig I’ve done since Christmas so I felt a bit off match fitness (hands tiring by halfway through the second half but powering on thru on adrenaline etc - we’ve all been there surely.) Ready for bed now. Edit for gear: Yamaha BB604, Little Mark II head, Markbass STD102F cab, various pedals.

Simon Jones- SGL Guitars. He used to be my go-to repairman when we both lived near each other in Wales some years ago. He’s very good. Drop him a line. http://sglguitars.mysite.com

I’ve had a couple of those double straps and never really got on with them. Instead they just seemed to pull my head forward, which wasn’t ideal.

Haven’t Franz Ferdinand just released a new album too? I think they’re still pretty active rather than being a nostalgia act.

The princely sum of £30 all in.

Courtesy of FB marketplace this weekend I picked up a Yamaha FG Junior JR2 3/4 size acoustic guitar, with its fairly decent padded gigbag and a fender wall hanger thrown in. It’s in pretty much unused condition - I lemon oiled the fretboard, gave it all a good wipe down and restrung it. The action could go down a little and the frets feel like they need a polish but with a good set up I’ll have a very decent little guitar for not much money. Also fits in the car boot nicely which means I won’t have to choose between taking my kids or my guitar whenever I go camping. Happy days.

Aha. The manual points out that: “Guitarists will be pleased to know that two of ZEDi-10FX's mono channels feature Guitar DI high impedance inputs, allowing guitars to be plugged straight into the mixer without the hassle and expense of carrying separate DI boxes.” Theres a push button with a pic of a guitar on it on the channels Im using. If I don’t press it you cant hear enough signal to use. If I do press it you get this massive hum. I’ll try using my DI pedal in the chain and not using the “guitar button.” Also wondered if 3/4 from tuner into XLR of mixer channel would get around it. hmm.

Not as far as I know. I’ve not got the mixer to hand at the moment but it’s always just worked with normal guitar leads. It’s only when effects which are connected to power supplies are involved that the noise starts.

Just guitar lead from acoustic to tuner and then tuner to 3/4 inch jack channel input on mixer.

One of them has a plastic earth pin (a One Spot) the other doesn’t (a Mooer). I tried both and gave up. I ended up using just a tuner running off battery and the hum disappeared.

So I play acoustic guitar, which usually goes straight into my little PA (a little Allen and Heath desk and two Mackie SRM350 powered speakers). The only pedals I use are a Korg Pitchblack tuner, and occasionally a Boss GE7 Eq pedal and a EBS compressor. However I’ve noticed at a couple of gigs (mainly the ones where you’re running a lot off one socket/extension) that whenever I add my pedals into the chain there’s a massive buzz thru the PA. I’ve swapped out each pedal, each guitar, two different power supplies and plugged them into to different extensions etc but still it happens. Even one single pedal and one single adaptor is enough to do it, so it’s not any individual pedal or the adaptor trying to draw too much power. The only way around it has been to stick with just a tuner running off batteries, which is perfectly silent. What am I missing here? Is this problem with venue wiring, nearby lighting, my leads (swapped them out too), my PA, or something else? It’s doing my head in.

Yup - the pub gigs I do are with my blues trio (all three of us sing and play) or as a solo performer (guitar, vocals, harmonica) for the even smaller places which don’t have the space or the budget for bands. I love playing in a trio. Plenty of room musically and onstage, we can travel light, plus fewer people to organise dates around too.