mcnach

and I thought it was going well...

You could have done much worse Can't go wrong with a MusicMan!

An experience of mine a while ago... Wednesday 8.30am: Having breakfast, I hear the sound of a letter or similar being pushed through the letetr box. No knocking or ringing. I assume it's just the usual mail and I'll check it later. When I checked, I found it was a red "sorry you were not in" card, about a parcel delivery. The card was dated MONDAY. It also said they'd try to deliver on Wednesday again, and if unsuccessful I'd have to collect from the depot. That was ParcelForce. Oh, how I laughed...

[quote name='Shylock' timestamp='1493593171' post='3289356'] I have had this happen to me now. Three times in the last two weeks and only on basschat and when on my laptop. Now using my iPad for now. [/quote] yep, it's getting a little tiring

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1493551917' post='3289041'] I love my zoom and record all my gigs (and a large amount of the practices) but I can't really imaging using it as a monitor, as all it would give me is the sound on stage, whereas I am trying to hear mostly the things that i am responsible for. If I could hear that where I was I wouldn't need the monitor would I? [/quote] one reason to go that way is that you control the volume (i.e: reduced, if it's loud), essentially acting like a set of earplugs, but with a much clearer sound than you get from any earplugs. You can also add complexity to the minimal equipment shown here by adding some kind of EQ, and/or feeding in further signals if you add a small mixer: you could add your own instrument, or another microphone elsewhere onstage, or a monitor mix and then the zoom adds 'ambience'...

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1483279470' post='3205840'] Flare earplugs... my guitarist last night admitted he's not liking them after the initial honeymoon period. He says he cannot hear his guitar as clearly as he needs and that's the reason for extra loud guitar in his monitors, which is starting to throw us off.. Apparently they are very comfy, that's true... and they look great. [/quote] well... update: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/303944-flare-audio-isolates-tip-longevity/page__p__3288659#entry3288659"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/303944-flare-audio-isolates-tip-longevity/page__p__3288659#entry3288659[/url] (post 26 in this thread if the link fails to take you to the right post) in short: I tried them and didn't hate them

Right... I haven't read anything about these plugs 'tech specs' that make me thing they'll be any use for me. If you want to reduce drastically external sounds, yes, but onstage? No. One of my guitarists uses them. He was very happy at first (but then he rarely used any earplugs before, and when he did it was the foam ones). Now he's not as happy, but he still likes them. I hear others like them too. It makes no sense to me. But I decided to have a go. I got a pair of the aluminium ones. When I first saw them last year they were around £70 (fundraising site), but now it's around £25... and I can certainly use heavy duty earplugs when I end up sharing a room with some bandmates, so why not? I tried them last night. They are comfy. Two 45-50min sets, no trouble at all. They cut down a lot of noise, more than probably any others I've used. That was a little off-putting at first as it felt a bit detached, and I could not hear people talking to me as clearly as with other plugs. But they clearly offer good protection against loud noises onstage. They're most definitely not 'hi-fi'... no surprises there... BUT, they were actually surprisingly pleasant after the first couple of songs. I had to make sure they were well inserted. I used the small tips and maybe I should try the medium ones too. When they're not completely sealing the ear canal, it's horrible. However when they're properly in... I had no trouble hearing the guitars, or vocals... Drums were also clear, even if they lacked some of the sharp attack of the snare/cymbals, but it was fine. Bass? I turn down the low end quite a bit, as usual in this particular stage, but I could hear myself very well, it sounded bassy enough but there was great definition which in this stage with this band (it gets loud onstage, and I hate it, but I just can't have this fight every time and I love the band too much to quit over it) is always hard. There's one song where we do a little silly audience participation thing where we all go down and squat on stage, meaning I'm usually blasting my bass cab right at my head, and it can be a bit unpleasant at times, but not yesterday. I thought I played better and had much more control... So, my verdict is "not hi-fi, not amazing, but considerably nicer than I thought they would be" I like them more than the xmas tree ones, and although they sound different I think I prefer them to my custom moulded ACS with the 17db filters. I would not say "quick, everybody, buy these!" but they do sound better than sticking your fingers in your ears and they allow you to free your hands so that you can play, and the noise reduction is big. Cons: depending on the band mix onstage maybe it won't be so good for some as they are definitely not flat response, but they're good enough for the bass sound I like [1]... also, they do reduce noise a lot so you can feel a bit detached from the music at first. [1] I favour bridge pickups... Stingray for example. Not lots of booming big lows, but prominent and low-mids rich, "finger funk" type of tone, if that means anything to you. edit: second gig tonight... festival at a sports hall. Big, echoey. Loud. I enjoyed listening to the band before us with the earplugs, without them it was urgh. The 'stage' sound was just as bad. Sax player next to me was complaining about not hearing well. I heard my bass loud and clear and well defined, and heard the guitar and vocals quite well too. Still a bit weird as everything is MUCH quieter... but I enjoyed it.

If the rattle goes when pressing on the string, it seems to me that the string is not being pushed with enough force into the nut: the break angle is likely insuficient. Although the string retaining tree should do the trick, maybe it's slightly too tall? Either that alone or combined with the new string being a bit smaller than the previous and with a slightly too large nut slot, it vibrates there. You could try cutting a new nut, if you think the slot is too big for these strings. Personally, I'd consider fitting a new string retainer, the ones that are a bar across all strings: if pressing down on the string behind the nut solves your issues, then the bar retainer will also remove the rattle.

Maybe one of the many DI options that can take a speaker input and adding a pedal like the DSM OmniCabSim for cab simulation?

The only hybrid amp I've tried where I thought the 'valve preamp' was specially cool was the Genz Benz Streamliner... but it's hard to say whether the valve did anything meaningful. Any other amp, I just didn't see the point and certainly didn't approach the 'valve goodness' sound we all have in mind when thinking of valve amps.

Hmmm... I'm pretty sceptical for anything beyond playing in your sofa. I bought a little battery operated "mini PA" (QTX QR10PA, around £140) 4 years ago for busking, and it's still going strong and does the job remarkably well. Pretty small, very light, battery life is very good, and that thing gets louder than required when busking with three guitarists (using the mini Roland amps), trumpet, sax and a drummer with a snare and hi-hats. I very much doubt the Eden would do better than the Roland Bass Microcube, and that wasn't very loud either but it's ok to accompany a couple of acoustic guitars.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1492583151' post='3281298'] If the cab part of the combo isn't very efficient, then no amount of amp power is gonna make it any better without either A, spending more than your budget or B, ending up with something that weighs more than the current rig. [/quote] This.

[quote name='Flash74' timestamp='1492519713' post='3280871'] Hi All I have used basschat for advice for a while now but this is my first post. Hopefully someone can help as I'm clueless when it comes to bass amps and the technical aspects of them. I am looking for a new combo bass amp as the one I am currently using (Laney 200w combo) weights too much (50kg+). It's OK for me to lug around but I'm not always available to set up due to work/ family commitments and the other guys in my band are struggling with it. It's also bulky so takes up a lot of room in cars, and on stage. The other band members have agreed to help finance the purchase of a new lighter combo with the proceeds of our gigs. We are not loaded but the band only play for the love of it (like a lot of people). We play a lot of charity and Christian missionary gigs which we do not get paid for. However e also play at weddings, functions and birthday party's and these are where we make some money which is used to exclusively to purchase new equipment. We play mostly churches and smaller venues, and the very occasional pub so I don't need a monster amp. My amp is run through the PA so anything from 100w-250w will be fine from an output point of view. The amp is mainly going to be a monitor for me to hear myself on stage. We play our own Christian songs and anything from 1950's rock N roll , Beatles, Chilli Pepper, Killers, Bowie, The Jam so a very wide range of genres. I have decided on either a Fender Rumble 100 v3 (100w - £278) or a TC Electronic BG25-112 (250w £301.25). Obviously they are very different from a output point of view but I know Fender amps an compete with some amps with more total output. I have heard a couple of people mention that TC Electronic bass amps are really good but I have no knowledge myself so need some input from people on here. Both amps are light and are similar in price but is the Fender Rumble 100w going to be powerful enough for me during a gig? Are TC Electronic Amps any good? Any help/ advice is more than welcome. Many Thanks Derek [/quote] At the range you're looking at, whether one amp is more powerful than other won't necessarily mean much as the limiting factor would be speakers. I can't tell for sure which one will work for you but I've had good experiences with the Fender Rumble series. If all you need is a monitor... one of the kickback combos that angle towards you would probably be the best choice as it'll aim the midrange at you rather than your knees so you can hear what you're playing and while 100W is not a lot it's worked for me in the past. If they don't come in kickback form, then you can get a stand to angle it for not much money. The 250W amp is not necessarily much (or any?) louder. But I would look for something that allows you to add an additional cab in case you find that you need some more volume at some gigs: added speakers are a more efficient way to get louder than adding watts as you'd need a LOT of extra watts to make a difference through the same cab, assuming the cab can take it! There are light, small & powerful options out there, but the budget will suffer.

The Cort GB74 models seem pretty light in general. The one I used to own was just over 7lbs. Or you can go over to Maruszczyk and tell them the kind of bass you want and the weight... and it'll happen.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1492786127' post='3283242'] I had the stop myself from switching off when he starts wibbling on about "honesty" right at the beginning off the video... There's nothing wrong with recording like this, I've done it many times, and the results if you have the right environment and are suitably well-enough rehearsed can be great. But it's just another way of recording, no better or worse or more "honest" than any other, just different. If it suits your band then by all means go ahead and record like this, but just bear in mind that recording studios in the 50s only operated like this because there was no other way of recording, and just about everyone embraced multi-track as soon as it became available and affordable. [/quote] +1 I couldn't bring myself to finish it. I had to endure meeting with a guy running a local recording studio with all the old analog gear, talking about the sound quality and rawness and how "real" it was, and some of my at the time bandmates eyes wide open as kids in a candy store... and I just wanted out of there. I'm not necessarily against all that, I just believe in using what you have to achieve a result and I don't think old=best. There's usually a good reason why some things are no longer in use so much. We did a recording once using all tape stuff... They loved it. I could not stop being bothered about the tape hiss, thinking how in the old days they'd have taken that into account and would have been minimised in the final product. But it seems if you have old gear some people automatically thing you're better, even if you're a total hack. Personally, I'm glad we're in 2017. A sound engineer who really knows his stuff has a lot of great tools at his disposal, new and old.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1492973326' post='3284556'] Don't worry about the 1st part, it's highly unlikely to get done & if it was, I'd be getting help from someone who knows what they're doing. Your second part hits pretty much what I wasn't sure of. Being a stranger to DI boxes, I had assumed that passive would work at speaker level. At church I run my bass to tuner/mute pedal to a small active DI box that runs phantom off the XLR & use IEM to hear me, the band & MD. The more I'm thinking about it, the more I'm thinking DI box with a preamp (such as a sansamp) between the bass & amp. This way I can use it with or without the rig. Both options are on the table still. [/quote] Have a look at this Palmer PD09. You can plug the speaker out directly into it AND it has a speaker simulation built in that appears to work really nicely (I don't have one, but listened to a lot of demos on guitar), so you can get a nice sound for recording, monitoring with headphones... [url="https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/PDI09/audio-solutions/palmer-pdi-09-passive-di-for-guitar-with-speaker-emulation"]https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/PDI09/audio-solutions/palmer-pdi-09-passive-di-for-guitar-with-speaker-emulation[/url]

[quote name='joshplaysbass' timestamp='1492967473' post='3284468'] Just picked up a Fender Classic 50s Precision today, and oh good grief, it is lovely. I have used a standard Jazz bass for the last 7 years or so, and it has been the only bass I've used so this is quite a change. I'm still getting used to that wider string spacing and that 1.75 nut. But hey it's absolutely lovely, and it came with flats! Has anyone else got, or used, one of these? [/quote] I have the very same one (my avatar - I replaced the pickguard 'though, I didn't like the feel of the metallic one)... it's lovely and one of only a handful of basses I never felt I wanted to change anything in it (functionally)... I love the wide spacing!

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1492975557' post='3284584'] Sorry - completely forgotten what station I watched it on! We should prolly google? Hang on [color=#282898][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=2]Channel 5[/size][/font][/color][color=#282898][font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=2]Sun 16 Apr 2017, 9pm [/size][/font][/color] Apparently the Prince fans are not taking it any better than any of the other docu's on him, but I liked that they made no attempt to disguise that is IS a docu-drama. [/quote] Thank you! Found and ready to watch edit: and found a concert too so that one is ready also... and I'm off work for the next three days, I bet I'll find time edit2: watched it... that was pretty sad. I had expected him to have had a much happier life.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1492963738' post='3284437'] Yep; the banking crisis, inflation, world poverty, Donald Chump and Brexit.. everything. [/quote] Next point in the agenda: the middle east. Largo?

[quote name='taunton-hobbit' timestamp='1492964550' post='3284445'] The problem with white ska gigs is that most of the audience think they belong to the National Front.........they don't - they're just sad. [/quote] The first one I played like that was in Livingston, near Edinburgh. As we approach all we could see were these scary looking guys outside... we thought we had the wrong gig (my band -a different one- was invited to play but we were not really ska, just some songs with a ska-influence... we didn't feel very comfortable and our nationalities made us a bit nervous -russian, philipino/canadian, spanish, half-turkish...- It went well... but, not my favourite crowd. To be fair, we have never had any problem whatsoever, but it's hard to really enjoy yourself when you're thinking "I want to go home".

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1492962689' post='3284422'] I'm in the business of looking after my savings so I get to look after my family by not selling good stuff for silly money. Just because someone else is daft enough to get into a position where they're desperate for a sale and sell at a low, low price, why should I be forced to repeat the error? Inflation is generally the situation of prices going up over time. Some of it happens this way: You want an increase on your salary because you like to think your employer should pay you more because of loyalty and increase in experience. So your employer does this. Because your employer (a baker making bread and cakes) needs to pay you more, he needs to increase the prices of the bread going to the shops. The shops, therefore need to increase the prices to keep their costs covered. At the same time, the grocer has also had to pay more to his people - for the same reason as you got a rise. Also, their wives/mums need more money from them, because the price of bread has gone up. You, in turn need more money a the price of groceries has gone u[b]p - all because YOU got a rise[/b]. [/quote] so it's all largo's fault. There.

A couple of gigs this weekend, and a lot of travelling. First one, on Friday, was at a place I love in Kidderminster... all decorated pirate style... ran by a lovely couple and generally attended by nice people. Shame the place is closing in June The gig itself was a lot of fun but there weren't as many people as we were hoping/expecting. We got to stay overnight, thanks to the lovely couple letting us upstairs in a room with several sofa/mattresses which saves us a ton of cash. However between guitarist snoring like a monster and sax dude getting up to pee what seemed like every hour, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep... and the toilet had no water on the taps... so no shower etc... I managed to wash using a bottle of water I had... no ideal. I need my shower to be human again. I brushed my teeth in the mens toilets downstairs... but it had not been cleaned yet and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Oh well... Next, saturday... playing a ska festival in Redcar. Some very lovely people, and some very scary looking one too. I don't know what it is with classic ska it tends to attract this crowd of 50 year olds in uniform, who just won't smile and stare menacingly. Weird. Then... nobody danced. Lots of people watching but just staring. A few smiled and bobbed their heads, but nobody danced except for a single woman in front of the very large stage. I was happy when it was over, which I rarely say. The Boar's Head in Kidderminster, however... I have a lot of time/love for those guys. Such a nice music venue + pub... Sad it's going to close

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1492510369' post='3280766'] I finally got to see the documentary on his life on Saturday. What a sad, tragic life, assuming the film was truthful. I already respected the man's talent and ability, but this film made me feel like I had undervalued his musical contributions immensely. [/quote] oh man, I missed that. Where can I watch it? Is it still available?