mcnach

oooh, that's intriguing! Thank you! I've got a couple of nice power packs that I could use for this (2.4A per port, so they should be ok - Anker Powercore 20100). Definitely worth trying, thank you!

They're great units indeed. To give you an idea of how much I want to use my phone... I have a Zoom R16 multitrack recorder somewhere in the loft. Any normal person would have just gone up and fished it out: it's got built-in microphone, signal processors for guitar with a million effects, runs on batteries, can easily record 8 inputs at once... It's simple enough right? I never got along with it 'though, but I keep it because I hope one day I'll put it to good use 😛 I really like the format/display of n-tracks on my phone. I like it so much that I also bought the computer version, so that I can easily shuttle projects between phone and PC. I'm committed to n-tracks now!!! I'm just looking for a way to get the audio signals into n-tracks on my phone via its USB port (which means whatever unit I use as an interface cannot be USB-powered). I'll probably end up getting a mixer like that Q802USB above, as it'll be useful for other stuff too and it's cheap... but ideally I'd like one of its smaller relatives, the problem is they're all USB-powered.

Ah, that brings me memories... I used to own an H4 long ago (not the H4n, but its precursor - I sold it and bought the H2 as it suited me better... I never used the multitrack recording option). Great little recorder, and it had a 4-track recording capability too. As a stand-alone ultra-portable solution, the H4n is indeed fantastic. I'm looking for ways to use n-track on my phone 'though. The larger display and intuitive layout is perfect (I was able to record a couple of things in minutes without even glancing once at the manual ).

I have no trouble recording on my laptop/PC, for which I use a simple but nice little USB interface, a Focusrite Scarlett Solo that gets powered via USB, so no faff with external power supplies etc. That's great, right? Well, no, apparently that's not portable enough for me I seem to spend most of my time not really recording 'properly' but capturing snippets, riffs, ideas, using a Zoom H2 (with its built-in mics) or my mobile phone! Sound quality is not a huge concern, but I would ideally like to build up a track into a demo of sorts. Is it possible? Well, it looks like it is! So I'm trying to figure out what equipment I need in order to make multitrack recording on my phone with just the tools that I could carry with me in my gigbag/amp case. [ yes, I know, using the laptop would be simplest and it's portable, right? The thing is that these days I use my laptop for work a lot, and it lives on my desk plugged into a million peripherals and apart from the inconvenience, I need a lot of processing power for my work (big data analyses), so that's all I'm using it for (and browsing BassChat of course ) so please don't try to disuade me and instead help me find a way to make little demos on my phone with a multitrack app ] Software: I've been playing around with the n-tracks app on my android phone (Motorola G5S plus)... it's pretty damn good! Using n-tracks as a simple audio multitrack is very simple, and its basic built-in drum machine does the job... so this is good. I've tested it using the phone's microphone, and it works well. Of course, it'll sound a lot better if I can just record directly my guitar/bass on the phone via USB. That's where I need a little help. For recording on my PC, I simply have my guitar/bass (or occasionally a microphone) plugged into the Focusrite Solo, and the Solo is then connected to my PC via USB. The Solo interface uses the USB cable to both power the unit and transfer the audio data... but I cannot do that with my phone, so I need another way to get the audio into n-track on my phone. Some newer phones can use its USB port to power other devices, but not mine... so that rules out any USB-powered unit: it's got to be battery operated (that would actually be very cool) or using an external power supply. It *may* be possible to use a splitter for the combined TRRS headphone/mic port, so that I can plug both my headphones on one socket and input the audio using the other socket. I don't have that cable yet. It's cheap so I ordered one to see. That would be the simplest way to do this if I can get the right levels... being a mic input I suspect it may not play well with the output of FX pedal or a guitar directly. I can use an adaptor to plug the output of a suitable USB interface into my phone, as long as the USB interface is *not* powered via USB. However, it seems that every small USB interface is USB-powered, and I didn't want to spend £200 on a larger one. Is there anything out there that will not be too large physically, powered via an external power supply (or batteries!), and won't be too expensive? I'm even considering a small mixer, as that could be pretty handy too. There are many that can work as USB interfaces, but I encounter the same issue... the smaller ones are USB-powered. The smallest I found that look ok is the Xenyx Q802USB: https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0ALM That one has a separate power supply, so the USB port at the back can be used to connect to my phone and transfer the audio that way. It's about £60-70, so cheap enough and a little mixer can always be handy for other things. I thought there must be other crazy people here using their phones as a multitrack recorder too, so I was wondering what people use, or if you know of a smaller suitable solution, I'm all ears.

that looks really nice, what is it?

This man speaks the truth.

It's much like how Sandberg operates. When I ordered my VM4, I got as close as I could with their configurator, and then I specified the things I wanted different. I think the configurator just makes the bulk of the specs easy to describe.

Yeah, I get it now. My experience was pre-configurator, and everything I asked for was met with a "yes, we can do that". I'd use the configurator as a guide for cosmetic purposes, but I'd make sure to ask for any specs that you can't get in the configurator. They seemed happy to do pretty much anything you asked for, whether it was choosing pickups at non-standard locations or unusual logos too.

Ah, my basses were ordered before they had the configurator, so I supplied all details. It seems a bit of an oversight (mistake, probably) not to include opaque colours. I even had a little email conversation with Adrian about the exact shade of purple I wanted. Tip: keep communication simple and concise, Adrian doesn't indulge in long discussions but I found him very easy to deal with, and responsive, when I put my questions concisely.

where did you get that idea from? I've had two opaque finish (purple and red) ash body Jakes, they most certainly do them.

No, as far as I can tell, the JE 3EQ does not have a high pass filter applied to it, it's not like EBMM's 3EQ. I think John East only made a version of the MusicMan 2EQ preamp based on his '76 Stingray, and the 3-band preamp is that 2EQ plus a separate mids module (which in fact you can buy on its own). I know the JE 2EQ is not *exactly* the same as his '76 because he told me as much, but it's not very different. I have never had the pleasure of playing a Stingray of that era, so I can't tell how it differs from the more modern 2EQ versions. My own 2002 2EQ had only some subtle differences with the John East version, most notably was that I felt the bass was a bit tighter, and the treble a bit less shrill when pushed hard (but then I don't normally push the treble, so that wouldn't matter to me much). The treble knob can be pulled for extra brightness which brought it more in line with what the original 2002 2EQ preamp sounded like. In other words, I liked the John East 2EQ better than my original EBMM 2002 2EQ, but the difference was not such that it would make me want to replace one with the other. The John East 3EQ is constructed by linking the 2EQ and the mids module together. The treble and bass controls have a centre detent in the stacked-pot version, for reference only, but not in the single pot version (so like the MusicMan ones in the 2EQ). The mids module is a stacked knob control, with centre frequency on one and cut/boost gain on the other. It is completely inactive when at teh centre detent. The frequency centre can be adjusted, which can be very useful: it's not something I need to tweak very often or anything, but when you want it it's there. The midsweep is very broad: you can focus on anything from 100Hz to 2000Hz [*], although in practice I seem to only use two narrow areas on its travel, one to boost sometimes some very low mids, and another to cut a bit some higher mids, but most of the time I have it in the centre detent doing nothing. I'm a big fan of the MusicMan 2EQ in general, in whatever incarnation, once you work out how the two controls interact I find it very intuitive and musical unlike pretty much every other 2-band preamp I've ever tried... which means that in practice I get broadly the sound I want from the 2EQ section, including the mids. I use the additional mids control more as a way to get a couple specific variations that I can kick in for a specific song or a spacific part, and then revert to the 'normal' tone. I am not saying the EBMM 3EQ is bad, because it isn't. But I much prefer the general character of the 2EQ (familiarity may be a big factor?) with the added versatility of the semiparametric mids as a separate module. [*] There are a couple of internal switches on the circuit board that allows you to select the actuall range to be 100-1000Hz or 200-2000Hz. I have it set at 100-1000Hz, personally.

Yeah, those scams are an unfortunate part of gumtreee these days. The good news is it's easy to avoid: you want my stuff, come get it in person and don't give me your life story. You'll get a buyer in the end, but it's annoying when you go "oh, goody, two people texted me!" and then you realise they're just would-be scammers. I put my old car for sale on Gumtree at the beginning of the year and I had about 50-50 scammers-real offers. Car sold easily though: the first person who actually came to see it, liked it and drove it away. I still use gumtree for stuff I don't want to post, but yeah, you just need to ignore those people.

Preaching to the choir, my friend I love them. They feel very different to most others due to their high compliance and the plastic coating, but oh, the sound!

Neither does the original Stingray 2EQ, so... (the JE 3EQ does have centre detents, for reference only as they're in the middle which is not the 'flat' point, except for the mids control, where the centre detent is place at the point where the control does neither boost nor cut anything)

Looks nice but I suspect terrible neck dive, given the design...

indeed!!!

+100 on John East. I'd get the 3-band, 4-knob version, and it would be a straight drop-in. It's based on the 2-band one [*], with an additional semiparametric mids module. [*] with the mids in the centre detent position, the mids module does nothing and is essentially the classic 2EQ preamp. edit: and you could ask nicely and get a pull/push switch on the volume knob so that you can bypass the preamp. It's very rarely needed, but it can come handy sometimes.

Yeah. I only have one gig on the horizon... 28th of November. A 300 capacity venue turned to 70, sitting in spaced out tables, no standing or dancing... and I don't see this getting better anytime soon, all the opposite.

Personally, wireless helped me a lot to understand how the sound next to the amp onstage relates to what it's heard out there (when we don't have PA and a sound guy, in which case it's their job), as I was able to move around and go out in front during soundchecks and hear it.

That's not how I understood it, so my sincerest apologies for the ongoing misunderstanding.

why do you keep insisting, every time there's a thread like this, that people complaining about their G-string are wrong or don't know what they're hearing/doing? It is... weird to watch. If there are lots of people that don't seem to have an issue, great, good for them (I am one of them, I'm happy with my 2002 'ray) but how is that anything to do with anything? It's not a 'majority wins' issue. There are certainly enough people who do have an issue, why do you dismiss what they tell you they experience?

I've only heard people complaining about it on 4-string Stingrays

That's what I use when I use pick with bass, the 2mm and even 3mm Big Stubbies. For guitar I use 1mm max nylon ones but for bass I find the thicker ones give me a nicer attack.

I simply meant that if an amplifier has been designed to be cooled properly by whatever method, then it should not matter what method that is. Or in other words, if your amplifier is cooled passively, you should not need to worry about it (assuming it's been designed properly). I was not trying to say that passive cooling rules... certainly not to you, of all people!