mcnach

Not a fan of Sandberg's 2-band EQ: I've been playing my VM4 a lot for the past 3 months, since I collected it. I was never entirely convinced by the preamp (2-band). I found ways to make it work, but it's just not there. Lately I've been playing it mostly in passive mode and enjoying it a lot more. There's something going on in the low end with the preamp engaged that I'm not liking. So it's going to happen. I'll either install the John East U-Retro that I've got in my drawer, or... most likely... I'll make it passive. I really like passive tone controls. As there's room for 4 controls, I could do volume, blend, Tonestyler and 'Tonestyler depth'. The pickups are nice (standard Sandberg), no problem with those. Does anybody know what Sandberg uses as standard for their 2-band preamps? I didn't specify anything so I got whatever is standard for them. I'm curious to find a bit more about them.

That looks very interesting! Thank you, I'll have to check it out

yeah yeah yeah, we all say that...

The mutes were installed separately, not on the studs. The studs served to anchor the bridge and as stops for the saddles, so that they don't move sideways.

good point. It's got to be fun.

I missed that earlier. I guess he went for the Standard Business plan that gives you something like 2 or 5TB storage. We've been using the Basic plan, which is free. You get 2Gb to start with which can grow up to 10Gb once you get a few referrals (I have 8Gb). Anyway, I'll shut up, you found what works for you and I know how annoying it gets when you find something you like and others keep telling you "oh, but you can do X and Y like me" I just wanted to make clear that it doesn't need to be a paid service. A couple of Gb is a LOT of band rehearsal material in mp3 format.

You know the SY-1 will appear in stock the minute you order a C4, right?

But they've improved in the past few years. Slow learners, but getting there. Once day they might even become civilised! 😛

The app is more trouble than it's worth, if all you want is to be able to receive files, indeed.

sorry! I should have clarified... similar to Dropbox in the sense that you can set a centralised storage (which sounds like your drummer would be the ideal person, as he is the one dealing with the audio) and it can stay there until you (well, the drummer) decides to keep it. It doesn't expire like with WeTransfer. You, personally, would receive one link to download files, and that's all. You do not need to have pCloud. But with dropbox you can do the same. I have both just because of the extra space, but with my main band I use Dropbox. I have a folder with subfolders for different projects in progress etc, and I store the processed audio there. I send the band links to individual files or individual folders with multiple files. They can download the stuff at their leisure, and the links are valid as long as I keep them in the same place, so a year from now they could go back and find the files again. They do not need Dropbox, in fact most don't have dropbox. If you have dropbox already, you might get a "oh, do you want to add this shared folder to your dropbox?" or some such when you try to open a link sent to you... just say "no, fosters off" and dropbox will leave you alone If you don't use dropbox for anything else, easiest thing is to remove it entirely, and just open the links as they get sent to you, download content wherever you wish and that's all. I feel your pain, because I was there too. At work we were collaborating with a group in the US and dealing with very large files. They sent us data via dropbox. Very soon my dropbox was saturated and could not use it, because I made the mistake of accepting the shared folder. Oh, how we laughed... My boss ended up losing a bunch of data because he got frustrated and deleted a whole lot of stuff without realising he was *really* deleting it It's a good idea for a collaboration, so everyone can add/remove things but you need to be careful and ensure everybody has sufficient Dropbox space. To simply distribute large files, however, it's easier to just have the person holding the files send a link to people and you can all download to your preferred destination, without needing new apps or anything. I like sometimes to send a link to a folder, the contents of which I update as needed. For example, I have a folder for recent rehearsals. Everybody has a link to it. They can all download the contents anytime. I simply put there any newer jam or any work in progress updates etc into subfolders with the date, and delete older stuff that's not needed anymore as I see fit. I don't need to send them link reminders each time, it's all there. If they want to, all they do is use the link, go to the folder with the date they want and download the contents.

That's how I use it, as sharing folders was creating trouble for some people with smaller storage.

There's also pCloud. Similar to Dropbox in many ways, but you get a bit more free storage. Drummer could just store the files and send you all links to download. You download what you want to your computer and do what you want with it. When he runs out of space it's up to him to delete the old stuff that nobody needs anymore. The advantage of Dropbox (when used in the same way, just sending links to the stuff, but not 'sharing' folders) and pCloud is that they stay available longer than with WeTransfer if someone forgets to download in time.

I already waste enough time as it is, don't give me new ideas!

very good lesson

It's one of those songs that I found hard to sound *just right*. I came up with different passable ways to do it originally, and checked videos online... and was never really happy with it. I think I was only happy once I found a 'bass only' track from the original recording (with bum notes and all ) , and realised I was overcomplicating things. Just like with Tell Me Baby, some of the percussive notes are really the bass drum.

Yeah, I was never a fan of its effects. A bit of reverb but nothing else. However the amp/speaker simulations sounded pretty good, and still do.

In reality it should be your secret weapon, and wait for the guitar shredder... THEN you turn up and slap! God, I'd hate working in a music shop, I'd go insane...

Not exactly how I'd play it but a very adequate version. If you slow it down, it's not difficult. It just requires a bit of practice so that you can play it at speed. I am not a fan of Flea's first few albums with his almost gymnastic style of slap. Once I was slowing down... Get up and jump I think it was, or Blackeyed Blonde... and I thought they were pretty cool funky riffs *IF* you played them fingerstyle and a lot slower. a LOT slower Glad he gave up that fast slap in the end.

How do you know it's only for one song? There's something to be said for continuing learning and expanding your horizons. It is a very easy song, but with educational potential. The only difficulty for someone who doesn't slap is its speed, when you first look at it. I get that. But once you analyse it, there's not a lot to it: a simple pattern over three chords that shifts at one point or another a whole tone. If you play it slow it won't take too much effort to get it to sound right. The hardest parts on that song are actually the non-slapped bits! I'm sorry if I look like I'm insisting too much... I don't mean to tell the OP that he absolutely must slap Of course not... But I'd rather he made that decision based on... well, a choice, and not because he thinks he can't do the other style... when I'm pretty sure he would pick it up fast if he wanted to. I insist because of my own 'history'. I never cared for slap. There were a few things that I liked but they sounded too difficult for me to even try... some stuff by Larry Graham (POW), RHCP (Tell me baby), Louis Johnson (Michael Jackson - Get on the floor)... However, I joined a little covers band and we did a few RHCP tracks. Fortunately, only one had slap: "Can't stop". I learnt it. Badly at first, a bit better after a few weeks. Then the band folded. Drummer was a big fan of the RHCP and we decided to meet once a week to play RHCP tunes, and by now I was curious about slap. Higher Ground came up as a suggestion, and I laughed... No way. But I went home, sat with the song, and figured out what the bassline was... and it was not hard, it was just uncomfortable for me and I just could not do it at the right speed but it was not hard to get the notes to sound right. Every day I'd play 15-20 minutes, and by the end of the week I was still off target speedwise, but not too far and I surprised the drummer playing it... with a few mistakes, fumbles, and slower than it should... but merely a week earlier I thought that song was way out of my reach. It wasn't long until I could play that, and many others. I was not great. I am not great at it, I very rarely slap... but if there's a situation calling for a bit of slap, or there's a song that has slap, I don't need to say "no, I can't".... you know what I mean? And that feels good, knowing that you have expanded your set of skills. RHCP's Higher Ground sounds pretty cool if you don't slap. Nothing wrong with that. But that intro is classic, and doing it without slapping feels like you're diluting it too much. I used to hate it myself, because I never liked being the centre of attention, and being alone for the first 4 bars or whatever it is... ugh, nerves!

I don't know, it's up to you, really. I really don't get the "oooh, slap, won't do that" attitude I see sometimes (not saying you do, just a general observation) I learnt to slap because in a RHCP band you sort of have to... I could *copy* slap parts easily after a while, but it's a lot harder to come up with your own good slap lines, that's why I rarely use it in our original material, but there's a couple of things that contain a little slap. And when I'm playing with a band that wants to cover a song that happens to contain slap, I can do it. Why not? There's a lot of tasty slap out there, it doesn't have to all sound like the proverbial drummer falling down the stairs that you often hear in music shops Seriously, RHCP's Higher Ground is a pretty simple song to play, it's not like you need to commit teh next 8 months or something.

I prefer that version too. Last year my band supported The Dualers in Glasgow, this is their version of Monkey Man from the very same gig (my girlfriend filmed it on her mobile), I quite enjoyed it from the audience even if it was a rather long version. It doesn't seem like much, but the atmosphere was really good.

ugh, I despise that song Playing in a 50-50 originals-covers classic ska/reggae band, it was in our repertoire. We all hated it. But it was very popular. If the dancefloor was not very busy... here comes Monkey Man. WE didn't even announce it, just hit the first G-G-GGG notes... and we watched people rushing into the dance floor. That band is on a... hiatus, due to disagreements between two members. I miss the band, but I feel so happy I haven't played that song in 6 months now! A couple of months ago I was playing in town with another band. It was actually supposed to be the the classic ska band playing, I had booked that one and convinced everyone to do that one gig. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks before, the guitarist injured his back and we had to pull out. Instead I offered my other band. We do play some ska tunes but it's a bit more eclectic, mixing ska/funk/reggae and whatever else, it's all high energy good spirits bouncy dancey stuff. Crucially, it's all originals except a cover we do of Bad Boys (and occasionally "Beer" by Reel Big Fish). There was a group of "hardcore ska fans", you know the type... They were not amused. They expected the other band and tunes they knew, and got us. The bar was bouncing, but they stayed at the back looking whizzed off. Close to the end of our first set they started heckling. Ah well. We decided that was our last song before the break. As we finished, I looked at the guitarist, who had been in another ska band and he also knew the song, and I started the intro for Monkey Man. The group got excited for a second... and we stopped and went for a break. Oh they hated us. I wanted to do it again at the beginning of the second set but my bandmates thought it was not wise to taunt them too much...

Watch out for 'slap settings' that sound great alone but get you lost in the mix. Most scoop the mids far too much. You still need strong low mids or you'll lost a lot of the thump and presence.