Dad3353

Dream..? You lucky so'n'so...

Done, but atypical, I suspect. Good luck with your Project.

Seems to have worked, no..?

Nope (or at least, not that quickly...). Anyway, only two hours..? Hardly enough time for the opening number and half of 'Dark Star'. Thanks for the 'heads up', though. ...

I found that it was the first forty years that were the best, and even now, when the rare opportunities come up, I look forward to it, as long as I am able, and allowed, to coil up a lead or two to help out at the end. Fond memories of a totally empty dance hall, on the evening that the first discothèque opened a couple of miles away. The old lady with her broom chasing out the lads that had started fighting. The guitarist, Michel, taking over Gégé's bass to show him how to play 'Sir Duke', but using a banana, the 'discussion' with the BL as to how to play drums for Stones numbers, the 'British' way, the tour bus stuck in a snow drift, and that time all the tyres had been slashed. Clearing a wedding 'do' with a rendering of King Crimson and Saucerful Of Secrets, as a drum-keys duo (wildly applauded...). I had heard the expression 'Sex'n'drugs'n'Rock'n'Roll'. Rock, every time? Drugs..? Saw 'em about oft-times. But when does the 'sex' kick in..?

OK then (lyrics, maybe, but no need of a 'singer'..!). How about 'Take Five'..? Or any of the jazz standards..? Instrumental versions of the Beatles catalogue..? Beethoven's 5th..? The list could be long...

Telstar..? Apaché..? Tubular Bells..? Careful With That Axe, Eugene..? Dark End Of The Street..? The list could be long...

Lead_free needs a higher temperature to flow, and flux certainly helps keep the parts to be soldered clean whilst it's going on. Electronic-grade flux, not the highly-corrosive plumbing flux, of course. 60/40 is much easier to use, though, especially when beginning with this black art.

They're your ears, and you won't get another set. Do whatever you can to keep 'em in good nick for as long as possible, I'd say. Having control of the overall volume is a good start; having mixing possibility is even better. If you're free of tinnitus for the moment, that's the time to take your hearing under your own control if you can. Just my tuppence-worth.

Any sound quality available after re-wiring will be there for years/decades to come. The present bird's nest can fail at any time, with the chances stacked against it failing when it doesn't matter much. Whilst the bass is open, and it's all there in front of you, it's the ideal time to do a Good Job, once, then close up the bass and play with confidence. That, in my opinion, is well worth it, even if, for the short time the current stuff works, they sound the same. There are basically two main systems for de-soldering, and neither are expensive; if one is to do any more work of the sort, both are a very reasonable investment. A solder sucker costs little (type 'solder sucker' into Amazon; there are whole kits for about a tenner or so...). De-soldering braid is very handy; I would use both, depending on the job in hand. Flux is a different matter. Good electronic-use solder is flux-cored, so the flux is applied at the same time as the soldering, so additional flux is rarely needed. It may be useful when soldering big (a relative term...) metal surfaces, such as pots, but, in general, cleanliness of the surface and a suitably-powerful iron are what's needed. Plumbers use flux to keep the soldered area clean when using a blow-torch, but it's not essential for the type of soldering we do on amps and instruments. I use it when soldering piano-wire undercarriages for my model RC 'planes, but never for electronics. For basic soldering, a small (a relative term...) 30w iron does a Good Job, but a more powerful iron has more uses (soldering on pots, for instance...). I've used Weller irons for decades; a Weller 100w iron will see you out, and do all you're likely to want. An important point, whatever the iron, is to have a damp sponge close by, to wipe the tip frequently, removing excess solder and residues. Having a clean tip, at the right temperature, using the tip to heat the wire, then applying the solder, which should just flow, is the key. I would go out on a limb, despite my interest in ecology matters, and recommend the use of 60/40 solder, and not the 'lead-free' stuff (which works, but requires some experience to use, and is not suitable for amateur use, in my view...). There, I hope that's enough. Come back with more questions if doubts subsist.

For my money, I'd recommend removing everything, cleaning up the component tags, and re-wiring from scratch with decent wire/cable. There's not much to be saved, there. If necessary, draw a circuit diagram of how it should be wired up before removing it all. That exposed 'shielding' is doing nothing worthwhile in that state, and reliability would be greatly enhanced by entire replacement. Once cleaned up and correctly soldered, it will all work as it should, for many years/decades to come. Just my tuppence-worth.

Popcorn's not all it's cracked up to be.

I've been 'learning' 'Misty' for over forty years, now, so thirty months seems credible..!

Make sure that you have adequate back-ups of anything precious (ie: that which cannot be bought, such as photos, personal documents, password lists etc...) before doing stuff of the sort. (Come to think of it, make sure that you have adequate back-ups, full stop. ... )

I bought a bass from David (a very splendid Hofner 500/3; really beautiful..!) a year and a half ago, but was only recently able to collect it (darned Covid..!). An excellent affair, with David demonstrating patience and goodwill far beyond the call of duty. I regret that we were not able to meet in person, but he has amply earned the designation of being an Official Good Egg. The restoration will commence soon, and I'll post updates when the time comes. Thanks again, David; she's a beauty..!

I bought a bass cab from Ben 18 months ago, but was only able to collect it last week..! Darned Covid..! Ben had patiently kept it safe and warm for me all this time, but it's now safely ensconced at home, here in France. An excellent affair from an excellent bloke. I hereby declare Ben to be an Ofiicial Good Egg. Thanks, Ben.

I bought a Tuner/amp from Pete. Collected in person, so a friendly meet-up to put a face to a BC ID. Everything was prepared (except that the dummy had forgotten what day it was; we were lucky he was in..!). Well pleased, I hereby pronounce Pete to be an Official Good Egg. Thanks, Pete.

Mike sold me a SmoothHound Wireless system. Excellent communications, well packed and timely expedition; a Good Egg. Five stars.

And the winners are... @Doctor J and @NickD ..! Here, then, is your Winner's Certificate (download and save as pdf file, then proudly print and frame...) ... BC_Chal_Cert_2022_04.pdf ... which looks like this (but bigger, of course..!)...

S'obvious, no..?

Always..?

Good Stuff, once all the hoops have been jumped through to install the installer (goes to the right drive, this one...), download the instruments, update the NI installer, download the Free Kontakt (my paid-up Kontakt 5 is apparently no longer useful; too old to play a free piano...). Install the Free Kontakt Player (to the wrong drive, so move it manually...), then invoke, again, the NI installer to give the Heavyocity serial numbers, needed, apparently, even for the Free Kontakt Player. All in all, another hour or so I'll not get back. Happily, once done, it works, and the sounds are decent and useable. I'm getting closer and closer to wanting to just play a real acoustic piano, though; less hassle than all of this rigmarole. Done (phew...), so result. Thanks for posting.

Stage (band...) lighting is an art in and of itself. The style of band, the nature of the event, the budget available, and/or someone to operate stuff makes things complex. The 'minimum', I'd say, if there's no-one to operate stuff, would be a pair of projectors, as high as possible (on top of the FOH..?), one with a very light blue, the other a very light orange, 'looking' at the opposite 'corner' of the stage (so crossed beams...) giving a 'face' lighting. It doesn't have to be very bright, and best if it can be cut for 'blackouts'. Either side of the stage, an upward-facing pair of auto-colour LED Par's; another pair, if possible, either side of the drummer (if centre stage...). There would be enough 'scatter' from all of those to twinkle off anything shiny around, and the low 'face' will emphasise the front persons. Sound-to-light works, but slowly colour-cycling works well, too. Using walls/ceiling/drapery can be very effective in some venues, instead of just shining towards the group.