Jakester

I was really looking forward to coming along, but it's looking like work means I won't now be able to! Have fun everyone.

Thanks both!

TBH I wasn't planning on anything extensive. I had hoped it would be of decent enough quality just to oil, but I think that's out. The boards themselves will be fine for what I was planning, just not very attractive! A bit disappointing - a job lot of offcuts so not much money, but of variable quality! Yep, have plunge saw so will be using that.

Not specifically bass-build related, but I am building a 19" rack unit so close enough I hope not to offend? I hoped to take advantage of the collective wood-whisperer knowledge! Anyway, I've got some 18mm plywood that I'm going to use to build some "studio" furniture for a rack etc. It's not the greatest quality wood - lots of knot voids etc. However, in some parts the outer ply is quite 'splintery' - some of the fibres are coming loose, on the edges particularly. The very edges don't bother me as the sheets are going to be cut down anyway, but where the fibres are lifting in the sheet, is the best way of dealing just to use some epoxy filler, like you would a grain filler? I'm going to have to use some anyway to fill some of the knot holes, so would skimming some over the worst of the splintery bits work?

Yep, I'd say either timbale sticks or perhaps the one on the right is a guiro scraper?

I would always prefer dots over anything else, being someone that learnt via dots. However, one thing to bear in mind is that not all transcribers are equal! I play both bass and drums, and whilst on the whole bass parts are generally okay (aside from the arranger who would routinely put stuff below low E - I ended up just buying a 5-string!) drum parts are a whole other issue, with stuff all over the place because the arranger hadn't done it before, or had just run something off a midi file. I suppose the point is if you know what you're doing then dots are great - if you don't, they can be more hindrance than help.

Ooh, ṩȵëǻǩɏ!

Why've I been filtered and you haven't? Is it a mod thing? (Unlike IB, who was a baggy thing..)

I'd be whizzed off if I'd paid a tenner!

Jeebus. How the mighty, eh? I love the Stone Roses, and I've got a couple of his solo albums too, but god knows how they got him to sing in tune before Antares came along! I remember taping one of the last SR performances at the Reading Festival off the radio, and it was basically unlistenable - he was so out of tune that it was painful. By all means have the swagger and bravado if you have the ability to back it up, but this is just embarrassing. Plus he's an ardent anti-vaxxer too...🙄

Could be timbale sticks - I have some Alex Acuna ones and they're quite thin - thinner than a 7A I think. Some brands do do 'butt only' sticks (ahem), but they're usually the heavier ones. Could also be marimba mallets with the heads fallen off?

Why is it frustrating? Surely irksome, perhaps irritating, occasionally annoying - but frustrating? I think you need to take a chill pill..

I don't really 'get' compression. TBH, I don't think I can ever hear it on a bass when I'm playing. I've had a few compressors over the years and none of them really made a wild difference to my sound. I'm sure some of that is entirely down to my inability to use them properly. I suppose I use it more as a limiter to stop wide volume disparity between patches. I find compressors much more effective when applied to a whole mix, or parts of it - I was recently messing around with some 70's esque drum parts for a recording, and if you took the toms out and added tons of compression, it really gave the sound we were looking for. But as a subtlety added to my own tone - nope, can't really hear it.

They do as they are the only company authorised by MB to carry out repairs. Since MB won’t release circuit diagrams or component spec details they are the only people in the UK with the ‘official’ information. That is literally the definition of a monopoly. Of course, there’s no doubt other people that might have a bash but they are by no means approved repairers.

That colour reminds me a little of Action Man skin tone. Could you put a pair of the moveable eyes into the body?

I bet you’ll be steering clear of Pawlonia in the future though!

Presumably you've seen the Dug Pinnick? https://www.peachguitars.com/schecter-doug-pinnick-dp-12-black.htm?opt=34390&gclid=CjwKCAjwsfuYBhAZEiwA5a6CDFnAV8h5uGJqnYn-Jw4Lg-o9m9ecfdzbMcA-X-GavOwClBNHzkDZ_xoCyWoQAvD_BwE Could that not just be refinished/headstock reshaped?

Glad you had a better experience than me then! As I say, it's only been my experience but I have used a lot of desks in lots of different situations, and those are the two brands I've always noticed issues with.

I started out with a Xenyx 1024FX but it had to go back as the preamps and the effects were so noisy it was pretty much unusable. Unfortunately that’s been my experience on a number of occasions of using Behringer analog mixers live (and also Mackie ones - Behringer aren’t the only culprits) but thankfully whatever the issue is wasn’t carried over into their digital mixers. In my experience Yamaha and Soundcraft analog mixers do the job well, and as I posted above the Behringer XR18 was/is a game changer for me.

Wow. I just found out you can apparently run the XAir App on a Raspberry Pi! I'm going to put together a Pi multitrack recorder to use with my XR18, but I also found out there's a Pi native version of XAir too. I was intending to use a 3.5" touchscreen for the recorder as suggested here: https://www.z-liverec.com/ I daresay that's probably WAY too small for Xair, but it might be useful to have as a backup to an iPad in a worst-case scenario.

If sellotape fouls the scanning, how do couriers scan the shipping docs put in little plastic envelopes then?

Well, my one was lost entirely. Thankfully ended up with a refund but had to fight and refer to eBay for it. What a joke! Some Evri driver has some very nice studio equipment now.

I have both a Soundcraft Signature 10 and an XR18. The Soundcraft was purchased for really small pub gigs where there was no real need for more than a couple separate monitor feeds. It’s great, quiet, great sounding preamps, good (quiet) effects and useful touches like limiters on some channels, USB stereo out, interval mute (mutes all channels but the phono in (but annoyingly not the monitors) etc. I’d get another if I needed to replace it, though possibly the 12MTK. I was considering the 22MTK for live and home studio work too. The XR18 however is another league - once you get over the tricky learning curve it’s so much more useful and has so many better options. I have to say after a range of gigs using the XR18, when I went back to the Soundcraft I felt a little bereft! Band members were moaning about not being able to control their monitor mixes (makes a change from them complaining about being able to…) and I missed the easy setup with scenes etc. My only issue with the XR18 is the lack of a physical vol knob for when some jackass unplugs/plugs in the wrong thing and causes howling feedback. I do have the XTouch controller but don’t really use it as a physical surface any more.