51m0n

The only thing I personally have reservations about re the MXR is that the ratio doesnt go below 4:1 and the attack is pretty fast, but thats because its designed around the same goals as an 1176, which also has those limits. However, an 1176 is usually used during mixing, after the bassists has well and truly left the building, and at that point you are only interested in the sonic result, whereas if its in your rig the way it makes the instrument feel to play is super important, and I personally like a lower ratio and lower threshold than that. The Cal76 is far closer in actual design and implentation than an 1176 though, and those details make a huge difference, I would love to try one of those (except I dont want the GAS!). But if it works for you and you dig it then its super groovy.

[quote name='EskimoBassist' timestamp='1350835848' post='1844026'] I know I spend a lot on effects pedals, but I mean that makes the Deep Impact look positively Behringer... [/quote] Compared to the cost of an actual 1176 its not bad at all though....

[quote name='kurosawa' timestamp='1350871340' post='1844544'] Good thread. Really brings home that nothing new has happened in bass equipment since the invention of the electric bass, except advances in speaker design, which make all else possible. Now that light weight, compactness, great sound, and enough efficiency to handle outdoor gigs are all available at the same time, it has to be a 2x15 to have it all in one box. Unless there's a repeal of the laws of physics, this is as good as it will ever get. Too bad we didn't have these cabs back in the 60s! [/quote] Not entirely sure why you think it has to be a 215.... You need to hear a BF Big Twin, which is a 2x12 plus 6inch mid range horn and a tweeter. Not your average 12 inch drivers in there at all btw. Given a grunty enough amp it will chuck out more useable volume than almost anything else I've heard. Having said that the new beta 112 cab Alex brought along to the SE Bass Bash was the nicest single 12 I've ever heard, and the only one I've heard that really carried in a full band set up well enough to be used in a rehearsal. Totally epic little thing. We did destroy it in the end, but only after someone dumped over 1Kw into it by mistake! That has one of the most 'secret sauce' 12 inch drivers I've ever heard of, very very clever design indeed.... As for nothing else has changed since the 50's, have you not tried any of the new lightweight amps at all? My rig chucks out 500w of clean power, it is massively loud. My amp weighs less than anything else in the rig except its ABS rack case. It utilises a switch mode ('digital') power supply, but other than that ia an all analogue head. Amazing leap forward in technology!

I agree. If you are distorting the amp with your bass alone, then more gain from a preamp wont do anything but add more distortion. Have you checked that the tube is properly seated? Grasping at straws there....

hmmmmm...

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1350644292' post='1841610'] I've never been able to distort my LH500 - even with all the active controls on my Status up full!! Are your leads OK? Batteries? This just doesn't make sense to us LH500 users... This thread might be helpful [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/72764-schroeder-21015-cab/"]http://basschat.co.u...eder-21015-cab/[/url] [/quote] +1 its a circuit designed to have immense headroom. I cant get it to distort from input level, you could have an issue with the tube perhaps??

Can you record your bass set up and post it at all? Without the guitars, just the bass in to the rig as you normally have it set up at 'war' volume? Do you have access to a dB meter so we can figure out how loud you're talking here?

Hmmm. Well how are you approaching 'cutting through'? Do you have a scooped tone? Because it doesnt matter how powerful your rig, if you arent putting frequencies that can work in the mix into that mix you will struggle to hear yourself. Something very odd going on here, what are the eq settings on the LH500, and the StingRay?

CD player through Plux's LH500 -> Berg Ht210 & HT115 rig has achieved similar results, mwahahahaha!

I play with a couple of pretty heavy hitting drummers, not stupidly loud though. I used to play in a band with 2 drummers, one a heavy hitter the other providing electronic percussion and fx noises through as much PA as he could get. Plpus a loud guitarist. That was LOUD. I find myself always ending u pwith the sa450 on half - occasionally just above - and with the ae410 that provides enough air movemnet and oomph to keep up. I wouldnt be in the same room for a secondwithout earplugs though.... IME a 112 cant possibly keep up with a loud drumer and 4x12 guitar cabs. Any claim to the contrary is just nonsense. However the BF S212t is most definitely loud enough to keep up with a very loud drummer, and a lot of guitar too, and with an LH500. One thing that is VERY important to note about the LH500 design in particular though, it has no input gain control, so if you have a low output active or passive bass you wil not give it enough input level to make the most of its power section. If you are gettign up over halfway on the LH500 then you should consider the passive input, or some form of active buffer preamp to give you more grunt on that amp's input. I have seen this with an Ibanez SR300 played by a player with a very light touch, the amp didnt get the input voltage it needed to run at its best, and so made the rig appear quiet, when in fact a different bass/player provided massive volume.

Alas, earwax

Me too? Bizarre, mine was carefully fashioned from Dairy Lea, he may find out if the stage lights are very very hot....

The version with the output tranny is supposed ot be awesome - I'd love a go on one

Here's two.... http://www.empresseffects.com/compressor.html [url="http://www.origineffects.com/Cali76.php"]http://www.origineff....com/Cali76.php[/url]

It sort of works....

Thats kissable that is....

Short of sticking it into an oscilloscope, a computer with a vst oscilloscope in a DAW, or some other effect with good metering you only have your ears to go by. This thing has a fixed attack & release and exactly what the sensitivity knob controls (be it ratio, threshold or both in some way) is not documented in an easy to find place (read: I couldnt find it in two seconds on the interweb). You can find more info [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/rossclones.shtml"]about it here[/url] Set the sensitivity so it is doin gnothing, then equalise the volume on and off with the output control. Play 8th notes on the A string and roll the sensitivity up until you hear/feel it doing 'something'. Find how much something you like/can live with. Rebalance the output when on and off. Thats as good as it gets, which isnt saying much.... Its designed for guitar, not bass, it stands to reason it wont do bass well.

Sounds delicious

Cool, let me know when, wouldnt miss it mate, loved the last one

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1350326283' post='1837395'] Thanks for the endorsements! We had a really good time - great gig and great promoters who know how to organise a fine evening and keep things going even after the main band has to drop out at the very last minute. With a bit of luck we'll be back in London soon. If you don't want to view the whole gig I've made separate video clips of "Love Me Tendons, Love Me Goo" and "Lilly & The Killers" + "Invasion Of The SpiderQueen" and put them up on our [url="http://www.youtube.com/user/terrortones"]YouTube channel.[/url] [/quote] Any idea if you'll be doing the loooonnggg haul down to Brighton again anytime, I know a few dodgy old geezers who once upon a time wore big bad psychobilly quiffs who are well up for catching your lot if you do

Yes its not designed to do that job, its really a dictaphone at best, it probably has built in filtering (ie in the hardware rather than software) to remove the bass as that is unhelpful for phone transmission. The iPhone claims to be capable of doing this stuff, but it isnt designed to do it, and therefore it doesnt do it well. Buy one of the many decent devices out there designed with recording rehearsals rather thn speach and enjoy it....

Take a leaf out of Phill Brown's excellent book 'Are We Still Rolling' and go and find a nice local church, give them a small donation to be able to use it to do a live recording for a couple of hours. Pick one that sounds 'nice', and doesnt have any loud heating systems in operation (or anyone wondering around). You'll be fine, since you have no lyrical content to scare the practitioners, unlike when Phill Brown tried this option

Yup, C1000s if you find the exact right place to put them could do ok. The chance of that is improved the better the acoustic in the room. If you have a nasty room, and a nasty mic, and a slightly harsh recorder (anyone heard a descant that didnt sound shrill like a screaming child?) I reckon you are going to struggle to tame the 'ouch' factor in the sound. Lovely sounding room, decent player, better mics and you have far more successful placement options already, so a better chance of a good capture. IME.... If I had this to record I might even try a Cascasde Fathead II with a Lundahl trannie, if the recorder sounded harsh.

Fair enough, but IME thats perfectly in line with them being average at best. Pretty much any sdc will do for OH's, C1000s (and I've used a matched pair for OH's for years when there wasnt anything better) certainly can cope in this task. Micing a piano is all about placement, almost more than any other instrument I can think of (harp is a bitch too actually). If you get the placement exactly right with less great mics you will achieve a far better result than brilliant mics without the same level of attention to placement. So not surprised one jot there either. The CM3 are in a completely different league to the C1000, hugely hugely better mic. They have one nuance you need to be aware of, they are a very very wide pattern cardiod, not an omni as they reject at 180 degrees, but still very wide, which is part of why they sound so natural too. So if you are about to close mic something and rejection is vital, there are cases where (a hihat mic for instance) a C1000 [i]may [/i]be more appropriate, but in general the C3 is going to give you a more accurate representation of what you are recording - which in this case means better IMO. The Thomann is an unsual beastie, unlike the myriad other sdc cheap chinese clones it doesnt have the actual diaphragm about 5mm recessed into the body. Instead, and exactly like the Neumann's that all those cheap clones are copying, it has the diaphragm virtually flush with the end of the mic, which actually makes for less resonances and a hugely better mic physically - [url="http://www.oktavamod.com/"]there are people out there modding these mics[/url] (and Oktava mk 12s) for pretty serious bucks and delivering really exceptional quality results. So I'm happy to put the Thomann's up against a set of C1000s in a lot of places, except they are stupidly cheap!.

Oh boy, big topic. Firstly record the thing in a big space that sounds great, if you record this in a crappy sounding room, then no amount of digital reverb can remove or cover that innate crapness from the recording, you'll just add a different flavour over the top. I cannot stress this enough, dotn go for a poor sounding room with recorder!!! The only other possiblilty is a very very dry room, and add a great sounding convolution reverb at mix time. You can get a great (really, brilliant) set of impulses for the Bricasti M7 [url="http://www.samplicity.com/bricasti-m7-impulse-responses/"]here[/url] which you can load with the free SIR vst from [url="http://www.knufinke.de/sir/sir1.php"]here[/url] C1000's are pretty average at best. They are OK for OH's in a pinch. If you have alittle bit of time and budget on your hands, the very very best bang for the buck small diaphragm condcensor that you can buy in Europe is the [url="http://www.lineaudio.se/linemic.htm"]CM3 [/url]from these guys [url="http://www.nohypeaudio.com/lineaudioproducts.htm"]here[/url] for about £90ea They blow C1000s away in every single respect, and are getting into Schoeps range of excellence (though Schoeps are still better). If you have less budget you could do worse than t[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_sc140_stereoset.htm"]hese bad boys from Thomann[/url], which have a really good physical design (very close in many physical respects the Neuman KM84) and cost about £76 a pair with a stereo bar! When I get the time (actually its not time todo it, its time to finish the damn thing, its turning into a huge piece, including a fair amount of info on microphone design and characteristics, with a tonne of diagrammes I'm doing from scratch - I hope its worth the effort!), my next recording blog is all about stereo micing ensembles in rooms. Which would give you a lot of pointers about recording the entire ensemble, in which case you need two mics for stereo. A very important part of recording acoustic instruments is mic position. Simplest rule to follow for a mono recording is to walk around the player listening with one ear covered and listen, when you find a spot you like the sound of put the mic capsule right there, then listen on cans and fine tune it if necessary. Some guidelines, acoustic instruments sound from their entire physical size. If you mic closer than their longest dimension you are close micing the instrument, and the position and direction of the micropphone becomes hyper critical to the resultant tone - you tend to pick up the bit you are closest to (with an omni mic) or pointing at (with a cardiod mic). If the performer moves whilst playing (hint the [i]all[/i] do) then you will have constantly changing tone as you record. This is a "bad thing" - dont go there with something like a recorder! (So no close micing as a rule) If you dont get within close micing distances however, a different set of issues will arise. You are now entirely dependant on the room/instrument mix. There is something called 'critical distance' - it is the distance away from the instrument where the room reverb is of equal volume to the source. If you have one mic, and the instrument is to be in any way a feature in your recording, you do not want to be outside the critical distance, as your recording will be very washy and indistinct. If you watch the meters as you back off the mic from the source, you will see them drop in volume, as you get further away they will stop dropping in volume, this means you have gone beyond the critical distance, ie reverb volume >= source volume. For what you want to record you want to be within the critical distance and beyond close micing distance. In a smaller room this is can be tricky to achieve, especially with such a quiet instrument! Final points, noise - recorder is quiet, really really quiet. You need to have no background noise leaking in to the recording - close back cans are essential for everyone listening in! Recorder has nothing going on below 250Hz (unless its a bass recorder, but even then its minimal) use a high pass filter to bin any hum and low frequency noise. Good luck, and enjoy it!