TRBboy

I'm making mine at the weekend. I would've had to go for the Great Gramma which is about £68, but I reckon mine's gonna cost about £20, and that's with the proper Auralex Platfoam! I'll let you know how it goes.....

[quote name='bassist_lewis' timestamp='1331065933' post='1567197'] as far as the band is concerned we're all conscientious players so no volume wars going on. we're a 4 piece (drums, bass, 2 guitars and 2 vocals). In terms of venues I reckon it'll be the standard mix of marquees, church halls, pubs and drawing rooms of stately homes. Our agent has said they can help us source a decent second-hand PA so will definately speak to them at some point. Upgrading is definately the intention. If you get active speakers can you then plug in a mixing desk (sorry if this is a silly question, not a techy guy )? [/quote] If you're playing those sort of size venues and you're not mega loud, I would suggest you could get away with a PA just for the vocals? If so, I would go for a decent pair of mid-tops and a mixer & power amp/powered mixer, and a pair of monitors. You can always shove a mic in the bass drum if needs be. If you've got powered speakers, you just need a passive (unpowered) mixer.

Glad I'm not the only one! I'm sure if you practice enough you could sing and play anything, but therein lies the problem......

[quote name='BRANCINI' timestamp='1330866842' post='1563953'] In that case, I have been both a hard up pro quite a lot when I was younger, . lol I spose what I was really getting at was, is an otherwise unemployed young kid gigging 3 or 4 nights a week in pubs for peanuts, but still on the dole and living at home with his parents really a Pro or not ? [/quote] I guess that because he's not actually "earning" hos dole money, you could say that he's a pro. Most of the professional musicians I've ever known have been pretty hard up!

[quote name='BRANCINI' timestamp='1330862456' post='1563847'] Just a thought, but define professional. I once heard a certain well known muso interviewed on the radio, when asked when he turned pro he made the same comment. Theres the pro that does it for a living obviously, theres the pro with other means of support, for example, wealthy parents or wife who support him till he grows out of it / also has a small music shop somewhere / makes half his living off ebay etc. And theres the starving pro who doesn’t make enough to live on and is also on the dole registered as an unemployed tomato picker or something similar. I see nobody has clicked the used to be a professional box, pity you cant click on more than one, think you’ll find there might be a few who have now got ‘real jobs’ or just got too old, but still play cos they enjoy it, [/quote] Surely if something is your profession, it means that you earn most of your income from doing it? I would say a professional bassist is one who earns the majority of their income from playing bass. Doesn't matter whether you're rich, poor, a virtuoso or crap, as long as playing is your main source of income. Likewise, I would define a semi-professional bassist as someone who earns approximately 50% of their income from playing. You could be the best bass player in the world, but if you earn your living from a 9-5 office job you're not a professional bass player.

I get quite frustrated with this. I can play and sing fine as long as the rhythm of the bass part and vocal part don't contradict each other too much (hope this makes sense!). Can't describe it very well, bit if the bassline has quite an offbeat feel, but the vocal line doesn't, I'm screwed. If I can plod along on eigth notes I'm fine!

Although I have band rehearsals once a week, and practice at home too, I can't say that I practice a lot. I would imagine that practising a lot is a good few hours everyday, and really trying to push the boundaries of your playing to improve yourself. Wish there had been an option for "I don't practice a lot, but I'm in a band that plays live, and I get involved in various other live and studio projects, although I don't get time to practice as much as I would like to and I'm too lazy to learn to sightread properly"

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1330813208' post='1563448'] Shame you're not local, this is the opener to our Motown set, played note for note as our hero many, many times, I could show you all you need for this one. [/quote] Yeah, that would be awesome! I find it much easier learning like that, rather than from a piece of paper. I've found out this evening that the Soul Choir are doing the Sister Act 2 version. The basics are the same, but the verses are shorter, and there's the sort of breakdown bit near the end and then jam it out. I think I've got the bones of it tonight from the TAB and listening to the record, but I'm going to get in touch with the choirs keys player tomorrow and see if he can give me the chord changes or something. Thanks again for all the help guys!

Thanks for the responses guys! The first rehearsal's Tuesday, but I'll try to pick my way through the notation.......

I've got a gig with the local Soul Choir coming up, and we're doing Ain't No Mountain High Enough. I'm not a reader (well not very good anyway!) but I can only find one Bass TAB online. Just wondered if anyone had an accurate TAB or Guitar Pro? Cheers.

[quote name='Al Heeley' timestamp='1330534315' post='1559031'] For the sake of £27 I bought a Dangleberry ebay GLX limiter, modelled on the Boss LMB-3. I imagine this could bring posts of ridicule and derision plus weblinks to "difference between a compressor and a Limiter" articles, (thx I read some of the shorter ones..) but for £27 I thought it was worth a try within the band mix to see if I will gain some benefit from it. You know what, for a real budget pedal, its solid build quality (I have an almost as cheap 7-band GLX eq thats been gigged 18 months now no problem) and it does reinforce and smooth out the sound. The enhance knob is a little noisy adding some top end eq for a percussive slap sound if you want, but thats not a feature of our set. I will give it a few gigs and decide if I need to shell out >£140 on a 'proper' one or just play this cheap GLX one till it expires. The pedal works way better for bass than my homemade dynacomp clone - presumably that's specifically designed for the guitar players. Well worth the outlay. [/quote] I bought one of these the other night too, should be coming on Monday! Ovnilabs reviewed the GTX CS-3 copy, and said that the circuit and pots, etc is all exactly the same as the Boss version. I think there's a Behringer that is the same circuit too, bit it suffers from plastic shafted pots and jack sockets mounted directly to the circuit board. This GTX should be every bit as reliable as the Boss LMB-3.

Ash just purchased my Samson Airline wireless system. Very swift payment and good communication. Another good Bcer!

I have quite a bit of experience with both (and various other cases), and I really think the Hiscox STD-EBS takes some beating. No-one else (gator included) seem to be able to make a case in that sort of price range that's as solid and robust, but still pretty lightweight. Hiscox are the only cases I use now. Sure you can get full on custom flightcases, etc, but I think they're the best standard hard case around. It's worth keeping an eye out on eBay and on here for used ones. I think there was one listed on here recently.

Thanks Ou7shined, that's kinda what I concluded...... Got any suggestions for an inexpensive, good, reliable tuner that will easily handle a low B?

I'm having real trouble getting my PW mini headstock tuner to pick up a dropped D, and it just does nothing when I try to tune the B on my 5er! Anyone got any tips, or is it just not up to it?

[quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1330614477' post='1560411'] It is MASSIVELY scooped Check out the curve someone measured, flat EQ, color button on: [/quote] Okay, I haven't gone into THAT much detail! The guy who posted it says; "Obviously this kind of thing doesn't tell the whole story, especially in terms of coloration" This information was posted on a forum, I wouldn't take it as gospel..... How accurate is his equipment? Is it calibrated? Is he competent to undertake this sort of testing and analysis? I trust my ears more....... I'm just saying that I don't think it SOUNDS too scooped, especially if you boost the mid control. The way I had it set last night gave me just what I wanted; a bit more grit and bite and actually a bit more warmth and presence.

Just realised I was talking nonsense before...... The EQ does still operate on the drive channel, it's just that the colour is always engaged too. you can "avoid" the scooped sound by upping the mids a bit to get a warmer sound. IMO the colour pre-shape isn't heavily scooped anyway. Tried using it permanently on at rehearsals last night, on the drive channel with the gain and blend at about 9 o'clock and the mid boosted a little, just to give a bit of warmth and grit at the front end. Then used my Boss ODB-3 as the full-on overdrive. It worked a treat! sounded great!

[quote name='Al Heeley' timestamp='1330534315' post='1559031'] For the sake of £27 I bought a Dangleberry ebay GLX limiter, modelled on the Boss LMB-3. I imagine this could bring posts of ridicule and derision plus weblinks to "difference between a compressor and a Limiter" articles, (thx I read some of the shorter ones..) but for £27 I thought it was worth a try within the band mix to see if I will gain some benefit from it. You know what, for a real budget pedal, its solid build quality (I have an almost as cheap 7-band GLX eq thats been gigged 18 months now no problem) and it does reinforce and smooth out the sound. The enhance knob is a little noisy adding some top end eq for a percussive slap sound if you want, but thats not a feature of our set. I will give it a few gigs and decide if I need to shell out >£140 on a 'proper' one or just play this cheap GLX one till it expires. The pedal works way better for bass than my homemade dynacomp clone - presumably that's specifically designed for the guitar players. Well worth the outlay. [/quote] Sounds very interesting! You might have just saved me some money........

Just wondered if anyone's got one or tried one? It seems to get a good review on Ovnilabs. He's put it as highly recommended in the mid price range, and rated above pedals like the BBE Opto Stomp, Boss LMB-3, and other very popular comps. It looks like the only thing that stops it becoming one of the top comps is a slight dulling of the highs. It looks like CM have redesigned the casing now so that it's a more conventional shape too. And it's only about £75 Any thoughts?

What is the actual sound quality like? If you dial in a Big Muff or something, does it actually sound quite close to the real thing, or does everything sound inherently "digital"? Are the compressors any good? Very interested in this little unit, but just concerned about it becoming the weak point in my setup...... Thanks for any advice.

What is the actual sound quality like? If you dial in a Big Muff or something, does it actually sound quite close to the real thing, or does everything sound inherently "digital"? Are the compressors any good? Very interested in this little unit, but just concerned about it becoming the weak point in my setup...... Thanks for any advice.

Yeah, well I've already got the MXR M80 and the ODB3 and I'm happy with what they do, I just want to add a compressor. They trouble is, do I buy a Comp, a pedal board, PSUs, etc, or do I just sell what I've got and buy a B3 to simplify and save some dosh?