Monckyman

Sennheiser E840. Great for vox,main or BVs. App £60 new

Dunno about these, will have a look. A suggestion for wired systems is make up a special cable using 6 way lightweight cable which can carry your bass signal down and your stereo iem up. Or just tape the two cables together!

Copper slug tape for the shielding!

As above, stapled velcro. Not B&Q 3M dual lock is very good too.

Small mixer will do it all.

I`m currently on some D`Addario half flats,(ground down round wound things) which were a bit sticky at first but wore in nicely, to the point where full flats are going on next. I have three gigs next weekend and don`t really want to mess about with my setup before them so once they`re out of the way, I`ll change up. It took me a while to move away from all the mid range plectrum/slap zing of my last band to the fuller more traditional bass role but it`s very rewarding just sitting down on those low frequencies. Anyone have any flats for sale pm me!

I had a quick search and found your other posts. Have you tested whether there is an inner frame under the outer skin with the grub screw setup?

I have 7. I`ve gigged 4 of them,one is retired now for being too heavy (Vox),one`s in bits waiting for inspiration (Black J),and the other two are my regular working basses. A P with wizards/flats and a J with Nordstrands/DR hi beams. The rest are all cheap bits of this and that and are all an effort to achieve a superb or quirky bass for pennies, and because I like f***ing about with them,so rather mess up a cheapy than one of the workers. I fully intend to divest myself of all this crap, and invest in another very good bass, that I can use for work rather than home noodles. Prob never happen.

Bah GAS! Excellent work on Wicked, she looks fantastic! I`ve had my eye on a mates 82 Blazer for a while, it`s currently sat at the back of a cupboard in poor condition. I`m a sucker for Maple necked early 80s basses with a Vox and Hohner part of the line up so I reckon a Blazer would fit right in. Could you tell me what kind of neck profile and width the blazer has,is it more P than J or something in between? MM

I do the sound for my lot, as I have the experience. I`ve found that similar to Lozz, relying on backline won`t do. I mic everything up and it all goes to the foh P.A. This doesn`t make sh*t louder, in fact the opposite,because the guitarists and myself no longer rely on the backline to fill the pub/venue,so it isn`t blisteringly loud on or near the stage. This means I can mix it properly to suit the venue and we can all hear ourselves much better. I have our drummer on a wired in ear setup, and that makes him lay off the neanderthal drummer routine, as he can hear that kick drum nice and loud. To ensure you get a decent idea of the mix, get a radio pack and walk the venue. Remember that you don`t have to fill the venue with sound, just concentrate on getting the best mix for the most immediate audience in front of you. If you try to mix for the folk at the back then the folk at the front will get a painful experience and bugger off. I find that if people want to listen, they`ll move in, and if they want to chat they`ll move out. If you have a decent sized rehearsal room, you can get 80% of this nailed right there, as S1mon says, by disciplining yourself with the backline and using the P.A more and more. My band are lucky in that we have a good sized room that we set the full rig up in, with a digital desk,so I can tweak and save our mixes (I have several saved for different type venues). This means that in the venue itself, a lot of the EQing and gain structure is already in place, and all I`m doing is a venue EQ overall and a basic level balance. Try to give the vocalist as much headroom as possible, because ALL bands get louder as the night progresses, and you need to keep pushing the vocal up as he/she gets more tired as the night goes on. Anyway, a load of waffle, but bottom line, turn down the backline, mic the kick drum and build around the vox. edit: All of which advice won`t make much difference if you haven`t got a half decent P.A What have you got? Could you list your backline and P.A? MM

And wear a wire..

Thanks for the replies all. No shielding plates, just a box of copper slug tape. I tried earthing to a string and it did indeed lessen the buzz. I think the remaining noise is lack of shielding. I`ll go with what I have but it sounds like the actives would be perfect. I`ll place an ad in wanted. Ta, MM

Hello all. I`ve recently been fiddling with some old P pickups on my double bass, and I have to say it sounds pretty damn good. I have a Planet Wings Piezo fitted but it just doesn`t cut it in the po/rock wedding band context. I have a problem though, either I`m not earthing the pickup properly or I need to shield them in copper tape, because I have a constant mid to high freq buzz. I can roll most of this off with some tone adjustment, but obviously that`s not ideal. I do have an old P bass loom with a tone and vol pot on that I may velcro to the back of the fingerboard for some control but if anyone has either done this already or has any ideas about it, please post here. Ta, Dave M

Arse.

Two gigs, both weddings,Frid and Sat. Frid gig in St Helens with a dep keys player. Here`s the scene,(and this has been bugging me for a bit),Guitarist lives in Wigan,singer in Warrington, but his GF is in Manchester. The Reh room is in central Manchester as am I and the drummer. The singer has managed to train the guitarist to pick him up for gigs to share costs etc,but 2 weeks ago after the guitarist turning up in Manch late to get his stuff, then go pick the singer up in Warrington, causing us to be late for a wedding in Liverpool,I did my nut at them both. I hate loading a full van of p.a drums, guitar amps,lights bass rig etc on my own and having two members so late to a gig that I unload it on my own too. So, cut to last weeks two gigs. Guitarist stuck in traffic on motorway, singer waiting in Warrington for pickup. Again. We (the drummer and I),ended up loading guitarists sh*t into my van, and going straight to the gig,where the singer met us after blagging a lift from someone,minus his suit pants.. lost en route apparently,and the guitarist driving directly there also. No prob, gig was a late one, luckily. >Did my nut again. Especially as, if he so wished, the singer could be in Manchester for any gig day for load ins, pickups etc as he could simply stay at his GFs.. Cut to following nights gig. I arrive at the gig with drummer and the singer turns up in...........his own car! He apparently always had one, just didn`t fancy the hassle of using it when he could coerce the guitarist into picking him up. Guitarist turns up separately and they aint talking much.. Conclusion, guitarist grew a pair and told the singer to make his own way from now on. >didn`t have to do my nut again. Result. Other thing of note was for the Sat I finally convinced the others to go with the backing tracks we`ve been working on, result? Great success, more stage room,more wages, less opinions. Punters very happy with the band and the sound. I think finally, we are turning into something a little more professional in attitude and commitment. To finally top his week of excellence, the singer (also the treasurer) forgot whether we had been paid a deposit for this gig or not.. and nearly asked the Groom for the difference...Then remembered we had taken a deposit. So he`s now the ex treasurer. I`m sure my blood pressure isn`t as good as it used to be. Next week we have a run of three in a row with the singer complaining his voice may not be up to it and can I sing about 6 songs.... It`s going to be a long week.

Does sound like a routing error. As Tom says, check you are properly connected to the stereo AMP outs,(XLR and Jack options in the box in top right of desk) not the MONITOR SPEAKER outputs.(Jack only) If you have incorrectly taken the signal from the control room outputs, you will only get a signal when the PFL button is depressed.And as the name of the button suggests, this signal will be take PRE fader,so the position of the fader is irrelevant. This function is designed to let you monitor whatever signal you want by routing that signal to that output and the headphones,without affecting the main mix which should be coming from the AMP OUT Then make sure your Channel is actually routed somewhere, ie the ST (Stereo) outs or one of the subgroups, (1-2) and ensure the Subgroup then goes to ST Yamaha Chan ON switches still confuse everyone inc me. Why don`t they use a Mute like the rest? The pre/post fade thing shouldn`t be an issue, that`s really only for telling your aux/fx sends where to be in the signal path. On this desk you have one Aux permanently fixed to POST FADE for your FX send, so that when you turn your vox up or down for instance, the amount of reverb sent to the aux goes up or down relative to it. The other aux can be sent to an external reverb delay etc, OR it can be switched PRE fade, to send a mix to a powered monitor which will be completely independent of your stereo mix. Your Channel faders cant be pre fader, because they ARE the faders. Good luck.

Hi, we use the hard plastic rugged type storage containers with lids. People use tham for moving house etc. They aren`t indestructible, but are flexible and strong and so long as you put them on the top of the pack, are absolutely fine. How many lights are you carrying? We have a box large enough for 4 led par56 with a folding lid that came from some market or other, and a few storage containers that are the property of Burnley Council.(no idea..),all great for lights smoke machines,gaffa,bits of 240v extension etc.

Don`t get obsessed by foam in soft cases. Just use hard cases. Much less hassle than trying to make a soft case hard. We carry our lights in plastic utility boxes that are light and strong and so long as the ampeg doesn`t go on top of them, will keep the lights safe. You can line any decent box with a thin layer of foam or packing material.

The fact that you think Blockbuster isn`t cheesy precludes me offering any sensible advice.

Near enough. They must have had their own.