brensabre79

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1326823886' post='1502470'] Apparently, there are only half a dozen or so string manufacturers in the whole world and they make all the different brandes of strings. [/quote] That is true Bert, but they are made to different specifications depending on the end label. I'm running an experiment at the moment. I ordered a set of 45-105 strings for £5 off eBay, stuck them on my bass and did a gig. I've been using DR LoRiders for 2-3 years. The main differences are that these cheaper strings are rougher to touch, I felt the pain of this 2 hours in! The overall tone was different, not so much dynamic range of the string (when I dig in it just doesn't give much more) and the D string was significantly quieter than the EA and G for some reason... BUT they were perfectly useable and they didn't seem to go dull in an instant. I expect that the dodgy D was from that pack only but the chances of getting a slightly dodgy one in each pack would be higher. I think for those who have corrosive sweat (like I do) the preference for the more expensive strings is also that they last longer - this is likely because the surface of the steel/nickel is smoother, so less sweat can get itself in there and start the corroding process. So for part 2 of my experiment I have ordered a set of Ritter Swordsteels - which based on this theory have a very smooth grade of steel... Let's see how they do.

Is the noise happening only at your house or have you plugged it in elsewhere and got it? Also, does it still do it without an instrument plugged in to it?

Nice rig! Glad you decided to ditch the V6, you won't look back I promise

OK so it arrived yesterday and I had about an hour to play with it last night so here goes... Opening the box, the unit seems pretty solid. Metal case, proper footswitches and for me at least they are well spaced so as not to hit two at once. I downloaded the Zoom Edit & Share software on my Mac - which seems OK. A good way to see what you're doing. I chose to unplug this and get used to the B3 itself for starters though. [b]Tune Up[/b] The tuner is a vast improvement on the B2.1 theres a row of LEDs across the top which works like a Boss or any other pedal tuner a row of reds either side of the green 'in tune' LED. It highlighted that the intonation is slightly out on my JB so its pretty accurate, as I set this up with a behringer tuner the other week! So far so good... [b]Presets[/b] I went through the range of factory presets first, to see what the unit was capable of. Without going into the detail of every one of these I would say there are some pretty good ones and some that I will never find a use for, but the idea of these presets is that you overwrite them with your own sounds anyway. After that I started trying to look at the individual components... Preamps These are pretty good actually, some are quite noisy but they are all quite distinctive in sound, not just 8 different ways to boost the signal. Compressors I was particularly concerned about these as the B2 ones were dreadful. I have to say these are a major improvement, and much more useable. But I will be continuing with my Markbass Compressore after the Zoom and keeping a slot free for other things. (you can only have 3 slots in any patch - unlike the old Zoom method - but you can bring the 3 in and out individually within a patch so you don't have to use them all at once) Amp emulators These are pretty good actually, quite a passable impression of SVT and fliptop. The Bassman is a bit weak IMO. I would definitely use these for recording - even if subtley. Synths Pretty standard Zoom affair with the synths, I don't really have a use for them as I have an array of actual synths at my disposal. Ok for a spangy effect in a live show but the much improved tracking is still a bit off sometimes and you kind of have to adjust your playing to get the best from these. Definitely more, and better than B2 ones though. Modulators I only played with a couple of the chorus effects. They are pretty nice actually, I liked the Ensemble for an 80s style (think Sade, Paul Young ballads etc.). [b]In use[/b] I haven't had time to use it in anger yet, but overall I like. Once you've set your patch up with what you need, its really easy to edit them a little on the fly, no delving into menus etc there are three knobs for each slot so you can quickly ramp up the blend of a chorus or the feedback on a delay. It will take some getting used to if you've used the B1, B2 style pedals. This is a different beast. you have to think about what you'll need because flipping between patches is not just a pedal press, you have to hold one down then select up or down (or you can reach down and do it by hand) but doing this mid-song is tricky. As you only have three slots including things like noise reduction, a preamp and a compressor (pretty standard fare) means you're full and if you want to add a chorus or delay you're out of slots so something has to go. there are a few dual fx (like compressor/distortion combined) but may not be the combination you want. [b]Overall[/b] I'm pretty happy with it overall, it [i]IS[/i] a significant improvement on the B2 in terms of the quality of the sounds it can make. But the way you use it is quite different. If you're the sort of person who has Preamp -> Chorus -> Delay -> Compressor -> you're already stuffed with this one without some fancy footwork! If you tend to only use one effect at a time this makes life much simpler. For me, I'm not going to use this to shape my sound with the Amp emulators and compressors etc. I'm going to use this as an add on only when I need it. So I'll set up my sound with my Bass and amp then just add a little Chorus or Overdrive or Delay or something - like stomp boxes - rather than trying to create a soundscape for each song like previous Zoom offerings. For £140 this is a great unit, if you think about it this way - how much would 3 Boss pedals cost? This can do most of the ones you'd want for bass and then some more. Added to which when you're recording theres a whole load of stuff that means you can just DI from this unit and sound like a miked up Ampeg in a decent room. I'll be taking this out to gigs and doing some recording too when I've got my head around it and I'll let you know how it fares in the real world!

You could try talking to Trace Elliot (are they still going?) they were really helpful with me when I had a V6 from them a few years back - not that it needed repairing - but they may know about this issue and be able to advise...

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1326713185' post='1500747'] Anyone thought that instead of making it technically more interesting for themselves, they could use the time to make the act more visually appealing to the audience?? It is a show after all. [/quote] This. Hey some songs we do are a bit of a challenge for me (especially when the drummer counts them in at 220bpm), and that's my muso time, head down and play it well. Cue one of the simpler songs and I can leap around the stage like a deranged pogo stick. What really impresses both the musos and non-musos in the crowd is that you can hold down a decent groove whilst jumping off the walls Theres more to being a good player than being able to play lots of notes in fast succession. Sometimes musicality is about the notes you don't play too. check out the audience, if their heads aren't nodding you're not playing your repetitious note of C or D with the right amount of feeling

[quote name='guildbass' timestamp='1326764650' post='1501766'] Get a decent dynamic mic...Not necessarily an SM58, they're very old hat...60's technology...Still OK but surpassed a while ago as the industry standard. EV's are quite good...But just look around...there's loads of good dynamics out there... [/quote] So what is the industry standard now?

The only place I could find was Thomann... but i'm sure other places will have them soon - not sure if they have made it over to the UK yet. Worth noting: the PSU that comes from Thomann is for Euro plugs, so you'll either need a travel adapter or a new PSU! Fortunately I have a UK Zoom PSU already

It's arrived! Its metal, and solid and shiny! [attachment=97552:photo.JPG] Much darker red than I thought, I'll let you know how it sounds a bit later...

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1326732422' post='1501203'] ....but he's in the US! [/quote] oops! hadn't spotted that one! You should be able to pick a good one up over there!

I agree, hire different setups for a few gigs so you know what works best for you, i.e how much power you need, how easy to setup, carry around etc. You can often also buy the setup at a discount from the hire co. If not, once you know what sort of thing you need (mixer, amp etc.), compare different makes offering the same sort of products. Look at the behringer PA stuff, its pretty solid for the money. Lots of S/H on eBay but better to get new at this level. Go for separates if you can, cheaper to replace/repair. Its not the best stuff but its excellent value.

Thats a how long is a piece of string question really... But I would talk to them and mention Mr Foxen's advice (that should save you at least an hour's labour), and ask them how much to perform that repair first. My advice would be to get it repaired then sell it and get a proper amp so you can have your Super12 the right way up

Theres nothing [i]wrong[/i] with using condenser mics for live work. But then again, unless you're miking up really quiet things theres not really any need either. Condenser mics can be a lot more sensitive than dynamic ones. If its for band vocals though I've said many times that there is a very good reason that the Shure SM58 has been the industry standard for a very long time! We have 4 vocals in our band, one uses a rather expensive and good quality Beyer condenser for his vocals the other 3 use SM58s. Take a guess at the one who always has feedback problems, picks up the drums and guitars when not singing and can't be heard out front (because he's had to turn down due to the feedback!). He's getting an SM58. If you haven't got your own engineer, I personally would go with SM58s all around and save a considerable amount of hassle and money

I'd go with the Ampeg out of those two, definitely best for the more trad sounds you're into. I'd also agree that bang for buck the SWR Goliath II is THE best 4x10 you'll get for under £300. Its taken me 15 years to find something that comes close, and that has 12" not 10" speakers in it - and still not quite as much Low end. As a shameless plug, if you're interested in a genuinely roadworn SWR Goliath II (1200w into 4ohms) PM me - I am thinking of selling mine in the next couple of weeks!

Don't forget to compress. A decent amount of compression will improve sustain, warmth and help it sit in the mix more consistently.

I don't know what guitarists you've been playing with Jack but this is quite normal. It doesn't happen often. But it does happen! About 10 years ago I lent my beloved metallic purple Gibson SG to a guitarist I knew who had forgotten his. He phones me to invite me to his gig near my house and says, oh and can you bring a guitar? I had a gig myself but said he could borrow it. I never saw it again sadly as he also left it at the venue afterwards. I asked for it back a week later assuming he still had it by which time it was long gone... Now I have his telecaster thinline and he's not allowed to borrow it!

I should probably clarify that whilst you are mostly responsible fo your sound some gear reproduces it better than others. I've just spent a shed load on a new rig and it wasn't in vein as I'm able to get the sound I want from it more easily (running pretty much flat as opposed to tons of EQ). So I'm definitely not saying that investing in good equipment is a waste of time. What I am saying, is that given any bass, and any rig, even with all the same settings no two bassists will sound exactly the same. You will always get pretty close to your sound whatever equipment you use though by tweaking controls to your liking. The sound engineer will do the same with what you give them. Drummers usually come out worst off though, I used to hate the clicky 80s heavy metal bass drum sound (when I played drums) yet despite using a soft beater and oil filled heads - I would always get whatever noise the sound man wanted from my miked up kit. Long hair and a motley crue t-shirt usually meant me and the sound guy were not going to agree on things, however you can always have a chat with the sound engineer and most (if not all) are quite agreeable if they believe you know your sound and how it works well in the context of the rest of the band. Have a chat about it, don't just say "I like my bass to be really toppy"

[quote name='Jigster' timestamp='1326460462' post='1497478'] Don't know if this has been in thread yet - a lot of the gigs we play goes through a band PA, we rarely use a naked backline so to speak. So, I set my sound on stage, and it sounds how I want it to, but I always wonder how that translates to what the sound guy does with it all out front. I suppose what I'm saying is, if I set my amp to what I think the room needs, ie. more top/middy etc, as people have outlined above, when my amp gets DI'd, does what the sound guy sets at his desk just wipe out any choices/settings I've made with my on stage sound? [/quote] As a former sound guy in venues doing 4 or 5 bands a night sometimes I can say that in most cases you'll get whatever sound the sound guy gives ya. The settings on your amp work with your cab in the room, but the PA is a different cab and so your settings will usually not be useful to FOH. Also, the sound guy should know the room and will EQ all the instruments to get the best out of the equipment and the room and make the show sound good. Your own personal bass sound is somewher on page 2 or 3 of priorities in this situation, however don't despair because the truth is that most of 'your' sound comes from how you play, not the amp, cab, bass etc. you use. Thats why when I did the 6 band marathon nights, I'd set everything up first with the headline act eq wise then adjust volume levels for each act - the job of an in house PA in sound reinforcement, so any eq etc. really should be just to get rid of unwanted frequencies (room resonances, badly tuned drums etc.) If you have your own engineer this is different, they will know your songs, and can add effects, level boosts eq etc. on a song by song basis (e.g. big vocal delay on the start of One Step Beyond, Slap bass - boost treble for lessons in love) I do the PA for our covers band, vocals and sax only (occasionally the kick drum) go through it so the backline is naked. At each soundcheck the guitar keyboard and bass amps are all tweaked to suit the room (essentially doing he job of the sound man, minus the PA) and the PA is tweaked to ring out the frequencies which are most likely to feedback - usually the resonances of the room or harmonics therof!

[quote name='skelf' timestamp='1326453455' post='1497335'] Hi Regarding the battery use. It sounds as if the battery is draining to ground some where. Check that it is not touching the cavity shielding any where. If this has just started it is unlikely to be the wiring but worth checking everything is as it should be. Alan [/quote] Ah thanks Skelf - I'll check that although I don't think the cavity is shielded actually - which probably explains why this bass is particularly prone to picking up earth hum if I stand within a metre of an amp. I'll take it apart tomorrow and get the old circuit tester on there. I thought it was just a dud battery the first time, but after 3 batteries in as many gigs theres definitely something up. Great sounding pre-amp though! Dave & Ou7shined you have made me feel a bit better! Thanks. We had to fill in last night actually as halfway through the first set the guitarist left the stage as he couldn't wait 15 minutes for a piss! cue impromptu cover of Fever! Mark at Bassdirect is being very helpful re: the amp, its being swapped under warranty.

Had a gig last night, equipment disasters all round! First my Fretless Jazz bass decides not to work. I changed the battery last week after it did this before I've got a ACG/East preamp in with sweepable frequencies etc. running off a single 9v battery. For some reason it has suddenly decided to eat batteries at a rate of one expensive Energiser / Duracel Ultra per gig! Previously I had a cheapo Duracell in for 6 months. Its especially a PITA because theres no battery compartment, its just under the control plate requiring a screwdriver to swap out. - Any help/advice with this one greatly appreciated! Then my brand new GB Shuttle decides to go on the fritz, making a loud hiss, crackle, hiss noises. Obviously the first thing I check leads, connections etc. turns out its in the amp somewhere, tapping the top of it I managed to make the hiss/crackle go away and get through the gig. I'm in touch with the shop about this one! The guitarists amp suddenly went very trebly (all the mid range disappeard) probably valve related, and the power light on his Fender twin stopped working - even though the amp was still working. And finally the SM57 sax mike suddenly decided to be super quiet. Changed lead (no change) changed channel (no change) - had the thing cranked up to full gain and boosting through 4 groups just to be audible! Needless to say, whilst the rest of the band and the audience had a great time, I didn't really enjoy the gig!! Has anyone ever had a night like this? Come on, help me feel better!

All valid, but CDs are only 16 bit and if you're just making mp3s then I would just use 16 bit because any advantage you get from having a higher bit depth will be lost on an mp3 and you'll fill up your hard drive faster! I've recorded stuff at 32bit, 24bit and 16bit, and if I have the choice I use 32 bit every time because you never know where it will end up. But if you're just doing demos and running off mp3s 16 bit is perfectly fine. The best way to describe the difference in bit depth is that the higher you go the closer you get to analogue sound. If you're recording classical music with a huge dynamic range then you need this. For Rock/pop music you're not going to need the dynamic range to be so large.

Available now at Thomann. Just ordered mine

Live, I take 1 fretted (Jazz usually) and 1 Fretless (Jazz) If I break a string I can get by in the whole set on either. Studio, I usually know what I'm going to a session for and take whats required, if I don't own it I'll hire it. For my home studio I have the entire selection below and this is where I do most recording these days. I prefer people to send me stems and I just overdub and send files back, much easier for all concerned !

[quote name='obbm' timestamp='1326306750' post='1495281'] I pcked up a Boss TU-50 from here and mounted it with a dbx compressor and a GK MB200 is a half-rack case I giot from Ebay. One day I'm going transplant it into a 1/2 rack size aluminium flightcase. [/quote] That looks sweet, exactly what I'm after! I'll have to keep a look out for a TU-50 then You'd think GK or MB or GB or someone would make a tuner that fits with these new half rack amps they are missing an opportunity!

Isn't a Mustang 30"? the same as the musicmaster? I love the Thomastik strings too but they are really hard to get hold of. I've got standard length flats on my Mustang and it works ok - thru-body strung though not sure if that affects anything...