JPJ

If I can get in early enough ie before the punters, and if the venue doesn’t complain, then this is what I do with the DriveRack auto eq feature. But, as the majority of our gigs are pub gigs, this rarely happens.

Slight change of direction, at least in the short term. I’ve managed to snaffle a couple of EV ELX18P bass bins that are the ‘perfect’ match for my EV ZLX15P tops (at least they are listed in the DSP) so I will be going with this setup for at least the next six months. I still like the look of those NLX24’s and may well still take the plunge once the 2026 diary fills up a bit.

I did once, and the cables were clamped in place mechanically, two prongs bent over the exposed cable ends which themselves had an aluminium sleeve over the copper wire. Looked like it had been done in a press.

Check out the TC Electronic BG250 combos. Great for home practice but loud enough to jam with mates and even gig. They come in 2x8”, 2x10”, and 1x15” formats. I’ve got the 2x8” version and I love it, and yes I’ve gigged it albeit in an acoustic gig. They seem to go for about £120-£150 secondhand and will be more future proof than a 30-50 watt practice amp.

Congratulations and welcome to the (addictive) club. The best advice I can offer is get help with hand / body position before you start to bake in problems that can even result in permanent injury. If there’s no tutors near you, then there’s some great advice for free from Discover Double Bass on YouTube. That said, I’m sure your cello experience will come in useful 😎

Not quite, but typical of what you can face on the UK pub scene. It sort of brings the whole speaker placement discussion into sharp focus.

Every now and then you get a gig that completely defies logic. This was the “stage” area we were presented with last night. We were basically in a corner with a 1 metre (3ft 3”) partition in front of us with the main ‘audience’ watching through the window, and a small bunch of music lovers off to our right. Solution, one top pole mounted on a bin facing right and running at about half power, and one top facing through the window running flat out. The problems were compounded by ceiling beams and a low ceiling. Did we get a great sound - er no, did we get an acceptable sound at an acceptable level for what was a small’ish villiage pub, then yes. Sometimes life gives you lemons and you just have to get creative.

Not in theXR18, but I use a dBX DriveRack that can auto eq the PA in a room using pink noise, however you can’t really do this at your average pub gig as I don’t think many landlords would be happy with you pinking their bar full of punters whilst you move a reference mic around the three positions the DriveRack requests. I’ve used it to set up a user presets (one with subs either side, one with centre subs, one with no subs) that cover our usual setups, then select the correct one as a starting point, and correct for any room imbalances using the main eq and my ears.

They are quite simple once you get to grips with them. The difference is that you can’t get the extremes you can with a two or three-band active eq, which is probably a good thing. One thing I can say is that the Overwater filter pre does not do the Wal sound, or at least I can’t make mine sound like a Wal.

Well it took a while to get an appointment but yesterday I had the customer impressions taken at Boots in Newcastle; the wait begins.

I do this all the time. Our channel settings have been dialled in on the XR18 for a few years now, so I use the six band semi-parametric eq on the mains to eq to the room. I also save scenes for each venue so I have the last gig at that venue as a starting point. My only other comment is subtractive eq is much more preferable to additive.

Took a quick lunchtime trip up into beautiful Northumberland to see local electronics wizard Dave Coates who diagnosed and fixed the issue in about five minutes. As suspected, one of the four legs of the volume pot board was loose in the main board. A quick whizz over with the soldering iron and she’s as good as new.

Most of the oils I’ve used have the effect of darkening the wood (tung oil, tru-oil, gunstock oil), would shellac not be a better option?

My first recollection of seeing an ‘Original’ Overwater was as a teenager, pressing my nose up against the window of Chris & Andy’s on High Bridge in Newcastle in the early eighties. One image that sticks in my mind was a window display containing an Original series fretless four string displayed alongside a JayDee Supernatural - that image caused unnatural stirrings in the trouser department.