JPJ

Firstly, I should state I have an old motorcycling injury which affects my left thumb. My DB journey started with the Stagg, which is surprising good for the money, but a pain to play comfortably as I could never find the sweet spot of balance with that wire frame. I moved on to a KK Baby Bass which was obviously quite a step up in quality but despite the faux body, was no easier to balance and was a lot heavier on my left thumb as a result, causing hand problems after a very short period of playing standing up (I could balance it nicely sitting down, but the gig I bought it for was not a sitty down type of gig). I've now moved on to the NS NXT which is comfortable for me to play both on the stand, and and on the end pin with body rest. I can use my left arm weight to protect my thumb as I am no longer supporting the EUB whilst playing. Reading through this thread, it seems to me that the answer in your case may well be some sort of robust stand for the Stagg.

Another vote for the EBS Stanley Clarke preamp pedal. I double between NS NXT EUB and fretless Fender Tony Franklin P bass, and this handles both with ease.

Just been browsing the old t’internet and found to my surprise that Accugroove offer powered versions of all of their cabs.

I have a Micro Thumpinator last in my chain before my amp. Signal path is bass (or EUB) into EBS Stanley Clarke pre, Plethora X3 & Sansamp in the loop of the EBS, then EBS out to Micro Thumpinator, then on to my amp. I take the DI from the EBS to the PA, and when I’m mixing in both of my bands, I use the PEQ high pass to dial out the ultra low end in the PA. When I’m not mixing, the house engineer gets a full fat bass signal to do with as he likes.

I solved (reduced) this issue in my two bands by first, gating the mics, and then second educating the backing singers that they need to eat their mics to be heard. High pass certainly helps too, and we’ve never played anywhere large enough where I have needed to mic the cymbals, so some judicious eq cuts in the high end of the vocal mics also helps to dial down the cymbal sizzle.

The USP I can see is that its Allen & Heath. I've had my XR18 almost since launch in the UK and whilst the hardware has never let me down, there have been a couple of occasions where Behringer have failed to keep the app up to date with iOS updates. And before anyone says 'Mixing Station', I have it but I much prefer the UI and workflow/ease of use of the Behringer native app.

The one that always amazes me is the little TC Electronics BG250 208 - a 2 x 8” combo that just loves my NS NXT EUB. I’ve used mine for personal monitoring and for back line on ‘acoustic’ gigs and I am constantly amazed by how open and natural it makes the NS sound. They often pop up on here used for not a lot of money and are well worth the outlay. I have upgraded the speakers in mine to get the full 250W in a one hand lift small box.

I find myself strangely attracted to the idea of external ports, in a sort of bass cab “Lloyds of London” building type way - very steam punk but not very practical for life on the road. serious thought though, would top exiting ports help with hearing your bass when you’re crammed into the back corner of the “stage” at your local Dog & Duck?

Thanks for this Mike, and if you have got those paint names that would be fantastic

My general rule of thumb with nitro is 4 to 6 weeks, longer obviously better. Funnily enough, I’ve had a black nitro pass the fingernail test at three weeks, whereas a surf green took 8 weeks and was still softer than I would have liked when flatting and buffing. Mind once the nitro has stopped flashing off (i.e. doesn’t stink) I hang bodies and necks in the airing cupboard (much to Mrs JPJ’s disgust) as the heat helps with the curing.

So I have this crazy idea and I need to know the RAL code for the blue used by Acoustic Control Corporation on its bass amps and cabs. I’ve been a huge fan of the look of Acoustic amps and cabs since being a teenager and as they are no longer around, I’d like to pay a little homage to them with my Basschat 2x12 build. Any Basschatter’s out there able to help?

^ and this is the technical answer to why my NS EUB ‘sounds’ best through my TC BG250 208 combo.

Same as when Guitar Centre resurrected the Acoustic name.

Of course the digital thing is like drugs, just because you can doesn’t mean you should and like all live sound mixing, less is more, subtraction before addition etc. As I mix on the fly from stage side whilst playing I added a X-Touch to my setup as physical faders are far easier to tweak mid-song than touch screens imho. The photo shows my setup for a recent five-piece country/americana gig, with everything mic’d up or Di’d and running three IEM’s and two floor monitors for the luddites. I used to do the subs on Aux trick, but added a DriveRack which free’d up the aux and, for anyone mixing from stage side, gives a much better FOH sound imho. Now if only the X-Air Edit app could sync with the X-touch for fader bank selection……

Came on here to read about sheared neck screws and ended up reminiscing over my old CB400N Superdream 😍 perfect example of the Basschat off-topic diversion 😂 and before anyone asks, yes that handlebar fairing was useless 😂

I was an early adopter of the XR18 and I’m still in love with mine despite all the recent issues with the Behringer app and iOS16 (the second time Behringer have failed to keep up with iOS updates during my ownership). If you use the desk with multiple bands or tend to play the same circuit then scenes and snapshots are great ways to save starting points for each gig.

My only wish is that ACS will bring out a multi-driver version of their Pro-Fit IEM so that I can use my existing custom moulds for IEM duties. At £99 for the current single driver version I am still tempted to try them even though I have read on here that they really are not that good. My ZS10's are great but despite trying multiple foam and neoprene tips, isolation is still an issue for me.

Drop me your address on a pm and I'll post some over to you 👍

I have some Marshall style tolex here that I am using for my 2x12 build but I think I will have enough to spare an A5 sized offcut. Drop me a pm with your address and I'll send it to you.

A little update from my side. As I’ve probably said on here before, I mix the FOH and monitors from stage side whilst playing so some gigs can be kind of ‘busy’, especially if we’re in a difficult room or we’re experiencing any gear issues. But Friday night’s gig was going well and with an extended half-time break for the bingo, I took the opportunity to plug the XVive in and played the second half using in-ears tweaking my IEM mix as best I could between songs. The XVive worked perfectly with no drop outs or unwanted noises despite being surrounded by wireless devices (Airport Express for control of the XAir mixer, Line6 G30 for my bass signal, Lekato wireless for the guitarist, LD Systems IEM 100 for the singers in-ears), and being able to hear every note clearly was a revelation, but the foam buds I was using on my ZX10’s are clearly not as isolating as I thought as I was suffering from quite a lot of bleed meaning that I had to run them a lot louder than I would have normally wanted. However, this test was enough of a success to remove any doubts I had about the suitability of IEM’s in a pub band scenario, and things will only improve as I nail both the mix and the isolation.

Double header for me this weekend with two cracking gigs here in the north east. Friday night at Steels Club in Sunderland (yes, downstairs those who know know) and Sunday afternoon at Shotton Comrades. Both venues attract a proper music crowd and both gigs are first time visits for Ten Bob Blind. Lots of country, Americana, and a little bit of rock mixed in. Come along and witness fretless frippery and EUB shenanigans from yours truly.

Great spot - well done, I had to get a magnifying glass to see the marks on mine!

I used a pair of those Fane Sovereign 8-225 drivers to modify my TC BG250-208 combo to internal 4 ohm load. I've used this as my backline/monitoring on a number of acoustic gigs and this set up loves my NS EUB too.