KingBollock

I love my Westfield. I was all set to get a "proper" 4 string this year but, in the mean time, I took the time to set my Westfield up properly and put some decent strings on it. It made a huge difference and I've decided that unless my ideal Bass were to come along at the right price, then I shan't bother with another.

You'd think they reinforce it if it's so thin and prone to this, wouldn't you? I'd be tempted to line the face side of the cavity with a thin (probably .5mm) sheet of aluminum and then line the whole cavity with copper shielding.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1333809941' post='1606813'] Good job you didn't decide to toss yourself off instead. [/quote] Just thinking about that brought a tear to my eye.

The worst I've had it was while my wife was away and I decided to dabble in some go faster powder... I played my Guitar for 11 hours straight, without putting it down. Oddly it didn't blister or bleed, but I couldn't touch anything with my left hand for 2 weeks. Which was unfortunate because I forgot every tune that I had learned that night.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1333744466' post='1606104'] Got suitable cab? Also investigate if the fx return or power amp in on the amp is affected by the volume, might be best to go in there if it is. [/quote] Yeah, the cab will go down to 30hz, but I'm not planning on going that low, just to somewhere between 40hz and 60hz, it's not really for proper Sub Bass, it's just to add a little Bass for a house/garden party, for fun. I hadn't thought of the effects return, I shall check that out.

[quote name='bigjohn' timestamp='1333741467' post='1606059'] Bit difficult to tell really innit! Power amps get damaged when they overheat. How hot it gets will essentially depend on what's being drawn off it by the speaker. Lower the frequency, the more draw it'll take. All depends on the spec of the speaker, what frequencies you try to do and if the power amp can do that with that speaker. A bit of suck it and see probably won't do no harm if you stick to the old axiom of turning it down if starts making horrible or unfamiliar noises. Don't Peaveys have that DTT thing that might get in the way? [/quote] I'm not worried about the power-amp, just the pre-amp. I intend to use the power-amp as just another power-amp, without going through the pre-amp. I was wondering if I could actually go through the pre-amp, though, just to give me some control over the volume.

Is this too obscure a sub-forum, the wrong forum or does no-one know? Not to worry, I have an alternative I can try first. I have a little old mixer that's not much good for anything anymore, so I'm going to try running the Sub Bass channel through that and then into the power amp to give me some control over the volume mix.

We've just taken the rear set of seats out of out Mazda Bongo. So there's now only seating for 4 or 5 (if you include the centre seat with the lap belt in the back) and loads of space behind. Absolutely ideal for a 4 piece band, very comfortable to travel in and like I say loads of space. The insurance is cheaper than out Ford Focus, but that is for personal use, but it is just for personal use, it is our everyday car, we're selling the Focus. Our old Mitsubishi L300 just had 3 seats in the front and we couldn't insure it for personal use, we took insurance under our mobile Disco even though it was more of a hobby. I used to travel in the back all the time, sitting on huge bean bags, it was great! We had that van for years and I can't believe I never got caught. Though it didn't have windows down the side so it wasn't easy to see into, or out of...

On the floor there, there is a Laney Linebacker 100R. In the rack is my Boss GX-700 and the stereo power amp I play it through. Under the rack and under the cab with the Skull flag over it is the pair of PA cabs I run the power amp through. I also have the GX-700 hooked up to my PC for recording. You can just about make out the neck of my headless Flying V behind the Guitars in the rack. That's it for my Guitar stuff. I finally got around to turning the grill on my Peavey TX cab around so the tragedy of a flame paint job the previous owner did is no longer visible.

I'm getting a stereo EQ that has a separate Sub Bass output with a cross-over selector. I am planning on putting this through the power-amp stage of my Peavey T-Max. The trouble with that is that it won't have an independent volume control. I won't be running it at proper Sub Bass levels, probably between 30 or 40 (once I remember how low the cab I'm planning on using will go) to 60hz. Would it hurt my amp if I were to put it through the Peavey's pre-amp so that I have greater control over it? I know the stereo channels on the EQ each have a low pass filter set at 20hz but I don't think the Sub Bass output does. Thanks. Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I wasn't sure where to put it.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1333371620' post='1600662'] Currently I can fit the whole band and all the gear in my focus 3 people 1 bass (in hardcase) 1 guitar (in softcase) Bass amp 2 x 210 bass cab 1 x guitar combo rack case Gig bag (cables etc) Bass Stand [/quote] I got a lift home from a Guitarist after practice one day. We got him, his Guitar and combo Amp, me, my Amp head, 1x15" cab and my Bass, and a whole 7 piece Drumkit, into his... Mini! It was a bloomin' tight squeeze and I had my Bass between my knees, but, fortunately, we didn't have to go far.

[quote name='Dom in Somerset' timestamp='1333347003' post='1600204'] [/quote] I know it's no good for the long haul, but as a way of getting gear into a venue from the car/van, a barrow isn't such a daft idea if you use a Fishing barrow:

Another here for the Westfield, but... mine wasn't quite so cheap. I paid £200 for it, new, well over 10 years ago. I'm not sure of the model name but the current one that it looks similar to is the Small Body, but it has much better hardware than the current Small Body. I recently replaced the Pots, Capacitor and Socket, making it Volume/Blend/Tone. And stuck some Chromes Flats on it (actually the first time I'd changed the strings on it since I bought it). I left the Pick-ups in it because they sound lovely. It's a great bass to play, very light and is even a really nice colour.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1333011729' post='1596052'] afraid I can't agree with you, maybe you're being a bit snobby?, 500 miles is a great simple singalong song to do as an encore, punked up of course, send the crowd home happy they'll come again, and lets face we all love a gig where we get an audience reaction, or should do. We do Nellie the Elephant as well [/quote] I used to own a mobile Disco and we ended every night with Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, because I have a theory that if you can get people to sing along to a happy tune as they're leaving they're less likely to turn on each other and start fighting. Though it does rather count on the Bride and Groom's families having not already started scratching and thumping chunks out of each other.

Thank you all for your kind remarks and advice, it's really helped. In fact I'm now working on something a bit more complicated and closer in style to what I'd really like to do. I have a feeling that I'm trying to do too much too soon with this one though. But, as long as I remember that cock-ups are expected when starting out and that it's not going to hurt anyone if I don't get it exactly how I want it too, it will be good experience. The problem I am having now is with the Drum program I'm using, Hydrogen. It's really simple to use, which is what gave me the confidence to actually get around to try recording, and I like the sounds I get from it, but it crashes a lot and I can't figure out why. To give it as much CPU and as little interference as I can I am running everything else on an adjacent PC so that Hydrogen has my main PC to itself. This has helped it stay up for longer but it does still crash. Is there another, free, Drum program I can use that is as simple?

I use a Levy's strap, I think it's polyester, it feels almost stretchy, it's very comfortable and long. It's the MPA3 #012, which they don't seem to make anymore. It only cost £19, to be honest, my wife picked it out and said I should buy it, while wondering around a Guitar shop one day, I wasn't looking for a strap but I'm very glad I did buy it. I used to have a leather strap, my first ever Bass came with one, but I hated it at the time, probably because it was red, but I wish I could remember what happened to it now. Would like to get a nice leather one, something like the Levy's M4GF. Though those Minotaur ones look nice.

This is only loosely associated with recording but I didn't know where else to ask. I've been looking through the Recording forum on here but a lot of the links are .ipb files and I don't know how to open them. There's not much about them on Google but what little I found suggested they are to do with iPhones, which isn't much good to me. How can I view these files? Or is it something to do with the forum software not showing the links properly. There's one in the first post of this thread: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/151365-eq-tips-for-common-instruments/ Just so you know what I'm talking about.

The mixer isn't just for recording, there's a few things I use one for, it's just that my current one is dying and needs replacing. I shall go grab myself Reaper. To be honest I'm a little scared, I was given a copy of CuBase many, many years ago and I took one look at it and gave up. I think I've spent all these years just hoping I'd meet someone who knew the basics who could help get me started. It's odd because I'm forever learning how to do things for other people, so they don't have to ([i]"KB... build me a website." "But...but... I've never built one before and have no idea how to go about it!" "I'm sure you'll be fine..." [/i]22 hours later, with no sleep, and I've learned the basics of HTML and built a fully functioning website packed with tables (this was in about 1997). And the bugger only used if for a few months before he packed that business in and started a new one. Guess who got to build the new website too... And I'm sick of hearing "I've bought this thing, can you come and install it and learn how to program it and make it do this and make it do that?"), but I never seem to take the time to learn the things [i]I[/i] want to do.

There's a new version up there now too. I've only messed with the Drums a bit really, but I've also made the Bass and Guitar panned left and right a bit just to see what how it would sound. Using Audacity, is it possible to make a part pan from left to right? I downloaded a bunch of plug-ins but I can't see one that would do it.

I forgot to say about the panning. It's all panned central except for the solo parts, the first is panned 60% to the left and the second 60% to the right. Not sure exactly why I did that. Is there something more imaginative that might sound better?

You're too kind! I'd forgotten about the Drum levels, another thing I'm not happy with. It wasn't until after that final mix that I found the levels mixer in the Drum program, I shall see what I can do to sort it out. I find finding a good Guitar sound difficult, I've never played along with other instruments with the Guitar before and didn't know if the sound would work or not, I like it on it's own. I'd never realized all those noises were there when playing before. I think I need to tighten up my technique. Thanks for giving it a listen.

I only have the V-Amp Pro. I've had it for a couple of years now. I bought it just to mess about with the effects but I've actually found it useful and enjoy using it, especially with the PC MIDI software. I keep it backed up and I have a stock of the CR2032 internal batteries which appears to be it's biggest downfall, though I've not had to replace it yet. In the next couple of weeks I shall be buying the Behringer 802 mixer to replace an old, knackered Realistic (Tandy) mixer. The 802 seems to do everything I want it to and it's dead cheap, gets good reviews too.

I have been bandless for about 18 years and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon. So I decided to have a go at recording. There are many problems with this idea. 1. I'm not very good with a Guitar. 2. I'm not much better on Bass. 3. I have never programmed Drums before. 4. I can't sing. 5. I don't have much in the way of equipment and my software is free stuff. 6. I have no experience at all. I'm basically using an old Boss GX-700 for Guitar and a Behringer V-Amp Pro for Bass, both going into the line-in on my on-board soundcard. I am using Hydrogen for Drums. I am using Audacity to record with. Other than picking up a small mixer soon, I have no money to to buy better equipment, so that's not an option. The good news is that I'm only doing it for fun, so I won't be terribly disappointed when I fail to sound professional. But I would at least like to try to make it sound listenable. I have had a go at one track. I chose The White Stripes' Blue Orchid, mainly because it has a very simple Drum pattern and this was my very first time with a Drum program of any kind. It also has no proper Guitar solo, something I've never been able to get the hang of, I play Guitar like a Bass player. This is the track I have recorded: [url="http://soundcloud.com/user5139486/kingbollock-blue-orchid-5a"]http://soundcloud.co...-blue-orchid-5a[/url] (It's called 5a because everytime I save after I change something I give it a new name so I don't lose the previous version) [i]I am fully aware that it sounds awful and it has taken a lot of guts for me to put that link up here[/i]. I have been sitting on it for nearly a week not knowing what to do. I am aware of the timing issues, there is an issue with differing amounts of lag from the Guitar and Bass, the other timing issues are just me being lazy and not re-recording stuff, but that's something I know I can sort out. The problem that's bugging me the most is the unwanted sounds on the Guitar, the string sliding and extra stuff, I can't seem to get rid of it and I am at a loss as to how I can record Guitar without those sounds. I suppose just not making those sounds would be the answer, I have a feeling that the sound I'm using for the Guitar isn't helping though. Another problem that is really worrying me is when the Drums kick in properly, there feels like there's a wobble or dip in the volume, I can feel it but I can't see it, so I don't know what I'm actually hearing, what's that all about? I was really, really unhappy with the way I played the Guitar solo bits, as simple as they are, so I re-recorded them with a Phaser effect to hide the sloppiness. I quite like how that bit ended up though. I also know about the extra Bass bit near the end that shouldn't be there, but I liked it so I left it, even if it did sound a bit woolly. I don't have monitors so I have only heard it through my PC which has an ancient 2.1 speaker system. So, some advice on my questions and opinions/advice on the rest of the track. Be honest, I can handle constructive criticism, but also don't be nasty, I don't have much confidence and I don't want what little I have knocked out of me.