BigRedX

TBH I found the new design of Schaller strap locks harder to fit mostly because I already have all the appropriate tools for fitting the old ones (a mole grip for holding the "cup" and a spanner of the correct size to tighten the nut). I didn't feel I was able to get the new design as tight because I worried that the allen key used to turn the retaining "nut" would snap before I had achieved the same tightness I could get under the old method (and which has never failed me), which pretty much renders the locking grub screw useless. Also the strap button with the built-in screw makes the new design useless for fitting to instruments not made of wood. I have raised both these points with Schaller technical support, but I they pretty much told me that's how things are from now on, I'm too much in the minority to be concerned with.

IME experience (with medium-sized gigs max) I've found that bands who originally date from before the 90s seem to be less likely to suffer from the boomy, overwhelming kick and indistinguishable bass guitar FoH sound, since this was never part of their live or recorded sound back in the day. Certainly at WGW the live sound is almost alway done in a sympathetic way to the line-up of the bands, especially those where the bass guitar is an important part of the sound from a melodic PoV.

The weight of rack stuff quickly adds up if you're not careful, and that light-weight class D amplifier will have a negligible impact on the overall weight of the rack which could end up being as heavy as an all-valve head.

Everyone will be recommending their own favourites. Don't bother with the knock-off get properly branded Dunlops or Schallers. I've used both (and my preference is for the Schallers) and they each have their strengths and weaknesses. The Schallers need to be fitted properly otherwise you will encounter problems. That means enlarging the hole in the strap to accommodate the the lock part of the mechanism, and that the button sits in the base of the cup when the bass is hanging from the strap and not the open end, and then that you tighten everything up securely. The Dunlops are such more forgiving about their installation. However the pin/spring part of the mechanism needs regular maintenance/lubrication otherwise it will eventually fail (like mine did). If you buy the Dunlop locks as spare parts they may come with that information. However the bass I had them on came with them ready-fitted and no information regarding maintenance which is which I treated them like the Schallers (fit and forget) and they eventually broke. Take your pick... BTW unless all your basses are exactly the same design, you will need different strap lengths for each one; so you loose one of the advantages of having an easily removable strap system.

Brilliant. We just need to keep it up and let people know every time the sound is inappropriately mixed, and maybe something will get done about it.

Because I don't really have the social skills to notice, I'm blissfully unaware of sales-people trying to make me feel unwanted in any shop. I'll happily take my time looking and touching all the items I'm interested in, and after all of that I may even make a purchase. However like, I suspect, a lot of people on here, I generally find myself more knowledgeable about stuff that I am genuinely interested in buying than most of the people trying to "sell" it to me.

My Helix is set up with one patch for each song and up to 4 snapshots (as required) for each patch. I have a two basic patches (one for each band) which have what I consider to be the core sounds I need and then I add and adjust the modules as required to give me the sounds for the music. The foot switches are set up so that I have 4 snapshots on the bottom tier and 4 patches on the top. I use the set list function to arrange the patches into the order we are going to play the songs, so I don't even need a printed list.

Yes, But simply knowing what the chord progressions are isn't what makes a song great. Also most of the time he's dealing with a specific recording, and what makes that great is a combination of the music, the lyrics, the arrangement, the performance and the production. The latter 4 are barely touched upon, if at all.

TBH in 30+ years of gigging with multi-effects I have never once felt the need to "tweak" my sounds at the gig.

The whole point of programmable effects is that you don't edit them on the fly. You do that at your leisure in the rehearsal room and then when you are gigging you simply hit the right footswitch to call up the right combination of effects.

But live unless it's a rig with a single cabinet containing a single driver and no tweeter, you are not mic'ing up the cabinet, you're just mic'ing up a single speaker which looses just as much of the nuances of the sound as using a load that is just resistive rather than both inductive and resistive (not that I'd want to use any of these devices with a bass amp running at gig levels).

As I said in my original post, maybe it's because most of the audience either don't say anything or simply don't care. I'm lucky in that I don't go to "big" gigs where this problem seems to be most prevalent. I don't like big venues and luckily for me the bands I go to see aren't popular enough to be playing them - the largest places I go to regularly are Rock City and Whitby Pavilion. If I did encounter it, then I would be complaining on the band's social media pages, on the venue's social media pages, and if I could find out who was responsible for the live sound their social media pages too. I might also ask the sound engineer at the gig in as polite a way as possible why the sound was like that - was if the band's preference, venue acoustics or simply because "that is how it is done these days". So every time you don't complain to someone who might be able to do something about the sound (i.e. not on here), you are in effect enabling the continuation of inappropriate live sound.

Am I the only one who doesn't get Rick Beato most of the time? Some of who he'd does is informative, but "What Makes This Song Great?" despite dissecting what happens musically (and occasionally with the production) never actually tells what makes the song great. Of course the answer to that question is entirely subjective and most of the time the thing that has made the song great is that when it was originally released in the 60s/70s/80s/90s lots of people went out and bought it (in the US) simply because they liked how it sounded.

Not necessarily. My first multi-effects unit was a Roland GP8 which apart from the delay and chorus/flanger was all digitally controlled analogue effects.

Unfortunately there's a big difference in building design between something that will suit orchestral and choral music which often need a bit of help projecting out in the auditorium, and something that suits loud amplified music, where that same projection will play havoc with the sound.

Yes, but the only benefit of using a device like this is to capture the sound of the power amp valves working hard. Therefore it needs to be used in conjunction with a speaker cab or a suitable heavy duty dummy load. If the valves are in the pre-amp stage only you might as well use the line out socket and a standard DI box, because no-one wants to hear the sound of clipping power transistors.

The great thing about programmable multi-effects is that once you have set up a sound you like you can store it and then it's there again at the touch of button/footswitch. That for me completely over-rides any supposed sonic benefit of individual pedals.

Tread with caution. If you read the manual, it must always be used with a speaker attached and is designed for 200W maximum output (not RMS) and the "speaker emulations" are all very guitar orientated.

Any shim that raises the neck enough to give you access to the truss rod adjustment will require you to also raise the bridge by an unfeasible amount. You are much better off routing a slot in the body at the end of the neck pocket to give you access. And TBH unless you live somewhere with extremes of weather (I don't think Croydon is quite there yet), or you regularly change the makes and gauges of the strings you fit, once you've got the relief right you should never need to touch the truss rod again.

My screen name is from an Underworld song...

Maybe we as punters are partly to blame because we don't say anything, other than on forums like these. If every time the sound was crap we posted on the band in question's social media pages, and if we could find out who had been hired in to do the FoH post on their pages too, and if it's an in-house PA on the venue's pages as well. Then if enough people do it, then it might become obvious that a mix that is all boomy kick drum is not want the audience want.

That seems to be the standard for festivals in the UK. We simply don't have appropriate weather for outdoor ones, even in the summer. Some years back The Terrortones had a "summer" season of festivals booked. It rained at every single one part from one the events where we played indoors. At one there was water dripping onto the stage through several holes in the "roof" and our gear had to be set up to avoid these areas. At another it was also so cold that our guitarist wore gloves while playing in an effort to try and stop has hands from seizing up. As a punter I wouldn't attend any festival unless it was local and free to get in so I wouldn't feel compelled to stay when the weather turned bad, in order to get my money's worth. As a performer, I'd be happy to play so long as I can turn up just before we need to set up the gear and leave immediately after we have finished playing.

The Impulse is only available in 2, 4 and 5 octave keyboard sizes, and since its also by Novation, AFAICS there is not guarantee that it will work with my version of Logic. Also I don't like piano style keys for controlling synths. The feel is all wrong.

As I have just discovered. There is the A25, but as I said only 2 octaves.