BigRedX

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1507024330' post='3382743'] - if you like the sound today, you'll still like the sound the day after the new one appears. [/quote] Which is why I'm still procrastinating about "upgrading" my BassPod XT to a Helix.

Good can you post a link to the YouTube video where he is using the Helix to control backing tracks? Is he actually using the pedals to select songs (as well as selecting the guitar patches) as well as start and stop them?

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1507020756' post='3382703'] Now all we need is for wireless send and receive in a Line6 Helix board (hoping in V2!), theoretically they could go wireless bass to board and wireless board to amp. [/quote] No. You buy the rack version and use the foot controller. Then all you need is a single wireless connection between your bass. The foot controller doesn't actually carry any signal so no extra latency. As for the "authenticity" of the effects in multi-effects units. It's never something that really bothers me. The various amp and effects might not sound like the units they are supposed to be imitating, but for me that's not the point. The point is that I can get a sound which works for the song within the band mix. My current multi-effect of choice is the now ancient BassPod XT. There are 7 different distortion effects available plus the drive parameter built into the each amp model. From that I can always get something that works perfectly for the band sound.

Unless the sound I want is all about over-driving pre-amp valves; I find that the hotter a pickup is, the more band the clean sound from it is.

Having been in her position in the past I can completely sympathise. She will have insisted on doing the web site because she knows that the alternative will be something nasty cobbled together with a template that she will hate forever. The problem with the template "design" route is that all the good ones will have already been over used and not everyone will have the taste to know which ones are right for your style of band. When you are playing covers you don't have the luxury of being able to use the music to make you individual so it is very much down the presentation (both on and off stage) that is what is going to set you apart form your competition.

Working in IT doesn't mean that you have the graphic design skills also required to create a decent web site (and even any HTML skills depending on what she does in IT). And IME when you work at one thing for your day job, the last thing you want to do in the evening is more of it for your hobby.

I'd replace all those pedals with a multi-effects unit that can be placed on top of your amp (or rack mounted with it), and then run a single controller cable of the appropriate type (probably Cat5 or MIDI) around the edge of the stage to your foot controller unit.

I look after my gear, but don't worry about it too much. IME no matter how careful I am at some point my instrument of choice will pick up a ding or other mark. When it finally gets to the point of looking too shabby I'll get it resprayed, at which point I can also consider a change of colour scheme.

3 x Five string fretted 2 x Four string fretted 1 x Five string fretless 1 x Four string fretless 1 x Six string fretted I expect by the end of next year I'll only have 5 string basses.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1506678455' post='3380329'] Build your own - if you can solder its not a great problem. If I can do it........ [url="http://alexplorer.net/guitar/mods/varitone.html"]http://alexplorer.ne...s/varitone.html[/url] G [/quote] AFAICS none of those circuits include the choke which IMO is an essential part of the Gibson Varitone sound. That's the hard bit to do as it seems for the best results you still need to wind your own.

The lack of mid-week gigs now is simply down to the lack of audiences IME. It doesn't matter if you are playing covers or originals. Fridays and Saturdays are fine. Thursdays and Sundays might be do-able given the right venue and/or line up of bands. The rest of the week forget it unless you are a big name band with a following large enough to be doing a tour of 500+ sized venues (or supporting someone who is). When I started gigging in the early 80s, there was only one opportunity here in Nottingham for a weekend gig if you were playing your own music which was a support to Pinski Zoo who had a Friday night residency at The Hearty Goodfellow. Want a gig on Saturday Night? Forget it. Most venues didn't even put on live music at the weekends, and those that did were strictly for covers bands. Therefore we played mid-week and there were plenty of bands doing it and audiences going to see them. Most weeks there was at least one local band playing that was worth going to see. By the time we reach the 2000s that had all changed. While there were gigs available mid-week most were so poorly attended that all but the most desperate bands stopped doing them. What had changed was that there were plenty of weekend opportunities for bands playing their own music to gig and even more if you were prepared to travel. I don't mind what day I play on provided that either the band are getting properly paid for the gig or there is a decent sized appreciative audience ready and willing to buy merch after the gig.

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1506620814' post='3380024'] I didn't really start playing until the 80s but then I recall that 70s guitars and basses were considered crap - CBS ruined them all. Of course now they are worth a fortune. [/quote] AFAICS they are only worth a fortune because the older ones are even more eye wateringly expensive.

Will EZ drummer or Hydrogen work in stand-alone mode or do they need a DAW to operate in?

Which instrument in GarageBand are you trying to use - is it the standard Drummer instrument? Most drum machines work in a completely different way. Instead of "loops" which are chunks of audio edited to make them fit together seamlessly, they work with "patterns" which are made up of individual drum hits controlled by the sequencer in the drum machine that tells each drum hit when to sound. In order to turn those into loops you would have to record the output of your drum machine into the computer and then edit it to make it loop smoothly like the ones in GarageBand do. My advice would be to look at "upgrading" from GarageBand to Logic, as it can use the Garageband loops but also includes several drum-machine-like instruments for creating your own drum patterns all seamlessly integrated within the Logic environment which behaves like a "grown-up" version of GarageBand.

The whole point of a messaging system is that it has to be sufficiently user friendly for all the band members to actually want to use it. Facebook Messenger on a computer is such as nasty thing that I can't imagine anyone wanting to use it for anything complicated. I certainly couldn't keep track of anything more complex than a short conversation made up of 5 words or less sentences.

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1506530007' post='3379396'] Is anyone here in a band in which responsibility for getting gigs and making sure everyone knows about them is not the bass player's job? Are there similar threads to this on guitar chat, drum chat, sing chat and keys chat? I often get the feeling that being organised always needs a bass player! My band has played 140 gigs over the last 4 years. Left to their own devices, I doubt that they'd have managed to get 14! [/quote] Me. After having spent most of my musical life being the person who sorted everything out in bands both musically and organisationally from my very first band in the mid 70s right up to 15 years ago, I decided that it was too much work on top of doing all the song writing and synth and sequencer programming and therefore I wasn't going to do it anymore. I stopped organising rehearsals and when it took 8 weeks before any of the other band members got in touch to ask when we were going to be getting together again, I realised that it was time to end the band. Since then I've been happy to take a back seat from an organisational PoV. In The Terrortones I was more involved than just writing the music, but it turned out that my skills set and Mr Venom's complimented each others' very nicely and it was Mr Venom who did most of the getting gigs and sorting out rehearsing. Both the bands I am playing with currently are well established and have other band members that already deal very competently with the non-musical aspects of running a band, and for now I am happy just to turn up and contribute the bass parts to the wonderful songs they have written.

I've got the Marshall Power Brake which I use with my guitar amp. It is big (twice the size of your average class D mini amp), heavy (almost 5kg) and has a rather noisy fan that kicks in when you stick anything extreme through it. Also it's only rated for 150W maximum. It does it's intended job (allowing you to run guitar power amp valves flat out without having to endure ear-bleeding sound levels) brilliantly. As an impedance matching solution for a modern bass amp it's completely pointless.

Zoom aren't particularly coy about what their various amps and effects in the B3 are modelled on so if the Monosyth doesn't say, then I doubt that it is based on anything specific. Besides with only waveform, filter envelope decay and resonance available to adjust, any synth or pedal with these parameters should do a close enough job.

There is no right answer. You have to pick a system which everyone in the band likes and go with that, and be prepared to change if the band members change. Everyone is different as to what they like to use. It's no good using a Facebook system (either messenger or a private page) if not all of the band are on Facebook and IMO it is unreasonable to expect them to join Facebook just for them to be able to take part in band conversations. If Facebook really is the only choice then a member who doesn't want to be on it is probably the wrong person for your band. IME all the serious stuff is done face-to-face in the 15 minutes at the beginning and end of rehearsals while we are setting up or breaking down the gear and everything else can be done by email and or phone calls depending on how time-sensitive it is.

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' timestamp='1506508196' post='3379189'] The only problem is if your band contains a mix of some people who want to do it full time, and some people who want it to be priority #3 in their life, below work and family. That's one situation that isn't going to end happily. [/quote] I don't think that's the problem (unless your band is wanting to be out gigging or rehearsing almost every night of the week). It's the people for whom the band is priority #5 or #6 somewhere after going to watch the football each weekend and a busy social calendar. Those are the ones who like the idea of being in a band but really haven't got the time or inclination to commit to any but the most relaxed of combos.

Technical ability in both myself and my fellow band members is irrelevant so long as it does not get in the way of being able to play the songs we have written.

[quote name='tom1946' timestamp='1506502807' post='3379135'] Good idea, how do I do that? [/quote] Click on the "Report" link at the bottom of the post in question. IME problem posts unless they are in a popular thread require a report in order for Moderator action to be taken.

[quote name='Westenra' timestamp='1506433728' post='3378689'] Pricey and figured as much cheers though. [/quote] If it's as good as they claim, then it's pretty good value for money IMO. You'll pay almost twice as much for a Line6 Helix, although you'll need to factor in the cost of a decent MIDI foot controller as well to get the best out of it. I do notice that they are coy about latency for switching between patches on the web site though...

[quote name='T-Bay' timestamp='1506368462' post='3378311'] Shame a shame the wood is gorgeous. A case of what could have been....... [/quote] Really? IMO the shape is interesting although not really to my taste. The wood however is some of the most boring and nondescript I have seen in a while. It would look much better painted black. And that fake through neck stripy look is horrible.

IMO Lightwave are the only company making truly Active pickups. Everything else is a passive pickup with a preamp in the same casing.