BigRedX

This. There's no point in being younger if you are just going to make the same mistakes all over again.

For those of you using Ultranet, where are you getting your gig-proof properly coilable Cat5 cables from? In the days when I was running a BassPod and Floorboard which are connected by Cat5 I was getting through a cable every other month. I ended up buying a couple of very expensive Van Damme Cat5 leads which were a lot more robust, but even they were never as easy to coil up as a standard mic lead and eventually after a couple of years these failed as well.

Why? I do all my Helix programming either on headphones or via my HiFi system, and then do the fine-tuning in the rehearsal room where I go direct into the PA and where I can properly hear how my sounds fit in with those of the other instruments. Any conventional bass or guitar amp will add too much colouration to the sound for me to be able to make any meaningful decisions unless I was to always use that amp and cab in every single situation.

Running iOS on a non-M series Mac is a bit of a faff and doesn't always work reliably and then the Mac will still want to communicate with the device using Bluetooth because that's what a phone would do. For me having to program a footswitch designed to be able to control a computer from a completely separate device seems completely unintuitive and a backward step.

Having the signal conductors twisted as a twisted pair is better for noise rejection and the removal of RF interference. In today's phone heavy gig environment that has probably become more important than ever.

That does look interesting and a couple of extra footswitches are always useful, as I've been thinking of adding loop on/off functionality to our set up to allow longer intros etc. The only thing that puts me off is that it looks as though set-up/editing is done via your phone. Hopefully there's also an option to to use a proper computer. Please let me know how you get on with this.

This kind of phrase come up quite a bit and wonder just how much truth there is to it? Not withstanding the fact that the last time I wore trousers that were actually capable of "flapping" was some time in the late 70s, I don't think I have ever needed to be so loud that I could feel sound pressure waves emanating from my cabs. I suspect if I had, I'd be even deafer than I am now...

I've gone with no amp. All my sound shaping is done by my Line6 Helix and AFAIAC the amp and cab models are just more sound shaping devices, so sometimes the tone I want needs one and sometimes it doesn't - bout half the patches that I use at the moment don't have any amp or cab models in the signal path and most of the ones that have use a guitar combo model because I like the sound. Because of this my actual amp and cab(s) would simply be something to make the bass guitar louder, so most of the time I go straight into the PA. I have a PA-style FRFR cab for rehearsals and the very occasional gig I do where the PA is strictly vocals only.

That option on paper seems to offer the greatest amount of treble cut. I take it you have the treble control set to cut in order to try and get the top end to your taste? However it might be that you really want the upper-mids taming, in which case one of the first two options might suit you better. Personally. I'd just try each one a see which (if any) you like the best. The worst that can happen is you won't like any...

Which setting is it currently on?

IME if you worry about this, then it will happen and you will be upset. for all of the 90s I used an Overwater original bass, which I picked up second hand at a bargain price, but which I subsequently discovered would have been very expensive and time-consuming to replace as a new one would have had to be a custom order and would probably not have come with the original filter-based pre-amp. I can't recall this bass picking up any additional dents to the few almost invisible ones it already had when I bought it. Interestingly the much cheaper bass I had as a spare but luckily never needed to use at any gigs turned out to be covered in bashes and bumps when I came to sell it, despite the fact that it had spent most of it's life in its case or on a stand at the back of the stage. Since then I have been playing Gus G3s live including 6 years of almost weekly gigs with The Terrortones where we were on the bill with Punks and Psychobillies. IMO if I don't play these expensive basses at gigs there would be no point in having them. Also just because an instrument is relatively cheap doesn't mean it's going to be easy to replace. In my other band I play the relatively cheaper Eastwood Hooky. As this has become my main bass with this band and there is no suitable alternative, I've been looking at getting a spare. I think I've seen two come up for sale second hand in the last 18 months and both went almost instantly. For a new one you have to pre-order and then wait 6 months. IME the lack of an easily obtained suitable replacement is more of a worry than getting a bump or scrape on an expensive instrument, so I've stopped worrying about it altogether.

I suspect that one of the things making the interface box expensive, is that not only is it an interface box, but it also has to act as a MIDI Thru and MIDI Merge. When you start looking at the prices for these devices £100 doesn't seem quite so bad.

It's probably possible to have two opto-isolators running in opposite directions, but you still need to completely decouple the screen from the earth, and ultimately it would almost definitely be cheaper just to fit standard MIDI sockets and a single opto-isolator like most other manufacturers do. I suppose Meris assume that a lot of their users will never need to MIDI facilities, so there is little need to fit conventional sockets and circuitry, and those that do will be willing to pay for the additional interface box. To the OP can you check that the correct (or even any) MIDI data is being transmitted from the QC MIDI out? I have found that some devices are very poor at re-transmitting MIDI over USB to the actual DIN MIDI sockets with either no MIDI or very garbled messages being output.

Unfortunately for me I'm still not impressed. There's been quite a discussion this week on another forum where images of the device had been prematurely leaked. When the video was finally posted I found myself completely underwhelmed. Run the video but don't watch it. Can you hear a single instance which makes you think that sound was played from a guitar rather than a keyboard? For me there was one and that wasn't the GM-800 but actual guitar being played over a loop. And while the demo is impressive in terms of what you can do with a guitar and a GM-800 in terms of sounding like a keyboard or synth player, and the person doing the playing has obviously spent time on their guitar technique to get the best out of the device, to me it just come over as a party trick. All those things are so much easier to do from an actual keyboard, and for a lot of us, learning some rudimentary keyboard technique will actually be quicker than modifying your guitar playing style to get the best out of any guitar synth. I know because I have been there. It's also very telling that the only fast, rhythmic playing being done in the whole demo is performed solo without any backing, which seems to suggest to me there are still latency issues. I'm surprised and disappointed that Roland appear to have gone back to pitch detection rather than stuck with the wave shaping and modelling of the V-series devices. To me this seems like a step backwards.

I've had a bit more of a think about this, and while there are a decent number of albums where I like ever single song, I'm not sure I would want to see any of them performed live in there entirety, and especially not with the songs in the order they appear on the recording. For me there is a significant difference between a recording and a gig, and most bands IMO shouldn't try and make the two the same. There are also compromises in the running order for any album originally released on vinyl that would compromise the atmosphere of a live performance. So I'll keep my albums for listening at home, and enjoy those bands that are still playing live mixing it up one stage.

The new single by my band Hurtsfall - Tilting - is out today and is available to stream or buy on all the major platforms It's our first new recording for a while and it's been a favourite at gigs over the last 12 months where every time someone has come up and asked about "the new one" so we though we should get it recorded and released. All the "guitar" and "bass" parts were done on an Eastwood Hooky 6-String Bass running through a Line6 Helix.

And our new single "Tilting" is out now! All the guitar and bass pats (except the very obvious sequenced synth bass) are done one the Hooky and except where the guitar and bass double up for the very last chorus they are done as we play this live - running the Hooky through a Line6 Helix to allow very different tones for the different parts is a must for this.

IIRC the amp in the RCF745 that I have is rated at 700Watts. For the two gigs that I have done where I need this to provide bass guitar cover for the whole venue, I had the volume control on the RCF at about 3/4 and on the Line6 Helix which I use as a pre-amp/effects at well under half way. What I have noticed is that I didn't need to be anything like as loud in relation to the rest of the band as I used to with my previous "traditional" rig - on one occasion I had to turn up so much to fill the venue with bass guitar sound that I could barely hear anything else on stage. The improved dispersion of the FRFR is definitely a bonus in this case. If you have a read through the other various FRFR threads on hear you'll find what others are using, and can get idea of what might work for you. Consider getting a PA type stand for it. I don't bother because most of the time mine is for rehearsals and personal monitoring, but others have commented than used in wedge configuration they can be a little overpowering in the bass end.

If you've already got a sound you like before it goes into any amps have you thought about replacing the traditional bass rig with an FRFR? That's what I have done for rehearsals and the very few gigs my bands play where the PA isn't adequate for putting the bass through it (two gigs in the last 6 years). I've got an RCF745, but there are cheaper models that will probably do the job just as well. Of course it doesn't have the "image" of a traditional bass rig, but it does fit on stage in places where there isn't easily room for and amp and cabs and the dispersion is far better than most dedicated bass cabs (which will be a definite advantage if you are not going through the PA).

You might want to consider a different EQ for the two styles as well.

And I know that New Gold Dream is the "popular" album, but I much prefer Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call.

I'm pretty certain that these days "ABC" is just Martin Fry and some session players, as last time I looked Stephen Singleton and Mark White had gone back to being their pre-ABC incarnation Vice-Versa who I always found much more interesting. IMO the things that make Lexicon Of Love great are mostly Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn and the other various SARM employees rather than the band themselves. I much prefer Beauty Stab.

Buy on line. Return under the distance selling regs if your not happy. THB I've got around this problem over the last 35 years by in the first instance having amps and cabs that were simply there to get my sound from line level to something people could hear, and these days by not bothering with back line at all and going straight into the PA.

IMO to get the best benefit of the experience of the whole album being played live, it need to be done by the people on the recording especially when they were an integral part of the song writing process. The two albums I would have been interested in have the ones by ABC and Simple Minds, neither of whom current sport the line ups that made the album in question.

It's designed so that you can rest your feet on the pedals and only have them activate when you actually push down with your toes. Standing up I always have to remember to press at the far end of the pedal to activate it.