BigRedX

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.

I'm still using the software that I downloaded a year ago when I bought mine, but it works perfectly with my 2010 MacPro running High Sierra, as well as the slightly newer MacBook Pro we use live. The only thing to watch is that the pedals are hinged at the front because it is designed primarily to be used by streamers who are at down in front of their computer. That means that you have to press down at the back of the pedal to get definite result, which is not what we as musicians are used to in pedals, and takes a while to get comfortable with especially standing up which how I use it.

IME trying out a bass amp or cab in a shop is almost completely pointless. The only true test is what it sounds like in the rehearsal room or at a gig with the rest of your band playing.

That may be tongue in cheek but there's an element of through in the statement. Someone else recently posted about a musical equipment company that was offering all their big old heavy amps a virtually bargain-bin prices and still had no takers. I suspect that a large number of people hiring these rigs have them entirely for show and will only by switching them on if it would override be obvious that they were simply stage props. IME these days by the time you are playing stages big enough so that this kind of rig is drowning out the rest of the band, the PA and foldback you are using will have already completely surpassed it.

I use an Elgato Stream Deck Pedal to control playback of our computer backing live. It's three pedals that can be configured to send any commands you want. I use mine with Logic and is set up so the main pedal sends a "space bar" command for play/pause; the left pedal is "return" which goes back to the beginning of the song; and the right pedal triggers a macro (using the Keyboard Maestro utility) that closes the current song, switches to the Finder, scrolls down one file in the list on opens that song. The pedal can also be configured with different command sets for different applications, although I haven't needed that functionality so far. It is relatively expensive, but is far more solidly built than a lot of pedals I have seen for supposed gig-worthy devices and it connects via USB which makes it more reliable than the wireless versions.

Before I got my first multi-effects unit, I had a 14U wheeled rack case containing individual effects unit - some proper rack-mounted devices and others modified to fit in the case, all controlled by huge bank of pedals connected by a fat cable snake to the various units. I would have a little diagram next to each song in the set list to show which switches needed to be off or on. Once I'd done that there was usually no time left to manually change any the the actual effects parameters, so either I'd compromise on a single setting for all the songs, or multiple instances of the the same effect. The whole lot was replaced with a 1U Roland GP8. Although by modern standards it was incredibly primitive - just 8 effects in a fixed order with only a handful of parameters for each effect, it did nearly everything my previous set up was capable off, but in a far more reliable and consistent manner. And while some sounds weren't quite as good as before most of them were far better because I could have a distortion, EQ or flanger speed for tailored not only for each song, but also for each part of that song where it needed to change, and even more importantly they would all be right every time we played that song. Conversely I've been in bands with musicians who appear to be re-inventing the wheel every time they set up their (often very expensive boutique) pedals and waste valuable rehearsal and sound-checking time struggling to get their sound. Whereas I plug in whatever multi-effect device I'm currently using, select the patch for the first song and I'm ready to go.

Following on from our fantastic gig at Leeds Goth City 7 last weekend Hurtsfall announce the following gigs for September: 8 September Goth is What You Make It with Cold In Berlin & Inward Strange The Chapel at The Angel Microbrewery, NOTTINGHAM 16 September The Gothic Gathering The Victoria Bikers Pub, COALVILLE 29 September HRH Goth II O2 Academy, SHEFFIELD 30 September An Evening of Contemporary Gothic Music IV with Chaos Bleak & The Medea Project Underworld Via Fossa, NOTTINGHAM

IME each courier service is only as good as the weakest link in the chain which generally tends to be either the collection or delivery depot/driver.

As a multi-effects user for almost 35 years now the convenience of having everything in one box with user programmable memories that can be recalled to give you exactly the sound your wanted at the push of a button more than out-weigh any supposed lack of sound quality. I say supposed, because firstly I never been in a position where I have been able to do a direct A/B comparison between any modelled amp/cab/effect and the "real thing", and TBH I really don't care, so long as the sound that come out of the device is a sound that I want. Secondly IME most analogue devices show degrees of variation between example, so who is to say which variation is the one to be aiming for? Thirdly most modern multi-effects (especially the modellers line Line6 will have multiple versions of the same effect, so if for instance you don't like one chorus model there's another 2 or 3 to chose from. One of them will almost always give you a usable sound. When I'm putting a pre-set together I always go on the ultimate sound and not what the individual building blocks are - for instance I don't use many amp models, and when I do they are often "guitar" amps because I like the sound that they give me. For me that's one of the great things about software modelling, in that you can use sims that you would never dream of putting a bass guitar through at any volume in "real life", but because it's just a model the worst that can happen is you won't like the sound it produces. My current multi-effects of choice is the Helix Floor. I chose this one based on the assumption that if I went for a lesser model, I'd find something sooner or later that I needed that only the top of the range version would do. For me the LED "scribble-strips" have become absolutely invaluable, so I'm glad that I did go for the full version. I can have a separate preset for each song (and use the Snapshot function for variations within the song itself), which has all the effects tweaked so that my sound is exactly right for the overall band mix each time. After all the other instruments all use different sounds, so the bass needs to change even if it is only slightly to fit into the new mix. The set list function means that I can re-arrange the presets in the correct order for a gig in seconds and then just use the next preset button to select the right sound for the next song (although this has now been superseded by using the computer that also plays our backing to automatically change presets for each song and snapshots within the songs without me needing to be at the pedal to do so and I can concentrate on playing and putting on a performance). I do all my major editing on the computer using the HX Edit application, but the editing on the device is easy to make tweaks in the rehearsal room to fine tune the sounds completely painless. The Zoom devices do look like very good VFM. The only downside I have recently discovered is that the cheaper models don't have MIDI so they can't be really be integrated into a more complex set up (and they would definitely not meet my requirements).

Unless the mistake is so bad that it brings the song grinding to a halt within the first 60 seconds of it starting, most of the audience won't even have noticed that it has occurred. Stop over-thinking and just go out and play.

Programmable multi-effects and a couple of technical rehearsals in a decent sized room with your PA will sort that out completely.

I hardy ever use reverb as it tends to make what I play sound mushy and indistinct. However I use lots of delay always synchronised to the tempo of the song. This helps to fill out the sound in the band that's only drum machine, synthesiser, bass VI and vocals.

I've done few festivals where due to the lovely English weather most of my cables ended up with a coating of grime and mud. They simply went into the washing up - hot water and an eco-friendly washing up liquid. Then hung outside on the washing line to dry with the plugs (jack and XLR) undone to make sure there was no moisture left inside them. Some my cables have been through this process several times and all are still working perfectly.

I sold the last of my 4-string basses a couple of years ago. I now own just two 5-strings and three Bass VIs.

For me the Eastwood Hooky is the end of a long search to find a Bass VI that I actually found playable. I started with an impulse buy of a Squier Bass VI when I had no real need for one, but found that I liked the concept even if the neck was ridiculously narrow even by guitar standards. Then the guitarist from one of the bands I play in decide to leave, I suggested that we try with me playing Bass VI and the synth moving from mainly textures to actual tunes, and we found that it worked perfectly. Having an actual use for the instrument meant that I was more aware than ever that the neck was simply too narrow for me. At the time I was expecting that I would end up with something custom made, as I found the next best thing - a Burns Barracuda - was only slightly more playable for me. Then Eastwood announced the Hooky and I immediately put down my deposit. I'd briefly played an original Shergold Marathon 6-String Bass in the early 80s as someone I knew had one, so I could recall the neck being significantly wider. The first batch coincided with Covid and took about 10 months from my initial order to actually getting the bass in my hands, but straight away I could tell it was worth it. Songs that were always a struggle to play live because I kept tripping up over the tight string spacing for chunky bass strings were now as effortless as they should be. I play mine direct into a Helix, and then straight into either the PA or an FRFR cab, which is absolutely necessary for me as I tend to switch between "bass" and "guitar" parts on the Bass VI. One new song has sections where I change every two bars! My band Hurtsfall have a new single "Tilting" out on Friday 21st July which really shows off what can be done with the Eastwood Hooky - there's bass parts, guitar parts, harmonic chords (I have mine tuned EADGCE) and a big "bass solo" in the middle. I'll stick some links up when it's been released. In the mean time here a shot of me playing it from when Hurtsfall supported Skeletal Family at the lending Room in Leeds last year:

There are lots of different Thunderbirds even in just the Epiphone range, with different constructions, pickups and electronics. Whether any of them are for you will depend on what you want. There's even a version that is essentially a Fender P-J Bass but with the non-reverse Thunderbird body shape.