la bam

Ive found them very good. Certainly no need to change them for anything. They are powerful and respond well to the tone control, but id say theyre more modern clear sound than a vintage p bass sound - although ive just re strung it with lightweight d'addrio strings, so theyve loads of life in them. They really do kick and have good punch to them. Theyre not so much a warm growly sound, like youd get from a jazz, but more a true representation of how your bass sounds acoustically. Obviously though, you can colour with your amp and effects. Theres some great videos on youtube showing people using the v4 in action to give you an idea.

I gigged with this last week Sounded great. Really punchy. There was a slight issue with humm noise, (not a problem during the gig though as it went when touching the strings) which after a bit of research i decided was a shielding issue. So a auick impatient trip to b and q for some aluminium tape and unbelievably it works! All the hum has gone, and it isnt affected by winding up input, gain or master volume.

As i thought - youre using an electronic drum kit, but completely ruining its quick and easy set up by building its own pa around it to replicate it sounding like a normal kit, and thats what causing the issues. You certainly dont need the sub for the drums behind the drums. You should be using that for front pa if anything. That leaves x2 speakers at head high level at the back - get them off the stands and on the floor as monitors to be shared by everyone so they can hear the kit and thats immediately a much better set up. As an aside, your band leader (albeit with the best intentions) is heading for a big fall with this set up. Hes building a great big backline sound but what happens when the room os much bigger and you need more through the front of the pa. Its almost a non pa set up - where everything is just being used as backline. Definitely not the way to do it, not practical, adaptable or helpful. He should be putting that amount of effort into building a brilliant big sound through the front pa, not backline. That way when more volume etc is needed you just turn the front pa up and it doesnt affect your volume on stage. Whats he going to do when the room requires much more volume? Turn the whole backline up and deafen everyone?

Swearing has its place and imo should only be used for dynamic effect to express anger, desperation etc and when used correctly enhances the art (whether it be music, literature or acting). However, the absolute drivel coming from r n b has completely unarmed its effect. For example i was setting up at an event the other week and the staff had a r n b cd on and most contained pointless swearing. One in particular was just a slow drivel of a beat and obviously nicked bassline with the vocalist just going something like "i work hard for my money, every mother fxxxxing day" repeated for about 10 minutes. Pointless to have swearing in there. Pointless to have that particular phrase in there. Pointless. I nearly cut the wires on the speakers. Im no prude and im not against swearing, but gees, this generation has lost the plot when it comes to swearing and its use.

Could the issue be you have a drummer with an electronic kit? And your BL is worried that everyone (but most likely him) must hear him - hence the amount / positioning of the monitoring? And that hes giving everyone the same monitor mix? As said, theres so many better ways to do this, but it could be just the limitations on the desk dont give you enough monitor outs, so hes kind of using a pa sound for everyone. For me, it defeats the point of taking an electronic kit if you then have to put it tbrough a full pa and on top of that upset the othet band members.

Im currently gigging with my vintage v4 reissue p bass and i genuinely think its as good in the mix as any high end fender p bass - no one would ever know it wasnt a high end p bass - and its cheaper than a squier. I can do everything on it i need - low end power and high end clarity, very easy to play too and finished beatifully. I could get a high end fender p but why would i? Id be paying £1000 for that headstock decal, not for anything else that would improve anything to my playing or band. Each to their own though.

Love my set up. Very very light and very powerful amp and cab. Contains full back up amp and total tone shaping too. All pre wired and set up in less than a minute.

ive just done this with a behringer bdi21. bass guitar - pedal bdi21 - return socket on back of amp (in this case an ashdown lg1000) - and it sounds absolutely fantastic. how to transform an amp for £30!!

Yes. Anyone who knows their stuff should be able to get a decent sound out of any bass. Squiers easily give a good sound.

I think this way of Sansamp into venue amps send and return (and bypassing the venue amps sound) is becoming the best way to do it.

If you can play those tupe of bands then youre more than capable of joining a band. Youll never feel ready to join a band, but as soon as you do join one, your playing will improve 10 times quicker than having lessons. Youll naturally push yourself harder, have to play songs you wouldnt neccessarily pick and learn to gel with other band members and what they play - all stuff that you cant get from having a lesson - and far more valuable.

The gold knobs turned up today. Now finished. Looks a lot better than i thought in real life (if a bit more gold than originally planned).

Yeh ive previously had tbe 'just plug your bass straight in here (di box)'. Thats lazy sound engineering. Try doing that with a guitarist and theyll start stropping!! All i was trying to work out is if i could send my amps sound to their di. Its not a special sound, its not a world changer, but its a nice sound, nice and even and nice and compressed. This was to make life easier for them. In usual sound checks where we bring the backline i havent had to spend more than 30 seconds on the sound check. Sound guys love it and cant believe how easy ive made it for them. Its like (plays 2 notes across all 4 strings) "oh, er yeh, thats perfect - next!" Interesting that the way im going to have to do this is a sansamp, flyrig or vtbass pedal, when my amp head is capable of doing the same thing.