redbandit599

Are they pretty chunky then? Had a quick look but couldn't spot any weights.

Yep, compromise is expected! Some of those Sires look pretty decent.

Oh I know, this is going to be very subjective! 😁 Right, so given I fall into the 'like to have a back up but never actually used it' brigade when gigging, I'm starting to think that lugging my Sandberg out just to sit in a case all night is probably not sensible. So, ideal back up for me is 5 strings, light (it's going to be dead weight so let's not have too much), good solid rock sound and not too fugly. Starting to get fussier about necks on 5's as I've been spoilt by my Dingwall NG2 which has a nice sort of rolled edge to it, which is lush - so none of those square edged necks please. Also, cheap so I don't worry too much, say £300 new or secondhand. What do you reckon/use?

I think volume wars can be hard to avoid if your guitarists are using big old 100w/50w valve heads and driving them hard to get 'the tone.' I'm lucky in that my guitarist now operates with a 20w all valve Blackstar combo (or two for a big stage) it sounds great - still flipping loud - but not the frankly daft pressure levels that the old school big valve heads deliver.

Don't Stop Believing - just stick some chorus in to bring out a bit of warble in those higher little fills. Phaser of Flanger would probably do the trick too with a bit of fettling.

I can only get away with self-deprecating, unstylish hats e.g. the black woolen skull cap, the flowery floppy hat (hated by my daughters.) Any stylish hat instantly makes me look a knob probably due to my big, round head .....I may well be a knob but don't need to advertise it 🙄 Hats indoors as well is a tricky one, can only pull them off outside myself 🙂

I use a GK MB500 Fusion through two Berg 12s and like it a lot - easily copes average pub gigs without PA support and larger stages. Don't use the two channel thing on it but I use an effects board - might be handy if I didn't. EQ is simple and effective - though for me it doesn't follow the usual advice of favouring the low mids, I usually play flat but with a little cut on the low mids to get the sound I like - I know, I keep thinking that it can't be right but it works! Tubes started going a while back and I swapped three spare Marshall ones in that my guitarist had kicking about - think they improved it a bit more 🙂

Yep - that's the first one to try. Had a quick play about last night on headphones running the pedals and BDDI into my Zoom B3 (with no effects/amp sim engaged) and I've found that the sound I most preferred actually had the blend of the BDDI down pretty low. Just enough to give a bit of extra drive to my clean tone. I think I've always use it with a heavier blend and that may not be the way to go. Started me wondering if I should just get a DI box instead of the BDDI.

Cheers Jack, hadn't thought of utilizing the effects loop. If I used the line through on my Bddi then that shouldn't colour the stage sound. Could have the bddi on top of my amp with XLR out to the desk and use that to set FOH sound. Though doing that would mean amp changes the FOH total hmmm. I only tend to tweak volume once all is set though. I'm not a massive tone junky just don't like an all bottom sound which dI bass often seems to deliver. My GK and backline sounds good to me so just hoping to replicate that FOH.

Cheers - thanks for that! 🙂

Cool, thanks guys. Do you know if the DI level on the BDDI changed by the level control on the unit? Does turning the BDDI off ( clumsy foot!) cut the DI signal entirely or just remove the tone shaping etc? Cheers

Started using IEMs and occasionally doing larger spaces which mean that we put more of me through the pa/subs etc and I'm thinking about how best to sound like my backline through the PA and IEMs. I use a GK MB500 Fusion and two Berg 12s and usually have a fairly driven basic sound which I then drive harder/change with pedals etc. My thoughts are :- Use the amp DI 'post' to get the benefit of Pre amp EQ'ing (I don't eq much - usually flat but tweaked to the room) and the tubes in the Preamp (which I think do contribute to my sound) - BUT - this means on stage tweaks will impact the FOH mix (no sound man.) Use the amp DI 'pre' - but this always sounds a bit 'meh' to me through the PA - just your typical bass rumble, lacking what I think is the tubey bit of the EQ from the preamp Gain stage - BUT does mean I can tweak on stage to whatever suits best without impacting FOH. Obviously can EQ the FOH which we do, but it's never quite 'right'. Use my 'back up' BDDI on my board to drive the FOH and don't use amp DI at all - I can get a decent sound out of the BDDI but it might be different to what I'm getting on stage. Then backline rig is independent of PA and can be set to suit (my band like quite a bit of bass on stage and only the singer and I use IEMs.) But in my IEMs it'll be FOH sound - obviously I need to try and match FOH and amp tone wise. What do you reckon/do all - I'm tempted to try the BDDI option at the next sizeable gig. Cheers

Felixstowe Ibis - though I go by Felix O'Ibis....

Just try and imagine seeing the world through the eyes of the person that made this.....🤯

Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction - Tattooed Beat Messiah album is genius, sleazy poetry and been stuck in my head since the 80's. Jan Cyrka's guitar is god like on it too. This delightful couplet always makes me smile "Gimme backseat education Working up a sweat on the leatherette Backseat education little girl you're the teachers pet.'

Years ago I played in a metally/rocky/punky covers band called Dumper (drunk in the pub band naming not a good idea)- my first band and we were all mates. Anyhow, we ordered 50 band t-shirts, 3 went wrong and we sold the remaining 47 at gigs - we thought we knew everyone who bought one. Sitting with some of the guys in the middle of the crowd at an outdoor gig (Metallica Milton Keynes I think), crowd parts and a young lad stumbles into our group, fresh from the pit in a very moshed up Dumper t-shirt. Says, "Alright lads! How you doing?" and disappears - to this day we have no idea who he was but seeing one of our t-shirts being worn by a stranger was pretty cool for a bunch of chancers like us 🙂

We do Plug In Baby which we all love doing as we all get to be really noisy 🙂 Goes down well too. OP is right about the guitar riff though, if you drop off at all it's hard to get back on track. Similar to above I now use my BSW (setting 4 with most dials at min - until recently was using my EHX re-issue Green Muff) in an LS2 with clean signal blended in - but then that blended signal into my wah pedal for the verse bits and no wah for the chorus/louder bits.

Brand New 'Acme MindBass' neural implant - simply plug yourself directly into the in room audio solution of your choice and think your bass lines into existence! Effects built in and controlled by the Bass Face expression module - scowl for overdrive, puff your cheeks for a fat sub octave, go boss eyed for filters (Caution - DO NOT SNEEZE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES) Only selling as my mind wanders mid gig and then things can get a little tricky...

Bass Direct can get them

We try and block book 3 or 4 rehearsal dates in whilst at rehearsal - so everyone checks their diaries there and then and if the dates are free it gets booked. Sure, we do have the odd cancellation (life happens) but once the dates are in it's easier to arrange life around them. Regular practice is essential for a gigging band imho - I've seen plenty of talented players get to together to form scratch bands or who 'don't need to rehearse' - they are undoubtedly much better natural players than me but there's always something a bit 'jam like' about those performances and often the chemistry isn't quite 'on it.'