LLOYDWT

So eBay scraps seller fees for private sellers, and then four months later introduces a buyer protection fee which pretty much aligns with the old seller fees; meaning that fees that used to be baked into the sale price by the seller are now baked into the sale price directly by eBay with the outcome for all pretty much exactly as it was prior to their removing seller fees. Righto.

That explains it 😅 Thanks, jrixn1!

I've noticed that listing prices on tons of private sales all increased between yesterday and today. I've got a number of instruments in my watch list in three categories — 1 — "If I win the lottery" 2 — "It's collection only, but if I'm ever out that way, maybe" 3 — "If the seller lowers the price to this, I might..." All of them increased in price to *random* amounts last night. A few examples — Gibson ES-335 from £1,875 to £1,919.22 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226399690759 Gibson SG Custom from £4,000 to £4,086.72 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286111859034 Two-Rock Bloomfield Drive from £4,200 to £4,286.72 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/306064218065 Fender Custom Shop '63 Stratocaster from £2,775 to £2,857.62 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/167056602688 Bourgeois OM Vintage Heirloom from £4,000 to £4,086.72 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116375695931 Pork Pie Throne from £115 to £120.32 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/306072885214 Two-Rock Studio Signature from £3,475 to £3,525.72 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296858635994 These are all different sellers, the new prices are never rounded and all end with a 2. They're not a consistent percentage. The three items of £4,000 or more all increased by £86.72. Listings by business sellers seem unaffected, but every private listing seems to have been changed. I've just run a few eBay searches, and it seems to be happening to everything, not just musical instruments; random prices ending with a 2, lots of big ticket items increased by £86.72, business sales unaffected. I can't work out what's going on or why.

Chris and Martin built me an Inspiration in 2013, and I also have a J5 with a J-Retro and Bartolinis from 2007. They're both phenomenal basses. The Jazz was my number one for my whole career as a functions bassist. I've been to the workshop in Carlisle a couple of times and met up with them at the LBGS a few years ago too. Great guys (and girl) and terrific craftmanship; they've really set the bar for me as to what fit and finish to expect on a high-end instrument.

Smiths of all flavours are all about the mids. The Burners are more "Jazz bass" than the Americans, but they're still very *SMITH* (I think it's all in the pickup positions). The modern Burners I've played are naturally woollier, whilst my BT6s are more focussed and "forward sounding." They can both do the pre-transient punch for that thing all Jaco fans are chasing but without the need to solo or favour the bridge pickup (which gives all Smiths more depth, IMO). My BT6s, and the other US Smiths I've played, have a more pronounced compression, but they're still really dynamic. I used to like a really scooped sound, but the Smiths have such musical mids that sit so well in any mix that they've really dictated my tone since buying them. If you're ever Ipswich way, you're welcome to try mine.

The Hadrien Feraud Burners are great basses, but sonically quite different from the Patitucci/Melvin Lee Davis tone that the US-made BTs are known for, though they can be EQ'd into the same ballpark. If you're wanting to scratch that 80s-Pattituci itch, I'd go for an 80s/early-90s BT5 or BT6, but you'll need to deal with the "coffee-table-bass" aesthetic and the heavier-than-the-sun weight. but if it's the body shape you want, the Burners are amazing basses.

You get a free entry if you've got an account with them. I created an account when I bought a bass from them at the beginning of the year, so logged in and entered. It's a Road Worn P Bass up for grabs, I don't think it'll be displacing my Smiths, Overwaters or Alleva Coppolo P5, but gift horses' mouths and all that...

That's a massive improvement. I've just bought a CQ12T for a permanent installation, so I'll get to test this out tomorrow with that; but nothing in the books for a few weeks to use my personal CQ20B; this, and the loss of focus, are the only features where, in my opinion, the Midas trumped the A&H; it's so close to being perfect now.

There are four FX blocks, so you can choose up to four effects to use at any one time. All channels can be routed to all FX, much like you'd route a channel to a bus, and FX can be routed to other FX too. So by default, if you put say a reverb on a vocal mic, you're sending a clean vocal signal and an affected vocal signal to FoH and you can make changes by riding the two levels, sending more dry signal to the FX channel, or changing the quality of the reverb from the FX sub-menu. You can also change the FX from "Shared" to "Inserted" which then requires you to specify a single channel (or stereo pair) to receive that effect, which is then not available on any other channel; but that then means you lose the dry signal, and you control your affected output via that channel's fader. It's more intuitive than it sounds and allows you to control the FX any way you can imagine with a lot of detail. The presets are really good and I've been able to dial in exactly what I've wanted within seconds of hitting the FX sub-menu. I did an acoustic duo gig last month, and used the double tracker on the guitar which added some missing depth; I've not used it on vocals yet, as I don't think it's an effect I want on all the time, and my hands are busy playing.

I bought an amp and cabinet from Daryl today. Great communication and a easy and stress-free exchange. The amp and cab were in excellent condition; Daryl clearly takes care of his gear. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again

The WiFi has been faultless and was worth the cost of entry alone. I really don't miss having to use a router in addition to the mixer. Mixing Station does not look as user-friendly, or as "aesthetic," as the native CQ app, and, aside from some missing features, and the disconnecting when idle, the CQ app is the best tablet mixing experience I've ever had.

It's been statically installed in my practice room for the last couple of months, so I haven't really been fully utilising it (the only gigs I've run sound on have used a Midas M32). I'm still really enjoying using it; the interface and navigation within the app have grown on me with more use. I'm enjoying the quick presets more than I thought I would; without those, I think I'd be dialing in very similar settings to those I would on any mixer, but this allows me to cycle through some contrasting setups quickly, and I often arrive at a sound distinct from what I'd normally be looking for and that I'm really satisfied with. I've been lamenting the loss of my mute/sub groups less than I thought I would, but I imagine if I were micing a full drum kit, I'd miss that feature more. I think I'll have to check out Mixing Station to see what the mixing experience is like in that; but I'd miss some of the quick setup functions if I gave up on the CQ app completely. Perhaps I could dial the mixer in using the CQ app, and then do the levels in the Mixing Station app (this is probably ridiculous). I'm doing a major software rollout at work over the next few weeks, so music is going to be quiet for me until late December/early January; I've got a few coffee shop/wine bar gigs in early 2024 where I plan on using this with my FBT Vertus CLA PA, and I'm more excited about it than I should be. I've yet to persuade singers and guitarists to claim their own monitor mixes with the CQ4YOU app yet; which is disappointing. Not a failing of the mixer or the app, just Luddites shirking the job; they'll get there. The tech-savvier musicians I've shared it with have found it straightforward. The learning curve is less steep than the Midas, and the results are usually better. It was an indulgent purchase, but I don't regret it.

They exist in the monitoring app, so the functionality is already there. It's such a daft response too, even if it were true; "we didn't include this useful feature that could be easily achieved on the existing hardware with minor software changes and that has no down sides by design"??? I'm used to not having the mute groups now as I have the soft keys setup for what I used most frequently on my MR18. It's still a great mixer, but these feel like missteps from A&H.

I've yet to use the W950, but I've heard great things. I've got a few Lewitt instrument mics and a kick drum mic as well as my 540, and they've all been excellent. I imagine the W950 would keep up with the heavyweights of the condenser vocal mic world.

Yeah. They were super selective about what they were willing to talk about when engaging with me. It seems like the engineers don't really communicate with the support/promotional/social teams, and if it's not the press release, they just don't know. I think in the long wrong the CQ20 would be a wiser buy than the UI24R; it's definitely, even with its teething issues, a more capable device; but I would understand choosing a more mature device rather than waiting for updates that may or may not come.

Blasphemy 😆

I really dislike 58s. I think their ubiquity is often misconstrued as universal approval. There are so many great mics that can be had for the same, or less, money. Need's never had anything to do with it. Buying frivolous and expensive toys purely for the fun of playing with frivolous and expensive toys is one of my top hobbies. And if you can pick one up for the right price, you won't struggle to move it on for the same money should you ever tire of it. I say get one! 😁