Huge Hands

I did this very trick with a friend's band years ago when they asked me for some advice after they kept not getting re-booked for pub gigs due to the guitarist being face-meltingly loud. I turned up at their rehearsal and got the guitarist to put the amp in front of him on the tilt-back legs like a monitor wedge. After half a song, he kicked his amp and stormed off. "It sounds awful and is giving me a headache!" he raged. "Now you know how your audience feels" was my reply......... I understand he went out and bought a Blues junior the next day and gigged with that for years.

I had a similar issue with my setup last week - found I had taken the head out of the case and somehow spun the tube preamp gain up to full without noticing. Sound would be fine, then would fade to much lower volume, then cut out, then full power again, and then it would all happen again. Thought I had wrecked the input stage of my amp, but then after messing around found it was a dodgy jack lead in my signal chain. I only found it by starting with guitar straight into amp, then working backwards and plugging each device back up, test, add the next one, etc. I know you said you had swapped cables but I thought worth mentioning. I always thought jack leads would either work, be intermittent or not work, but over the years I have had a few that do this drop in signal to the amp=drop in output power. I assume it is my clumsy heavy feet standing on them and damaging the cores without fully breaking them..

As a big Beatles fan, I thought the song was good, but I do struggle with that Jeff Lynne production sound they keep on with that makes this and Free As A Bird sound like a Travelling Wilbury's record. I think it's the "big wet fish on plastic oil drum" drum sound he seems to love. Maybe they used Bev Bevan kit samples, but I don't like it. Only my opinion, of course.....

Pete Ray Biggin is fantastic. I first met him in the early noughties when I was a sound engineer and he was about 19 playing with Jimmy James (and the Vagabonds). As a drummer myself, I instantly snapped my metaphorical sticks over my knee the first time I heard him play as I was simultaneously amazed at him and disgusted at how much better he was than anything I would ever be able to play - he was that good! He stopped coming to gigs with them and I was told he had left to join Incognito for a while. I have since seen videos of him doing drum workshops with a giant kit but back then he would borrow the house drummer's kit with just top and floor tom. It wasn't particularly his fills that were amazing (although they were) - it was just his feel and groove that were top notch and on another level that I could hear (no pun intended).

I would probably also look at the mix the drummer is asking for in his monitor. Is it purely his vocal, or is he asking for loads of kick drum and a mix of all the instruments at full volume? The more he asks of that monitor, the more it (and al the other sound sources on stage) will likely become a mushy muddled mess that will probably just resonate his floor tom and make it all unclear. What I'm trying to say is, perhaps you might want to try starting again with his monitor. Maybe don't include some of the stuff that is already loud on stage so that it can concentrate on producing the sounds he actually needs to hear to keep time/cues. This may have also been the issue with his dislike of the in-ears. As others have said - it probably needed a bit more time to balance levels and get used to them. As a side anecdote, I remember always being amazed when working sound on gigs with the classic singers Edwin Starr and Jimmy James - both would insist on no vocal monitors at all, and would sometimes get funny if you even left some on stage to save putting them away! They were alway spot on vocally too.

Welcome Simon - I am taking my first trip to Belfast next month for work, looking forward to it! I would probably say I am a similar level to you - have been playing for just over 30 years - mainly by ear until about 12 years ago when I started in a reading band and had to learn to read sharpish! I struggle with reading quaver and semi-quaver runs in that I panic and usually either play them too fast or two slow! I think the issue is not regular playing of the same stuff so you don't get to take it all in and think about it so much. When I was younger I dipped in and out of playing in some soft rock style church bands reading the bass notes of chord charts (Mission Praise type stuff) and week in, week out it was different songs so you played through once that morning and never got to perfect anything. In my personal experience reading tends to use a different part of my brain and as soon as the notes are passed, they are forgotten. I would struggle to play some pieces from memory as I don't store them as I read. In terms of playing by ear or memory my biggest enemy is my wandering attention span, which has gotten worse since my bad covid experience in 2020. The times when I play my best are when I'm in a regular gigging band and we play the same set repeatedly, so it locks into my memory and I can start playing without thinking about it too much a lot of the time. I think the guys that I am jealous of on bass that can just get up and play along with perfect runs and changes by ear or read note perfect probably have a much more complete music theory knowledge than me, play more regularly and have practiced things like scales and runs in their bedrooms much more than me. I guess what I am saying is practice makes perfect, but I am no angel myself, so full solidarity from me! Don't give up, just enjoy it! Note - this is only my experience - I assume some more learned members will read this and say I am full of it!

I find that website really confusing. In my old days of analogue desks, the 14:4:2 would mean 14 input channels into 4 subgroups, into 1 stereo output. The auxiliary outputs should be totally separate, and it is saying there are 6 of them. However, the blurb does seem to say the auxiliary outputs share with the subgroup and LR outputs. Very odd......

I have the bigger Behringer UMC-22 and was looking into using this for my own in-ear setup - to allow a feed from a mixer and blend in my own signal from my bass. This was driven from doing a headphone (amateur) theatre pit gig and everyone shared the same mix, and they all moaned when the bass was where I needed it. I never got as far as trying it, but was planning to buy a USB-A to USB-B cable and powering it from a phone charger. I never got as far as checking the current draw requirements of the UMC-22, but figured if it ran off phantom, it probably wasn't that high. My other idea was to buy a cheap mixer, similar to what you are looking at. I haven't had such a gig since, so have shelved my ideas for now. The only thing I can think that may cause you issues is that I don't think the UM-2 has a mic "through" connection, so if you use it to mix the vocal mic locally first, you will end up sending the signal to your main mixer as a line signal. Obviously in theory with input gain balancing it shouldn't make any difference, but in my experience it may cause you more issues with controlling feedback in lively environments, especially depending on how your main mixer deals with mic/line switching preamps.. One to test and watch out for, anyway.

I wanted one because at the time I didn't use a pedal board and was connected straight into my amp, which didn't have a mute switch (other than powering it off), and the pots were a bit crackly if you turned it up or down. I also had a regular gig with a cramped stage and would struggle to access my amp controls once set without knocking half the drum kit over (I'm very clumsy), Yes, a pedal would have fixed it, yes having a different/better maintained amp would have fixed it, or yes, I could have got better, bigger gigs or been more nimble But some sort of switch on my guitar that would turn off the battery for breaks without causing a massive clang through my amp would have been a much simpler solution - should it exist. I assume some sort of capacitance in circuit to avoid the high transient thunk would have done it, but I just went back to turning down and pulling the plug. Like I was saying, a nice to have, not vital.

In my experience, this doesn't work so well - you still have to have the discipline of turning down/off your amp before you toggle the switch otherwise you get the same loud "thunk" you would if you pulled the jack out. I assume the poster you replied to meant a nice silent switch when turning off the active like you would get on a dual/active passive bass when switching between the two modes. A mute switch, rather than a kill switch, if you will. Just speaking from experience, as I fitted a switch as you describe on a self build active bass and had this issue.

Would like Fender to design and release a 5-string version of the '51 slab P that looks kind of normal but still has normal string spacing and comes in various colours, not just butterscotch and Sting - and not be a very expensive one-off custom thing. ...then pass the designs on to Squier so I have a chance of affording one. And then maybe Sire will do a sorted version and I can just about afford that.....

Just got this on my latptop running Chrome this morning. Clicked on a different part of the forum and got the English version. Didn't appear to be a "more options" or reject button, so only way to get rid of it was to agree to it from what I could see.

I've said this on here before, but I find my NS Design NXT5 EUB doesn't sound much like an acoustic upright to me when I am standing next to it playing it, but if I hear a recording of it from the other side of the room, it does! Like you, I often find my EUB is the talk of the gig, with audience members regularly coming up to me in the breaks to ask about it, more than they would with my standard upright. I love not having to lug the "real" thing around (plus this has 5 strings rather than my 4 string acoustic) and love the fact I don't have to find some giant space to lie it down between songs. I have had a few bands moan over the years because it is too modern looking and doesn't fit the vintage vibe they are going for. My wrecked back has always taken priority on that one though, so sticking with the EUB! Welcome to Rosie BTW!

I have always played finger style all my life and struggle with consistency of the strokes if I try with a pick. I wonder if this technique might help me get my brain and fingers around it.....I think I'm going to try it!

I remember about 5 years ago when I dropped my NXT5 after the strap broke on the supplied gigbag and was whingeing to the guy at Bass Direct about how poorly made the long strap fixing was at the time. He mentioned he had seen people using a case designed for skis (think he said it was hard plastic). I asked him to send me a link to one but I never heard and stopped gigging it for a few years after that so wasn't really a problem for me any more (once i had got a new bag). I wonder if that is also worth looking into?

It has always been those stringy bits in "You Only Live Twice" that R***ie Williams nicked for Millenium that do it for me. That and Nancy Sinatra's vocal of course.

...Way before?

My take on this: I think it is best when a bit of both. Obviously up and coming new bands can use their gigs to showcase new un-heard stuff and as a punter there you feel like you are getting a sneak peek of what is to come. However, I remember hearing about David Bowie refusing to do any of his back catalogue in the 90s - I think I would have been an unhappy attendee at those gigs. I think if the famous song is slightly different or done in a new way, great - that is the evolution of the song after months/years on the road. What I would still want is for it to be in the same kind of perspective/genre as the original. My examples of what I would NOT want are: The blues band I used to be in - the guitarist would always want everything played verbatim, including any edit/glitches on the record. He would also get huffy if I did my own thing and funked it up a little. My argument was that you couldn't often hear exactly what the (often double) bassist was doing in a lot of the early recordings, and surely the live band would have added their own thing on the road? I also used to do FOH sound for some 60's and 70s bands in the early 00s - by then the people in the band you would want to see had left to enjoy their solo career/money. You would be left with mates of those that were leff not playing it as well, or you would get a young replacement bass player slapping his way through some 60s pop tunes and totally changing the sound. Not what people want to hear on a 60's nostalgia gig I think.

If they would build anything you wanted, I would get a 5-string slab body 51-P with 19mm spacing and rely on them to make it look reasonably in proportion, not like some of the home builds I have seen with weird headstocks.

Would love to hear more from some of the gospel/NuSoul guys Thaddeus "Terry" Tribbett, Braylon Lacy and Joe Cleveland (I think you've already had Sharay Reed on?).

Funnily enough it was Mrs HH who persuaded me to have the test - she is sick of repeating herself when talking to me. I think I do have hearing issues and I do struggle when I am not facing/on axis with her, but I also think blokey zoning out should be part of the diagnosis!

It might be worth checking with your specialist if you think they are not working for you, you may have the wrong ones, however, you may need to top up the NHS costs to get better ones. I'm sure there are others on here that know a lot more about this than me but recently I did the first step and tried the free Specsavers test as I struggle to focus on someone talking in loud environments, like a pub or restaurant. They said their initial 5 min test showed a likely loss in the high frequencies (no s**t Sherlock!). However, I was told that as I am under 55 I was too young to get free NHS hearing aids (unless I had a serious hearing problem diagnosed) so would likely have to self fund if I wanted them. I was then shown a price list where - "these are the ones that you would get from the NHS, but as you go higher up the price range they are more suited to your type of hearing loss, the NHS ones probably wouldn't be that good for you". I don't know if it was a dodgy salesman (I doubt it as he had "trainee" on his badge and came across as a nerdy teenager who had read all of the training guides back to front) or just the way it is. At one point he did say "You might not even need them, it might just be because you're tired today" which made me laugh. Suffice to say, I decided to leave it for now and struggle on as I am without. Obviously my knowledge of hearing aids is all based on one 20 min appointment in an opticians with a spotty teenager in a shop designed to take your money. I'm sure there is a lot better advice out there!

Hi Phil, I personally would avoid the XLR to jack lead, I just assumed that is how you were doing it. My advice would be to use a DI box or some sort of preamp that turns your instrument level output into a line level input signal for your speaker. I don't know if this is relevant but years ago I had an Ashdown 2x10 and 1x15 stack that I used to run as 15 on the bottom, 10s horizontal on top for bigger gigs. Most of the time I just used the 2x10 (combo) on its own and the sound was great, but with the 1x 15 added I often found the sound would not be right and feel like there was a big "hole" in the sound if I stood in front of my stack. I will defer to @Bill Fitzmaurice's much superior knowledge than mine as I know I have discussed this with him before, but I believe what I was hearing (or not) could have been down to comb filtering effects caused by having mismatched driver sizes. I'm sure he can explain it a lt better than me but thought this might also be a part of why you are having issues with hearing your backline?

How are you connecting your 1 speaker? Are you using an XLR to jack lead? Is the jack lead mono (tip/sleeve) or stereo (tip/ring/sleeve)? I don't know the G4M Sub Zero range but I assume the XLR inputs on your speakers will be set up to expect balanced line level signals. You standard passive bass gives out unbalanced instrument level, so ideally you need a the very least a DI box inbetween the guitar out and the speaker. The acoustic bass preamp I assume has an XLR out or may be managing to balance over a TRS jack?

I remember in the 90s my dad recorded a concert from the TV which was Lonnie, Albert Collins and Roy Buchanan at Carnegie Hall. Lonnie looked exactly the same as the photo on your clip (same hat and guitar) so I reckon it was around the time he released this. They played Stop and I used to wear that bit of the tape out (and Albert Collins (wasn't too fussed about the Roy Buchanan bits). It was almost verbatim to this version except for a comedy "over-emphasising every hit" drummer who was fun to watch at the same time!