JapanAxe

Recording your own playing (audio or video, live or home practice) can be very revealing as to things you're doing wrong. Painful but useful!

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1403696377' post='2485361'] I really don't have an axe to grind here, and am genuinely interested in what people think. [/quote] I thought axe-grinding was part of the relic process? Seriously, I do own a relic instrument (a Fender '59 RI Strat), and I bought it becuse it sounds phenomenal and plays beautifully. Part of the comfort factor is the artificial wear to the neck. I wouldn't have gone out of my way for a relic instrument, but this one wa sput in my hands and it was brilliant. I do also understand the appeal of these instruments as eye-candy, but until my Strat moment, I never thought them worth the extra dosh.

I use Lava Cable. It is not as easy as they make out to fit the plugs without shorting the signal to earth, but you can make the patch cables the exact lengths to fit your board, and easily re-use pieces. I don't know whether the audio quality is better than any decent patch cable, but avoid those cheapo moulded plastic ones that come in packs of 5 or 6.

Bought a bass book & CDs from Martyn. He packed them well and sent them off pronto. Cheers!

Signed

They are a bit late with this, 1st April is long gone.

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1403218345' post='2480975'] Julian is farmer61 on BC, different person but his MonkeyDolls band are also based in Swindon. Maybe JapanAxe is deppg for Julian? [/quote] Indeed I am. [quote name='farmer61' timestamp='1403251119' post='2481075'] Well spotted Clarky, a I'm on a hike tomorrow we've got a dep in who happened to be my predecessor in the 'Dolls. His name is Graeme so don't think either of us booked BurritoBass's band. However if you ever want to see the Monkeydolls note perfect, tonight's the night [/quote] Very kind of you to say so Julian!

No experience of LD. I used to have an entry-level Trantec system (transmitter and 2 receivers), and that cost (IIRC) £440 in 2002. I imagine prices have come down since then as they have become more popular and other brands have entered the market, so the low price doesn't necessarily mean it's poor quality. A couple of things to be aware of - - If you share your setup with the singer, then you will have the same monitor mix. - Make sure the radio frequency range isn't about to be sold off to taxis, 4G or whatever. - The Trantec earphones were shocking. At the price point you are looking at, I would expect them to be 'functional' at best. - If/when you upgrade your earphones, bear in mind that isolation is a two-edged sword - yes you are saving your hearing, but the instruments that don't go through the PA will only be audible as 'spill' through your vocal mics. Even so, I would definitely recommend IEMs over wedge monitors. They are smaller and lighter, the audio quality is usually better, and they keep down the on-stage volume and reduce 'volume wars'.

What does he use for the bigger venues?

Impressive! I used to play guitar synth, and even with a following wind you would get annoying glitching and octave-jumping.

Josh Happy to take a look and try swapping heads/cabs around if you are local to me (I'm in Swindon). PM me if this might work for you.

I will be rejoining my old band MonkeyDolls at the Eight Bells in Fairford (Gloucestershire) tomorrow night (Friday 20th June). The music is a mix of modern rock and indie, with a few old classics thrown in. I shall mainly be rocking my '73 P through my Ampeg/Barefaced rig. The music starts at 9pm, so if you are local-ish (and not out gigging yourself), come and say hello before, between, or after our rocktastic sets.

Could still be worth buying rather than hiring - buy at £150, sell at £100, job done.

They will be about 100W RMS each. Fine for shocking audio quality at a street party I'm sure

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1403184880' post='2480599'] Yes, especially if they all end up sounding the same! [/quote] Just put flats on them all. Apparently.

Lucky you having a bass-centric local shop

Signed

Must be loads of bass-playing Jim Elliotts in London mind

If you don't want to do this (e.g. vintage pedal), get a [url="http://www.acdguitars.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=67&zenid=hsg9hf32u4btaqn03u8pnjlgt7"]pedal boot.[/url]

[quote name='operative451' timestamp='1403108766' post='2479903'] I have a similar issue with my metal-tastic flying V bass. I was wondering about going with a treble bleed capacitor on the volume control but i also wondered if its possible to reposition the cap on the tone to cut bass instead of treble? [/quote] Treble bleed caps can be great on skinny-string guitars, but I've yet to hear of anyone getting them to work well with basses. Yes you can create a passive bass control, like [url="http://www.glguitars.com/schematics/L-1500_L-1505_ClimaxBass_diagram.pdf"]this[/url] on a G&L bass. I use mine at about 80% just to tame the pickup's mahoosiveness a little!

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1403016919' post='2478883'] My theory is that the orange isobaric cabs are lacking in the bottom octave, something you wont really notice when standing close to the cab - it may sound "full and deep" up close but not projecting the lows any distance. [/quote] Is there anyone out there with first-hand (i.e. gigging) experience of Orange isobarics, who is able to confirm or refute this?