Skinnyman

The band I'm in used to have a couple of equinox mega bars. 4 LED par cans on each with tripods. They're really good units with only two problems. One, they're a royal pain to get onto the tripods (they'll have a finger if you're not careful) and two, they belong to the recently-quit guitarist so we need to replace them. Given that we only play pubs, the two equinox units were probably overkill so I'm looking for recommendations for something smaller, lighter and, well, easier. We're happy to let the units run in auto mode so we don't need anything fancy on the DMX side of things (although it's kind of a nice to have feature). I did wonder about a couple of LEDJ 1T36 LEDs clipped to the speaker stands which give a big spread and would wash the stage (well, the corner of the bar were we're set up) but if anyone has any better ideas I'd be glad to hear them....

[quote name='bluesparky' timestamp='1448626567' post='2916939'] This t shirt caught my eye earlier and it's going on the list. Not too in your face but obvious to us. http://www.zazzle.co.uk/eadg_bass_guitar_tuning_t_shirt-235305239544153062 [/quote] Clever. I fancy one that says "B,E,A,D,G.... Gimme five" Sad, I know....

I put a set of the PBXN and JBXN on my SGC Nanyo 310. That's a P/J configuration and they really suited it. What they'd be like on a "proper" precision, I can't say but for the price they were I'm really happy with them. They add a real growl to the bass that wasn't there before and sound much better than the standard pickups that are on my other 310.

I bought a Dingwall Super J through marketplace last year. A great bass but I always found it a bit.... Meh at times. The Glockenklang preamp fitted was crackly and very binary - either full boost or a very muted sound. Now, I'm sure that there's a reason for this and I may have been able to sort it out but I decided to treat myself to a new John East preamp, the uni-pre. Simplest thing in the world to fit as everything has a screw connector. You should be able to fit it without soldering although in my case, I needed to extend some of the ground wires. While I was at it, I took the opportunity of giving it a good strip down and clean and put some new strings on. And wow, what a difference! The preamp is utterly silent. No hum, buzz or ground noise at all. There's a load of adjustability on the pots (although I'm using it at factory settings) and the tonal range is excellent. If I have a minor gripe it's that the control knobs stand quite proud and I should really disassemble it all to reseat them slightly lower - but I can't be bothered. So really, my gripe is with myself and not the preamp. So, in summary, I'm really pleased. Can't wait to try the Ding out properly at this weeks rehearsal and see how it sounds in a band mix.

I use them on guitar and find them brilliant. Last for ever, quite a "dark" sound but one that I like and they feel great under the fingers. On the strength of that, I put a set on my Fender Jazz - and took them off a week later. They're okay, just not my thing on a bass. Didn't care for the sound and didn't care for the "greasy" feel of the coating. But that's just my experience, each to his own.

In the book "how music works", by John Powell, he differentiates a musical note from any other sound by the repetition of the waveform. To quote: "Musical notes are different from non-musical noises because every musical note is made up of a ripple pattern which repeats itself over and over again. In the illustration below there are some examples of the ripple patterns of notes produced by different instruments. To be a musical note, it doesn’t really matter how complicated the individual ripples are, as long as the pattern repeats itself." Made sense to me....

Got two Strats. An American deluxe which I swapped the useless original n3 pickups for a set of Kingsmans and an American FSR HSS which has Texas specials on which I replaced the middle pickup for an iron gear. On the d/l I use either bridge or neck and on the FSR I use either bridge or middle. So, to answer the OP, I use two positions but they're different depending on the strat. Oddly enough, the exact same answer also applies to my wife and mistress....

[quote name='bumnote' timestamp='1443443282' post='2874675'] If it is V3 its a single valve and about £10 from Watford valves the 4 big valves in there are output valves which normally need balancing but the Fender circuit is supposed to balance it Check the back for the green lights. If they are all in the green the output valves are ok Try in the the vintage and the modern channels, if no sound praobably the pre amp valves are ok How long have you had it, I think there is 3 months warranty on valves. Where are you? Are you able to take it in to Gak, they might have a spare valve to check if that is the problem I am not a technician, its just what worked for me and I dont want to lead you down the wrong path VALVE AMPS HAVE BIG VOLTAGES BE CAREFULL IF YOU TAKE THE BACK OFF [/quote] I spoke to GAK today - really, really helpful. Very apologetic and offered to replace it straight away. However, as it's only happened once and as it worked perfectly yesterday, I've told them I want to try it at rehearsal and a gig this week. If it fails again, they'll swap it, no questions - but if it works, I'll just put it down to a badly seated valve and keep hold of it. If it does go again, I'll try out the tests bumnote describes and see if I can pin it down. But it has to be said, I'm very impressed with GAK's service.

That's really helpful, thanks. Dumb follow up question - did you replace one or the set? One of the USPS of the Bassman is supposedly that you don't have to use matched sets of valves? I'll get some spares and i'll see if it does it again at this week's rehearsal. I didn't check if the pre amp was still working so that's the thing to test. I really don't want to have to send this back :-) I notice you have the Neo 410 - happy with it? It's obviously a match for the amp and i'm just wondering whether to get one

Thanks for the input, guys. I've had the back off and checked the tube seating. All looks okay. I've soak tested it today and can't get the problem to recur. I've even played it at gig volume for a couple of hours (mrs skinnyman was very impressed) and it's behaved faultlessly. When it failed yesterday,I checked all the bias lights on the back and all we're showing green. The only thing that seems amiss is the fact that the fan doesn't seem to cut in. So I've emailed GAK to register the issue but I'll try it again at rehearsal and see what happens. I'm loathe to return it as I love the sound. But, equally, it's no use if I can't rely on it. Could it be a one off caused by the tubes "bedding in"? Or am I just being a naive optimist?

Been fancying a toob amp for a while and the GAS attack finally got the better of me so I ordered a new Fender Bassman 100 from GAK. I looked long and hard at the Ampeg V4B but the intermittent quality issues put me off and steered me towards the Fender It turned up as promised and all looked good. Tried it out in the spare room and was very pleased with the sound through my Berg CN112s. I used it on our first gig yesterday and just before the end of the first set, it failed. Lights were on but no output at all. Fortunately, I'd taken my Genz as a backup so was able to swap over pretty quickly but I'm a bit hacked off that the amp couldn't even make it through a set, let alone a whole gig. I think the issue is cooling as I've tried it since I got home and it's working now. Obviously, I'll be talking to GAK on Monday (I've bought a load of stuff from them and they're always very good) but while I'm loathe to send it back, I really need something I can rely on. Has anyone else has similar issues? I've got it on a soak test now to see if I can recreate the fault. I did notice that the input transformer seemed a LOT warmer than the output side so should I be balancing the gain and master better? Any thoughts before I box it up and send it back?

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1442700639' post='2868916'] So all three frontmen have mic stands? In that case, forget floor wedges and side fills, get three Wharfedale WPM-1 units, or the cheap Behringer equivalents. Far simpler, more personal, less boxes and cable to trip over, probably cheaper too. [/quote] I'm currently leaning toward the alto floor monitors plus IEM for the lead vocalist. But the wpm-1 look interesting. Anyone else use these?

Thanks for all the input folks. The idea of a couple of side fills hadn't occurred to me but might be worth exploring.... For wedges, the warfedale or altos are a good suggestion but I also like the idea of the behringers on stands. Any idea how heavy they are? But, thanks for the input - this is really useful!

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1442651714' post='2868435'] Who is doing the singing? [/quote] Lead singer just singing and two guitarists on backing

For a whole variety of reasons we need to get a new set of monitors for on stage, er, monitoring. The only thing we put through the PA is vocals. We can go with passive speakers, driven from a separate power amp. Or a pair of actives. What do you use? And can anyone recommend anything in particular? We always struggle trying to get the vox monitor loud enough to compete with the band without generating feedback, so how do you solve this? Do you go with lots of smaller monitors spread out, or fewer bigger speakers? Obviously, the answer is to have less stage volume but we all know that's very hard to actually achieve with two guitarists and a heavy handed drummer.... Do you monitor at floor level or on stands? 10", 12"? 15"? Basically, what works for you? We play the usual pubs and clubs, small stages and it's two guitars, bass and drums plus vocals and backing vox. We're looking at in ears but that's not practical for everyone so stage monitoring is still a requirement.... I'm just about to start the ebay trawl so any advice for decent stuff at a reasonable price is gratefully received....