Woodinblack

Pretty good. Did two gigs at the weekend. Got compliments on how it sounds but there was trouble brewing, drummer is unhappy, saying he couldnt hear himself over the singer in his in ears, which makes no sense as there is none of the singer in the in ears. I figured it was the new keyboard player, who has brought along a monitor that is probably louder than the PA, but then noticed there is none of the singer in there. Turns out on saturday, he was complaining that he couldn't hear himself in the mains (ignoring the fact you can't really hear the mains from the back), but noticed that for his songs I turn him up and then back down. I pointed out I turn up the main vocalist for any song up, and the rest of us down, and I keep his sound down because he is only just slightly louder than the snare drum, and not as loud as the cymbals, and we don't want much of that in the main. Watching the video back of the saturday I noticed that on my song, if I move a fraction away from the microphone I dissapear, so I looked up, and sure enough, the TCE MP75 is a super cardioid, so I thought I would try my spare mic, which is a behringer copy of another mic. Sunday gig the drummer decides to bring his old mixer to mix all the drums and his mic, not sure how he is going to do that. Spends a long time setting them up and then realises that there is something wrong with the mixer and its only coming out of one ear on the headphones, sometimes, if you hit the button a few times. So goes back to my mixer. I use the other microphone and I no longer have the huge directional issues so that goes well, although its output is way down on the other one and doesn't really sound as good, its easier to use. I keep the vocals levels higher as it is outside, and everyone seems happy. Talking to the drummer, he had also looked up microphones, realised he needed a new microphone, and how much it is, and no longer has a problem!

Nice you get your own personal smoke cloud!

I am pretty sure they are still called mars bars!

There are a few, but the latest 600, the ABM600 Evo IV is certainly the greatest, although obviously there is a AMB750 Evo V, but its a lot more expensive.

Thats what big compressor want you to believe

The ABM doesn't have a valve preamp, it has a valve drive in the preamp - the preamp itself is transistor but it has a separate (single) valve just for doing the valve overdrive effect. ABMs are pretty well bomb proof if that is your main concern, and also well supported by ashdown

Hard to say, it could be any number of things, but it would point to either damage to the switch, or part of the wires being off on the switch. Best option, open the back up and take a good quality photo of the electronics

Now that I would get!

I don't think it is lazyness. People who want new stuff don't go to fender. People who go to fender WANT a jazz bass or a precision bass, and if you provide something else (like a dimension), noone is interested. Frankly if I was head of fender, I would do the same that they are doing, jazz and P basses in different special edition colours, with the occasional radical 'random other pickup somewhere', because that is what fender buyers say they don't want but really do.

Traditionally the first one is always good, then they make a second run, everyone goes out to get one on the strength of the first, and then those are bad!

Its a fender, its normal sadly 17 or I would go for it. Might anyway, to see if fender VIs are as bad as Vs!

Its not one I would pick and I would love a dimension, but just in green or red

I can't believe you could get crushed in an Avril Lavigne mosh pit!

Dangerously unsafe? It is a field. If there is no room in the field don't go in the field! How does anyone know beforehand if someone is going to be popular on a day or not? I mean I would have gone to see avril lavigne, but if it was too crowded I would have left, not a fan of crowds. I don't know who SZA is because I am old and she hasn't come onto my radar (which is odd, I go to tesco all the time) but I would probably wander along and look. I think the advantage of these things is you can listen for a bit and wander off if you are not impressed.

I don't think she was as a few things she sounded a bit knackered while singing, and I dout that would have happened with lip sync. I think she did better with her dancing as there was a big issue with it before, personally I don't think she is a natural with that, and could do without it anyway (very forumula), but it is what is expected of female pop artists so I guess she doesn't have a choice.

I think glastonbury was always like that. I went there first as a 16 year old kid, and I had no hassle at all, people were friendly and inclusive, very different to some of the other festivals such as reading - where we got all our stuff nicked and had to spend a lot of the day after in Thames Valley waiting to identify it.

For me, in the early 80s, Stonehenge was a nono as it was a place mostly for the biker gangs to sell drugs, beat people up and prove what big men they were. Reading was much more a music festival for rock bands. Glastonbury was more a hippy festival with more than music, and also the oportunity of doing your own music, but also comedy / talks, other arts and for people who wanted to wander round and enjoy their time with the people they went with. There was music on, but it was more incidental during the day with some acts in the evening to wander down to to round the day off. Very different to what it is now.

Did that once on the day of the gig.

Why does it matter. As far as anyone is concerned it is the price, as it is the price they would pay if they bought from the shop. But the thing is, the reason people don't pay that sort of price is down to warrantee and support etc. If I buy something from a shop I get to return it to that shop if anything goes wrong, if I buy anything from a person I don't, so it has less value. If it was only 20% more new, I would just get the new. But even if it wasn't, why does it bother you? If someone is selling something at more than you want to pay, you just don't buy it, so it has no impact on you at all.

Its like the AM version, but a lot clearer.

She completely lost her voice for a long time after getting lyme disease from a tick bite many years ago, and spent a long time learning to sing again. I guess it is how it was left. At least I thought that unlike other gigs, at least she left the high stuff to the backing singers, and did a low harmony.

I love the slicer. I have no use for it, but I love it anyway!

It would probably have been Twist and Shout Rexes Hollow Stoke Sub-Hamdon working mens club Maruszczyk L24 into Boss ME90 into the PA.