Greg Edwards69

2 hours ago, TRBboy said:

I envy you guys who can go ampless! Unfortunately it's not an option due to the venues we play. There's no appetite for dropping loads of money on investing in a bigger PA system, as our guitarists have no desire to ditch their valve amps, so it's a non starter. Would mean I didn't need backline for the odd festival we do though!

You might be surprised at what a good frfr speaker can do as backline. GRBass are now making active cabs all the way from a 1x10 up to a 2x12 and 4x10. Or just a single Barefaced Big Baby with an appropriate head could possibly perform just as well as your rumble combo and extension cab.

For me, I've only ever used single-speaker combos as backline. My humble Headrush FRFR-112 "feels" remarkably similar to the markbass head and 1x12 cab I used to use. It certainly more than matches it for volume and frequency response.

But like @BigRedX, I only use mine for rehearsal, or if I really, really need backline on stage. Otherwise, I'm direct to PA with IEMs in my band, or we ask for decent foldback if PA is provided. And similar again, I'm looking to downsize my frfr speaker to a Yamaha DXR10. Both my guitarists use one each and our PA tops are DXR12 speakers. They are more accurate than my headrush, and it would make sense for me to have something that I can tweak my patches that sounds similar to the PA.

I largely agree with @BigRedX. I've been using my Helix LT for around 5 or 6 years now. I honestly think the Helix platform is the most fully featured and accessible multifx unit around for bassists at a reasonable price. Not to mention they keep adding new features, for free.

It's not perfect - there's a couple of things I'd love to see addressed in a future hardware update (Bluetooth audio streaming and Bluetooth midi, more than one split on a path, USB-C, a proper synth engine) but they are no deal breakers. And when I look at alternative hardware, I struggle to find anything that does exactly what I want it to do in one box, that I know I can achieve with the Helix.

In fact, I struggled for years with other multifx and stompboxes, sometimes mixing them together. Nobody made a unit at the time that was affordable and did everything I needed it to do (split and parallel paths, global eq, specific drive and multiple compressors). Then the helix came along and it ticked pretty much every box on my wish list. And it completely changed how I thought about live rigs, in that I don;t need an amp and cab on stage anymore. Going direct to PA and/or a personal frfr speaker with amp modelling is one area I really wish I had explored much earlier, even with older multifx units I've had (I sometimes get the urge to pickup an old Boss GT6B just to see if I can program it better with the experience I've gained over the years).

Thanks Bill, I think I just about understand the science!

The test room was a large rehearsal room.  Let's say around 18m x 10m. Band set up at one end in usual gig configuration. Top speakers on either side of the "stage" area , probably around 1 meter from each wall - so about 8m apart. Sub on the floor next to 1 speaker - around 1m to 1.5m from the wall. With some test music playing through the system, and walking from one side of the room to the other at the opposite end of the room you could definitely hear the difference in low-end content.

It's also worth noting that the DXR12 tops have a lowest hpf setting of 100hz, so the sub is set to match. Personally, I feel it would be better if they could be set to 80hz.

If I understand you correctly, the adjacent wall to the sub increased the boundary effect, and therefore combined with the listening position increase the, shall we call it the "locality" effect - the ability to locate where the sound is coming from.

Therefore, in some typical pub venues where the tops and sub are in open space with no directly adjacent walls, there should be less of the "locality" effect?

The next two gigs should be ideal for experimenting with this. The first is a large long room with a wide and shallow stage riser. The sub can easily go directly in the middle.  The next is a wide pub with about 5m+ of clear space either side of the stage, but the stage protrudes in the middle into the "dance floor" area, so the sub has to go on one side of the protrusion so people don't fall over it. With both gigs there'll be opportunity to play some test music though the system when we set up.

A couple of articles I have found useful on subwoofer placement

How to Correctly Place a Subwoofer in a Room - Live Sound (qsc.com)

Bass In The Place (soundonsound.com)

My band only has one sub. Two would be ideal, but it is what it is, and we can only load so much into cars. We tested a couple of sub woofer positions in a "technical rehearsal" a few weeks ago. I readily admit that prior to this I was misinformed about "omnidiectional sound" of low end. It does not equal being unable to locate where the sound is coming from - just that it fires in all directions. Putting the sub next to one of the speakers sounded great on that side of the room, but you could definitely tell the bass was lacking when standing on the other side of the room.  Moving it to the middle, along the same plane as the tops solved the problem and it sounded great.  I 

But, as we all know, this isn't always viable in some venues, so we will have to make do with putting it to one side. We will just have to make a judgement on the best side to place it for maximum coverage.

In hindsight, we should have had a play with the contouring switches on the DXR12 tops with the sub on one side. These speaker have a hpf switch (100/120hz) and a contour switch that has a FOH mode which gives a gentle push on the low end - apparently, this is designed to alleviate the low-end loss you get by putting them up on poles. I would be inclined to try this if we need to put the sub on one side due to logistics

There was a few reports in this thread on Head-Fi, including this chap (direct link) who had exactly the same issue as me. I'm hoping superglue will work for me as it did him.

Sennheiser IE 500 PRO (and newer models) vs Sennheiser IE 800 S | Page 9 | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

These are the first IEMs I've had where the capsule is separate from the main housing. Whilst probably easier to manufacture and repair, it's also a point of failure.  There's every chance the previous owner kindly cleaned them with alcohol and weakened the glue holding the capsule in place.

On @dave_bass5 recommendation, I finally sourced a set of Sennheiser IE 400 Pros for a very good price, used, via eBay. Full set of unused tips, cleaning tool and case. The only issue was the Sennheiser cable was knackered but the seller included a superior third-party cable. All for about £100 inc postage (around a third of the new price). Very happy bunny.

I've only had a chance to test them with particular tracks I always test with, plugged into my MacBook, but first impressions are great. Nice, comfortable fit and the sound signature is similar to my ATH-M50x on-ear headphones, which is exactly what I wanted. None of the drastic V-shape and shrill top end my KZ ZS10 Pro X have (although, I'll still use these as spares). So a smooth mid-range, clear top and slightly exaggerated and very deep low end.

Now the bad bit. While trying out the different tips to find the best fit, the small tip on the right earpiece was proving difficult to remove. Being a very small tip, I must have gripped it too hard as the capsule started coming out of the housing! I managed to push it back in and align it and it seems okay, but I'm obviously concerned it could happen again, even by just pulling it out of my ears it started to dislodge again. 

Looking into it, it appears to be a known issue with this design - particularly if the user cleans them with alcohol wipes, which can break down the glue holding the capsule in the housing. It could have already been like that when I bought them, but I have no proof, Or I could have damaged them myself, so I can't send them back for a refund. As ever, that's part of the risk buying used.

Other users have fixed this issue with super glue applied carefully with cotton buds or toothpicks - I have some water-thin superglue (that I bought for filling a nut slot with baking powder) - so I'll give that go - very carefully!. If I can't fix it and it proves to be unreliable at gigs, I can buy a single earpiece for around £150, which is still less than buying a complete set new.  Or I get a brand new set, with a warranty, and keep these for spares.

The Yamaha Attitude LTD2 in my profile picture. I haven't played it for a couple of years since getting my considerably cheaper G&L Tribute JB2. My band has been doing fewer heavier rock gigs lately and more pop stuff, and the G&L just works better in this context. The G&L is also lighter (although I did replace the Attitude's tuners with Ultralites not long before getting the G&L - my back was playing up around that time and I had to do something to make it more comfortable.  Not to mention, I really need to spend some quality time with the Attitude and my Helix - dialling in some dedicated presets for it. Not only is the dual outputs on the bass and Pierce preamp model one of the reasons I bought the Helix, but it's a very, very loud bass and I can't use my regular presets without substantial tweaking.

If I can replicate my main gigging presets for the Attitude, with or without dual channels, I may start gigging it again.

PS, my old No.1 bass before the Attitude was a Warwick Thumb BO 5 string. I kept that around, unplayed for about 7 years before finally realising I didn't need it and sold it.

I was going to mention RyanAir, but unfortunately for me, they are a necessary evil for visiting relatives aboard. So as much as I want them to be dead to me, they are still alive... for the time being.

Halfords. I bought a Carerra folding bike from them several years ago - at the time I thought it made sense.  Regretably, I sold my (low end) Claude Butler road bike not long after getting it. Around 7 or 8 months later, one of the folding pedals started getting very loose. I took it back and was told that moving parts are only guaranteed for 6 months! I replied (loudly) along the lines of "are you saying everything apart from the frame has an expected lifespan of 6 months? If so, your bikes are not for for purpose and are dangerous!"

They then agreed to replace the pedals free of charge (which took a while to order the parts). A few month later, I was cycling home from work and the right pedal fell off whilst going round a round-a-bout. Scared the crap out of me. I had to push the bike about 2.5 miles home - handily past that same Halfords. I went straight in struggled to stay calm. They looked at it and saw the thread inside the crank arm had cracked - then tried to pull the same crap about the moving parts guarantee. I said, absolutely no! You replaced these pedals, it's your workmanship that nearly caused me to have an accident on a busy round-a-about.

They agreed to fix it, again, for free. I then ordered a Specialized hybrid bike from Cycles UK via the cycle to work scheme, and sold the folding one as soon as I could.

Another vote for Wetherspoons. Try this instead:

Neverspoons - Find yourself an alternative pint while also supporting local independent pubs and bars.

Another vote for the Neotech Mega Strap. I've got a Comfort Strapp too, but I prefer the Neotech. The Comfort Strapp design is comfortable, but too stretchy, whereas the Neotech feels more solid, but retains the same level of comfort and relieves the weight of the bass. Neither is too grippy - which I prefer - I'm not too fond of suede-backed straps that tug on your shirt.

Comply foam tips do "go off" after a while and need replacing. A build-up of sweat, body oils and ear wax will see to that. The trouble is, I usually don't realise that that's the problem when they don't stay in place anymore.

On 08/02/2024 at 21:49, mcnach said:

That A&H mixer looks really cool! It's a bit more expensive but it has a touch screen already and it looks like it can record each channel in a separate track for processing later, directly on the mixer rather than having to plug in a laptop to it...

Hmmm... Something to think about, it definitely seems more user friendly. Thank you for the heads up, I would not have thought of this one if you hadn't mentioned it!

 

It's not something we've tied doing yet as we've only had the chance to use it once in a "technical rehearsal" to set the thing up. But what you can do is record a soundcheck.  All things being equal (such as guitar levels, drum mics positioned correctly etc) you could rock up to a venue, set up the PA and soundcheck to set eq for the room without actually playing an instrument!

We've been using a shared gmail calendar for a few years. There's pro and cons really. It's free and easy to access on any device regardless of platform and other users don't have to sell their soul to use it. And you get a shared email account for band booking that you can all access. But, security settings can sometimes cause issues signing in. You need to turn off 2-factor authentication etc for others to sign in if they're not near the admin at the time. Even with this turned off I've still had messages asking me to check the code on somebody else's phone, and I'm the admin!

The other issue is if some of the users are a little technically challenged, it's easy for the google account to get polluted with everybody else's crap, such as notes, or map information. Or as one of my colleagues, not realise they were sending emails from the band accounts.

I'm also forever nagging people to ensure the shared calendar is up to date, when we get a booking request. It's frequently met with a response of "what's the login?".

So...

We've been using BandHelper for set lists and lyrics etc for a number of years. Literally yesterday I took the plunge and upgraded to the "plus" level account that includes scheduling. It's going to take some time for everyone to get used to it, but I think it's going to be worth it. All users are able to mark their unavailability in the built-in calendar, such as holidays. And if one of us is dealing with a venue we can setup an event which will automatically notify all band members and prompt them to confirm whether they are available or not. Worth its weight in gold.

PS. Don't beat yourself up too much. It sounds like some of the other musicians have awareness issues. The drums and bass should set the tempo and the guitarist should listen, not lead.

It may be helpful to memorise some standard chord progressions as well, such as 12 bar blues (which Johnny B Goode uses). If you use the Nashville numbering system (sounds complex, it's not) it takes the songs key out the equation.

2 hours ago, Geek99 said:

2. I’ll never buy a dark wood f board for that reason 

It for this reason that all my basses have maple fretboards, and most of them have big black fretmarkers. I was caught out at a gig years ago with my old Warwick Thumb that only had small side dots to mark the frets. I had a light in my eye and started the bass intro solo to 'Sweet Child of Mine' out by one fret.

Have you considered Warwick? The 5 string Thumb I used to have had a tight and defined B string with overall clear-as-a-bell clarity.

PS, have you tried a 36" scale bass? I'm not sure I'd get on with one, but then again, I'm only 5'7".

2 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

Especially since the pickups at least are the same as are installed in the US versions.

SInce changing to NYXL strings I have no desire to change pickups. They sound fanstastic.

9 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I'm surprised to read that people are changing the parts on G&L Tributes.

I have two - L2000 and a L2500 - yes, the entry level but I have had no reason to think that the existing parts need to be upgraded. 

Same here. My Tribute JB2 sounds great. I see now reason to "upgrade" hardware for the sake of it. They sound and perform great out of the box. 

Only things I need to do on mine is get it re-wired as there's a ground issue, as it's still audible when the volume is turned all the way down. And I want to replace the tuners. Actually, what I want to do is install a hipshot xtender, so whilst I'm at it, I'll replace them all with ultralites and make the bass a little lighter.

Anyway, yes, inexpensive instruments are incredible these days. My G&L Tribute JB2 (their equivalent of Fender's Squier brand) has become my No.1 bass. Heck, even my diddy Jackson Minion is a joy to play and sounds great.

27 minutes ago, mr4stringz said:

I’m often told I don’t look it but I’m a very, very placid chap, but any snide comments about gear from anyone to anyone at any time grinds my gears sufficiently that I do let it bother me and become something of a mouthy runt. I may or may not have deliberately misspelled that…

 

Annoyed with myself to this day that I didn’t check out one of the Freeman songs when they were released.

Indeed. I'm a placid guy too and dislike confrontation, but it really winds me up when a complete stranger dares to make snide comments about my gear. 

I'm the one with the gig. If you're so great, why are you here watching me play on a Saturday night when you could be gigging yourself?

On 25/01/2024 at 13:06, steviedee said:

So the Jazz has arrived and snuck in the house and hidden away. Had to get rid of a buzz on the G string but otherwise seems really well put together! I've only had a few Fenders over the years so no expert so not going to make any wild claims but if someone had said it was a Fender for twice the price I wouldn't have thought anything of it.

 

I'm a bit of a sucker for white and gold so I love the look but I did see a pic with a white pearloid scrachplate which looked lovely. Have an empty house later this evening so looking forward to having a wee blast!

 

Is it white and gold, or is it really blue and black?

On one hand, you can buy perfectly decent "giggable" basses for a lot less. On the other hand, the price of these basses has drastically risen over the last couple of years.

For example, my G&L Tribute JB2 has become my primary bass since getting it in the black Friday sales in 2021 for a mere £299 (down from £399). Excellent instrument and ready to gig out of the box.  That price held for a few months after black Friday.  But I've noticed recently that it's not just shy of £500.

Similarly, Squier prices used to be fairly stable for a number of years, but I've notice the prices creeping up in recent months. 

Edit: Looking at a number of Squier model on PriceSpy, many of them jumped up by around £50 in the summer.

23 minutes ago, mcnach said:

I'm going to get an XR18 mixer for our monitoring purposes.

 

I have a question with regards to what tabled to use for this.

I have no clue what specs I would need. I gather that to run the app controlling the XR18 we don't need much, but I don't know what is enough.

 

This would be purely to be used with the XR18, nothing else.

 

I'd prefer Android, but not set in stone.

I guess at the very least I need it to be dual band wifi... and I would like to be able to connect the tablet to the XR18 with a cable (using a USB-ethernet adapter) as a 'just in case' option, so it has to be able to do that.

 

Any hints/recommendations? 

One of my band's guitarists has just bought an Allen & Heath CQ18t. Not had the chance to play with it yet but I've been exploring the tablet and phone apps, as well as reading up on the specs and it looks darn useful and easy to use. 

It's similar in design to the X-Air and X18 in that it's a combined wifi-enabled stagebox with a touch screen, with 6 aux send for personal monitor mixes, not to mention built in effects.

One of the issues many X-Air owners have is the wifi is a bit unreliable and resort to using third-party routers. Allegedly the A&H router is more reliable.

There's also apps for both iOS and Android, for mixing and personal monitoring, as well as windows and mac.

I know it costs more than the Behringer, but it might be worth a look anyway.

I've mentioned it before elsewhere, but my nemesis is "Get what you give" by the New Radicals.

It's not difficult to play, but I have a devil's job remembering it. For a song with only a few chords, it's a busy bassline that rarely sticks to the root - lot of passing notes, inversions, slash chord tone. And never the same through the song. It's constantly shifting.

It's the only song in our repertoire I have to read whilst playing.