Greg Edwards69

1 hour ago, BillyBass said:

 I've got piles of picks at home.  I use a pick and decide its the one for me, then I buy a pack of 5...and change my mind.

Similar to me. I really wanted to like the Dunlop Flex picks, but there seems to be inconsistency in their manufacture, or something inherent in the material that makes some of them go curly as I've mentioned several posts ago. There are even several straight out of the packet that have a slight curve and can only be played one way up.  I bought a variety tin of tortex "wedge" picks recently too, and some of those suffer the same problem too.

I might go back to regular, good old-fashioned original tortex again, or explore some nylon options.

1 minute ago, dmccombe7 said:

Yep your full band needs discipline when setting up and sound checking. No faffing around or blethering unless its about the gig. Once set up and sound checked you can chat all you like until gig starts.

We give ourselves 1 hr with punk band and 2 hrs with Glam band mainly because it takes time to get dressed up plus we have 2 lead singers and 2 BV's plus sound effects altho desk is a digital one and we store the band settings to give us a starting point at the gig. We also have back drop and more lights with Glam band.

If we need to eat before playing depending on travel times we allow an extra 30-45mins. 

Dave

Yep. Exactly right. I've been saying this for ages, but it doesn't always sink in. Not to mention, we've been adding bits and pieces of gear lately and simply haven't found the time or availability to get all of us in a rehearsal room together to finesse the technical aspects of our setup. It will be a lot quicker once we've been able to do this.  And with dep singers this time, they used mine and one of the guitarist's xvive IEM packs and we both went wired with a Behringer P2 - however, the splitter box we used was untested and the volume to my pack was less than useful.

Actually, it seems there's a curve ball everytime we play. We've been in a transitionary period with our PA and monitoring for a while. All of the additions (such as sub, a couple of different IEM systems, stage snakes etc) are meant to make it easier, but without a crucial techinical rehearsal, it just seems to make it more complicated than the old fashioned backing and vocal only PA!

We'll get there eventually and it will be easier. Just not yet. 3 gigs coming up in July. 2 songs to learn and I doubt we'll get a full band rehearsal in anywhere.

Redonizm played out first ever school prom last night.  Our drummer's wife is the head of a local SEN school and so volunteered us for their prom. As I mentioned before, we learned a few more recent songs for the occasion and both of our singers were replaced with deps. Luckily they were a dream to work with and made our job much easier.

The gig itself went well, we played well (much better than at last weekend's gig) sounded great out front and the kids danced pretty much through the whole set and seemed to really enjoy themselves. It was refreshing to see so many kids singing along to near enough every song, even the older one. So job done!

Only a couple of issues.

We had been told to arrange a single 90min set, to start at 7.30 prompt and finish and 9pm. Only to find out halfway through they wanted us to keep going until 9.30. We realised at aroun 8.45 we weren't going to have enough songs in the pre-arranged set to string out, so we threw in several last-minute additions, one of which hadn't been rehearsed with one of the singers, but he did a great job. He also had the gift of gab and was able to talk to the audience and eek out a little more time!

Also, although we turned up in seemingly plenty of time to set up (allowed a couple of hours), time quickly got away from us and it was 7.30 with kids waiting outside before we knew it. If we'd had another 5 mins to finish the soundcheck, I would have been completely happy with the monitor mix, but it wasn't quite there. I didn't even have time to change my shirt or get a fresh bottle of water! It worries me that our next gig we only have 1 hour to setup, soundcheck and play.

Any of the Hercules AGS (automatic grip system) stands are ideal for near enough any bass (except headless!). The bass “hangs” at the top of th stand by the headstock and rests against the stand at the bottom. Most other stands cradle the bass at the bottom, hence things like T’birds don’t sit well on them.

http://herculesstands.com/international/products/fretted-and-bowed-instrument/guitar/

43 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

The young 'uns can surprise you sometimes.  On Friday night, a young lass, I'd say under 21 (but everyone looks young to me now) came up to the singer and asked if we could play Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage"!  We can't, but that was certainly an unexpected request!

 

If older songs have been featured on popular TV shows or some viral video then they can work.  And it continues to amaze me how many young folk dance to "Bad Moon Rising"...

Oh we still have some oldies in the set for these very reasons. Some songs are just ingrained into the public psyche no matter what the persons, or songs age. Living On A Prayer, September, Don't Stop Me Now, Johnny B Goode and Sweet Caroline (grrr) have all made the cut.

I have to say though, although we usually try to keep our repertoire up-to-date with recent songs they tend to be from certain 'comfortable' genres'. I've really enjoyed some of the recent songs I wouldn't have necessarily considered playing before. Lizzo's "Juice" and Dua Lipa's "Levitating" are a blast to play bass on, and Calvin Harris' "How deep is your love" is right out of our usual comfort zone, but still good fun to find a way to attack it and make it work for us.

Back at the Haystack, Canvey, again. Not our finest hour. Definitely not up to our usual standard. I think the heat got to us all. Even my wife said we've sounded better, and didn't sound as tight as we usually are on several songs.

We also had a dep co-lead singer who we've been rehearsing with for a specific gig later this week* that our usual singer is unavailable for, who also wasn't sure if she could do this weekend's one either. In hindsight, we've been so focussed on new material for this next gig, we didn't get around to going over existing material we haven't played for 6 months with the dep signer that we thought was okay. In combination with brain fog and distraction from the heat, there were a number of errors (I even started playing "can you feel it" in the wrong key.

It's a tricky-sounding room, and again, with the heat, we just weren't disciplined enough to soundcheck properly, especially the IEM mix, as we were all getting irritable.

Although the pub wasn't as full as usual (again, the hot weather probably put a lot of people off coming out and would rather stay at home with a BBQ), the people who came said we sounded great and they had a good time.  Not as many people dancing, but I don't blame them. I was sweating just standing still before we started.  FWIW, the pub had aircon, but it's temperamental at best.

In complete contrast, we had a rehearsal on Sunday for the next gig* (even hotter, not to mention aching and tired) and we sounded much, much better. 🤷‍♂️

*Next gig is Wednesday evening, for a school prom! Not something we've done before so we've been learning a bucketload of new, recent songs for. And we have two dep lead singers as neither of our usual two can make it. Hence the focused rehearsals for this particular gig and complacency on older material.

Oh well, live and learn!

PS You wouldn't believe how challenging it's been selecting recent songs for an audience of 16 year old.  What I thought of as recent, some of these kids were still in nappies or weren't even born! - makes me feel old!

38 minutes ago, Misdee said:

Monkey Biz, they were called,I seem to recall. 

Yes. Monkey Business, Romford. Set up by an Ex-Honky Tonk Music (Southend) chap.  Both shops are now sadly gone - I blame PMT for that.

1 hour ago, Owen said:

Don't bother. The Bass Police will arrest you and all the work will be for nothing. 

The bass player in the Police, OTOH…

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

And if finding its still not working, unless the bass-line is an intrinsic part of the song dumb it down a tad.

This too.  I can play "Good Times" with my eyes shut ad nauseum, but I have a real block singing the "Leave your cares behind/Our new state of mind" over the corresponding part of the iconic bass line.  So I slightly simplify it. As long as I still play it properly elsewhere in the song, no-body notices!

2 hours ago, NoRhino said:

Learn the bass part separately.

Learn to sing the vocal separately.

Fit both parts together and practice practice practice. 

The alternative if it's a particularly challenging part is to attack it as a pianist would with tricky left and right hand parts, or a drummer would. Break it down, and learn both parts simultaneously, very slowly.

If you can sing in time and in tune it absolutely helps the band sound better. If everyone in the band can sing, then better still.

I can narrow it down to just one year. 1987.

GnR - Appetite for Destructions, Def Lep - Hysteria, George Michael - Faith, MJ - Bad, U2 - The Joshua Tree, Prince - Sign "☮︎" the Times, Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation, Faith No More - Introduce Yourself, Kiss- Crazy Nights, Whitesnake - 1987, Motley Crue - Girls, Girls, Girls, Joe Satrinai - Surfing with the AlienREM - Document... and many more.

Seminal albums in a seminal year.

Not to mention a ton of single "bangers" released that year (other than from the above albums), such as Livin on a Prayer, Wanted Dead or Alive, Nothings Gonna Stop us Now,  I wanna dance with somebody, It's a sin, Barcelona, Fairytale of New York, (I Just) Died in Your Arms

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Warwick Black Label Tapered 135 B.

 

Bass goes direct into the PA via a Line6 Helix.

 

Also lowering the pickups on the bass side has helped with note definition.

I used these when I had my old Warwick Thumb 5-string bass (that I mainly used in passive mode), partly because other brands wouldn't fit in the saddle slot*. Great sounding and feeling B string. I think "piano tone" would describe it best.

*I only found out after I stopped playing it that warwick sold spare saddles for non-tapered strings.

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

Are you using the AirPods as IEMs?

No, just as 'digital' earplugs. I use the Xvive U4 and KZ ZS10s as IEMs.

2 hours ago, rwillett said:

@Greg Edwards69

 

Thanks for the update, its on my list to try it out, My Ampeg has a line in, just time to actually do things seems difficult to find

 

Do you simply take the stereo output and plug it in to the amp, or do you use an adaptor to combine them into mono or some other way of doing this.

 

All information welcomed.

Rob

I use a long TRS to TRS (stereo) 3.5mm lead, then a 3.5mm TRS to 6.35mm TS adaptor to convert it to mono for the speaker.

Whilst it's technically possible to do it the other way round with a standard guitar lead and a 6.35mm to 3.5mm adapter, I reckon the weight of the guitar lead would break the adaptor off inside the mighty plug.

FWIW, I'm considering replacing the mighty plug with a Mooer Prime P1. Whilst the Mighty Plug is great for a lot of things, it doesn't do a couple of things I need for practice, such as a pitch shifter, and octaver. This is also one of the things that has stopped me getting a Spark amp. I also have a Blackstar Core ID Beam, which is okay for bass, but again lacks a couple of essential features and can sound a bit 'woolly' and unrefined in the low end. I'm thinking a Mooer Prime P1 and a PJB Nano X4 could be a potent little practice combo.

31 minutes ago, Rayman said:

Yeah I thought that...... it's definitely the right address .... maybe it's my end then....

Have you tried ordering with a different 'send' address?

On 13/05/2023 at 19:35, rwillett said:

but at this moment in time, the NUX Mighty Plug sounds better but is limited as its really headphones only.

That's easily fixed by plugging it into a powered speaker, such as a nearfield monitor, frfr speaker, or regular bass amp, or even a battery-powered portable Bluetooth speaker (if it has a mini-jack aux in). I've done all of these and it works better than expected. So much so, I take mine to gigs (with an extra long mini jack-to-jack lead and adaptor) as a backup to my Helix.

19 minutes ago, BassBunny said:

Here are Real Electronics, MarkBass approved repairer, charges. This is from 3+ years ago so "may" have gone up.

£35 to diagnose the problem, which you get back if you go ahead. £69 fixed labour, £18 courier fee to send it back + parts. VAT needs to added to the final bill.

I am pretty sure they don't repair to component level so they just swap a board out. MarkBass won't release circuit diagrams of their amps so it's difficult for independent repairers to track what the problem is. It's also a Class D amp, which a lot of guys won't touch.

I was looking at North of £200 when my MarkBass went on the fritz so I just scrapped it.

Similar to the repair to my old LMII head, by Electronic Music Services in Southend. MIne had a micro fracture somewhere on the main board that made the amp go into protect mode after 20mins or so. They told me expensive as it is, it's more efficient and effective, and actually cheaper to swap the board out than try and find and fix fault(s) on a microscopic level. I think mine cost a little under £200 to fix. I couldn't bring myself to scrap it.

An update on the Airpods idea.

I recently succumbed and bought a set of Airpods Pro 2 (amazon deal - pay over 5 months 0% - sometimes Amazon isn't so evil), and had our first rehearsal since getting them last night.

As digital earplugs they actually work quite well.  The transparency mode produced a very clear sound, much clearer than any other musicians earplugs I've used over the years (including Etymotic, Earasers, Elacin custom moulded, Docs pro plugs amongst others).  And at a comfortable level without any noticeable latency.

One of the features of transparency mode (and why I wanted to try them as earplugs in the first place) is that any noise over 85dB is automatically attenuated back down to that level via compression. Fantastic you might say. However, one of the first instruments to get compressed (possibly because I was standing so close to my frfr) was my bass. It was still clear, but just not as present in the mix.  It was almost as if I had the opposite experience of passive earplugs that attenuate the top end - the airpods attenuated the low end.

I reckon if I move my speaker to the opposite side of the room next time, then the airpods may fare better. But so far, so good!

12 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Maybe I play too hard to be heard with the passive bass and ease up when I have an active volume boost to hand?

Maybe you've had an allergic reaction to the metal used on the flat's wrap?

7 hours ago, cheddatom said:

 

The lad on sound hadn't got a clue how to use the ancient behringer PA head. He'd never been to this venue before and was used to pro theatre gear. The stage box was 4 x XLR 4 x Jack (WTF?) and he couldn't remember what he'd plugged into which channel. Thank F for ear plugs as it was just random feedback every few minutes - that's the soundcheck AND the gig. At the end of our sound check we'd got a usable sound, so I took a photo of the head and sent it to the sound guy, but that seemed to have no effect. I got a little frustrated which lead to an over the top rimshot which lead to serious pain in my left wrist for the remaining hour and 10 minutes of our set! Ouch!

 

Here's the PA as I didn't get any other photos

 

Looks like standard fare for many rehearsal rooms I’ve been in. It shouldn’t have been that difficult for the sound person to work out. Even our singer can use one of those!

I have raised this in the "bug" thread on the Line 6 forum. I'm being told that it's due to "Pans Law". Apparently each half of a split path is reduced by 3db in order to make the mixed result unity gain. But this also applies to the crossover split, which isn't very useful.

However, I'm seeing a different result than would be expected from Pans Law. I'm seeing a net reduction in volume on equal splits, and a bigger than expected reduction on crossover splits. (and yes, I've experimented with polarity too)

So with the wife at work for the entire bank holiday weekend, I was finally able to do a deep dive into an issue that's been plaguing me for a while. Namely, the difference volume (or what I initially thought was tone) between split and non split paths.

I had found out somewhere else that a Y and A/B split path has a -3db drop in volume. Naturally I assumed it would be the same for the crossover split. So I've had a 3db gain block after the merge block for a while but it still didn't sound right.  After much faffing and measuring (inc running pink noise through native into and RTA) I've discovered that a crossover split has a -6db drop in volume! That's quite significant.

I've now gone through all my presets set the merge blocks level to +3db for Y or A/B splits and +6db for crossover splits and my levels are now far more consistent.

I kind of understand the logic of reducing the level for Y and A/B splits, but certainly not such a huge drop for crossovers. Surely, the volume should be the same coming out as going in.

18 hours ago, Twunkbass said:

I felt guilty about buying a stomp xl, but every few months it keeps getting better and better. All I need now is for the boctover to track a tad better and more synthy options

Whilst I agree that synthesis is the weak point in the Helix for some of us bassists, the legacy synths added last year have largely prevented me from buying another pedal for the couple of songs I needed it for.

5 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

 

It is 21 years old,  but I've older instruments,  including Warwicks, that have faired better.  The build quality,  fit, and finish are fine. 

 

It's just the quality of some parts that is questionable. 

 

But you're right.  It shouldn't be a DIY project, as it's a repair rather than fettling or modding.

On the plus side, it’s useful that Warwick offer a seemingly complete range of spare parts for their instruments and amplifiers, even for older models.