Al Krow
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Everything posted by Al Krow
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And don't forget Ibanez as a relatively lightweight option!
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Yes, that's a key point to note re. the U4s that they are mono transmitters. Our lovely, and very capable, little desk has 6 monitor outputs, not quite enough for us to go down the stereo route which would require 4 x 2 = 8 monitor outs for our 4 piece set up. Has going stereo really improved your gigging experience, Woody? If so, maybe something for me to consider for my crew down the line at some point! Is the U45 a decent step up from the U4 for you? I note that it's a 5.8 GHz, whereas the U4 is on the more crowded 2.4 GHz. "The Xvive U45 is a significant upgrade to the U4, mainly moving to the less crowded 5.8 GHz band for better interference resistance, adding USB-C charging, an auto-scan feature to find clear channels, and minor physical improvements like stiffer knobs for durability, making it a highly recommended buy for new users despite a small price increase. While the U4 is a good budget system, the U45 offers more reliability, especially in crowded venues, through its improved tech and dedicated channel scanning." Hmmm...does sound good! Not come across too many wireless IEM transmitters in the 5.8 GHz space (although the cheaper Swiff WX520 our drummer is using is also 5.8 GHz). -
3 of us have been using Xvive U4s for a while, which seems to be a decent mid-price range. Drummer has recently got a Swiff WX520 from Ali Express (they're currently just under £75) which he's really liking.
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Thank God for digital desks eh?! i wouldn't have a hope of doing this with my old analogue desk! Just as an aside: This level of flexibility combined with the better pre-amps on our A&H CQ18T (vs my old Soundcraft MTK12) and the ability to give everyone a tailored feed that we're already benefitting from, seems to me to make a quality digital desk the single most important factor in getting a band to successfully adopt and accept IEMs in place of backline? With quality in ear headphones running in a very close second - one of our singers tried got a set of KZ ZARs from Ali Express for £30 recently. She's over the moon with how good they are!
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Thanks for clarifying that.
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Interesting, as a lot of the received wisdom is not to have much, if any, reverb on bass for FoH?
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Are you managing to put the reverb just through the IEM feeds and not FoH?
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Using reverb to enhance the IEM experience My understanding is that reverb isn't particularly widely used by your average pop / rock set bassists like me, but the IEM interaction is an interesting one! Apparently a very subtle hall (or hall-like) reverb in IEMs can make the bass tone subjectively nicer and the gigging experience more pleasurable for the bassist, even though it does not improve articulation in a technical sense. This is a monitoring and human-factors issue, not a tonal-engineering one. IEMs lack: - acoustic coupling with the room - cabinet air movement - spatial cues from reflections So, a small amount of ambience: - Restores a sense of physical space - Reduces the “dry DI in your skull” effect - Makes sustained notes feel more musical - Lowers perceived fatigue over a long set Not something I've given much thought to before! Dunno if this chimes with other IEM users' experience?
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Interesting you mentioned reverb. I've just been trying to figure the difference in sound between what I thought were two identical fx patches but which felt like they had a distinct flavour through my IEMs at a gig on Saturday night. I've since done a bit of digging and one has a reverb ('hall') block omitted from the other, which I'd not spotted before! Always thought that reverb was more of a thing for vox and guitar than bass, but I've clearly been missing a trick!
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I'd kinda assumed Option 1 for EQs and compressors = your clean tone, and often on a preamp? Reverb = other
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Hah! You can tick all the options, you're not limited to one!
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All's well than ends... Enjoy your CQ - it's a great piece of kit! We've been using our CQ18T for almost exactly a year now and my singer reminded me last night how much more clearly she was able to hear herself at the same Xmas party gig we did a year back, after upgrading from our Soundcraft MTK 12, which I put down to the better preamps and being able to tailor individual IEM feeds for everyone.
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Thought it could be interesting to get a feel for what fx pedals the BC collective are regularly using live that give us our signature sounds with our bands. If there's a particular pedal that is the heart of your sound and you couldn't manage without do let us know. If you have any clips of you making use of particular fx live, even better - please feel free to share! Feel free to tick more than one fx category if you're using regularly i.e. at some point on every gig.
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Bought a Boss multifx from Ben. Pedal was in excellent condition (as always), sold to me for a very fair price, and another super smooth transaction
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Looks like the GP-100 without the expression pedal and, interestingly, on sale for a tad more than the GP-100!
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You've whetted my interest! Out of interest, which other filter pedals have you used?
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My concern is that this could very possibly be the best filter out there and put even the 3 Leaf stuff in the shade?! May need to dip a toe in with the Behringer clone first?
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We're bloody lucky to have Peter on hand to deal with detailed queries like this! Amazing customer service!
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Your best (and worst!) bass gear purchases of 2025?
Al Krow replied to Al Krow's topic in General Discussion
What a great story! Pics please?! (And same to @Greg Edwards69 maybe with your full rig if you have one to hand?!) -
Agreed! Quite a change to the NBD picture, in a good way! Very cool that it was so easy to find alternate PUPs that are same size as the stock ones, and EMGs (from my experience with them on my Spector) are a great choice.
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Thanks for sharing that. Be interesting to see what Behringer are going to be retailing these for? Hopefully will put these within reach of many more musos given that the original Lovetone Meatball typically sells for around £750 used!
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I literally can't think of a better way of settling the issue! 😅
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Not sure what we are in disagreement about? 😅
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Best wishes to you both, Woody, during what is undoubtedly a scary and worrying time
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Well I've risked it on over a hundred gigs since I bought it a couple of years back! Not been tempted to upgrade just yet particularly as my first, much posher, tablet got trashed on its first outing by a drunken punter at a fancy function gig when he fell and knocked over my mic stand! But you'll get better quality from an iPad, for sure. Plus you're purely reliant on a tablet whereas the CQ12 & 18T have excellent screens which makes using the tablet optional. I've not needed to use it wired, fingers crossed, as I make sure my tablet is fully charged before leaving the house. The key tip for connectivity has been to switch the CQ from 2.4 GHz to 5GHz - made a massive difference.
