Al Krow

Good post! But would a bit of hair dye count as being anything "too much" to hide those greys? Is it any different to (mostly) women wearing make-up which no one gives second thought to ie has become a completely social norm? Are we applying different rules and standards to men and women in critiquing one group but pretty much expecting it from the other?

The Nux are great, particularly with the low interference 5.8 gHz. I tried mine at an open air gig a short while back and my IEMs gave way long before the Nux did. Well actually more accurately the Nux didn't, even 100m down the track!

Thanks John, I've actually gone for the G2-4 (the guitar edition) not the B2-4...largely inspired by your post above regarding the android app 😊 Liking the prospect of the cleaner / more open sound you are getting. I suspect down to the upgraded chip set. The B1-4 is definitely a little muffled, particularly with the noise reduction fx added.

@JohnDaBass managed to snaffle a B stock Zoom G2-4 for £82 from Bax. Be interested to see how I get on with it - given it doesn't have the bass specific models on it. I'm mainly using the B1-4 for tone shaping / preamp duties and the G2-4 effects list includes Parametric EQs which should get me where I need to be, plus it has the usual pitch shift, modulation, and hopefully usable dirt (Rat fx) plus drum, looper, tuner, aux in But it's more compact form factor vs the B2-4, Android editing (not yet available on the MS-60B+ or B2-4) and more current chipset vs the B1-4 means it's definitely worth a punt at that price!

Sounds great and I wish you every success! Being in a hobby band can and should be a LOT of fun! For sure. We're all coming from this at different angles, expectations and pressures. And, as you say, if you've been booked to do a wedding then you absolutely can't be in a position to let the wedding couple down! For semi-pro or pro musicians, there's going to be a difference in expectation from bandmates and clients alike, both as musicians and as band leaders. And there will be many in such crews who will have taken the brave step of making (and teaching) music their "main" thing in terms of trying to make a living from it, while doing part time zero hour contracts to keep the roof over their heads. And that brings a whole different perspective to being in a band and a band leader.

Gotcha. Out of interest how many gigs a year are you guys doing and are any of the band reliant on income from the gigs, or is it more of a purely fun / hobby band, and gig fees more bonus "pocket money"?

This is very true and very much how our singer feels when one of the "core" band is missing. Personally I enjoy the variety and different approaches of talented musos who feel they are part of the band and all have something different and useful to contribute which gets shared across to whichever line up is playing. What do you guys do when one of you can't make a gig, do you just have ad hoc deps coming in?

I totally agree with this! The way it's panning out for us is that we've ended up with, in effect, two line ups to make sure we generally have a crew who are fully up to speed with all our material e.g. if one of us needs a weekend off for whatever reason. Also means we can take on the odd function while having the second line up at one of regular pub residencies, without having to p*ss off the pub by cancelling on them. It's led to a bit of insecurity on the part of the original crew, but equally there's definitely little complacency and we're all expecting the best from each other at every gig. Someone said to me you won't get any serious football team with just 11 players in the line up, which I thought was an interesting analogy.

Oh that is exciting news - could be a game changer for both the B2-Four and MS-60B+

"Is running a band really worth it? I think the short answer is it really should be!! Playing a key role in enabling both yourself and your bandmates to make great music, playing a fantastic instrument to appreciative audiences: should be massively rewarding! But dealing with endless admin is never fun. Figuring out how to avoid musical burnout, and keeping things fresh / not getting jaded can be a challenge, and has certainly been for me over the past year. Having like minded and enthusiastic bandmates to help share the load makes a big difference. Also easier if you all have the same goals e.g. is this a primarily a hobby band or are you aiming for something more semi-pro? How many and what type of gigs (e.g. pubs vs functions) and working out what leadership style is going to work best to get you there e.g. band-ocracy or band-tatership or something in between? These words are from a fellow BC'er, on another thread not too long back about BLs, which I found had so much wisdom: 1. Be respectful 2. Good communication 3. None of us are making our millions so it needs to be fun 4. Make bandmates feel valued if you want them to stay

Super easy. Particularly if you edit on PC using the free Tonelib software - it's then literally just a few seconds job to copy and paste and then another min or so to select additional effects or to reposition them in the chain. The lack of availability of similar editing software for non-Apple devices was a key factor in giving up on the recently released MS-60B+ which I'd had high hopes for.

Yes it is! 😊

The nice thing about multifx is the ability to set and forget. The trouble with cheap multifx like my Zoom B1-4 is that they can be noisy and you end up loading them up with a noise reduction patch which can take a little of the life out of your sound. But the flexibility is fantastic. I was eyeing up the Walrus Badwater as a tempting prospect but then discovered that the "lower" mid range starts from 500Hz and the "upper" mids go from 3.5kHz to 7.5kHz. So a big gap in the 100 Hz to 250 Hz in terms of being able to add a bit of weight to your bass tone, and not really adding too much to our desk in terms of tone shaping. So maybe the best of both worlds is going to be a decent rather than a cheap multifx and it will, of course, do a lot else besides.

That all makes good sense Phil. When playing function gigs, our band have been advised that pretty much most function bands augment their tops with a sub. And there's no doubt that the kick drum can really benefit from a sub.

"Try playing any well recorded music through the PA and switch the tops off and you'll find there is almost nothing coming out of the subs even when playing the PA at quite loud volumes." That is such an interesting observation! What is it about studio engineered music that, in practical terms, it does away with the need for subs and obviously sounds great?

The point about venues is spot on Phil. Subs in British pubs is often going to be overkill / unnecessary - but can be a nice to have if you get it right. For larger venues and definitely for outdoors, particularly where there is no wall/floor reinforcement for the bass, it seems they start to become a "must have". We've very much noticed at the couple of outdoor gigs we've done that the bass has to be set quite loud but then falls at immediate FoH but seems to tail off pretty rapidly - I'm guessing that's to be expected? In terms of thinking about new tops nope, haha, we're not currently thinking of getting anything else. We're pretty content with the band's RCF 732As and my RCF 912As, which we alternate and is a real treat not for me to have lug the PA to every gig. I may be tempted to upgrade mine to an RCF 932A at some point, but that is well down the pecking order below (i) a better digital desk (maybe the A&H CQ18) and (ii) a sub.

Sure, but wouldn't it also helpfully take a bit more of the bass load off the tops? I guess it's a bit irrelevant if the X-over is fixed at a lower f?

Cheers Phil. I'll be dropping the TX from my shortlist then! The TS looks more capable on a number of fronts including a frequency range of up to 140hz which is nicely into the low mids. Couldn't immediately find anything about the X-over f though? What are these really useful trolleys you mention? Do they pack away nicely to take up minimal boot space?

alto tx212s subwoofer On sale at PMT for < £350. 20kg weight is very appealing, but is a single sub delivering 450W RMS going to cut the mustard? Maybe worth paying the extra and getting something like this (1,200W RMS): Alto Trusonic TS12S Active Powered Subwoofer and figuring out how best to manage handle the additional weight?

"Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results" - attributed to Albert Einstein 😂

Fluorescent? Good shout!

I was thinking about a Pod Express too, but got completely slammed in an 'honest' pretty detailed review, too.

Our keys player is banned from using her left hand 😅

@Baloney Balderdash - impressed with you quoting a post of mine from 6 years back! I'll happily admit to not being the same BC'er I was back then! Maybe it is actually possible to grow wiser and not just older? 😅