Al Krow
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Everything posted by Al Krow
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What nice confirmation of the 140Hz low mids boost being magic fairy dust, thanks John!
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@ratman came along to a recent gig and felt that the bass tone in the mix was really thin. We've pinned the cause down to a combination of the desk HPF kicking in at 100Hz and a 3dB bass cut at 60 Hz which had been set like that in my desire to avoid any boominess, but was clearly overkill! I've taken off the desk HPF for the bass (and kick drum), and replaced with one cutting in at 50Hz on my Zoom multifx; got rid of the -3dB desk bass cut but added a 3dB boost at 140Hz. Voila! So much more weight to the low end now and sounding much less thin/clearer through my IEMs too! The low-mids boost at 140Hz does seem to be magic fairy dust for both FoH and IEMs - I guess I tend to forget that anything up to 200Hz is bassEQ-land and not to allow myself to be conned by the it being labelled "mids" (albeit low). Not often you get an expert bass player and sound guy rolled into one in the audience, and I suspect this very helpful bit of feedback which the silent stage approach had kept a little hidden from me is going to be a bit of a game changer - thank you Alex!
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Has anyone figured out what the three global EQ centre points are on the B1-4? The manual doesn't seem to offer any clues.
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That's helpful thanks. So I would describe that as "a bass technique" but not necessarily one that distinguishes a good bass player from a mediocre one? Not sure it's something, for example, my bass heros such as John Entwistle or Geddy Lee regularly used?
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I'll check that out, thanks. But is what you are suggesting, essentially getting at playing a more staccato note style?
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Have you come across any decent examples of what you've helpfully suggested online?
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That's a really nice story! Is there a good YT tutorial that you or @Quatschmacher could recommend relating to the improved technique and muting you're referring to, and/or able to provide a good summary "mini-masterclass" yourselves?
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I don't think FI need to be the least bit defensive! It's a very common pricing strategy in the real world. In fact every smartphone maker on the planet uses it. Ok the price cuts following launch were maybe quicker here might usually be seen, but that's FI / retailers decision and it totally worked in my case! I wasn't going to buy at the launch price, others were very happy to.
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^^ this If that's not an option for your inputs, wondering if something like the Hosa GPP-419 TS Mono Jack - TRS Stereo Jack Adapter | Bax Music (bax-shop.co.uk) might be your answer? -
Any of you using the B1-4 as a headphone amp? I've been using mine with a decent pair of over ears and finding the headphone preamp pretty boxy/harsh. Global EQ to the rescue: bass boost +25/50 mid cut -15/50 treble roll off -10/50 and voila, much nicer! YMMV!
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First impressions are definitely positive. Does feel like its tracking better. Quickly auditioned about half the stock patches and very much liking #47 which has a differential response depending on how hard you dig in - synthy with a lighter touch and more of a gated fuzz sound when you dig in hard. Pretty cool! One of yours, Peter?
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Very neat "dynamic responsiveness" feature: the amount of drive is controlled by the bass' volume knob and you don't need to adjust anything on the pedal, while the output volume remains the same unless you change the pedal's volume knob. That's going to have some very cool live applications!
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Thanks very much for the offer Peter - but no need to worry; I think I've got one of those (I think it's with the MC6 I've loaned out to a mate!).
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Just arrived! Am I first out the blocks after @Quatschmacher on this forum?! Looking forward to giving the stock patches a spin very soon and, at some point down the line getting the necessary cables to hook it up to my PC.
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Good luck with the Stomp - be interested to see how you get on. Seems to be very common tale (including with my own bandmates) of users finding the Stomp needing quite a lot TLC to get to a sound that folk are happy with and more often than not giving up along the way, whereas something like the GT 1000 Core seems to be a lot quicker out of the box. I see that the B1-4 lives on to fight another day! Tbf I'm still managing to get more from mine since first they first came out in three years ago e.g. recently creating a set of bespoke preamp patches for my two gigging basses rather than having a one-size fits all approach which having access to a PC editor lacking on the B2-4 makes it a doddle to do.
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Yes indeed! Several of us: Which wireless? - Accessories and Misc - Basschat
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I think that's very fair. Basschat, or perhaps more accurately "Bass-gear chat" would be closer to the mark, has a massive focus on kit rather than actually playing bass / improving technique. Let's be honest, 95% of BC'ers (me included) are gear nerds! That's not true of the majority of musos, so I guess it's a case of playing to our strengths and interests?
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So the midi through doesn't achieve that by itself then?
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So, for a midi novice like me, how would midi note out be a gamechanger?
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Yeah bandmates who make use of the PA and do nothing to set it up or pack down at the end of a gig are a particular bug bear. I guess I'm spoiled by our lead vox both owning a band PA and bringing it to half our gigs, and always helping to set up / pack down the PA whether it's hers or mine - @Phil Starr totally understand why you would want to steal her, haha! She said she'd keep you in mind, if she ever moves to the West Country 😊
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And given the main beneficiary is going to be to the kick drum, should this be something for the drummer to take ownership of / invest in? Obviously the whole band is going to benefit, but surely it's the same point re. any piece of kit - I wouldn't expect the rest of the band to fork out for a better keyboard for the keys player? I'm currently encouraging one of our dep singers to get herself her own mic and stand, lol!
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Also Woody - I think getting the EQ / preamp sorted on the IEM feed does make significant difference also to the gigging experience. Even with the ZARs I was getting a harsh treble with my B1-4 "presence" preamp settings which is great for cutting through the mix (has a treble boost at 1.6kHz and 3.6kHz). I've dialled the treble boost back to get something that cuts through a little less but is a better IEM experience. I suspect there may have been something similar going on with your ME90B? Maybe a digital desk (e.g. the A&H CQ series?) that doesn't break the bank will allow for a different IEM EQ to what I'm feeding to FoH, or I guess using an EQ pedal into the aux out from which I take the IEM feed is another option (although I definitely prefer not have one more thing to set up though, haha!). But part of me would like the FoH and IEM feeds to be as similar as possible and the compromise route if it gets you a decent FoH and a decent IEM gigging experience is not a bad one.
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Thanks Phil, I agree, she's fab and we're very lucky to have someone of her vocal (and keys playing!) ability being a founder member and fronting our band. Yes, indeed, a new mixer is definitely going to be the next major piece of kit. Btw - I did offer the backline option to the guitarist/band. The response from them was a nuanced and balanced one i.e. maybe to consider doing at some but not all venues we're playing at. It's something we'll be discussing further and keeping in view.
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That's an amazingly positive review, thanks! For around £55 from Ali Express for a set of KZ ZARs, definitely looking like one of this year's best value investments for both of us!
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@Woodinblack good to hear that, as I thought from your initial comment on May 1st the ZAR's hadn't been much of an upgrade over the ZS10s, but I may have been mis-reading your comment? As you'll have gathered from my own comments a few weeks back, I'm very much of the view that the ZARs are a noticeable step up in sound / listening experience over the ZS10s (and also over the Sennheiser 300 and Shure SE215 and 315 sets I previously had) and seems that there's a bit of a consensus starting to build on that from those of us who have tried them.
