Al Krow

Errr not quite my reading. Scott says "students come to him all the time and say things like they are not cutting through the mix" [7.05]. And then he dismisses using an active bass to deal with this. Well, actually, that is a BIG reason why I would use an active bass - by boosting the mid EQ to cut through the mix. He can't in the same breath say that the EQ on the bass makes no difference and the EQ on the amp makes things wildly different from a tone perspective. And when referring to "pre-amps" he only refers to the EQ not to whether it is SS, valve etc and the fact that each pre-amp has it's own tone completely irrespective of the EQ. He's conflating and confusing a whole bunch of issues.

One other thought on the TC Helicon getting back to John's initial point is that, unlike the TS308, in an emergency it wouldn't be a back up for the PA speaker (given the 150W power rating). The Alto is only an extra £30 on top of the Helicon, so relatively marginal in terms of benefiting from that additional 'insurance'. Of course, if I do start getting Alto gear I'm going to be totally tempted, and completely without good reason, to get this TS218S as well god help me! 😂 🤣...

Very interesting suggestion, thanks. Love the weight / size! But is it going to be much louder than the Behringer - they are both rated 150W RMS? I think with the full back line behind them, a chunk more volume from the monitor would be welcomed by the singers (and the rest of the band being able to hear them from behind the PA also).

Fair. But, if so, he could (and should) have simply said that this was an introduction rather than imply that this was a comprehensive and full picture. I'm not sure that would have lessened the impact or benefit of this for beginners. I just think folk who are in a position of influence and regarded as the "experts" by beginners (and I have a huge amount of respect of what Scott has managed to achieve), just need to be a mindful about making overblown claims about what they are putting out.

Just upgraded our Allen & Heath small mixer (Zed10fx) for a slightly larger one (Zed14fx), John. We did think briefly about a digital mixer, but decided to stick to a simple quality analogue as we don't have a dedicated sound man and felt there was going to be too much of a learning curve / opportunity for things to go wrong with a more sophisticated digital mixing desk. That and a significantly higher price for a quality digital desk. I've had figures of £2k suggested for going IEM. But from what you're saying that's maybe too high? Realistically, I think that will be something for the next upgrade in 2 to 3 years time rather than something we are ready for just yet. I do like very much the suggestion of no back line, but I did the math and to get rid of a bass cab and putting bass through the PA, we would be looking at either swapping the 310As for 745As to deal with the low end well or alternatively adding a separate woofer / sub woofer. And the weight saving was actually negligible (or actually a greater weight for FRFR only).

Sorry, fair point, I read your post too quickly. The vocalists are pretty happy to just have the vocals going the small B205D (just one), possibly with acoustic guitar, as the drums and back line are audible behind them.

@Quatschmacher "Running a bass through a Moog 1". Some great sounds for sure, no question, BUT.... it's not going to fit: - on my pedal board (or currently anywhere at home for that matter!); - my budget either at a bargain basement £6k!! Kinda feels wrong to be playing it as a bass pedal when it's really a polyphonic keyboard synth? But for a pro, it could well be an amazing piece of kit and I can see why you've fallen in love with it.

Haha, that took all of 3 posts! 😂 Min cost of IEM for 3 bands and 14 different band members + a couple of deps, for a decent quality set up?

Pardon, what did you say...I'm not sure I heard you? Could you shout a little louder please? 😂

A lot of you will have already seen this and there's a lot of good common sense. And actually I really liked the tone on his bass at the very start of the clip!! But I totally didn't get his comment that active bass EQ makes no difference whereas EQ settings on the amp can result in a "wildly different tone" [8:20]. He also seems to be suggesting that speaker cone size [9:15] has an effect on tone - smaller speakers give rise to a tighter, punchier tone. And how does he manage to not mention the pre-amps whether onboard, in a pedal or in the amp? Surely one of the biggest determinants of tone of them all? So his claim to have gone into 'every single one of the big steps' that go into bass tone (and been viewed nearly 300,000 times) seems a little over-reaching.

Does kinda make very good sense though. Why would you want to put a cab sim through another cab? If you want to go FRFR you can do via the DI.

Too much squelch?!! Sorry, I'm completely unfamiliar with that concept! Some might even regard it as heresy! 😂

Congratulations and immense respect to Billie Eilish for "When we fall asleep, where do we go?" What an amazing creative achievement.

"We have several vocals, sax, acoustic guitar and most recently a touch of kick drum going through the PA with lead guitar and bass going through separate back line."

All good points John. Around £300 for a Mk III plus cover. Ok not a big difference at all if it's a better product. Power rating for the Alto is higher and it's a lot more compact (literally half the volume of the RCF 310, which surprised me!) and weighs 20 lbs rather than 28 lbs I'll have to confess that every little helps when it comes to portability as I'm the old geezer in the band but have, in the tradition of bass players, somehow managed to have responsibility for PA, lights and bass gear for both my bands!! Lol! And we are replacing our ultra-portable Behringher B205D so that will be missed in terms of convenience and space.

It's too light** and would be ineffective in such a capacity. **the technical term is ultra-portable.

Guess what the turned up on my doorstep today? Did anyone say ultra-portable?! Well it really is! Comes with 6 AA batteries and can live on a corner of my desk and I can listen through a pair of headphones. So in terms of barriers to getting to grips with the basics of synth, I think this little Stylophone has just removed a few

1. 00.00 baby cheeses 2. 00.43 back to the drawing board 3. 01.28 bass-related injuries 4a 02.38 double trouble 4b. 03.20 double trouble (8ve down) 5. 04.02 empty nest 6. 04.46 forced hibernation 4 7. 05.31 forced hibernation 5 8. 06.27 mouse only 2 driven 1 9. 07.10 mouse only 2 driven 2 10. 07.56 mouse only 2 parallel filters 11. 08.43 mouse only 3 12. 09.32 mouse only vocal bass Great stuff, Peter! I'm finding it really hard to select a top 3 from these samples, but if pressed I'd probably go for (1) as very synthy (7) as being a nice take on a non glitchy(!) OC2 and (10) 'cos it was a little different / interesting.

Nah, just means that an evolutionary biologist trying to become an expert songsmith with the aid of a ZX Spectrum was never going to cut it. Could maybe have predicted that when Trevor Horn asked the guy exactly what his qualifications were and he replied he'd spent most of his professional life working with worms. tbf - I've spent many a far worse 60 mins

@Merlino - thanks for posting those, some cool clips! What dial settings did you use for each, and what bass are you playing through? If the Wonderlove is the only one that sounds decent on funk/slap then for me that gives it an edge over the other two - that was definitely the most interesting and fun clip for me (I'm already glad I bothered to revive this thread!)

Looking for a portable, but decent floor monitor for our band to step up from the Behringer Eurolive B205D** which we've managed to get by with for the last 3 years, but seems we are now outgrowing What are you guys all using? Came across this Alto TS308. At Around £245 posted including padded cover it looks like very good value and is also pretty compact / portable. Any experience of Altos in terms of reliability or if you took a decision to go for something 'better'? Any views on the need to go for a 10" or larger speaker as a monitor? We're using RCF 310As as our PA speakers. We have several vocals, sax, acoustic guitar and most recently a touch of kick drum going through the PA with lead guitar and bass going through separate back line. Aside: I did suggest to our drummer that it might be worth getting a separate woofer / sub-woofer to put bass and drums through, but he felt it would be overkill and is of the view that bass cabs are specifically tuned to bass frequencies! So that told me then! ** as a fyi - the B205D will likely be going up in the FS in the near future, if anyone is looking for something ultra compact.

Well dB that's interesting to hear. However the entry fee for sharing such insights on this thread is a couple of clips I believe? 😁 And I know you have the tech to do it!

Yes @GisserD did. But I can tell you now his all time favourite filter is the MXR BEF and that he didn't keep the Micro-Tron III (although he hasn't tried the Fwonkbeta yet - I'll need to lend him mine at some point ) Excellent! What set up are using? 😂🤣

You can tell just from the height of the bars that the dynamic range has been curtailed - so it was definitely having an impact!

You still have the Manta right (appreciate that is digital)? I'm with you on not setting the Fwonk so low (and don't have an issue with spikes, but there again I have a limiter at the end of my chain). My current preferred setting is: