Osiris

Thank for the the information so far folks. It's proving more difficult to share files between us than we thought (although this may well be down to ignorance of what we are doing) so at the minute the current plan is that I carry on recording ideas on my PC using the Zoom as an interface into Audacity and send him these as m4a files. He's then working out guitar parts and we're recording on his iPad as his interface (can't remember exactly what it is) works just fine with it.

No problem mate

Hey Paul, I've just found these contact details for Hartke UK buried away on their website; Hal Leonard MGB Limited 48 Broadley Terrace Marylebone London NW1 6LG t: +44 (0) 207 395 0382 e: [email protected] web: www.hlmgbdealers.com Countries served: Ireland, United Kingdom Brands represented: Hartke, Samson Audio, Samson Wireless

Agreed. I read a copy of his auto-biography, Anger is an Energy, last year on holiday and although I'm not totally convinced he'd have a pint and a chat with you like Joe Elliott potentially might, he's clearly an intelligent guy who is true to his convictions, and someone who doesn't take any crap from anyone. But I think he suffers from being widely misunderstood and may not get the respect he deserves - whether you agree with some of the things he says or not.

I've never really been a Def Leppard fan but listening to Joe Elliott on his Planet Rock radio show, he just seems to be a genuinely likeable, honest, down to earth bloke. For someone who has sold as many records and been around for as long as he has, he gives off the vibe of someone who'd quite happily have a pint and a chat with you if you were to bump into him in the street. Still not sure that I'll ever be the biggest DL fan though, but he doesn't seem to be your stereo-typical rock star. And for that I've got a ton of respect for the guy.

A mate of mine has approached me with a view to do some writing and recording together and he wants to use the iPad as a portable entry level recording tool. He uses GarageBand, Cubasis and a couple of other apps for drums and guitar amp sims. He's lent me his old iPad so that I can jot down some bass lines and rhythms, the plan being to share ideas between us so the other can work on their parts in their own time. I'll be using my Zoom B3 as a recording interface. This is all new ground for me, the last time I did any recording was around 20 years ago on an old Marantz cassette based portastudio, so we're looking to keep things simple for now before possibly investing and upgrading at a later date if things work out. It looks like I need to buy the Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter, which costs a whopping £39, which I personally think is a lot of money for what is basically a no frills cable. There are cheaper non-Apple versions of the cable on eBay for a far more palatable sum of £10 or so. Has anyone used one? Are they just as good as the official cable or are they a waste of money? Does anyone know of any alternative cables etc that would fit the bill?

Despite having a load of effects it sounds like you'd never use, take a look at the offerings from Zoom (B3, B3n, MS-60B, B1on) if you're not looking to spend several hundred pounds. I have both a B3 and MS-60B and both have numerous tone shaping options available including graphic & fully parametric eq's, pedal style pre-amp models as well as amp modelling, so there's a ton of options to play with. You can use more than one type in a patch too, for example on the B3 you can run 3 different models at once, 4 models at once on the MS-60B and I think the B1on can run 5 at once. I've had great results with them, my personal favourite eq's being the Bass Pre and the AC Bs Pre for general tone shaping and the Ba PEQ for use as a HPF/notch filter. I gig with my MS-60B and while not being the most gig friendly layout if you're looking to change patches all night, for a single set and forget patch (which is how I use mine) it is perfect. You can save patches too so for example if there's a particular venue you play that has a booming stage for example, you can save a patch with the appropriate eq to notch out the problem frequencies. You can even edit the patch name so you can instantly recall it the next time you're there.

My issue with the Aguilar TLC was it's apparent inability to control dynamics. No matter what I did it just didn't give me the subtle compression that I want. Admittedly I didn't try it in a band situation, but being a devout compressor user for many years, I have my ear attuned to the sound that I want and works in a band situation but was unable to get anywhere close to that with the TLC. It was just bland and lifeless, no dynamic control, no punch, not even any likeable tonal colouration - although it claims transparency so that is hardly surprising. The EBS was subtle but at least it did have a degree of dynamic control, albeit one that wasn't for me. All IMO, IME etc etc. Which compression models were you using on the B3n? In what regard did they not meet your needs? I'd argue the opposite, that in a band context compression is more obvious on the bass in so far as it smooths out the peaks and makes the bass more consistent across all the strings and allows it to sit better in the mix, with the caveat that you've set it up properly and don't have any radical eq settings. There are many people who don't like compression but I think this is because it is widely misunderstood, they are expecting it to be an obvious effect like the ones you listed above so they set it up so they can hear an obvious difference. By that time you have squashed the bass tone to within an inch of its life and are left with an unusable bass sound. Less is more with compression. Set it up with the band playing behind you to optimise your settings and it brings the bass to life, IMO.

@ped, am I right in thinking you're a slapper (insert innuendo here)? In which case a limiter is likely to be the more obvious choice. For my heavy handed finger-style compression is my preferred choice.

I've not had this issue myself but I can fully understand how it can easily happen. Just a though, there is a setting somewhere for auto saving any changes you make on the fly, I'm wondering if this is turned off so that when you change patches the unit recalls the last save where a particular effect was turned off instead of the last time you actually used it with the effect in question turned on, if that makes sense? Might be worth a look if only to rule it out as a possibility?

Yes, it can be done easily. See page 10 of the manual. Hope this helps

I didn't know that there were different versions of the EBS pedal, but looking online there does appear to be at least 2 different models. The one I borrowed was the one with the blue stripe graphics like this one, (not the black wiggly line through the blue box like the other one) which is presumably the older of the 2? I tried all of the different modes on the EBS with a variety of active and passive basses and spent an hour or more fiddling about with the internal trim pots. I just couldn't get a sound out of it that I liked - I like subtle compression but the EBS was too subtle for me and didn't have the punch or dynamic control that I like.

I don't have the B1on but I do have a Zoom MS-60B that I gig with when there isn't room for my full size (but sparsely populated) pedal board. My understanding is that both units share many of the same effect models - a quick glance at the B10n effects list on line suggests that that is the case. When I gig with it I only use the tuner and compressors, my favourite being the M-Comp model. I personally rate it very highly, it gives me a great punchy tone and keeps any signal spikes in check when gigging which is exactly what I'm after. It helps the bass sit perfectly in the mix too. I've got no idea which compressor the M-Comp is modelled on but going from the icon on the Zoom interface I'm guessing it's the EBS Multi-comp. Someone mentioned earlier that the Zoom doesn't compete with the EBS but my experience was the opposite - I borrowed a friends EBS Multi-comp and couldn't get on with it, it didn't give me the punch or dynamic control that I want from a compressor. I much prefer the M-Comp on the Zoom - assuming that it is actually modelled after the EBS, that is. I have a TCE Spectracomp on my gigging board and I do prefer it to the Zoom compressors, but once the rest of the band fires up (mixture of pop and rock covers with guitar, drums, keys) any subtleties that may be noticeable when it's just the bass playing in isolation are immediately lost. So in that respect, the Zooms offer a massive amount of value considering their cost and is a perfectly viable gigging option. I also have a B3 hooked up to my little practice amp in the house and have got some great results with the other compression models too. The only one that I'm not too enamoured with is the Dual Comp which has too much of a mid scooped sound for my tastes, but I imagine it would be great for slapping although it's not something that I have actually tried! What are your thoughts on the Fishman Pro Platinum EQ? It looks a great bit of kit. My band has been talking over going over to in ear monitoring and if we ever make the move I'm tempted to give the Fishman a try as it has everything I want in one box.

Yeah, those triplets in the middle section still keep me awake at night, I just can't seem to count in 3's

How about having a go at this classic I've only ever seen 2 pub bands pull it off (admittedly I was in one of them ) and it's a good bass work out as well as a favourite with the crowd who don't usually expect to hear it.

Hadn't heard about this until just now. Fastway were the first proper band I saw when they supported AC/DC on the Fly on the Wall tour, back in '86 (I think?).

How about a multi-fx unit? You could set up a patch for each bass, even if it's just a flat eq and/or some compression, and balance the volume for each patch so when you change basses you just stomp the appropriate footswitch and you're done. Obviously you don't need to use all the other bells and whistles but they are there should you ever get the urge! The highly regarded Zoom B3 would be the obvious choice and used ones are currently changing hands for well under £100.

I'm not quite sharp enough to resize it, but I like this one;

I had a GP12 SMX back in the day (which I grew to utterly despise but that's a whole separate topic ) which had the 'traffic light' input indicator lights on the input gain. The manual (which I may even have buried away somewhere) suggested that you turn the input gain until the red light clips then just back it off a touch until the amber light is on on for most of the time while you play with the red light just flashing occasionally. Probably something to do with signal to noise ratio or something, no doubt someone who understands these things far more than I do can explain? Anyway, looking at the pics, yours doesn't have the traffic lights but it does make me think that Trace wanted you to run the input gain as high as you can. At least on some of their other models. Does that help?

I personally think gold hardware makes an instrument look tacky. But then again I think gold jewellery looks tacky too . I've seen some cracking natural wood finished basses over the years that have gold hardware fitted and it just cheapens the appearance, IMO. For my tastes black hardware is the best choice for natural wood finishes.

The TC Electronics MojoMojo at lower gain does a great vintage mid rich drive sound that will give you a similar vintage driven bass tone (without the wobble) and can also be picked up for less than £50 new. Might be worth a look if you don't fancy lugging about a monster all valve amp. I hadn't thought of a Leslie speaker, but now it's been mentioned it's so obvious

I think the subtle wobbling effect on Heartbreaker is a Tremolo effect, but whether it was a pedal, studio effect or one built into the amp (some vintage guitar amps had them built in) I don't know. The warmth of the tone is obviously a valve amp (were there any non valve amps available at this time?). Unfortunately I don't have any recommendations of tremolo pedals as I don't use them but that is what it sounds like to me. Unless you're after a drive pedal, in which case you're entering a minefield blindfolded

I'm surrounded by pyramidiots.

That definitely sounds like it's duff to me, mine has plenty of low gain drive sounds available with the drive from fully counter clockwise through to noon, or slightly higher if you play with a lighter touch. Mine doesn't fuzz out until the drive gets past 3 o'clock.