tonyf

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1386251576' post='2297713'] I don't have any spares!!! Does that make me a bad person? [/quote] Yes. Back in ya box!

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1386250804' post='2297694'] Would people get upset if a bass is sold without a plectrum? I'd suggest it's a similar level of triviality. [/quote] This. TBH, I'd care not either way. In terms of euro leads, I've probably got at least 4 or 5 spares kicking around in my leads bag. Further ones in the band's leads box. For me, it seems a bit trivial if you're quibbling about a power lead. After all, you should as a working musician have a number of them as spares. Mind you, flipping that on it's head, you should be including one of your many spares as part of the deal. So there. That's me covered for any offence taken.

Mike brought my Overwater Tanglewood Classic J. A true gent, it was a pleasure to sit for an hour or two and chat about basses and life. Deal with absolute confidence. T

Had impressions for my ACS custom sleeves for the Shure SE535s taken yesterday. As I do BV's, they had to take an "open mouth" impression. With the start of a cold coming on, lordy, that wasn't exactly a pleasant experience #dribble #drool I've an appointment to go back in a couple of weeks to pick them up and whilst I'm there, I'm having a hearing test. TBH, after almost 30 years of playing in bands, I'm not looking forward to the results.

[quote name='DaytonaRik' timestamp='1386084354' post='2295496'] A really useful feature of this model is the front mounted 'Engineer Out' headphone socket which can be used to run a wired feed to a 2nd band member - usually the drummer. [/quote] That's what we're using on mine and the guitarists mix on my LD Systems MEI1000X to feed the drummer's wired buds. So useful.

Yeah, absolutely. I blame you I was never in doubt but I think getting Paul (the guitarist) on board at the last gig and having him play with the other receiver pack really helped me sell it to the band. He was absolutely convinced from the first song in the sound check. Of course it helps that me and Brian (the keyboardist) "get" the advantages of using IEM but to be fair, the others are more than open to making it work as it all helps. Funnily enough, as we'd turned down the backline a fair bit, Fiddy and Jo said they really benefited from having to not struggle with monitoring. Paul and Jo have ordered another LD Systems MEI1000X so this should be delivered today for tomorrows gig. They've also got some Shure SE215s on the way through Brian (who works for Roland at PMT) and I've got a 2U rack at home which I'm planning to rack both transmitters in in order to make the setup easier. I've been using the SE535's a lot at work and practicing with Amplitude in order to get used to them. Really enjoying them, admittedly I could have probably easily spent WAY more money on something "better" but for the moment, they're ticking all the boxes in terms of what I need. I appreciate what you say about sometimes spending 6 times the money won't always get you 6 times the quality/sound and it's all about finding something which works best for your ears. What I have decided to buy is the molded plugs from the headphone company though which will work with the Shures. I think it's a worthwhile investment in order to get a really good isolated fit for the bottom end. Just about to give them a call to find out more. [url="http://www.theheadphonecompany.co.uk/headphones/acs-customs-custom-made-moulded-earphone-sleeves.php"]http://www.theheadphonecompany.co.uk/headphones/acs-customs-custom-made-moulded-earphone-sleeves.php[/url]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1385382823' post='2287504'] OK - the interference doesn't entirely surprise me but you have seemed to worked that out. Just a note about proximity of devices and the like - you'll find the more distance you can put between stuff the better, so for example, I run my wireless IEM on my left above my back pocket - means I can easily drop my left hand down to adjust volume. I don't know where you put your bass transmitter but I have mine on my strap on the right hand side of my body positioned as far as it can be from the IEM receiver. Seems to work nicely. (PS, I use a Neotech pouch - they are actually spot on despite looking pretty meh in the pictures you find online). The other thing is, there actually needs to be a bit of space between your transmitter and receiver - if you are ever playing on a stage where you are standing on top of your amp and your receivers/transmitters units are right next to the ones on your body, you can get RF overload and it will cause you grief. Nothing which can't be remedied by moving the units further apart but worth knowing about all the same. So this, together with a smart choice of frequencies (e.g. make sure you are on different channels - I don't know if the LD systems reports it's frequencies in terms of channels or not?) you should be ok. Channel 70 is a bit of a squeeze (only 2 chunks of bandwidth) so don't expect to push the whole band out on wireless ears and mics if you are thinking of going that way. [/quote] Makes sense, the IEM receiver was on the left side of my belt whereas my guitar transmitter always sits in my back pocket (where the wallet goes for any pickpockets out there) on the right hand side. There would have been a bit of separation but probably not much. Will try and move it to the inside or breast pocket in my suit jacket on Saturday. Paul seemed not to suffer any issue but then again, he's using a Line6 G30 digital transmitter. Whilst I've used my Sennheiser for years, I guess changing to a G30, G50 or G90 could solve that problem but then it's a case of throwing money at a problem which can be fixed by a bit of experimentation and/or a frequency change. Besides which, I really wanna keep the wireless in the rack rather than on my pedal board where I'd have to then try and free up space and rework my signal layout. Anyway enough of that for the moment. If it ain't broke.... [quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1385382823' post='2287504'] As for Paul and Jo upgrading their drivers, they may be ok with some basic IEMs - a lot of guys (e.g. singers) can get away with a single or dual driver in their ears (primarily because they have their vocals forward in the mix and the band mix quite low - the opposite for what we lowenders want). I've found that it's the bass players and drummers that crave the headroom and lowend. Also, keys guys may crave some more if they happen to play alot in the low bass range - e.g. synth bass, piano, hammond sweeps and the like - they are pretty demanding on IEMs, especially if you are running with no compressors. [/quote] As we've often said, it's all relative at the moment. Paul LOVED my (single driver) e2cs so I'm guessing until he's tried anything better, him and Jo will probably be getting the 215s. Brian has these and seems happy too but I'll work on them to try and make them see sense and splurge out some serious wedge for serious buds. No doubt Jo will want some "BLING" plugs so I'll point her in your direction. [quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1385382823' post='2287504'] PS - guess who bought a Sennheiser IEM system at the weekend? Shall be able to do a PS900/EW300 comparison for you! (Want to try out the LD system one day too!) [/quote] You're welcome to borrow my LD Systems wireless for a comparison when we've a bit of downtime in the New Year mate. I'll have a look in the diary later and give you a yell when there's three or four weeks of no gigs. [quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1385382823' post='2287504'] Oh... and yeah, I've started on the next bit of tech for the show... :-p [/quote] Spill the beans!

Russ, as you probably know from my FB feed, the IEMs were fantastic. Well chuffed. Took a bit of setting up. As already discussed, we've got limited outputs on the desk at the moment so in terms of individual monitoring, it's not exactly as "tailored" as we'd like. There's two AUX outs as well as a monitor out so the monitor out fed the wedges at the front for the vocalists, one aux fed the IEM via the drummer's wedge and Brian, the keyboard player, had the other for his wired IEM. The first problem that became immediately apparent was that there was interference between the Sennheiser EW172 transmitter for the bass and the LD Systems MEI1000X. Both were using different frequencies, the Sennheiser on 861.100Mhz and the IEM transmitter on 863.500Mhz. However the bass receiver was picking up some intermittent signal. Once the bass transmitter was switched on though, this seemed to resolve the issue, probably because of the strength of the signal from the bass pack and the squelch setting being altered. Myself and Paul (the guitarist) used the IEMs. It took a little while to balance the output from the wedge into the LD transmitter. I couldn't get any output (but Paul could) until I discovered I was in "focus" mode on the receiver. A quick tweak and it was working. I then found a big problem with running both the IEM and the bass transmitter pack next to each other. During the first couple of level checks, there was a load of background noise in my IEM and also some dropout that Paul the guitarist wasn't getting. Didn't take long to realise that the bass transmitter was kicking out interference into the receiver of the IEM. I turned my transmitter off and it was fine. Again, changing channels sorted this out. After that, it was then just a case of launching into the next sound check tune and wow, I had a grin from ear to ear. It was just brilliant, I could hear everything. Tight, controlled, punchy, the Shure SE535 buds with the triple drivers sounded fantastic. Paul couldn't get his hat on, he was just bowled over with how good it sounded, even though he was using my old Shure e2cs. Admittedly, it took a few numbers of the first set to get used to hearing the set differently but TBH, I didn't really feel any of that "detatchment" that people talk about. There was enough of the crowd coming back through the vocal mics during the breaks between songs to keep me engaged with the audience and we've already discussed having an ambient (or two) mic to help with this. Following on from this, Paul and his wife Jo (the singer) are already ordering another LD Systems MEI1000X and choosing their buds, the initial choices are probably Shure SE215s as starters but having discussed with them the options (following our chats) they'll probably be looking at upgrading in the future. Almost certainly, the wedding on Saturday will almost certainly be ALL IEM for Second City Soul ;-) So glad I made the leap of faith and now wondering if all that money spent the Berg cab was justified now that I'm only hearing my bass through the buds! lol

[quote name='mr zed' timestamp='1384884844' post='2281887'] Only had a chance to test that everything works ok before Mrs Zed snaffled said newly acquired kit, wrapped it in shiney red & white paper with pictures of reindeers on and proudly stated "these are for Christmas". [/quote] Genius! I like the cut of your jib goodly sire! Wondering if I can convince Mrs TF to allow me extra "christmas pressies" this year?

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1384878421' post='2281779'] I just hope that the whole thing lives up to my expectations - otherwise I've made a very costly mistake! [/quote] If it doesn't, at least you've got a totally bangin' shiny carbon fibre small snack box

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1384868051' post='2281590'] Besides, I'm more interested in the case [/quote] The plugs are amazing but that case is truly awesome in it's own right. There's nothing so sexy as shiny carbon fibre. Yummy!

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1384861648' post='2281485'] Tony's been buying....... looking forward to your feedback man! [/quote] I have :-) With more of Russ's invaluable assistance over the past few weeks, I've made a start on putting together our IEM solution. My band consists of two main vocalists, a keyboard player, a guitarist, the drummer and me. Our keyboard player and drummer are now going wired IEMs, both of them having purchased some Shure SE215s as a toe into the earbud market. Both seem really happy for the moment but intend on investing on better buds as and when funds are available. With the sale of a bass a few weeks ago, I had some spare cash so went out and purchased a LD Systems MEI1000X with a couple of receivers. The plan is for me and the guitarist to try these out over the next couple of gigs and iron out any problems. The MEI1000X allows you to run in mono, stereo or use the "focus mode" which allows one to pan from one side (left or right) into a centre mono mix. This means we can potentially use the one transmitter for two separate mixes. Well, that's the theory. We need to have a think about how we set it up as we're currently limited with AUX outs on the desk so it maybe that me and Paul (the guitarist) share the same mix in focus mode (from left) and then the vocalists share the same mix in focus mode (right). That'd be a compromise for the moment (until we upgrade the desk) meaning we'd just need to buy a couple of more receivers for the vocalists to use the single transmitter. Dunno, we'll see if that can work if we can get me and Paul happy with the one mix. In terms of buds, I've had a pair of Shure e2cs for a few years which have given good service with my iPhone but I wanted something better for the IEM solution. Russ has done wonderful work in making me realise that it's a whole world of wonder in choosing buds but I've had to really limit myself with how much to spend. Perhaps at some point in the future I'll splurge out on some serious custom molds kit but in the meantime, I've managed to score a pair of Shure SE535s which seem to be pretty amazing compared to the e2cs. The triple drivers in the SE535s really do make a world of difference compared to the previous single driver pair. I guess it's all relative though, when you compare lesser spec'd monitors to higher spec'd ones. Hence the reason why I've told Russ I REALLY MUST NOT listen to anything else now for a while after splashing a load of cash on the SE535s. I've got a small Mackie 12 channel mixer at home so have tested the system with a mic, bass and some music from my iPhone. it's surprising how much easier already it is to sing with the isolation in the phones and my vocals properly mixed into the foldback. I've always struggled at some gigs to pitch as the monitors are generally prioritised for the vocalists. However, with wearing IEMs, this seems to be a positive move for monitoring my bvs and bass. Looking forward to gigging this weekend to see how it all hangs together in the "real world" Yet again Russ, thanks for the invaluable help and I think from this point forward, you should now be known as IEM_Freak Cheers T

Just do it I had a HD350 for the best part of a decade and I've just gone back to using another after three or four years with a couple of class D amps (a TC Classic 450 and a GB Streamliner 900). Whilst I really love the Streamliner, I've just found the HD350 to be more authoritative, focused, transparent and punchy. That said, I've always loved the EBS sound so there's probably a tonal consideration involved but I'm loving the articulation that the EBS head gives me above the GB head. Power isn't everything and TBH, if I'm not loud enough with the 350w of the EBS, there's something really wrong with the onstage volumes. For me, sounds obvious, but the amp works really well with efficient and loud cabs. I've got a Berg CN212 now but had a couple of Proline 410s in the past. Because they're both very sensitive and detailed cabs, there seems to be an "efficiency" effect where the head hardly breaks sweat. I'm keeping the GB Streamliner as it does sound great for the "rock" deps I'm doing but the HD350 does the functions gig SOOOOO much better. T

[quote name='MoJoKe' timestamp='1372272925' post='2123758'] The MEI1000 is very good, the output is strong and good quality and not had any issues with noise or dropout, so all good so far. I like the sound of a talkback system, that sounds interesting. it's definitely a problem which we'll need to address too! [/quote] Is yours the MEI1000 X version? Just all confused about the differences between the G2 and X version. Seems to be frequencies. Is that right? What does the MEI1000 offer above and beyond the MEI100? T

So, if I go and give the LD MEI 1000 a go, what do you suggest for reasonable "starter" (or "cheap yet good") buds? Should I suck it and see with the Shures? They sound great with my iPhone but I'm guessing my idea of "great" is somewhat limited having not experienced anything better at present. Brian's using a pair of 215s which he seems to really like so there's always these as an alternative. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want to blow all that money on the 1964s or ACS buds when the LD is the limiting factor.

You're right there mate. Once you experience the product that's "absolutely right" rather than "it'll do", there's no more justification needed. [url="http://www.uniquemelody.co/lineup/merlin/"]http://www.uniquemelody.co/lineup/merlin/[/url] Russ, you've REALLY gotta stop this now, it's starting to get really expensive.

Just looked at the 1964 V6 Stage buds. They look wonderful but like you, I'm starting to realise that absolute quality absolutely costs

We've got KX Audio subs and tops. Think the models are the KX1.5s for the subs and then KX12 tops (although they could be the KX15s but I'm not sure unless I had them in front of me). Monitoring is via functional Wharfdale wedges. We've got a A&H PA20 (again I think ;-). I'm a bit vague ain't I? lol

Thanks for the advice Russ, I'll give them a go tonight when I get home and see how they fit. Re the monitor amp, thanks for the kind offer. Brian was using a wired solution at the last gig which works for him really well as he's static being a keyboard player but I know I'd probably find that a bit limiting as I'm already wireless with my bass rig and like to move about and "get stuck in". Considering the investment involved, if the LD Systems IEM doesn't work out for me, I should be able to move it on fairly quickly or find someone to make use of it within the band. With your wonderful yoda-like guidance, I already know that the real investment is in the buds but buying the system will be a start down the route to tweak our IEM solution to suit us. Brian's costed out a complete PA upgrade through the shop but following the gig on Saturday where we'd spent a little more time than usual tailoring the setup, the sound was great so we're reassessing what we need to spend where. With the IEM's, I think a new digital desk (likely candidate is an Allen & Heath Qu16) is the top of the list but we can phase the subs/tops into phase 2 now we know they sound good. Sorry Mr_Zed, hijacked the thread a bit. T

@Russ, I had some custom moulds done a few years ago through SpecSavers and they're fitted with ER15s. When I wash them, I just pop the plug bit out. Are these "standard" sizes ie, would I be able to pop the plugs out and then pop the Shure E2cs into the custom plugs to give a total sealed fit? Guess I'm thinking aloud and haven't tried it as the plugs are at home but just wondered. T