mikel

"I think it may work better if you put wheels on it, you could call it a skateboard"

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1481026521' post='3189042'] Long overdue, the man has strode like a colossus through popular music for years. [/quote] Superb Sir. Post of the month, If not the decade. Still laughing. Spot on.

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1480975132' post='3188704'] I'm not a huge fan of Mr Williams, but in his defence he won a shed load of Brit awards and has had a very successful career, with a chart record, both singles and albums, that's not been matched by many. Not every celebrated 'musician' (and I use the year loosely) can come from the 60s and 70s, things have to move on. No matter how much we may disapprove. [/quote] Using that thought process would mean The Spice Girls and Boyzone are nailed on for next year.

What? How? Why? Williams Iconic? What a joke. Nothing like de-valuing an award.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1480964806' post='3188506'] I disagree. There are many that are happy because they're playing music and in it to make music and also make money. Most pro musicians are not in it solely to make music. They have to make money as well. Blue [/quote] Blue. Dont be so literal, its a generalisation, but also true. Most of the pro musicians got into it originally cos they loved music, and lots of them made money at it cos they were in the right place at the right time. I envy them. If I have to spell it out........, what it means is that aiming to have a lifelong, paying career, as a musician is one of the long shots in life. Wanting to play music and simply enjoying it for its own worth it is a goal that can be attained by most with some work.

A wise man once said "If you get into music to make money you will be disappointed, If you get into music to make music you will be happy"

Remember Laney Klip gear? I saw Spencer Davis group back in the early 70s and they had a stage full of it.

What is the other processor on top of the TC?

Try playing Sting's bass lines and singing his vocal parts at the same time. That's real multi tasking. Try Roxane as a starter.

You wouldn't be in a Country band by any coincidence, would you, or is the band sponsored by a stetson manufacturer?

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1480780312' post='3187099'] [b]If the bass player isn't being noticed then it's his fault. Turn up and play better lines. Make them notice you.[/b] I got two positive comments on Wednesday. One from a member of the audience (who wanted to know what gear I was using to "get that sound") and one from the band leader (if I made him happy then it's job done). [/quote] That's one way of looking at it, but I play for the song. Being a member of a band I prefer the audience to think "What a great band they are" rather than how good I am. Depending on the genre I think we all have a job to do to make the song the best it can be, and locking into the groove with the drummer is always my top priority. Showing off comes a long way last on my list.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1480783119' post='3187122'] With DSP processing the SS will deliver the same dB levels, at far less cost, size and weight than valves. [/quote] Cheers, and DSP processing is.......?

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1480784139' post='3187136'] Most of my gigs are Hampshire / Berkshire / Surrey. I guess average fee is £250. A few places hit £300 and one is £350 but there's a couple of small places who don't go over £150. We play the little ones because we know the managers and they are usually a nice crowd. [b]Oh, and we play one place for free in exchange for free rehearsal time. Every ten rehearsals = one free gig[/b] [/quote] That sounds like a great deal.

I would love to pick up 70 quid for every gig. As long as I am not out of pocket the gig is good. If this is your main income source then I can understand, but most covers bands are semi pro so the money is not such an issue. I think 210 for a pub gig in the NE is fantastic money, being a Geordie myself.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1480716958' post='3186765'] A watt is a watt, 1 joule per second. What makes valve and SS amps different is how they process the signal. At the limits of their output capability valves naturally compress the signal, SS does not. 6dB of compression can subjectively sound the same as a 4x increase in power output. That's why they sound different. You can use processing with SS to emulate what valves do. That's what TC does with their RH 450 and RH 750 amps, which they falsely rated in output based not on how they measured, but how they were perceived. They were rather famously outed for having their thumb on the scale, and while they never quite admitted to the deed, they did put up this: [url="http://service.tcgroup.tc/media/tc-electronic-power-rating-and-active-power-management.pdf"]http://service.tcgro...-management.pdf[/url] [/quote] Cheers mate, but it still seems from your post that a 100 watt valve amp and a 100 watt SS amp, played through the same cab, would produce vastly different DB levels. Most consumers buy an amp at least partly based on how many watt's it produces. If the DBs it is capable of producing is governed by how it processes said watt's it would appear to be fairly pointless stating wattage

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1480697337' post='3186562'] True, but if you're here you're not a layman, you're a bassplayer, probably semi-professional, if not a full fledged professional. That makes your gear tools of your trade, tools which you should have a pretty good understanding of. There's no shortage of resources that you can use to improve upon that understanding. [/quote] I do have a perfect grasp of what I like to hear and what equipment I like to play, its the willfully misleading and needlessly complicated jargon used by amp manufacturers that baffles me, even the qualified on here cant agree. You seem well versed in amp and cab technology so perhaps you can explain to me the difference between valve watts and solid state watts? I also like to spend my free time actually playing the bass, rather than trawling through technical papers regarding amplifier technology.

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1480679113' post='3186310'] I think most cab makers give an SPL @ 1watt @ 1m figure. It would be nice if they gave this to us with the source frequency or type of noise (pink/white) ... For instance my Tecamp 810 has a sensitivity of 105db/1w\1m but it appears to be pretty much identical to my Super12T with 102db/1w/1m. Theoretically the S12 should need twice as much power to sound the same as the 810, but it doesn't [/quote] But they are pretty meaningless figures to the layman. 105 db at 1 watt at 1 mtr????? So assuming I have a 100 watt amp I will be pushing 105 db in my bedroom using next to nothing of the amps power, less than 1 on the volume control. Crank it up to half way and the windows will blow out??? Possibly even the walls.

As, say, an exam piece it is very impressive, but as music it does nothing for me. Paul Kossoff could convey more emotion with two notes.

After reading the whole thread I am still confused. It seems even the people with relevant qualifications cant agree on what constitute "Gain, Power and Volume". There again I dont really care. If I like the sound of an amp, and I need it, I buy it. The way I look at it, leaving all manufacturers nonsense aside, you plug the bass into the amp. There is a volume control next to the input, lets call it the pre amp, for want of a better name. If you leave that at 0 you get nowt out of the amp, regardless of what setting the power amp volume is set at, and vice versa. The way seems to me to get a nice clean sound, regardless of the amps power, is to balance the so called pre and power amps outputs, a little of each. I am using layman's terms throughout this rant so bare with me. I hear two distinct types of warmth or distortion, call it what you like. Pushing the pre amp means warmth at lower volume, dialing back the pre amp and pushing the power amp stage means a much more fluid and warmer sound at much higher volume. The type that valve amp guitarists love. So you can have two types of nice distortion, quiet and thin, by driving the input stage, and loud and thick by driving the output stage. Weather my names for the amp sections are correct or not its what most none techies call them. I feel it would make things much easier if cabinet manufacturers would include sensitivity ratings so we had a starting point regarding how much volume any given cabinet and speaker configuration would produce. Power handling is nice to know but If its a really sensitive cab you would know you could get good volume results with a lower wattage amp. Powered cabs have DB ratings on them but surely thats a different thing as they also include the power amp?

Malvern in Worcestershire. Loads of bands and quite a few places to play, also Worcester, Hereford and Birmingham are all close.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1480616178' post='3185928'] Hmmm, well I couldn't do it. [/quote] But would you want to? There are lots of things I cant do, and most of them I am not interested in.

Turn off the Tube Screamer and then we will see how good the technique is. Would sound better on a classical guitar.

[quote name='barkin' timestamp='1480531785' post='3185186'] ??? [/quote] I meant building the cabinet and installing the speakers. It sounded rubbish. Muddy and boomy.

Check that using the speaker out on the amp will not simply disconect the internal speaker. If so you gain nothing.