radiophonic

In terms of nerding out, envelope filters for bass players are like drive pedals for guitarists. Win for us, I'd say. Boss really got something right about the OC2 though.

I need to get into the wiring of my Mexican P-Bass but the grub screw on the tone pot is totally seized so I can't get the scratch plate off. It looks like it's a brass grub with a flat head. The one on the volume pot was very stiff but GT85 and some patience eventually freed it up. I have a small blowtorch, but I'm a bit wary of the heat method as I don't want it conducting into the pot wiring. I'm starting to think that drilling it out is the only option but I'm open to less destructive suggestions if anyone has anything to offer.

The LH500 is a 12AX7 based Fender tone stack (bass / treble are boost only, mids care ut only, a la, Alembic F2b, Fender Twin) coupled to a very loud SS power amp with a huge toroidal transformer. It's a non master volume design so can be a little hissy into very sensitive cabs. With 2x2x10 cab, I have never run out of either volume or headroom in a 2 guitar band and a proper rock drummer and I don't think I've ever turned it up past 11 O'Clock. Running active into input 1 does push the valve a touch and gives you a bit of extra sparkle. It's probably compressing a bit but it it doesn't audibly distort. It's cheap but you'd need to budget for a rack sleeve. It's heavy though. If I replace it, it will be with an SVT or a HiWatt, so clearly that doesn't bother me!

Cable arrived. This is the sound I was looking for. Quite old school thanks to the lack of tweeter and the port is moving a lot of air too (the DOD Meatbox certainly put the port to good use - and I didn't worry about blowing anything). With a P-Bass it's just a nice big round but very clear bass sound. Adding a Hartke 2 x 10 gets me some clank back if I need it and also raises it off the ground. It's clearly an efficient driver since my amp is non master volume and the noise floor is noticeably higher than with the 10s. It's also very loud. I'm recording again at the weekend so I look forward to putting a mic on it and seeing what's going on in the mids.

I was thinking more along the lines of getting my children to roadie for me.

Well it's arrived. Fortunately it's not physically much larger than a 2 x 10 so it's nicely inconspicuous. Based on it's weight, it appears to be made out of fresh air too. Unfortunately the cable I ordered hasn't showed up, so I can't try it out. Grrr.

Yeah. I nabbed it. Not sure how I'm gonna conceal that fact domestically, but it seemed too good to miss.

I've messaged the seller of the Barefaced. If the 2 x 10 doesn't integrate pleasingly, my guess is that it will be loud enough on it's own. It's headroom I'm after anyway.

I saw that but it's collection only from Dorset and I really don't need the head.

I'm in the market for a S/h 15. Ideally with an HF horn but not essential. To be used in conjunction with a 2 x 10. I'm using a Hartke LH500 head, so I need 8 Ohms. 15s seem to be pretty unfashionable these days. I'm after something with some headroom - 300W ballpark. I'd prefer something a bit compact but lightweight/neo isn't a priority. I've been looking at an SWR Son of Bertha and a GK. A Hartke HyDrive would be ideal but they seem to be unavailable even s/h. What would you recommend?

I must get an OC-10. Does it have the same subjective volume drop as the OC2? I assume it does and that it's largely perceptual - i.e. it's really unity but the lack of attack and the way the brain perceives bass, means that it appears to be a volume drop. I might be wrong. This is fixable with a loop switcher anyway. I just picked up a DOD Meatbox reissue for a non stupid price. It's a monster. Volume drop isn't an issue here. Toasting your cones is though. It doesn't have that hollow sine wave thing but in a fuzz/filter sub-synth application it sounds incredible. I need a bomb proof 15" cab... even at home volume. Oddly, in 50/50 blend it sort of has a digital vibe but with zero latency and massive low end solidity. Use with care, but I'm very impressed.

Most of this comes down to their terrible UK distro. Like, nonexistent. Nobody sells their gear. Criticising the LH series for a lack of tonal flexibility misses the point entirely - It's a Fender dual showman preamp/tone stack and a massive SS power amp. You want to sound like Hooky and only have 300 quid? There you go. I'm pretty sure it's aimed at (probably older) players who want an SVT or a big ole HiWatt but can't afford it. Personally, I trust it. The LH500 into a pair of 2 x 10 XL cabs is loud as hell and my DOD Meatbox has yet to melt anything. If you're paying pop gigs and carrying gear on the tube, forget it. If your drummer is an animal and you are stuck between a 2 guitar arms race, step inside. I'm looking for a HyDrive 15 right now.

I have a Nate Mendel P-Bass and I love the neck and the hot pickups but have a hankering for a shoreline gold nitro finish. It seems like it'd be a pretty straightforward job to swap the neck and parts over (I want to keep the original body its stock colour in case I need to resell). It seems like you can pay whatever you want for a P-Bass body, so can anyone recommend something reputable. Ditto getting a decent nitro spray-coat. I've had a look on Reverb - and there is actually a Shoreline Gold P-body on there, but it's a lefty. Anyone care to make a recommendation?

Yes. I think it's context dependent. If I went to see a Dead tribute, I would expect it to last 3 hours and for the structure of the set to loosely unwind over that time period. The duration and and feel is a big part of the music. Plus their back catalog is huge. I recently saw Devin Townsend do 2 hours and I'd never heard any of his music before. I was pretty reticent when I heard how long the set was going to be - just holding someone's attention with 120 minutes of novelty is a big ask - he's done about 18 albums though, and completely pulled it off. I do think local/starting originals bands often make the mistake that more is better though. If these are the first 10 songs you wrote, it's unlikely all 10 are going to be classics. 30 minutes is either enough or enough to make the audience want more.

+1 for the Okto Nojs. I don't think the Okto side sounds as good as the OC2 (although that's pretty subjective - I'd describe it as blander though), but the combo with the Nojs is unique. I wish it were possible to get that fuzz sound from somewhere else, because I can't fit them both on my board! Even though I have an OC2 and a Mastotron, I haven't sold mine.

Don't know about tab availability but if you take a listen to the recent remaster of Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements, it includes the original demo of French Disko and the bassline is very clearly audible - although it may just be played on the bottom string of the guitar. It's on youtube anyway.

1&2. Our singer had a baby this year, so our gig year was pretty sparse - a few early on and a few recently but a 4 month gap in the middle. The worst was without doubt when we played the Angel Microbrewery in Nottingham and literally everything that could go wrong, went wrong. From the engineer sounchecking the wrong band to the end of the night ambulance. We played OK, but the conditions were almost comically adverse. The best was probably the M2M Semi finals since it's literally the only time I've ever had good sound in The Maze (RIP) in Nottingham. We had nothing to lose (not being a metal band) and our singer gave birth two days later, so it was a pretty heroic performance from her. 3. It would have been Nordic Giants, but I saw Devin Townsend a couple of nights ago. I was gifted a ticket by our guitar player because his gf didn't fancy it. I'd never heard his music until that gig. Pretty overwhelming really. It was a lot to take in for two hours. The playing was insane. Morgen Agren and Mike Keneally are in the touring band and they encored with Zappa's The Black Page... and Disco Inferno. Nathan Navarro's bass solo was a treat - what a monster player. 4. No duds that I can recall.

All I've bought this year, aside from strings, is a Nate Mendel P-Bass and some strap-locks. Very happy with both. My '92 Stingray will never not be my #1 live bass but, for recording, the P-Bass is a revelation.

I think we're all on the same page but it's a problem that's crept up on us. Stamina doesn't die overnight, chops deteriorate gradually and you can still cruise for a while. Some band members are willing to be more patient than others though and I'm technically still the new guy. They are hoping the fact that he effectively dropped the ball in front of a lot of his friends will be a wake up. I remain skeptical.

Infuriating. We played an all originals rock / Christmas bill at Alberts in Nottingham, organised by a band our drummer knows. Good set up, solid sound guy, well organised, all the signs were positive. Except our drummer just won’t practice and his playing is really starting to slide, as is his stamina. It’s a tragedy because he’s totally good enough to play the music if he puts the work in and his style is right for the sound, but tempos were all over the place and I had to just play defence - rooted to the spot, fixating on the hi hat. My feet never left the ground (I usually take off in a few places). Bear in mind that this is across 5/4>7/8 changes and were all tap dancing on pedal boards too. Exhausting. Band meeting tomorrow and guess who can’t make it?

I've become a big fan of multiband compression and I use a Boss BC1X as an always on pedal. It's not cheap, but it is super clean. The caveat here is that I often use it specifically to control the rather lairy filter release on the Source Audio Manta - to prevent the release for longer than natural sustain would allow - and to help with the tracking of a Boss OC2, which can thunk really nastily if it gets too hot an input. The only other comp that I've used regularly is the old Boss CS2 and I experienced noticeable loss of low end / thinning even when bypassed. I think this was an impedance issue though and it just didn't like what it was seeing from the Stingray's active circuit. I had the same issue with a CE3 and a BF2B and the modern Boss pedals don't seem to exhibit this problem at all.

My last audition was for a band I already liked, which made it a bit odd. It felt like pressure because I really wanted the gig, but I had no doubt I could play it, add to it and learn something from it, which is my main ask as a musician. I already 'knew' all their songs but I'd never worked out how to play any of them and when I did learn them it was surprisingly easy because I didn't have to think about things like the tricky 5/4 > 7/8 time change because I already 'knew how the tune went' without really noticing that it was tricky. I got the audition because they knew who I was, had heard me play and (I think) couldn't face Join My Band again. They sent me a couple of demos to learn from but I made sure I had their album down, end to end, as well. Good decision. I also knew from their social media they had gigs booked, so I prioitised getting it right enough and tight enough rather than obsessing about every fill. That also turned out to be the correct decision. I figured that the real audition is your first few gigs anyway and showing that you can keep the wheels on in front of an audience when the drummer didn't get a soundcheck, nobody on stage can hear the singer and the guitarist's pedlaboard is malfunctioning is as delivery critical as learning recognisable versions of the material. Being totally rock solid with the drummer when the guitars failed during a gig that was being recorded probably sealed the deal for me.

I use mine in an ES5 and just boost the gain with the looper. The MXR is pretty pricey too.

The gating on the Mastotron is incredible and it's super aggressive, but the basic tonality of the Nojs side and the ability add a subharmonic square-wave make it a winner for me for synth stuff. It's useless as a standard fuzz , mind. I do still want a Prunes and Custard. I still want a lot of things though!

@Al Krow Cool. I'll investigate. Big claims were made for the Okto Nojs at the time but it's much less resonant and synthy than the OC2. The fuzz is the best synth fuzz I've used though.