Woodwind

Have you recently moved to the UK? EastAnglia in American terms is absolutely tiny, but in UK terms covers quite a large breadth of towns. Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge being the big and busiest, but the coastal towns like Kings Lynn, Lowestoft etc etc will have "lots" going on and then all the other towns across the counties. Between all these hubs there will be a fair bit of variety, but I can't say how much to keep a pro going. It will be a bit of a slow slog to begin with getting your name around and into a position where you can pick up dep gigs. Facebook as has already been said may be of use. Do you have an online presence outside of social media? Your own website for example? It may be worth investing in one of a reasonable quality if not. Good luck!

At the show I played earlier this month, I ran two double4's down the length of the room and had the yamaha next to me. The double4's did such a good job! I have built tilt back stands for them so they can be used vertically, but inclined. What I'd love is something that sounds like a double4, maintains the small form factor, but (much) louder. I'd imagine two phil jones c4s and one of their new classD amps would be close to this, but way more than I could afford to spend. The tilt back on the PA speakers is very handy.

At the show I played earlier this month, I ran two double4's down the length of the room and had the yamaha next to me. The double4's did such a good job! I have built tilt back stands for them so they can be used vertically, but inclined. What I'd love is something that sounds like a double4, maintains the small form factor, but (much) louder. I'd imagine two phil jones c4s and one of their new classD amps would be close to this, but way more than I could afford to spend. The tilt back on the PA speakers is very handy.

Virtually all the music I listen to is on record or CD, with a few new tapes and minidiscs bought from bands when I'm at a friend's who owns an appropriate player. The only times I stream music (primarily in previews on Boomkat or bandcamp or sometimes on excerpts in reviews) is to find out if I want to buy it. And @Stub Mandrelhas just replied while I type with precisely what I was going to say about commitment and algorithm 😀

Bit late to this. I use Phil Jones Double4's to amplify my woodwind instrument. For on stage monitoring these are wonderful. Great sound and so easy to transport. This is when I'm going through a house PA However I'm planning more shows where the audience/stage relationship is slightly different and greater amplification is required. The "stage" sound is the sound in the whole space. I recently got a Yamaha DBR12 and just as the others have said about their QSCs I simply don't see why I would buy a "bass amp" again. Oodles of power, wonderful bass extension and very articulate mids. Oh and £370 delivered......

Sorry, too strong a word on my part. Apologies. I hadn't had enough coffee when I wrote it and I just couldn't shake the image of a fender shape headstock and 4 in a row tuners on that body, which is where the "horrible" came from. A more diminutive headstock, 2over 2 or maybe 3 over 1 would look good with that organic form.

Just read this whole thread. If I were to be going to the bother of commissioning a bass with the intention of sounding like Jaco Pastorious, that is resolutely not the body I'd be attaching custom wound pickups and a carefully specified jazz neck to. Aesthetics aside (I think it's horrible) you surely need as close to an alder fender jazz body as possible!?!? The wood has to vibrate/dampen the resonances in the right way.

I think you're right. One can catch the spirit and qualities of a ribbon with a modest outlay. The more expensive, arguably better, microphones offer improvements, but will start to expose everything else one needs to improve - pre-amp(s) and room primarily. I've been digging around on current albums I like and the engineers have used very humble vintage ribbon mics.

I've done a search and it seems most mentions of Ribbon microphones are from a while back, so I thought I'd start a new thread and hear from other ribbon fans. I'd always heard that a ribbon was a great way to record a double bass. Alas when I was playing and recording in that instrument I never tried one. Scroll forward a decade or so - I'd been involved in various sessions with my bassoon and contrabassoon and the engineers always brought out an interesting looking microphone. I enquired and it was a Coles 4038. My interest was firmly piqued so when it came to record some of my own music last year I asked for a Coles to be used in conjunction with a Neuman u87. In mixing I found I basically avoided adding any of the U87 as the Coles had such an amazing sound. Very solid, wonderful midrange and lovely bass . Since then I've experimented with various other vintage and new ribbon mics and I am now a self confessed fan. I'm looking to buy a cheaper vintage mic for my own demos and will always insist on a Coles to be used in conjunction with other mics in studio sessions. Anyone use ribbons here?

I didn't know this. I assumed if a business went bust there were no protections. thank you!

I think yes, we'll see a few promotions companies of various sizes folding this year. I don't want to be too much of a pessimist, but I think we're in for a tough period.

From the BBC article "...The promoter thanked customers, artists and venues for their support and advised ticket holders to contact their bank or payment company for a refund..." I feel very sorry for anyone who has splashed out on tickets. My guess is most won't be seeing a penny back from their bank

I do this, albeit in a very different context. For venues with a PA I send my Mantic hulk sub signal to a dedicated DI /mixer channel and I get the rest of my signal to my monitor mix on stage. For venues without PA (so my amp is the sound the audience hears) my amplifier takes a feed from the hulk, but I have it set lower.

This thread has introduced me to FMC cabs and my interest has been piqued. I'm bit of a sucker for the idiosyncratic and my eye was instantly drawn to the 14" cab they offer (yes, yes I know speaker size "doesn't matter" 🤣 ) I'd love to hear FMC cabs in action and look forward to reading all the user reports on here.

Based on those 2 photos and the prices stated, It would be a no brainer for the Aria for me. As @Boodangsays you can get a very good, portable semi rigid gig bag for not a huge amount of cash

what is it you don't like about the Hartke? A barefaced 10 will sound different and so too the markbass, but you'd be able to some sort of similar tone from all of them.

Sorry for the thread dredge, but I just saw a video of someone player a passion and I was blown away by the sound they got, so I thought I'd check basschat and see who owns one. Your bass is fantastic! Any playing clips? What is the fingerboard made from? I'm now a bit of a fan of Vigier Passions and would especially love to try a fretless one

I'm weighing up the cheaper cousin a DBR12. Yamaha stuff is really good and you have access to a 4 year warranty. Having been in settings with QSC and RCF powered speakers going pop (or rather dead) the weak links are the power modules. I would be wary of buying any of these cheaper PA speakers second hand without a warranty as getting them repaired is a hassle.

This is what I'm doing. Just don't be in a hurry. Basically a Year turnaround on current quotes I'm getting

Have you got many gigs lined up for this year? It's a really tricky situation. I would buy a CD over a memory stick, but I own a CD player and like to keep listening to music as far away from the interface of laptop/phone as possible. My merch sales nosedived through 2019, to the point it wasn't worth lugging the stuff to gigs anymore (even sales of downloads at shows). I haven't got many shows planned for 2022 and really don't know what to do. I miss the money from merch sales so want to maximise the chance fans will buy something, but minimise expenditure. Download codes included with whatever you sell is mandatory really, in which case maybe stick to CDs?

I don't doubt those trace elliot 2X8"s sound fine, but they will be a considerable step down in quality to your Epifani, which I believe is more sensitive than the trace. yeah they are 5kg lighter than your cab, but you describe liking power and I can't believe these trace cabs will provide the scale of sound you like. I say this as an ardent user of small cabs with smaller size drivers, but (call me a cynic) I can only see these trace cabs are built down to a price point and there are higher quality options put there for not much more money. If you are patient you could probably score another UL210 for not much more than the cost of a new 2x8. I know which I'd want to be playing through 😃

Cheers Bill! That's the info I needed, thank you

A question for electrical and amplification wizards: I have a 4ohm speaker cabinet, which I'd like to augment with an 8ohm cabinet (both simple, single speaker designs). This pairing will go below the minimum 4ohm load of my amp. I know in reality at low volumes I'll be fine, but in case I want to push it a bit I'd be wary of damage to the amp. If I connect a four ohm resistor in series in the 4ohm cabinet, therefore taking the total impedance to 8ohms, would I end up with a satisfactory result? Thanks for any pointers and info'

Ah I wondered of you'd got one of the last ones. Like you I was looking for something that could take a bit more power if the situation called.