warwickhunt

LOL Presets I'm happy with but I'll need to find one which does loads of low pass... which I'll need to listen to on my PC.

Not done it that way yet but does that allow for editing etc?

Anyone got any recommendations for a chorus template or setting which will let a lot of the bottom end through and only chorus the top end/harmonic overtone. Our guitarist/PA guy is whinging about my attempts to generate a faux 12 string sound and that the chorus is way overpowering... 'deal with it' was met with a stony face! I'm sure I selected a bass specific template but I'm looking for tips before I start hooking my Plethora up to my PC and messing about.

That's the nice easy version... which I've tried. #1 - wireless is flaky due to the number of devices using the congested 2.4ghz. In my short and limited experience of using IEM I've had drop outs from bass radio gear and/or IE wireless; presently I'm going wired to a Behringer P2 to IE. #2 - I'm OK with mixing on my phone and that is a doddle, which leads to my personal issues... The tone of my bass in FOH is fine, the sound through my IEMs is truly and absolutely AWFUL! We aren't talking a bit of EQing, it is a horrendous compressed, overdriven mush! I've tried plugging in good headphones - same. I've used my IE with a variety of sound sources - fine. Ergo I know it isn't my IEM and has to be the desk or associated equipment. My present plan is to use a Rolls PM351 so that I have a clean bass tone in my ears and a feed from the desk with all other band members which I can blend.

How would I hear the rest of the band? Guitars use no backline so the FOH is the only sound source, likewise vocals. I don't need to have the drums through my IEM as I get enough of the drum bleed through either the vocal mic or ambient; the guitar on the other hand is non-existent as are the vocals, how do I hear those?

Do you have pics? Rather than trying to tension the nut further, can it be removed and replaced?

Pic and brief background + my initial thoughts on amp less/IEM Plethora - essentially there for me to attempt to replicate the sound of a 12 string... not proving to be so easy and a bit of reverb/delay for the acoustic guitar. Fishman - a really nice clean pre that isn't too coloured but gives me a notch filter (useful Hofner Club bass being hollow) and a LPF but no IR/cab sim/drive. Sansamp Para DI - recent replacement of my Sansamp DI. Gives me the cab sim and a bit of drive which the Fishman doesn't. I've played bass 45 years always with amp + cab. Presently play in a Dad's rock/pop/ covers band (more of which later) and a tribute to Cheap Trick band + a duo where I play acoustic guitar (Fishman has a switch to select between guitar/bass EQ). The guy who is main man and guitarist in the covers band owns the PA (RCF 715 tops) and bought a Soundcraft UI16 (or whatever) and went full IE no backline, which he has encouraged me to do as it gives more control and a better experience for the audience. Now this it may do but we are having ongoing issues due to the frankly awful IE sound I get of the bass; it doesn't even sound like a bass, never mind MY bass but it is fine FOH. This is where @Baloney Balderdash touched upon my main gripe with band sound; I play music for my enjoyment as much as the punters and if I'm frankly hating what I hear, then why do it? I've taken a long time to conclude that while playing average music, for an average audience in a frankly average pub may pay me more and with greater frequency than being more selective, I've voiced that I won't be playing just what the average p*ssed up punter wants to hear and I won't be playing in some of the flat top, estate pubs where a live band could as easily be replaced with karaoke. Quality gigs, even if at reduced fees and less often is the future with me and I'm going to sort out this IEM sound issue or I'm going back to amps/cabs and plugs for attenuation. Oddly the tribute band has had the same issue with IE sound as it is the same PA/guitarist until Friday night when we used in-house engineer and a very big/nice Yamaha desk... no issues with sound whatsoever BUT I had no control of mix once we started and the band mix seemed to skew and I struggled to hear things. Hey ho, we shall see.

Am I missing something (I know I am btw) but a click track is barely acceptable IMHO for a live show but to then play to a click AND have the bass on some form of recording... just be done with it and do karaoke... or stick Spotify on and play the album through the PA! Before you ask 'YES' I'm old. LOL

I chose not to ask... because I never get those kind of offers.

Are these 2 statements directly connected... what are the leads used for? I NEVER get those kind of gigs/offers!

I'm in the band that is NOT playing 'Shadowplay'!

I wondered about that but I just checked back through the thread and there really is a fair bit of very constructive info and advice been given over including the bone of contention that if you are driving a 600w amp to the point of it and/or a 1400w cab distorting then you are too loud... leading to a bit of niggle over hearing protection, which tbh having read from a neutral stance is all pretty valid. Defo seems to be all typical BC to me.

Beedster might be referring to the fact that the OP came on asking about speaker cable types and stating that a 1400w cab was distorting and that they were going to double up on said cab, whilst variously either getting a smaller amp to drive both cabs or adding a further 500w amp to drive the 2nd cab... whilst PA support was not an option. Doesn't sound like someone with 20 years experience to me. That's just my take on it mind!

Even if I dare not tackle the caps etc I may have a look at aligning the wiring and taking strain off before resolder and shrinkwrap.

If you have a lot of experience you can often have a very good guess what the gauge is if they are a regular set and not custom 'stepped' gauges but to know for sure you'd need a gauge.

Interesting that you have circled/highlighted several (not all) connections that are original from manufacture. I did take it to another electrical engineer after the 2nd transformer replacement (I couldn't understand how 2 had failed and no fault found); he had it several weeks before declaring it was fit and made zero comment on any soldering etc. 4 days later that transformer burned out. I think many of the informed comments made, highlight the difference between the business approach and the professional/informed user insight... if only some of the business heads actually had an interest in what they were doing. I'm maybe doing them a disservice as they have to make money and time is money, so going over something with a fine toothed comb is expensive. At the end of the day I could end up paying someone double the value of the amp to just give it an MOT/heath check.

Bearing in mind the insightful comments from @Chienmortbb @atsampson @agedhorse @BassmanPaul (and others along the way) I might get the amp checked over while it has a fully functioning transformer. I suppose my dilemma is that the tech doing this work has charged me not a lot of money to do the original transformer replacement and then zero charge for the 2 subsequent replacements, as he felt obliged to warranty the work; now finding someone I can trust to take this to the logical next step of possibly looking at the capacitors etc is not going to be easy.

Genuinely sorry but you lost me at 'How are the...'. If you can use the image I posted to highlight the areas I need to address I'll have a look. I'm not trying to be obtuse, I'm a bassist who's knowledge of soldering et al is making guitar/speaker leads and soldering the odd speaker in/out of a cab.

Ah OK I get where you are coming from. I'm competent with a soldering iron, so if it is a case of making connections more secure I can do that! I can cable tie, shrink wrap etc anything that looks like it may put strain on a joint.

Hence my comment... 'watts are dirt cheap (and mean little)'! I own and have owned a fair few amps over the last 44 bass playing/gigging years and I came to the conclusion some years back that quoted wattage figures were there for the gullible. I know a few companies who I'd likely not need to check their figures and I'd trust them to be representative of what levels an amp might go to before running out of steam but I likewise know those manufacturers that I'd not wasted energy researching how they come to their numbers; the same goes for cabs as well. As soon as a company moves into the high numbers for any attribute of an amp/cab I just start switching off and thinking blah blah blah... and I knock off 25-75% of what they say. Case in point being an Alto FRFR 10" powered cab quoting 2000w... don't be silly. I knew it was closer to a max of 200-300w.

@walshy defo has contact for man n a van.

Back to square 1 for me! I've no idea why, considering desk settings were saved, but last 2 gigs I've set up, plugged in and been assaulted by this god awful IEM bass tone! PA guy assures me there is now no compression or effects on my Aux send (wired to P2 > IEM) but I have this buzzy/compressed bass tone which is a million miles removed from the FOH sound but apparently that is the compromise for using cheap IEM... this has led to heat exchanges as the IEM may be cheap but when I play ANY other sound source through them there is no compression/distortion. I've plugged the drummers studio headphones into my P2 at the gig and it sounds exactly the same, so imho nothing to do with my choice of earphones. Thinking it through, I've never actually listened to any of the other Aux sends that the drummer and guitarist use so I'll be checking that. It has been suggested that I use my A&H 4 channel mixer to get a DI bass tone + a feed from the PA and I mix from that for my IEM, which is an option. However we are doing a theatre gig this weekend so it'll be interesting to give the engineer my feed and see what I get back as a mix!

Same guitarist in my 2 bands has been a fan of the modelling stuff for nigh on 20 years; firstly into FRFR (before it was called FRFR), presently IEM no backline. He has and uses combinations of AxeFX, Helix, Tone-x and I'm certain at least 3 more which all give a cracking FOH sound and the cheapest of these is a few hundred quid, not thousands, which when you compare to the price of a good amp/cab/combo is comparable by the time you've bought a set of IEM etc. I've been cajoled, goaded and theoretically bullied into foregoing my trad amp/cab for a preamp with amp sim or cab IR + IEM and I must say that it likely sounds great out front but as far as me monitoring how I sound through IEM you can stick it where the sun doesn't shine! This is likely something to do with the desk set up and/or the PA owner/operator (said guitarist) but either way I am 1 or 2 gigs away from telling him/them to just deal with my backline as that's what I'll be using in future.