mike257

Excellent stuff! I keep missing chances to use them. X32 all this weekend for me! Does the job for the gig it's on though.

I've got three of the TT1 incoming for xmas (i'd stuck the triple pack on my Amazon wish list so i'd remember to buy it after seeing it for under fifty quid and my mum only went and bought it for me, bless her!) and looking forward to giving them a run out. If they're half as good as internet wisdom claims then they'll be great all-rounders to top up the mic box.

Used a QU for the first time last week - was on a last minute gig so didn't have time to do any homework. Found it pretty straight forward to walk up to though. Didn't have time to get fully in to the available features (had to build the stage, rig the lighting and then just get the hell on with it!) but the important stuff was easy enough to find. I think I'd still take an M32/X32 given the choice - the QU doesn't appear to have the same flexibility in routing and effects use. Would have no problem using one if it was on offer though! The S21 does look ace, I was booked in for training when they had it at Adlib recently but ended up having to go cover a gig. Feedback I've heard has been positive though!

If you can stretch to £35-£45 per mic, then grabbing some second hand AKG D5 would be my choice. They're my go-to live vocal mic and I prefer them to my Shure Beta 58A. On a tighter budget, Thomann's own brand "T-Bone" mics are generally pretty decent for cheapies and their Beta58-a-like is just over £20.

[quote name='4-string-thing' timestamp='1448040420' post='2912645'] The support band were called Marseille, I think..... They were bobbins too. [/quote] Neil "Art Attack" Buchanan's band, he's the lead guitarist - he got them back together for a tour a couple of years back! [quote name='KevB' timestamp='1448969398' post='2919621'] Ha! See post #129, that's 3 of us that remember them and probably all from the same gig [/quote] Add me to that list, what a shocker Chicks On Speed were, and I remember Fruiscante's telling off of the crowd for booing them. James Brown was great though, I'd have happily just watched him and then gone home! [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1449005875' post='2920079'] Sounds like The Game. [/quote] Damn you Kiwi!!!! One of my worst gigs is one of my favourite bands who (unsurprisingly) have already had a couple of mentions. They've also been responsible for two of the best gigs I've seen though - Smashing Pumpkins. I saw them at Leeds 2007 as a back-to-back double header with Nine Inch Nails, which all together was four of the best hours of my life, blew me away. When they announced a UK tour shortly afterwards, I rounded up a bunch of mates, raving to them about how incredible the Leeds headline set was. What we got in the MEN that night was like watching a different band. Long, dragged out jams that went nowhere in the middle of songs, solos that mostly consisted of tuneless feedback and Billy Corgan looking like he'd rather have been anywhere other than on that stage. I was gutted. Such a disappointment. Saw them one more time since in a much smaller venue (Manc Academy 1) and they were absolutely incredible!

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1449408197' post='2923226'] Sorry Dad - disagree - if you are forking out money to do a gig you are paying to play regardless of how you define "self-promotion" - it has nothing to do with buying your own instruments etc. The equation is simple: We are being paid to do a gig = not paying to play We have to front the money to play the gig = paying to play [/quote] Couldn't disagree more here, from my own experience at least. The last properly ambitious originals band I was in (a good eight years since it split, which has crept up quick!) got to a point fairly swiftly where we could pull 300-500 in to a hometown show. We did a lot of supports for touring acts, but when it came to our own shows we decided we were better served acting as the promoter and hiring the venue, promoting the show, booking the other bands ourselves. We put a fair deal together for other bands, booked people we knew were capable of bringing their own crowd in and worked our balls off to market the shows. We'd have significant up front costs in terms of venue hire, printing flyers/posters, buying in merchandise etc, but it was profitable enough for us that it funded us playing all over the country and making the band pay for itself. You can call these things "paying to play" if you want, but what these guys are doing by hiring a venue etc for a show is taking ownership of their gigs - this comes with an increased responsibility to make it a success, and an element of financial risk, but if you're doing it right then the reward is also much much greater. Why let someone else pocket a pile of cash from your music [b]if[/b] (and that's the big 'un) you have the ability, resources and time to do the job yourself?

Gigs of that scale have a bit more kit to shift about that your average night at the Dog and Duck, although there's a fair few more hands on deck to do it! There's a lot more happens in terms of making sure everything is ready and working perfectly before the headliners hit the stage though.

I have the guitar equivalent (Venue 100 Lead) in the garage, it was my first guitar amp. Bought second hand for £100 in the late 90's. They were a low end solid state model so don't get excited about "vintage" Vox prices or anything! Mine had a passable clean sound and went loud as hell. Last couple I've seen sold have been sub £100.

The missus is a photography lecturer at a local college and a vintage film camera buff, sure she'd find a use for these. Let me know how much you'd want to stick them in the post and I'll PayPal it over

In fact, I've just looked and the QU series will all do this too!

Have you looked into an M/X32 or the new Digico S21? Onboard USB interfaces for recording with no extra kit needed.

The main difference with the MFX over the EFX is an extra monitor send if I remember rightly. The Soundcraft Ui16 certainly has a lot of functionality for the price, so long as 12 inputs is going to be enough (and for pubs/functions with a typical band line up it probably will be) but I would 100% recommend using an external router and not depending on the inbuilt WiFi. I've used one for small conference jobs at a sound company I freelance for and have had massive show-stopping problems with the onboard networking. On our second unit from Soundcraft and this one has had bigger issues than the first. In terms of features and interface I think it's a great little box but the WiFi really lets it down.

I've read about people building themselves a little drum riser out of wood/foam/rockwool or seating something on halved tennis balls to isolate the vibration from the floor, won't reduce the perceived sound in the room for you but should stop it rattling through the walls to everyone above and below you!

The one that always springs to mind for me is Limp Bizkit. I think Wes Borland is a massively creative guitarist, some of the melodies, textures and tones he comes out with are just brilliant. Rhythm section are clearly both VERY capable players with lots of chops between them. That red-hatted buffoon of a frontman makes them completely unbearable for me though. Couldn't ever bring myself to own an album or see a show, I stick to respecting the musicians from a safe distance!

I'm a massive fan of the aforementioned D5 and currently have four in my mic case. Use them regularly on male and female vocals and they sound great with very little EQ fiddling needed. Can be found cheaply second hand if you keep your eye out. I'll probably pick up a couple more. Pretty certain I'll be moving on my Shure and Beyer vocal mics. They also work well on instruments, I've had them on guitar amps with good results and they're not too shabby on drums either.

I'm a big fan of the D5 too, got four in my mic box and they're my go-to live vocal mic when I'm mixing bands. Nice tight pickup pattern so will minimise spill from the kit and hopefully give you a bit more gain before feedback to play with too.

I've done it with clean bass and with an octaver, depending on what I've got in front of me (we've been sneaking it in at weddings with the Motown band and I don't pack a pedalboard for those gigs), my scientific measurements suggest it makes no difference to the amount of punters dancing to it. Vocals make this song, and if you collectively get your heads around both the doubling of the bassline and the various bits of verses (some lines are group vocal, some are call and response, and the pattern isn't the same in each verse) and nail that down it'll help with the dynamic of the song far more than worrying about the bass tone will!

I'll take a few requests within reason for wedding/corporate bookings. Some bands I've been with have charged for anything more than a couple of extra songs. If they see your standard repertoire and still want to change most of it then they're probably booking the wrong band! Of course, in these situations it's usually the bride and groom indulging their own tastes and a standard function set would probably go down better with the rest of the guests anyway!

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1440177660' post='2848921'] My brain immediately leans towards Lousiana/New Orleans/Cajun references for some reason: Molasses Chicken Grease Gumbo Black & Gold The Crawfish [/quote] I do sound for Black & Gold every few weeks, and there's a Manchester and Brighton incarnations of them run by the same agency, so that's probably off.

The first RATM album has aged pretty well in my opinion. It was a big influence on me bass-wise when I first started playing too, there's some massive grooves and great riffs on there. Their last release, Renegades, is full of goodies too. It's covers of artists that influenced the band, but reinterpreted in their own style. There's everything from classic hip hop tunes to Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, MC5 and Minor Threat, and a mighty, riff-laden version of Tom Joad for good measure.

Another happy Thumper owner here, although from the Wizard days.

I'm not sure if I scuppered myself learning to play right handed. It never occurred to me to pick up a guitar/bass any other way - it was only when I sat behind a lefty drum kit that it made sense as I'm far more comfortable and capable behind a kit that way round, despite efforts to play the "right" way.

Think you've made the right choice, the Glockenklang kit is great. I have one in my Sandberg and can't say enough good things about it. As for having too many options, I'm not really one for fiddling mid gig, but I find it makes the bass versatile enough that I can dial in a tone for any situation pretty quickly. In my old alt-country band I used passive mode with flats on the bass and predominantly just neck pickup for a warm and wooly old school thump, if I'm playing noisy rock then the active gives me just the right amount of bite with a little eq tweak tweak. You don't have to fiddle all the time, but you don't have to take three basses to a session for tonal variety either!

Think my former band got some plays on the local Beeb station out of it. The guy responsible there does keep his head in the local scene and there's a fair amount of local acts doing live sessions. We went in for one, although I foolishly assumed the BBC of all people would expect (and have the facility) to DI a bass when bringing a band in for an acoustic session. Apparently I should have taken an amp. A band I tech for did go in and do a 6music session at Media City in Salford, they were a little more clued up in there!