mike257

[quote name='Bobby K' timestamp='1346240488' post='1786825'] I'm just glad it's over - it was a logistical nightmare with all the streets cordoned off and the bollards raised etc. Our gigs were great on the Sunday and Monday - just wish we could've been beamed in and out of there, Star Trek stylee!! As for the cancellation thing on the last day - very odd [/quote] Glad your gigs went well - I used to play with Liam, he's a guitar wizard! I've got to agree with the cancellation - I was setting up a rig for an outdoor event in Runcorn and when the weather kicked off we insisted to the organisers that it be moved inside. It just wasn't safe, for the performers, large crowds, or our PA kit that got very soggy very fast! Apparently there were 35mph winds coming in, and the stage was drenched and a slippery nightmare within about 10 minutes of the rain starting. Wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of an insurance claim if somebody had gone on their arse or fried themselves on our stage!

I think these magazines seem to run out of ideas and feature the same names over and over - probably worse in the guitar magazines. I have an occasional flick when I see them on the supermarket shelves, but Slash, Vai, Eric Johnson and a bunch of old blues guys just seem to take shifts doing the covers for them all. I think there's far more value in the real human opinions and input you get from discussing the topics on a place like this, I can't see those kind of niche publications lasting much longer unless they can offer something unique that isn't available elsewhere. When you can interact directly with a lot of big name players through social media, listening to them trot out the same formulaic interview to a magazine just isn't appealing.

I find I prefer heavy, hammer-action keys when playing piano type parts and sounds, but feel restricted by the weighted feel when getting my synth on - something about those light touch keys feels more 'right' for bouncing synth parts around. You're doing the right thing by looking for a keyboard where the action is comfortable for you, but look for something that suits all of the playing styles/approaches you need. For what it does, I don't think you can go far wrong with a Nord Electro, I've never heard one played and been disappointed by it. The laptop/controller route is also a good option, and not a massive hit on the portability front. A MacBook will do a decent job for you (pick up a used one and save some dollar!) and is lightweight enough - you'll never run out out of options for sounds and can pair it with whichever controller feels best for you. You could even pick up both - get a Nord Electro, use it for the awesome old school keyboard sounds, and MIDI it up to your laptop to control soft synths for everything else. Winner. If you want to go small, there's tons of info on the web's various pro audio forums about using netbooks for audio tasks, so you should be able to find which ones are recommended and exactly what they are and aren't capable of. Have fun!

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' timestamp='1345016243' post='1772257'] I'd just like to understand where 'jaw-droppingly great' sits. Does it have the kind of playability and tone that PRS and the Gibson custom shop can only envy, or is it more (as I suspect) a decent working guitar that plays well and sounds good for that type of instrument? I've a feeling I've played a GS once or twice, and they seemed OK, but somewhere between a Shergold I once owned (uh-ho) and a JJ (nice) I still have. For the price I'd say they are good, but I'd like to hear how you're making that assessment. Not tying to be contentious or argumentative, just to understand. [/quote] Sorry AM, only just spotted this, hectic work schedule has meant infrequent BC visits lately. I would put it at least on an even standing with the Gibson Custom Shop 335 that the guitarist in my next band owned, for both tone and playability. You could tell it was built with real attention to detail, the fit, finish and setup were superb, and the tone was fantastic. It certainly didn't feel like there were any compromises made in its construction or choice of parts. It was a pretty early build though, and apparently a prototype from before the Galaxy model went into regular production, so I don't know how much difference there would be in a brand new one. A beautifully made guitar though, that I wouldn't hesitate to put alongside the better offerings from the 'big' names. The same guy also owned a second Gordon Smith (a Les Paul DC-style) which he kept as a backup. Whilst not as mind-bendingly lovely as his Galaxy, it was certainly a well made instrument and from the little time I spent playing it and hearing it in action it seemed to be a quality piece of kit that probably fell under your second category.

I'm a tapdancer with my guitar board, and the more it grows, the more I'm tempted to pick up a Line 6 M-series to make my life simpler. Like many others, I'm not totally sold on the drive sounds yet, but keep coming back to the idea of an M9 to replace all my mod/reverb/delay effects. I think I'm too attached to my Deluxe Memory Boy to take the plunge yet! I think I'd have to live with one for a while and see how I felt before replacing all my drive pedals with it too - but I couldn't afford one without selling them first, so I guess I'm stuck with the giant board of doom for now!

I've skirted around the edge of Mathew Street this weekend on sound engineering duty - ended up behind the desk in the Krazyhouse for an AC/DC tribute band on Saturday, and a 6 band punk show on Sunday (part of a three venue, weekend long "F**k Mathew Street" festival run by a local label as a backlash to all the tribute/cover acts on the main fezzy). I escaped a few miles south for an all-day charity festival in Runcorn on the Monday, where the heavens opened just after we'd rigged up fifty grands worth of PA kit on an outdoor stage. Luckily (unlike Mathew Street) we managed to quickly reshuffle the event indoors, and proceeded to rattle the windows of a sports club function room with an absurdly powerful (and thoroughly over-specced for the venue swap) rig! Heard mixed feelings about Mathew St - many (most) guys/gals in local original bands look down on it as another example of the local council/tourism crowd overlooking new local talent in favour of cabaret shenanigans, but a mate of mine in a Pearl Jam tribute band had a blinder of a show with a massive crowd on the main stage and understandably loved it. How nice the view is all depends where you're sitting, I guess! I was just happy to be probably the only sound engineer in Liverpool to have a full weekend of work booked in over the festival weekend yet not hear/mix a single Beatles song! Not that I don't like them, but christ, for those three days you can't escape them!

I'm doing two or three decent paying function gigs a month at the moment and about to pick up a second function band. Also got on the list for a few dep slots, so things seem to be picking up at this end. The 'give up the day job and play music' plan is slowly taking shape!

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1344946525' post='1771433'] I'd 2nd this. I picked up a GS Gypsy on here a couple of months ago and I'm sold on them. [/quote] And a 3rd - guitarist I've worked with has a pre-production prototype GS Galaxy and it's a jaw-droppingly great guitar.

I guess they're saying if you can't fit one in there comfortably without the pre-amp, you've got no chance of doing it once its fitted. There's so many little variations in jazz-style bodies, the rout for the controls won't always be the same depth, have to see how you get on with shoving a Duracell under your current control plate!

I've got a set of ER20 and they are a lifesaver, especially when I'm doing sound and there's a DJ blaring metal through the club system while I'm setting up/down on stage! Definitely want to invest in moulds though. Drummer I work with has a set of moulded ones, you can swap out 15 or 25 db filters or IEMs - he ordered online and they made an appointment for him to get moulds at the audiology dept in our local hospital, do that might be another option for anyone struggling to find a local ear-plugging establishment!

Wouldn't flightcase my big bass rig, its enough of s lift already - as others have said, its just not worth it for a little club tour in a splitter van. Having said that, I've been tempted to get a flightcase for my guitar cab just so I've got something handy to stand it on at gigs, need to get it closer to my ears!

I think he's had a lot of chances already, but if you're young guys still at school you haven't got tons of pressure on you to get it completely sussed out right now. Is they guy a good friend? If he is, then give him a chance but be frank and honest with him - let him know that you guys don't want him as a frontman and are happy on your own instruments, and make it clear that he needs to improve. If you haven't told him outright, he may not realise what you guys are thinking. Put the recording on hold for a little bit and see if he shows any improvement in his attitude and take it from there. Of course, if he's not a mate and he's just a guy who turns up to play drums, tell him to take a hike and get on with getting things done properly!

I think in heavier music like that there isn't a lot of space to get widdly and simple root playing will often be what the song needs. Stripping things even further back with lots of space and emphasis on certain beats to push the groove can work well, and also give you space to usr a bigger, fatter tone. I like to go for impact more than anything with that kind of style. Where are the important notes/pulses in the riffs? Pound on them and let the guitars wind their way around the beats you and the drummer are pushing, when you do come in for some big unison riffing, it'll sound that much bigger for you having left the space beforehand. It makes it about the power and the impact of the whole band rather than how much each player can squeeze in.

I've never found it a big deal, although it's always been a case of the band playing in a particular tuning, and the most I've had to shift mid-set is down to drop D and back (or drop C# - same difference!). I can imagine using multiple tunings in one set would be a ballache, and that's why rockstars have a rack of guitars and a hairy bloke in a dirty t-shirt to hand them the right one. I'd be happy to take two instruments to a gig to cover it off, although the Morpheus Droptune/Capo pedals or a Whammy DT could be a lighter and less expensive solution for some people. If it makes the band sound better it's worth the minor (IMO, of course) inconvenience.

A friend of mine runs CDS in Chelmsford and does some great sounding stuff - go check out Fei Comodo on YouTube, have a listen to their recent singles. Top stuff and he knows his metal too. EDIT: Here's a link, was on mobile before! [url="https://www.facebook.com/pages/CDS-STUDIOS/117434231617766?sk=info"]https://www.facebook.com/pages/CDS-STUDIOS/117434231617766?sk=info[/url]

[quote name='krysh' timestamp='1344290431' post='1762452'] forget the pilot on the floor: and for rehearsal/recording the rig on the right: [/quote] Love that big red Guild semi, don't think I've seen one of them before. Did you build the amp yourself?

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1344009615' post='1758704'] Forget the left hand side of the picture and concentrate on the Moog on the right [/quote] Lovely stuff - is that your Jacko tour setup? Are you using the laptop for synth sounds too, or is the Moog doing all the heavy lifting?

There's plenty of us here dabbling in other instruments so I thought we should have a thread of our own for our rigs - guitar, keys, drums, xylophone - whatever you're rocking out on, stick it in here! Here's my guitar toys to start us off - the nice UPS man just turned up with my Orange cab this morning so thought it was time for a photo. I've not tried the it with the new cab yet (sleeping baby son in the next room!) but think it's going to bring my old Carlsbro 50 Top head to life!

I used to have a Korg DTR-1000, great tuners. I had a mute footswitch on the floor for it though, and eventually decided that if I was going to have something on the floor anyway, it might as well just be the tuner!

Also, it's likely that the output for your PC speakers from the soundcard is a standard two channel stereo signal, and that the speaker system will have a crossover that splits the low frequencies for both channels and sends them to the subwoofer. If the jack that plugs from your speakers to the soundcard is TRS (two black stripes around it, if you're not sure) then it's two channel/stereo and you can follow OBBM's suggestion about running everything to the mixer, and the speakers from the mixer's main outputs.

The DI output on your amp should come before the master volume in the circuit - just turn the master volume right down on your amp, and you should get no more sound from the bass amp but still have a signal passing to your mixer

Drums was the first instrument I ever dabbled with - I love playing them now whenever I get the chance and recently picked up a cheap electric kit to get some extra practice in. I think the drumming informs my bass playing, guitar and songwriting in a big way - makes me extremely conscious of rhythm and how everything fits around it. I think learning more about music in any form can only be a good thing, and picking up another instrument can inspire your playing in new directions - give it a try!

There's a Silverstone cover on the Orange cab I've just grabbed on t'eBay - judging from this thread, I won't be picking up a matching one for my head! Off to Roqsolid for me then.

Old thread bump - did anyone else go in for this? Got my email this evening to confirm I've got one of the guitar slots so I'll be amongst the unwashed masses with my six-string. Be seeing any fellow BC'ers there? Mike