mike257

I've always kept it fairly simple for metal. The guitars have had plenty of dirt on them already, so I'm more in the 'keep it simple' camp. My special brew was a Stingray 3EQ with new strings straight into my SVT3 - the only drive was coming from the amp tone, which gave it enough bite for the attack to make its mark amongst the guitar tones. Always left my dirt pedals at home!

There's a bass-specific model, Bass Big Muff which should give you some nice thick tones, although many people have used the ordinary Big Muff with varying degrees of success. The loss of low end with the non-bass model can be a problem depending on the rest of your setup. Might be worth a punt if the rest of the trade suits you, and you could always dispose of it in the classifieds or on ebay/Gumtree if you don't get on with it - there's always demand for them as they are a popular one with guitarists too.

All over the latest Foo Fighters album too, Pat Smear used one for the majority of his parts - using it live too,really thickens the sound out, guess it helps keep the three guitars out of each others way too.

[quote name='merchant' timestamp='1329956291' post='1550561'] Oh no, it's got even more complicated. I have no idea what the impedance of my pick up system is, but intend to run the pedal after fuzz as I don't want the change in volume to alter the characteristics and response of the distortion, so i'll be looking at a low impedance pedal (I assume). Would be great if pedal manufacturers could include a trim pot inside to change the impedance so we could taylor the pedal to it's position in a chain. Plus I need a pedal that is visually quiet. Some of these beasts are hard to ignore. Oh well. [/quote] Impedance is only really an issue with passive (unpowered) pedals. An active pedal like the George Dennis I mentioned in my last post will happily sit anywhere in your chain regardless of the impedance on either side of it.

Just bought a pedal from Rich, great fella to deal with and got it out to me super fast too. Top bloke, deal with him with confidence!

Even on no pay originals gigs, I decided back in my teens that pre gig pints were out. Did it once, and I feel like even one pint can make a noticeable (to me) difference toy playing and awareness, so I don't bother. Would never do it on a payer. Bit of a moot point these days as I own a Splitter van so I'm invariably the one behind the wheel, but I just consider it a professionalism thing. Not judging anyone who sees it differently mind you, I've worked with guys who are useless after a beer, but also with guys who regularly put on a stellar performance after imbibing plenty. I guess it's down to the individual and them having awareness of how it affects their abilities.

I imagine the velcro that is included with pedal boards is cheap and cheerful stuff. You can buy heavy duty velcro from a couple of the big brands (Velcro, 3M) and a plethora of ebay sellers. An effects crazy guitarist I play with sometimes is a firm advocate of the "drill and cable tie" method because he doesn't have to stick anything to his pedals, pry the feet off etc, so they stay in better condition for when he inevitably sells them on for the next one! Another option is using screw fasteners - Johnnyshredfreak.com sell kits to fit a wide variety of pedals. Basically they're little washers with two holes (like a number 8) and you remove the screws from the base of your pedal, screw them back in with these washers attached, then screw through the second hole on the washer into your board. In fact, here's a link: [url="http://www.johnnyshredfreak.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=44"]http://www.johnnyshredfreak.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=44[/url] Plenty of options, sticky or otherwise!

Oh how I wished for a room with a window when I was in Elevator Nice vid, sounds great!

Another vote for second hand here. If you're looking at a serious move into function work, hopefully you'll be swiftly moving up to weddings/corporate stuff and I'd aim to get something upgradeable. For me, that means avoiding powered speakers or mixers and going for separate mixer/amps/cabs. That way, you can put cash aside every few gigs and upgrade a piece at a time whilst retaining connectivity and compatibility with the other parts of your system. I can't help but see powered speakers as dead money when it comes to upgrading as you're effectively having to replace two components in one if you need something bigger.

Needs more checkerboard!

Yeah, I had assumed from the OP that this would be a young-ish originals band. Any band asking you to audition playing covers should have been able to tell you at least a couple of songs they'd be doing before the event, surprised at this one and its not what I'd call the normal way of doing things!

Didn't see this when you first posted it, looks great. Will be downloading when I fix my PC!

Glad to hear its working out! Just had a quick look at a pic of the ME70, it has a master EQ section so you can always up the bass a bit on there to compensate for anything you feel is missing. I take it you're recording from the "Rec Out/Phones" connection? Have you tried using the different pre-amp models to see which gives the best results? I would imagine the "Clean" setting or bypassing the preamp modelling altogether would give the best results for bass tone - I would probably try to get the cleanest possible signal into Garageband and then use some of the plugins to perfect the bass tone. Looking forward to hearing it!

Seems unusual, I've been in touch with hin a few times in the last couple of years, sometimes for pickups and sometimes just to pick his brain but he's always got back to me pretty quickly. It's a one man business as far as I know though, so its possible that there's nobody picking up the slack if he's unavailable for any reason. Might be worth giving him a quick ring if you don't hear back.

I got mine on eBay for £450 a few years ago, have seen them go here on Basschat for a similar price too - just had a quick look and there's one on eBay now starting at £500 with no bids yet and a couple of days to run. I don't think I've ever seen a second hand one listed above £550 so fingers crossed one will pop up sooner or later - a wanted post on here might help you out if that is what you're after!

If you can add an extra £100 to your budget you'll be able to pick up a used Ampeg SVT610HLF - two speakers shy of what you're looking for but has the classic 'big rig' looks, is surprisingly easy to move around, and sounds fantastic. I traded in a 4x10 and a 15 for mine and never looked back, the bottom end from it is massive. They seem to go between £450 and £550 so are a little over your MAG budget but will hold their s/h value and (I'd guess) sound even better. Just something worth thinking about.

Won't do your fx any damage with a bass, although as said above they may not sound great - some guitar effects sound great with bass though, don't be afraid to experiment! The problem with bass through guitar amps is more to do with the speakers and the amount of power needed to produce the low end. Most guitar amps will handle bass well enough at lower volumes but struggle when pushed harder - there are exceptions though!

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1330694354' post='1561714'] I do it with my band and we're tight. I only start pedalling the hats if there's a very long section with no beat, or if the guitarist gets a little too excited, which is almost never. [/quote] That's what I mean - long sections with no drums need something from the drummer to keep you in with the click!

[quote name='shizznit' timestamp='1330690951' post='1561624'] IWe notice that the singers drag the tempo's down during breaks in the songs if we don't use a click which really winds up the other musicians. The only bummer about that is that you need the drummer to do something to keep time to ensure they have a timing reference [/quote] That's the one thing I forgot in my last post - drummer has [i]always [/i]got to be playing something, so even in the bits where the drums drop out, he's got to give you a bit of hi-hat or something to keep in time with. Forget about that and it all goes tits up!

A more suitably sized/shaped desk definitely sounds like a plan - I went for the desk with the biggest surface area I could find so I could get my screen, monitors, midi keyboard, mixer and preamp all set up on there, but from the sound of your setup it's all pretty compact and you could get away with a smaller workspace. If you get one with a slidey keyboard tray, maybe think about using that for your UX1, hard drive and other occasional bits, and leave the keyboard on the desk top - that way, your music gear isn't in the way when you just need to use the computer for browsing/work, but you can leave it all cabled up and just slide it out when required. Bedroom definitely sounds like the place for it though, that's what I've done when i've shared a flat. Lucky enough now that I'm sharing a house with the missus that she lets me take over the back room with music gear (even claimed a piano on freecycle!) but I know how tricky it can be when you're in a small place.

[quote name='Oopsdabassist' timestamp='1330690490' post='1561610'] WTF??? Am I missing something here? [/quote] PVC + spare hair = instant chest rug!