Bottle

I would seriously consider the M-Audio Fast-Track Pro or something similar (plus it has MIDI in and out, which you might find useful with your VBass unit). I've been using mine for the last year with headphones and/or monitor speakers (M-Audio BX8a) - works a treat with Windows Media Player, VLC, Youtube and iTunes for practice. Plus I can record tracks using Audacity if I want for later reference. I'm assuming the 3.5mm input is for an iPod or something? If you hook up your iPod to your PC/laptop with the USB cable you can playout using iTunes directly. Then you can use the interface for playing along to the iPod tracks, has hardware monitoring as well so minimal latency. HTH, Ian

[quote name='lanark' post='795799' date='Apr 4 2010, 04:30 PM']I just need something to have in the gig bag for when the PA guy doesn't come with any (has happened twice recently) - don't need it to be wonderful, just split the signal so I can send separate inputs to the mixer and to my stage monitor.[/quote] As a lot of people have already mentioned - Behringer DI-100 will do the job easily. If you're after a bit more flexibility, then the SansAmp will be great (BDDI or the Paradriver) - the Behringer BDI21 is a clone (won't run off phantom-power, tho'). And sack the PA guy - who on Earth turns up to do PA for a gig [i]twice[/i] without a DI box? HTH, Ian

[quote name='Pookus' post='790948' date='Mar 30 2010, 07:10 PM']Wow, thanks Ian. Just what I needed.[/quote] No worries. Hope it works for you. [quote]Both pick ups are the standard Sidewinder Humbucker on an EB0.[/quote] OK - I noticed the EB0 doesn't have a coil-tap option, so I'm going out on a limb here, guessing that the there's only the hot wire and the ground brought out of the pickup (piccies would help!). If it's four-wires (plus ground), or four-wires-with-two-soldered-together, then you have an option for including a coil-tap (at a later date if you wish). Had a quick Google for the pickup wiring but nothing popped up immediately. [quote]I've got a multimeter, maybe I can check the impedance of the pick ups with that? Cheers. [/quote] Yep, that'll work. As long as they're in the same ballpark - when they're in parallel the volume should be balanced-ish HTH, Ian

This might do the job (see attached - just a quick pen 'n' ink sketch). Does depend on how well the pickups are matched - if one has a significantly different impedance, you may have to put a blend pot between the two pickups to balance the volume. Are both pickups single-coil? Also, you'll need a three-way switch - on/on/on with a centre detent. HTH, Ian

[quote name='martinbass7750' post='790363' date='Mar 30 2010, 10:41 AM']EBS make 4 ohm cabs![/quote] They do indeedy - I've got two of them (see my sig). Unfortunately, my GK head doesn't go down to 2 Ohms (well, it will, but you'll be letting out the 'magic smoke' fairly rapidly!) I'm using my PA amp as a slave amp driven from the Effects Send on the GK so it can give me 500w + 400w. Also this combination gives me the flexibility to drive my 4x10 from my SansAmp giving me some grit, and the clean signal goes to the 1x15 (or I can swap everything round as well) Only downside is that the cabs are not light....... IIRC ~88lbs / 41Kg for the 4x10 and ~65lbs / 30Kg for the 1x15 @ Sarah - have you considered the lightweight cabs route i.e Barefaced + Class D head (GK, Genz, Markbass, TC etc)? I know it's probably outside your budget, though! I'm just thinking a Vintage (4Ohm) and a 500w head might do to start with? HTH, Ian

Just bought Family Jewels by Marina and the Diamonds - giving it a spin ATM

I tried to do this with my Toshiba laptop running XP SP3, but was less than impressed with the results, so I opted to get a USB interface (M-Audio Fast-Track Pro). Works well, has two combo inputs (Mic/Line), various routing options, and has decent latency-free hardware monitoring. Coupled with a pair of BX8a monitors, it makes a decent substitute for my full bass rig - plus I can hook up headphones for quiet practice and play-along with my iPod/iTunes. I can also hook up my SansAmp to the XLR input, so I can try out various settings without going overboard with the volume. Anyway, hope this helps. Ian

I'll echo what Mark has written above - we've used Senns and Shure wireless IEM packs. Professional in-ear-canal buds are exceedingly expensive, but they do work. I've used them, but they irritated my ear canal so dropped them in favour of my iPod buds, but found out fairly quickly they've got no bass extension and fart out too easily. Tried closed back headphones, but look a bit silly wearing them whilst playing in a hall - fine if you're in the studio, though . Our current PA desk has six auxes - we can send four of them pre-fade to four separate channels of wireless IEM, so our musicians can have separate mixes i.e lead vox/guitar, BV, rhythm section i.e me and the drummer, rhythm gtr etc, keys + w/wind. Also we can push an aux through a separate fader for a general wedge mix for whoever is leading (drummer can have the same mix or we sometimes run a second wedge mix). Anyway, have a look around - there's some threads on the forum already. HTH, Ian

Ellie Goulding - Lights. Picked the album up at lunchtime. Giving a spin at the moment. So far, so good

[quote name='Jamesemt' post='777012' date='Mar 17 2010, 09:12 AM']If I buy those, connect to a suitable output on my amp and buy an inline volume control for the earphones ...erm is that it?[/quote] [quote name='Happy Jack' post='777031' date='Mar 17 2010, 09:25 AM']Sort of, but probably not. If your amp has a 'Headphones Out' socket then yes, you can plug your IEM in there ... but that will almost certainly kill the speaker output! There are exceptions, of course, and the Eden WTX series springs to mind.[/quote] My Gallien Krueger has a dedicated Line out/Headphone out - doesn't disconnect the main output. Haven't used it yet, mostly because I send a DI feed to the PA desk and get an in-ear mix in return. I'm looking at splitting it so that I get bass-only in one ear, and mix-minus-bass in the other ear. I'll see how that goes this weekend [quote]How do you go on with the wires? Feed them down the back of your shirt?[/quote] Sometimes, especially if I use ear buds. Other times, if I'm using closed-back headphones (during recording etc) I'll just clip the belt-pack on and leave the cord dangling or clipped onto my strap. HTH, Ian PS, there's a couple of threads on here discussing IEMs if that helps

Saturdays work best for me - I'm normally playing or PA-ing Sundays at my local church. But if given plenty of notice I can usually swap on the rota. I have a weekend event at the end of April, but apart from that, don't have anything else planned for May or June, so should be able to pop along Good stuff!! Ian

[quote name='Krysbass' post='770333' date='Mar 10 2010, 01:10 PM']About a quarter of my music collection is classical and Classic FM tends to be the radio station I listen to most at home[/quote] I don't have much classical music in my collection (my parents do though) - but I listen to CFM in the car - so much better than anything the BBC puts out. It's great for soothing a fraught commute! Ian

Long time since I've been to see a live orchestra - you would have thought living near Cambridge I'd be doing it all the time, but no. Remember seeing a really talented violinist / school orchestra when I was at school, performing Vaughan-Williams 'The Lark Ascending' and 'Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis' - magical stuff. I've got the ASV Platinum CD recording done sometime ago, and that always lifts me up when I'm feeling a bit down. It's always rewarding listening to an absolutely stellar performance through a good hi-fi Suffolk Sinfonia is always great - usually in the cathedral in Bury St. Edmunds, acoustic is wonderful there. Just throwing my hat in the ring Ian

Just bought the EBS 1x15 cab off of CarlSim - top bloke indeed . Had a nice chat and a noodle. However, having cured my bass cab GAS, I've replaced it with custom-bass-type GAS Still, all-in-all a very satisfying way to spend a Saturday lunchtime! Can't wait to take the cab out to a gig and give it the beans. Ian

My Squier is a bit of a halfway-house - it's a PJ configuration in a P-body, but with a Jazz neck. Plays very well though. Sandberg do a whole menagerie of different models - P+J, P+MM, J+MM Ian

I've played this (badly, I might add!!) through my Digitech envelope pedal and got a good approximation to Lenny's effect - not perfect but close enough for Government work I've tried fiddling around with the settings - I would try using the effect-only output into a clean channel, and pass the normal signal through to a SansAmp for the grittier parts in the verse for example, or blend the two together. Anyway, that's inspired me to go away and learn the part again. Been a while since I've played it! Let us know how it pans out Ian

[quote name='Telebass' post='740399' date='Feb 9 2010, 09:44 PM']Does anyone here use this method as their basic tuning, down to D-G-C-F ?[/quote] Yes!!!! (See my siggie) Seriously, tried drop-tuning my Ibanez (DADG), but found I was messing all my standard shapes up in this tuning, so when I got the Squier, the first thing was to down-tune the whole bass so it's still tuned in perfect 4ths (quick trussrod adjustment, kept the standard strings on). Main reason for this is a lot of the music we play in church benefits from me being able to play the low D if in the key of Amaj or F#m (which is a lot!!) or Dmaj (can play the open string as a root note then go to the 3rd, 5th and octave relatively easily). Still, if I went back to a 5 string I might have to look at ADGCF (or possibly a 4 string tuned ADGC) - it allows some extra flexibility without sacrificing a lot at the far end of the fretboard (who really goes above the 20th fret anyway? ) Anyway, YMMV. Give it a try! HTH, Ian

Had an Ibanez ATK-305 for a while - solid, well-made bass (I couldn't get on with the string spacing, but YMMV), can do the MM sound pretty well with the triple-coil pickup. Should have given it longer to get to grips with, so I've moved it on, but it was down at the 'budget end' - around 350 quid new, should be able to pick one up s/h without too much trouble. HTH Ian

I'm still in - but my weekends now through to March are starting to get filled up! Plus I know of at least one weekend in April (23rd - 25th) where I'm going to be involved in PA at my church in Cambridge. Should be able to bring my main rig (GK head / EBS cab), plus whatever other goodies I get in the meantime! Hope to see you guys there Ian

Just throwin' my tuppence in I'll echo most of the comments above about string spacing - had an Ibanez ATK 5'er up until September. Biggest issue for me was the weight and the string spacing. Best to get to a shop and try out several different models of five-string - there'll be at least one that's a natural fit for your playing style. [quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' post='707253' date='Jan 9 2010, 11:42 PM']Was thinking of getting one of my other basses adjusted in a shop to be permanently B E A D , and selling my 5.[/quote] Decided to get another four-stringer instead (the Squier) and down tuned it to DGCF, which caters for most situations. Still miss those low notes, though, so I'm GAS'ing for another four-string tuned BEAD or ADGC - maybe my next purchase . Anyway, YMMV. I found with the 5'er that I wasn't using the top G string nearly as much - ended up going to the dusty end of the fretboard more often than not, so a bass tuned BEAD maybe a viable solution.

Few ideas I've just made up here: Medicine Bow Last Train from Medicine Hat Quad-Core Junkies Ben Dover and the Reach-Arounds The Windoze Seven Take yer pick! Ian

[quote name='KevB' post='708609' date='Jan 11 2010, 10:28 AM']+1 Having heard someone playing a squier p special at a jam session and finding out it was as bought with original PU's I decided to take a punt on one. 180 quid delivered and was totally playable straight out of the box. If I need an extra bass in an odd tuning or whatever this will be perfect for the job. Better than I expected.[/quote] Great stuff - glad you like it!! Mine required very little in the way of setting up - just a truss rod adjustment to counter the lower string tension due to my mad desire for a D-Standard tuning. Works great though, and the bass is otherwise stock - original pups 'n' all . Maybe an upgrade path there - Delano's or Wizzards or EMGs? Ian

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='705381' date='Jan 8 2010, 12:46 PM']How are 4 x 10 cabs normally wired? (eg: 400W Hartke 410 cab) Is it 4 x 8ohm speakers wired in S+P to give 8 Ohm total resistance?[/quote] Yep, if the total impedance is 8 Ohm, then that would be the most likely scenario (alternative is 4x 32 Ohm drivers all wired in parallel) [quote]Is it possible to rewire them to give a total 4 Ohm impedance thus get more power from the amp?[/quote] No, not if you're running from a single amp output. Of course, if you're running two power amps or a head with two separate power amp sections that can both drive into 4 Ohms then you can split the cab into two i.e two drivers (8 Ohms) wired in parallel will give you 4Ohms. Therefore the cab will go from a single input with 8 Ohm nominal impedance to 2x 4 Ohm. Hope this makes sense? Ta, Ian

[quote name='uzzell' post='705490' date='Jan 8 2010, 02:08 PM'][i]<snip>[/i] I am currenly looking at the choice or 4x10's offered by Markbass and EBS, maybe neo, maybe not. Is there anything that I should really consider before I bite the bullet and go for it. Price isnt a serious issue but I do have an upper limit so nothing wildly over 1K please. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.[/quote] I've put my EBS cab up against the LMIII, a Genz-Benz Shuttle 3.0 and a GK MB2-500 - check out my sig if you want to know which one won me over! Seriously, having said that, I don't think you can go wrong with an EBS cab and a LMII/III - I found it a little [i]too[/i] transparent, wasn't the tone I was looking for, but had a lot of help from Darren at the Bass Merchant and had some serious fun putting all the heads through their paces - real pity they didn't have a Shuttle 6.0 in stock! I think you'll have no trouble getting the tone you want out of it. Neo could be an option - the standard Pro-Line is a real beast (88lbs, 41kg) to get into the car . Haven't tried the MarkBass cabs so can't comment. HTH, Ian