wateroftyne

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1365790616' post='2044693'] Pre-everything. [/quote] No - post-everything.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1365776491' post='2044370'] Quite. As a creature of habit I turn the gain to 0 or hit the mute button before plugging in or unplugging anything. Seems another over-engineered solution to a problem that didn't exist. [/quote] My amp doesn't have a mute, and the DI is post-everything. The silent jack works a treat fer me.

That's really strange. I haven't have the slightest squeak from my right-angle, ever... Obviously it'll fail eventually, but.. what doesn't?

I've used a right-angled jack for about three years. It's had a right hiding, and it hasn't crackled, popped or hiccuped once...

Just sold an amp to Ben - great comms & prompt payment. A pleasure doing business. Thanks, Ben!

I've had a copy of this since it was released on the Graceland remaster a few years ago, but I've just realised it has finally made it to YouTube. Who's the man? Bakithi's the man. That's who. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnW5SoVGQ-A

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1365515556' post='2040555'] No..but you try not and invite it again. [/quote] We make our feelings known after the gig, of course. Obviously we have our preferred PA co's dotted around the place, but we're always doing new gigs in new places. Which makes for some interesting PA experiences.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1365513584' post='2040525'] Agree...but if that was the ante... why would you be leaving it to that sort of chance/lottery.? I wouldn't and I'd have talked to the P.A co prior. [/quote] This is all ideal world stuff. If you provide the PA company with a spec, and they say they're fine with it, you have to take them at their word. The only time you can find out for certain is when it's too late to get someone else in, at which point you just work with the hand you're dealt. I've battled through plenty of shabby, tin-pot PA disasters in my time. There's no point getting upset about it.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1365513180' post='2040516'] A good quality bass guitar usually sounds good direct in [/quote] It might sound good, but does it sound like the person playing it wants it to sound? Or does the amp play a part in that?

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1365510850' post='2040458'] Why do people use these sorts of companies if the kit is deemed inadequate...?? This is why you need to use people you know and trust, IMO.... [/quote] Sometimes you have to rely on the PA company that is provided or recommended. If you've driven 400 miles to do a gig, and people have paid 10 or 15 quid for a ticket, you're hardly going to get back in the van and drive home. You just have to get on with it.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1365437184' post='2039619'] Some engineers receive such a ridiculously scooped sound from bass players' amps that there's nothing they can do to make the bass heard apart from elevating the level of stodge. [/quote] And far too many engineers receive a lovely signal with warm mids to spare, and scoop it to death, leaving generic, scooped, barely audible banality. It works both ways...

[quote name='Chrismanbass' timestamp='1365367946' post='2038728'] i think sound engineers get a bad rep from a few unsympathetic unprofessional individuals i've found that most sound engineers are pretty competent musicians in their own right (i'd like to think myself included) and thus are very aware of the issues performers face the issue i have is why would you deliberately make your band sound worse? if a sound man asks for a pre eq di then i don't see how that is any different to telling a guitarist who turns up with a 100w full stack to turn down? they're doing it to make the whole band sound better? as an engineer i don't ask unless the signal i'm receiving is completely unusable (which is very rare) but i'm always bemused by the attitude that post eq is "your sound" and that nothing i can do could possibly come close to replicating that like i said before were not all bad guy's and some of us do really care about how the band sounds [/quote] There seems to be a trend amongst many (not by any means all) sound engineers to build the mix up from the drums - which MUST knock holes through walls - sprinkled liberally by dollops of bass guitar EQ'd to rearrange one's internal organs whilst managing to lack any definable note. Regardless of the genre. My bass doesn't sound like that. Really - it doesn't. WHY THE FRIG DOES IT SOUND LIKE THAT OUT FRONT? Great sound engineers should be wrapped in cotton wool.

[quote name='Ziphoblat' timestamp='1365366763' post='2038702'] Post, every time. The sound engineer has a job to do. That job is to capture the sound of the band and present it to the audience. If (as is often the case) he's never heard the band before, he's never heard me play before, how is he supposed to know how I want to sound? Let's say hypothetically that the fat bottom-heavy sound he had for the previous band who played reggae and had a bass player using a P-bass strung up with flats might have worked great, but my aggressive clangy lightly driven roundwound J-bass tone is going to sound pretty awful if he treats it the same way. And more often than not, I find that engineers do. There's an irritating tendency among sound engineers (namely the bad ones) towards butchering the sound of the bass into a horrible indistinct rumble underneath the rest of the band, which aside from being sonically disturbing detracts largely from the musical performance because I may as well just be playing root notes for all anybody in the audience can actually hear. If it's a sound engineer that I know to be good, and I know to be aware of my band and the sound we go for, then I have no quarrels about giving them the choice (though having worked with us before they nearly always opt for the post-EQ signal anyway). But if it's one that I don't know, I'll listen to the other bands before I go on to see if any attention has been paid to tailoring a sound that is coherent with the playing style of the bassist (usually not), and if not I approach them and request that they take a post-EQ signal and try and keep the sound nice and lively, explain the sort of sound I'm going for etc. Making adjustments to suit the room by cutting or boosting certain frequencies on a 32-band graphic is fine, but there's absolutely nothing that prevents them from doing that just because I'm made some tweaks on the 3-band EQ on my amp. [/quote] This sums it up for me.

[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1365341855' post='2038209'] almost always pre. Any EQing on the amp is to suit stage and amp sounds. This is not going to be the same as FOH. The sound man would surely just prefer the cleanest signal possible. [/quote] I don't quite agree. The DI is the sound the player wants, before it's routed to his / her cabs. Provided there's no judicious EQ going on, any engineer worth their salt should be able to retain that general tone through the FOH.

I tend to go post (I use a Walkabout, and there's no pre anyway), and I'm usually happy with the sound. It's very fat and warm with nice mids. Sometimes they insist on a DI, and I can't be bothered to argue, as they'll EQ my bass like it has rounds on it anyway.

I have an IV which were only made during the second run. Even with the hardware these things have on board, it's very, very light.

My best pal, a guitarist who I gig with a lot, has one of those little Orange 1x12 combos. It sounds great at low volumes. When it needs to be louder, he carries a nice mic, and puts it through the PA. Sorted.

Focus estate fer me, too...

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1365272109' post='2037548'] They do - it's just that she's here in bed with me. [/quote] *removes wig* Did the earth move for you too, pet? x

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1365271661' post='2037534'] Show off! ;-) [/quote]

I'd like to be in Mark Knopfler's band. Again.

I would quite happily use a Lakland P - they look lovely and they give me GAS. But, having two gorgeous early 70s P's that won't depreciate unless something bad happens, means there's not much point.