Muzz

I've used backline a couple of times of late (not my idea), and both times it's reminded me of how hard it can be to get a decent stage sound without over- or under-whelming the room with bass; I've been spoiled by a mixable feed to my inears, where I can hear exactly what's going on at a reasonable volume, something that's often elusive with backline. Oh, and the ability to turn the guitarist down cannot be overstated...

Tragically, the last time I went to see the Stranglers (admittedly a couple of years ago, the first tour with inears, so they may have got it sorted now) at the Manchester Apollo, the soundman did exactly that to JJ Burnel...

They're like Stingrays for me: I love everything about them except playing them, because they really, really don't suit me. I've had three of each, because on at least two occasions for each I thought 'I must have been wrong about the last one'. They are an iconic bass, and I really wish they suited me.

Funnily enough, I had this at a gig last weekend; a chap came up to me to say he was enjoying the band and then said 'I'm a bassist, too; I play a Fender Jazz...a US Elite Fender Jazz' My complete lack of reaction to this* seemed to nonplus him, and he walked away. * I may have said 'Oh.', just because there was a gap in the conversation...

I would say very probably; I've switched to some smaller knobs from another East preamp on one of my lesser-used Shukers for the time being...

Yeah, they're out of the stacked chrome ones, just like John is...

Played a rare gig with backline and without inears over the weekend...never again (if I can help it). I'd forgotten what a rare thing it is to have a decent onstage sound (I didn't have one, obv), and obviously everything was wayyyy too loud...pfffttt... Once you've gone inears (with your own mix), it's tough to go back...

Nige! 😀 He deps for us now and again... The Inn On The Wharf is a great gig, we're trying to get back there ASAP...

Zombie thread revival, I know, but I've recently bought a P-Retro from John - they don't have the silver knobs in stock, and the website looks like it's Out Of Stock completely, but they're not, they have the black ones. It's now a v2, I think the change is the battery. I shouldn't be surprised (because I've got U-Retros in everything else), but it's a stellar preamp; it takes the workhorse P and, somehow without changing it fundamentally, takes it into another league of usability. That two-way parametric EQ thing is genius (clockwise for mids boosted around the frequency point of the other dial, anti-clockwise for a bass/treble boost/scooopiness), and the selectable pull-bass (4 points of boost, I use the 100Hz one) is really useful. It sits post-tone control, and when switched out you have your original tone without any bells and whistles. As if you'd want that... 😀 Not exactly cheap, but for my money (which John now has 🙂) it's worth every penny.

I've just finished off building/modding the best P I've played* with a John East P-Retro (it's also got an uprated bridge, Hipshot Ultralites, a DiMarzio DP122 and a gold scratchplate I found in my bits pile) and it's my go-to bass (along with one of my Shukers, which was more than 10x the (original) price of the P) - at first sight, it's a £150 Squier Sonic, near the very bottom of the price range for a factory P...OK, the upgrades triple that, but I've added them slowly (some from the parts bin) as I've realised what a great foundation instrument it is. Bottom line is the Squier Sonic sticker will be staying, anyone who might want to look at it from a distance and curl a lip can feel as superior as they like, I've had several full-on Fender Ps over the years, and for me (who else?) this is better than all of them. * My criteria have changed a good way over the years, not least around weight: this one is 7.7lbs, which is a big thing for me gigging 6-8 times a month...it's very good in other ways, too...

Yep, it's quite an odd thing: I regularly have to say to people 'Don't shout, I can hear you' in loud environments when I have the ACS attenuators in...and then I have to shout so they can hear me... 😐🙂

Yep, mine kicked off properly thanks to a dep guitarist (who we never played with again - nothing to do with the tinnitus, he was just a bit of a d*ck) and his 112 combo pointing at my head for 1 set at a gig maybe 15 years ago. At half time I moved it to point at his head, he winced and turned down... Anyway, it turned up, moved into the spare room and never left. ACS inears for gigging and ACS attenuators for other people's gigs and clubs. Hopefully that'll have slowed the march of The Whine. One thing that sets me off (well, it draws attention to it) is that thing they do in movies when there's been an explosion and the hero's staggering around in the dust...aaaaand there it is, that's The Whine...

A lesson in How To Be Cool In 100 Degrees...loved it; you can see the fella on the left in the sun's suffering the heat... Great groove and feel, you're making it look easy...which is the hard bit... 🙂

My best advice is never to run while carrying it: it looks at least 200% more dangerous than a pair of scissors...

I faffed about with various tips on things like the SE215s and the like for a good while, but then went for it with proper custom molds, and to be honest it's night and day as far as fit and attenuation are concerned...plus you don't have to ram anything in your ear, they just fit...I use ACS, and they start at £249 (includes the ear molding), which isn't daft money (although you can easily go to daft money if you want/can afford).

OK, two channels negotiated for with the BL, they're going to be paired to the H1 headphone out of the desk. MS-02 ordered, stay tuned for progress... 🙂

Sadly no P option, but that's more like it! 👍

Not a gig review as such, but a quick addendum to my using the QSC in a pub last week and it being completely overwhelming, I had a sit down yesterday to actually work with the thing (yeah, I've had it a year, I really should've done this before) and found it was set to No Sub i.e. it was boosting all the bass, and no HPF set, which would explain the sound. Ten minutes with the manual and some EQ curves that an enthusiastic geek in the States had recorded from the various presets, and with the preset and HPF set appropriately it's now sounding much more like a traditional backline amp. Phew.

I've got a couple of presets on the Stomp I've made with a split of the signal (and you can HPF/LPF the signals, too) between a bass amp (lots of choice) and a guitar amp (even more choice) for that Chris Wolstenholme/Royal Blood kinda sound, it's really useful and they sound pretty good live, too.

Yeah, I was kinda expecting that, the Lekato 5.8's the weak link in the stereo chain...bugger. Looks like it's the MS-02 solution until I win the lottery...am just negotiating an extra channel from the BL/desk owner as I type... Cheers

Hokay, this one's a bit specific, but I'm looking to move from a mono inear setup to stereo with as little expenditure as possible. Current setup: Lekato 5.8Ghz transmitter/receiver, one in the aux channel out on the desk, the other into a Behringer P2 on my belt (set to mono), into IEMs. Great for mono. The desk is a Soundcraft UI24r, and it'll link/route two aux sends (we have aux output channels to spare) for stereo, and I've found a stereo cable/Y adaptor for £6.50 that'll combine the two channels into one 3-pin XLR. The logical thing to do would be to plug the Lekato transmitter into that, set the P2 to stereo and Happy Days. I've found evidence that plugging the P2 directly into it will give stereo, but I need it across the stage. What I don't know is if the Lekato transmitter/receiver will send a stereo signal to the P2 - the main use for the Lekato is as a wireless system for a mic (people use it the other way round for IEM), and for the life of me I can't find anywhere where it mentions 'stereo' in the docs. One warning sign is only one figure given for latency, whereas the MS-2 (see below, it'll work in stereo) has a latency figure for mono and a higher one for stereo. Anyone used the Lekato to transmit/receive stereo? It's not my desk, so I can't do any testing. Plan B could be to route two channels to one of the TLS headphone outputs on the desk and buy a Lekato MS-2 system (these work on TLS rather than XLR, and are stereo end to end) and drop the 5.8Ghz pair and the P2, but that's £60 on a wing and a prayer. As I say, a bit specific, but any info on any of the stages above would help.

Thanks for that, unfortunately still too heavy for me these days. It's a shame, but getting old sucks...

Now this caught my eye...I love a BB (had several, still got one), but these days they're too heavy for my busy gigging schedule and glass back...when you say 'a bit lighter', how light is it?

My current drummer (who is very good) calls it 'The Bluetooth's linked' when he plays with the right bassist... 🙂 EDIT: I should add that in my experience it's not always that the drummer (or bassist) has to be fantastic, it's more a chemistry thing: I've played with a couple of fantastic drummers who, while it was all OK, just didn't lock in, and that 'knowing what they're gonna do next' thing just didn't happen...