Phil Starr

I think that might be loud enough for anything Adding another speaker may be possible but not really necessary if you value your hearing

Paul I think the problem is two fold, you are asking people to recommend things and to do that we would need to be sure. Then there is the issue of practicality, you can't always believe the adverts and some of these claims seem to defy physics and economics. The Alto says it is a 300w active speaker with an 8" bass driver and a horn for less than £100. Well I can't think of an 8" speaker that can handle 300W. Reading on with the Alto specs it then becomes a 100w to the 8" speaker. The speaker is said to be capable of 113db, to do that is feasible but the speaker would have to produce 93db/W which is reasonably high end for an 8" speaker. That's physically possible but the whole thing is £98 including horn, cabinet, 8" bass unit and two amplifiers. That pushed credulity and 113db is not that loud if you have a big brass section. Alto have a fairly decent reputation but if something looks too good to be true, well you can see why people are urging caution. Budget is an issue for you so mistakes would be especially costly. A quick easy solution is only a solution if it works. I think the general advice is to take it slowly and understand what you want to achieve.

If the specs of those speakers are reliable you've tracked down a bargain. The plots from win ISD don't quite make sense, with two 8ohm speakers in parallel you'd expect a 6dB increase in sensitivity, ie the two speakers in parallel ought to be louder across the whole plot, and of course the power handling will double. The loss of bass is to be expected, each speaker has only half the volume to operate in. Bass extension is a mixed blessing. The cab I designed doesn't get all the bass the Beyma 212 is capable of but even so it is too bass focussed for most of the small venues I play in and I end up rolling off the bass. Without having modelled your speakers instinct tells ne they might work well in the 50l cabs I designed. It might be worth your while buiding my cab and putting one of the CPC speakers in it. If you like the sound then build a second cab. You then could potentially have most of the bass and lots of volume without the problem of trying to blend two different drivers together.

I'm so sorry, you poor thing, I hope it wasn't too painful If you look at the dimensions the cab is a little over the 50litres I mention in the design to allow for the volume of the speaker ports and bracing. 70l is probably enough for a wide range of 15's especially as you prefer an old school bass sound. Remember 'working well' includes a number of things like cone excursion. One of the favourite (and frankly sensible) trick of cheap speakers is to keep the cone nice and light and the voice coil short so most of it is in the magnetic field. That all raises efficiency at the cost of excursion. It models well at 1W the default level for win ISD but you'd need to check at higher powers. It may be OK though of course. I think Stevie tried the Beta 12A2, I think its going to be fine in that box and has the old school mid-range rise that I personally quite like, it won't handle the deep bass as well as the Beyma. When looking at 'Q' you need to look at the Q of the whole system. Qts of 0.5 describes how the magnet controls the movement of the cone. Too much control damps down the bass not enough means too much. the air in the cab also damps the cone movement with more air meaning more damping, so for any speaker cab it's the combination of speaker and cab that determines the response. Qtc of the whole system should be 0.7 to get the flattest response and a speaker with qts of 0.38 is about the tipping point where cabinet design gives ends up with a flat response from a cab of reasonable size. The Beyma will have more deep bass than many/most commercial cabs and might well fill out your bass. I can't say though whether it will give the sound you want. Combining speakers is a suck it and see thing. It might be that the 2x12 is more efficient than the Beyma and will simply dominate the quieter cab. Above the bass the two cabs will combine in an unpredictable way over the midrange and probably have a character different from either cab on it's own

It might be worth looking to get something like this https://www.gear4music.com/Recording-and-Computers/Behringer-P2-Ultra-Compact-Personal-In-Ear-Monitor-Amplifier/26FN A beltpack headphone amp with some limiting to further protect your ears and crucially a volume control you can reach without bending. There are also passive models and one which allows you to mix in a stereo signalwhich could be a feed from the PA or possibly useful for headphone practice. I'm using a wireless connection with a beltpack receiver which is similar...but wireless. It's a Trantec system bought used but there's a LD systems one which our vocalist uses https://www.ld-systems.com/en/series/mei-one-series/

If it is the same driver then put it in a matching cab. If you got it from Barefaced they should be able to advise you if it will work in a cab that size. If not i'm looking at 10" drivers at the moment. If I turn up anything suitable I'll let you know.

John I nearly asked you and/or Stevie but just assumed it was too far. It's 9.00 start, everything provided, though if you brought your Mk2 we could do some testing and even recordings. PM on the way.

This might be a good solution, a couple of fairly wide angle mics above the band if you have the height can work really well as reinforcement if you aren't going to rock band levels. I might try a stereo pair in XY configuration probably putting them somewhere near where the conductor stands, or would stand if you don't have one It's my worry about too much miking up for people who aren't used to it. If you've had a nice sound that everyone has been happy with so far then why start a steep learning curve when a bit of jiggling around with the offending guitar amp will do the job. The only really difficult thing about PA is managing the humans. I'd just chat through with the guitar, bass, keys. They may be very happy with their own backline as it is. If it is just the guitar then you only need to mic that https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/miking-guitar-amps-stage

Hi again all, I've had a couple of offers but good bassists tend to be busy and the dates aren't working out, I'm still looking for someone for the 7th June if you are free on that date and are interested then don't be shy.

Sounds like a plan. I use leads rather than adaptors for the Jack/TLR sockets. I always carry a few short 1m stereo jack to XLR leads for that purpose, a lot of older mixers retain jack for everything except the main out. They are dirt cheap really and you can just daisy chain one of your normal XLR leads. The big advantage is that they don't stress the sockets on the mixer https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_sssnake_mxp2009.htm

I'd be a little cautious about this and think about exactly what you want before jumping. Your problem with the sax players can only be solved if you put the things they couldn't hear through the monitors. If you put anything else through the vocal monitors the singers will struggle to pick themselves out. Your problem with the guitarist will only work if you turn him/her down and put some guitar through the PA. the guitarist will be the biggest problem but to get on-stage volumes down should you look at some bass and keys through the PA too? Is your one PA speaker enough to do that job? None of this is difficult to solve but I suppose the warning is about mission creep; adding layers of extras until the complexity weighs you down. The second problem is matching your gear to the outcome you want without spending a fortune. The advantage of an acoustic band with a little reinforcement for the singers is twofold. Simplicity and familiarity, most players in a big band are used to playing acoustically, it may not be ideal but they are used to hearing the instruments closest to them and learn to pick out the rest of what they need to hear by practice and experience. Most big bands have a conductor so extra clues and guidance are provided that way. The disadvantage of beefing up the monitors and running separate monitor mixes is that the monitors need to be similar volumes to the acoustic volumes or they won't be heard, so if everyone is covered by monitors you have doubled the sound energy on stage. That's not wrong but it could be a mixed blessing. It sounds like the guitar was the real problem. Without that the sax players could hear as well as they have in the past. Guitar amps are like torchlights, they throw a very narrow beam of sound which is very loud if you are in line. you could mike up the guitar amp and put it through the PA or simply move it to the front or side of the stage and provide a second quieter guitar monitor for the guitarist to hear themselves if needed. That will buy you time to think through exactly what you want without spending anything up front.

A few years ago I fitted one of these to my J bass (would you believe). It was an impulse buy from a fellow basschatter. all my other basses have a blend control and I wanted to rewire the VVT controls to give me blend instead of Volume/Volume, this gave me a shortcut, just drop it in and play, as well as a greater range of sounds. TBH I've never got on with it. It sounds great soloed at home but in a band situation the mid suckout and bass boost (cut isn't available) doesn't really work for me. The sound that is quite exciting at home just sounds muddy with a band and I haven't yet managed to dial in an uncoloured sound. I play the Jazz at home and the P-bass comes out when it's serious. To cut a long story short this morning I was running through a few songs and contemplating returning the original Fender passive controls back to the bass when I had an inspiration, I switched off the active. Clarity tone and character restored, there's a switch to go from bridge pickup to blended and I can switch the active on with no noticeable change in volume so I can return to the bass boosted mid cut John East sound whenever I want. How stupid am I, three tones at the flick of a switch and clarity through the speakers when I need it. Can't wait to try it with the band.

Welcome to BassChat It is hard to say with real authority as the two amplifiers have completely different tone shaping controls. Without knowing the amps better and knowing how exactly you are setting them up I don't think anyone can answer your question directly. For example the Combo has toneprint which is designed to give you a variety of sounds. Most amps however have a setting which will give you a relatively flat frequency response. Speakers are a different matter. All speakers add a little colour to the sound and most instrument speakers add a lot of colouration. I think it is extremely unlikely that you would get the same sound out of both speakers using the same amp. The few MB cabs I've had the chance to play with have tended to have an exaggerated upper bass and a bit of upper mid zing and that may well be what you are hearing from the MB 210.

cheers Jim I'll ring you later.

you are probably in the wrong part of the forum. There's loads of discussion here. To save you from too much pain these come recommended as a reasonably priced IEM https://www.amazon.com/KZ-Balanced-Armature-Technology-Earphone/dp/B07BWGVKVR I have a set and they are OK though I need to experiment to get a better seal than the earbuds they came with.

Hi All, probably the wrong place for this but you are all local so here goes. I'm running a live music event just outside of Chard on the Somerset/Devon/Dorset border. It was meant to be a Jam session but has morphed into a series of singers with a house band doing a half hour slot each and the odd band taking over the stage for half an hour. It's only our second outing and I'm hoping it will continue to grow and change but that's it right now. I'm trying to keep the music standard up and all the singers so far can do their stuff. One sang for the Jools Holland band and he's pretty hot. We are running on the first Fri of every month. I need to be front of house and at the moment I'm the only bassist. I'm looking for someone who can take over bass duties for at least half the evening so I can run the desk/PA and talk to the people. It's all well known covers but with five sets it's pretty varied. Ideally I want to build up the house band with a rotating cast of musicians, but that is for the future. If anyone wants to lend a hand I'd be really grateful, message me with your contact details if you might be interested and we can take it from there.

Thanks for posting this Johannes. I hope you really enjoy your new cab. I'm really interested in how it sounds with DB. It makes sense to me that a bigger cab with more deep bass would excite resonances in the body of a 'proper' bass. They certainly excite room resonances which can be an embarrassment when playing live and was the reason I designed this cab. I was rolling off the low bass and boosting upper bass at almost every gig anyway so it made sense to try something with that sound baked in. The upper end of the Beyma speaker is slightly unusual compared with a lot of 12's. It is unusually flat with well managed cone break up and goes a little bit higher than a lot of the alternatives. Most 12's have quite a big peak at around 1-2kHz and roll off at around 3KHz. The Beyma is flatter and rolls off at around 4KHz, it's only a few notes difference but you'd definitely hear a different mid quality. I wasn't sure whether you'd hear it as more mids as in higher frequency or less mids as in missing the normal unnatural peak of other speakers. "Clear and Natural" is encouraging. Of course with the small cabs bass roll off the mids would sound subjectively more prominent anyway. I didn't design this cab for DB, it was for horrible sounding rooms, but it makes sense that in trying to tame one we might of stumbled on a solution for DB. if there are any DB players in Somerset/Devon/Dorset who fancy a try I'd be happy to lend them my cab.

I'm another pub covers player and I don't think it affects what I play much. The whole thing is about playing to the song rather than inventing new basslines though. Maybe Summer of 69 kills any creativity The Hofner thing makes sense, they have no sustain so you can't really play one note and hold it for three bars so you pretty much have to keep playing a more mobile line. My only experience with a bass dictating my playing was with a Thunderbird. I felt Like Jim Carey putting on The Mask. It turned me into a hyperactive monster, the sound is monstrous, the neck really fast and just holding the thing in any sensible position makes you throw poses. I couldn't get away with it trying to commit suicide on the floor and constantly twisting itself out of my hands though.

yep that's the legal situation as I understand it. as to the 'reasonableness' of the concept of rebroadcasting to people who have already paid for, and are entitled to hear the same music from their own radios whilst standing in exactly the same spot, well the law is an donkey. As was the situation where John Fogerty was the only person on earth banned from singing Proud Mary or any of the other songs he wrote for CCR because Sony had bought him from another record company who arguably had screwed him over as a very young musician. As you can probably tell I'm not a big fan of performing rights as they are.

If this is consistent fault as you describe then there are two things to investigate. It could be increased volume at gigs or something else you are using at the gigs but not at home. I have a kickback and find once you use it with a drummer it struggles with volume, I get round this by backing off the bass a little on the eq. The amp seems capable of driving the speaker beyond it's excursion limits. When you change to a different head you won't have an identical response and that may be what is curing the problem. It could be as simple as a fault you only get on tilting the amp if you play one way at home and another at a gig. I've had problems with Hartke and soldered joints too again in the HA3500. Mine turned out to be in the power supply but high volumes and vibration will find the problem if there is one. A crackle though implies a connection problem, that could be anywhere from your kettle lead all the way back to the mains and anywhere in the signal chain from your bass through all the leads and any fx you use. It could also be radio frequency pickup. anything from a mobile placed near to the amp, someone else's dicky equipment in the band or any number of things. Hope you track it down

There is always one miserable git. I'm not a lawyer but a few years ago I researched copyright and performing rights for a short article. You need a licence I believe, legally at least. The chances of you being caught are remote though being on a forum won't help. There was one case where a garage mechanic had the radio on loudly in his workshop, which had no public access. He was successfully sued by Performing Rights on the basis that someone walking past might listen to his radio. That is despite the fact that this was the BBC who had already paid the copyright. In practice I'd imagine it would be the organisers of the event that would be liable and if it bothers you then you could email them (evidence) and say that you don't have a licence and suggest they look into it by contacting PRS https://www.prsformusic.com/ . PRS will then have ruined another friendship. To be honest though it is unlikely that anyone would ever find out about a one off private event.

You've probably moved on with this but this recent post made me idly look to see if there is a circuit diagram available. There is, from these people https://thecodemachine.co.uk/Schematics/Search.php?manuf=ampeg&model=svt4pro £1.50 to buy. If you can get hold of it and share it we might be able to give you more advice and any future repairs might be helped along the way. Of course an email to Ampeg might get one for free.

I'm going to be optimistic about Studiospares and I'm not really worried about a refund. They've been great in the past. I've written to them, sent photos and they have acknowledged the problem. I've since written and asked what they are going to do about what seems to be a faulty batch. I'll come back here and report anything they say. I have a friend who deals with Chinese imports, he says a major problem is that they alter designs without discussion with the client, often adding unwanted 'improvements' It may be they were unaware of the problem.

The plastic insert which acts as a clutch on the base of the stand also holds a captive nut which the winged bolt screws into. The little tabs which hold the nut break off as they are simply too weak to hold the weight of the base. The nut and bolt no longer hold the base on and it falls off the end of the stand pulling the whole plastic moulding out of the base. You can bodge it all back together but it will only hold whist everything is tight. Loosen it off to pack the legs up and put the stand away and it all falls apart again. It looks to me as if there may be a slot moulded into the metal part of the base which took a square nut, but the supplied nut is hexagonal and too big to fit into that slot. The boom arm is also lighter guage than the original booms but that isn't really an issue as they are plenty strong enough to hold a mic.

A word of warning about Studiospares stands. I just orders another three after years of good service of the four I have. they have changed their design and there is a fault with the new design. One had failed in the box the second failed last night at the same point and the one I haven't used yet is showing signs of the same fault. I'm chasing this up with Studiospares and they are being helpful but until they have this sorted DON'T BUY!!