Phil Starr

The only reason to use the stereo jack input is if you are running out of channels. The balanced outputs from his guitar probably aren't line level anyway but you have the gain control on the mixer to pad down anyway. The balanced line (XLR) connection will be much less prone to problems on stage, the unbalanced jacks will pick up a lot more spurious noise and hum.

If you already have a mixer then the power amp is sensible, I'd get something that delivers 250-300W into the speakers, clipping the vocals because of low power amps sounds pretty rough. We operated with a behringer 1204 mixer and EP2400 for years with no reliability problems so don't be too scared. If I was looking for a cheap light PA amp though I'd look at the T-amp range from Thomann. If you want an all in one package then this is £304 [url="http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=BEHPMP4000&browsemode=manufacturer"]http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=BEHPMP4000&browsemode=manufacturer[/url] if you can afford a little more then the Peavey IPR1600 is great. I wouldn't go back now.

I can live with the neck dive, The bass is pretty light and hanging on to the neck encourages me to throw the bass around I discovered last night, it's really too posy for a man of my years but it is going to force/give me an excuse to perform more. I've always used wide straps anyway. I really don't think I can live with the twist though. Anyone tried relocating the strap button(s), if so then where to?

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1341852187' post='1725139'] I didn't realise he was probably driving at the time. I thought we were getting a wee clues about his dogging soundtrack. Wishbone's "The King Will Come" would be quite a good choice. [/quote]

Strap button is at the back of the neck. It has to move. It's funny but I was expecting it to be heavy too but it is much lighter than my Fender. Where did the rumour (why is the spell check American?) about being hard on the back and shoulders come from, or am I about to find out? I'm already playing it lower than my other basses, new strap day tomorrow I think. It had awful strings on it, black coated things with four different coloured cotton windings at the head end. Now has some Dean Markley Blue Steels and is sounding and playing loads better. What will it sound like with flats I wonder. If I want to sound like Martin Turner the first step is to improve, I think.

Just bought a Thunderbird, a real one, 2005 for £611, an ebay impulse after listening to Martin Turner (Wishbone Ash) on the car stereo and having an arousing moment. Was this a good buy? Am I mad? I don't usually do impulse buying. It feels so weird after playing a Jazz for so long. What's the best way of stopping it leaning away from me, will I get used to it or does that go away with time. The neck dive I can put up with and it seems lighter than my other basses.

Another with small hands. You get used to it and you get better but it has to be easier if you have big hands. You learn to shift your hand position a bit more too. I still struggle with things like 'Stuck in the Middle' with a 2nd to 5th stretch held pretty much throughout the song especially when a new band member says 'can we run through a third time' but apart from that the pain has gone. There are things you can try to make it easier; a five string means you rarely go below the 5th fret, a Fender Jazz style neck is narrower and there are short scale basses as has been mentioned.

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1341270386' post='1716329'] Hi Phil,I say go for it, they are great sounding pickups, but... I like a dark tone, with less highs and sizzle,so theses pickups and flats are really working for me. So much so that I`m putting them in a second bass. If you need that modern top end on your sound, maybe they aren`t for you. [/quote] Not really too worried about more top but I may have blown the budget for a bit as I accidentally bought a Thunderbird yesterday, the perfect P-tone might have to wait a bit.

At the risk of causing offence I gigged on Sat with my Hartke Kickback 10 just to see if I could (stack at the ready just in case) and used the DI into the PA (Yamaha Club with s112's and S118 bass bins) rather than my usual Ashdown 600 with two 15's . Firstly I could hear myself better than ever because the speakers were pointing at me and not the audience, more than enough detail to let me vary my fingering and tone more than usual. I could also hear the rest of the band better, Talking to the audience in the break about the sound the reaction was; "you're a bit louder than the other bands and the bass is immense." I think the stack might be relegated to open air gigs from now on.

Interesting thread at the moment, I hope I'm not confusing the issue by adding in some more ideas. I'd strongly recommend you look at the Beyma SM212. Most of beyma stuff is pricey but this one is only £77 so within budget. It's strongest suit is Xmax a whopping 7mm measured the old fashioned conservative way. I like it because Qts is 0.38 which I find optimal, Lower values give overdamped sound and a roll off from fairly high. Higher values and transient response becomes a problem. Its a beautifully made unit and the only problem is that it needs a fairly big cab to give it's best, about 75litres looks good. The response curve is attractive for bass too as you get a reasonable output up to 6000Hz. Although it has a ceramic magnet the whole thing is quite light. [url="http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=BMASM212&browsemode=manufacturer"]http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=BMASM212&browsemode=manufacturer[/url] Most importantly they sound fabulous with a bass guitar, I bought mine as bass/mid drivers for my PA speakers but they really do make effortless speakers for bass. Just an open easygoing reproduction of what you put in. The other speakers I've tried recently are the 15 Deltalites which are on offer at the moment [url="http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=EMIDLIT2515&browsemode=manufacturer"]http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=EMIDLIT2515&browsemode=manufacturer[/url] I couldn't resist the price and my trajectory is in the opposite direction to Lawrence at the moment, I'm looking to add a little colouration so their little midrange hump and bass lift in the cabs i had planned looked interesting. I haven't built the real lightweight cabs i intended yet but one sits in a 65l cab I designed for a Black Widow and has become my go to speaker at the moment. One question, if you are happy with making a new baffle to fit in a 12 then why not consider making the cab a reflex design? I'm not against a sealed cab especially for studio work but the extra free bass from a well designed reflex is a hard option to turn down.

Another vote for the Yamaha Stagepas300. Great sound, light weight, all the leads pack into one of the speakers and the amp/mixer into the other. You can easily mix a couple of mics and a couple of instruments. The only drawback is that you don't get really high sound levels but we use ours as stage monitors with a full on band and as vocal monitors in practice and they happily push the vocals through over a drum kit so this is relative. It really is spot on for the sort of act you describe.

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1341056366' post='1713274'] Just did a gig using some Chromes bought here, and I loved it. Loads more top end than I would have thought, nice snap on those slapped bits,pickwork came through the mix easily, very woody deep tone (with a Wizard thumper)and very friendly on the fingers. Other band members approved. Then I went and fecked it up for last nights gig by fitting a different pickguard which seems to be shorting out my tone circuit so I ended up using my Jazz with new DR Hi beams on.. Bit of a shock to the fingers and ears again! Flats for me. It`s going to be interesting seeing how they settle down.If they stay cool, I`ll fit them to the jazz also. [/quote]I'm considering adding the Thumpers to my old Cort to use for a P-bass sound, It plays well but the sound isn't what i'd like. What do you think?

I'm spoiled for music shops Mansons in Exeter is only half an hour away and Axe Music in Axminster (great name for a guitar shop)is only minutes away. It is tiny and only stocks limited bass gear but keeps it interesting with some good used gear which rotates fairly frequently. It's the centre of the music scene down here. Andy has played in several of the local bands, mixed for others and helped out most of us at one time or another. He's great with kids coming in for a first instrument and advice is given freely even if no sale is in sight. What he does well is getting hold of the bits and pieces you need in a hurry that other places don't keep in stock. Saturday mornings the place is a bit of a social centre for musicians. We found our drummer through a small ad in the shop too. Al these shops struggle because of the restrictive practices of the manufacturers like Gibson and Fender who require shops to stock their whole range which means a £60,000 investment, way beyond the means of all but the big boys. Its as if they have decided for us we aren't going to be able to try before we buy or purchase from someone who can offer after sales service. Unless you live in a major city you have tho use the internet for a lot of gear.

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1340474367' post='1705070'] Played a pub gig last weekend with my new Laney monitor. It was just fine. Very good. Sound mix on the tiny stage we were using was great. Very good purchase and at £180 is probably the lowest cost serious monitor out there. [/quote] [quote name='grandad' timestamp='1340511746' post='1705447'] We had Laney 10" powered wedges previously but after a couple of venues that gave us feedback problems we changed to Studiomaster PAX 12's bought from Oakleigh Music in Halesowen. They aren't light being MDF but they are sturdy. The variable notch filter is very effective & even with a microphone pointed directly at the speaker at 1 metre will quickly kill the dreaded "howl" usually at around 200 - 400 Hz. The powered wedges (about £220) drive passives (about £120) at 120 watts. In use we don't need to have the gain & volume at more than 5 even on a large stage, (WMC size large). At an out door event I guess the 120 watts would come in handy. They have the usual gain, volume & hi & lo tone controls, mic & line i/p's, a link & speaker ext o/p's. Also they have rubber feet on the end as well as the base, useful for transportation. A pole mount means they can be used as a small PA. We've had them for over 12 months now & have probably done about the same amount of gigs with no problems at all. Another choice is Peavey - reliable & robust. They are a little dearer but lighter, I think they may be ply. The 5 band EQ can used to notch out any feedback. Our drummer (Roland kit) uses a Roland KB150 which is an excellent monitor amp as channel 4 is a dedicated monitor channel which doesn't get fed to the line out & so he can independently monitor his drums, send them to the mixer & receive a vocal mix back. After one particular gig some years previous when the on-stage sound level was so loud it was actually painful I now insist on a comfortable level & check that each member is happy with the monitor mix. This makes for a much better performance from all involved. The other thing to remember especially the younger players is hearing loss/damage. I'm down to 11-12kHz so I've lost the top 8kHz. I shall probably need a hearing aid next year. Look after your hearing now by keeping your sound at a comfortable level or you'll pay the price in later years. God bless those who suffer deafness, there but for the grace etc. [/quote] I'm glad the Laney's are working out so well, thanks for letting us know. I've wondered about the studiomasters too great spec for the price. Good advice on hearing loss. This has been posted before but you can check your hearing yourself if you have reasonable headphones [url="http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/your-hearing/look-after-your-hearing/check-your-hearing/take-the-check.aspx"]http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/your-hearing/look-after-your-hearing/check-your-hearing/take-the-check.aspx[/url] I'd advise every bassist to do this once a year.

[quote name='TRBboy' timestamp='1330622531' post='1560625'] I'm having real trouble getting my PW mini headstock tuner to pick up a dropped D, and it just does nothing when I try to tune the B on my 5er! Anyone got any tips, or is it just not up to it? [/quote] Check that the thing is switched to chromatic, they all function slightly differently so you'd need to check the instructions but when mine are switched to Bass they only pick up BEADG You could try tuning the harmonic to the 'normal' D I suppose. Oh, with my older clip on, which was less sensitive, I sometimes clipped onto the butterfly for the troublesome string, awkward to tune but it always picked up the vibrations.

I'd certainly agree with certain strings and basses going well together. Anyway my love affair with flats continues, I used them through my little Hartke 10 last night at a gig (DI'd just in case, I needn't have worried) I was stuck in the corner as usual so lots of boundary reinforcement. It was lovely. I just sat below everyone in the mix, great sound in the soul/poppy stuff but just enough bite for the rockier songs. Unlike the Dean Markley's I didn't overpower everything else so i could actually turn up so the bass was prominent without taking over, which is what i really like to achieve when i am mixing someone else. The audience stayed on their feet all evening so we all enjoyed the warmth.

The 57 and the 58 have the same working parts mounted in a different case. The 57 works better at a bigger distance to the 58 which really needs you to be within a cm(ish) of the mic. Traditionally the 57 is used as an instrument mic but it makes a perfectly good vocal mic which suits some female voices. Cardiod mics have the flat spot directly behind the mic and super cardioids behind at about a 45degree angle. Feedback depends upon where the sound is coming from so you put monitors directly behind the cardioid and at an angle behind the super cardioid. Neither is strictly 'better' but you need to know what you've got. Shure have a great website [url="http://www.shure.co.uk/support_download/educational_content/microphones-basics/microphone_polar_patterns"]http://www.shure.co.uk/support_download/educational_content/microphones-basics/microphone_polar_patterns[/url] The matching transformer won't make a poor mic into a great one, all it does is match the mic to the input, They are getting hard to get hold of though, I've just checked maplin and they only do one designed to go the other way XLR->jack. you'd have to use adaptors to connect it up the way you want. You could also use a DI box designed for guitar though which would have the advantage of doubling as a .....DI for guitar! Actually you may be able to borrow one to try. To be honest I wouldn't spend too much on this as the money would be better spent on a new mic. Blue Aran are selling the XM8500 for £15 at the moment. It'll do till you can afford an AKG/Electrovoice/Senny

[quote name='Dub Saint' timestamp='1340496194' post='1705401'] Hi Everyone, I'm Dub Saint, the creator of the P, J, Ray sound test. Thanks so much for checking out my blog - I had no idea anyone was still interested in the sound test (I posted it on my blog over a week ago; the results were posted yesterday). It wasn't until I check my blog stats today that I realized almost 400 people clicked on my blog... TODAY!!! Unfortunately, I took the bass test recordings off of my soundcloud site yesterday, assuming the test had concluded and no one wanted to hear the samples now that the results had been posted.... apparently, was I wrong. SO... earlier today I reposted the recordings as they were when I originally made the post on my blog....everything should be working fine now. Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience! Adam. My introduction to the different basses and the sound test is here: [url="http://dubsaint.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/p-j-or-ray-whats-the-difference-anyway-part-1-introduction/"]http://dubsaint.word...1-introduction/[/url] The sound test can be found here: [url="http://dubsaint.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/p-j-or-ray-whats-the-difference-anyway-part-2-take-the-sound-test/"]http://dubsaint.word...the-sound-test/[/url] The results/truth can be found here: [url="http://dubsaint.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/p-j-or-ray-part-3-the-results/"]http://dubsaint.word...-3-the-results/[/url] [/quote] Hey Adam, thanks for doing this. Well I got it right, the Ray stood out and the simplicity of the P sound just about enabled me to get it, the first clip on the Jazz gave it away. I really wouldn't have staked any money on it though. Sadly I liked the P-sound overall, I play a Jazz., oops. I thought it was a pretty fair test and certainly food for thought, surely no-one expects you to go out and buy three sets of five different strings! Part of this has to be dependent upon what style you play. Actually I liked the sound of the Ray slapped but I don't really like slap much and none of our songs need it. Oh, was the picked piece Matchbox 20 or just the universal chord sequence? It is almost note for note/beat for beat what I play for 'How Far We've Come'

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1340448961' post='1704546'] Most amusing - but just out of interest, what gave you this impression? [/quote] Well nobody I've spoken to has had a good word to say about flats and nobody playing live round here seems to use them. The impression is always given that it is only the sort of thing you would look at to be deliberately different ar as a way of getting close to the sound of an upright

Well I've not been on much, too much fun playing with my new toys, they sounded great at a full rehearsal last night, I could up the volume without spoiling the sound balance for the others. Mine are Elites, the only choice in Manson's was these or Roto's. First gig with them tonight. I'll let you know how i get on. The reason I posted was because I was previously under the impression that there was something special and obscure about using flats, a bit veggie/wholemeal/socks and sandals, that somehow they are 'difficult' 'dull','thuddy' or whatever. Actually they are just strings with their own tone and character which happens to sit well with other instruments and work well with some sorts of music. I'll eventually run my P bass with stainless roundwounds and swap in all probability. If you are reading this without having tried flats then I'd say don't leave it as long as i did, there's nothing obscure or difficult about them they are just strings which you'll like or not, but worth trying. You won't turn into a Morris Dancer, honest

OK there's lots of stuff here. First the factual bit. Mic's are either low impedance and balanced line needing a three pin connector, almost always an XLR (but I remember stereo jacks in the 70's) or they are single ended high impedance. The high impedance mics like yours actually have more output than the low impedance ones but we don't use them nowadays because they pick up electrical noise. The reason yours is so quiet is because it doesn't match your mixer inputs so the output is being lost. If you buy a matching transformer it will turn the output into a low impedance balanced output which will match your mixer and make all the mic's output available. Maplin sell them, the last one I bought was £6.99 but that was some time ago. Almost factual. The SM58 is as tough and reliable as people say but was designed in 1962 and things have moved on. I've run some tests including blind tests on the SM58, here's the results. Lot's of people make copies of SM58's including Behringer's XM8500 and the Samson Q7, we have these and three SM58's in the band so I did a blind testing. The bodies are all similarly robust but the wiring/soldering in the Behringer was poor and broke, resoldering has fixed it. There is very little difference in the sound, the Q7 has a slight edge and the SM58 was the weakest but most people couldn't tell in a blind testing. The Behringer had more handling noise and the Q7 least. The XM8500 had the best feedback rejection and the Q7 the worst. None of the differences were very large though and I would not be surprised if I had ten of these mics to find overlaps because of manufacturing spread. We've had the Q7 for 5 years and it is as good as new so reliability is good for at least this sample. Less scientifically I've swapped mics during gigs. Two gigs ago we did a headline spot at an open mic and I swapped our SM58 for a beta58, they are chalk and cheese, the beta is so much better. All the subtlety and phrasing in our male vocalists voice just came out, I confess I didn't know he could sing that well. (don't tell him) I also had to swap my AKG D5 for a dying SM58 whilst mixing for another band. This time there was a female singer. Again the improvement was out of this world, just so much cleaner and more detailed. To be fair it turned out not to be the mic but the lead, SM58's are tough. One of the reasons the SM58 is so tough is, I think, why they sound so ordinary. Materials technology has moved on and modern mics have thinner tougher diaphragms. The diaphragm in the SM58 just won't track subtle movements as accurately as a lighter modern equivalent, add in the restrictions of 1960's magnet design and materials and 40 years of development and it isn't surprising that modern mic's have moved on. An over engineered diaphragm in a well made mic will be reliable. If you are on a budget the two clones I have tried are both good matches for the Shure (they are super cardioids though and the Shure is a cardioid) or try the mic transformer for a really cheap 'fix'. If not I would highly recommend the AKG D5 but also look at the Sennheisers and the Electrovoice ND767a. If you want an equivalent Shure then look at the beta58 but give the SM58 a miss. Oh, there is some merit in using matching mic's as someone suggested, you can set the system up to get the best out of them all at the same time and the feedback characteristics will be the same for all of them making it easier to deal with.

Looks like it isn't just me then. I've just spent three hours practicing (my better half is out) and not a twinge. Hope it sounds as good at the gig. It is looking like D'addarios next.

Just bought my first set of flatwounds after 5 years of playing, why does no-one tell you about this? First of all they make playing so much easier, You lose all the squeaks and fretting noise and that smooth surface feels so effortless that my left hand just wants to move over the strings too quickly. I am having to conscientiously slow down whilst I adjust. On top of this I lost a lot of fret buzz and have lowered the action. I play with my fingers and the lack of rough windings is a dream for the right hand too. The tone isn't as flat as i had expected, it's obviously more mellow and i ain't dialing out any top on the guitar's tone (Its a Fender Jazz by the way) but I have had worse from two month old nickels. I gigged them last night with my Harke combo and it just sat in the mix beautifully. Not sure of the synergy with my Ashdown Mag 600/Deltalite stack though, I'll try them out at this Sat's gig. The flats are just so easy to play and flatter my probably minimal technique. The downside is they don't really reward hard playing the way my old Rotosound and Dean Markleys did. They don't really growl, just get louder, in fact they only seem to do one tone. I've obviously a lot to learn and I can see me needing to swap basses for different songs but so far I love them. So if you are a flats virgin I'd definitely say it is worth £30 to find out. Any tips from more experienced flat players very welcome.

For any speaker bass is radiated 360 degrees, in all directions. Higher frequencies are radiated in an increasingly tight 'beam'. In a normal room the deep bass will be reflected off rear walls, floors and ceilings depending upon the exact dimensions. This will give something like 6db's of bass boost, possibly more which is the equivalent of four times the power so if you use 250W normally you are going to need 1000w to make the same sound. Because you lose bass more than the top end you will have to use a lot of eq to retain your sound. Raising your cab will enable you to hear yourself better but will cut bass even further than if you place it on the floor. Your choices are: Use a bigger amp and speakers Go through the PA Accept that for one gig you won't be getting the same tone and volume. A couple of other things to worry about, get some windshields for all your mics worry about the earth, run everything from the same socket so they all have the same earth potential and earth any metal trailers of scaffolding. Use an RCD earth current breaker.

+1 for the vacuum cleaner, make sure it is turned down though. Yes, a dented tweeter will affect performance.