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Phil Starr

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Everything posted by Phil Starr

  1. Phil Starr
    Does your desk have a 'control room' out. Or a main to monitor button so you can use the monitor outs. Or use the headphone out. You may or may not need a DI box to match the impedances but probably not, my Zoom takes a line level input fine. Do you use back line? Recording just from the desk can be remarkably dispiriting until you realise it is adjusted to account for the drums and guitar amps etc. I've had singers want to end it all after hearing themselves straight off the desk. Stops them asking for "more me" for weeks
  2. Phil Starr
    Lidl do them from time to time. From memory around 5metres with a socket every metre but that may be an inaccurate remembrance I have one somewhere which I used to use at open mic nights where I ran it across the back of the stage and could plug in a 4 of 6 way at any point. They do exist anyway
  3. Phil Starr
    We rehearse in a small studio just outside of Taunton. It's a light industrial unit rented by another band and it's operated largely on a trust basis. Booking by email/messenger and a key safe in a private location nearby. It is £10 per hour with an expectation that you'll book a four hour 'slot'. It's fitted out with the bands practice gear, basic but OK. The drumkit 'works' and the bass amp is an old Behringer Combo but everything you need is there and we take our own gear anyway. They have a recording facility but we've never used it. It's not heavily used or advertised and I think they probably get just enough to pay the rent/energy costs so their use is paid for. It's not spotless but some local attended rehearsal spaces are a lot worse so someone is cleaning it from time to time. At best in terms of generating income was a studio just outside Exeter. it was an outbuilding in a rural area but near the city and owned outright so no rent. It was booked pretty much from 10am-10pm before covid, we had to look for times a couple of weeks in advance so the owner must have been grossing maybe £35-40k a year I've been idly wondering about doing this for our band so some quick calculations. Going on Zoopla light industrial units are renting around £6-20+ per annum, per sq ft with a 500sq ft unit costing £5-6,000pa around most of the country based upon location. London as you'd expect is crazy as are most of the big cities but Bristol for example has a few places at around the £12 mark. Doubling that to allow for other costs You'd need £12,000 per year to pay the bills so you would need to get 24hours a week of rental income to pay for the space and if you could double that you'd get £12,000 income. If you wanted to do this commercially rather than just pin money you'd need multiple units and to fill those you'd need to be in a big city where costs would be higher. Nobody is going to get rich this way. It's not much different from being in a band for most of us. A hobby that pays for itself if you are careful
  4. Phil Starr
    There may be a bit of confusion here, we never really settled on a naming convention for the BC designs. The Mk1 cab was a single 12 (112) with a single 12"driver in a nominal 50l cab using the Beyma 212 speaker. The mk2 was a 112T using a Celestion ceramic tweeter in a different 50l cab but was short lived because the Beyma SM212 was discontinued. The Mk 3 was the same cab with a neo Faital driver and a neo Celestion tweeter. I then built a modified 30l cab as a demo at a bass bash and as part of a project to design in a limited bass response to avoid room resonances in small spaces. That was originally with a Beyma SM212 driver but updated later with a Beyma 12CMV2 and that cab was basically used for the lockdown cab 110T in this thread. So, yes you can use the 30l cab for a 12" speaker including the Beyma SM212 and the 12CMV2. I've built and gigged both and if you are happy with a limited bass response in a trade off for a more portable 1x12 then the cab works well. I gigged mine for a while but now if I want a small cab its the lockdown 110T that I use. If you are buying a 12" speaker for the 30l 'Easy Build" cab then I'd go for the 12CMV2 which just sounded better in an A/B test to my ears and is cheaper and more readily available. If you have an SM212 it will work in the easy build 12 https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/324014-easy-12-cab-build/
  5. Phil Starr
    Hi David, The bass is there and it goes low but there's little or no bass hump which so many headphones have. It's more of a studio monitor analytical sound than an easy listening/loudness boost sort of sound. Ironic as i bought them for easy listening. I haven't spent a long time with them yet and just used them for personal practice. I haven't got them to a rehearsal yet never mind a gig. I'm personally not bothered too much about bass so long as I can hear it, I kind of have all I need timing and expression wise from my fingers and some of the bass in the room always leaks through anyway. My favourite on stage monitor is my micro cab which only goes down to 80Hz but is flat all the way down. I also spent my 20's mixing live music so I'm fairly good at picking things out of a mix. As with all in-ears the bass response and leakage depends upon fit. These fit well in my ears, more securely than zs10's as they are smaller and lighter and a bit more me-shaped
  6. Phil Starr
    OK that helps, on the feedback issue Russ is right that room acoustics are often the dominant cause of resonances and feedback but I also find that frequency anomalies in the speakers will add to that and you may get a couple more db of gain before feedback. It's a long time since I auditioned the ZLX's and it was the 12's I listened to but they did have a slight smiley face response and weren't flat through the crossover area. Certainly swapping my ancient Wharfedales for RCF's as monitors gave me a huge increase in available gain. Don't take manufacturers claims on spl's too seriously, they are largely fantasy. I've seen claims of 137db from Yamaha for a 12" speaker which is arrant nonsense. The amplifier claims are also nonsense. I've seen speakers admitting to 97db/W with 1000W amps claiming 130db. Now the thing is that no 12" speaker will handle 1000W, 300W is more likelyand 500W fairly exceptional so the DSP protects the speaker by limiting the power. 1000W into a 97db speaker is mathematically 127db, they get 130db by 'calculating' at a peak power of 2000W which the amplifier won't do and the speaker couldn't handle anyway. I was impressed by EV's near honesty. I'll stop ranting now So, I plumped for the RCF ART745's as the best value solution for me. They are building some really nice speakers at the moment and for me are the one to beat. Going for the models with the 3" and 4" compression drivers gives you real clarity through the vocal range as the crossovers can be at lower frequencies. If you are happy to use subs then I might go for 12's, the only downside of the 15's is size and weight and for most of our venues the 745's are probably overkill. Bass and drums are all though the PA with an all electric kit. Our previous speakers were QSC12-2's We are a pop/party band so not the loudest but pretty loud, these 12's never struggled for volume with feedback being the limiting factor rather than headroom. The 745's sound better and never break sweat in the pubs and clubs we play. What mics are you using, and what monitors? That may help your feedback problems
  7. Phil Starr
    I just bought some Sennheiser IE 100 Pro from Studiospares which were on offer, just for listening to music. Size and comfort are better than the ZS10's as are vocals I didn't think they would be loud enough for monitors but with my phone or iPod (I know, I'll be back to cassettes in a Walkman soon) they are painfully loud without distorting so I'm going to try them at our next gig. They are a long way from bass forward though so if bass is your single priority I'd stick with ZS10's which do that so well.
  8. Phil Starr
    Just found them https://www.amazon.co.uk/TheTransporterUK-Isolating-Replacement-Silicone-Earbuds-Black/dp/B06WP97FL3/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_13?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZJJ02JF93TGWS55SX170
  9. Phil Starr
    I've pretty much run out of suggestions. Hope you find out what it is.
  10. Phil Starr
    I always liked those old Mackie's and one of the 'older' local band still uses some. It's hard to think of anyone who does a three way design now. If you want that clarity of midrange then getting the crossover point down with a high quality compression driver is where the effort is going, that or one of the 'stick' systems. I've probably said this before but the weak link in most PA systems is usually the person setting it up, and for a pub band with no-one on the desk anyone has an impossible task. You can get a great sound out of those ZLX15's so the uplift is not going to be stupendous unless your budget is huge. I'd happily gig with them though uplift might be an issue, they ain't lightweights. You need to have a spec in mind or to at least know what you want to achieve. Are you after better sound, the big RCF compression drivers will sort your vocal issues. Anything with a 3 or 4 as the second number (735 or 945) means they have a 3" or 4" horn driver taking care of most of the vocals. Then do you want to lighten the lift or reduce the no. of boxes you carry? If you are always going to take subs then you won't need to be taking 15's as tops, depending upon your absolute volume you might get away with 10's. If you want to fill most venues, put kick and bass through the PA and not use subs then a couple of 15's are probably your best bet, but decent 12's will do most pub venues. If tidy and professional looking is important and you are doing function work where they don't want rock band volumes then at a price the better 'sticks' are worth a look. Then there is budget, how much are you wanting to spend? I see that the EV's are still around @ £500ea so £1,000 isn't going to get anything dramatically better unless you buy used.
  11. Phil Starr
    OK doesn't sound like I've managed to move you forwards then. At this point it feels like you are going mad Is it a single pickup bass? How close is the PUP to the bridge? How close are they to the strings? Where do you pick the strings? I'm sure you've covered all these things but worth asking? The only other thing I have to offer is that although the odds of any one new part being faulty is low there is still the one in a thousand chance that you could be the unlucky one in a thousand person to buy two faulty versions. The number of times I've convinced myself a lead is working and stripped down an amp only to find the two leads I was using were both faulty....... Good Luck, there will be a rational explanation I'm sure
  12. Phil Starr
    This is weird, isn't it? With my physics teacher hat on that sounds like you are getting some high pass filtering. Certainly something moving at either end of the string would do that, the seating at bridge or nut, but you seem to have investigated that thoroughly. Two other possibilities are resonances in the structure of the bass where something is moving out of phase with the strings absorbing energy but over limited frequencies. The other is something electrical introducing some stray capacitance or inductance into the circuit. That in turn could be affected by changes in the impedance of your amp and leads. You've tried several amps so it's unlikely they would all have the same input impedance unless you've found one or two amps to be a lot less problematic than the others. Is this an active or passive bass? Have you tried a range of guitar leads, they can introduce capacitance and change the response of the bass, most modern cables have a carbon sheath inside which stops electrical crackling but they shouldn't be earthed and if this happens accidentally can make the bass sound really thin. None of this sounds very likely to me unless this is an active bass, in which case I'd try a new battery first. If it were mine I'd temporarily disconnect anything wired to the pickup and take an output direct from the PUP to an amp, but that would assume you are happy to use a soldering iron so you can put everything back.
  13. Phil Starr
    The potential problem is that pre amp outputs and PA power amp inputs aren't properly standardised. Some power amp inputs need 1.5V or more to drive them and may need a balanced XLR input. Fortunately the Behringer needs a 0dbV input of 0.775V and has a combi socket so you can use a Jack or an XLR. Pre amps vary hugely the output can be microphone level of a few mV, a few 1/10ths of a volt which is what the fx circuit in an amp usually needs or several volts. Line level is usually 0db or just above, it should be standard. The other factor is your bass, if it has a low output you'll need more gain in the pre-amp. You'll need to check yourself what the output of your pre-amp will be, anything above 0.775V will be fine. I wonder why you are going for the Ampeg rather than a multi effects modelling pedal which would achieve the same but give you much more than just the Ampeg sound.
  14. Phil Starr
    Just looking at this from a technical point of view 200W through a speaker that gives you 97db/W is going to give you 120db maximum output which is what you'd need to be playing along with a drummer. A decent 12" speaker will give you around 97db/W so that would just about be 'enough'. Your amp and the Elf will only give that power through 4ohms though. Doubling up your amps power will not give you double the sound just an extra 3db (3db is noticeably louder but not by much) Adding an extra speaker gives you around 5db more on average. so 200W through a single 12 is borderline enough and an inefficient speaker might mean the amp isn't quite there. A loud 12 probably would be. Add an extra 1x12 of the same type and you'd probably be happy with a 200w amp. A 2x10 would sit between these two options. FWIW I have a Warwick Gnome the same power as the Elf and with an LFSys Silverstone it will do most pub gigs, but I also have 2 1x12's and a classD 300/500W amp for the odd big gig or outside gig. Basically all this boils down to is that you can get away with a small amp if you have a loud speaker system or a less efficient speaker if you have a big amp but probably not both. In an emergency or in a smaller venue your current combo might be enough. If you buy the Elf I'd be looking at a 2x12, 2 1x12's or 2 2x10's if I wanted to cover every situation. Alternatively one of the many 500W amps around at the moment would probably cope with half that speaker complement. You probably want to choose on what sounds good though, probably more important than sheer power. Maybe if you give us a budget you'll get more suggestions
  15. Phil Starr
    You've been lucky in that you've bought a little gem at a good price. You probably paid a lot less than it is worth so look after it Because it is a valve amp you just need to be careful about connecting other speakers. It has a transformer which matches the amps output to the speaker exactly and switching it on with no speaker connected will probably damage the amp. It would be possible to mod the amp with a jack socket which switches out the internal speaker when you connect an external one but you'd need to do that properly or you could end up accidentally switching on with no speaker connected. You'll get lots of advice here if you need it
  16. Phil Starr
    OK you shouldn't have a problem in most of the Eurozone but we do get people on here from places where there isn't a thriving used market. Ireland has a thriving music and arts scene so going used is good. Particularly with this sort of thing people move on from a practice amp very quickly so they are often sold in 'as new' condition. I'm a techie so approach this with that point of view and if you want to play guitar and bass through the same amp/speaker it needs to have a flat response and you need some modelling. It's worth your while knowing of the existence of the Zooms https://www.thomann.de/gb/zoom_b1four_bass_multi_effect.htm for under 100Euros They model loads of amps and have dozens of effects and tone shaping including reverb and the ability to download patches so there are ways of getting good guitar sounds out of the bass model and vice-versa. They'd be a way of getting good guitar and bass sounds out of whatever amp you have. It would free you up to choose the best sounding amp as the modelling would be in the Zoom The nearfield studio monitor idea was just a suggestion too. They are just computer speakers but designed for music and will handle bass easily at reasonable volumes which normal speakers wouldn't be happy with. If you get round to making recordings they are an essential and all you'll need to add is an interface or small mixer, so that might save you money further on whilst giving you a better sound than you'll ever get out of a cheap practice amp. Anyway I wish you luck finding what you want and can get on playing and loving music
  17. Phil Starr
    I'm just wondering if you couldn't experiment with HPF by using DSP. In the digital domain it isn't hard to find 24db/octave filtering or variable slope and frequency tone controls. My M18 mixer offers these as does one of my PA amps. I'm sure you'd find this in most DAW's too. That would let you experiment with dual HPF fairly freely to create the sound you wanted or at the very least to try out ideas without having to make multiple purchases. For me the main use of HPF is to protect speakers from over excursion and to clean up room resonances but doing everything in the digital domain would let you experiment to your hearts content and minds benefit.
  18. Phil Starr
    A lot depends upon your attitude to a project. If you fancy a bit of DIY then building a bass cab to match your combo and uses the combo amp would be fun and could sit under the combo so not take up a lot of space. Who knows the right speaker might take you up to 11.
  19. Phil Starr
    Generic Chinese ones off Ebay in the smallest size they do.
  20. Phil Starr
    Hi Leo, it's a bit more complex than that, though quite possible. Bass stresses speakers much more than guitar so you have to be a bit more careful in design. You'd need the cab to be at least closed back/sealed and possibly ported to get the best bass you can. If you give us the internal dimensions of the cab we might be able to find something.
  21. Phil Starr
    I've used pretty much all the tips available and they make a huge difference to the sound. Because of my anal nature (wonder if that passes the profanity filter) I've looked at and measured the various tips and its about diameter of course but also the length/depth of the tips and the angle of the 'exit' tube compared to the angle of your ear'ole As we are all different there isn't a universal tip which fits all of us. I've settled on small triple flange ones which go deep into my ear which work well with ZS10 pro but comply with the original ZS10. I've also realised that my left and right ears are different shapes! Who knew? Obviously custom in-ears would solve all the issues of fit and I'm happy to pay £2-300 for them, after all you'd pay that for a floor monitor but the £700-1000 they seem to cost is just completely beyond my budget.
  22. Phil Starr
    Looking at your original post you are looking for something that will double for guitar and bass and your budget is 2-300 Euros, so I guess you are not UK based? Maybe space is also an issue for you? For anybody in the UK I'd always give the same advice; buy used. None of this practice/starter amp is great and the used value is low so anything you buy now will be upgraded fairly quickly. If funds are tight you don't want to be losing money by spending out on something you'll outgrow quickly. Your current Vox set up with its 3" speakers obviously has limitations for bass, sort of works is about right. How about some active studio monitors? They are designed to sound good with a whole variety of instruments with modelling, you could probably feed them with the headphone output of your Vox or go and buy a Zoom G1-Four or B1-Four. If you are prepared to use headphones you could even skip the monitors until funds allow but monitors will bring the headphone sound into the room, and at quite a volume. They'll also make great hi-fi speakers and ridiculously good monitors for your computer. Monitors are the way to go for multi instrument use and are of course the best if you are recording. I use RCF Lyra's but any top brand KRK, Yamaha, Tannoy etc will do a great job and give you both better bass sounds and guitar sounds than any practice amp in your price range. Go for the 5" monitors if you can stretch that far and look for used.
  23. Phil Starr
    looking at the Woodsheets site it looks good. They seem to be using high quality plywoods and from their offer are CNC machining from consistent quality materials, and charging accordingly. One of the indicators is that they are using sheets with multiple cores. The cheaper boards generally use fewer thicker plies. Let us know how you get on with them and if they provide a good service others will want to go to them. Looking forward to your build
  24. Phil Starr
    Like all itches you know you will scratch it, just not how soon There's a lot of effort in writing these things up and it takes me a lot longer than building them. Now if you all paid me ...........
  25. Phil Starr
    I can and do John but as you know from speakers you can’t easily make a coloured sound uncoloured. Moulded in ears give you so much more though. I might be getting 18 db of isolation with the KZ’s when I put them in but they don’t stay put at a gig and the outside noise leaks in, once I get sweaty I’m pushing the things in every other song. They’ve been a great first step and are really good for bass but I’m ready to move up to customs so long as I can afford it. 30db of potential isolation means I can consistently reduce the monitor volumes and still hear clearly, perhaps by as much as 10db which is going to help preserve what is left of my hearing. I’m also singing a bit more so that becomes more important a factor. Interestingly after about half a dozen gigs I no longer feel the isolation from the audience
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