Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Phil Starr

⭐Supporting Member⭐
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,116

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Phil Starr

  1. 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.
  2. 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
  3. Phil Starr
    I've pretty much run out of suggestions. Hope you find out what it is.
  4. 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.
  5. 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
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. Phil Starr
    Generic Chinese ones off Ebay in the smallest size they do.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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
  18. 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 ...........
  19. 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
  20. Phil Starr
    Well done for completing both those and thanks for the review. I love that you have adapted both designs by the way, it was always our hope that there would be a mixture of people who would try our ‘recipes’ and people who would innovate. I’d agree with your comparative comments on the 110 V the 112. I use the 110T a lot, it’s more than enough for practice and bass goes through our PA so it’s also enough for stage monitoring. For upright bass and for small venues the deep bass can be an embarrassment of riches so it’s often easier to get a good sound from a speaker like the 110T. That’s the problem with listening tests, as you go from one to another anything louder sounds subjectively ‘better’ so I completely identified with the where has the bass gone comment. I prefer the side handle on the 110T. I’m not very tall and the Mk 3 bangs against my knees when I carry it. That’s the joy of self build though, it won’t affect the performance so you can put the handle where you like. I have to say it gives @stevie @Chienmortbb and I a great joy to see our cabs being built. I hope you inspire others to give it a go.
  21. Phil Starr
    That flyscreen looks really good Luke the piping makes it a professional looking finish.
  22. Phil Starr
    Sorry if this has been asked already but I can't find anything @EBS_freak have you any views on the ace evoke 2custom in ears. I'm fine on bass with the zs 10pro but the smiley face response isn't helping with vocal monitoring. The flatter response and 30db isolation look inviting and the price bearable if they are an upgrade.
  23. Phil Starr
    As most of you know I'm a friend of @stevie and have worked with him on designing the free self build designs on BC. The Monaco is a remarkable design, probably uniquely suited to double bass, crucially it has a really tight, tailored low end. This is going to reduce boom and hence low frequency feedback. Higher up it has almost certainly the best crossover available in an instrument speaker and a really flat frequency response, again this will help avoid feedback with an acoustic instrument as well as giving studio quality sound. The third feature is that the horn is rotated 90deg so that you are going to get more information when you are standing close to the speaker. All these things help an electric bass of course but I'd suspected that these would be crucial to upright bass. I had the chance to hear this at the SW Bass Bash where @TheRev had a chance to try out/demo the Monaco. Perhaps he might come on and give an opinion. The Monaco isn't cheap but it is a lot less than the barefaced Big Baby
  24. Phil Starr
    Welcome tho BassChat. I hope you make lots of friends here. Don’t worry about coming late to bass, I started at 55 and was gigging regularly within a couple of years. Amazing what you can get away with if you can hit the root note on the first beat of the bar. 😀
  25. Phil Starr
    I've got an un-named and un-marked 4" strap of fairly thin plain leather that I bought 15 years ago. The leather is really soft and flexible if a bit smelly from all the sweat it has absorbed over the years. Apart from the softness and flexibility of the leather there is nothing at all exceptional about it except that it is the most comfortable strap ever and has long ago moulded itself to my shoulder. I've never found a replacement as everything else is either padded or made of super stiff leather. I've wondered about looking to see if I can get something made up, in deepest Somerset we have a lot of saddlers so finding someone shouldn't be difficult, anyone else tried this? Option two is to invent a gift from a now dead relative and a sob story about feeling them looking over my shoulder every time I gig so Susie on The repair shop makes me something
×
×
  • Create New...