Phil Starr

The Saga continues, the lighting bars that they eventually delivered were excellent and I'd only ordered one of each in case I had to return anything. The stuff had arrived in the end, the staff in Romford helpful so I ordered two more..... I waited several days and no confirmation email, then one saying the stuff had been dispatched and was due to arrive that day. Nothing arrived and the next day an email acknowledging my order but indicating the stuff had not been dispatched but was in stock. Then a couple of days later an email from the German courier (in German) saying they had been told of the delivery but no goods had arrived from DV247. I gave it 3 days then rung today, Romford helpful as usual and said they would chase and email me when they had news. It seems as if their internal communications have just not been fully integrated. I'm getting different communications from different parts of DV247 which just contradict each other. I want the lights to integrate with each other and I'm not in a hurry so i'll see this through but i just wouldn't order anything i wanted in a hurry. The lights are £25 a light cheaper than anywhere else so I'm saving £100 and that's worth a bit of chasing but wtf? Sometimes you are just unlucky but this is twice now, and I wonder if the orders would arrive at all without some chasing and the UK base to help.

The advantage of a DIY cab is that you don't 'have' to do anything so if wht you've done works in holding the grille secure and no rattles then it's fine. It looks from your pictures as if you opted for the folded grille. that will give it more rigidity which will help.

Yep 13.5mm should be fine. I'd probably make up a 'frame' of battens all the way round the circumference of the baffle, fixed in and then screw the grille to that but anything that will hold the grille firmly enough to prevent rattles is good enough.

I can't see anyone who lives in Evercreech going alcohol free, well not the people i know

I use ER20's and they are the only ones that give a decent seal for me whilst allowing enough through to let me hear the rest of the band. They are uncomfortable but my hearing is going and I have tinnitus which is more of a problem than a couple of hours minor discomfort. To be fair you did say you'd go custom if you have to. The other alternative is to go in-ears. it's not quite as simple as that sounds and you still have the problem of finding something to fit but it has huge advantages. The trouble with ear defenders is that if you do get a seal they cut out all the good stuff too, the bit's you need to hear of your band and that is as frustrating as having something uncomfortable in your ears or things that fall out and need constant fiddling with to be effective. The Leights look interesting and I'm going to try them but strictly for when I'm using power tools or mowing the lawn. I've just gone down the in-ears route and it's a revelation. I've spent hours trying to get a good seal on the earphones trying dozens of different earbuds and three different in ears. Once you get that fit the sound levels fall as all the background noise is blocked and the bass leaps forward. You even have a volume control on the drums. Everyone's ears are different and they change as you get older. It's going to take a lot of trial and error to get the plugs for you. too loose and they are useless, too tight and they will be uncomfortable and then you are asking them to cut out just enough noise for you to hear the band but enough to save your hearing. You are asking for a lot from a simple plug.

A clapping noise? That's new. It could be the end of the coil hitting the rear of the magnet or the cone meeting the grille if that has been distorted but that is usually described as a farting noise. Turning the bass control down ought to reduce/remove the problem by limiting excursion but less bass could reduce other possible causes too. It could be something loose in the cab. Check the speaker is fully tightened down and the grille is firmly attached and have a look at the internal leads to the speaker, if they are loose they can end up slapping against the cone which makes an alarming noise. It could also be a loose panel in the cab so check everything is as it should be. The other possibility I can think of is something on the cone that has become un-glued like the dome shaped dust cone, though that tends to be a buzz rather than a clap.

How loud are your gigs! I think you've outlined all the main issues bar one, how would it sound and will it be a sound you like. You really need to try the cabs if you can, with and without your own cab. If you just want more of the same sound another 2x10 would make more sense and the safe choice would be to wait until one comes up. The 4x10 should be more than loud enough on it's own and you might well end up using that as your go to speaker. The 15 will probably change the sound more than the 4x10 and be louder. only you can decide if the extra portability is worth the extra money. Try them out if you possibly can.

We do, sorry for the thread derail guys. We played a wedding last weekend, large upper floor venue with all the windows and fire doors open so lot's of fresh air. The wedding party were ticked off by the manager when they did get up to dance. Lot's of arm waving from their seats and some singing along but it all felt very safe and it was really good to be back. It's slightly strange when your set is designed to get people dancing and they can't. I did suggest revising some of the slower stuff we've ditched to get to our dance set but the rest of the band just wanted to stick to the set we were developing before all this happened.

No, but it is the currently fastest growing disease because once again we have failed to sufficiently control it. Given a few more weeks of inaction it will be back at the top, clogging up hospitals again. This constant stop start is destroying more jobs than actual proper hygiene measures would. There's a new study reported in this weeks New Scientist that shows that countries like Australia that have pursued an elimination strategy have lost far fewer jobs. Their entertainment and arts industries are in far better shape than ours and over the last 15 months our liberties have been far more restricted than those who take much stronger measures earlier. I'm happy to re-run well worn arguments but I'm afraid by confusing Australia's 25 a day outbreak for our 20,000 a day steadily growing infection rate you are spreading disinformation put out to be fair in the national media and fuelled by politicians who have failed at any stage to fully understand the situation they have failed to manage. Not a party political point by the way but a comment upon competence. I'm sure you are as frustrated as I am about what is happening but If we had taken the action New Zealand and others have taken whilst developing the vaccines we would have suffered less and had a lot more normal including live music in the meantime.

Yesterday Australia had 25 new cases which they see as a major outbreak worth controlling. the UK has 20,479 confirmed new cases. Over the past year we have been in full lockdown (but poorly done) for a lot longer than they have and for most of the time for example have had a country completely untouched by Covid, crucially for basschatters we would all have still been able to gig. In fact countries who have seriously followed an elimination policy have lost far fewer days have had their liberties less curtailed and their economies more or less unaffected. If they get this lock down right then next week they will have fewer than 25 infections and be able shortly to go back to normal (not new normal) living. We are seeing the infections double every few days so in just over a week expect 40,000 new infections, then 80,000 until we are forced once again to go into what may be more months of lockdown. The trick is to react quickly with the aim of elimination, you won't keep the whole world out but you limit the damage and it's far easier to contain an outbreak of 25 people ant their contacts than 20,000+. You can track and trace a few thousand people a day but we've never managed to get the numbers low enough for track and trace to work. If only we too lived on an island

Hurrah, it all arrived this morning, UPS delivered it all bang on time. I haven't had time to try the mixer but the led lights all work and they are nicely made and do what it says on the tin. Their own brand and really good value. So what have I learned. Brexit is causing problems with imports without a doubt and somebody messed up, possibly the first courier, possibly DV247 probably the paperwork. If you order from DV247 you are ordering from Germany and that is less straightforward than before. Lot's of people are having similar experiences and others find it problem free. If you want something quickly and reliably then order from the UK or if you have the option direct from a local shop. It's going to be a while before Brexit induced import problems are sorted (and I do have sympathy for all the co's UK and German who had no time to deal with this and didn't ask for it, less for Weatherspoons who did). I struck lucky when my second call was picked up by Jo (female) who was smart and effective (thanks Jo if anyone from DV247 sees this) DV247 need to sort their communication out both human and on-line even their own UK staff find it all confusing though they were always pleasant and tried to be helpful. I'm going to order two more lights, they are excellent, I want matching ones and nobody else does them at anything close to the price so I'm not traumatised by the process but I'll chase more quickly if things go astray and accept that the delivery time is likely to be weeks not days. Most of our gigs are open air so I'm not expecting to use them in anger for a while.

I'm growing used to this a bit now, I've still got to spray the grille frame black but an extra coat of Tuff Coat has improved the finish since I took this pic. I wish the cloth had been black ad gold as advertised not black and brown but i can live with it. Anyway I'm still testing it and I had a gig yesterday, a wedding with about 60 people in a well ventilated and quite large hall. Decent PA support and Covid restrictions on volume so i decided a good chance to run out the 110T as on-stage monitor. Our drummer didn't get the memo about volume but the 110T could still be heard and the PA did the rest (just a pair of QSC12's no subs) We have a proper sound engineer now. He said something interesting when I asked about whether it had been enough from his point of view front of house. "I can't believe that little cab, it's the best bass sound I've ever worked with". What really? In normal non-Covid times the guy works with touring bands at festivals and in musical theatre, but I guess from his point of view it's just what he wants. The basic sound is clean and really rather sweet, it sounds like a bass with no sonic nasties to clean up, nothing to trouble the vocal mics and just enough to hold the on-stage sound together. It sits well in the mix and the basic sound is excellent. (and it is nice, I love playing it at home with my Peavey Minimax) OK it's a simple little thing, it's only a 200W speaker and the components come it at only around £100 but I am so warming to it. I can carry in my complete rig in one go. Amp in a shoulder bag, speaker in one hand bass in the other. The bass is heavier and more awkward than the cab. Plug it in everything set flat and it just sounds right from the get go. You wouldn't expect a single 10 to hold up the bass end unsupported but it's only a little way off and it's enough to be your on-stage monitor and cope with anything short of a rock band. Did i say it sounds nice?

Meanwhile my in-ears/headphones arrived from China no problems.

Yep it's just getting odder. The money not has been credited to my account and I've had a subsequent message that the goods are on the way. This time via UPS. UPS say they have picked up the parcel which is a good sign. I'm hoping the new German displays of inefficiency spread to their football team

I'm with you on this, I'm into lyrics in the songs I listen to and the ones I play and get very uncomfortable about those lyrics sometimes. For each of us it is something different; I have no problem with Delilah which for me is just telling a story but i have huge problems with a lot of rap which is frequently misogynistic as others have said. Don't Stand So Close? Well I used to be a teacher when it was released and I find that deeply disturbing, things went on then that we rightly see as a disgrace now. Every Step you Take is pretty out there too, though you could make an argument that Sting is not holding this up as something to be proud of. A lot of old blues songs are pretty suspect in the attitudes to women, somehow because it's not my generation I respond to that as just being historic and a reflection of how things have changed. Brown Sugar is an interesting one. Whether it was written about Claudia Linnear or Marsha Hunt it's pretty clear that with a couple of successive girlfriends Jagger had a thing about Brown Sugar. Remember that as late as 1967 mixed race marriage was illegal in most US states. There would probably have been a big element of forbidden fruit about all this for a South London middle class boy like Jagger. Black people were seen as being defined in large part by their sexuality and we know from interviews that Jagger knew a lot about the history of slavery. I remember when it came out I just thought 'you lucky B*****d'. So is this a positive song about his black partner(s) from somebody quite liberated by the standards of 1970 or is the lazy association of black women with sex and slavery deeply racist? The trouble is that you know it's wrong. Once you've seen that and asked yourself the question you know the answer. I don't judge the people who just sing it without asking the question, it is a great pop song but I couldn't play it. Is it racist? i think probably unintentionally but it is.

yes, though last night was interesting, Messages that they are there from 10.00 to 18.00 Mon-Fri I got through at 17.00 and opted for ring back. It hadn't happened by 5.30 so I rang back myself and was then cut off every time at the end of the 10.00-18.00 message, presumably they'd gone home.

Well at my end it is just getting weirder. I've just had an email telling me about an automatic refund referring to a form I didn't fill in because it was with the package I didn't receive which was returned for reasons unknown to me. Meanwhile I spoke to a very nice lady in romford who told me she would check my goods were dispatched immediately which she had re-ordered and get back to me, which she hasn't. I'm checking my account to see if the money has gone back in.

DV247 are having problems, steer clear of them until they are sorted I ordered an RCF mixer and a couple of LED bars from them at the beginning of the month. None of the UK suppliers had the mixer in stock and we had a gig coming up and I thought it a chance to try it out in anger. The site says DV247 UK and they have the Romford branch plus I've dealt with them before, pre-Brexit. You know where this is going, the goods didn't arrive. I got the usual email with a tracking no. telling me the goods were on their way. Saw they were being dispatched from Germany, not the UK which made me slightly concerned and saw that there was a note saying there might be a short delay. Our gig passed and I was in no rush so I waited. Then I got an email from the delivery co. that the goods were returned, no reason given. On Sat I rang DV247 on their UK no and was promised "no problem, the goods would be sent out first thing this week, upgraded to 24hr delivery as they had let me down". Then no contact and no dispatch note so I've chased again. Again very pleasant but no record of Saturdays conversation. "I'll look into it and ring you back". No call so far so I go online and it seems everyone is having problems. Germany not contacting Romford. People not being reimbursed for non-delivered orders. staff fobbing people off with clear untruths and broken promises. The most worrying thing is reports of people struggling to get their money back. There was a thread on this back in Feb and I assumed then it was just Brexit teething problems. It's possible my order was returned through some minor irregularity with the paper work but with my experience and the reviews online I'd have to recommend you don't order through DV247. I'll let you all know if it gets sorted Is anyone else having problems? Has anyone successfully placed an order in the last month or two?

For the OP yes this is spot on. You don't need to worry as all of this has been taken care of by @stevie in the design stage. For anyone interested you'll notice that we always talk about a speaker's impedance but measure it in ohms, which is resistance. That's because the resistance of a speaker and the crossover components change with frequency. Capacitors resist low frequencies and inductors resist high frequencies. The speaker has a coil in it of course so that is an inductor too and it's resistance to the amp's power rises with frequency. The amp 'sees' a higher impedance. In this case we have a capacitor in series with the horn tweeter which limits the bass and an inductor coil across the horn which shorts out or bleeds off the treble. The horn is louder than the 10" speaker so there is a resistor too, which reduces the horn driver's output. The trick is to match everything up so that at the crossover point there is enough 'resistance' to cut the output to each driver by half so the combined output stays the same across the frequency range. One little point of detail is that the speaker is a really complex load with an impedance that varies at just about every different frequency. Stevie doesn't just rely on theoretical figures in designing his crossovers but by measuring each driver and building prototypes and then measuring frequency responses. It isn't rocket science but a lot of care goes into a simple circuit like this.

Thanks for your support Russ, genuinely it has helped. You don't know who is following this thread and thinking of moving to in -ears. I think for most of us it's a combination of some genuine concerns and a bit of inertia. OK a lot of inertia, and that's why I wanted to put up a bit about my 'journey'. It's really simple as a gigging musician to stick to what you know and for most of us that is fill the room with backline, vocals through the PA and vocal monitors are a luxury extra that the singer can sort if they want. If you are my age it's what we did in the 70's and it kind of works, a lot of old bands provide a good enough sound for the audience to just enjoy the music. The biggest cost is that you progressively lose your hearing. So for me, I've never been reluctant, it has been about finding time to do the leg work. just like choosing your forever bass or your ideal bass amp this all takes time and some thought. Like trying out basses or a new set list it is fun though. For me I wish I'd makde finding the in-ears a priority. You really have to find something that fits and gives a good seal, it doesn't work if you can't cut out the stage noise. Our ears are all different shapes and the provided ear buds probably aren't going to work. You wouldn't expect shoes to fit if they only made small medium and large and our ears vary as much as feet. I found my fit with ear plugs, for years i struggled with the memory foam ones for building work but the ERS triple flange musicians ones fitted perfectly first time. Moulded ones I'm sure would be even better but that's a hell of a step up in price. If I'm still using them in a year I might try buying some custom ones but it's a big cost for something you might not use and can't sell on either. The other big thing is the mixer, if you only have a couple of Auxes then individual monitoring isn't an option. Digital mixers are now almost the same price as analogue and will soon be cheaper. They probably are already for the same level of control. My Yamaha MG16xu is £380 and the replacement RCF M18 is £339, way more options/flexibility and 6 auxes, so individual monitors for the whole band. My hearing is shot, it's been accumulating for a while probably but 5 years ago it was better than most people's, now I struggle to pick out conversation in a noisy room. I'd say to anyone who plays with a drummer to go in-ears for that reason alone. The fact it will make you play and sing better and improve your bands sound, well that is just a bonus.

You won't be getting the full benefit then, though its obvious why you do it that way if you are also trying to manage front of house sound. We've got a sound man in. Our guitarist used to teach him so he's not expensive (though the deal is he takes a share of the fee as if he were a band member) Our gamble is that we will sound better, improve our playing and singing and get better gigs as a result. I'm wondering about asking to try a FOH mix in my in ears. For bass I know that is what I'd prefer. I'm a 'pocket' player so listening to the rest of the band in my monitor is more important to me than haing my bass enhanced. As an occasional backing singer though I really need more me for the vocals. With my duo I do the mixing and I do use front of house for the monitor feed. It's much simpler though as we have no drums and of course only two of us

You are going to be very disappointed with me Russ. The good news is that at last nights rehearsal (who'd ever imagine a gigging band rehearsing on a Saturday before Covid) we all had in-ears. We've never played better and that is down to the monitoring, There is absolutely no substitute for being able to hear properly. The real revelation though was the headphones. A pair of KZ ZSN Pros. I'd ordered them by mistake, or rather by slightly dodgy Chinese advertising. They were advertised as ZS10's but for £13 shipped from Shenzen. Predictably when they arrived they weren't as advertised , but before i returned them i had a listen. They are loud! The mid-range is more forward as well and vocals jump out at you. The fit is a dream and they are slightly smaller than the ZS10's. I tried them as monitors yesterday and frankly for me they blow the ZS10's out of the water. I had to mix the vocals back a bit and the guitar and also reduce the gain overall but everything was crystal clear. The bass was nice, not as forward as the ZS10's and the treble is a bit harsh but as a monitor so much clearer. They still have a smiley face eq but not as extreme as the ZS10 and as i say i had to turn down the volume which achieved painful levels. So for anyone yet to embark upon this route very usable in-ears, especially good if you sing as well as play bass and at £13 no excuses. Remind me how much I paid for my RCF ART10 floor monitors