Franticsmurf

I tried the Sine at rehearsals tonight. It was last in line going in to a TCE BAM200 into a bass cab, the details of which I am not sure but a 15" speaker. The Sine was set to cut 30hz (the lowest setting). There was definitely a difference with it engaged. Very subtle but it tightened the sound up. The recording of the session has a more defined bass guitar sound (all other factors - mic position, recording levels etc - being equal). The master volume on the amp was slightly lower than usual. A non-scientific review, I know, but enough for me to be placing this as a permanent 'always on' pedal on the board.

There's always one. S/he knows better, has done it before, could do much better than the singer/guitarist/bassist/keyboardist/triangle player, used to play in a much better band and was around when music was real music and not the rubbish of today. We even had one guy going through every bit of kit we had onstage telling us why it was rubbish. It can spoil the night at the time, but the reality is that everyone else enjoyed - and they confirmed that your critic wasn't worth listening to.

Unfortunately I have no gig or rehearsal booked for about a week. But I'll report back when I can. The neighbours are away, so I may crank up at home tomorrow. 😀 It's a lovely looking unit, well built and solid, the pot is smooth and silent.

After posting here, I went in search of the Sine and ordered one. It arrived this morning. I'm impressed with the delivery. It's hard to judge the effect it has without going quite loud, but there does seem to be a subtle tightness when it's set to about 35hz. Sweeping the frequency higher creates a more pronounced effect, as you would expect. There is a mild pop when the foot switch is engaged. I'm not too worried about that as it will be an always on effect on my board.

Index and middle fingers are the usual culprits for me but I can 'gallop' using index, middle and ring fingers (we're currently arranging Abba's 'Does Your Mother Know' which requires the gallop). I also have a pluck technique that uses the very tip of the index finger which is supported by the thumb (think pinching a plectrum, but without the plectrum and with the index finger slightly forward to catch the string) that gives a sound midway between finger style and plectrum.

I've been considering an HPF after chatting with the sound engineer with the band I'm in. With this lot I go straight into the desk and through the PA with in ear monitors and I like the sound he's got. He showed me the EQ on my channel and it includes a quite drastic HPF set at about 35hz. As I'm working on another band project that won't be using FOH only sound, an HPF seems sensible. Up until about 10 minutes ago, I was searching for a Thumpinator. Now I'm going to give the Sine a go.

Most of my circle of friends are in or around the music scene/business but of those who are not, music forms a small part of the range of conversation topics and playing music an even smaller part. My non-musical friends (male and female) are interested in my gigs/rehearsal anecdotes in the same way as I'm interested in their work or holiday anecdotes - it forms part of a wider, general conversation. Generally with these friends I am not the one to start an in depth conversation about music but I'll join in if one develops.

It was a great sound - fitted in nicely between two distorted guitars - punchy and lovely low end without being overpowering. I can't believe the settings on your amp. 😀

I have a lot of photos from travel and trekking and during a reflective moment I was thinking along the same lines. But I understand that the British Library are occasionally interested in collections of diaries and journals from us normal folk and I have plans to contact them to see if this is indeed the case. After all, the quote above can also be taken as a call to preserve some of those possessions, memories and histories.

I did this too. I had so many bits of paper and printed photos floating around that I decided to digitise them in 2019 - the 30th anniversary of my first gig. I do a lot of trekking and keep diaries, turning them and the photos into journals that I get into photobooks. So I decided to do this with the band memorabilia too. I used 'Blurb' as I like their design options and the quality is good. During lockdown it became a project to write a narrative to link all the photos and posters etc and I ended up with this: I'm actually part way through the updated version now.

I've tried a few (Behringer Ultrachorus, Rowin, Sonicake, Eden I90 and a couple from the Zoom MS60b) but I keep coming back to the EHX Bass Clone. Now I have the Plethora X3, I've found a close match with one of the Corona Chorus Artists patches ('Gold') and convenience means I use it. But the Bass Clone is the one for me.

I've got quite a bit from the first few years and I've digitised most of the photos and posters. I have some press cuttings from the local rag that are cringeworthy now, early set lists with the takings from the gig (my first gig in 1989 took £29.50 on the door at 50p per punter) and some plans for stage sets and song running orders for a project we were going to do in conjunction with a local dance troupe (it never came to anything). I have several live recordings which, when I listened to them again for the first time in many years, reminded me why we never made it. Enthusiastic we were, gifted we were not. 😃 I have most of the recordings we did in the local college studio (we had access as the keyboard player was a student there). I do enjoy looking at them now and again, just to relive some good memories (we may have been rubbish but we enjoyed being rubbish) and to remember my best mate, our drummer, who is no longer with us.

Is that Uplands in Swansea? I'll try and be there.

I've been going through an experimental stage with my boards recently. The Hulla band has been on it's summer break and I've been working to put together another band for more rock orientated gigs. As a three piece we supported the Hulla at a festival in June and to fill out the sound I added a floor keyboard controller triggering a Korg 05R/W module. I also played acoustic guitar for a couple of numbers, hence the acoustic pre-amp in this 'board'. The clock is there as we only had 45 minutes on stage and time was quite tight. For the subsequent trio rehearsals I put a bigger board together and the 12 Step sat in front of it. This was while we were working on arrangements and I wanted to try out options. Other pedals came and went, swapped places, sat off the board, sulked in the corner etc. My Zoom MS60b played a part, as did various drives and filters not shown here. The trio has now morphed into a quartet and quintet - the intention is to be able to expand to fit the needs of the gig with a keyboard player and vocalist, both of whom have other bands and are happy with the part time arrangement. The board changed once again to allow for the fuller sound (the singer plays acoustic guitar on some songs). There is an annoying (some would say exciting) gap to be filled and it will probably go to the MS60b acting as a pre-amp/filter/synth option. As trio, I will add the 12 Step and I'm currently contemplating a custom board with it attached. And this is the board I will be taking to the Hulla rehearsals which start again tonight. Being a 13 piece with plenty going on, I need a simpler sound and this line up is just right. Please note that this post only remains accurate for about 10 minutes after which more changes may have been made. 😂

In the late 80s I started out as a geetard in an originals band playing what we thought was a cross between Hawkwind, Gong and a little later Pink Floyd. The early gigs were described as 'punk' by a few of the venue owners. We 'progressed' towards a more Yes/Genesis/Floyd style, still originals, and picked up a few more gigs. But we were finding that to get the gigs we had to bring in more and more covers to please the venues. I think that at the time we all thought there was a chance of 'making it' but we all probably had different ideas about what 'making it' actually meant. To me, it was partly practical - to make enough money that I didn't have to keep my job in the civil service - and partly idealistic. The real measure of success, to me , was having someone learn one of my songs to play as a cover, just as I had done. We had interest from a local manager/agent who turned out to be just a chancer full of wild promises ("Do you want to make a million pounds, lads?") and young and naive as we were, we saw through that one straight away. It took about 3 years of writing, rehearsing, recording and gigging to get the band to where we all really loved what we were doing, only for the gigs to dry up as there weren't enough people sharing the love. We sold a few self released albums at gigs and through a local record shop, the line-ups changed as various members realised it wasn't going to happen until it was just me and the drummer - the founders of the original band. One of the problems was that I wasn't a great geetard and at the same time we had problems with keeping a decent bassist. If I'd taken up the bass duties and we'd got a decent 6 stringer, things might have been different. But probably not. 😃 I got into bass playing with another band doing all covers and with no pretensions about success. 'Making it' was getting the next booking. I readjusted my expectations and decided that the criteria for success was covering all my musical expenses, GAS, etc with the earnings from gigs, and enjoying the process. In this respect, I made it in the early 2000s. Now it's very much about enjoying what I do. I play in a band that only does charity gigs (all the fees for performances go into a large pot from which we donate to local charities nominated by the band members). I'm currently in the middle of getting a band together to play the stuff I enjoy playing. It's taking longer than I would like, but if it comes off I will consider that I have 'made it' once again.

It's a toss up between struggling to keep it business-like when a band member has done something/not done something (an OTT guitar solo at an important gig or not learnt a song properly after several rehearsals) and maintaining enthusiasm with a band/band members who are not as outwardly keen as me. The former can be read on my face during the transgression (there's a cringeworthy video of me trying to attract the attention of the guitard who is into his 5th minute of solo at the end of Purple Rain - TBF the video also shows the singer and drummer trying to make eye contact with him). The latter tends to come across in my own loss of enthusiasm. I am aware and can control the latter just by stopping to think and re-assess.

It's taken me a while to find one I like and surprisingly (perhaps?) it's the Behringer Phase Shifter. I have it set quite subtly which could be described as weak, but I find it just thickens the sound a little and gives me a bit of movement. I love a fuller phase sound on guitar and as @stewblack said above, a light distortion does wonders.

I generally prefer the live album versions of most music by my favourite bands. My first 'proper' album was 'Yesshows' - and I only found their studio albums a little later, by which time I'd been spoilt by the energy and excitement of the live performances. While I appreciate studio albums more now, I still turn to the live recordings more often. They are generally grittier, more energetic, more atmospheric, they have interesting interpretations of the originals (particularly where the band line-up has changed) and they're usually a good compilation of songs from the back catalogue. When suggesting songs to the band I tend to offer the live versions as the starting point.

I'm in a more phasey place, personally. But more importantly, I'm on a forum where both these statements are accepted and understood. 😃

I have a Warwick 1x10 plus horn, which I use in rehearsals coupled to a TCE BAM200. I like the sound and that I can adjust the volume of the horn. It's small and light. It doesn't have the punch of the TE 1x10 cab (I have two) which I use for gigs but it has plenty of volume and I never have to use the BAM200 anywhere near full volume. Be aware that the Speakon sockets and the horn volume control are on top of the cab in a recess, which makes stacking them problematical and may get in the way of larger amp heads. It's not a problem with the little TCE. Edit: It's the 1x10 8ohm version that I have.

I'd forgotten how nice the neck was.

This. I have several small bits of matchstick in my gig bag just in case.

I make up different boards for different bands. For a recent three piece gig I had to add a few pedals to thicken the sound, and a McMillen 12 Step keyboard controller so I could play some synth for a couple of songs. We're exploring adding two more people to the line up for some gigs, so the board is as fluid as the suggestions for songs to add to the set list! But the established band (The Hulla) has a small board with just a tuner, Bass Clone and Laney Digbeth and that hasn't chsnged for about 12 months. Some would say it's due for a review. 😃

New bass day, courtesy of @KingPrawn of this parish. Thank you, sir, for this beautiful Hohner 'The Jack'. Back in the day, when I was just starting out in the bass playing game, my first 'proper' bass guitar (i.e. not borrowed and not without a recognised logo) was a Hohner 'The Jack' headless bass. At the time I was under the impression that 'normal' basses looked too big on me, having seen a diminutive bassist with a local band wielding a Jazz bass that made him look like a child. Headless seemed ideal and I bought it from a mate who was playing bass in one of my favourite local bands at the time. A decade or so later I was taking a sabbatical and sold most of my bass gear, including the 'Jack'. By the time I returned to the bass game (sooner that I thought) I realised I'd let go of a really nice bass and looked in vain for another example. I ended up with a Spirit headless and later, having overcome my self image dilemma, a Precision and a Sterling MM. But always in the back of my mind was 'The Jack'. I kept an eye out but there were few sightings, and many of those were in Japan. There have been a few in the for sale thread here, but they have coincided with a drought in the bank account. Until a couple of weeks ago. As you might be able to see in the band photo (taken in the late 90s), my 'Jack' was a sandy coloured guitar and had been de-activated (or the active electronics weren't working). I think my new one looks better with the darker natural finish.

Just received a Hohner 'The Jack' from Sean. Exactly as described (in fact, nicer looking than the photos). A very simple and straightforward process, despite me making a c*ck-up of the first payment attempt. Plenty of timely communication from Sean and when the first attempt to pay didn't go through there was no drama. The guitar was posted as soon as payment was received and arrived very well packed a few minutes ago. Another excellent transaction to add to Sean's great feedback on here. 😃