LawrenceH

Thank you - hoping that works regardless of which OS are running the app. Looking forward to getting hold of it and having a fiddle - I've downloaded the app but a lot of features can't be accessed on the demo. Notably, there are no libraries so no presets/quick channels or ability to change FX. The quick channel feature looks fairly essential when trying to throw together a mix in a hurry - what do people do who are using Mixing Station, which I assume isn't able to use those?

Yup absolutely right Lozz, though the bass doesn't exhibit obvious neck dive when worn. But those tuners are unnecessarily chunky. Annoyingly there doesn't seem to be an ultralight version of the 70s style tuners so changing them involves drilling new holes. I do have some Gotoh Resolite GRL510C12 - hard to get in the UK - and they're only 180g for the complete set. So I can lose an impressive 265g off the headstock. Worth noting though that the Gotoh clover isn't quite the same as the Fender one, and the shaft is a little shorter

I can definitely see an obsession building. Scratch plate? Pah! That's 100g of dead weight with the screws! If I bought a lathe I could mill up a titanium string tree and save 3 grams.

I've been investigating lightening the load of my main player. I measured weights of various components and since I've put in the work thought I may as well share, it might be a useful resource for anyone else thinking about weight reduction on a jazz bass or looking to put together a bitsa. Haven't fully dismantled it so don't have separate weights for control plate components or pickups, but I'll try and revisit at a later date next time I restring. Cheap-o Ikea digital scales so expect a small %age inaccuracy, though it did test ok on some kitchen weights . Also taken a few measurements from an Aerodyne jazz for comparison, less than 300g lighter but strangely feels like a bigger difference. If anyone else has some components to add please chip in! Different tuner designs, original BBOT/high mass bridges, pickups, covers etc. Also neck and bodies as it's useful to see where the weight comes from and what the variance is. Will try and add some pics at some point too Japanese Fender 75RI: Neck (maple board) 773g String tree 7g Tuners (Fender 70s style) 445g (111g each) 3-bolt neck plate plus bolts 66g Pickguard 94g Pickguard screws 6g Control plate 148g Fender Deluxe Bass Bridge 106g Body (ash) plus DiMarzio Model J pickups 2682g Strings 75g Total: 4402g (9.70lb) Fender Aerodyne Jazz: Neck (defretted, epoxied rosewood board) 703g Tuners 370g (92.5g each) String tree 7g 4 bolt neck plate plus bolts 64g Body (basswood) fully loaded (pots, bridge, P/J pickups) 2899g Strings 75g Total: 4118g (9.08lb) CTS 250k pots solid shaft from my spares drawer 14g Hope this is useful info to someone!

Thanks chaps - good to know even a cheapo Android tablet has been reliable. Slightly hesitant to risk it on a gig! But a standard iPad seems within the realms of affordability, and assuming that Apple batteries and OS tend to be pretty stable. Couple of questions if you don't mind: Is it easy or even possible to swap devices to, say, a second tablet or indeed a phone as backup if the main controller goes wrong? Also, is a wired connection possible while charging the tablet? Or would I have to use wireless in that scenario? I will definitely take a look at Mixing Station as well, thanks for the tip.

Well, a CQ20b is on its way to me having popped up at a very decent price, complete with case. Entering the digital age! So I need something like an iPad to run it. Anyone got any recommendations or advice? Main concern is long term reliability and stability. I might explore using it for other music things but I don't want to splash another grand on an iPad pro especially if the bog standard one looks to have a good lifespan

I tried a Casio PX-S7000 recently. The sounds were great. Action is very playable deep into the keybed given how compact it is, but it is unavoidably light so not for everyone. Good for gigging in terms of weight but you'd definitely have to baby it. I'd have one at home for sure, the industrial design is excellent. Going back to @Hellzero's comment earlier on VSTs, I don't think any stage pianos or probably even high-end home hybrids are going to match the depth and realism of the best software ones. Of course you pay a price in terms of convenience - that's what puts me off Korgs, which are essentially a Linux PC in a keyboard frame. They have huge multilayer samples but you have to wait ages for them to boot up.

I don't see what's wrong with adding a second Orange cab if the OP likes the sound of the first, and the impedance works for the amp. Who cares if it's isobaric and therefore not the most efficient use of drivers? It's still compact, goes reasonably loud and since the drivers are neo it's not particularly heavy. Just think of it as a 112 that sounds how it sounds.

Sure! Bright Giants was another post-Covid project, has ebbed and flowed with arrival of kids etc but great people to work with and IMO strong songwriting with the playing focus on supporting that. Based around Bristol and Somerset, currently a 4 piece (vox, guitar, bass, drums) but exploring the possibility of expanding to allow our guitarist, who is also an excellent classically-trained pianist, a little more freedom. Also working on adding more 3-part harmony live where it'll support the melody. Aim for this year is being a bit more regular and ideally building on that to take what we think is a solid set of originals to festivals. Be nice to connect with other bands who might crossover potential audience-wise, sometimes feel we're probably a bit poppy for the punk/metalheads and a bit guitar-y for the pop kids! Cheers!

I haven't tried the Spectracomp but I've used the Hypergravity, and assuming it's similar you ought to be able to achieve all that with a 2- or 3- band preset, especially if they have gain on each of the bands. Tbh a good 1176-esque preset ought to get you most of the way there without even needing multiband. In general I find: - fast attack/fast release will even out the note attack and sustain, which helps with upper-mid clarity but can choke the bass end a bit hard which is where sidechain HPF comes in handy. - slow attack/slow release will emphasise picking attack over a controlled deep note to give you that soft-picked soul sound. - you can adust ratio and threshold together in a compensatory fashion so that you achieve similar amount of overall gain reduction with either high threshold, high ratio, or low threshold, low ratio. However you do it I find aiming for 3-6dB average reduction is about right for really filling out the sound. For fast settings this'll mean very briefly hitting quite hard (9dB plus) on peaks especially if you dig in or slap. - if you're multibanding, the switch frequency from low to mid-band takes a bit of fiddling to suit pickups and your taste in the low mids, which is quite critical to the body of the sound IME. My own general-purpose pop/rock/funk preference is chaining a slower compressor into a faster compressor, with a ratio no more than 4:1 on each, each taking off the aforementioned 3-6dB. A lot of people will do it the other way round (1176 into LA2/3A is conventional wisdom) but this way worked much better for me.

My understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, is that the Steinway in the Numa player is not the same as the downloadable update one for the Numa X. The original Numa D samples were rather lukewarmly received but the update is considered, and to my ears from comparing demos is, a substantial upgrade. The keybeds for the Electro (TP100) and Stage(TP40) are also not the same as the 73 (TP110) and the 88 GT (TP400w). Supposedly they represent noticeable improvements, but I'm just going by user reports. Also the Nords aren't graded, and the Nord Stage action is for whatever reason not the same as the slightly nicer version of the TP40 on the Nord Piano (those I can confirm from my own experience). How do you find the GT action? I'm not a great pianist though I did study for over 10 years, but I do have for reference a very nice and still quite well-regulated Model O that I inherited from my grandma (who was good). I've never found a digital that felt anything like the real thing, but the top Roland/Kawai portable actions do at least feel responsive and musical.

Thanks very much. For reference my Jap 75RI neck incl tuners weighs 1225g, of which ~445g is the tuners (Some ultralites weigh under 200g for 4) Overall that bass weighs ~4.3kg. I think I might get away with a little more neck weight before dive became an issue (especially as the weight distribution is along the neck rather than all at headstock as with heavy tuners), but I'm not sure. Trouble is I was hoping to use a lighter body due to back and shoulder troubles. I will keep following, I think what you're doing is very cool! Foam core (especially at headstock?) definitely appeals though.

I tried a lot of stage pianos before PMT closed their doors. My 2p: The Nords sound good and have great interfaces, the samples are all somehow more musical and characterful than a lot of the competition. But, the nicest Rhodes samples tonally are lacking depth/richness because the samples just aren't big enough. Keyscape absolutely runs rings round them. Likewise, the Steinway D sample shows its age which is a shame because it's nicer tonally than the bigger 'White Grand' (Steinway A). The Yamaha grand sample is better than any of Yamaha's own. One general criticism of the piano samples is lack of 'ppp' samples, they could have a softer tone at the bottom. Hammond sounds great. The key to pricing stability is their sound library, but get a model with resonance modelling. Crap actions on the electro, weighted or otherwise, passable on the stage but far from the best. Yamaha YC/CP: VERY disappointing pianos, just bland digital-sounding. Shame as the organs on YC were good and the interfaces are great. Didn't like the action on the 73 or the 88. Looking at 88 key models which I appreciate you're not sold on: Yamaha p525: much better samples and action vs CP. Good if you don't want all the organ stuff Roland, all the pianos sounded awfully dull except the RD2000 'German Stage' Expansion which was actually good (also nice action). The rest haven't surpassed the old 700NX IMO. Kawaii: pretty good sounds, certainly musical, decent action too (88 note weighted tho). I ended up with an MP7SE. Organ/FX not as good as the Nord but the piano key/sound connection is the best of the bunch. Not light though! Something I'd like to take a punt on, but haven't tried, is one of the Studiologic Numa X - either the 73 or the GT. Demos/reviews of the EPs and the downloadable Steinway D sound superb to my ears. Not sure if they have organ sounds though

Hah funny you should say that! I had the club stage monitors and they were miles ahead of the awful 15" tops that were common - including a lot of those early moulded cabs. Fired them up a few years later next to my home-brewed 12" tops made using REW/Bagby spreadsheet and decent components, and couldn't believe how coloured they were in comparison.

One thing I've long suspected about mics in live PA is that if you overlay the mic frequency response over the speaker response, including info about how the latter behaves around crossover, you'll be able to see which mics will play nicer. Even more so if you could see time-based plots and distortion info. I've often thought a mic with a tight peak somewhere around the crossover frequency brutally highlights all the deficiencies of that speaker. From memory the Shure peak is that little bit broader, higher and smoother than the Behringer. Likewise the slightly humped response of a lot of PA tops in the upper bass can play really crappily with mic proximity effect. Years ago I remember any boost centred around 3-4.5k always sounded awful with the common two-way speaker designs, because the woofer would be in breakup up that high and the mediocre tweeters would be straining to reach that low. Plus the ear is quite sensitive around there. Half-decent speakers nowadays tend to cross a bit lower, plus the crossovers are better, buying a bit more space. Just my own anecdotal experience, nothing systematic.