Rosie C

I had the spanners out today - a £10 Roland bracket off ebay, the bottom half of a spare cymbal stand, and a 22mm tom arm and ... ta da!

I was invited to join an established folk band for a rehearsal last night, with a view to joining them. I've not played upright properly for a few months, and just before I found the G string has failed in some annoying buzzy way (notes on the G string buzz horribly, the same notes played on the D string are fine). Anyway, I was about first there, and set up with my trusty Crush 25B amp. There was accordion, violin, octave mandolin, clarinet, bodhran and washboard. The set list was a mixture of Morris dance tunes, Irish folk tunes and Klezmar. All went well - I kept it simple, mostly improvising, root-5'ing the chords with an occasional run on chord changes.

By chance I heard a Brian Eno on Radio 4's "Infinite Monkey Cage" on Saturday, talking about AI tools that can de-reverb a recording. Though I guess the equipment and resources he has are immense compared to what I can lay my hands on

My keyboard controller arrived. The keyboard is lovely, although only 2 octaves it has proper full size weighted keys. I've managed to find a copy of the user manual, and there's much reading to do. The last bit of the jigsaw is a synth. I was going for a new one from a smaller company, but I've found them quite unhelpful. Instead I'm thinking of staying 'vintage' with a rack-mounted Roland XV-3080. But I'll have to do some research first...

You just play 4 pieces, instead of 3 pieces, scales & aural. NB: I've been doing ABRSM, Trinity and Rock School, but they all have more or less the same option.

An alternative is to do the ABRSM digital exam. No particular date - when you're ready video it and send in the video.

Oh, and for me too. I have a wall like the wall in Hogwart's Castle with all the "Educational Decrees" nailed up. Grade 1 acoustic guitar, Grade 2 viola, Grade 2 recorder, Grade 3 piano, Grade 4 bass, Grade 6 theory.

I second this! We renovated a little barn into a practice space, including DMX wiring so we could feel like rock stars. But the cables were duff and it never worked reliably.

My previous piano teacher was very keen on going to grades as soon as possible - using them as targets to aim for. I found that caused me stress, and a subsequent music teacher (who liked to think of grades passing by like road signs, leisurely and without stress) said that teachers who teach a lot of children are used to pushing students through exams quickly as that's what many parents expect. Edit: I'm working on grade 4 at the moment. I took grade 3 last year, and one per year feels about right for me.

I would have got the 404, but I couldn't find it both at a good price and in stock. The 2 input will do me. I'll let you know how the MIDI goes - so far it's been very good, no problems, just plug & play as they used to say. Earlier today I had the SPD-6 plugged into my Mac via the UMC204, and was playing drums with my Mac acting as drum synth. Currently I have the UMC204 connected via twin MIDI DIN cables to a CME U4MIDI on my iPad and MIDI files are happily playing from one to the other

I've decided to get back into MIDI. In the 90s I used it a fair bit with player pianos, but not since. Our band varies in size from 2-4, and when there's just two of us I end up playing intros on descant recorder, then switching to mandolin. I'm hoping to set up something with MIDI where I can have my iPad play the intro through MIDI. The first arrivals came today... Roland SPD-6 drum pad. We used one of these last summer - a recording session in a narrowboat, and heading towards 'vintage' now, so I've been looking for a good example. I like the instrument sounds, and as a bonus, it's compatible with the Boss FS-6 pedal I already had, adding high-hat and kick. Behringer UMC204HD to add a 2 channel interface and MIDI ports to my Mac. Early days but it all seems to work as expected. Ah, this takes me back!

I was thinking capo, but didn't like to share that idea But actually I'd probably take two basses, maybe with a Boss LS-2 pedal to make the change-over easy.

I tend to connect my pickup to a Boss GEB-7 EQ which works as basic pre-amp / impedance matching and I can turn down the very lowest band to stop feedback.

I use a Realist Lifeline. It does need an adjustable bridge, but it's fairly quick to remove/replace. Before that I had a Realist Copperhead which goes under a bridge foot, which sounded just as good - though I read there are only so many times it can be removed & refitted.

Likewise, I'm tempted by a rebec or viol...

Sadly I have allergies to most of the exotic woods, but I have a pearwood rottenburg treble. It doesn't get played so much though since I bought a descant/treble pair of Adri's Dream recorders in pearwood/boxwood. Lovely recorders with renaissance style wide bore. Perhaps not so good for ensemble playing, but great for solo or leading a band

1. Rich - Trace Elliot TE-1200 amp, Barefaced Super 12T cab, earplugs , Shuker custom 5, other stuff TBC. 2. Woody - Rickenbacker 4004-L5, maybe Sei Flamboyant, Same old basschat 12" with some amp, other stuff TBC 3. Pinball (tbc) - some interesting basses 4. Stubsy - Joyo BadASS, GRBASS AT212 slim - only 50W but that should give 120dB at one metre 😇. (or I bring my TE 1110 combo). Some fun pedals. Perhaps the AVII 1960 precision, the Sire P10 and maybe the Fender Performer and something unexpected... 5. Sean - Mesa 400+, Laney Nexus Tube 400 , MJW Taranis 200 (Matamp clone with extra channel and EQ), 2 x BF TWO10, Spector TBD, Valenti #005 Super P, Yamaha BB2024x, plus a mini walk-in bass surgery if interested 6. Rosie - likely I'll bring my upright, set up for bluegrass/folk/jazz if anyone's not played upright before and fancies a go

Is it perhaps an analogue pedal, and the new versions are digital? I sold some old Boss pedals and some went for more than I expected as they were (apparently) analogue, and considered better than more recent digital models.

Thanks Bill, I'll give it a go and report back!

I have a need for a small battery powered bass amp to supplement my double bass. I expect this wouldn't work but here goes... I was thinking about making the basschat speaker cab project, but with an extended cabinet for a 12v battery powered amp. Then I got to thinking about the elderly Crate TX30 battery powered busking amp I have. I'm guessing if I just plug a bass in I'll blow the speaker very quickly. I could swap the speaker for a bass one, but is that likely to work? e.g. is the cabinet size different for lower frequencies, or does it need a port?

Room for improvement though 😉 Though on a serious point, I think the most significant work on my bass was changing the tuners as that weight is right at the end of a 1 meter lever arm.

You'd be wanting Mercury on a string for that.

No, I don't think it changed the fundamental sound of the bass.

No, it came back sounding great.

I have a jazz bass that I was kinda attached to, and yes I had a massive route done under the scratchplate. Along with changing the tuners for alloy lightweight ones and changing the solid bridge for a 'bent metal plate' type - it knocked a pound or so of weight off and made it very playable. Whether it was the best option is debatable - I love the bass and I'm pleased I kept it, but I'd probably have been better selling it and buying something else.