Chest Rockwell

fill a room? turn it up loud enough and it'll fill a room with broken cd's, dvd's, picture frames...

"Collection in person only"

I play in a 'Metal' band but it's more downtuned stoner/doom than 'heavy metal', though I am a full on student of the art going on 22 years listening not playing mind! I like this tune, a few different movements in it. DM and BM are a bit played out for me, I mean, it's all been done a thousand times. that's just me tho Been listening to the new Marduk album recently, it's very good, quite varied. the only other one I like of theirs is Panzer Division which is an absolute blast fest. I mean, if it's gonna be heavy, dont mess about I prefer bands that go all out. do you know Bethlehem? Burning Witch, Cryptopsy, all the early BM stuff. If i was gonna play insane BM, I'd be taking cues from them. good stuff tho.

your local?

Im in Cardiff so I'll hold out for the inevitable big Rick splash Im gonna make one day (anyone got a genuine fire/maple, I have cash that could be teased out of my pocket ) Low score on his profile, but the two basses he's sold previously are gibson n fender so probably genuine. The only reason I can think anyone would sand the back down would be either to 'improve' bad buckle rash, or... dunno!

clueless about such things, but looks purdy from the front? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rickenbacker-4003-Bass-/221207823864?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item33810385f8"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rickenbacker-4003-Bass-/221207823864?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item33810385f8[/url]

heh!! that's the thing, you'll just have to quantify what you mean by 'heavy'. The heaviest music ever made could easily be purely unplugged acoustic by dint of it's emotional 'weight'. Even though I fly the flag for 'heavy', I cant stand that shouty, screamy stuff that 'the kidz' these days like. Deftones sounds to me like a child having a temper tantrum. I find it all bluster and no substance. One man's sh1t sandwich is another man's gourmet. Still, I think we can and should all agree (with me ) that 'heavy' is in the realm of heavy rock, and in the heaviest of that realm, the tunes I've posted are accepted as the heaviest examples. People who don't know that genre might not understand it, but that doesn't make it untrue. Locust Star by Neurosis is killer too. Especially the ending.

hehe! you probably mean 'heavy' to people that don't really experience 'heavy' on a regular basis Here's some examples of the heaviest riffs known to man or beast... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3jzKrMZL08[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NZ0EoOuJi4[/media]

this is kinda weird, cos I've never really had a problem with sound 'out front' at gigs... and I say that based on the people that come up and tell us what we want to hear, like 'OMG that was heavy as feck, etc', but this only at certain venues, where we know the sound and inhouse guy is good. i can make ZERO adjustments to my setup, play somewhere else, and there's no 'power' at all, or at least, none on stage. If anyone's unsure of the effect we're after, just think Black Sabbath. just as well, playing through a DI>desk>monitors and no bass cabs on stage, for a slow n doomy rock band, is like turning up for 100m sprint with no shoes.

sounds like a right kettle of fishworms!! I just asked my mate, who's played 'millions' of gigs all over the world (plays for Death Metal bands Desecration and Extreme Noise Terror) and he just said 'it happens all the time'... Will definitely start fiddling with mids in practice, at full tilt, moving cabs and my room position...

[quote name='iceonaboy' timestamp='1362599385' post='2002010'] Btw, I'm assuming you are doing your own sound and don't have a sound man [/quote] it's always whoever's in house. we're a DIY, plug and play, local rock band, 30 gigs and rarely step out of the village! our village is Cardiff tho and there's plenty going on here. quite popular mind, on the innerweb [quote name='barkin' timestamp='1362608327' post='2002218'] So seriously scooped, with pretty much no mids at all then ? [/quote] yup! I've always liked my sound like that, even on stereos/graphic equalisers. if bass is too boomy/muddy or high end i'll increase the turn back the bass or treble, but mids has always been a 'dont like it' thing for me

btw, here's a live clip which at the start shows what the bass SHOULD sound like going from clean to 'heavy'. it drops back from a long section in the middle. obviously the recorded sound is from a phone/camera, a little boomy but it's a good balance. this was a great simple setup, no hassle, wide room, easy. excuse the screaming womem at the start! TBH, I think a lot of the time it's down to acoustics and the sound guy 'getting' it. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sArl8F4kM00"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sArl8F4kM00[/url] please excuse all the 'me me my band' stuff. its purely for illustrative porpoises

I should probably have gone through a few of your posts and picked up on a few points, but just to reiterate... There's no issue with my sound or gear or where I sit in an equal mix, when we practice. I can meet, match and beat the guys for volume if I so require. A beautiful place to be This issue if purely trying to get a standard sound on stage, or some kind of knowledge where I know what Im dealing with when I get an anomaly and know how to deal with it. Im kinda leaning towards a few things... 1. Maybe look in to a DI type SANSAMP 'controller' 2. Get on the floor during soundcheck/line check and see if the FOH sound is good - I have been doing this 3. Be confident with the inhouse soundguy and tell him 'what the hell is that feedback/reverb/radio 5 live coming through the monitors- sort it out please' 4. read all your comments, make notes, do research and keep learning!! trouble is, as anyone knows, you get zero time to fiddle about, so it's hard to learn. I dont wanna be 'that guy' saying 'up a bit, down a bit', so it's all kinda... ARGH!

p.s. my Jazz bass does bring the beef We're at c# standard, then drop the C# to B. so pretty low. i give the bass just enough edge to not be clean, but not so much that we're all fuzz. the guitars often seem too trebly for me anyway, i would say that though

hey all, Unfortunately as we tend to play standard rock-gig venues, where the bass cab is, or even what type of cab it is, is rarely up to me. it all depends on the headline band, whoever supplied the gear, how much room we have, etc. What Im trying to do is standardise/control my experience, given that EVERYTHING except what I carry in, is unknown, and possibly crap, somewhere along the chain. The chain being from the DI out of my OTB to the sound coming out of the PA out front or onstage. btw, My OTB settings are generally Treble just off full, Middle = 0 and Bass on full (though bass usually comes down a bit at gigs) - that's a perfect setup during practice. If i can control it using gear, or if i can control it by having a better understanding of how to adjust my sound based on what im hearing, WITHOUT breaking possibly a decent sound that the audience hears, all the better. it seems to be rather a hit and miss affair to be honest. It seems like our best gigs have been when we've had absolutely towering cabs to play through!

hey all, thanks for all the info, Im gonna have to read it all properly when I get home. For the record tho, I don't generally use the Compact live, there's usually something on stage to play through. the band (should) sound like this tho..! [url="http://thorun.bandcamp.com/album/chorus-of-giants-ep"]http://thorun.bandcamp.com/album/chorus-of-giants-ep[/url]

The answer to this question may be 1. learn to use your gear/tech 2. nothing you can do, suck it up but I'll ask anyway, cos I can't imagine I'm the only person that has this problem... Basically it's onstage sound issues. My gear is an Orange 500w TB and a Geddy Jazz bass. I also use a (Green) Big Muff for distortion and it's mostly on. Putting aside the OTB 'hot' issue, which I think I've now resolved by buying a £5 30db attenuator (changing the valves didn't help)... my 'clean' bass sound often sounds incredibly thin and 'clanky' onstage. The overdriven sound also seems to suffer from a little too crusty. Basically both sounds lack the phatness that I require. My band is a downtuned stoner rock instrumental band and as I have two overdriven guitars alongside me, the bass NEEDS to be low (I have a feeling that people are gonna tell me I need to peel back on the bass but that doesn't compute). Even when the onstage/monitor sound is horrific, I'm told by audience members that it sounded fine. It's just very difficult to play like you're knocking holes in mountains when your bass sounds like bees trapped in a jar. when going 'clean' I have to 'go light' on fingering (easy!), because i want to avoid any 'clank' of the strings touching the pickups or neck. that's not my style, I'm a hitter. If it actually sounded out there like it does on stage, I'd stop the tune and get the sound person to fix it, but I just dont know and it paaaains me! It's annoying cos using my Compact, or the random bass cabs at the two practice places we use, my sounds is big and warm and I can control it easily. Is there a gadget I can buy, or a technique I can employ, to even out my onstage experience? Am I too overdriven? Too Bassy/tone-y? the Big Muff? onstage monitors too crappy? suck it up? tell the sound guy to 'press the red button'?!? Help me Obass-Wan, you're my only hope...

sounds interesting. I dunno if that applies in the UK, anyone braver than me wanna investigate? We played a gig on Weds where we had to supply our entire backline (opening local band on one date of Grand Magus UK tour) so I used my Barefaced Compact and the Terror. I finally had a chance to try the Studiospares -30dB... and the sound guy was very happy!! HURRAH!!! there was still some horrific reverb on the snare and some sonic wash coming from the monitors which was like water torture, but aye, apart from that, all good! why is the sound always sh*tty eh? if it ain't one thing...

cool, cheers KK, I'l look into it

[quote name='jackers' timestamp='1359131477' post='1950446'] stop horsing around guys (already got my coat) vaguely on topic: what do people use to tame the DI signal on the OTB? [/quote] [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1359132138' post='1950469'] Go to Studiospares or similar and search for attenuators ... [/quote] Im gonna have to do this as once again, even with new tubes, the soundguy was complaining about 'way too hot'. strangely i turned the bloody thing nearly off and he was till going 'lower'. It does my head right in!! he mic'd it then (dunno why this is anathema to soundmen. 6 strings are mic'd no problem, bass is always a fuss!). unfortunately i dont know (or care to know) the technicalities to argue the toss. the guy was cool though, the sound was great and we had a good time. ...but i really wish I could just plug and play in a live gig like I can in practice!!!

[quote name='Iana' timestamp='1356171121' post='1907551'] Just for info I have spoken to an engineer at orange technical. Hr tells me that orange now use jj tubes in their amps and the DI issue has been resolved. Took the top off mine yesterday and there were a pair of jj tubes installed. My amp is dated may 12 [/quote] interesting. I wonder if they could resolve the DI issue for older amps?

that'd be a yes from me, subject to the questions raised above.

usually it's an issue when bands turn up with no gear... now it appears that when they do, that could end up being even worse!!