misrule

[quote name='BOD2' post='216022' date='Jun 10 2008, 11:28 AM']The signal taken from the DI of your amp in most cases will not sound the same as what you hear in front of your speakers. The speakers themselves add "colour" to the sound and you'll set your EQ to allow for this. When you take the DI signal before it reaches the speakers then the resultant EQ might not be appropriate. Good DI boxes often have "speaker simulators" which try to redress this so that the DI signal sounds close to that of a mic in front of a speaker cab. Preamps (like the Line6 Bass POD) are designed to output a fully speaker-simulated signal at the DI outputs - so that what goes to the FOH desk is very much like the sound of a mic in front of a cab. Soundmen try to reduce the number of mics on stage as far as possible as this allows more headroom before feedback and less spillover into adjacent mics (which muddies up the sound), which is why they like to use DI whenever possible. +1 for the FOH band sound being more important than each individual's sound - and since YOU can't hear the FOH sound you cannot adjust your EQ to get the best. The soundman will feel more comfortable working with what he is familar with (i.e. a straight DI signal from the bass) and given the limited time usually available for soundchecking this is not unreasonable. The problem you have is that with a unknown soundman you have no idea if he good at his job or not. It sometimes helps to have a friend whose ears you can trust to give you an idea of how the FOH sounds so that you'll know if you have a good soundman or not, then try to remember that next time you use him.[/quote] Thanks, guys -- I'm learning a lot here! Cheers Mark

Thanks, Carlos -- good point about the amp breaking down. I didn't think of that. Cheers Mark

Thanks very much for your replies, folks. This is very informative. Some people might say that, to make an Ampeg sound awful at the flick of a switch, you just turn it on But, as an Ampeg owner, I disagree of course ... The guy doing the sound was our singer/guitarist, so he'd want us to sound good. But I'm not experienced enough to know what he's doing -- and I'm glad to hear what fellow bassists feel about the situation. He used a straight DI on the bass for the band who followed us. The bassist was much better than me, and a nice guy too, but he sounded a bit boomy in the mix to me. And, Kaiu, my DI was set to post EQ. Next time, I'll ask for a mic as well -- that'll p*ss him off Cheers Mark

[quote name='BassBod' post='215623' date='Jun 9 2008, 06:54 PM']You will often find that amp DI's give you a choice of "line/direct" . The sansamp is another great option..provided you like its sound.[/quote] Thanks, BB. My amp has a choice of line/direct (I picked line) and a ground lift, which I believe is supposed to cut hum. I also have a Sansamp -- but I didn't suggest it given that he had another DI box and a DI out to choose from. Cheers Mark

[quote name='dangerboy' post='215611' date='Jun 9 2008, 06:36 PM']I've always put this down to lazy soundmen, tbh. I use a heavily effected signal through the amp - quite brutal EQing and clipping (it's a GK and I love that old school 800RB tone). It would be totally inappropriate to take the DI before the pre-amp, because it wouldn't sound at all right for the tunes. Which is why, in the end, I put a preamp in my pedalboard. I can do all the monkeying there, and only offer the soundman the sound I want.[/quote] Thank you -- that's what I thought at the time. Cheers Mark

[quote name='jakesbass' post='215606' date='Jun 9 2008, 06:29 PM']I think it's an easy answer, he wants control of the sound, and if he's good and in front of the P.A there's a pretty good chance he will control your sound better than you can, not always the case of course, which is why when people find engineers they trust they use them again and again.[/quote] So he'd add the grit and manipulate the tone at his end? But presumably I'd get a much cleaner tone FOH than is coming out of my amp. Forgive my naive questions but I've never come across this before. Cheers Mark

[quote name='Finbar' post='215596' date='Jun 9 2008, 06:20 PM']I prefer the sound of mic'd bass anyway. Most (not all) soundguys I've met seem resistant to this. I can see why the pure signal from your bass is easiest to manipulate to get the right sound for the room, but if they ask me to boost or cut a frequency a bit, I'll be more than happy to help if it works for the acoustics of the room. Meh. Most of the time the punters don't notice, and I'm not listening to FoH anyway...[/quote] I suspect it's a guitarists' conspiracy. Our other guitarist has a DI output on [i]each[/i] of his two Marshall heads but his cab was miked up on the night. Cheers Mark

[quote name='Jase' post='215590' date='Jun 9 2008, 06:14 PM']Perhaps your grit might sound like a bee in a jar if you use it with a DI....Be best to mic it wouldn't it? Or do both.[/quote] I don't know -- I've never had to do it before. Does the sound from an amp vary going through its DI channel? Is a mic the best bet? Cheers Mark

Hi, folks -- On Saturday, we played a gig for which our singer/guitarist set up and ran the PA system. He's a sound engineer, and very good from what I could see. All our amps were either miked up or DI-ed so he could record the set. My amp, an SVT 3 Pro, has a DI output on the back but he wanted me to use another DI box to give him a clean signal, without my pre-amp in the way. He said he'd get the pure sound of the bass. But I insisted on him using the signal from my pre-amp -- otherwise, why would I bother using it? My questions are: Why does he want a clean signal when I play with a lot of grit? What can he achieve with it? And was I right to stand my ground? Would I have been better off leaving things to him? Cheers Mark

"It will make you sound good even if you can't play a note". Hmmm. F-ing miracle Cheers Mark

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='215189' date='Jun 9 2008, 12:35 AM']I used to hate gigs where you're not getting any rapturous feedback from an audience (if indeed there was one) and would just get visibly more and more fed up as the set dragged on but now I don't mind them. At worst they are a paid rehearsal. We did one to about 30 people a few weeks back and I put in as much effort as I usually do and had a blast in the process. Stick with it man.[/quote] Thanks for the reassurance, Ou7shined. I once went to a gig in Putney, by a reasonably known band, where I was the only one there. The sound was good so I leant a chair against the back wall. After our gig at this village fete, I deliberately stood in the vast, empty field in front of the stage to encourage other people to watch the band on after us. They were good guys. [quote name='OldGit' post='215349' date='Jun 9 2008, 12:13 PM']PM me if you want some tips[/quote] Thanks. I'd be glad of any tips you can send. I'm in another, classic rock covers band that goes down better -- but the lead guitarist and singer are genius-level people with other commitments. And we only play support slots or friendly pubs. Cheers Mark

[quote name='OldGit' post='215144' date='Jun 8 2008, 10:40 PM']You did well... 75 minutes outside in the afternoon with loads of distractions for the audience is a hard gig for anyone, let alone a new band. Just to get through it is an acheivement. However I'd suggest you stick to gigs after dusk for a while. Punters are a tad easier to entertain then and it could have been worse, You could have been on [i]after[/i] that other band .... [/quote] Thanks for your kind words. I think we'll stick to pub gigs for a while until we find our feet. This was our third outing -- the previous, at a social club, was a disaster of similar proportions. The only way is up ... baby. Cheers Mark

Our newly-formed covers band played a village fete on Saturday -- the biggest crowd in my short career (several hundred, with 1,000 tickets sold) and 10k PA outdoors. The sound was gorgeous -- but we were on too early and vanished into a pool of listener apathy without so much as a ripple. Or we were crap, depending on your viewpoint. I prayed for the ground to swallow me up as we played song after song for 75 minutes with nothing but the faintest, polite clapping between and about 100 yards to the nearest punter. And it's amazing how a situation like that saps morale all round, leading to f-ups and blunders. We started out playing our best ever but ended up shambling about like dullards. Then the second band came on and comprehensively blew us away. This morning, I was dejectedly wondering if I should jack it all in. We certainly need a serious shake-up in many areas, including the set list. The only good news -- we got £75 each, a personal best. Rant over -- thanks for listening. Cheers Mark

Those look stunning. I've loved BCR since I saw Aerosmith playing their guitars in the Seventies. Now I just need the price of fuel to come down ... Cheers Mark

I've not played these places, but I've been recommended the Malt Shovel in Horsham (see website in the post above) and the King's Head in Billingshurst. Cheers Mark

Can you catch VD from it? Cheers Mark

[quote name='the_house123' post='200496' date='May 16 2008, 03:18 PM']i always find it annoying having to test them on a shop floor. Its more of the awarness of other people in the shop issue if you know what i mean.[/quote] Assuming you were in Anderton's, they have two try-out rooms hidden in the back behind the (limited) bass section. Ask if you can drag what you want to try in there. Cheers Mark

Just a note that luthier and tech Chris McIntyre, formerly of Cable Street, London E1, has moved to: Unit 228, Blenheim Court, Blenheim Grove, SE15 (off the charmingly named Bellenden Road). It's near Peckham Rye station. See here [url="http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|Peckham%20Rye#map=51.46936,-0.06824|17|4&loc=GB:51.4702:-0.06892:17|Peckham%20Rye|Peckham%20Rye,%20Rye%20Lane,%20Southwark"]Multimap[/url] His website is here: [url="http://mcintyreguitars.com/"]McIntyre Guitars[/url] And he did a fantastic job setting up two basses while I waited. I only wish I had the money for one of his custom builds. Cheers Mark

[quote name='bassmanbish' post='198079' date='May 13 2008, 04:14 PM']I remember catching an episode of Ballamory (that my son was watching, I hasten to add) that featured one of the grooviest, funkiest slap lines ever. I very much doubt it was him, but it really sounded like Mark King - style, tone etc. Cheers Matt[/quote] There's a very fast slap line on Me Too! as well, while some woman cleans a bus. Since it's the same production company, it may be the same bassist. I had a rummage around the internet but I can't find out who it was. Cheers Mark

There's some good stuff on Me Too! -- the daft show by the Balamory team about what parents get up to while their kids are with a child minder. Cheers Mark

She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult -- can't get much easier than that and it usually goes down well. The Middle by Jimmy Eat World -- bit punky, probably, but a three-chord-wonder with nice harmony vocals. Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus -- you'll need somebody squeeky to sing the girl-asks-him-out bit. Have fun. Cheers Mark

[quote name='Rich' post='190423' date='May 2 2008, 12:32 PM']That's what was so great about the Bass Centre (RIP) back in the Wapping glory days of the late 80s... you'd wander in there and a guy would approach you and the first thing he'd say after 'hello' was "Is there anything you'd like to try?". That's [i]try[/i], not buy. It was always kid/sweetshop time in there. I remember going in there once and telling him what I wanted from a bass... he sat me down at a Trace amp, pointed me at the free coffee m/c, and then brought me [i]fifteen [/i]different basses to try, gave me all the time I wanted, and never once prodded me for a decision or showed any sign of impatience... ahhh man, those were the days... [/quote] I was working near the Bass Centre one Saturday in 1999, so I popped round to look at the acoustic guitars in the back. I arrived after 9am but found the place wasn't open until 10. However, a guy was carrying boxes out into the street -- and he waved me inside with a cheery "try anything you like". So I sat for an hour on my own playing their hand-made stock in the humidified 'conservatory' place at the back. Not much there under a couple of grand. And I bought a beauty which I still have. The bloke's attitude was an exercise in how to sell stuff. Cheers Mark

[quote name='David Nimrod' post='167133' date='Mar 31 2008, 07:29 PM']All I can say to that is:- If I can do it, you can do it. Now go and do it!!! [/quote] +1. I'm 44, in one band, looking to join another and standing in for a third. I'd be classed as cr*p by most people on here -- I depend on a good ear and reasonable timing. Get out there and find someone to jam with. You'll feel so much better Cheers Mark

[quote name='phatbass787' post='147353' date='Feb 26 2008, 06:02 PM']I have just ordered one of these and am very very excited, there has been a lot of hype from those who heard it at The Namm show over on talk bass, and only £59! [url="http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/detail.asp?section=labs&ID=210"]J Lo Hyperdrive[/url] [url="http://www.soundslive.co.uk/product~name~Ashdown-James-LoMenzo-HyperDrive~ID~8587.asp"]http://www.soundslive.co.uk/product~name~A...ive~ID~8587.asp[/url][/quote] It better be good -- I've just ordered one based on your and Spider's recommendations. Thanks Cheers Mark

And Rics -- only for people called Richard. Cheers Mark