Steff

Hi guys, just got this email from Amazon - currently they're doing an offer on some guitar strings and things, check it out - it's 4 for 3 with this code - guit4for3 on checkout . Elixir strings are already about £10 down but the code should work with them too. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/s/ref=mh_s9_acss_ln_refSpend_1_1?rh=i%3Ami%2Cn%3A340837031%2Cn%3A%21340838031%2Cn%3A406550031%2Cn%3A407738031%2Cn%3A407750031%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A1943629031%2Cp_6%3AA3P5ROKL5A1OLE&bbn=407750031&rw_html_to_wsrp=1&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=mobile-hybrid-2&pf_rd_r=113V5QX2H8RM3SJN485E&pf_rd_t=1201&pf_rd_p=632479667&pf_rd_i=2448467031

Right... So I went to see Dream Theater last night at Wembley Arena. I am a prog fan, my favourite bands are Yes, King Crimson, Rush, Gentle Giant, Karizma, Planet X and so on... I never liked DT too much as I find them too cold and too concerned about the mathematical side of things rather than emotional side. However I do appreciate their musicianship, those guys are some of the most technical musicians I've ever seen which I respect a lot even though I don't necessarily like it. Now... for a start, the whole night I thought they looked as they had a huge argument just before they got on stage. I don't know if that's some sort of thing they do, very clinical, much too serious, stone faces and all... the only person who was showing some excitement was the keys player. Mike Mangini... I remember back in the late 90s watching his videos on precious VHS' with my jaw dropped, admiring and loving it... Last night he looked a bit like "yeah... another gig, another 20 grand in my account... whatever". No excitement, no pleasure, no emotion on his face apart from a brief moment when he was chatting to the keys player while playing. Also what struck me was after every tempo or time signature change he was dragging the beat, not creating the needed pressure and tension for the moment. It was always taking about 4 bars for the other musicians to get together with him and start sounding tight, as they were getting in the moment with a bit more excitement (which I think is appropriate and necessary for live playing). John Myung now there's a question: If John plays a super complicated, technical bass line and no one in the audience can hear him, does he really make a sound? Why would you hire a sound technician who would put the bass so low frequency wise that the only thing you could actually hear from it was... no wait, you couldn't actually hear it. You could only feel it. With the same results John Petrucci could have used an octave effect. There goes Myung's 30 or 40 years of exercising 8 hours a day... The singer - not my type of voice or singing, but I gotta admit - he was flawless at what he does. Not a single false note. Brilliant. The keys player was good too, performing very well and sounding great. Petrucci at the start was a bit like he hadn't taken his espresso before the gig but after the second song he got awake and played great. Massive guitar sound. Drums sounded a bit distorted, especially the snare and hi-hat. (I have a few years of live sound and studio mixing experience). Apart from that and the lack of a distinctive bass sound, the sound was phat. Big, like a thick brick wall. From the 3rd - 4th song on it was clear, with a nice punch and I could hear what every instrument plays (apart from bass, don't remember if I mentioned that already). They had some sounds on track, on the LED wall behind them during a couple of songs there were some clips going, and there was car engine sounds, gunshots, thunder and other sounds. Way too loud and with a piercing top end, overwhelming the whole high register almost painfully. Really, get a new sound tech. I did like it in general but it won't make me a DT fan. Still I'm glad I went to see them, great work with the odd time signatures live and great playing skills. Anyone else been there last night?

I did some research on that a couple of years ago myself, looked to me like the most popular were the OC-2, the EBS one and the MXR octave deluxe. I had the EBS octabass and as far as I remember, it performed brilliant. I also used to have a Behringer one. A funny little thing. Flawless tracking, great sound but very noisy. I guess that shouldn't be a problem if you only intend to use it live, but I wouldn't buy it again. I currently own a Danelectro which I've buried deep in a box covered with other boxes and stuff. It's awful but I needed it for a single gig and got it for about £10. Check it out here - to make sure that's the thing you never go near to. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l6kY3GE-Tk[/media] Actually from 3:03 you can hear it better and there it isn't that awful but the rest of the song it just tracks whenever it decides with random length...

+1 from me. This thread got me going on Superlux headphones as about a month and a half ago I broke my old set so I did a search first on here, and after reading the above I checked a few more reviews from google. All the reviews were the same - great price/quality, people rate them in the £150-£250 range. So I got a set of HD681s and I couldn't be happier. Great clarity and detail. All for £22 delivered. I've compared them to a friend's set of Sennheisers worth about the same and the difference was night and day. I hope whoever is looking for a new set of headphones will come across this thread. It was very useful for me.

Ops sorry didn't see it... Still a great deal tho

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/ibanez-musician-bass-1984/1047663018#photo-content Very funky colour I think that could be a good buy for someone, as I remember the last ones I've seen were in the £600+ range.

Here it is, all done Sounds good, just need to find her a couple of nice pickups That's how it all started: Saw this for sale for 50 quid... [attachment=153754:original.jpg] First thing to do - put a new bridge: [attachment=153755:Bridge.jpg] Second... The neck was the dirtiest I've ever seen. It was time for some cleaning. Who said alcohol doesn't do no good...? [attachment=153757:neck cleaning.jpg] Some shielding [attachment=153759:pups shielding.jpg] [attachment=153760:cavity shielding.jpg] Battery digging... that took a while [attachment=153761:batt cavity.jpg] Preamp was a tight fit... [attachment=153762:ready to close.jpg] And... all done! [attachment=153763:back done.jpg] [attachment=153764:front.jpg] My apologies to all the luthiers, this is my first attempt in modifying and I've got no experience in digging holes in wood/electronics

+1 Absolutely different beasts. All Warwicks are boosted in the mids, bit warmer than a Stingray. I personally prefer the Ray as it sits lower sound wise but it's still very focused and cuts through. Warwicks (please don't throw stones at me) always sounded to me like a cross between a bass and a baritone guitar, very audible but not supporting the mix in the lows as good as a Ray or a Fender P or a Jazz with both pups on. But still it depends on the type of music you are playing, in some cases the Warwick might be more suitable than a Ray. Not for me though.

Thanks mate, appreciated Trying my best!