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Jacob's Ladder - Rush

One of the drummers with whom I often work, is not just a great musician but also has a great ear. He and I share a liking for similar sounds. So when I hit 'that' sound, the one I really love, and I glance over and he's clearly hearing it too, I take notice. These moments always seem to happen when I use a 1x15 cab and a big old style head. The last time this happened I had bypassed the complexities of the preamp and used a simple preamp pedal instead. The Joyo series is my favourite for this. American Sound, Californian Sound, Oxford Sound - they're all great. I was pondering why this should be. The conclusion was that the bottom end is less big and booming - these are after all g****r pedals - and the mids seem tighter, more pronounced. All of which is to say the sound sits better in the mix. None of the above applies in my reggae band mind.

Maybe for some, but sadly not for me, which is why today my 112 cabs weigh 10kg each, and I often use a trolley.

Played a 60th birthday party on Saturday at the Baines Hall at Elland Cricket Club. We'd been brought in as a replacement for the band originally booked who became unavailable, and who for some time have been trying to get us to fulfil gigs they can't but this was the first time it had happened. Absolutely pissed it down all evening, so got drenched loading in and loading out. I also made the mistake of being set up first which led to other band members dumping things on the (fortunately quite well padded!) gig bag containing my spare bass! I used the Sire - Elf - Two10S setup again, but it didn't sound particularly great, probably not helped by the hardwood floor throughout making the place really boomy, or by the fact that the Sire desparately needs a string change. It didn't sound bad, especially when the full band was playing, but when I was on my own then it was definitely noticeable (by me) that it didn't sound ideal. I also had the amp cut out during the first song, but a quick reduction in gain and increase in volume, together with a conscious effort to play lighter, solved the problem and there were no further issues. I had cut the pad on my left ring finger a few days prior to the gig - not a deep cut but given the aforementioned filthy strings I didn't want to get anything nasty in it, so I had to play in a plaster. That didn't cause any issues fortunately, except when I had to slide using that finger and found myself a fret higher than I'd intended to, and towards the end when it started to come off my fingers would stick together which made me really have to concentrate. We didn't expect to have much audience interaction, and apart from a dad and his two young kids, and a young woman in very sparkly trousers, we had no dancers until about three songs from the end when there were a good twenty people up and cheering. No encore and the fastest teardown I think I've ever had, and I was home for 11. Shoes were a pair of very wet brown Clarks ones that need a bit of attention now. We've a couple of months off now until our next gig in September, so plenty of time for string changes and learning new songs.

This got me through a gig at the weekend. Really enjoying the freedom of not tweaking things all the time. I was worried that going for multi effects was becoming too time consuming, as I was playing with it more than I was actually playing at home, but at rehearsals and gigs its the opposite, just set and forget. I could tweak if needed but as it's more hassle I didnt. I used the pedals footswitch as a mute/tuner, everything else done on the controller. This shot was taken at home, we down play carpeted stages 😉

Where do people find dep gigs?

@Rayman I was similar. Virtually all my fave bassists played Precisions - Burnel, Foxton, Matlock, Simenon, Deacon - and for years I tried to get the sound I wanted from various different types/brands of bass. Then I bought a Precision and suddenly there was the sound.

I get that some can'/won't do this, but IMO we should all be able to separate work from play and, if we do it properly, enjoy both. I depped for a cover band on Saturday and it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The set, band, venue and audience made it a great night. On Thursday I'm gigging with my old fashioned R&B / Rock n Roll/ Ska band. It not really my thing but I expect everyone to be dancing and having a good night, so I will too. Saturday is a dep with a pickup band and, as yet, I have no idea what songs we will be playing. I'll probably find out when we get to the gig!! The jury is out on this one! Sunday is my regular Blues Band. That will be a good evening with an appreciative audience, sitting and listening. Variety and good players keeps it interesting, a happy audience and getting paid makes it worthwhile.

Hiya, Im looking to replace the rattly machine heads on a bitsa bass I have. Can anyone with a standard MIM fender bass tell me the measurements /spacing between the screw holes etc? I can’t find that info online and I don’t have one to hand to measure myself. Ideally the spacing between each of the top and bottom holes, and their distance apart along the length of the machine head base plate would be handy. cheers Chris

Despite what we may think, we rarely buy the best tool for the job, which is why Fender are where they are and G&L are where they are

Sad but true

Sad news indeed. There’s something about G&L that just doesn’t fly with the market and it’s been that way for years. Prices of used USA basses are proportionately low compared to US Fender or US MM equivalents. Some of the US L2000 instruments that you see for sale used go for Japanese Fender prices and the Tribute line used prices are rock bottom (I’ve sold a couple in the last 2 years). I had a few of each and the quality/sound/playability is as good as anything comparable but they have remained very niche. A few times over the years I’ve had compliments on my G&L basses especially a US trans-orange L2500 I had but people said that they couldn’t get past that headstock. One person said that the G&L headstock makes it look like it’s aimed at the country music sector. I couldn’t disagree. G&L has lacked faces too, in a recent Andertons video on why Andertons is still in business, Lee Anderton says that they keep good stocks of and sell lots of instruments that customers’ favourite guitarists/bassists are playing. G&L just isn’t on the radar of many buyers in the way that Fender and MM are. There isn’t a high profile artist roster and there’s not a history of legendary stars out there playing them in the same way you see Fender and Gibson etc. G&L marketing focuses on the Leo Fender legacy and “the best instruments Leo made”. All commendable and worthy but I don’t think that figures in the buying decision of many people. The landing page of the website says “Made in Fullerton since 1980” - who cares about this except for me and few other crusties? It presumes that you know the history of Fender and significance of it, whereas most Fender owners have no idea where Fullerton is nevermind that it was where so many great Fender instruments were made. The product info is all “features” like Saddle Lock Bridge and Dual Fulcrum Vibrato; that’s like a car manufacturer putting “Fuel Injection”, “16v” or “ABS” on their products, it’s old hat, we expect all this and a lot more these days. There’s a bloke in a G&L top and jeans sitting down playing a natural JB. Then there’s pictures of Leo and other G&L blokes in plaid shirts in the workshop, one is even holding up a competitors guitar (it’s a Fender). That’s the shop window of G&L today. None of that helps get these amazing instruments into the hands of potential buyers. I’ve dealt with G&L customer service a coupel of times in the past and it’s so far above and beyond expectation, it’s like dealing with a boutique builder that focuses on your need, they’re fantastic. I’ve had a pickup sent out FoC from California and another time they shipped me a tuner to replace one that was bit stiff. I really hope G&L comes through this in whatever way, the products are fantastic but they need a serious business rethink to get them out there selling decent numbers. Spector went through a rough patch in 2007-09 with distribution, image etc. Prices were disproportionately low but now it’s bounced back. Fender went through a rough patch in the 80s until the management buy-out.

This is why I have completely given up on the traditional bass rig. Fine if you can guarantee to always be using your rig, but at multi-band gigs with backline sharing this is hardly ever possible. Using multi-effects I had got to the point where my rig was simply there to make my sound loud enough for me and the audience to hear, and for any gig where the bass was going through the PA what most of the audience heard was very much down to the sound engineer. Even if I bypassed the pre-amp of whatever bass rig was at the venue my sound was still being shaped by the cabs, so I've stopped using other peoples bass rigs and now go straight into the PA from my effects - currently a Line6 Helix Floor. That way I have eliminated as many uncontrollable variables for my sound as possible. For the very few gigs where there is no PA support for the bass I have an FRFR cab, that has the dual advantage of not only being far more neutral sounding that an typical bass rig, but will also fit in places on stage where there is no room for an amp and cabs. On stage so long as I can hear that I am in time and in tune with the rest of the band I am happy. I've stopped obsessing about getting a perfect sound on stage, because for the majority of gigs I do, it's simply not going to happen. Maybe if my band starts playing 1000+ venues on a regular basis I can be a bit more diva-ish! FoH I'll have a quick listen to check that my sound is in the ballp[ark of what I'm expecting and it usually is, mainly due to the sorts of gigs we play the sound engineers know what sort of bass sound I'm aiming for. And if they don't I'll play them some of my "guitar" patches and soon sorts them out! TLDR: my sound comes from the Helix. On stage I just need to be able to hear myself and the rest of the band. FoH I trust the PA to do the right job.

Old school flats? Don't try to find a set of flats that feels like a set of rounds. That's not what they do. Get the heaviest set of LaBella flats you can find, and love the thump.

Doing this from a distance rather than being hands on the thing. I think that PCB is the culprit. It is probably going to be what's called "surface mount" electronic components which are mega fiddly to do anything with unless fully equipped with big eyes (magnifier eyepiece) and a suitable soldering set. So not really fixable for most people. The "problem" is a well known effect in circuit design, so I would be tempted to investigate the options, see what Cort have to say, because... if this is a one off fault, they should offer a replacement, it looks to be be an easy plug connector. But if it's an oversight in design, custard pie in face is called for, because... if this is a Mark Bass EQ or any well known designer, this is such a basic "design out" problem. One of the first tests any designer will do is to check for this power on/off glitch. Ask Cort for their opinion. The big clue is, BG volume set to 0% and there's no problems.

If only there were a website where all of the major ear plug manufacturer's ear plugs were tested for their actual audio response with sound examples normalised and compared to the source tracks. It would give us a fighting chance of choosing an ear plug that suits our needs. For example, in certain settings a set of ear plugs I have lack clarity and they are quite boomy, but they can be useful in other settings where the low end appears missing. I wanted a set of reasonably cheap "flat" ear plugs for general use for more speech intelligibility too and I went on a search to find answers... oh wait... here's one:- https://www.hearadvisor.com/earplug-rankings thank me later Also be surprised at how bad a response some are too (taking in to consideration A-weighting and the like)

Movin' On Up - M People

No, I still get the pop even when switched to passive. It only stops with volume at 0% or with the battery removed.

It does indeed. Yet another reason it followed me home 👍