Leaderboard

Gig last night was a little two hour, two set, Thursday night soiree. Everything went ok and it was free from any technical or equipment issues. The pair of G4M 1x12 powered pa speakers bought used for less than a ton nearly a year ago as a stop gap when our previous singer left with his EV’s continue to provide sterling service, and have more than paid for themselves. They aren’t hugely powerful but 1x12 + horn seems an ideal configuration for pub gigs. It’s only vocal, saxophone, and kick going through them. First time out for my new LFSYS Silverstone II cab, and also first gig with my newly restored Trace Elliot SMX head. Both worked perfectly and the clarity and sound quality were quite astonishing. I used my Sadowsky M/J for this gig. If there was anything to be noted for after gig discussions, it was that the second set started to get a bit jazzy rather than blues and perhaps a bit louder than was necessary. Both the guitarist and drummer were suffering from “The Guiness Effect” by then.🤔 Venue was Baker Street in Stirling, not the most spacious of venues. The band name seems to be sticking now as Blues Delux( for the last three gigs). Must admit I prefer the Sunday afternoon shows at this venue rather than late week nights. It also rained tonight, and the venue was late advertising the show. So it wasn’t a big crowd we played to, but they seemed to enjoy it. Everyone was happy, the band all enjoyed themselves, and we got paid to boot. I’ll take that any day. I believe there was video footage but it's not available yet. That maybe a good thing😊

Played a set at a bluegrass festival last night as a trio of guitar, mandolin and DB and we all sing. We have done this before and it went well but the leader and main vocalist was not feeling well and it showed with sloppy intros and endings and some other slip ups that are not normal for us. On Saturday and Sunday we play two more sets but with the full 5 piece band and by that time we are hoping the leader has recovered. Not our finest set but that's just the way it goes sometimes.🙄

Been curious about these since they were released a few years ago, as I much prefer the RG style to the Soundgear range, and a fretted 5 was a hole in my collection. When I spotted this I had to take a punt. It's black, it's got a pointy headstock and sharkfin inlays, and it cost less than a Squier. What more do you need. It plays nicely, although we'll see how low the action can go, and sounds fine (although first impression is that the preamp does SFA). Neck's not as flat as I'd expected/hoped for based on the reputation of their guitar necks. The headstock also survived me immediately twatting it into the attic roof as I was unpacking it unscathed🙄 Good for metal innit. Although the skull volume knob might be a step too far.

I put this massive board together out of all of the bits I actually use during an average rehearsal. Covers everything I need. I've got it set up so in A/B mode it swaps between a slightly driven SVT and a very distorted SVT. Then for stomp box mode I've got it loaded with a Darkglass Microtubes capture and a Sansamp Bass Driver capture, and I'll test those two captures out and go with whatever I prefer on the day. My setup doesn't need to be any more complex than that.

I'm just chuffed for my friend Christian Madden who's playing keys. I've known him for nearly 30 years and we've done countless gigs together in numerous guises, from when he was just a lad. He's the most down to earth and honest Lancashire bloke you would ever wish to meet. I'm very proud of him tonight. Rob

That'll be me then.

You're certainly not going to show the kids "this is what you can sound like if you're any good," that's for sure.

Intrigued to see how this is going to go to be honest... We need more bands like this to show the young kids that playing instruments is 'cool'

Sometimes its hard when someone isnt well but at least you still did the gig rather than cancel. We played a very busy venue once where our female singer was so unwell she had to leave stage to vomit in the band toilet next to stage area. She carried on until the end and we sent her home right away. We could have played the gig with just the one singer but she insisted she wanted to play it as its her local rock venue. Fortunately the audience were aware she wasn't well and were very appreciative that the band continued as normal. Its not an easy decision to cancel a gig so for me i think maybe a little praise for your singer that they didn't cancel and take it as a positive rather than a negative. Dave

I wonder if "Drum Off" was supposed to be an instruction to FOH when Metallica start up?

It strange isn't it. I've had a lot of the boutique stuff (Shuker, Alembic, etc) and I find that while they're all beautifully made they're complex to coax out a great sound, ofter over-engineered and, well, a bit ugly. The more gigs I play and the more varied music I'm asked to work on, I value the simplicity and quality of the American Fenders I've had.

Almost an all new gig setup for me at the moment with the exception of the Sadowsky M/J which I've ben using a lot in recent times and done a few gigs with now. First outing this week with a new LFSYS Silverstone II, and my fully restored 1994 Trace Elliot AH250 GP12 SMX. Lots of clarity, exceptional low end performance, and excellent sound quality so far from this combination. I've also stopped using my trusty LMB3 for now, and I'm relying completely on the dual band compressor on the amp.

They've surely exhausted pillaging the complete canon of Messrs Lennon and McCartney by now?

The evidence supports that, absolutely. Pino, Lee Sklar, Will Lee, Charlie Haden, Steve Swallow, even Marcus. All these guys have massive CVs whereas the Jeff Berlins, Hadrien Fraud, Michael Manrings etc crowd are much more limited in their catalogues. Who gets the Steely Dan gigs etc? Always the solid guys.

20250628_195601.mp4 I finished work late on Saturday afternoon about 5:30, saw the Maiden fans heading for Canary Wharf tube. Stopped for a quick beer before heading home and decided to see if I could get a ticket. An hour and half later and I'm in the stadium with a front standing ticket...

It’s all relative of course, but I don’t see Oasis inspiring that many kids nowadays. It’s going to be filled with middle aged men like me.

Successful bands are popular because many people think they are good at what they do. If enough people think you are good then you are. QED As for Oasis, their songs are very popular with audiences and are easy to learn, so I love them.

Definitely, no maybes about it (see what I did there?) Whilst they may not be the most accomplished musicians they have a cool factor, if that inspires kids to start picking up guitars etc only a good thing imo.

Honestly, I don't think it really matters how 'good' they are, they were playing guitars on huge stages, TV shows etc... Something for people to aspire to, it really does help sell gear. Can you imagine how many Epiphones, Gibsons and various amp brands Noel Gallagher has helped sell over the years.

I frequently trawl various 'instrument for sale' sites when I've got nothing better to do of an evening once the boy is in bed and after the wife and I have had some dinner... 8pm to 9pm is my prime hour! I stumbled across a Conklin GTBD-7 on eBay yesterday, not too many of these were made, they were meant to be a cheaper, more accessible version of the USA Custom Shop Conklins, however they were very expensive to make and the quality was exceptionally good, not too far off that of the USA Custom Shop basses, so they stopped production after maybe a year or so. They did the GT-7 (the cheaper version) and this GTBD-7 versions with Bartolini pickups and preamp as well as a premium top and through neck. I've owned a couple of these over the years as well as two USA Custom Shop Conklins (one I still have and I will die with), so I'm very familiar with them vs the USA stock and they are really great basses. I made an offer on this one, we had a quick chat about logistics, and the offer was accepted! Should be with me Tuesday/Wednesday of next week. Comes with a spare set of strings and a hardcase too. 👍 Damn you eBay for FORCING me to buy this! 😆

Evaluating (or designing) a speaker cab by measuring it is infinitely more complex than micing up a cab for recording or sound reinforcement. You need a calibrated mic for a start. There's a whole battery of measurements you need to carry out using specialist software. Done properly, however, you can form a reasonably accurate idea of how a speaker will perform (although your ears will always be the final arbiter). To measure a loudspeaker, you need to place the mic in what is termed the "far field" - or between 4 and 6 feet for the Monaco or similar cab. Any closer than this and the two drivers are not fully integrated. I've found measuring on the tweeter axis to be the most useful position. To remove the impact of the room in the absence of an anechoic chamber, the test tones from the speaker have to be "gated" in software. Unfortunately, this useful technique doesn't allow measurement at low frequencies. So, the low frequency response has to be checked separately using either near-field or ground plane measurements. The two measurements are then adjusted for level and spliced together to create a full-range response. If you're a stickler, you also measure and splice the response of the port. This gives you the frequency response on axis, and you've only just started.😀

Back from 2 days 'business' in Cologne to find the Conklin patient waiting for me upon my return! I forgot just how well made these things are... unbelievably thin neck profile, no real visible or 'feelable' difference in build quality to that of my USA Conklin (hardware, pickups, preamp, woods etc aside...)

If you 'try' something in a shop the item is still on the retailer's premises. I'm not aware of many instances where a physical shop would allow someone to take the item home, without paying for it, to sort of test it out.

If it’s online rather than bricks and mortar it may well just be located in a distribution centre staffed by by 3rd party employees who have nothing to do with the online store. Their job is to take stuff off shelves and get it on vans for delivery. Online sales are cheaper for a reason. If you want the personal touch buy in store, preferably from an independent retailer.

'In stock' does not mean 'to hand', I suppose. If they had to open up the packaging of a new bag, and it didn't fit as you would like, it's no longer 'new' for another customer. If you'd gone to the shop, they may not let you try your test on new gear, either, for the same reason. Unreasonable..? A bit 'limit', I'd say, but not so unusual.

This is quite interesting: https://youtu.be/iE-6N_sy0CY?si=oEfvg4fBIgWuetCY

Not flashed off my pair of Lionels together. The blue one I added a clear scratchplate so you can see more of that gorgeous finish and an EMG Geezer Butler, I found the stock a bit sterile and was lacking something, the GZR is spot on, so much so that I took the 2 band active out of the cream Larry and put an Ivory GRZ It just wasn’t sitting the mix and felt a bit lost but the EMG punches thru nicely. The third knob is just a dummy … I’ve got an EBMM Stingray Short Scale in Starry Night, it looks the nutz but just doesn’t beat the Lionel Bergs!!

Mastering is applied to the final stereo (or mono) mix. It involves EQ, compression - usually multi-band - and for vinyl collapsing any stereo imaging of low frequencies into mono. All the changes are global and any apparent change to the mix will be the result of the EQ and multi-band compression. Generally a separate master is required for each delivery medium - vinyl, Compact Cassette, CD/Uncompressed Digital, Compressed Digital in order to play to the strengths of each, and in the case of vinyl make sure the audio capable of being cut. Anything involving the use of the original multi-track recording or "stems" should be labelled as a remix.

FTFY

... and you've still not sorted out your keyboard..? ...

Years ago I got a new Fender. It was lovely but I had some Fralins in another bass that I wanted to use in the new one. I took the Fralins out and installed them, and put the Fender's in to the Squire. Just put them in the bass, didnt wire them, didnt screw them in etc. Just storing them. Told the band I had this new bass and all were expecting to hear it at the gig. Opened the gig bag and there was the Squier, all in bits lol. I had taken the wrong gig bag. I had to secure and wire in the pups using gaffa tape back stage, even the wiring to the output jack. I was panicking all night that it would cut out. It didnt. Other than replacing the tape over the ends of the pup's with actual screws, the bass is still wired with tape holding the wires in place. At least 20 years after.

But someone with double the hearing acuteness you have can still prefer the sound of a Squier over your American Fenders. Aren't we talking about personal taste here? "Good" sound is subjective. How many of us has spent quite a bit on "upgrading" pickups only to either not hear the difference or prefer the originals?

I got one from the local tip shop. It needed cleaning, and a replacement handle. It’s the older version, and I can’t connect my laptop to the TonePrint downloads. So it’s just got a chorus on the TP control. It has a separate drive control, and sounds quite good. (I don’t really need it - I’ve offered it to my son’s school as a free loan because they don’t have a bass amp, but they’ve taken over 6 months to think about whether they want it or not)

Depends on how acutely you listen, I suppose. (Unless you have those ears that say 'a bass is a bass'.) I could even tell you which of my three Americans is which while blindfolded - they all have unique voicings. The nitro finished American Original has it's own free-sounding singing tone from the finish and the Pure Voiced 64 pickups. The open pore Ash FSR has a very different punchier bottom end from the 2008 Am.Std pickups. The American Elite has more sparkle at the top end and a distinct active shove to the bass frequencies.

Told you I wasn't digging the black tuners... So, that's it all in matching chrome RE: hardware. Took the opportunity to give the fretboard a drink of lemon oil and restrung with a fresh set of D'addario XL nickel rounds. Think I'm done here.

You don’t need to be a professional musician to understand the sound a guitar makes 😂

No, as a professional musician, I'm telling you that my American Jazzes feel and sound superior. This is not to say that the Squier 40th isn't a very good Jazz. It definitely is.

I think the way Vox have crashed the used market for the s-s Artist is clumsy to say the least. Owners who bought at full RRP (over £1300) or even after the first price drop (to £799) as I did are quite obviously pi55ed off that the second-hand value is now determined by the final 'refurbished as new' price of £399!! Seems to me that Vox have effectively managed to lose a significant number of repeat customers by turning what was initially a happy group of owners into a group with a grievance. I also think the change-over to standard scale length is a mistake for a brand that was traditionally associated with s-s basses. If they had got their marketing right they could have secured a big share of the now significant s-s bass market. Instead they have done what Gibson managed to do - squander the value of a 'heritage' brand name by messing with its DNA.

In glad you’ve mentioned this, I often hear hear how there’s not much difference between a squier and US made bass, in my experience there is a big difference, I bought my nephew an affinity jazz and it felt and sounded nothing like my CS and AVRI jazzes, it was an older one and I’m sure they’ve improved since, I can’t say if the price difference is worth it because that’s up to the individual , they both do the same job but I think it’s what makes you happy and feel good playing

Seeing this video for the first time tonight and bloody hell! 🤯 He doesn't even break a sweat! Mark

@Wolverinebass has a point. Half of the sound is coming from the bass driver and half from the horn. So, how do you mic up? I made some quick measurements on a Monaco cab with the mic pointed at the horn. The top one (black) is relatively close, maybe about 30cm. The measurement looks quite clean but there's a distinct dip between 600Hz and 2kHz, which will affect the sound - it's two octaves. This is because the mic is well off axis in relation to the bass driver. The red measurement is from about one metre. You can see that the dip caused by the bass driver has more or less filled in. However, at that distance, room effects are going to be noticable. In this measurement, you can see the change between 200 and 600Hz caused by room reflections. So, measuring at 1 metre is more accurate but the sound is likely to be affected by room reflections or other noises (instruments). The logical conclusion would be to position the mic in between both drivers, which should allow the mic to be positioned closer. I'm so used to measuring on the tweeter axis that I didn't consider it at the time, but I can take a measurement in between the drivers is anyone would like to see it. I do agree with @matybigfro, however. The design goal of the Monaco (and other LFSys speakers) is to reproduce the sound from the amp as accurately as possible. It makes a lot more sense to DI.

Don't get caught up in the whole technical.gear, equipment, pedals etc stuff. It won't help you "play." Learn the basics of music theory is my advice - this is the basis of all music, no matter what instrument you play. Listen to ALL music - jazz, pop, rock, classical, folk - everything. And if you really want to be a real musician - learn to read music; it's hard work, frustrating, but in the end you'll be miles better than all the guys who can't read, and who just play the same stuff over and over again. You will be in demand! In my experience most bass players, and guitarists can't IMMEDIATELY tell you or know what notes are on the fretboard. "Where's G flat on the A string?....."Er, hang on, well, there's the F and then there's the.... er, hang on, that's it, is that it?" You won't find any other musician who can't play a note on demand on their respective instrument.

Managed to find time to mark up the main board, and mark and centre-punch a lot of the chassis - transformers, output valves, front and rear panels. I've re-positioned some of the rear panel stuff so as to sit between the valve socket positions. I'm leaving the rest until I can test fit some of the components. ALL BUILD PICS NOW IN POST DATE 01/11/2025

Well at least they can't be accused of having changed 👍