synaesthesia

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='246593' date='Jul 24 2008, 08:14 AM']We have a 400watts per side vocal PA. It fits in the cars and can do all our gigs other than if we have to hire one in. And the gigs im talking about certainly dont need that. We use the PA for vocals, a bit of guitar and bass and kick and snare drums. Mainly relying on our amps for the main sound. The plces im talking about are not huge venues but they are busy, noisy ones with the audience close up near the stage. Played them a few times so i know that ill need to turn up quite a bit.[/quote] That's the problem. Doubling your wattage, assuming you have the speaker cabinets that can take it, will give you +3dB or so. If you are already hitting speaker compression with your head, a larger power amp will not give you much if at all. You could carry another cab, assuming you have pack space and your head or power amp can feed it, it would give you that 3dB boost and reduce your speaker compression. Get in a aproper arrangement and your dispersion would be better, and your stage intelligibility would clean up. Contrary to popular belief, stage intelligibility does not increase with greater volume. If you are maxed out on pack sapce, use a wired IEM, it is the cost & space of a small behringer mixer, a pair of ear pods you already most probably have, and a few cables, one long one to your pods, one from your rig, and one from your board giving you a bandmix.

Suggested steps: a. get PA support to do the work for you b. get better PA support, with better monitoring c. if stage intelligibility of your bass rig is a problem, get a rig that gives you clarity d. get IEMs e. learn to hear yourself at an optimum volume that gives you intelligibility There is a certain elegance in the Allan Holdsworth "I wish the electric guitar were as loud as a saxophone" theory - there is no need to vary your stage volume if you play a bigger arena, after all anyone playing an acoustic instrument, acoustic drums included, cannot really change their situation much - they can blow harder or hit harder as much as they can - but they rely on Public address and stage monitoring to do the work for them. There was a time when drummers would take bigger drums thinking they sound louder for larger stages. There is a limit to that idea and in the main there is little difference. Ringo went from 20/12/14 Ludwig kit to a 22/13/16 in the beatlemania days - do you think he could hear himself any better? The drummers who went to a 26" got a different tone - that's all. I've done big shows where a properly tuned and mic'ed 18" BD is all you need to sound thunderous. The point? Get a rig for the tone you want, then get the PA to make it louder.

[quote name='dood' post='245651' date='Jul 22 2008, 08:20 PM']No Compander!!!!!! This I have GOT to hear!!! - Every wireless I have ever tried has let me down.. cos I am soooo fussy! Could this be something decent at last?[/quote] The X2 dgital wireless don't have companders either.

I went to the show. It were bloody great. It was Al Di Meola's birthday. He came on in an Arsenal shirt for the encore, no 54 for 54 years with his name on. Loved the tone he got from his Fuchs rig. He was a bit distracted, a couple of the unison runs with Chick Corea were off - he is supposedly very exacting of his stage craft and of his fellow musos on stage. He was running to get to his axe in time for one tune, when he went off stage for a while. Made it back just in time and did some complex unison lines with keyboard, as you do. Didn't care for Stanley's tone from his SWR cabs, it was foster tweeter night, clickity clicktiy clack. It would be nice to see him with SMV, Messrs M & V play with more mid range and you can hear the notes, Mr Clarke seems to play muted percussive notes a lot. I suppose if you have Chick Corea's left hand on stage you might as well just do that. There was a time he used EV speakers and sounded better. I've certainly heard him sounding better on electric. Last time I saw him he wasn't using the SWR cabs, I think they were EBS. Mica Wickersham posted some pics of Stanley's modified F-1Xs at the Alembic club. BTW, he was using a Gerald Reese Slapstrap on one Alembic. He doesn't use straploks, they are screwed on to the bass. His upright intonation was effortless, but I 've seen our Stanley many a time, he always does the same upright 'solo', same structure of antics. His fast electric runs are always the same Stanley Clarke licks. But it were bloody great.

[quote name='bnt' post='242705' date='Jul 18 2008, 01:54 PM']I've been doing a little GK reading today, and the answers to those queries are basically "it depends". For example, on the RB-II heads and combos the tweeter amp is always after the 5kHz active crossover (natch), while the woofer stage can be switched between pre-crossover (full range) or post-crossover (hi cut at 5kHz). (That's not the wording they use in the manual, but it's what the block diagram describes.) The tweeter stage has its own switchable hi-cut at 10kHz, which sounds like it would be useful to reduce string noise etc. I don't have a problem with the 50W tweeter amp - at 5kHz and up, 50W might be too much, but the amps have separate master volumes. The cabs are switchable between bi-amp mode to match the amps, or an internal crossover.[/quote] Thanks for the update, good to know. I use one in a drummer's studio where we rehearse, it is a 700 whatever model, with the 2 X 10s....he owns it, it's there and I don't have to take an amp. I'll look for the crossover switch next time I use it. I think it is a RB II series combo.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='242496' date='Jul 18 2008, 10:56 AM']I just got hold of a book called 'Sibelius: a comprehensive guide to Sibelius Music Notation Software' by Thomas Rudolph and Vincent Leonard. Got it from Amazon Marketplace for less than £12. Its incredibly easy to use and has really opened some doors (and reduced a lot of wasted time) on the software for me. I just wanted to register how useful this software is, not only in preparing charts and composing, but also for transcribing and study. Highly recommended to anyone who hasn't got it already! Probably a lot more use than a third, fourth or fifth bass!![/quote] Sibelius is probably the best, but a little OTT for most players unless you need scoring capabilities. FWIW, these days I use Finale Printmusic, it has the jazz fonts, it will do midi, chords and transposes all my charts. You can even play live to it, but it does not track low register well. £50 or $50 USD, depending on who you buy from.

Heads up About 400 quid. Nifty mix of AKG bug +X2. [url="http://www.stageclix.com/Products"]http://www.stageclix.com/Products[/url] They are Dutch, so they are honest enough to publish latency specs at <3ms, which is certainly not Ferrari specs in the digital world. I don't recall X2 publishing their latency specs, and there is some minor latency in the X2 I can hear.

[quote name='dougal' post='242272' date='Jul 17 2008, 11:41 PM']I have the Zeller, though not bought from Footes (I went the second hand route). Be aware that when I went into Footes with exactly the same idea, the deal he offered wasn't the same (or as good) as advertised on the net: YMMV.[/quote] That's true about the deals they seem to be geared toward institutional rentals, as an individual you might as well pick up a cheap upright, or a used one. You'd find one easily enough for £400 if you are willing to set it up yourself, and add the cost of some decent strings. The shops are not really renting you the £5- 10K models, but usually the £900 - 2000 models, if that.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='242499' date='Jul 18 2008, 10:58 AM']for biamping - the usual 4x10" plus 1x15" rig is not a good candidate.[/quote] Very true, even crossing at 100hz the 1X15 + 4X10 is an unnecessary load. Further the 4X10 is not really very good as a mid range speaker.

[quote name='Peaty' post='240617' date='Jul 16 2008, 09:23 AM']sound wood at craft supplies I have bought good ebony boards from them in the past. [url="http://www.craft-supplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdCat.cgi/Finger===Boards,2,,,Guitars===/===Sound===Wood"]http://www.craft-supplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/ps...===Sound===Wood[/url] Their printed catalog is a lot better than their web one so worth getting hold of a copy All the best Pete[/quote] They are restructuring at their 'tonewoods' section at the moment, though you can still buy what they have and there is a helpful fella there. The person who managed their tonewoods sections left and left them scratching their heads a bit.

[quote name='The Funk' post='242232' date='Jul 17 2008, 10:27 PM']See. It'd be tri-amping then if there were three separate cabs powered by three different power amps, each fed by a different output from an active crossover?[/quote] 1 bass signal split into 3 frequency bands, each bandpassed signal goes into one of 3 power amp sections feeding 3 different speakers. You do not need a separate amp, a stereo power amp will be 2 channels of power, and you do not need a separate cab for each speaker section, they can be in the same box. Your typical powered 2 way studio monitor is one box, taking in one signal, splitting it into 2 bands, and there are two power amp sections in that box, one feeds the woofer and one feeds the tweeter.

[quote name='phsycoandy' post='242179' date='Jul 17 2008, 09:31 PM']Ive trie the ebs one twice now and was totally unimpressed as it seemed to do nothing much, i was after a life changing experience for a 100 notes and i didnt get it. Recommendations please..........[/quote] Pop over to Talkbass and have a look at Bongomania's Compressor reviews. He's checked out probably 80 - 90% of common compressors that bass players would use, ar some really high end studio ones.

[quote name='bnt' post='242060' date='Jul 17 2008, 07:33 PM']Another name I think of re Bi-Amping is Gallien-Krueger, who do amps with low power horn drive stages e.g. the 1001RB has 700W + 50W amps. I just looked it up and they're still making it, it seems. That, and the 2001RB, which has 2x540W + 2x50W = quad-amping![/quote] If my memory serves me, the GK tweeter 'crosses over', probably high passed at 5Khz. For manufacturing ease they use the same 50W tweeter system whether it is the 700 or the 2001 model. I can't remember if the woofer sections are actually low pass only, I suspect they are not and are full range; and by 5Khz you would not have much if at all anyway coming from the woofers.

[quote name='The Funk' post='242178' date='Jul 17 2008, 09:30 PM']My Acme cabs give me a tri-amping set-up. I guess that makes me one better than you? EDIT: Actually, that might not fall under the definition of tri-amping. It's a three-way cab with internal crossovers - so I just send the one signal into it.[/quote] That is not tri-amping at all. A passive 3 way crossover does not work the same way as electronic crossovered signals split into frequency bands that feed individual amplifiers. In a proper electronic crossed system, you can vary the gain or power amplification to each band, and you can alter the bands with ease. A passive crossover does not allow this flexibility. there are also a host of issues with passive crossovers, phase coherence, frequency dips at cross points etc...

[quote name='Shockwave' post='242032' date='Jul 17 2008, 06:53 PM']... the 8's are only 200 watts, However I have independent Treble and Bass volume controls on the marshall which works very well so there is no danger of blowing them. I dont need that much wattage on the treble speakers anyway due to human ear mechanics.[/quote] You don't need much wattage on the 'treble' speakers because of power distribution across the frequency band. see e.g.: [url="http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm#power_dist"]http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm#power_dist[/url] You will find that the higher you cross the less you are feeding your 'treble' speakers. Given you are running 2X8s in a hefty box, your crossover should be somewhere between 300 - 900hz. Cross any higher and you might as well lose the weight of the 8s and fit in a 4" driver. Also beyond 800 hz or thereabouts your 15" most probably goes into a territory where it is ineffective on a number of counts.

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='241806' date='Jul 17 2008, 03:14 PM']As I said in my other posting, I'm having my 1st DB lesson next week, I was going to wait until I'd had a few lessons before buying an instrument, but I'll need something to practise on, so I thought I'd hire one. Footes were recommended to me, and they have a hire scheme, with an option to buy, here - [url="http://www.footesmusic.com/page.asp?s=fgmpdl365661&id=rental"]http://www.footesmusic.com/page.asp?s=fgmp...1&id=rental[/url] They have these two nice looking objects, I'm now seeking advice about which one to have. [url="http://www.footesmusic.com/product.asp?s=fgmpdl365661&strParents=327&CAT_ID=661&P_ID=2729"]http://www.footesmusic.com/product.asp?s=f...1&P_ID=2729[/url] [url="http://www.footesmusic.com/product.asp?s=fgmpdl365661&strParents=327&CAT_ID=661&P_ID=3628"]http://www.footesmusic.com/product.asp?s=f...1&P_ID=3628[/url] Once again thanks for your help. Kevin[/quote] Foulds in Derby also have a rent to buy scheme. In Leicester, go see: [url="http://www.batchelar.com"]http://www.batchelar.com[/url]

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='241797' date='Jul 17 2008, 03:01 PM']Hi Erm, yeah I'm OK for electric basses, it's a double bass that I'm after. Thanks for replying though. Kevin[/quote] Foulds in Derby do rentals. [url="http://www.fouldsmusic.co.uk/"]http://www.fouldsmusic.co.uk/[/url]

[quote name='tauzero' post='236326' date='Jul 10 2008, 09:57 AM']NS, who you might consider slightly more reputable in luthiery terms, have fingerboard dots on their EUBs (I actually would prefer them to have rather less than they do). Conversely, Palatino didn't put them onto the VE-500 (so I stuck some on...). I don't see why the absence of dot marks on acoustic DBs should mean that there shouldn't be any on EUBs. After all, classical guitars don't have any side or front fretboard markings, so by your reasoning, nor should any other guitar.[/quote] Don't put words in my mouth. The NS have as note markers not in between notes. Your Frontier bass did not influence the world of fretless fingerboards.

Try IEM for a while to see if it works for you, but try the full IEM, with a mix of your stage partners, as opposed to one ear bass only IEM (which IMmostHO doesn't work well).

[quote name='Johnny Wishbone' post='235161' date='Jul 8 2008, 06:18 PM']I don't have any trouble hearing drums, guitar or vocals on stage, so perhaps I should look at running the IEMs direct from the headphone socket of my amp (assuming it doesn't cut output to the speakers when in use)?[/quote] In all seriousness, if you can hear everything else: Step 1: Review your bass rig if that's the case, it may be your speakers, your strings, your EQ/tone settings, your pickups, pickup selection/blend settings, etc if you can't hear your amplified bass it may be because you have a freq. dip in the rig, not enough mid range, poor dispersion in your cab, etc Step 2: turn down the rest of the band. Step 3: feed some bass to the wedge monitors Step 4: learn to hear yourself on stage, or dial a tone that allows you to hear yourself. Cut the low end and cut out the muddy boom. Your stage amp is more often than not a stage bass monitor, assuming you have proper PA support. You can dial whatever tone that allows you to hear yourself readily and feed a pre EQ tone to FOH, assuming your gear allows you to do this. Your situation may be different if you use efx on your bass or need a grungy tone. If you want to go wireless IEM, feed a mix of the stage and your bass, you're more likely to play in time better than if you augmented only your bass in your in ears, and listened to everything else at stage volume and dispersion. Using one ear bud only for bass and one open - I suspect you will have problems, and you'd more than likely boost the volume so that you can just about hear your bass notes. Also, bass reproduction in ear buds work properly if you have a good seal, unlike open or semi open Headphones, and the psychosomatic completion that you get with the bass 'in the middle of your head' is best achieved with 2 ear buds, at much lower SPLs than you would with one ear bud.

If you are not expected to dance or slide across the stage, and can use a wired IEM system, buy a small mixer, take a line feed of your rig or bass, mix it in with a stage feed from your band's mix desk or FOH and you're done. I normally play in a trio where all of us are seated - pianist , drummer and me. We all use wired IEM. The performances are tighter. We use a 4 channel headphone amp (about £90), and I have a stage matrix submixer (I have several of these, so no cost to me but you could buy one for about £100 - 150) where everyone can have their own EQ'ed mix. It is the system I have in my recording studio for tracking band tracks. The outlay for the band is less than the cost of ONE decent wireless IEM, say a Sennheiser 172 or equivalent. At the moment, I cannot justify paying 400quid per muso for a rudimentary wireless IEM which in truth is often , (i) mono only, (ii) limited in mix & EQ capabilities, when the wire to me or anyone else on stage, is not a bother. If we work with a singer she has wireless IEM because the punters want to watch her wiggle her hips. I've also subbed regularly with a disco band & tribute band where from previous experience the stage monitoring was so poor that I could never hear the vocals, - I take a small behringer desktop 4 channel mixer, request a FOH vocal rich mix, and mix my own bass to it. It even feeds the ear pods. total cost, mixer approx £40, 5m IEM extension £5, ear pods - your choice, I use a Shure Ewhatever, can't remember now. The only issue with all of this is that you don't really hear your bass cab as a monitor anymore, and if you rely on proper PA support, it raises the question whether you need to have a box behind you at all. What makes this worse is if you have spent loads of time and money in your on stage cab set up. If you need a 'speaker' tone you can use a Palmer rack unit or a Sansamp rack unit which will give that, and recently I came across a circuit using a lightbulb to simulate voice coil heating effects. I can see myself easily gigging without a bass cab.