clauster

+1 on avoiding maudio - I've not had reliability issues, but I've found the latency to be a problem - maudio seem to like big drivers. +1 to garry's recommendation of RME - our vocalists got one of their rack units and its amazingly good.

OSD - if you've got good sound on stage, but not FOH I'm guessing you're monitoring from your amp (rather than wedges or IEMs) - that's not gonna help the sound.

Get your own soundman, drag him along to rehearsals, make him part of the band. He'll know the bands sound and be better able to reproduce it live. He'll also be part of the band and have a vested interest in making you sound as good as possible. If you're using the venue's sound guy, his priorities are going to be the venues priorities - make the sound so that people will have a dance and a sing without shaking the glasses off tables (which is what loud bass frequencies will do). You could also educate yourself (I've been a sound engineer in the past) - you'll get a better response if you can say "please can you cut my signal above 7k and boost around 3k" rather than "I wanna be louder". I had plenty of muso's say the second to me - you turn them up and thirty seconds you side back down again - after all everyone in the band always wants to be louder (he'll view you like we view guitarists ) . The first approach means the soundman'll think you know what you're talking about and take you more seriously - one of my first gigs on a desk was with a solo artist - a girl who played bass and sang (she was AMAZING, I mean jaw droppingly talented) - at the soundcheck she asked "have you got about 3db boost at around 10k?" f**k me I did (EXACTLY 3db @10k), after that I just made every adjustment she wanted. Lastly, how do you know you're not cutting through the mix? A mix at sound check that has very little bass in it will be a lot more bassy once the venue is full of punters.

Protools s a bit of an industry standard in high end studios (where they've got an engineer to drive the thing anyway). And although the software front end looks the same there as on the home versions the audio engines behind them are very different. Logic will give you similar results to protools m-powered, but you can use it with most brands of interface (I realy wish I'd gone for presonus or even edirol because of the latency you get with maudio drivers) and the express version is a fraction of he price.

[quote]Again a really dumb question, but what kind of different sounds will i get from different brands... Surely if i wanted a deeper/warmer tone i'd boost the low end of the EQ, and conversely id i wanted a more slap/pop sound i'd excentuate the mid/high frequencies?[/quote] Not a dumb question at all - but each manufacturer has a "signature" tone (a bit like basses really) Ashdown seem to be a love it or hate it sound Some people describe it as vintage rock. Warwick - modern rock - quite bright but with a bit of growl too, accentuates the tone of their basses. Hartke - as its got both SS and valve preamps its perhaps the most flexible, heard it described as the poor man's Ampeg! Using the eq (and different cabs) will let you tune the tone to your taste, but an Ashdown is never going to sound like GK.

He's using garageband, so I wouldn't assume he's using a PC I'd also consider logic express as an alternative to protools m-pwered

The solo's proper instrument and mic inputs as well as line level. If you wanna record more than two tracks at a time then you'll need more ins than either of these - the firewire 410 perhps or if you can stretch to it their firewire mixers are excellent (we use one for recording rehearsals). One caveat - the maudio drivers are hefty! Even on a new mac book pro with the solo I get a noticeable latency when monitoring through software (monitoring from the inputs is fine though of course)

I'd say you're looking at all the right brands, but they all sound very different from each other - try and try some out. Have you got any good music shops near you?

+1 to Machines' advice. Gstar, are you sure that 611 is 8ohm? According to the Warwick site the 611 is 4ohm. It will work better with the profet5.1, but really wants one of the big xtreme or tubepath heads. If you like the Warwick tone I'd recommend the profet 5.1 with the 411pro 8ohm - you'll get the same sort of power as you would with 3.2 into a 4ohm cab and you've got the facility to add another 8ohm cab later to release the full 500 watts (if you really need to).

Jacko, there's an MXR bass auto-q in the for sale section (not mine I hasten to add) at a great price (I'd have had it if I hadn't already spent over this months budget on pedals).

Hello from an ex-west sussexer!

Protools is hardware specific, you can't just get a copy and away you go, there is a version that'll run on some m-audio stuff tho, otherwise you're looking at digidesign hardware. TBH I'd ony recommend protools if you intend to invest serious cash in a protools hd system one day, otherwise Logic, Digital Performer etc are probably better cos they work with most hardware. garage band is prety good for newb, and'll keep you entertained while you work out Audio Unit effects and instruments. Once you've got your head round GB, I'd recommend the new logic express (if you plan on staying with apple)- its cheaper than pro-tools, has a more modern interface and will lead on nicely from your gb experience. Go for separate midi controller and audio interface (the macs behave better this way). You've plenty of 2in 2 out firewire audio interfaces to choose from too - which ted to have slightly better latency than the USB stuff.

If all goes to plan I'll be posting 3 audio clips - 1) Standard cs3 2) After the opto mod 3) After the plus mod You'll be able to judge for yourself whether the mods make a significant difference. I've had the cs3 for a months so a for few quid it's worth trying to get to sound a bt less crap.

Not got the DI but.......... While clearing out drawers our spare room late yesterday, I found an old Digitech RP80 that belongs to my wife which she hasn't used in ages, so I've got the tuner and occasional effects part now (the effects are a bit digital "fizzy", but not complaining for free) . Gonna get a cheap DI to tack on the end of my chain. Off to scour ebay for a case that can be used as an fx board.

I'm not much of a slapper, but I'd say plenty of compression and a scooped eq.

Cheers guys, tis good to the tuner works. Nik, thanks for the heads up about the DI. I've downloaded the manual so I'll have a read to see if its adjustable. I'd rather bit hot than too low tho so not too worried. Or is TOO hot? Hamster, thanks for the heads up on yours, but the DI and USB are two of the things that draw me to the 2.1. I'm sure you'll find a taker - there's a lot of FX in that box for £20!

[quote]One tip is to coat the FB with super glue[/quote] I am guessing you should give it plenty of time to cure before playing

I'm in need of a new tuner and a DI box to run to our band's PA. I've got a vague memory that one or two folk on here have Zooms that they use for the tuner function, and the 2.1 also has a DI. The unit comes in at about the same price as a tuner pedal + DI and would give me access to those effects that I occasionally want (modulations and delays, wah, etc) but not enough to justify buying a deicated pedal. Just seems to good to be true. So is the tuner usable? What's the DI like (I'm not after studio quality)?

Finally ordered the monte allum kit - went for the opto plus. Reviews to follow asap

[quote name='steve-norris' post='101779' date='Dec 9 2007, 04:39 PM']If your looking for a good overdrive check out the Humphry audio modded digitech Bad Monkey, I've had a little more time with mine now and LOVE it! , Must haves? comp and tuner, for me a nice envelope filter as you can only get 'that' sound with one.[/quote] Cheers for the heads-up on that Steve - I hadn't come across this one before. Might have to get myself one as a late xmas present. Edit - Just ordered one

I'm a member of far worse fora for this sort of thing (my favourite motorcycle one has some serious flaming issues). Personally I think the more views there are in this world, the more interesting the place becomes. I've only ever had passive four stringers (and have never owned more than two at once) and minimal FX in 26 and a bit years of being a bassist - I can see why others want and have actives, five strings, ERBs, uprights huge pedal boards and large collections of instruments. I like a wide range of music (but not all) so can understand why some feel the need to sound off at certain styles or artists (for myself I recognise that I know very little about genres I don't like so I keep my mouth shut - a lot of people say they don't like country - I always ask which style(s) they don't like, it's a hell of a journey from bluegrass to neil young and round to gram persons). I think that most people round here are the same - its a friendly and helpful place for st of the time and members. Whereever y0u go in life you come across people that can't cope with the fact that some others view things differently and feel the need to make it an emotive issue, others maybe just enjoy a good barney. Whichever I'll listen once then move away to someone more reasonable.