Jamesemt

Our keyboard player has left meaning I am in charge of the PA. Whilst actually mixing/eqing the sound should be relatively straightforward (and I've done before), I don't know where to plug the amps into the mixer/where I plug the monitors into. The mixer in question is a Peavey Unity (soon to be replaced...). Can anyone describe where I plug the bits (obviously not the instruments!) we've also got a rack reverb which we use (Alesis). We have two poweramps. We are having a trial run next Sunday, but would be good to have an idea before! Is there a dummy's guide to PAs

[quote name='peteb' post='1028615' date='Nov 18 2010, 10:34 PM']By the way, Mark is a great guy to deal with & really knows his stuff - even if he will disagree with virtually everything you currently do, he will make you think about things you take for granted and give you different ideas!![/quote] Hahaha that is so, so true

[quote name='bartelby' post='1028195' date='Nov 18 2010, 05:06 PM']I was really tempted to get the Black 4 string Dingwall Afterburner ABZ from Mark using Take It Away, then someone on here went and bought the bass in question [/quote] Don't worry mate, the payments over 9 months would have worked out quite large...and there's still the sunburst (which is lighter). I do not have any issues with finance - always had lots and always paid it off. I work in the ambulance service for a day job and encounter a lot of death, pain and suffering - I firmly believe life is too short to save for a rainy day. If I want something (within reason) I get it - usually on finance.

As a slight thread hijack, I'm thinking about getting a Lakland 44 01/02 - is it really worth twice the price for the uprated electronics? I'm presuming it's the same deal with the 5er

Get yourself to Bass Direct - I got the impression that he tends to favour 5 strings - he had quite a few Dingwalls when I bought mine a couple of weeks ago. The Blueburst ABZ 5 looks stunning in the flesh

Hi guys, I'll start by saying I don't know what makes these right for me, but I really like the sound of them in a band setting. I've a set of wizard thumpers which I think maybe sound a bit too dark. The early 80s pickups seem to be a bit brighter?? Any ideas?

Mmm depends what you want. I've a Sadowsky and have owned one of Beedster's many 70s Precisions. If you just fancy a change and like active Jazzes I believe the Sadowsky is one of the best out there - the neck is to die for. If you won't particularly play it that much then I'd keep the Precision

14 Gigs played this year although a few have been cancelled (pubs closing down or landlords leaving). Could probably have done another 10 on top of that if the keyboard player had been available... Got a few bookings for next year and we are negotiating a residency

Can I use the two stereo channels as mono channels without any hassle?

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1021265' date='Nov 12 2010, 12:23 PM'][url="http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/RX1202FX.aspx"]http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/RX1202FX.aspx[/url] I play in a 5-piece covers band, we all sing, the keyboard goes through the PA, plus the KB player also plays mic'd up sax, and sometimes we mic up the bass drum. The Behringer 1202 does all that and has never yet (18 months of gigging) given me a headache. The FX are not great, merely adequate, so I have a Lexicon unit mounted there too, along with a feedback suppressor unit.[/quote] Cheers for that - would you recommend the suppressor?

The keyboard player and main PA guy is leaving, meaning I'm going to have to do the PA. We've been talking for a while about getting rid of the Peavey monster size mixer we have at present, and looking at getting something which can live in a rack and stay permanently connected. At present the mixer is balanced (!!) on top of the rack and everything has to be replugged in for every gig. We use 4 mics for the drums, 3 vocal mics, 1 gtr di, 1 bass di, 1 keys di. Are there any cheap rack mixers that fit this? Is it possible to mount a mixer on the opposite side of the rack? Would it be worth ditching the reverb units and getting an all in one mixer with effects? Something with a bit of power would be good (meaning we could use an extra two montors - I sometimes struggle to hear the keyboardist at the other side of the stage). FWIW we have two power amps running around 2Kw if memory serves me, and have two wedge monitors that the singer uses. I'm a complete PA numpty...help!!!

[quote name='obbm' post='1021183' date='Nov 12 2010, 11:31 AM']Yes. I've just added some links to my previous post. There are 2 versions. The Notepad and the Powerpad which has 2 x 30-watt power amps included. I use the latter without any speaker connected but the mixer sections are the same.[/quote] OK thanks for that - got there in the end!!

[quote name='obbm' post='1021169' date='Nov 12 2010, 11:21 AM']DI boxes are passive so not a lot of use in this situation. A small mixer like the Spirit Folio or a small Samson is all you actaully need. The mixer channel should be very clean and they all have headphone amps. All you need to do is plug-in your MP3 source and you're away.[/quote] OK thanks - is the Folio mixer a 'notepad'?

[quote name='obbm' post='1021145' date='Nov 12 2010, 11:03 AM']I suspect that the weak link is the bass pre-amp in the Tascam. You need to get it out of the direct lien from the bass to the headphones and just use it to play MP3s, etc.[/quote] Ahhh right - the Phil Jones Buddy and Cub look like a bit of overkill just for headphone practice...is there anything else I could look at? So am I right in thinking I'm going to have to get a bass preamp and then a mixer to mix the MP3 from the Tascam and the bass preamp? Edited to add I've got a DHA DI box knocking about...could I use that?

Thanks for the replies. The Phil Jones looks interesting, but is the output stage going to be a bit of a compromise? I want to play along to MP3s and would prefer to keep the Tascam bass trainer. Suppose the question is will the sound be good enough plugging the bass into the Tascam and then taking the output of everything into a headphone amp? With something like a Little Dot, am I going to plug it into the Tascam with decent headphones and instantly tell a difference? The main mtoivation for this being that all my basses sound very similar through the Tascam...

After buying a few high end basses its become clear that my Tascam MP3 player can't amplify bass nuances very well. I'd like to use the Tascam but maybe with a headphone amp too. Has anyone done this? I practice solely with headphones outside of the band rehearsal. My 'stingray fund' has £400 in it which I feel may be better spent on quality headphones, lead and headphone amp. At the moment I'm using a wireless pair of headphones and a wireless AKG guitar bug. Obviously these will both have to go for good tone. Anyone have a quality headphone setup and what enclosed ear headphones would anyone recommend? Got young kids so volume practice is out...

I made a big decision when coming back to the bass not to focus on anything that I didn't enjoy. In a past life I was a guitarist, and hated the guilt if I didn't do my hours scales a day...made me eventually put the guitar down. Back on topic, I go through songs for the band - we have 3 sets so I tend to play some of those. Then move onto songs I'm working at for the band. Other days I might play stuff that has nothing to do with the band, but I enjoy (I'm slowly working my way through the entire Bon Jovi back catalogue!!). Another thing I do is that if a song is mentioned by any of the band memebers as a potential, I learn it anyway just to broaden my musical scope - nine times out of ten we probably wont play it. I do try and play every day - some of my most enjoyable times with the bass have been when I've forced myself to play. So I never practice, but play every day