Jakester

Just to circle back round to this, I managed to pick up (boom boom - or not!) a Thumpinator which now sits under my pedalboard. Did a gig at the weekend on a hollow stage stood right in front of my amp, and even with it turned up quite high there was nary a hint of feedback, so here's hoping for now it's dealt with this issue. Thanks all for your input.

Thanks - I'm not talking about slight level differences, I mean changing a couple of patches has a massive difference in volume. It's okay to adjust (but because the C4 has mappable controls it's not always the 'level' control that is the volume if using user patches!) but it's that initial blast I'd like to get rid of. I do think it's a question of a bit more manual diving....

Hah, I was there too, and I concluded I was now too old to stand in the crowd for 4 hours! I thought the search was perfunctory at best - I guess I came in later than you as the main standing area was full when I got there. The metal detector bleeped as I went through but they just waved me through. I (unwisely) joked I could have had a machete down my trousers and some bloke turned round nervously and said "but you don't though, do you?" 😂 I regretted not responding "wrong sort of chopper"... 🙄 It was all fine until about the 2nd SP tune when a group of about six forced their way through the crowd and stopped directly in front of us, and a chap was literally butt to groin with me, meaning all I could see was literally the back of his head and his very large ears. Again, I could have put up with that (indeed, some might say I could have got lucky!) but then he started jiggling uncontrollably (I think it was dancing) and stamping on my feet. As I was at the back of the crowd there was a slight lip so I had nowhere backwards to go so ended up joining some of my mates who had already concluded they were too past it and stood off to the side. I always take earplugs to gigs since seeing Therapy? at the Wulfrun and having ringing ears for days afterwards. Great gig though - the sound balance was just incredible, how they got just a clean live sound with such varied instruments was beyond me. Not only was the musicianship outstanding, so were the sound guys. And I loved the close-up cams too - really good if you spent a lot of time looking at the back of someone's head!

Calling all C4ists! Has anyone found an easy way to ensure patch levels are broadly equal (or at or about unity) when switching on? I have some different patches from different sources, and I've tried to map the controls so they're broadly consistent. I've switched to WYSIWYG so ideally there's a 'master' vol which is set broadly the same when activated, but I still get wildly different patch volumes. Should I forget WYSIWYG and try a different method? Any other tips/tricks?

I was really looking forward to coming along, but it's looking like work means I won't now be able to! Have fun everyone.

Thanks both!

TBH I wasn't planning on anything extensive. I had hoped it would be of decent enough quality just to oil, but I think that's out. The boards themselves will be fine for what I was planning, just not very attractive! A bit disappointing - a job lot of offcuts so not much money, but of variable quality! Yep, have plunge saw so will be using that.

Not specifically bass-build related, but I am building a 19" rack unit so close enough I hope not to offend? I hoped to take advantage of the collective wood-whisperer knowledge! Anyway, I've got some 18mm plywood that I'm going to use to build some "studio" furniture for a rack etc. It's not the greatest quality wood - lots of knot voids etc. However, in some parts the outer ply is quite 'splintery' - some of the fibres are coming loose, on the edges particularly. The very edges don't bother me as the sheets are going to be cut down anyway, but where the fibres are lifting in the sheet, is the best way of dealing just to use some epoxy filler, like you would a grain filler? I'm going to have to use some anyway to fill some of the knot holes, so would skimming some over the worst of the splintery bits work?

Yep, I'd say either timbale sticks or perhaps the one on the right is a guiro scraper?

I would always prefer dots over anything else, being someone that learnt via dots. However, one thing to bear in mind is that not all transcribers are equal! I play both bass and drums, and whilst on the whole bass parts are generally okay (aside from the arranger who would routinely put stuff below low E - I ended up just buying a 5-string!) drum parts are a whole other issue, with stuff all over the place because the arranger hadn't done it before, or had just run something off a midi file. I suppose the point is if you know what you're doing then dots are great - if you don't, they can be more hindrance than help.

Ooh, ṩȵëǻǩɏ!

Why've I been filtered and you haven't? Is it a mod thing? (Unlike IB, who was a baggy thing..)

I'd be whizzed off if I'd paid a tenner!

Jeebus. How the mighty, eh? I love the Stone Roses, and I've got a couple of his solo albums too, but god knows how they got him to sing in tune before Antares came along! I remember taping one of the last SR performances at the Reading Festival off the radio, and it was basically unlistenable - he was so out of tune that it was painful. By all means have the swagger and bravado if you have the ability to back it up, but this is just embarrassing. Plus he's an ardent anti-vaxxer too...🙄

Could be timbale sticks - I have some Alex Acuna ones and they're quite thin - thinner than a 7A I think. Some brands do do 'butt only' sticks (ahem), but they're usually the heavier ones. Could also be marimba mallets with the heads fallen off?

Why is it frustrating? Surely irksome, perhaps irritating, occasionally annoying - but frustrating? I think you need to take a chill pill..

I don't really 'get' compression. TBH, I don't think I can ever hear it on a bass when I'm playing. I've had a few compressors over the years and none of them really made a wild difference to my sound. I'm sure some of that is entirely down to my inability to use them properly. I suppose I use it more as a limiter to stop wide volume disparity between patches. I find compressors much more effective when applied to a whole mix, or parts of it - I was recently messing around with some 70's esque drum parts for a recording, and if you took the toms out and added tons of compression, it really gave the sound we were looking for. But as a subtlety added to my own tone - nope, can't really hear it.

They do as they are the only company authorised by MB to carry out repairs. Since MB won’t release circuit diagrams or component spec details they are the only people in the UK with the ‘official’ information. That is literally the definition of a monopoly. Of course, there’s no doubt other people that might have a bash but they are by no means approved repairers.

That colour reminds me a little of Action Man skin tone. Could you put a pair of the moveable eyes into the body?

I bet you’ll be steering clear of Pawlonia in the future though!

Presumably you've seen the Dug Pinnick? https://www.peachguitars.com/schecter-doug-pinnick-dp-12-black.htm?opt=34390&gclid=CjwKCAjwsfuYBhAZEiwA5a6CDFnAV8h5uGJqnYn-Jw4Lg-o9m9ecfdzbMcA-X-GavOwClBNHzkDZ_xoCyWoQAvD_BwE Could that not just be refinished/headstock reshaped?

Glad you had a better experience than me then! As I say, it's only been my experience but I have used a lot of desks in lots of different situations, and those are the two brands I've always noticed issues with.

I started out with a Xenyx 1024FX but it had to go back as the preamps and the effects were so noisy it was pretty much unusable. Unfortunately that’s been my experience on a number of occasions of using Behringer analog mixers live (and also Mackie ones - Behringer aren’t the only culprits) but thankfully whatever the issue is wasn’t carried over into their digital mixers. In my experience Yamaha and Soundcraft analog mixers do the job well, and as I posted above the Behringer XR18 was/is a game changer for me.