Jakester

Sorry for the total noob question - not yet found a DB teacher so muddling my way through as best I can for now. When I started messing around with DB I picked up a cheap bow from here, but not knowing the difference between French and German, I just assumed you played it French style. So that’s what I did, until a kindly cellist pointed out the difference. I tried German grip but it felt unnatural, so I bought a French bow. I still really struggle with the grip - my hand aches after about 32 bars, but I presume it‘s a strengthening thing. I’ve contacted a couple of local teachers but none have responded to be, so still on the hunt. Anyway, I’ve been struggling with a particular piece and out of frustration I picked up the German bow, and instantly found it easier to play that piece. Then I went back to another piece and found it was hard to play with the German bow, but easier with the French. So, is there any reason (other than looking like a dork) I can’t use both?

For anyone what's interested, it was a loose connection in the jack - all sorted now (hopefully!)

Yep, fair play to them they are quite responsive. Interesting they appeared happy to send the neck to you - they said they would need me to ship my whole bass to them for any neck swap (early German Streamer B/O).

Warwick repair prices are nuts. I was quoted best part of £900 for a replacement neck! If it were anything other than a Streamer Standard I’d say go with Guitar Guitar, but even the early German ones don’t hold their value well, so an RB one probably even less. I’d keep an eye out for an RB neck or body on eBay or FB.

In one band we use a Google Calendar. Fairly straightforward, and can be synced easily. In another, we use a Google sheets spreadsheet setup by month - you fill in availability etc. Finally, the orchestra I play in uses an app called Spond, which syncs with your device calendar and can send out notifications and request attendance/availability etc. I’ve only used it client side, rather than admin side, but seems to work well so far.

Thanks, I did - Kindle is £15 per part (it’s split into 3 parts) or £48 for a paper version! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-XR18-Digital-Mixer-Handbook-ebook/dp/B09676QRJY

I *think* the effects are also controllable via MIDI though I’m jiggered if I’d even start knowing where to look for that…!

No, haven’t seen that before, but looking on Amazon £45/48 is quite a lot!

Good luck! At worst, if you fancied getting to together to talk it through, you're only down the road from me so let me know!

And a bit more detail here:

And this is a very quick explainer for inserts:

Right, did a bit more Googling, and this video from Behringer seems to provide the answers - @stewblackhopefully this helps you: So this explains routing signals to the four FX buses, and they do it in the way I understood it worked - i.e. you select the FX bus on the RH of the screen, and then raise the relevant faders to send it to that effect. The key issue for me was that as we were doing a monitor test, I didn't have the main LR faders up, so it wasn't sending the signal to the FX bus properly. I will see if I can find a good explainer video for using inserts as well. I think this video is really helpful.

Well, if I knew how it worked, I wouldn’t be asking for help! How do you route it? Where is it found? Who am I? Why are we here?

I’ve been using my XR18 for a while now, it’s all been fine, but I still really struggle with using the effects. I can get a reverb on main vocals, but cannot for the life of me figure out how to get that same reverb into the vocalist’s monitor (I know there are loads of reasons why you shouldn’t put reverb in the monitors, but he keeps moaning…) The way I do effects is like this: select the main mix LR, then pick the effect in one of the four FX ‘slots’ (buses?). Click on that effect slot on the section below then Aux outs labelled FX1, 2 etc. Raise the faders of the channels I want the effect to affect - so for reverb, the vocalists, in differing proportions depending on who wants it. Tweak to suit. That’s fine, it works. But how do I send the same effected channel to the aux sends for monitoring? Clicking the particular aux out for the monitor mix and then adjusting FX1,2 etc does nothing. When I played around with inserting the FX on the aux we got the most god awful feedback. I don’t even know how it happened, just that it did! I wondered whether changing the aux send point might help (ie post-fader etc) but it didn’t. Can someone tell me an idiot’s guide to how to use the effects please? Fanku.

Thanks, that looks really interesting - but pretty expensive! US$240 plus shipping - hefty.

Finally had the chance to get it out and take a look - it *seems* like there's no contact issue - the contacts are strongly sprung and the battery seems fairly tightly held in place - no wiggling or movement at all. I'll drop the bass in to the local shop for them to take a look at at the weekend!

Had a punt on one of these as for that price it's a steal given the reviews.

Interesting, thanks! Though I suppose one more bit of kit to carry around.

Thanks both. Well I can say for certain I'm not going to be singing through it! I wouldn't want to subject anyone to that torture!

Can anyone give any recommendations for a decent vocal mic with a switch? I have a need for a mic which can be switched on and off without giving a massive bang through the system as many do. Basically I do a gig where to a greater extent there's no-one manning the PA when it's set up. I/we (the instrumental band) need a mic for announcements etc but not for performing. I don't want a live mic left next to us when we're playing as the location is not really optimal but there's no-one on the board to mute it. (Edit: and it's a hard-wired, house PA so can't use my XR18 or anything to have the mix controls near me). I've tried a couple of cheapies in the past that singers have had but they all make a pop or boom noise when on a live mic the switch is, well, switched. Any recommendations? Will a switched SM58 do the job? I nearly got an AKG D5S for a decent price but it turned out to be the standard version, so had to cancel.

Could be. I feel a bit bad as I only really noticed it at this weekend’s gigs - on a full stage with full outdoor PA rig sporting about eight subs - so it’s a wonder each bang and pop didn’t smash some windows over the road!

Thanks both. @Andyjr1515 that sounds about right - the sort of sound you get when someone unplugs a live mic when the PA is still switched on. Hopefully @mcnach it could be only that, but past experience suggests not. I know it’s one of the parts of a bass most exposed to wear and tear, but every active bass I’ve ever had I’ve had to replace the jack shortly after getting it. Never had to do it with a passive bass…

Not daft at all, yep, I’ve definitely experienced that in the past, but this one has covers over the poles so not that on this occasion - thanks though.

Thanks - I’ll take in somewhere then!

Thanks - any idea how I’d go about identifying whether or not that is the case? Or better off just taking to someone who knows what they’re doing?