Jakester

I did have one that came with the kit - it was okay. Die-cast hoops so decently meaty. I put a wooden batter hoop on it too. I tend to mix and match snares though so rarely use a 'matching' snare.

The Renowns are great kits. I had one of the first into the UK - it was my first kit I'd bought myself (thanks student loan!) and sounded amazing. Only downside then was a lack of 'add-on' toms - I ended up getting some made for me to match out of Keller shells. A couple of pics of my old kit, and one of it being used in the studio:

Soundcraft arrived today - sounds great, much quieter preamps. Interesting,y the sound ‘out of the box’ wasn’t as pre-eq’d as the Behringer, which suggests there is an element of tailoring to the cheaper mixer. It does weigh a bleeding ton though - feels heavier than my old Yamaha MG/16 and similar sized Mackie I had for a while. Seems the ‘compact’ part of my brief has rather gone by the wayside but it should cover everything but the largest gigs. One really weird feature though which I can’t really fathom is the lack of on/off switch - plug it in, and it’s on straight away. No idea why they’d do that…

Thanks - yep, that was the one I was going to go for!

Just to come back to this, I think part of it was I hadn’t done a deep enough dive! It depends how many channels and what spec you go for - the smaller channelled mixers from SC didn’t have more than one, the Mackie all the way up to a 12 channel don’t. As you and others have said the A&H does but it’s v expensive.

Well, for anyone that’s interested the Behringer is going back. Had the opportunity to set it up and have a play over Christmas and it’s so noisy as to be unusable. There’s a continuous high pitched (around 1.7khz) hiss which is unaffected by any EQ or the gain pots, and then random clicking and popping artefacts which just ‘happen’ with no input. Really not good enough. It’s a shame, as the effects were actually really good. I know Behringer suffered from a bad reputation for live sound gear but I thought they’d gone past that - certainly my XR18 had been great. So, back in the market for something else - the A&H looks good but is really £££. Current fave possible is a Soundcraft Signature 10 which seems around the same size as the ill-fated Behringer but has more auxes…

Nope, I disagree. If you have bought decent gear and there’s nothing in that particular piece of gear’s manual saying you need to get it serviced or tested regularly then, absent some known fault to which you turned a blind eye, you would probably be fine. For example I’m pretty sure there is nothing in my Markbass amp manual saying it needs to be serviced or tested [edit: or, rather, needing regular servicing - it actually says “Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel. Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as power-supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped” ] likewise my Yamaha powered PA speakers. Indeed, it would probably be worse if you had it tested once and then didn’t do it again, since you might be deemed to be aware of the need for testing but didn’t bother. If there WAS something saying you need to have it serviced, but you don’t, and that item then causes loss or damage, you *might* be in trouble, but only if it was unreasonable for you not to have had it serviced, and that lack of servicing was a causative factor in any damage. Basically you owe a duty of care to take reasonable precautions against loss and damage. If the operating manuals for your gear don’t say have it serviced, then you’re probably fine as it would be a reasonable step to comply with the manufacturer‘s recommendations. Insurance almost certainly won’t say you need proof of testing - it will say comply with manufacturer’s recommendations if it says anything like that at all. For info I’m a lawyer of 15 years’ post qualification experience and spent 10 years of my career dealing with claims for insurers and advising insurers on coverage, of which many were PI claims.

The worst thing was they did look absolutely hilarious - it was like something from the Bugsy Malone, only with knives. No one dared crack a smile though!

Did a gig over in Germany after Kosovo. We were told to get our food from the main mess tent, but not to go back in there after 9pm as it was all going to kick off (and it did). It was a tolerated way to let the soldiers let off steam, apparently. Another gig I did was at a Gurkha base; it was with a swing band, and it was a period fancy dress theme. We were warned before we went out to play this under no circumstances should we laugh at the Gurkhas in fancy dress, as it wouldn’t have ended well for us! 👀

At the risk of being 'that guy', you don't *need* PAT - it's usually venues insisting on it to check that it's been tested recently, but there's no legal obligation on them, and unless you're employing the other members of your band, not on you either. The legal obligation stems from an employer's responsibility to ensure equipment used by their employees is safe. They don't even have to have it PAT'd annually, but most do to show they're taking reasonable steps to ensure safety. That's not to say it isn't a good idea to have your gear tested from time to time, but that's a different point to saying you as a musician are legally obliged to have your gear PAT'd.

Would (wood? arf!) it work with an EUB? I need something to prop mine for quick changes. No worries if not though!

Well, if anyone's interested, Paypal has found in my favour and I've been refunded, well before the 'deadline' for Bax to respond, so I presume they must have agreed with my that the sales tactics are unreasonable.

Yep, no response for me so I’ve had to open a PayPal dispute. Won’t be using them again - classic ‘bait and switch’ sales tactics allied with non-existent customer service…

I just stuck with (sorry) the adhesive dots in the right places. They're great if you come unmoored but as mentioned above you start to develop a muscle memory and your ear to tell if you're in the right place or not fairly quickly. I'm absolutely no great shakes but it's worked for me.

I looked at an eBow to deal with bowed DB parts in tunes I was playing, but because of the drawbacks highlighted in this thread and elsewhere I went a slightly different way. I use an EHX Freeze pedal which, when coupled with a 'violining' technique on the volume (either knob or volume pedal) gives a reasonably convincing facsimile of a bowed, sustained note. If you time the Freeze right you get a lovely full sustained note. Depending on how you want to play it you can set it momentary (i.e. it dies when you release) or latching (it holds until you switch it off). Might be worth a look?

I have to say for the first time I wasn't sold on the earlier mockups - I didn't like the wood and the f-hole design, I found it too jarring. However, what do I know? In these latest pics it looks amazing - completely the right design choices and as ever stunning workmanship Andy!

Just used them to buy something that isn't available elsewhere. Turns out the reason it isn't available elsewhere is because it isn't available, full stop. Bax were still happy to take the money though. Let's see how hard it is to get the (very small) amount of money back from them...

I bought a Code smooth white head to replace a knackered bass drum front head, but I have to say I wasn't that impressed. Rather than being opaque it was quite see-through and felt a lot thinner than the head it was replacing. I mean, it did the job, but didn't quite give that 'factory' look. I haven't tried their heads as batters though.

I think all of the manufacturer's 'core' ranges are much of a muchness - clear/coating single/twin ply. It's when they go for their proprietary stuff it gets interesting. My preference has been for Aquarian over Remo for coated single ply, but recently had a head 'let go' between the flesh hoop and bearing edge on an Aquarian Texture Coated - I've never had that happen before. Remo and Evans are much easier to find though. I tend to use coated single-ply heads on the rack toms and coated double ply heads on the floor toms. The key point is to know what sort of sound you want and choose the heads accordingly. Open, bright, lots of attack - single ply. That 70's studio 'thwub' sound - twin-ply coated or even oil-filled. You can then tweak with damping and tuning from there. My absolute fave head was Remo Vintage Ambassadors and Emperors - a bit thicker than the 'normal' ones with a heavier coating. Lovely heads, but really difficult to get hold of and REALLY expensive. I always tend to use coated heads - I don't like the plasticy 'thwack' you get with clear heads. My 'go to' snare batter is a coated reverse dot - CS Dot in Remo parlance, and Power Center [sic] Reverse Dot in Evansspeak. Recently I got a snare with an Evans Genera HD Dry head on it and liked it a lot - so much so I bought some more for other drums. Edit: and some of the best heads I ever used were Evans G-Plus etched heads - a cross between a clear and coated, with a thicker single ply. Absolutely lovely heads those were. They don't do them now and I don't know what replaced them.

If playing rock and metal Ambassadors won’t last. Look for two-ply heads - plain Remo Emperors, Evans G2s, Aquarian Response 2s etc. If want a deader sound try heavier twin ply such as Pinstripes, or Evans Hydraulics. There’s a really good comparison chart here which shows the comparable heads for each brand: https://www.aquariandrumheads.com/drumhead-guide-comparison-chart

But how do you deal with someone adding the odd bar or two in the middle of a song? I've played lots of jazz over the years and it's absolutely improvised, but improvised within the structure of the song eg. solos will be one, two, three etc times through the solo section. I've played in bands where the BL wanted to vamp a couple of bars - fine, but it was a part of the tunes that a vamp would work. I'm used to playing off the BL, soloist, lead guitarist, singer - whoever - for cues and even totally on spec stops, breakdowns, solos, time changes etc - but never, and I mean ever, have I come across someone who just wants to add "a couple of extra bars" in. If it's not just "a couple of extra bars" - and it's twice through the solo rather than once, for example, then that's easy and will just require agreement as to how to signal it. If it is genuinely playing a (say) 12-bar section with two extra bars because he feels like it, then the lead player needs shooting.

Nah - if it's properly too loud then the venue will shut you down as they owe a duty to their staff as employers to provide a safe working environment. A dB meter will only tell you the volume at a particular location, which can vary depending on the layout of the room, so wouldn't be particularly helpful unless you followed the bloke around. If said punter decided it was too loud and continued to stay then it's non volenti fit injuria i.e. by realising the risk of harm, but doing nothing to avoid it, you can't then bring a claim against another party. If anyone is concerned about the risk of claims for hearing damage then the best thing to do would be to put a box of those foam earplugs on the bar for people to help themselves to. That demonstrates that you have identified a potential risk and taken reasonable steps to mitigate it. If no-one takes any, well, that's their choice.

Presumably you’ve Googled it? First few links suggest it’s an active buffer preamp akin to the Creation Audio Redeemer.

Well, back, and it was ruddy cold! Fine for setting up, but as the tunes went on fingers got really stiff! The bowed DB parts didn't sound as good - no doubt a combination of being stood right on top of my amp, plus the tuning really wasn't happy with the cold! Still, a couple of people remarked it sounded okay. I struggled more with the 'normal' parts I've played loads - by the end of the gig - the most complicated and fiddly tune! - my fingers were really struggling by the end! Enjoyed it though, and we drew a decent crowd so yay! On to the next.