Jakester

Bugger, sorry to hear that, Nick! I may well do.

Sorry, I completely disagree. The whole point of a band is that the members commit to it - otherwise it just becomes a loose collective of people who meet once a week to play music together. If that's your thing, then fine, but if I'm in a band I make sure I learn all my parts, turn up on time, and try not to let the other people down, unless completely unavoidable, and I'd hope (and, recent travails aside, experience tends to suggest) that the majority of the people I play with are the same.

The perennial topic - why is it not possible to have a stable band for any length of time? It is a fundamental force of the universe? So, I play in a rock covers band. We formed a couple of years ago, but had a rather lacklustre singer who eventually, after telling the crowd "I don't know the lyrics to this so sorry if we sound a bit stinky poo" - WE didn't, he did - we decided to replace. Did that in Jan 2020 with a great female vocalist - she really added another dimension and opened up our potential repertoire. She was really enthusiastic and got us some good gigs and contacts. After rehearsing we managed one gig the week before the first national lockdown was announced. During lockdown, she decided she'd rather do something else so quit. Sigh. We managed to replace her in between lockdowns with a really nice, experienced chap, and we've managed to get a few decent gigs on the books over summer (COVID permitting!) with a view to ramping up later in the year. . . . So now, one of our guitarists has said he doesn't think he can carry on. In fairness, he recently had a shoulder op so we have arranged a dep for the first couple of gigs, but it seems he's become disillusioned (for various non-musical reasons) and has decided not to continue. This leaves us with at least two more gigs (including August Bank Holiday weekend!) that he's not going to do. I'm not sure how many times more I want to have to go through the audition/rehearse process again myself. In fact, thinking about it, the last stable band I was in was from 2008 to 2013, which I ruined by moving away for work. Every band since then has been "in flux". Is it the resting state of the rock covers band to be in constant renewal? There must be some mathematical description for the function that when a rock covers band reaches equilibrium there must immediately occur a destabilising event. Sigh. Back to JMB/Gumtree...🙄

I know this says more about me than I'd like it to, but I can't help seeing two bass bodies mating there. Can't wait to see the little ukes they produce!

Andertons suggest they may have more in in a couple of weeks if you do change your mind and want to return it: https://www.andertons.co.uk/bass-dept/bass-guitars/modern-bass-guitars/charvel-pro-mod-bass-sd-pj-iv-in-mystic-blue I like the green though...

I use one as I have one active and one passive bass, or sometimes a bass and an EUB (and on a couple of memorable occasions running a set of triggers into Mainstage as a timpani sim) so it a) allows me to switch between them, b) ensure that the levels coming into the effects and amp are roughly the same between the active and passive bass and c) adjust the EQ of each to suit. I tried going into a power amp only but couldn't get the levels with the preamp I was using.

Yup, I had a quote for £900+ to repair (note 'repair', not 'replace') a problem with a neck.

Yup, me. Played drums for 20+ years, only played bass seriously for the last couple of years (though dabbled for a while before then). I’m lucky enough to have a practice space so not having withdrawal but I am really missing playing with other people!

Yes - if you actually read the initial post, I said: I'm looking at semi-permanently installing a couple of mics in areas where I would need to feed the mic cable through small holes, so the connector won't fit.

Not very helpful. I don't know anyone who solders their own cables or does any soldering generally. Do you actually have any specific experience in relation to those specific connectors? Why specifically does "solderless + audio + musician = trouble"?

Does anyone have any experience with the Neutrik crimpable XLR connectors? I'm looking at semi-permanently installing a couple of mics in areas where I would need to feed the mic cable through small holes, so the connector won't fit. I am completely crap at soldering. No, I mean really, really bad. Actually, worse than that. In fact, the things intended to be soldered generally have less solder on them than when I started. So I'm looking for solderless XLR connectors, and Neutrik do crimpable connectors. I could feed the wire through the hole and then crimp the connector on, sparing me the embarrassment of showering myself with solder and having to give it all up as a bad job. Good? Bad? Ugly? (and don't say "learn to solder", I've tried dozens of times, had electronics lessons at school and in scouts, practised umpteen times, still can't do it).

I'm lucky enough to have an outbuilding to go and play in. Until recently it had a very shonky door, but yesterday it's been replaced with a steel security door which has acoustic infill, suggesting a noise reduction of up to 45dB. I suspect this is unlikely. The walls are thick stone - about a foot thick, and have recently been tanked with a concrete slurry so mass isn't an issue with the walls. We had to redo the roof a while back due to leaks, so took the opportunity to double up on acoustic insulation in the roof as well. However, that leaves the final potential weakness, which is the window. It's a single pane top-opening window with quite a deep reveal. I'm now considering whether or not just to pack the reveal with acoustic insulation and seal off the window entirely by putting a panel across it, to stop it being a source of noise externally. However, with the new door in, it's probably now the only source of airflow (the old door had a two inch gap at the bottom!). The room is/was damp, hence the need for tanking. Even so, we still got mildew and mould in there until I put a dehumidifier in there which is always on. If I were to box in the window and seal it off, is it likely to cause problems with the lack of airflow? Would I need to put a plenum chamber in the boxing and an exhaust fan?

Just noticed this for sale on here, looks like a decent setup (not mine, don’t know the seller, never used the kit etc etc):

In a different band I was in we had some Alto 15's - a couple of generations older than those I'd have thought. They were adequate at best - *just* managed to exceed stage levels in smaller venues but struggled with any more. The Thumps I mentioned comfortably outpaced them in every respect.

For that money I'd be looking second hand. There's bound to be some decent setups on your local buy and sell sites - Gumtree, FB Marketplace etc, and if you're lucky you can get cables and stands included too.

As I say, Yamaha are good - we have the DXR10 Mk1 and it's great. Our setup is two 12" Mackie Thump powered speakers from a XR18 digital mixer, with the Yamaha as a vocal monitor. That's with two vocalists and does pubs gigs with no problems at all. I have a Mackie sub when needed but haven't used it in anger.

I'd say look to get some decent powered speakers - the 'standard' (but by no means the best) are the Mackie SRMs and there's usually lots available second-hand. RCF are well-thought of on here, and QSC are the upper end of the market. We also have a Yamaha DXR10 which is used as a vocal monitor, but another one of those would be great. Go for the best you can afford - skimping now will mean problems with expanding etc down the line. As with bass cabs, suggested wattage ratings are very misleading, but look for stuff 500w+ if possible. The more headroom, the better. <edit> I'd also say go for 12" speakers as a minimum - if you're going to be playing any recorded audio etc (wedding/background music) then without a sub 10"s can sound a little weedy. If you can lug them around, 15"s are a good compromise without a sub. As for mixer, I'd say get something with at least 12 channels, with ideally 6 - 8 of those mic inputs in case you wanted to add backing vocals, keys, and/or drums. There's loads of good analogue mixers, and the digital stuff is becoming really useful at accessible price points (XR18 etc). Have you thought about monitoring?

If it’s too much you can disconnect it easily - I’ve done it and it took five minutes.