Jakester

Wahey, my care package from ACS has arrived! A set of Engage Classic IEMs, some Pro20 earplugs, and a set of sleep earplugs. I'll give them a test and report back.

Yep, that's the one thing I need to work out - I may give it a go using a USB MIDI keyboard to see what happens first.

QSC Touchmix 16. It's a USB-A socket.

I did see that before, but whilst there are options that would work, they're all pretty expensive or over-featured. I may take a punt on that eBay one.

Has anyone come across a cheap MIDI USB footswitch that has only one or two switches? Basically I would like our singer to trigger a vocal effect on a tune. The mixer can do it, but only supports MIDI via USB. It can learn the commands which can then be used to switch the effect on and off, so the actual commands sent aren’t really an issue. I’d ideally like it to be a single switch so as not to cause too much confusion for our singer. Disaster Area does the MIDI Baby but that needs their USB Host too - not a big issue, but just an added point of potential failure at a gig. Plus it’s £££. This chap appears to sell custom pedals and is around the right price, but it’s a bit of a punt on the unknown! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225596406007?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&fromMakeTrack=true Any other suggestions?

I recently got one of these and it’s great: https://www.k-m.de/en/products/drummer-s-thrones-benches-stools/stools/14045-stool-black-imitation-leather

There's the old chestnut, "the first week, I got my DB and had my first lesson on how to bow. The second week, I worked on intonation. I missed my third lesson because I was out gigging!"

I’ve always got mine (Lo Rider nickels or Sunbeams) from Amazon. Pretty good prices - I think about £35 for a 5-string set?

If it were me, I'd be on to some NSW lawyers getting them to do a letter before action for me giving him 14 days to either confirm the (adequately insured etc) shipping details or a refund. Whilst I'm not familiar with the specifics of NSW procedure, I'd bet it's fairly close to our own with a comparable small claims process that wouldn't cost you a fortune to do.

Amazon have done same-day delivery of stuff like that in the past. I tend to buy a pack of 5 or 10 at a time as they often go walkabout...

Apparently from recent post-gig comments I am more associated with dancing like a tw@t on stage than any particular piece of gear!

Spotted in my local rehearsal studio: 🤣

Nah, you're not alone. I've spent a small fortune trying lots of different tips but could never find 'the one' that worked for me. The Comply-style ones were okay to a point, but I never seemed to get the isolation everyone else said; I suspect I have weirdly shaped ears. In the end I've opted for customs too, so hopefully that should put an end to the searching!

I'm not sure you need to rejig the outputs that much - I have an 1820i and a Saffire Pro 40 via ADAT and I can send different mixes to each of the headphones outputs on both interfaces, giving you four separate stereo headphone mixes.

Yep, my first question would be why are you using an additional DI box when there’s a ‘proper’ DI out on the head? I’ve had lots of issues with my MB heads but the DI isn’t one - I’ve used it on stages and gigs with all manner of different setups and it’s been fine. When you say ‘line out’, you’re definitely using the DI, right? Rather than the effects loop, or from one of the cab thru sockets?

Well, a sad and disappointing update to this, unfortunately. When I received the pedal back, the OD circuit didn't work. At all. The repairer said it worked when he sent it back, and there's a video of it he sent demonstrating it. He said that when he received it, the OD pot was loose, so he replaced it. Unfortunately he couldn't get the exact same pot, but replaced it with one he said would work just as well. He suggested I send it back to him to take a look at. He thought it could have taken some knocks in transit, although it was packed well in the manufacturer's packaging and additional reinforcement and no sign of damage to the packaging. So since March, I have been in sporadic communications with the repairer, and he says he's not been able to trace any fault in the OD circuit whatsoever, which is strange because he got me to do a full video for him, carrying out various tests etc and there was simply no drive whatsoever. There seems to be the implication I'm doing something wrong, though what (beyond plugging, setting the gain etc and switching it on and off) that could be isn't really clear. It's been with him since March, with very limited updates. I've chased and got a rather huffy reply where he said he's exhausted all options so I'm going to have to shell out yet again for it to be collected. From my perspective, I sent a fully-working pedal with a blown diode, and I will have received back a pedal where one of the major functions doesn't work whatsoever, and I'm now out over £100 on various repair and postage costs. The real kicker for me, though, is that because he's had it for so long, I can't now bring any claim against Royal Mail, as it's outside the time they let you make a claim. It was sent fully insured via Special Delivery so I could have claimed at least some of the value of the pedal back. As it is, I'm left without a working pedal and no recourse whatsoever, and out quite a bit of money. I suppose it was the false hope that kills you. If I'd just have continued using it with the blown diode, all would have been fine. Instead, I've paid to have it repaired and now to all intents and purposes it's fecked. Sigh.

Haven't had the chance to fiddle about with it as I've been gigging solidly - but thanks for the reminder, Mick, I'll have a go at it today and report back!

Previous owner's ad here:

For the OP I think this is the key point.

Some steam-bent high-end birch ply would look lovely...

I’ve struggled using compressors in the past - I’ve never been able to get them working properly for me, and the most recent one I had was unusable due to the noise floor. However, a recent gig showed that I really need one - we were through the house PA but hadn’t really had the chance to sound check, and when I popped a note in a funk tune it nearly blew everyone’s eardrums. So I resolved to dive back in, and get my hands on one of the ‘high end’ analogue pedals rather than a cheaper digital example. I had my eyes peeled for either a Keeley or a Cali76. I’d been uhmming and ahhing about a couple of the Calis on the classifieds (the size was putting me off as I’d need a whole new pedalboard) when a Keeley Bassist popped up. I snapped it up, and the seller was even good enough to post it next day (unprompted by me!) so I could try it out at my gig the following evening. The gig involved me playing active 5 string, active fretless and amplified double bass, and the Keeley was a revelation. It just tamed my wayward playing and helped any volume issues on the DB too, with no noise issues whatsoever. I am converted!

Delighted to be able to keep this going, Rob sold me his Keeley Bassist, and posted it so fast it arrived next day! Highly recommended - thanks Rob.

Thanks Andy - I have a gig tomorrow, so don't want to fiddle with it until after that. I'll have a play and report back.

Slight tangent, but how do you find the Mercury IEMs? I'm currently looking and I was angling towards ACS, as I can't really justify super high-end IEMs with the amount of playing I do, but Mercury seem slightly cheaper for a similar spec.