Jakester

And when you say “damage to sticks”, what do you mean? If he’s knackering sticks  on a proper kit in a way he doesn’t on an electric, it suggests to me he’s got an issue with his technique. That said, better he’s knackering sticks at £12 a pop than cymbals at £200 a pop…

Drum shops?

But seriously, there’s just the same range of shops for drums as there is bass. G4M, PMT, GAK etc all do drum stuff. There’s specialists like Drummersonly, Graham Russell and Drumshop. Then there’s some great buy and sell groups on Facebook. Take your pick. 

Does say it's only for acoustic guitars though - looks like you need the soundhole to draw it on the strings. 

23 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

Is this it?  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1CXfTKtmrWT76uWg2DdIP3

 

Looks like it. 

Lawrie, if that doesn't do it, if you PM me your email address I'll send them to you. 

Do you mean Walking or Expanding? I think I have the former so could send you the mp3s.

On 15/02/2023 at 13:34, richardd said:

The quietest amp ever

Maybe qualify this statement as you might not get much interest! 😉 🤣

But there are so many more variables involved than simply "it's a piece of wood". 

Colour, form factor, electronics, brand (and that can of worms!), association (or otherwise) with noted players, even- shock horror - the actual sound. 

That's like saying "a car is just metal on four wheels" or "a house is just a load of bricks". 

44 minutes ago, Rayman said:

After 40yrs (😞) now of playing, my favourite two basses cost a few peanuts and they’re absolutely perfect for me.

And if that all works for you, perfect. But just as your particular needs for cars, housing etc might not work for anyone else, similarly their own instrument choices based on their own needs might be different to yours.

Or, to put your statement another way - just because your own basses which are perfect for you cost peanuts, that doesn't mean it'll work for anyone else. 

If that were the case, we'd all be playing Precisions.

Oh. What's that? We all are? 😉

3 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Definitely Mark, I’ve had a lot of Markbass gear, no problems with any of it.

It's not that it suffers problems - I daresay it's probably no more or less than any other brand. 

It's that it's impossible to get MB stuff repaired by anyone other than their approved repairer - who, in my own experience, were not very good. 

Obviously I can't generalise based solely on my own experience, but it does make it incredibly frustrating as an owner and certainly disinclines me to buying any more of their stuff. 

Indeed, when I had other issues recently (subsequently attributable to the venue, not the amp) I was entirely prepared to flog all my MB stuff off at a loss as I'd lost faith in it all. Similarly if I do have any other problems in future I'm not going to bother to try and get it repaired, I'll just go for a different brand entirely. 

Sadly, yes. And, IME that means they can charge what they like. 
 

I sent my CMD121 head away for intermittent volume problems, got charged £170 with no real resolution, only for the problem to recur. 
 

I ended up sacking that head off and buying a second hand LM3 to put in instead. 
 

The economics of MB repairs mean it works about practically the same.

I think the only thing (having done something similar a few years back and with family further down that way) is that the travel expectations are sometimes greater - I’ve been asked a couple of times whether I wanted to be part of a band (not a dep) 1+hr’s drive away, which is way too much for me, but doesn’t seem to bother too many people. 

13 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

@Jakester / @EBS_freak On a separate note would I be correct in thinking that the Grp 1 and 2 out are a higher output version of the aux out an no reason we couldn't use these for IEMs, and very possibly without the need for a Behringher P2 or similar?

In which case this unit is offering  3 Aux out (mono) 1 headphone out (stereo) 2 Grp out (mono) i.e. a total of 6 "monitor" outputs, which will more than cater for our needs.

If we doubled up the 2 Grp, 2 of the aux then, together with headphone out, it would provide three stereo outputs plus a single mono output with the remaining aux out. 

Not entirely sure that's correct. As to the level point, I don't know whether they're higher or not than the Auxes - I wouldn't have thought so, so a headphone amp might be required.

As to the 3 Aux point, Aux3 is also the FX send/return - so from my recollection you have the Aux 1 and 2 which can be used for monitors, and Aux 3 for either monitor or FX send. So if you're not using FX, you could use it to drive another monitor, but if you are using FX, you'd be cutting off the signal to the internal FX return.

I think you are right you can use Grp1 and Grp2 as separate outputs though, provided they're not routed to the master outs. 

Or, if you’re using it at home, why not just use the master outs into your monitors? Mine have XLR ins but if yours don’t, you could get an XLR to jack cable easily?

30 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Thanks for the suggestions which make good sense for a pair of headphones.

 

The other thing I'd be wanting to use one for is to connect the mono aux-out to my desktop stereo active monitors, which have a shared single 3.5mm aux-in on the powered speaker. Is there something short of a £50 Behrigner P2 adaptor for that, so that I can have the aux out mono signal going to both rather than one of the desktop speakers?

Looking at it, could you not just run the Grp1/Grp2 outputs and make sure the channels are selected to 1-2 as well as Mtr?

23 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Looks like there's no fault / design flaw with the Soundcraft Signature 12MTK desk I've just got then, and I won't have an excuse for returning it. Although I must admit I'm starting to develop an unhealthy interest in desks in the same way as I had in different make/models of bass guitar, amps and cabs a few years back! Maybe that's my own design flaw 😁

Unless you bought via the internet, in which case you can return it without any excuse. 

11 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

So...my desk saga continues! I picked up a Zoom Livetrack L-8 and was actually quite impressed at its feature-set and portability, particularly for the money. Unfortunately I found the model I had wasn't particularly well shielded and ended up with a high pitched hum with the IEMs we'd got for the band, which we weren't getting with other speakers.

 

The Zoom had 4 headphone outs which was ideal for my 4 piece, so I've looked for something similar in a budget mixer and ended up getting the desk from the make I actually mentioned in the OP of this thread - in my case a Soundcraft Signature 12MTK. However having spent a bit of time with it, I've found an unhelpful issue in using the unit:

 

The output from all three aux outputs is directed to just one of a pair of stereo speakers or to just one ear on a pair of headphones. This is irrespective of whether it is a TS (mono) input from an ¼” instrument jack or a TRS stereo input eg from headphone out of a phone playing Spotify into both the left and right stereo inputs of the desk. A dual-speaker or headphone stereo output is, however, available from the dedicated headphone out.

 

Is this to be expected with the aux-outs? If it was going to a monitor it would be a non-issue, but going to headphones (other than ironically the Xvive U4 IEMs a couple of our band have got as they are mono rather than stereo) this isn't going to be great.

Unfortunately I think so - the aux outs are generally mono on these IIRC. 

Surprised you can't finagle or bodge a mono to double mono (i.e. same into both phones) for headphones though. 

I know I keep going on about it, and I know it's a LOT more expensive, but the QSC TM16 has two stereo headphone level auxes as well as 8 mono - if you want/need a lot of stereo auxes, that's a good way to do it. 

23 minutes ago, Skybone said:

TC Electronic Polytune Mini?

 

18 hours ago, Jakester said:

I've looked at the PT mini and Korg Pitchblack mini, and they look like they'd do the job, but I wondered if there was anything smaller?

11 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Surely the thing to do is head to the hall when something else is getting set up, make yourself known to the stage manager, and quickly check the power at the duff spot with the socket tester you're about to buy?

In a primary school? I think that's a good way to have an unwanted visit from Mr Plod! 

3 hours ago, Boodang said:

I put a Peterson Stroboclip on every bass I use so it's off my board and they more or less live on headstock permanently. 

14 hours ago, Jakester said:

I would prefer a board-based tuner as I swap instruments a lot - I do have some clip-ons but they're not always as convenient as a pedal

Does anyone have any recommendations for the smallest, but still decent, tuner?

I currently use an older TC Polytune which works fine, but takes up a lot of space on my PB. 

I'm considering rejigging things and getting something half the size of the PT would be good. 

I've looked at the PT mini and Korg Pitchblack mini, and they look like they'd do the job, but I wondered if there was anything smaller? It could be 'always on' so footswitch not necessarily needed (as the preamp pedal I have has a footswitch mute and dedicated tuner out.

The Korg Pitchblack XS and the Boss Tu3S look like contenders but I haven't seen them in the flesh so it's difficult to judge. 

Plus there's the plethora of mini tuners on Amazon/eBay - are any of them any good?

Finally, I've tried the Pedaltrain SST and it was awful. Really struggled with bass frequencies so I got shot of it. 

I would prefer a board-based tuner as I swap instruments a lot - I do have some clip-ons but they're not always as convenient as a pedal. 

Well, we're back there at the end of the month so will check again and see. If it does it again in that location in the hall, I may need to invest in a VERY long extension to reach the sockets over the other side of the hall!

5 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

I read somewhere that the Markbass version has metal plates in it, so I could use it with my Two10 as well, without worrying about rigidity but it sound like I will need to stick Velcro all over the cabs. If it is anything like my experiences with pedal boards, it will peel off the first time I separate cab from stand ☹️. 
 

I will just have to hope I find a good IEM solution and won’t have to worry about hearing my cab.

Well, if it's this one it definitely uses velcro to stick to the carpet on the MB cabs:

https://www.markbass.it/product/mark-stand/

I find that mine sometimes tips the cab too far back too, so it can fall backwards - I often end up propping it up against something. I guess if you position the cab further back it might tip less, but without the velcro/carpet I'd assume it would slide all over the place. It is pretty rigid though. 

3 hours ago, Obrienp said:

I’ve just ordered one of those Markbass Tilt System folding cabinet wedges, as a cheap alternative to buying a kickback cab/combo. I am hoping having the cabinet at an angle will help me hear myself, even when up close but I foresee issues with the amp head sliding off during the gig. I am sure Velcro or similar can sort that. However, all that  is probably tinkering at the margins and the best way to solve this is to go down the IEM route.

The markbass thing only works with carpeted cabs, as it uses velcro to stick, so you'll need to attach velcro to the bottom of your BF cab (in case you didn't already know that).

On 04/02/2023 at 12:14, JPJ said:

So at last nights rehearsal, our drummer tried wired IEMs and has become the second convert in the band following the singers conversion a couple of weeks ago. So now the other two singer/guitarists are interested so I can see me building an IEM rig driven from my X-Air XR18. The singer is currently using my cheapo T-Bone IEM100 UHF transmitter/receiver setup, which works fine but is a little noisy. I’ve read up on the limitations of the cheap digital solutions such as the X-Vive but we have to be realistic about the cost of the rig as we’re only playing pub gigs. So, what’s everyone using? Is anyone using one of these single transmitter/multiple receiver set ups. Yes I know that limits you to one IEM mix but that would at least give the three singers a chance of hearing themselves and each other. As I mix the sound from the side of the stage whilst playing, eliminating on stage monitors would make my life a whole lot simpler!

For everyone but the singer, why not use a Behringer P1/P2? Drummer isn't going anywhere, presumably the bassist (you?) and guitars aren't leaping about, so those are easy to sort out with a wired connection.  Both allow for a stereo IEM mix too, the P1 being slightly easier to use. You can also drive an IEM setup via the headphone out by fiddling with the routing matrix in the XR18, so you can end up with 6 mono aux outs and a 7th stereo out. 

For the singer, I'd have thought anything but the absolute cheapest-on-amazon setup would do? Look for a stereo input - that tends to suggest it's a bit better than el cheapo (IME).

14 hours ago, DGBass said:

If so its almost certain the other wiring where you got the hum is suspect

I would hope not - it was a primary school hall! Sounds like that must be it though. 

14 hours ago, Mottlefeeder said:

If it was a public space, it might have a hearing loop installed, which could be feeding magnetically to your bass's pick-ups. That could give you anything from hum through distortion to feedback.

David

Hmm, could be, but if so I would have expected an issue like that to have occurred earlier in the same space (we’ve been using it for 4+ years with no noticeable issues).