Jakester

For E's and Wizz?

1 hour ago, Pirellithecat said:

The choice of Ear plugs is problematic - the guitar player is pretty set with what he uses - not sure what they are but not cheapy foam bungs.   Drummer really just wants "cheap" so varies between foam and etymotic "knock offs".

These are what I used to use: 

https://www.alpinehearingprotection.co.uk/products/musicsafe-pro

They're not wildly more than the Etymotic knock-offs you mention, but IME have a flatter frequency attenuation across the spectrum and have the changeable filters.

I've got the ACM custom moulds now - the attenuation is the same, they're just comfier for a longer period of time. 

1 hour ago, Pirellithecat said:

Like the idea of a speaker stand for the drum monitor - I'll push this, as he could use my monitor which can be stand mounted if I can't get him to use IEM's. 

Yep - I tended to find that in order to hear a floor wedge it had to be cranked to overcome the drum volumes, whereas if it's stand mounted it can be lower. Even those diddly little Mackie/Behringer jobs work on a mic stand loud enough to be heard. 

1 hour ago, Pirellithecat said:

It's really odd that the other members of the band don't see any link between what they do and the ability to get decent sound quality, on and off stage.   It's made worse when having seen "competitor" bands😅 they come back and say  "T'Other Band and Vibes sounded really good" - how do they do that?"  So I suggest  ..... "could it be the  quiet stage, having everything in the mixer, IEM's or sensible use of monitors, not too loud" to get the inevitable response , "yeah but ............ (insert appropriate excuse)". 

 

Frustrating, innit? I'd suggest a good way might be to get them to trial some universal IEMs at a technical rehearsals - the KZs get good reviews here and use them at rehearsal to get used to them. 

Ah, thanks for this! 

3 hours ago, Pirellithecat said:

 

The guitar cab is on the floor (for some guitar voodoo reason) and the guitar player uses ear plugs so he's not really aware of the true volume on stage.  To him, the vocals seem quiet in the monitors so wants them turned up (even asks for the bass to be louder on occasion!).  The drummer is also using ear plugs and from his standpoint he's not too loud (given that everyone has now turned up). He has tried IEM's twice, but doesn't like the "detached sound" - although pretty much everything is in his monitor feed.   I do ask whether the sound is any clearer via the ear plugs, but patience is needed.   He also sings and his mic/monitor is a major cause of onstage noise and feedback. I'm experimenting with IEM's rather than a monitor, but so far I'm not getting on that well with them although, at least, the left one acts as a drum suppressor!   

I think these are the main issues you need to look at.

What ear plugs are they using? Something even slightly better than foam bullets can make a world of difference. I used to use Alpine Musician Pro earplugs, and they were much clearer across the board than cheapo foamies or even the xmas tree style ones. Perhaps the guitarist should try some specific attenuation plugs - with those Alpines you can change the attenuation level.

The drummer mic/monitor thing is probably a positioning thing - is it a floor wedge? if so, try getting it up closer to his ears, ideally pointed backwards to his head - perhaps a speaker stand might help?

For the IEM isolation, try sticking an omni mic at the front of the stage, or a stereo pair at either side of the stage behind the speakers pointing at the band. As long as that's just routed to those with IEMs and not FOH, then it can really help to combat that sense of isolation. I've used a cheap Behringer measuring mic before and it works fine.

1 hour ago, martthebass said:

We were advised to go down the passive route by the vendor....

At the risk of straying into my day job a touch, s10 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 provides that goods must be reasonably fit for a particular purpose that the buyer makes known to the vendor before sale. So if you bought the crossovers from a shop on the advise of the salesman, I'd be going back, quoting that section, and asking for my money back. 

I suspect those products were designed for DJs rather than live band use, where there’s much more of a risk of increased peaks. 
 

I’d use something like a DBX Driverack or the Behringer equivalent. 

29 minutes ago, martthebass said:

An update to this......

 

Unfortunately 2 very fraught gigs and 2 exploded crossovers later we are at an impasse.  Despite the passive crossovers supposedly being rated for 1000W they seem to be being slaughtered by our Dynacord powered mixer which should only be delivering c.700W into 8 ohms.  The only passive crossovers we seem to be able to find on the market are these or rebranded versions of these.  I have no idea on active crossovers, could anyone advise?

What crossovers are you (or, rather, were you) currently using?

19 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

Lots of things aren't particularly noticeable if you're not able to make side by side comparisons. When you put subs under tops you not only lose boundary loading, by not have them close to a wall, you also can have cancellation notches when they're 1/4 wavelength out from a wall. If they're split by less than two wavelengths you will have power alley comb filtering. That's the science, and the science is never wrong.

There are three reasons why people put subs under mains.

#1: "That's how everybody does it".

#2: "It's the only way we know to do it".

#3: "We don't know any better way to do it/we don't know why it's the wrong way to do it".

 

Now you know.

Well, the science may not be wrong, but in practice if it isn't objectively noticeable, then what's the issue?

There's 'ideal in a laboratory setup' and then there's 'shoving all the gear in the corner at the Dog and Duck'. Most gigs tend toward the latter than the former. 

I was most surprised to learn they have finally got electricity in Trowbridge!

Like you, I've seen a lot of comments suggesting that subs under tops is less than optimal, but whenever I've played venues with that setup, it's never been a noticeable issue. 

I have a single sub which comes out at bigger gigs - generally for ease it's stacked under one of the tops. Provided you've got your crossover set properly (usually via the sub itself if its powered) locating a single sub at the side of the stage under a top shouldn't cause too many issues. The "ideal" location is right at the front though.

57 minutes ago, AxelF said:

One problem I can see straight away is one of the tops would be getting a low passed signal while the other would be getting a full range signal.

I just run both tops off the sub (i.e. using the crossover in the sub). That way you don't get up with the problem above. 

2 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

I’ve seen gut shots of the bassbone v2  is that the one you’ve got? it’s through hole parts so fixable 

It's the Bassbone OD - same chassis, but instead of a boost, it has the drive switch. I presume it's largely the same with the addition of an overdrive circuit and controls!

2 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Are they Radial’s service engineers? Maybe see if radial have someone they recomend- mainly because they will be able to get the schematic and or service manual 

Them and Real Electronics - with whom I’ve had a poor experience in past too when “servicing” my Mark Bass amp. 

9 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Oh no  this whole thread sounds makes me really sad. 
The strangest thing is a tech needing to replace a "loose" pot on a new pedal - very strange. 
I've bought/been given a few pedals that have been fried, and they are fixable - but it tends to be a long process of tracing and testing components to work out what's gone wrong and why - for me it's been investing hours to fix something rather than shell out money I don't have on something. Sometimes it works, other times not.
Having said that I doubt that's it's economically viable to pay a tech to do that  

In fairness to him, it wasn’t new - I got it from someone on here. 
 

It could have been loose, but pretty sure I would have noticed it before I sent it off. 
 

I get it’s a slog to identify intermittent issues - I’m sure we’ve all had some rattle in a car that doesn’t manifest for the dealer.
 

But over 3 months and it come back worse than went it was sent? I can only think it was more damaged initially than either of us thought (though I would have thought he’d have picked it up at the outset when he sent the video, and the mute switch is at the other end of the board to the PSU), or he didn’t in fact know what he was doing and took a punt, which failed. 
 

I’ve now dropped Surrey Amps a line (what I should have done in the first place!) to see if they can give an estimate for repairing the identified issues, to see whether it’s economically viable to repair.

1 hour ago, itu said:

What's your PSU? Does it pump enough mAs?

CIOKS Sol - specs say it does 400mA at 15v, which is what the manufacturer says it needs:

https://cioks.com/power-supplies/future-power-generation/cioks-sol/

https://www.radialeng.com/product/bassbone-od/specifications

Well, this just gets worse and worse. I figured I could make do without the OD, as that was really just a handy bonus over the core functions of the Bassbone. 
 

But, went to rehearsal for the first time since getting it back today and not only does the drive not work, now the mute switch isn’t working, which means it’s impossible to quietly swap between bass and DB or tune silently. 
 

God knows what’s up now with it. I’m now faced with shelling out yet more cash for further potential repairs (sunken cost fallacy?) or just bin it and buy something I know that works. 
 

😡😡😡

This just popped up for me - properly widdly but some lovely grooves and playing by all concerned:

Hiromi has a great ear for bassists - she's played a lot with Anthony Jackson over the years. 

I think GK do/did do a couple of powered combos which were supposed to be driven from a line out from their 'normal' combos - eg https://www.andertons.co.uk/amps/bass-amps/bass-amp-cabs/b-stock-:-gallien-krueger-112-mbp-powered-bass-cab

The fact they're discontinued suggests there wasn't much of a market for them. 

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

Is your mate still within the return period (if he bought new)?

I think he got it 2nd hand. 

35 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

 

 

I didn't mention it before, but it's the QSC mixer that's really going to take the heat from this release. I just can't see anybody wanting to buy a TouchMix now. Ever.

 

 

 

Lol - just sent the details of the A&H to a mate who's literally just bought a TM16. Crying face emoji was the response!

I have one, I've had it for a while - it's great for what I need it for. It has way more Auxes than the A&H (it has two stereo aux outs as well as 6 mono ones) and has the same features. The TM16 has more channels than the A&H too, but has broadly the same feature set. I daresay the A&H user interface is a bit better though!

If I was looking now, the £500 price differential between the QSC and A&H would be too much for me - I'm lucky, I got mine 2nd hand from a large retailer, so I have their warranty and the price saving which meant it was less than the A&H. Doubt I'd buy one new now though. 

1 hour ago, EBS_freak said:

No, you'd have to combine the outputs of two users into one summing mixer. Use a Insert cable from the U4s into a PM1 for example.

Ah, that's way too much stuff for very little benefit. 

I was trying to avoid getting a rack mount wireless system, as it's just one more piece of gear to lug round, cables etc, whereas the U4 is just two small pieces of kit. I currently use a wired connection to a P2, but it's a pain when you move around (to adjust a mic, for example) not realising you're still wired in!

Hmm, I may see whether I can cope with going back to mono then.

Edit: I wonder whether I could use two U3 systems in reverse - i.e. use the mic packs in the mixer and the receiver ends into my P2. Expensive though!

https://xvive.com/audio/product/u3-microphone-wireless/

And they've finally fixed the flaw with the first gen one - it didn't have LEDs to show which channel was active and whether the mute was on or not. A blooky nightmare on a dark stage,  that was - I must have rivalled Michael Flatley one night, what with all the switching.

These are great pieces of kit.

7 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Two U4s.

But would they transmit to one receiver? 

Edit: looking at the specs, they don't.

Does anyone know whether there’s a stereo equivalent of something like the Xvive U4?

I love the simplicity of it - a band member uses one - but I’m wedded to my stereo IEM mix after years of mono and don’t really want to go back.
 

I know I can get a ‘proper’ IEM system that’ll do stereo, but (for various, boring, reasons) I’d prefer the U4 form factor. 

3 hours ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

I use a bits of toothpick/cocktail stick or if I haven't got any, a piece of matchstick to pop in the screw hole and then insert the screw again. It's worked for me so far over all the years I've been playing. 

I do this but with some wood glue as well. Haven’t had one fail yet. 

I was recently (i.e. this month) quoted £275 for a new DB bridge, so £500 sounds v steep to me. When I demurred, he said he'll boil it off and clamp it to straighten it instead and will chuck it in with the fingerboard work he was doing!