john_the_bass

oh cool - cheers for that basically my idea is: Switch 1 Off - Clean Laney/Ashdown (LED off) On - Switch channel Laney/Grind on Ashdown (LED on) Switch 2 Off - Reverb off Laney/ Sub Harmonic Off Ashdown (LED off) On - Reverb on Laney/Sub on Asdown (LED on) Ideally, I'd like the the LEDs to go on an off independently with the switch

when did you play at firebug? It appears to be the favourite place amongst the inner circle of the leicester music scene. We've played there a few times, but it's difficult for us to get a gig there as we don't seem to mix with everybody else. Gaf will know what i'm about!!

i just assumed it was stereo - i was going to use the cable currently attached to the footswitch but with a neutrik stereo plug fitted to one end and the original plug on the other. Although if you want to pm me with a price for 30ft of what you've just described, that would be cool!

[quote name='gafbass02' post='17675' date='Jun 14 2007, 04:26 PM']Knowing Leicester as i do id say your on to a winner!, especially if you can offer storage, and /or resi rooms with provision for member of multiple bands to pitch in i.e im in three bands can i use one room for three bands kinda thing. To illustrate the fact Doublecross used to drive to Birmingham everyweek to rehearse at madhouse rather than stay in Leicester, RPM is good as you know but does peak quite early in terms of quality for more experienced bands, and Quad is excellent but expensive and in my experience after spending some long hours there doing session work it can have reliability issues in more ways than one!, ive wanted to open a rehearsal room, cum band hang out, social epicentre in Leicester for years, go for it and reclaim leicester music scene while your at it!, (you know what i mean!)[/quote] Gaf - yeah, RPM is great and Pete is a top bloke so he's pretty much guaranteed my business (plus I play in a band with him!!!). His kit is well maintainted, reasonably good quality (could be better BUT for his price point, you couldn't beat it) and his rooms are clean and well maintained. Plus he's got a supply of spare gear if something goes wrong. I tried another place on wednesday, brand new gear - nice open rooms, but the gear was a bit crap and the rooms sounded awful. We're off to quad to have a bash on tuesday, which is pricey but I am interested to see what it's like. I won't mention the other two sh*tholes that somehow continue to exist. I think there is a maket for a facility in loughborough, especially as one of the nearest places (Hathern) is up for sale - it leaves a hole in an otherwise over subscribed and under supported market. Incidentally, I was in birmingham yesterday and heard a few people talking about madhouse and it sounds quite good! [quote name='NJW' post='17677' date='Jun 14 2007, 04:29 PM']I've heard leicester has been struggling recently? Any good venues around other than the Charlotte? (Which I'm told is very unpopular with local band types). I've only played at t't Charlotte, and it was incredibly quiet, compared to the night before in Northampton and the night after in Norwich.[/quote] the charlotte is alright - it's still probably the place most bands on national tours stop off on the toilet cicruit. i don't mind playing there at all and we get a fair reaction, although I'm trying to keep away from local band nights and trying to stick to getting support slots for the touring acts. Sumo is coming up quite quickly as a venue and getting it's fair share of NME bands which is helping the local scene (well "helping" depends on you POV!), plus the SHed is still going. a few new venues pop up now and again, but overall the scene couldn't be better. I have detected a certain audience apathy in the short time i've been there, that i hadn't noticed anywhere else.

[quote name='obbm' post='17735' date='Jun 14 2007, 05:30 PM']Funny you should mention that Si. I was looking at it earlier. I'm certain it would do the job however it would be a bit of a bodge on the cabling side. I think John said he wanted a single ring/tip/sleeve jack cable to plug into the footswitch. There's no way you could do that with this as the two switching elements are completely isolated from one another.[/quote] aaaah! I didn't realise that, Basically, I've come to this conlusion to mod my own: The switches in mine are double pole single throw - they need to be double pole double throw to operate to individual circuits and make the LEDs light up (using a battery). There will also need to be load resistors in there to stop the LED burning out. I reckon it's about £13 to put it together properly and after trooping round city music, sound control and pmr in birmingham yesterday, i think i'm just going to do it myself. am i wrong then in thinking i could just get a stereo 1/4" jack and a stero cable with a 1/4" stereo plug on the end to connect it all together?

i've got a couple of levys ones (tear wear and a webbing one), a leathercraft one, a get'm get'm one and a couple of fender monogram ones. I split em between guitar and bass so i have to have a few - they're all pretty good except the get'm get'm one is quite dififcult to adjust.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='17383' date='Jun 14 2007, 09:46 AM']Will Boss FS5L (latching footswitches with status LEDs) not do what you want?[/quote] quite possibly [quote name='OldGit' post='17399' date='Jun 14 2007, 10:07 AM']Marshall do a bunch too, nice and cheap, but there's no mention of what powers the LEDs [/quote] although i might just go and get one of these and stick a stereo jack on it

cheers BOD2. i've got an ashdown abm 300 evo II thingy (an english one!!! ) and I use a marshall two button latching footswitch to turn on the sub harmonic function and switch between the valve drive and clean sounds. I also use the same footswitch to change the channels on my Laney LC30 and turn the reverb on and off. I'd ideally like a an LED switch to show me when a particular function or channel was active as sometime's it's not too clear to distinguish a sound with a drummer like ours - it does appear though that unless i can get a switch with its own 9v power for the LEDs, it might be a bit of a pain - I didn't think of this to be fair. It might also be worth investigating whether any of the switches out there with LEDs use their own power. Cheers

I think the serial is I033949 and not 1033949 which would make it 89/90 and tally up roughly with how long he says he's had it 255 is probably a fair price for it - might be worth another 50 ish quid i've got an 84 one which is in largely the same condition.

i've discovered that i can't really get what i want (well i probably can, but i've not looked hard enough), so i'm going adapt what i've got. Basically I want a footswitch with LEDs which show the function on/off and a stereo jack so i can unplug the footswitch and leave it on a board - the jack is the easy bit, but the LEDs might be a bit trickier. Wiring them in should be easy enough, but how do I know what voltage LEDs I should get? Is it a case of taking the back off the footswitch, plugging it into the amp and putting a meter across it? Also, if I want to use the switch off two different amps, is it likely they would produce two different voltages Or should I leave well alone (I'm probably going to do it anyway!!)

cheers for all the responses. my plan would be to have anything up to 7 or 8 rooms, built in an ex industrial type unit, probably put together with filled cavity partition walls, soundproofing rubber membrance, plasterboard and soundproofing plasterboard (or something like that - that bit needs to be worked out), preferably somewhere that had previously made use of a service yard which could be used for car parking. my past experience and probably my benchmark points me to one place that has a couple of regular rooms with fairly ordinary (good, reliable) kit, and a "Pro" room, which they charge extra for, but has better quality equipment and a slightly bigger room. They also have plenty of spare kit to go around in the instance that something goes wrong and they can replace it. they also have a range of different snares and cymbals that they provide for free (unheard of anywhere else i've ever been) that i'm not sure i'd be up for offering. i think it could work and i think you could see quite a high turn over if marketed properly, but i think good gear is a selling point that could mark you out from other facilities. The storage idea is definitely a good one and yeah - would absolutely guarantee repeat business. i think a business plan might be in order!!

i generally string my basses when i break a string - usually 3 months old, but i play with a pick and i hit em *hard*. Saying that, I didn't break a string on the ray and replaced them when they'd gone dead acoustically - there was still enough zing plugged in - but i'm in the don't like zing camp i'm afraid. I prefer em a few weeks old but i do find that once they're worn out, they lose their integrity and don't hold their tuning very well. I've recently been buying strings in "bulk" and bought 3 sets fender 8250s and 3 sets d'addario half rounds from the states. not bulk i know, but those 6 sets cost me about 50 quid from the US. I play guitar twice a week and probably change guitar strings every 3 weeks or so - I buy these in bulk and pay about £1.10 a set - i've taken a punt on a set of 40-100 nickel roundwounds from the same guy for £3 for a set on the off chance that they're any good - based on the quality of the guitar strings, which i suspect are d'addarios and apparently fitted as standard to yamaha and aria guitars.

elixir apparently recommend not using any product to clean them at all

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='16675' date='Jun 13 2007, 09:04 AM']All of the above but just recently i got a Behringer XENYX mixer for about £29 to give me a better level into my PC and its smaller than my Spirit mixer. On the PC i use the Ampeg amp simulator that also allows you to play (and speed up/slowdown) MP3's. I also have a Behringer Bass V-amp and thats quite handy as it also has a stereo line in with level control. and dead cheap now.[/quote] what's this ampeg simulator? it's the speeding up/slowing down mp3s that i'd be interested in

[quote name='Cantdosleepy' post='16905' date='Jun 13 2007, 02:35 PM']Also, +1 to NJW. I don't care about how I sound at the moment, I'm just trying to play in time, so I'd much prefer a place that's £7 an hour with a Peavey 4x10 than £50 with a PJB rig. You have to decide which market you're aiming for. Cheap'n'cheerful? Pro? Common sense tip: Make sure everything's at the same quality level. No point in having a gorgeous bass amp in a room with a janky drum kit/ cheap guitar amps. The low-end fella may love you, but his band won't be back.[/quote] +1 on that i'm fortunate in that i play guitar and know my way around guitar kit better than i do bass gear. i've also got the support of various drummers who can point me in the directiong of good stuff and steer me well clear of pap

i know that - i've seen it all to often, but i think it's about educating bands and, at the end of the day, those who want to use premium kit will pay premium prices. There are 3 examples locally of how not to do it and 2 examples of exactly how to do it and maintain a good standard of kit, service and earn respect from the bands who go and rehearse there from my point of view, it does my head in to drag my rig out and into a rehearsal room for 2 hours a week - yeah i care about what i (we) sound like, but a good musician (if i can call myself that!!) should be able to get a useable sound out of anything. I would pretty much expect any drummer to bring his own cymbals and snare, but i think you can make provision for those who don't

in my never ending quest to not have a proper job, i have been seriously considering the option of opening in a rehearsal studio, having spent some time examing the demand in my local area (lots) vs the actual available locations for rehearsing to take place (none). Gear wise, i would intend to equip each room with a small(ish) PA, drum kit (shells and stands), 2 guitar amps - the usual sort of thing, but am quite interested in your feedback with regard to what quality of kit should go in the place i rehearse at regularly uses ashdown EB180s and Mag 210 cabs - i wouldn't gig one, but they're great for practice. there's another place round the corner that has a selection of soldano, fender and mesa valve amps and ashdown abm and ampeg bass stuff - which sounds quite pricey to fit out a room, but his rates are around 17 quid an hour any suggestions? What would you like to see?

that all makes sense. i appreciate the advice and understand a lot more about the machinations of this kind of thing. i doubt it would come to anything anyway, but i just wanted to cover my [Tiajuana brass] a bit

if i play on a session for somebody who is signed (as they claim to be) and i play a bass line which i've essentially created for them, presumably i'd get listed for a credit, etc. How do i make sure that if they stand to make a pot of cash out of it, i get my small share? i've done a bit before but it's mainly been charity stuff so as long as i get a credit and a cup of tea, i'm happy

i think quality control was originally an issue to begin with - i've seen one or two chinese made guitars that would have been really good had somebody taken a bit of care constructing them and unfortunately, the quality really showed up to be [Sidding Hiss] poor against korean made examples from the same company (epiphone is a typical example). saying that, i've played chinese made avalons and michael kelly guitars which are great and when i was in boston on holidays, i played a few First Act guitars that were exceptionally well made.

joe trading you a listen! yeah i like this, the line has a nice pace to it, although i'd like to hear it faster! the p fingerstyle in the second track justifies why you should keep your P. it does exactly what a P should do in my opinion and i reckon you should attempt to put something like that together live - either with a looper or a second bass player. the slap line overall showcases your playing and the sound of the stingray - i've never really done anything exciting with mine - which is all good in my opinion. Good stuff.

Hi Joe, cheers for having a listen, I've had to go back and have a look at our page to see what was on there!! Love Twist The Gift, London Towers were recorded the MIJ Precision (before I got the US one) and the others were the demos recorded with the stingray. for the fuzz bits, i use an ODB-3 which i'm happy with i guess but i hear occassionally that people are none too impressed with the sounds they produce - but i'm not much of a tech head and not really explored loads of pedals. i've got an ashdown abm head which produces a nice crunch if you drive it hard enough and that will get an outing at the weekend. I ummed and ahhed a bit when i got the stingray. I'd been playing precisions for the best part of two years and i was quite surprised not only with the range of tones out of the ray, but how bright it could sound as well - i think i've got used to it and yeah, i think the right decision was to keep it. i think i really need to explore the different range of tones that it can produce and might take the opportunity to exploit the weekend in the studio.

well i never! I bought mine just before christmas so i suppose i must have been lucky cheers for that

more recent ones - last friday and post gig, sweating me nads off with her indoors

I've just picked this up from the ashdown vs ampeg thread [quote name='Oxblood' post='14704' date='Jun 9 2007, 05:24 PM']First off, +1 to what paul just said. Lefty's EVO rackmount head is exactly the same amp as a current EVO II, only made with love in Essex.[/quote] The back of my ABM 300 EVO II and my ABM Mini 15 states it's made in England - presumably Essex? I know the cheaper ranges (MAG/EB) are made in China, but has ABM production (and the new stuff - can't remember what it's called) switched to China as well?