Patster1969

17 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

Certainly a lot more interesting music than Metallica.

Totally agree - I don't think I've every managed to get through 1 listen of either "Hardwired" (Anthrax's "For All Kings" was vastly superior to Hardwired) or "72 Seasons". The songs are overly long & the riffs are generic/boring.

I would also agree that "Crack The Sky" was a brilliant album and they haven't bettered it but every album is way better than anything Metallica have put out in the last 15 years.

17 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

... and why Sunbury, I was thinking. Shepperton Studios are nearby, but that's a long way away, no..? 

Sunbury was kind of in the middle for all of us, as it was almost the middle for the 5 of us (I was in Woking at the start)

Annoyingly, I am the one that lives in Farnham 🤣

Hi all

We are looking for a rehearsal space near Sunbury, as the space we usually use (Airplay) has closed recently. Unfortunately, we are a bit spread out (between Farnham and Princes Risborough & in-between) - any one have any good suggestions/recommendations? 

We are a 5 piece covers band.

Any help greatly appreciated 

Pat

I answered one advert because I liked the bands that they mentioned in the advert, met them in the pub and they seemed ok, so sorted out a rehearsal date.  As it was an originals band, they didn't have anything in terms of songs/structures (which was a bit of a worry), so they gave me two song covers to learn, as apparently they played these all of the time.

I get there and the drummer doesn't know either of these "regularly played" songs.  Also, it turned out that the singer/guitarist has only one song that he is working on, which I bluffed my way through, as he had nothing written down and nothing else.

I didn't go back - I would be stunned if it went anywhere.

The sound for Metallica at Twickenham on their last tour was awful, although I was sitting near the top of the stand to the left of the stage. The sound was better when I shoved my fingers in my ears though.

It was bad through the support acts but we sat in hope that either they would sort it out or we would get used to it - wrong on both counts.

John was great to buy from - organised a courier for me for a fabulous Ibanez bass (and even paid the top up on the cost after he was wrongly quoted a cost by UPS).

When the bass arrived, it was really well packed/protected within a padded gig bag, a load of bubble wrap & a bass box as well - was pretty bullet proof.

He also undersold the condition of the bass, mentioning marks on the headstock within the advert which I am having a tough time really finding.

All in all, a great basschatter to deal with 👍

44 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

I likes an Ibby... i have 2x GSR200's and an SR600

 

Me? I'd have this SR750 for £250 silly money before its gone...

Then sell the SR400QM on at leisure via FB, Gumtree, eBay etc. wherever, prolly for more than ya pay for the SR750...

Quids In and Sorted with an Ibby Upgrade and Nordys

Or keep both as the SR750 is possibly less than the cost of a pair of pickups, and possible pre and fitting.

Good call, I will have a look at that 👍

37 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

I think 99% of people here have probably gone through the dilemma you're having now. 

 

I've got an old beater P-Bass that I've modded way over it's value, but that was largely down to these mods being necessary - when I acquired it there was a bridge saddle being missing, the knobs were sheared off and half the pickup wasn't really functioning - so I can see the desire to bring things up to spec.  You have a bass that you enjoy from a playability perspective but it's pushing ten years old (and possibly has a resale value of c.£200); as you've said, putting new Simms pickups in it and/or adding a pre-amp will cost more than the instrument itself is worth.

 

Personally, I'd go and try a few basses, see what ticks your boxes, if any.  If you find something within a £600 budget, sell on the Ibanez and add the £400 and throw that at something new.  There's a ton of great basses out there for well under £600 (a Sterling by MM 4HH will leave you enough change from that for a hard case and a fish supper).

 

That's a comfort knowing that I'm not alone in trying to reach this magic tone - are we all mad I wonder? There's certainly nothing on this bass that I 'need' to change in terms of what you have had to do to your P-Bass, as it hasn't really had a particularly hard life but as I said to Rich, am I looking for something that isn't obtainable but my head/ears are telling me that I need to find.

Good point about setting a sensible budget at £600 and trying a few in that price point, as I could probably easily bust through that if I changed pups & pre-amp (for example) - if I went down the Sims route, it would be way over that. For some reason, I have it in my head that I have to spend way more than that to potentially get the tone in my head that I want but this isn't really the case.

Thanks Nancy

43 minutes ago, Rich said:

For me, this alone would be reason enough to experiment with upgrades rather than buying a whole new bass. The sky is the limit when it comes to replacement pickups and guts, and the available tonal variety is pretty big. What are you looking for in terms of a core tone? Do you like a clean uncoloured hi-fi sound, or something a bit warmer, or grittier? When you say you want 'tonal variety', does that mean that you'd like to be able to coil tapping options from your new pickups? Single/series/parallel switching? Do you want a 3 band eq again, maybe with sweepable mids? 

That's the million $ question really and I'm not sure whether I'm looking for something that isn't obtainable, as I have any idea in my head that the tone I want isn't achieveable with the Ibanez in it's current form which could well be complete rubbish on my part/my hearing playing tricks on me.

Having not played a great many different basses (and this one was bought through ebay several years ago without me trying it particularly because I liked the look of it), it could well be me/my technique/amp settings that is causing my doubt about the tone, and by changing any of these could allow a variation in a sound that I like.   

Certainly, I don't have any experience with your question about single/series/parallel switching, so can't even comment on that sensibly, although Nancy's point about going and trying a few different options could well answer some of these questions for me.

Thanks Rich 

I have a 2012 (I think) Ibanez SR400 but find that tonally, it seems to be slightly limited.  I love playing it, as it's a very easy bass to play and I love the look of it but am now weighing up upgrading the bass or upgrading the pups/electronics in order to have a bit more tonal variety. 

I have seen the switchable Sims SuperQuad pick-up and these look great but if I bought these and then paid someone to install them (as it looks like a job well above my limited skill), this is likely to cost way more than the bass was brand new.

However, could I either upgrade the pick-ups (currently CAP EXF-N2 pickups, paired with active three-band EQ) and get more tonal range and not spend a fortune, upgrade the pre-amp/electronics or bite the bullet and buy a new bass that gives me more variety (P/J mix or something like that - I'm a bit of a blasphemer as I'm not a bit fan of the Precision Fender look)?  I don't really want to buy a new bass and have the 400 sitting there gathering dust, so it would be a one in/one out.

Any help/suggestions would be gratefully received.

I think Paolo Gregoletto from Trivium plays the majority of his stuff on a 5 string

On 04/06/2021 at 09:26, Barking Spiders said:

Some metal bands indeed praps make up for the lack of good music by dressing up but there's those like Lamb of God and Gojira who don't dress up or have gimmicks. Heck, there's not even one (visible) tattoo in Gojira! In one previous post LOG and Fiver Finger Death Punch were lumped together. No! While LOG are mighty, hyper aggressive and and don't do sappy ballads or whine about how hard they've been done by, FFDP are the natural heir to Limp Bizkit, except that Ivan bloke is an even bigger tool than Fred Durst. FFDP are fkin awful. Their lyrics are among the worst in any genre. 

LOG I like - some of the guitar & drumming is really intricate, which I hadn't noticed so much on the cd's but more when I've seen them live at Download

Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill > Paul's Boutique

4 hours ago, DorsetBlue said:

My brother went to the Metallica gig in Manchester last week - complaints about the sound quality there too.

I had also heard that DB.  It does seem that there was pockets of areas where the sound was good and other pockets not at both gigs

On 22/06/2019 at 20:14, BCHLP said:

Yes, I was opposite the stage, slightly offset from centre and on the bottom tier. It was shocking sound and I actually stopped watching and browsed eBay for most of it. I am a lifelong Metallica fan and that was the first time I'd seen them live, I was already getting worried from the sound during Bokassa and Ghost, really hoping it'd get better for Metallica, but it didn't.

We were the same BC. My brother was hopeful, as he had seen them on a previous tour where the support band's sound wasn't great, as Metallica usually pulled it out of the bag soundwise.  Not to be unfortunately. I was doubly disappointed, as had been at Download the weekend before and they managed to get the sound right in varying positions across the field on both stages for pretty much all of the bands but the sound guys at Twickenham couldn't manage it - we were wondering if it was something to do with the roof and whether it was loudly vibrating

Did anybody go to the gig last night?  We were sat on the side in the top tier and the sound was absolutely dire - if anybody was there and in a different area on the stadium, would be interested to hear if the sound was any better. From where we were, the sound was boomy & muddy at the same time, so a lot of the James' vocals/inbetween song patter was incomprehensible, Kirk's guitar was hit & miss and you couldn't really hear Lar's snare (although probably not a bad thing) - I could actually hear it much clearer with my fingers in my ears, so next time I might take my rehearsal ear plugs.

My brother saw Maiden there a few years ago and even from the pitch, he said it was just as bad.

In a break with my current covers band, I answered a 'need bassist' add on JMB, who's influences were all quite interesting.  Met the guitarist & drummer in a pub to have a chat and they seemed pretty enthusiastic and committed.  Alarm bells started to ring when although they were an originals band, they only had 2 covers that they could give me to learn to play at the rehearsal (although I liked both covers).  When I got to the rehearsal and we started playing, although they had told me that they always play these 2 songs at rehearsal, neither had a clue what they were doing with either song and the only other song was something that the guitarist had started writing (6 months ago) but only really had the verse currently.  During a break, they let it slip that they had had 3 other bass players that had not bothered coming back after the 1st rehearsal - I made it the 4th.

10 minutes ago, 4000 said:

Funny you should say that, I once accidentally smashed his nose with the headstock of my old Jaydee whilst leaping about the stage (in the days when I could, in a different band). His nose was pouring for the rest of the gig.

I bet he never dropped you in it though if you made a mistake 😀

7 minutes ago, 4000 said:

One of the singers in the band used to actually announce over the mic when someone had made a mistake mid-song. Unfortunately he's one of those people who opens his mouth as soon as a thought enters his head, so it never occurred how unprofessional he was being. After it had happened one too many times I've gave him a bollocking and he's not done it since.

He'd soon learn after a few accidental bashes with a head stock

Surrey 2014ish

This story has two parts.  Had been playing in a covers band but had lost our (excellent) drummer, so we had to find a new one.  3 auditions were set up but on the day, only one turned up, so although I had reservations, he was in by default.  He didn't know any of the songs but over subsequent auditions, told me that I was playing wrong parts (although he couldn't actually play them properly himself). 6 months in and I was fed up, as he was gradually sucking all of the enjoyment out of the band for me. 

I therefore decided to have a look for something else in the meantime & answered an advert for a band influenced by a load of bands that I liked. Met the guitarist & drummer in the pub and they seemed decent guys (although a bit younger than me - I was over their ideal age but because I liked a lot of the bands they did, this was all good).

Set a date for first rehearsal and they only sent me two songs to learn, as apparently these were songs they played all of the time and they talked a good gig (although thought that was a bit odd). Got to the rehearsal and set up, the guitarist counted us in and I then found out that the drummer did not really know either song at all even though they had apparently played these many times.  We kind of hacked our way through with the guitarist 'singing' and then started talking about other songs, which I then found out that they didn't have any but the guitarist "had written one", which he could kind of play but couldn't explain how to play, wasn't actually really a whole song & had nothing written down.  After giving it a go for a bit, we then had a bit more of a chat, where I found out that although they had been playing together for a few years, didn't have a name, hadn't been able to find a proper vocalist, nothing had really happened & they hadn't had a bass player stay for more than 2 rehearsals - I managed this one only!!

Luckily, the drummer in the covers band decided that we had lied to him about the kind of band that we were (which was rubbish) and he quit - thank god!

Wanted to play the drums as a kid but believed my parents when they said that "I would get bored very quickly" - obviously parent code for too bloody noisy. Never picked up a musical instrument until aged 39 and picked the bass as always liked the bass lines that John Taylor played in DD (always played a mean air bass - always fingerstyle ) - no idea about playing a guitar though but only play in a covers band, so can wing it

2 hours ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Just going on the surface area of the cones, the 2x10 will shift less air than the 2x12 (to reference the OP, the 2x10 has a smaller area than a 1x15; the 2x12 is larger). But of course that's just one factor - a more sensitive and well-voiced 2x10 could well outperform a cheap and hastily-made 2x12.

Would you be able to hear a discernible difference in the sound as well between the 10's & 12's?

1 hour ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

The amount of air shifted can't be determined by the area of the cones. It's determined by the driver displacement, cone area x maximum linear excursion. Refer back to post #18 in this thread. Then ask your favorite speaker manufacturer why they don't post this critical bit of information, but don't hold your breath waiting for an answer.

I suppose this is why Barefaced are a bit of fresh air in the industry though, with the amount of info Alex posts on their website

8 minutes ago, yorks5stringer said:

The CMD121P  looks bigger too but having supported a band last week who had a fridge bass cab and 800 w head, anything else looks tiny anyway!

Their chiropractic bill will be a lot bigger as well though!