fretmeister

Mostly agreed. But so many venues still have shocking PA systems, and bands never spend enough money on them either. Probably because joint purchases end up causing fights. My old band had a different approach. We all bought distinct parts of the PA. I bought the powered desk, another bought the subs etc etc. Everyone stored and transported their own bit, and if anyone left the band they took their bit with them. Took a bit of effort to balance the spending close enough but it meant zero arguments - well, about that limited issue anyway! It does surprise me that people will spend £3000 or more on a bass and then get upset about buying the thing that will allow the punters to hear it properly. I am in 2 minds about selling my Marshall valve amp though. It's basically obsolete for pub gigs. Way too loud when it's cranked to sounding as it should, and even if it isn't really too loud it's still very directional and spills into the mics. But it does sound amazing and I love using it. I just don't get that chance very often.

I did have a good look at that, but it seems almost unavoidable to get a Cloudlifter or similar to get the levels up.

The Rode is looking like a good option then. My drums tracks should start arriving on Friday - I don't play at all and I really cannot be arsed to learn to program them either. So I've got a session dude playing them. Going to record all the instruments for all tunes first - hopefully 2 tunes per month - then do the vocals. That will give me plenty of time to get the throat working again like it did 20 years ago.

I use them all the time. But most of the time I also blend them with a clean tone to keep the lows. I often use compression on the lows as well as overdrive effects automatically have compression and the decay of the clean and dirty note will be very different. I try to balance that with the compression. More modern FX units have the ability to blend clean in whenever you like. And the good old Boss LS-2 is an excellent tool for blending clean with stompboxes.

I'm going to be recording some vocals at home as my old band is recording all the tunes we wrote over 10 years or so. I have a couple of mics, but they are my live mics rather than recording / studio. I've got a budget of maybe £500 to include a preamp if necessary. Any recommendations?

I might want a 4 string as well...😂

The silent operation bit is what caught my eye.

Is the amp good?

Eich T900 - that will do 600W at 8ohms - 1.7kg Phil Jones BP800 - 400W at 8 ohms (not that you'd really notice the difference between that and 500W) Darkglass MT900 v2 - 2.9kg Darkglass Alpha Omega 900 - 2.9kg Mark Bass Little Marcus 1000 Seriously - there's dozens of choices now. Do you have a weight limit in mind? Or a sound? The above list is tiny but they all sound very different.

That's a shame! I thought it would be that easy. Maybe I'll just buy one of those Phil Jones D400 heads to use as an amp and power amp as needed. No fan on them at all.

I've got one of mine tuned a tone low for a couple of songs I'm recording and even with the 32 scale it sounds very nice. I did wonder how well it would work with a low A but it seems perfect. I might even leave it in that tuning now that I've set it up that way.

Should be built where below a certain setting on the volume knob they just stay off completely.

I want one!

Because we like to use the gear we own? I've had amps where I couldn't use them when supporting woodwind instruments because the fan noise was obvious in the room. (Including a Mesa, it has to be said).

Up a gauge on the ones you already like. If you are just in Drop D then you might only need a larger E string. When I did that a lot I used a 110 for E. I wouldn't bother swapping all strings just to play half a tone down though. 50-110 are likely to be really tight in e flat standard. I'd just get used to it being a little lighter instead.

I was mainly using flats with the treble knocked back a bit too. I've just restrung my first one with Newtone nickels as I'm going to be doing a bit of recording and need a bit more bite for that.

I've got 2 now and I was about to say - I'm not finding them hissy - but then I remembered I've mostly been playing through my Helix and that has an amazing noise gate so I might not be noticing. I think I'm going to go passive with one of them - probably an Aguilar PJ set. The 1960s winding version.

Yes, but no. Not if you are swapping between fingers / pick / slap. They have massively different volume peaks that can't really be made the same in the mix just using the hands. Sure - could change the amp volume when slapping etc but it's much easier to have a bit of compression. Every "I'm just a bass, cable, amp person" bassist is still getting compressed by the FOH guy for the mix.

Nothing wrong with those if you want a P. Sandberg Electra is another good choice but a bit more money.

Newtone website lets you specify the length.

I just got my first set of Newtones for my 32 scale 5 string. I like them! I went for some custom gauges that I might adjust a bit when I need a new set, but overall the sound is solid and they are easy to play.

Deffo Chromes.