cheddatom

Not all ERB players are really technical you know!

[quote name='stevebasshead' post='96825' date='Nov 30 2007, 05:15 PM']I often wonder what state FoH engineers ears are in - surely anyone who regularly does the sound for bands is exposed to loud music on such a regular basis that their hearing would be less than perfect to start with. I've never really noticed any of them using ear protection - has anyone?[/quote] This is why it's so rediculously loud in a lot of venues!

I used to play a 4 string, and i'd play basslines, and play the routes along with riffs and etc, "holding down the low end", but when it got to a chilled out, relaxed bit of the song, I wanted to play something nice and soft that wasn't making your ears flap, and I couldn't go high enough for this on my 4 string. I got the 6 string because I didn't realise (I was young) that I could have a 5 string with a high C. Now I have the 6ers though, I use the low b to add to my low end playing, adding in fifths I couldn't reach before, or playing fat low roots too low for the E string.

[quote name='colda' post='96690' date='Nov 30 2007, 02:27 PM']A technical rider with guide eq's channel mixes and preferred monitor mixes is a godsend - I wish more bands did this, it helps the engineer, cut soundchecks right down, everyone is happier and the band get the sound they want.[/quote] What a good idea, i've never heard of this before!

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='96694' date='Nov 30 2007, 02:28 PM']In the past, the lower strings have too much mass to be sustained for a long time by a magnetic system.[/quote] Surely, if they can be sustained for any amount of time, they can be sustained forever? To be honest, I don't know all the physics surrounding the sustainer, but I thought you generated some sort of electro magnetic field which caused the strings to vibrate, so maybe for bass you'd need a strong field?

The ASIO full duplex driver should only be available if you have it selected in the device setup. I would have thought that it would be MOTU ASIO or something, indicating that the motu driver is activated, not the standard ASIO driver.

When you go on device settings, and you choose the ASIO driver, you choose the motu driver yeh? And then, when you click to change the audio inputs on a channel, what are the names of the options you have? You might have to create a number of VST inputs, routed from the motu, and you can do this in the vst inputs panel.

Well, obviously you're a good sound guy, but maybe i've mis-read some others. Reading your post though, it would seem pointless for any but the first band on to sound check, so that you have a good starting point and can work on your mix throughout the gig. Still, you make a good point about the sound changing when the audience is in, which again begs the question of the point of the sound check. For me, the only time there is any point in the sound check is when I have a monitor, and a sound man willing to set up a good monitor mix. He will mess with the FOH mix once we're playing anyway. Obviously if you have very different line-ups then sound checks will be helpful.

I don't know of any sustainers aimed at bass, let alone passive ones.

To be fair though, i've played loads of gigs where there are multiple bands, and everyone was asked to do a sound check, but the sound guy changed all the settings for every band, and never wrote anything down. I fail to see how he manages to remember the levels, let alone the EQ for 4-6 different bands, and to be honest, I don't think he even tries. They normally forget to mic my guitar amp, and probably forget to turn it up when i've mic'd it up 'cos i'm a bassist, and I only deserve a DI. We don't bother sound checking at these kind of venues any more, it's a pointless waste of time!

In the studio, you can polish a turd, but, if a band has horrible guitar sounds, all you can do is try to EQ them a bit. Most PA systems won't have enough equipment/flexibility to polish a turd.

I think it's impossible, but a passive sustainer would be cool.

I've seen axe guitars and basses. I think I know someone with an axe p bass.

like the new marshall shape, for the echohead etc? I've seen some brightly coloured pedals with a similar shape on ebay, but can't remember their name. I don't think they have much of a reputation, it's just cheap stuff really, but could be good. Could be that? Have a look on ebay, see what you can see!

At least in London some people might turn up, and maybe one of them will be in the music industry. I had a soundman refuse to take a DI post EQ 'cos he said my EQ was too extreme, before he'd heard it, or tried it. I said "I like my EQ like that, aren't you just supposed to make me sound louder?" and he said "no, I'm supposed to make you sound good", which has to be the most arrogant thing i've ever had said to me. Still, I just let him do what he wanted. Everyone thought I sounded crap in the audience, but it sounded good on stage, so I enjoyed myself. It's good to have a relaxed attitude towards these things.

Zvex wah probe!!! I love it. No loss of low end, a nice bit of grit if you turn the drive knob, and way more responsive than any other wah you'll find. To be fair though, I haven't tried another wah in ages.

I don't know if mine's a TNT one, it's old, but has a greeny/blue colour for all the printed stuff, so not as old as the one above (I think?). Anyway, it's a 150W 1 x 15" combo, 200W with extension cab, very loud, very useful EQ, and very useful (for me) crossover outputs. If you can get it for £100 it's way better value than anything else you can get for that price.

[quote name='16Again' post='96073' date='Nov 29 2007, 11:58 AM']That was the year i found ALL my christmas presents before christmas [/quote] Your parents let you find ALL your presents? That's awful, you should have really talked to social services about that.

I haven't done it myself, but i'm 99% sure my lecturer had this model and SX3 working fine.

expandora is silver isn't it? It could be anything to be fair, loads of people re-house pedals, or have custom pedals made etc. I've never heard of the band, so they can't be that big. Maybe just ask them?

[quote name='theosd' post='95118' date='Nov 27 2007, 03:07 PM']£599 for a musicmaster! Doh! [url="http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/17673/a/r/e/base"]http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/fl...7673/a/r/e/base[/url][/quote] That's a guitar though! Well, never mind. Maybe I can get her to sell it me back for £70. I really liked it but needed the money at the time, and I only play 6 strings in the band.

yeh, but a white pick guard. It's not worth loads is it?

I sold, what I thought was a crappy old cheap bass for £70 in order to buy a drum kit. I think it said Fender Musicmaster on it though. Can anyone link me to some pics so I know if I have a new regret or not? It was a white short scale thing. I regret not buying a washburn 6 string I saw on ebay once, but I couldn't really afford it, so, no big deal.

Some amps don't have the option of a DI post e.q so the soundman should know how to eq the bass if he's using a DI in this way. Obviously, they won't always be great soundmen, but, you think they'd know the basics of what they are doing if it's their job.