51m0n

So he's taken a blowtorch to it then? I bet it stinks!

[quote name='krispn' timestamp='1351535112' post='1852328'] I'm currently using a Effectrode PC-2A and talk about a magic box! I'm not a slap player but do occasionally like to hit it like I love it but it's done me wrong. The Effectrode only has two knobs and a limiter/compressor switch but it can do a wide range of compression - it's not mega complex and has no lights but the positive qualities it brings to the tone of what ever I play it through (PA, sh*tty peavey practice amp or decent combo) is worth the money. A P bass with flats going into this is just heavenly! The PC-2A is a big warm hug of a pedal which evens out the attack without choking the dynamics of my playing. I'm recording this weekend and we're gonna try it with acoustic guitar, vocals, electric guitar and bass - a total work out I can't say it's the best comp out there but it's perfect for my needs. [/quote] Another very interesting compressor this, it is to the La-2a wqhat the Cali76 is to the 1176. That is to say it is trying to get very close to being an La-2a in a pedal. As such it is a very idiosyncratic, and desirable compressor. Its a tube circuit, but the compression is optical, how closely this pedal follows the compression characteristics of a real La-2a I dont know, that is hugely dependant on the characteristics of the light emitter component and the photoresistor. What is in this pedal isnt the same as the original device at any rate. An La-2a has a fixed 10ms attack and a very musical release curve, whereby in 0.06 seconds it gives 50% release and from 0.5 to 5 seconds it then completes the release. This is pretty unusual, and a huge part of the La-2a 'mojo'. An La-2a is a lovely lovely warm, musical sounding device, if this is close to it then I bet it sounds lovely in a very different way from the Cali76. In my ideal world I'd have the Cali76 transformer version into one of these. The Cali76 to tame the peaks, this to even out the levels. Scratch that, in my ideal world I'd have the latest rack beasts that are based on the original devices, rather than pedals, but these would get pretty close I think....

Just listened back to last nights rehearsal and editied out the good bits and sent them on to rest of band. Well and truly chuffed with the progress, especially as some of the ideas are pushing someone out of his comfort zone and he is reacting very very well to the challenge. Happy days!

That is the funky stuff alright. And showboating and getting your groove on whilst playing a solo is absolutely Kool and the Gang with me Very very ToP FRP stylee tone. But I would hazard a guess he has dialled up the VLE and VPF to noon thinking they were flat there. Because thats the kind of mudfest you get when you do that. If it was a bit less extreme I would have liked it even more!

I set my compressor up at least once a week, depending on what I'm playing.... Once set up for what I'm doing I leave it alone for the rest of the evening though. Having the lights to back up the knobs is vital IMO. I set a compressor up differently for every instrument in every mix that I put compressor on (hint, I use a lot of compression in a lot of ways to do lots of things, all of which make it sound better). Compressors are the closest thing to a magic talent switch that there is if you know how to use them when mixing

Love the sound of Finnish, one of my best friends is Finnish, its one of those lnguages that I cant even begin to pick anything out of, but I just think its really musical. Good effort all around on that though, nice one.

Thats why there are no vox in my band

Dunno about that BRX mate, I play in a threesome at the moment and go all over the neck, and cut through everywhere against distorted and clean guitar and a drummer who is like a tiny whirlwind of rhythmic chaos. I admit I dont have any key sto compete with but there is nowhere on my neck that I drop out of the mix against the guitar ever.....

Wrong drummer/kit/tuning/room/audience..... Bet that room has nothing in it other than meat to help with the acoustic either. Much in the way of acoustic treatmetn, or is it all hard walls? How high is it (is it a cube???)

Heh heh, it will be like a couple of duvets and a mattress have been taken off the front of your rig, or you've had a serious ear syringing.....

[quote name='voxpop' timestamp='1351194500' post='1848616'] I manage the Weybridge store of Sevenoaks. Always a good deal for fellow Basschatters. [url="http://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/products/category/Amplifiers/1765.0.4.3.46510.46510.0.0.0"]http://www.sevenoaks...510.46510.0.0.0[/url] Let me know if we have an amp that is of interest. [/quote] Now that is worth remembering

Would love to do a 'proper' mix of your version of Walking on The Moon Nigel, I've loved that song for a very very long time.....

[quote name='steviedee' timestamp='1351194095' post='1848611'] These look cool t amps [url="http://www.templeaudio.net/bantamgold.html"]http://www.templeaud...bantamgold.html[/url] [/quote] I have two Temple Audio Bantams, as long as you arent after massive volume they are really tasty little amps. Other than that, yet another +1 for NAD....

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1351243080' post='1849072'] Good luck with that! Typical of this is a comment made by our drummer following our first gig (which saw some people leaving with their hands over their ears). We suggested that he might have been a bit too loud and that maybe he could consider using his electronic kit so that we could turn him down to a level commensurate with the rest of the band... "I paid four grand for this kit [his Sonor acoustic kit] so I'm going to bloody well use it!" [/quote] Seen this a lot of times especially with rockier covers bands. If he cant play his kit in a manner that suits the venue with it set up as it is then something has to change. Either he has to learn to rock out without belting the bejesus out of the kit, or he has to modify the kit to project less when he does. How you tune a kit can dramatically change its volume. I'm not suggesting tune it wrong, but if you tune each drum to its lowest fundamental note on the batter side, and tune the resonant head lower than this (by up to a third) you can get the toms to do that cool bowww sound that drops in pitch, they wont ring as long and they wont be as loud. Dampen them a tad to stop excessive ringing. Same with the snare, but be vicious with dampening, since it can be super loud. You can get a meatier sound from a snare like this, with less top end snap that is what really uhrts - think more 70s rock than up to date - sounds great in a mix. The kick will probably be tuned a fifth or an octave above the lowest possible resonant frequency. When you drop it down it will sound immense, but actually be quieter - the drumer will certainly need to get the spring on his pedal turned right up to deal with the loss in bounce of the batter head, but he will soon get used to it, and the added depth to the kick will sound great, and not make any punters leave. Like this:- [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga8Q12mKYxI[/media] Effectively tune it for the studio more than live,. If that doesnt work, then open up all the drums and put a folded tea towel inside on the resonant head taped to the shell. Massive drop in volume, same tone (ok similar) , no need to dampen the outside. Move up to a towel if that doesnt work. The old super dry 60s & 70s funk snare sound was achieved often by putting a fat wallet on the batter head for dampening - it makes it quieter too! Normally its not the drummer alone though - if you dont put him through the PA and the pub is a reasonable size he usually wont be too loud - if he is then his cymbal bill is probably more than slightly impressive. The guitarists and the bass must be set strickly to the volume of the drums when they arent going through the PA. If you listen to the mix on most rock albums the drums totally dominate the mix (after the vocals). Obviously getting the stubborn guitarists to turn down to match an unamplified drummer can be really tough, but if you do the band will sound 'just like the record' you wil get huge compliments for mixing the band to the backline 'properly' and you will not drive ounters from the pub. The problem is that everyone has to learn to listen a bit differently, and be super careful in the placement of their amps to enable them to hear them when they are rather quieter. Using a couple of tradesmens hopup platforms to lift the amps up high enough can really help. Getting the amps back as far as you can behind and alongside the drummer, and pulling him forward a bit so he can hear them too is also useful. Or setting amps up as side fill type monitors and micing them ever so slightly in the FOH is another strategy that can help. If your drummer says no, then he may have to find another band if you want to keep playing in those venues....

Must be close now- just painting, fitting out, cables, air-con, power........ OK plenty still to do then

OK filters at 12 will knacker you completely! Fully expecting you to say that turning them off has sorted everything out for you no

Still love that track Nigel! Excellent job there the lot of you, give Kit a hug from me when you see her next matey...

[quote name='Ed_S' timestamp='1351188884' post='1848512'] I always finish with them off, too! With a LMII and S12 (no tweeter), I've just never found any better sound in the mix than the EQ all at 12 o'clock, both filters fully off, gain set to match the output of the bass and volume set to match the output of the drummer! [/quote] Me too. My sa450 into an S12t I like to boost the low mids a smidge down around 250Hz, just a tad, (like 12:30 to 1:00pm) - dont need to, just like it more, and I dont go for mud at all! [quote name='Big Mick' timestamp='1351191414' post='1848540'] Simon, I'll try some of your suggestions at our jam tonight!!! I've even printed it out so the others (the ones who won't turn down on stage!!) can absorb your pearls of wisdom!! Cheers, Mick. [/quote] Best thing to do is take a recording device, set up like I suggested, play your set, have a break, let everyone do what they normally woudl, rerecord the set, normalise the volume of both sets and listen back to them a couple of days later with the whole band, do a blind test to see who prefers which mix.....

Haha! If you like

Sort the pickup height (too high and the strings can choke, too low and you woint get the volume), action of the bass (this can cause string choking oif its wrong too), the eq on the amp (not so much bass!), and have a close look at how you are playing (not that hard with right or left hand and the bass will 'sing' more). After al of that is sorted, has sir thought of using a wee bit of compression?????

You have to direct output from all the various sources through ASIO4ALL - which may not be possible.

Wow [b]massive[/b] overuse of the VLE and VPF in here. Those are hugely powerful filters, anything over about nine o'clock on them and you are in major danger of wrecking your tone in a mix, unless there is something very wrong with the rest of your kit (ie bass). The VLE is unique filter on a bass amp, it is a high shelf eq with a fixed -15 to -20dB cut (cant remember the exact detail, but its to all intents and purposes a low pass filter) when it is off (fully anticlockwise) it has a center frequency of 20KHz, and when its fully on (totally clockwise) its center frequency is just 250Hz! If you roll this all the way up you have nothing over the low mids coming through, you are in thud city central. Even at 12 O'clock you are getting into the realm of no treble, and seriously attenuated upper mids. Use with extreme caution! A tiny bit can help if you have no tweeter attenuator and you dont want things too bright (which was its original intention on the combos MB produced with no such tweeter control). There is no need to get carried away with it in a mix though. And yes I have played blues with a P type sound, and no you wont help yourself fit into such a mix live by cutting all the top end in that situation. The VPF is a mid scoop control, centered at 380 Hz (right in the mids) Fully anticlockwise there is 0dB attenuation at this frequency, fully clockwise you are talking 15 to 20dB of mid suck. It has a fairly wide Q, so it affects a lot of rfrequencies around it, yes out of a mix it can sound really nice, and with some basses it can sound nice if you use it in moderation (again above 9 O'clock you are getting into dangerous territory) for certain styles, but you must bear in mind that too much and you will lose your mids. The mids are the bit we hear best, that is where your pitch info is, that is what you will compete against the guitar and snare in the mix with. Cut that and you will soon become a rumble in the mix. So if you use these two controls together on full you are relagating your bass to not in the mix at all above about 250Hz. This is generally not a good thing.... As for EQ on the LMIII heads its a bit 'odd' IMO. The bass control is a shelving filter that has a frequency of 40Hz, which is [i]very[/i] low for bass, most rigs dont handle that very well, IMO it would have been better centered a little higher, maybe as high as 80Hz, but what is doen is done. The lo mid is a bell, centered at 360Hz, so if you boost this and apply VPF they virtually cancel each other out (slightly different curves, and almost the same frequency, its not exactly cancellation, but is close enough to be daft). This is a little high for my liking, but it will add some 'girth' nevertheless. Too much will be muddy though, if you are suffering from muddingess, a cut of a few dB here can help - or use the VPF, its the same diff. The high mid is a bell that is centered at 800Hz - right where plectrum click is, and growl, and string noise, and honk, depending on how much you push it, and how you play, and what the rest of your rig comprises of. The Hi is 10KHz, and that is [i]really[/i] high for bass, you better have a tweeter, and new roundwounds, and decent pickups (pref active) Thats all very tech isnt it. Try this:- 1. With the band, at 'war' volume - never ever try and set your eq for a gig, unless you are playing [i]at that volume in the mix[/i]!!!! Can not stress this enough, Fletcher Munsen curves and all sorts of acoustic oddities and differences prevail at those volumes, and what sounds good in a mix will more often than not totally fail soloed. Rule 1 Soloed doesnt matter one bit! A mix is just that, get the whole band to set up like this... Get the drummer playing good and loud. Then you set up as follows:- 2. Set everything flat - eq section at 12 noon, filter section full anticlockwise 3. Set your input gain so the input light doesnt quite light up (play hard, lift the gain until the blue light comes on, back it off till it stops) 4. Raise the main volume until you are as loud as the kick, nearly as loud as the snare. If you both play 4 on the floor the bass should add a note to the kick drum, and add oomph to the snare 5 Get the guitars in so they are just less than the snare, both together., They will complain that they cant hear themselves - get their cabs pointing at and closer to their heads 6 Listen for what is wrong with the bass, too little low end, too much mud, not enough girth, too much upper mid (unlikely against distorted guitar) too much top (even more unlikely) Try and listen for what there is too much of, rather than too little of. Then turn that part down and the total volume up - cuts are less detrimental to timbre than boosts, its just how our ears work. 7 If you are struggling to hear the guitars, get one to add mids, and both to roll off a little distortion (good luck, but it always works). They should fit together and be punchier when you do this. 8 The entire band should be far quieter than before - this i good for stage volumes, hearing each other, and finally hearing the singer, who should have no trouble getting over the rest of you now. 9 Get everyone to stop and listen to each individual instrument on its own, having re-eq'ed it to fit in the mix as a whole, some will sound laughably bad on their own, but that doesnt matter, its the mix as a whole that the punters listen too, not any individual instrument.

[quote name='peterjam' timestamp='1351152066' post='1847867'] Would you say the Zoom H1 or H2n would be better for a live recording? I'd like to leave it running and then chop the file into tracks afterwards - do I need to put 'marks' between the tracks? [/quote] A friend of mine has had issues with getting the gain low enough oin the H1 for very loud rehearsals. This was originally an issue on the H4n too, but Zoom released a firmware update to allow turning the pres down even more. I've not heard anyone say anything along those lines for the H2, but they may not be reaching the same face melting volumes You dont need to mark the tracks at all. Load them into any decent wav/mp3 editor and you will see where it gets noisy in the waveform without any problem!

If its like the Stereo Chorus crossover (and there is no reason to think it wont be, that bass chorus pedal is awfully similar to a lot of what the stereo chorus offers) then, for me, its not too good, since it doesnt just drop the effect out of the bottom octave, it also gives a quite hefty bass boost which I dont want. Be interested to see if this pedal does the same thing..... Do love the stereo chorus though, its lovely (apart from that one niggle, and the 18v thing).

A couple more worth checking out - not cheap though! [url="http://www.origineffects.com/Cali76.php"]Cali76[/url] [url="http://www.empresseffects.com/compressor.html"]Empress Effects Compressor[/url] The Cali76 with the transformer option is supposed to be very very like a real 1176 (not sure which version though, if that bothers anyone)....