pineweasel

14 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

I saw a band do this last year so I asked them. The answer was that the set the speakers up and then turned up to a volume where  feedback was just not occurring, Then adjust the other instruments to the vocals.

I see, so workable for modest volumes. It probably wouldn't work for my band as we have a loud drummer, and the required vocals volume would become too high. 

I saw a band recently in a smallish pub, and I was intrigued by the positioning of their PA speakers.

A 4-piece, they had the drums and keys next to each other along a wall, with bass and guitar in front. All instruments plus the kick were going through the PA (no amps), and all four players had a vocal mic.

The PA mains (15” Yamahas) were either side of the drums and keys, next to the wall and hence well behind the front mics. No sub as far as I could tell. The guitarist and bassist both had wedge monitors.

They sounded pretty good and the volume was decent for the room, which was full with a raucous crowd.

I can see the appeal of getting the PA mains out of the way, but how do you get an arrangement like that to work without feedback?

The fretless fives have caught my eye. Does anyone have any experience of the PJ version of these basses?

1 hour ago, Chopthebass said:

Nothing wrong with my playing technique. The 5 strings (on the ones I have seen) have been off center, with ample space on the B. Construction or design flaw. 

It’s true that the strings on the SR5 do run close to the edge of the board, a deliberate decision by EBMM to keep the neck slim, and some players don’t like this. But I’ve never seen one that’s badly off centre. You’ve been rather unlucky. 

Lots of good info here on the changes made over the years: http://www.musicmanbass.global

And if you are considering a used EBMM Stingray, you can check the serial number here, which will tell you the model, colour and date of manufacture: https://www.music-man.com/serial-number-database

4 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

I THINK you can, because they're denoted by different colours, so are separate effects, just controlled from the same knob. I think you can only choose one of each colour band effect in each patch.

I don't think so, you only get to choose one effect for each of the four knobs, or you can turn that group off by rotating its knob fully counter-clockwise.

One issue with the Express is that the control of each effect appears to be severely limited, consisting of just the sweep of the effect knob through that effect's range, which "increases its intensity". What does that mean for, say, the OC-2 clone?

10 hours ago, markbunney said:

It doesn’t have an aux in, but can I plug my phone in through the usb socket so I can play along to songs?

Looks like it, see page 10 of the manual

https://line6.com/data/6/0a020a40152f865e216d6d6b24/application/pdf/POD Express Owner's Manual - English .pdf

6 hours ago, TRBboy said:

Another consideration then; what does everyone think about the HX One?

It's no good if you need more than one effect at once. But if, like me, you use effects sparingly, and only one per song, it can work well. It's replaced a board with octaver, envelope, distortion, phaser and chorus, and it fits in my gig bag.

7 hours ago, rhysyjob said:

From an engineering perspective the bollards make perfect sense. Sound anchor, bridge to body fixing and saddle guide.

It’s interesting that EBMM have dropped them from the latest Stingrays though, and nobody seems to be complaining. 

You need to connect the L tape deck output to the XLR and R to the instrument/line input (or vice versa), so a different cable or adaptor for each. 

The Scarlett Solo has a one mic input and one instrument/line input, so you'll need to connect your L & R tape deck outputs to those inputs using suitable cables or adaptors. The two tracks will  be going through separate input circuits so there might be slight differences in the levels and EQ, though maybe unnoticable when the source is an old cassette.

Record onto two audio tracks in your favourite DAW, ensuring you don't have any processing set up on the inputs. From there you can edit into individual tracks, process if desired and export to whatever stereo format you like.

I'm not aware of the pickup wiring ever being changed. Where did you hear about it?

On 15/02/2024 at 16:46, ossyrocks said:

There is an element of "the grass is greener" going on for me here I'm sure. But I have almost made up my mind to sell the Reunion Blues and the Gator cases and try something else. The Mono seemed like a good bet. I wonder if the Bass Sleeve also has the same issue as the M80 you have?

I’ve had a Bass Sleeve for years and regularly walk a mile or two with it. I find it perfectly comfortable, but I am over 6ft. 

I bought a few over the years for my lefty Fenders and found it simplest and cheapest to get Bass Direct to order them in. 

Also available as audio only from the usual places. An interesting listen.

If you've not played a bass guitar at all, the simplest first step would be to try a regular 34" scale model for a while to see how you get one with it. You'd discover if you really need an extra long scale, an upright position or a very thick neck. 

Assuming it's not something obvious like the disk being almost full, you can run the built in diagnostics https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102550

The internal clean suggestion is worthwhile. We had a couple of slow MacBook Pros in the office that turned out to have badly clogged fans.

They were in the Mod Shop for a while, then removed, but now reintroduced.

Music Man’s NAMM announcements include the Custom Design Experience, coming in the spring:

”The all-new Ernie Ball Music Man Custom Design Experience will allow customers to design and build unique StingRay Bass guitars in both right and left-handed and 4-string and 5-string configurations.”

https://blog.music-man.com/instruments/ernie-ball-music-man-new-at-namm-2024/

Sounds like the Fender Mod Shop for EBMM instruments. Deep pockets required, I expect!

I think it’s the bridge. You can draw a straight line down through the fingerboard dots and the pickup centres which doesn’t end up in the centre of the bridge. 

Still inexcusable but it’s more easily explained than both the pickups being misaligned. 

7 hours ago, d_g said:

Thanks for the replies. I’m wondering if getting the fingerboard replaced might be my best option! 

Certainly worth thinking about. Here’s an impressive job from a few years ago: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/256290-nbd-fender-precision-american-special-fretless-conversion/

I’ve had two new Sandbergs, a TM5 and VM5, and both played superbly straight out of the box, with actions of about 2mm at the 12th fret. 
 

Have you checked the neck relief? They are easy basses to adjust. 

2 minutes ago, neepheid said:

D'addario XL nickel rounds.  Good strings, good all rounders, available even in the tiniest of music shops trying to please everyone.

Was about to post the same thing. I have these on several basses and they always work well.

Murphy’s Oil Soap is the stuff Music Man recommend. See their FAQ https://www.music-man.com/faq