BOD2

This one hit me when it came on the radio in the car one evening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncmI65aYFzM

Blue October "The Feel Again (Stay)"

There's also this

http://www.northwestguitars.co.uk/fiesta-red-nitrocellulose-guitar-paint-lacquer-400ml/

[b]Condition: [/b]

Used: An item that has been used previously. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended......

The PA speakers should be out in front of the band not behind the band - that way the mics will not be pointing towards the speakers. Usually, for convenience, the speakers are placed at each side of the stage in front of the band and the mics are placed behind the speakers. This placement will help reduce feeback but you will still get feedback if the volume is high enough.

With the speakers in this position you may find that the singers cannot hear themselves clearly enough. You can experiment with reducing the backline sound levels, adjust the speaker placement etc.

In big live sound setups this is where "stage monitoring" comes into play. A separate monitor speaker is placed in front of each signer (though still behind the mic) pointing directly to the singer and fed a mix that contains his/her vocals.

If it's just vocals that need this monitoring treatment you can try using this type of very small, mic-stand mounted monitor -

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/B205D.aspx

These are very small but very effective when used correctly (i.e. mounted on the signers mic stand and pointing directly at the singer).

There are two conflicting schools of thought on the mixer part of the setup.

1. With the microphone connected, sing at maximum loudness into the mic whilst adjusting the INPUT GAIN so that the "Clip light" only just flickers at the loudest points. If necessary reduce the input gain a little so that the clip light hardly ever shows,

2. Repeat this process for each input, ensuring maximum loudness at the mic.

3. Now use the CHANNEL FADERS to adjust the relative levels of each mic - i.e. to MIX the mics together.

5. Set the MASTER LEVEL of the desk to around the "0" mark on the fader (usually around 3/4 of from the bottom). You can adjust this up or down a little as required.

That would set the mixer.

On the speakers you want to set the INPUT LEVEL so that there is no clipping and set the MASTER LEVEL to a convenient, easily remembered setting somewhere around 2/3 of the maximum level (e.g. 12 o' clock).

Now listen and check the overall volume. Ideally you want to be able to leave the speaker levels untouched and adjust the overall volume from the MASTER LEVEL of the desk - as this is much easier to reach. So when you do this you should ensure that increasing the desk MASTER LEVEL will not cause clipping at the inputs of the speakers (reduce the INPUT LEVELS if necessary to prevent this).

It's all a bit "trial and error" in practice but you should avoid setting any levels to maximum (can cause distortion) or to minimum (can introduce noise into the system), And always keep an eye on the clip lights to ensure that no clipping is taking place.


The other school of thought at the mixer has you set all of the CHANNEL FADERS to the same level and then adjusting the initial mix by adjusting the INPUT GAINS.

It's called "Gain Structure" if you want to look it up anywhere.

Different models of Strats all feel a little different - different neck profiles, weights, neck radius etc. etc.

The best way to choose a Strat is to go to a shop that stocks a large number of different models, explain to the assistant that you will very likely buy one today and ask to try lots of different models. Forget he colour initially, just try different models. Find one or two that feel best and then take it from there.

I did this very thing in Guitar, Guitar in Edinburgh a couple of years ago and left with a beautiful American Deluxe V-neck, never having even heard of that particular model before. But the feel of the neck sold it for me. I tried around 20 different models and kept coming back to that one.

Well it looks pretty much the same as an acoustic 6-string bridge.

[url="http://www.lutherie.net/saddle_angle.html"]http://www.lutherie.net/saddle_angle.html[/url]

What, if any, adjustments are available depend on the actual bridge construction. Is the white saddle piece fitted into a pre-cut groove, or can it be moved, held in position by string tension ? Does any part of the bridge move ?

If you're happy to make up your own cables then you could look into "Arctic PVC" cables. It is designed to stay flexible down to -20 C which means that at "normal" temperatures it has a soft and very flexible feel.

http://www.canford.co.uk/Products/33-320_FLEXIBLE-MAINS-3-core-0.75-sq.mm-Black-Arctic-PVC

They work well. And they'll usually work when plugged into an extension lead or power strip too, if necessary (sometimes there is no option).

One thing to watch out for, though - and this happened to me. I have a pair of TP-LINK powerline adaptors so connect the PC in my son's bedroom. It all worked perfectly until new people move into the house next door (we're semi-detached). After that the connection to the PC was a bit flaky at times. I didn't think much of it initially but after complaints that the PC wouldn't connect I investigated.

I opened up a web browser on the PC and got a "BT Homehub" login page. That was strange.... our internet provider is TalkTalk so we don't have a BT Homehub in the house. I dug a bit deeper and discovered that my son's PC was trying to connect to next door's internet connection !!

More investigation followed and I discovered that they also had a pair of TP-LINK powerline adaptors next door - and both sets were "talking" to each other through the mains wiring of the houses !! Well the mains wiring goes back to to a fuse box in each house and then to common wiring provided by the electricity provider - there's nothing to stop a network signal travelling back a distance along those cables.

Fortunately the TP-LINK adaptors do come with a utility program that allows you to create a "private" network that cannot be seen by anyone else, so once I set this up then the problem was solved.

But it's something worth thinking about if you used those in a work environment with "sensitive" data on your network !

I'd be inclined to try tightening it from the front of the bass.

If you can jam a couple of screwdrivers from the back of the socket - placed opposite each other to prevent the nut from turning - then you might then be able to turn the circular front face of the jack socket using a pair of pliers. I would put plenty of masking tape around the socket front to protect the body finish just in case something slips.

If the socket is likely to turn much then it might also help to desolder the wires on the socket first (making a careful note of where to put them back first).

[quote name='ZenBasses' timestamp='1399645144' post='2446261']
Wouldn't some simple light fluid (naphtha) do the job...
[/quote]

How to make a bass go "woof"... clean it with naptha and hold a match close to it, lol !!

If the neck needs a real clean up then it will be easier if you remove the neck from the body first. That way you can make more mess without having to worry about it getting onto the body or into the pickups.

What model number mixer is it ?

Might be able to look it up and clarify the situation.

XLR leads provide a "balanced" connection between equipment. This is good for keeping electrical noise out of the system over long cable runs and is generally the recommended way to connect a mixer to an active speaker. A TRS jack can also be wired to provide a balanced connection (as it has the 3 contacts required for balanced wiring). A mono TS jack can NOT provide a balanced connection.

Sometimes, to save space and/or cost, a mixer will use TRS balanced outputs rather than XLR balanced outputs. If you use TRS jack leads with the mixer then the signals will be balanced, If you use mono TS jack leads then you'll get an unbalanced output - which will still work but will provide a lower signal level and not have the same noise rejection.

If we know the mixer model then we might be able to establish if it has balanced or unbalanced jack outputs and then recommend the appropriate cable.

If you don't want to add weight then a UPS is not an option.

A "B&Q" (or similar) surge protector should do the job. You can buy them as "power strips" (4-way., 6-way etc.) with surge protection built-in so you can replace any existing power strips with surge protected ones. It's generally recommended that you don't daisy-chain surge protectors (i.e plug one into another) so its best to replace each existing power strip with a surge protected one.

Note that a surge protector will simply stop power surges reaching your equipment. They do NOT give you any protection against electric shock in the event of a wiring fault.

For protection against electric shock you need something called a RCD (Residual Current Device). This will trip out and cut off he power within milliseconds if it detected a potentially harmful fault in the mains supply.

Everyone should use RCDs. You can buy an RCD that will plug into the wall socket, then you plug a surge protected power strip into the RCD and your gear into that. This combination will give you protection against mains faults and surge protection too.

The UK mains power supply is relatively good (compared to other countries). The main problems are power surges (short spikes of power that can be caused by, for example, a lightning strike somewhere in the power lines) and short power cuts (where the power goes off and then back on again within a very short time).

A short power cut isn't a problem in itself but when everything suddenly switches back on at the same time you can sometimes blow fuses.

A "power conditioner" is generally considered unnecessary in the UK. It won't do any harm to have one but it won't prevent either of the above issues (unless it also has "surge protection" built-in).

A "surge protector" will stop power surges from reaching your equipment and can be considered useful.

But neither of these will do anything to smooth out power off/'on problems.

A UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) is a battery powered device that keeps power going to connected devices when the mains power goes off. It will protect against power off/on problems but these are HEAVY !! They contain small lead-acid batteries so adding one to your rig is going to be like carrying a car battery around with you. You'll also have to keep it connected and powered up regularly to ensure that the battery is fully charged (you can't just leave it in the van for a couple of weeks and expect it to work next time you use it).

There's no simple solution that will fix all of these issues. Very few people will use a UPS in a gig situation but having a few surge protectors is probably a good move.

A noise gate is NOT a magical cure for noise in your rig. It will only stop the noise when you STOP playing.

"Noise gate" is actually quite an appropriate name for this device, it's just that lots of people assume it does more than it actually does.

When the signal coming into the noise gate rises above a preset level (the "threshold") then the gate opens and the device lets all the signal through so that it is effectively transparent (i.e. doing nothing).

When the signal coming into the noise gate drops below the preset level then the gate closes and no sound is allowed through.

You place the noise gate at the END of your signal chain AFTER all the noise generating components. You generally only notice low level noise, hums and buzzes when you stop playing so you set the noise gate threshold at the point where your bass signal dies away to nothing.... and at that point the gate closes and you have silence. As soon as you play a note, the signal rises above the threshold and the sound comes through.

All the noise is still present when you are playing, but hopefully you won't hear it above your playing.

If you set the threshold too high then when you play a long, sustained note it will suddenly cutoff as the signal drops below the threshold. If you set it too low then the noise takes over as your long sustained notes die away.

Can't find any user manuals or other info on the Sony but I did find one on eBay with a few good photos.

The unit is "double insulated" - one of the photos on eBay shows the "square within a square" symbol just next to the serial number. So that confirms there is not meant to be an earth wire in the mains cable.

Looking at the other photos - there seems to be a "UNBAL/BAL" switch at the input at the rear. Does this switch make any difference to the buzz ? There's also an "BALANCED IN-OUT LEVEL" switch at the rear. Does this make any difference ?

If you take the Sony out of the rack, connect it between the bass and amp and it is buzzing on its own then that suggests a fault with the Sony rather than a problem with it "interacting" with the other items in your rack.

Do you get the humming noise with ONLY the Sony unit in the chain ? (i.e. Bass -> Sony -> Hartke)

Sorry but more questions now than answers -

What power are ohms are the monitor speakers ? You'll want an amp that won't overpower the speakers and that matches the speaker impedances.

Do you want different monitor mixes in each monitor or the same in both ?

If different then you could feed the "monitor" output to one side of a stereo power amp and drive one monitor speaker then feed one of the "aux" outputs to the other side of the stereo amp to drive the other monitor speaker. Use the monitor and aux controls on the mixer channels to setup the different monitor mixes. If the aux channels have a "pre fader" setting then use this as it allows you to set the mix levels independent of the channel faders.

The placement of the speaker cab can have an effect on this. Avoid placing the speaker cab right back against a wall or in a corner as both of these positions can give a "bass boost" under certain conditions (called "bass coupling"). Lifting the speaker cab off the floor (by putting something between cab and floor) may also help.

[url="http://www.fender.com/news/controlling-sonic-boom/"]http://www.fender.com/news/controlling-sonic-boom/[/url]

Well it's a dead ringer for the melody from an old Camel instrumental track.... but you don't strike me as a prog-rock fan so I suspect it's not that !#

("First Light" from the "Rain Dances" album 1 - from around 1min 9 secs in)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCSjt_FmNjw

It sounds like there is a fault in the amplifier section of the unit.

There[i] MIGHT[/i] be some fuses inside but these amps are not designed to be serviced by the user - especially if you have no real experience of electronics.

My advice would be to take it to get repaired.


If you really want to check for fuses then (with the unit unplugged !) remove all of the screws around the amplifier section and the whole amp should slip out backwards - there will be one or two connectors that connect the amp section to the speakers. If you need to disconnect these then make sure that you make a note of which way around the connectors go so as to make it easier to put it back together - take some photos if this will help.

Once the amplifier section is removed, check around the board for fuses - there may be several. If any blown fuses are found then they must be replaced with fuses of the same rating.

[quote name='ML94' timestamp='1392541091' post='2369741']
When using both together they sound fine, no buzz at all. when you solo for example the bridge pickup then a definite hum is heard.
[/quote]


That's your answer right there.

When you use BOTH together they are effectively connected in such a way that any hum induced in one pickup is cancelled out by the same hum induced in the other pickup (this is the exact principle used in "humbucking" pickups to cancel noise).

This implies that the hum you are hearing is being induced in the pickups themselves. No amount of shielding will prevent this, it's an inherent problem with single coil pickup designs.

The hum is usually airborne and is generated by other electrical devices in the same vicinity as the bass - often even the amplifier itself. You can often minimise the noise by moving the bass (turning it away from the source of hum). To identify where the hum is originating try using the bass like an "aerial" - move it towards and away from the various components of your rig (including any pedal power supplies) and try turning it around slowly. You'll often find there will be a loud spot where the hum is worst and similar spots where it is quieter. If you can easily position yourself in a quieter spot then this is the simplest answer.

Low voltage (eco), fluorescent lights, lighting dimmer switches and computer screens can also generate hum so check these by switching them off to make sure that your not chasing a hum that it created within the room itself rather than by your gear.

Try using the mouse on a different surface (put a piece of paper under it, or something like that). I've seen lots of problems with optical mice where the surface they're being used on seems to reflect the light badly and cause the cursor to move by itself. Even when used with certain kinds of "mouse mat" this can be an issue.

"Plus the posts are far too long" ? I think that sums up the attitude of too many people lately - they don't have the attention span to read and understand anything that's longer than a Twitter post !

Some things cannot be adequately explained in a paragraph. If you try to do that then all you end up with is "xxx is crap and yyy is good" with no explanation of why this might be so, which is a complete waste of time.

No, I think it's a good blog post - not too long and with enough detail in it to stimulate some thought at least.

Don't be put off !