JayPH

[quote name='ben604' post='1234045' date='May 17 2011, 10:32 AM']Hey Jay, I'm from just over the water, we play around Liverpool fairly regularly. If you wanted to pop down to one of our gigs, I could show you how we set up while we're loading in. I think we get a pretty decent FOH sound, so our on stage volume is very controlled and tailored to our tastes. Obviously, you can judge for yourself what we sound like! I'll let you know when we're playing locally if you're interested?[/quote] Nice one Ben that's fantastic mate. I'll look forward to it. I'll PM you my number

[quote name='vsmith1' post='1233971' date='May 17 2011, 09:17 AM']Thoroughly agree - one of the reasons that you are "all over the place" is the change of venue - it will make things sound very different. I bet that you are losing the cues that you provide each other during a song. The thing is, that with time spent on setting up, sound checks, getting the levels, mix right will play off in hte long run. You will find that as you then get gigs in different places that the experiences of setting up and getting the levels right will mean you are able to adapt to the various places. The basic thing that drives the mix and levels of my band is the drummer. The vocals have to get over the drummer, from there the guitar, keys, bass fit in. Personally, I use a small bass combo with a feed into the main PA. My combo is mainly for my hearing. I also put a bit of it in the monitor mix. I have found that the people in the band need some "education" about the difference between the main mix (ie FOH and what the audience hear) and the monitor mix (ie the foldback what we hear). Of course, there is always the struggle from most people that I need to hear more of me. It is a compromise - and just increasing the monitor levels can mean that the monitor spill will affect the main mix in small venues.[/quote] Cheers mate. I need to read up about this stuff. Not having much joy with the search strings i'm trying. This is the grey area for me, the front mix and monitor mix and how it's all achieved.

[quote name='Doddy' post='1233858' date='May 17 2011, 01:03 AM']That's a good point,but the thing with learning via the internet is that beginners generally don't know the difference between the good and bad information. For every good website like StudyBass,there is an Expert Village.For every good Youtube lesson,there are a hundred really bad ones. Internet lessons may be easily accessible,but when used alone it can promote the wrong message. Why train your ear when you can just copy a guy on Youtube? Why learn to read when there are thousands of free tabs? Why learn scales when you can just copy this fingering pattern? Don't get me wrong,I think the internet is a majorly important resource and there is a wealth of great material to study,but I also think that there is a lot of bad stuff out there that could potentially cause more harm than good to a developing player.[/quote] I completely agree with that mate. There is a tide of crap on the Internet but the Google generation seem to want instant everything. I'm not saying young people are lazy but they have just become used to getting information quickly so they don't learn how to learn properly and then when they get to Uni they want to be spoon fed. It shouldn't work like that but in this climate the student can vote with their feet so maybe Higher Education is pandering to the student too much just to get the fees. I think that's why Branford Marsalis is having his rant.

Through no fault of anyones a real shift in the way people learn has happened. This is entirely down to the Internet. Information is instant. When I was learning bass and guitar many moons ago there weren't a lot of resources available if you had no money. You basically just learned by listening to records and from your mates. Now, of course there are a vast array of Websites and youTube videos and the like showing you how to do stuff. Information is more accessible and instant. Young people are used to having information dealt to them in small fast chunks and like to see quick results. It's not that they are lazy, it's just the way things are now. Branford Marsalis might have had a bad day and as a teacher its up to him to engage his students' but Universities will take anyone who pays now and the student has a lot of power. I think this might be what is pissing BM off, because he doesn't really have a say in what the prerequisites are for budding students.

[quote name='Thurbs' post='1233124' date='May 16 2011, 03:02 PM']I think what you are describing a stage with poor monitoring. It may have been perfect FOH. Have you had any feedback from someone out front?[/quote] Cheers Thurbs. No feedback from front because we were all playing but I will do this next week and put all the amps behind us. [quote name='TimR' post='1233625' date='May 16 2011, 09:02 PM']Missed the bit that you had no drummer. You're probably hearing the sound of the bass reflecting off the walls rather than direct which will disorientate you and sound muddy. The guitars will be trying to keep in time with (the delayed) sound that they are hearing and you will try to pull back to stay in time with the guitars. Result timing all over the place. If you have to play like this again you need to be close to the PA speaker as possible. Drummer will sort. Assuming he is solid [/quote] Cheers Tim. Yes that sounds about right because we are quite tight in my mates living room and we were all looking at each other ultra puzzled. i definitely kept slowing and speeding trying to find the right tempo. The only good songs we did was when I Jedi style blocked everything else out and just went at it. I think having the drummer on board has to improve things. As long as he can hear me and we keep it tight together then all should be good. On a slight tangent, what are these rigs used for: [url="http://www.htfr.com/p/277242/hk_audio_soundhouse_one_600_watt_active_speaker_system"]http://www.htfr.com/p/277242/hk_audio_soun..._speaker_system[/url] Could we use somthing like this and if so would we still need our back line of amps. Sorry guys but I am completely clueless about this. I haven't been in a band for 150 years

Thanks for the input chaps. The Vox amps were loud enough really but very distorted. They have lots of presets and I think there's too many variables on them and I also think you are all right about the levels being too high. Not sure what the PA is Tim. I'll get more involved next week and see exactly what we're working with. Having a separate bass amp can only help. The best way I can describe it was disorienting. I was finding it very difficult to keep the rhythm and it just sounded very muddy, distorted and confused. Hopefully once the drummer gets on board we can iron out these problems. Cheers

[quote name='icastle' post='1231858' date='May 15 2011, 12:41 PM']That's certainly true up to a point. I learnt how to read, write and understand numbers when I was at school, but the biggest and most valuable thing I learned was how to learn.[/quote] Great point. The best part about doing a degree is that you actually learn how to Self-learn. Once you know how to research and disseminate information you can learn about things you start off knowing nothing about. I used to do a bit of lecturing and I'm afraid to say it was nigh on impossible for a student to fail anything. It is a case of bums on seats pay the salaries at universities and especially in this climate. Students are paying big bucks and the universities pretty much have to kiss their arses.

[quote name='Graham56' post='1229926' date='May 13 2011, 02:01 PM']So, f*** off we duly did.[/quote] haha. Nice phrase. £100 for not playing sounds good, but you go through all the hassle and nerves it must have been a right kick in the balls.

We had this really heavy rock band in the early to mid 90's. We played our own music and people compared us to everything from Pink Floyd to The Fall. it was a really eclectic mix that we did. We had 2 goths singing and we were all stoners and the lead guitarist was into Iron maiden and was a bit of a Greaser. Anyway, I got talking to this guy who had to find a band for a Football do. One of those gigs were the football team have an end of the season bash. I explained to him that we played our own stuff and werent really suitable but he wouldn't have none of it his mind was made up we were the band he wanted. I bet you can guess the rest Anyway, the Gig was about 20 miles from where we were based so we hired this guy and a van to take us. he was a real Greebo and had hair down to his arse. We arrived at this gig and all the football lads were there with their girlfriends and wives and it was quite intimidating. It was a complete and utter mismatch. Anyway, we started playing to a wall of complete and utter silence and disbelief. it was a real Vic Reeves Tumble weed moment. We played about 3 songs and people started to get quite vocal shouting at us and telling us to f*** off. We started to heckle back and the whole thing was getting quite ugly. Our driver had by now had about 8 pints and was squaring up to people. I was giving the v signs and shouting you're not f***ing ready for us you w***ers and people were booing quite loudly by now. Anyway, we started to play another song and i was that pissed off I hit my A string that hard it f***ing snapped. i was not competent enough to play without it so i stopped playing and walked off. The football team manager approached the stage and asked us to leave. We had to set all our gear down and pack up while the DJ took over. The guy who hired us f***ed off so we were left to argue with the team manager to get paid. The guy who drove us there was smashed and i swear if the manager hadn't have paid us he would have killed him. The rest of the band went back home with this mad greaser driving pissed off his head and I went for a pint in a club near by. The crazy thing was loads of people came up to me that night and said we were good and that it was just the wrong venue. No f***ing kidding Sherlock. I don't know who was stupider. Us for agreeing to do a Football do or the shithead who hired us. I tell you what though, it was an experience I would never change. It's given us many a laugh over the years.

[quote name='xgsjx' post='1232624' date='May 16 2011, 12:42 AM']If you can, get all the backline (Bass & guitar amps, etc) behind everyone & then it's a case of making some adjustments to suit the venue you're playing in. It's really as simple as that & the PA is just to project everything better to the audience. I've played many gigs with no PA other than a small vocal PA. If your bass was going thru the PA & the guitars wasn't, then it may have been a case of not being able to hear one another properly.[/quote] Cheers fella. Maybe you're right and I'm in panic mode again. It wouldn't be the first time. It is the first time we've played loud and it was a mess. Maybe next week we can sort it out. Cheers! [quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1232632' date='May 16 2011, 12:49 AM']When I was a kid all bass players aspired to use Trace Elliot amps. In the '90s they sold the brand to a big name (Gibson I think? I am going to get reamed for not knowing this!) and the reputation suffered a bit, but back in the day they were the mutt's nuts.[/quote] Well he was raving about them. I've never heard of them Had a look on Google though after you told me and they are rather garish. They have to be good looking like that don't they? haha

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1232619' date='May 16 2011, 12:27 AM']Trace Elliot at a guess. Yeah a lot of their gear is very good (if a bit complicated). There really is no one-size-fits-all solution, it's very much dependent on the capabilities of the PA system in the venue. But always rehearse with the gear you will be taking to the gig and that will make life much simpler for you. Then it's just a matter of setting up exactly as you would for a rehearsal, and the venue's sound guys will either mic or take DI signals from the gear you use to rehearse and you can let them get on with their jobs. Hopefully they're not shockingly incompetent sound guys. To be fair most aren't, and there's not much you can do about it if you get a bad one anyway - he's still going to be in charge of what the audience hears. All you get to decide is how it's going to sound on stage for you all. This is why you should use the same gear you rehearse with - so it sounds familiar on stage and you can concentrate on your performance.[/quote] Trace Elliot is bang on the money haha. How'd you get that from my inane ramblings about tracks haha. To be honest I'm not sure the places we will play in to begin with will have their own Pa systems. the place we practiced in tonight didn't. Thanks .

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1232613' date='May 16 2011, 12:15 AM']I always bring my bass amp to use as an onstage monitor, and I face it at an angle so the drummer gets as much level from it as I do. If you can't have a bass amp on stage for whatever reason (or if you prefer not to - some bassists just go direct, post-FX/processing) then you need to be able to get your bass in the monitor mix through the PA. Personally I prefer to only have vocals in the PA monitors and rely on backline amps for everything else, so it's more like a rehearsal mix on stage and familiar-sounding.[/quote] No we will have a decent bass amp to use. One of the guitarists has it, I don't remember the name of it now, Tracks somthing I think but he rekons it's very good. It's more a case of what else we will need and how to arrange it all. Like a One-Size fits all solution. Is there a tried and tested setup that everyone uses? Cheers

Hi guys I've been playing with a band for a couple of months now in my mates room. We have a drummer lined up but for the time being we just been playing with bass, 2 guitars and vocals. We were getting quite tight and everything was going well. But.... We played in a function room tonight in a club and we will be practising regularly there. The thing is it sound absolutely awful. We were all over the place with the timing and everything sounded dog rough. The guitars just had 40w Vox valve amps and I was going through the PA with the singer because someone forgot the bass amp. The thing is, if we want to do this seriously, what gear do we need? Is there a solid out of the box kind of setup that will worj for pubs and clubs. Is there somthing that every band does? Sorry to be asking questions again but I have been out of the business for years and I don't even know where to begin looking Cheers guys J

[quote name='redstriper' post='1215841' date='Apr 30 2011, 02:36 PM']And remember - who feels it knows it.[/quote] Is right mate. I'm sorry I haven't been on in ages but I'ver beern messing with my home recording rig. Great replies all, thanks very much. I'm going to keep this thread as a reference. I've found that I like to play reggae with the bridge pickup off and tone at about half. Slap bass sounds good to me with the neck pup full or 3/4 and the bridge pup half way and the tone on half. Everything else I have neck and bridge pups 3/4 and tone about 80% Thanks for showing Amp settings famstd. That could be a new post maybe? Cheers John

[quote name='2wheeler' post='1213629' date='Apr 28 2011, 11:01 AM']Yes, certainly. Rationality flies out the window and for some totally inexplicable reason "I'd quite like" becomes "I absolutely must own". And I wouldn't call myself a particularly spontaneous or impetuous person. I just don't know what comes over me. When the red mist calms down, you just better hope you can live with the consequences [/quote] This is exactly how it is haha I just spent over a third of my redundancy pay on an American Fender Special Jazz Bass and a Home Recording Rig. Damn it felt good at the time speccing all this gear out. Now I'm getting a bit twitchy. I honestly started out wanting a bass and amp for around £250 and somthing to record my bass with Don't tell me missus

[quote name='redstriper' post='1213608' date='Apr 28 2011, 10:42 AM']Try turning the neck pup down to about 70% and the tone should be even deeper and smoother because the volume also affects the tone and there are more harmonic overtones at higher volumes.[/quote] Wow, you're right mate, that is pure MellowPowerGoodness I'm a bit bevvied like haha. This is how I'm gonna practice Marley lines from now on. Big Respect to your Aston Family Man Profile Pic man. I haven't had a chance to try all configs but Ghost_Bass settings for Slap sounds cool: Neck: 90% Bridge: 90% Tone: 60% Pups at 80% and tone Full on is sublime for most of what I'm playing I never knew the Jazz Bass was so versatile. I'm made up I chose this over a P-Bass. I find it difficult to play between bridge and bridge pickup but the position you play really does effect the sound. On a slight tangent how hard do you guys hit the strings? This is the first decent bass I've ever owned and I'm finding I only have to touch the strings.

I'm going to try every one of these configs. Especially bubinga5's jazz heaven settings haha. If you haven't tried my original settings give it a go. Go on, yer will, go on

Hi all This might be common knowledge but I've just discovered how awsome my new jazz bass sounds with the following settings: Neck p/u @ 100%, bridge @ 0, and the tone @ 0. Absolutely brilliant for reggae. Really mellow. How do you set your tone and what are good settings for different genres of music?

I've been trying to learn Master Blaster by Stevie Wonder. That fast bit in the middle is a killer. Sometimes I can play it and sometimes I cant. It depends how loose I'm feeling. I also find it hard to get good contact on the strings sometimes so it's a bit slappy rather than plucky if that makes sense. I'm learning bass again really after a long layoff and I've just decided to do all the cool bass lines I like. I'm adding pretty much everything on this post to that list. If I can play that lot this time next year I think I will be ready

[quote name='matski' post='1206950' date='Apr 21 2011, 11:58 AM']Oh you're going to suffer from even more GAS now... [/quote] That's what I'm afraid of dude. Instead of all this recording stuff though I would prefer one of those Fender P Bases any day Oh and an Ibanez SR Prestige. Oh and a nice Yamaha Acoustic. Maybe if I win the Lottery

[quote name='Shambo' post='1206765' date='Apr 21 2011, 09:29 AM']Nice1. Exciting times for you playing with all your new toys. I shall be in touch shortly about popping over to record another magnum opus I knocked together last Tuesday. [/quote] No Problem fella

[quote name='RockfordStone' post='1206604' date='Apr 20 2011, 11:43 PM']the only advice i will give, is that at times it can be frustrating to the point you just want to break stuff, but keep chugging away and the rewards are well worth the hassle [/quote] Cheers Mate. I just hope I'm not suffering from a bad case of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) because, now, in the cold light of day I don't know where to start haha. I have to rearrange the room and clear out the garage (again) before I even start setting it up

[quote name='RockfordStone' post='1206598' date='Apr 20 2011, 11:37 PM']good on you my friend, i bought a load of recording stuff to do it all at home, and i find recording and mixing to be very fulfilling. i hope it will give you the same enjoyment it gives me and many others[/quote] Thanks Paul. I really hope this is a road to somthing good and not just another detour.

[quote name='paul_5' post='1206547' date='Apr 20 2011, 10:47 PM']Go for it, you'll have loads of fun playing with that stuff. More power to your elbow sir. [/quote] Why Thank you Sir

Guys Just got my gear for my Home Poor Mans Abbey Road Recording Studio Am absolutely buzzing Don't know if this is bad form but I posted about the rig in detail in the recording section but wanted to tell you here in case u missed it: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=132787"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=132787[/url] Just started clearing my home office out to change it to a recording room. Will start in earnest to set it up tomorrow and post some pics. Mid Life Crisis? What Mid Life Crisis John xx