JPJ

That all makes sense to me, I hadn’t thought about the left/right hand thing. Only one question, if you are a keyboard player why are you hanging out here with a bunch of bassists or is it just your left hand hanging out here? 🤣

So the other two parcels containing handles, tilt back wheels, speakon connector, corners, feet, dish tray for speakon etc arrived today. Whilst I am a fairly experienced wood butcher, I do not have either the space or the equipment for handling large sheets of ply so I have gone down the route of having all my panels pre-cut to size and delivered. More expensive than just buying a sheet of 15mm voidless birch ply but it will save me considerable amount of stress and time and the end result will undoubtedly be better. 

And I’ve also totalled up spend to date (with just finishing materials to go) and the number is £577.28, which isn’t too bad for what will hopefully be a high end cab that will stay with me for a long time. 

34 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

There is still a lot to take in, but am i correct that with both the X18 and M18, i can use the phones out as a stereo aux, with almost as much control as the normal Aux’s have?

Id have my keys going in in stereo (so 4 channels), and I’d like to have my own IEM mix with the keys in stereo, and vocals etc in mono (for now). 

This seems possible but if one doesn't do it then thats out of the running. 

With the XR18 you choose what to route to the headphone out but you do not get an extra bus. So for our drummer who uses wired IEM with no amplifier (Behringer P1 I think which is just a passive volume control) I map bus 4 to the monitor out (headphone) instead of aux 4. 

In your situation, you would be using four input channels for your keyboards (2 keyboards with a left and right) but only two aux outputs to give you stereo left and right in-ears. This leaves you the possibility for four more mono mixes or another stereo mix and two mono mixes etc etc. 

I must confess I really do not see the need for a stereo IEM mix unless your doing some really weird prog style side-to-side sweeps with your keys.

Over the years, I’ve basically bought and traded my way up into higher end basses. My ‘collection’ now features three Overwater basses which, as good as they are, will never recover the initial purchase value if I was to sell. Fortunately, I’ve hit a stage where I am happy with my arsenal and not looking to add any more anytime soon, so no chance of sellers remorse.  

So today is delivery day for the hardware for this project, and first to arrive is the speaker grill material. This has always been the downside of my previous builds, the lack of a good quality metal speaker grill at an affordable price. So this time I’ve taken a punt on eBay and ordered this material from eBay seller “baby.m2009”. 1.2mm pre-painted steel 600x521mm at the cost of £18.99 a piece. Obviously one sheet isn’t big enough for the full cab but I have a cunning plan (actually two cunning plans) but more of that later 😎

7 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Ah I had one of these but just plain didn't like the sound.

I had one for a while before replacing it with the real I am sansamp. I found I preferred the sound of the Behringer when powered from a power supply rather than the internal battery.

8 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ohh, i just remembered i have a Korg NanoKontrol2. It’s got real sliders but is very small. I wonder if i can utilise that. 

I believe you can but I think you have to understand Midi to make it work? 

So my XVive U4 arrived on Saturday but for various reasons, it was today before I got a chance to try it out. 

My setup is a Behringer XAir XR18 'desk' with an Apple Airport Express running in bridge mode as the access point. As recommended on here I disabled the 2.4Ghz signal using the Airport Utility. The test environment was my office, with a separate Apple Airport Express running for internet, my pedal board plugged straight into the XAir, my bass running wirelessly over a Line 6 G30. I am using the U4 with ZS10 Pro in-ears with memory foam tips. 

First impressions are everything and the XVive did not disappoint. I spent a bit of time setting the gain of my bass channel and creating a mix on an unused Aux. Plugging in I got my bass, sounding like my bass, straight into my ears with no background noise whatsoever. One thing to mention is how robust both the transmitter and receiver feel. The only negative is that because of the orientation of the aux out XLR's on the XAir, the transmitter is effectively 'face down' meaning you cannot see the channel or battery lights, although this will be easily remedied using a short XLR lead. First gig using my rig is still a couple of weeks away, so expect an update later in June. 

Thanks for all the replies, after mucho deliberation I’ve gone for one of these which looks to be about the size I need 😎

https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_accessory_bag_mini.htm

12 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ha. The idea is to cut down on boxes and cables and be able to do sound remotely. As impressive as that looks, it’s totally the opposite of what im looking to do. 

Very cool though. 

This was very much a full FOH setup for a technical rehearsal. Most times it’s just the rack unit that houses the XAir, the external router, a DBX DriveRack, and a handy 1U draw for cables and adapters. Where space permits, the XTouch sits on top of the rack case with the Surface Go resting in the lid.

12 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

I may put at least one guitarist in to the PA at some point soon, as he now uses a multi effects box, but at the moment his volume levels are all over the place.

I had the same problem but it’s easily resolved in the XAir as every channel has a compressor so no one gets to ruin my FOH mix with a rogue patch or by simply turning their amp up. 

Just to encourage you Dave, you too could have a setup like this.

X-Air Edit running on the Mac as I was recording multitrack and X-Touch controller which I use for on-the-fly tweaks whilst playing (physical faders are much easier than a touch screen).

2 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Got a quick question about the X18, actually its iOS app. 

My band are thinking of getting the X18, as it ticks every box we can think of. I downloaded the app to see what it looked like, and it has a demo mode. Clicking on most of the settings closes the app instantly. 

I just wanted to ask if there are any issues with iOS 16. I appreciate the demo might be acting up because there is no hardware attached. 

 

I’m afraid as good as the XAir is (and I love mine) the iOS app will not work on iOS16 and above. Behringer are working on a new app which is in the early stages of testing but no where near the finished article. The de facto option most people are using is Mixing Station, a third party app available on the App Store. Alternatively XAir Edit still runs on windows PC’s and MacBooks. 
Personally, I can’t get away with Mixing Station so I’m running my XR18 using XAir Edit on a Microsoft Surface Go tablet. 

Resurrecting this thread as I will be finally getting around to building the 2x12 in the next few weeks. I've ordered all the hardware today and will be starting the wood butchery in the next week or so. I will try to remember to photograph everything and get them up on here. 

So I've had the Traditional strings (medium tension) sitting on my desk for about a month waiting for time to fit them and let them settle in between gigs. As I've got a couple of weekends off, I decided to change them tonight, and for fun I decided to record a couple of short before and after clips.

The recordings were made with the NXT into channel B of my EBS Stanley Clarke acoustic preamp, DI out from there into a Behringer UMC202HD and into GarageBand on Mac. The tone on the NXT was rolled almost all off, volume about 7/8ths, and the switch set to Pizzicato. There are no plugin's used on any track. Please excuse my sloppy playing - I'm still getting to grips with the NXT!

The Traditional strings are a heavier gauge than the Contemporary's I've removed and they have proper db ball ends against the regular bass string ball ends of the Contemporary string. Strangely, even though the string is 'heavier' the tension is definitely lighter making the NXT easier to play. 

The audio clips are (in the order shown on the screen left to right)

1) Contemporary string

2) Contemporary string with Nino Mute

3) Traditional string

4) Traditional string with Nino Mute 

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Time for a technical rehearsal IMO.

 

This is where the band concentrate on getting the sounds rather than the notes right. You'll probably find that whole band will benefit from this.

Huge +1 on this. We did this recently with one of my bands and both our “on stage” and FOH sound benefitted massively. 

So for years I’ve been lugging around a flight case full of spare everything (leads, fuses, gender benders, etc) and I’ve come to the realisation that I don’t need that much stuff with me (one spare of everything is enough). So I am looking to get a soft bag style gig bag to carry a normal amount of stuff that has plenty of pockets. A quick internet search shows a massive range of options (and prices) so I thought I’d ask you knowledgeable folk for your suggestions. Fire away!

Thanks everyone for the comments - I’ve pulled the trigger on the XVive U4 from GuitarGuitar and it should be with me tomorrow (Friday). I’ve got a few weeks before my first gig using my PA rig so time to play around and get things set up properly. 

Used to use the 1x15 at a long gone rehearsal space up here about twelve years ago. Could never quite get it to 'cut through' loud drums and two guitars and the tone always felt 'soft' to me. Also heavier than a heavy thing. 

Like the OP, I've owned all manner of rigs (predominantly SWR based) that were so heavy that they came with their own gravitational fields (see the SWR SM1500 I have for sale on here). Probably the best cab I played through was a Goliath Snr 6x10, an impractical beast that I could only just about manage to lift into/out of the van. Like chris_b, I used to own a Hiwatt 4x12 that was a two-strong men lift and only rated at 200w. I now gig with a 400w 1x15 neo equipped Ashdown combo and a matching neo equipped 1x15 extension, both of which are a one-hand lift. I'm sure that with at least one of my bands we will be ampless within a year. Progress and age maybe go hand-in-hand 😉

After another gig hemmed into the corner of a gig with a crash cymbal immediately behind my right ear, I think it’s time I moved to IEM’s. I’ve been dabbling with some ZX10’s and an old T-Bone UHF set but the T-Bone has been commandeered by our singer, and I’m being sorely tempted by the X-Vive both in terms of price and form factor. Having read the comments about interference, I was wondering whether anyone on here has real live gigging experience of using the U4’s with the Behringer X-Air XR18?

15 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

If you can hear them surely it negates the point of having a silent stage?

 

Also I looked at the sizes the biggest platform is 4' by just over 2.5'. For me that's a very cramped area. Even for the small gigs my band currently do I would be using more stage then that. I can see the attraction of the stools/seats for drummers and other sit down players but for those of us who move about, it's always going to be a bit of a compromise.

4ft by 2.5ft would be a bloody luxury at some of my gigs 😂

Isn’t there a version of the drummers ‘butt kicker’ that hangs off your bass strap that does a similar thing? 

So I’m guessing there is no love for proper old school tone monster amps. So last bump before I withdraw her, and keep her warm and safe in her beautiful flight case for all eternity. 

15 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

 

Stand to my side out front and you get bass and drum, his side and you get guitar and drums.  

Or reverse the panning and confuse the hell out of your audience 😂

So like the OP, I’ve shlepped mammoth bass rigs around for years, but as the years advance, I’ve had to scale back and now mainly gig a 1x15 Neo equipped combo with support from a matching 1x15 Neo extension cab. 
I’m on the cusp of going down the IEM route (almost inevitable with one band) but have held off mainly because as well as being the bassist, I’m also the sound engineer and it’s just more to set up and dial in before each gig.

That said, last weekend I played a gig at a small social club. Upstairs room, probably 150 capacity. I took the combo and extension cab. Small stage so I was stood right in front of my ‘stack’ so much so that I could feel the air movement from the port in the combo on the back of my arm. IEM’s may indeed be the future but I think I’ll miss the physicality of the sound coming from a bass rig.