JPJ

With Mrs JPJ off out for the evening, I've had a good play around on the old GarageBand recording my bass. Tracks included: 1) the J-Tone big twin direct into my interface (Behringer UMC202HD); 2) bass recorded with an SM58 again direct into the interface; 3) the J-Tones via my EBS Stanley Clarke DI; 4) the J-Tones via the EBS and the SushiboxFX Finally DI; and er finally 5) and thanks to @Burns-bass, my bass using a Realist Copperhead via the EBS/SushiboxFX combination. Pre-gig yesterday I'd spent quite a bit of time gain staging my setup (so EBS, Sushibox, Behringer X-Air) and also eq'ing and I had a great sound last night even though I was monitoring via FOH so from behind. Some knowledgable punters commented how full my bass sounded and how it sat in the mix - no doubt down to the time spent gain staging. As I said at the outset, I wasn't totally unhappy with the sound of the J-Tones but they did lack something and could easily end up sounding like a fretless bass guitar. The Copperhead however is a huge step up. Firstly I needed to back the bass off on the EBS and use the HPF, secondly I was able to open the treble up too and still not get the nasally sound piezo's can exhibit at times. So, all is well that ends well. I'm off to do some more faffing about before Mrs JPJ gets home. Thanks all for your input and help, and for the record, I did like the SM58 recording so a microphone might well be in my future but for now, I think I'm going to be happy with the Copperhead.

I've recorded quite a few gigs now using USB from the Behringer X-Air XR18 into an old MacBook running GarageBand. Simple no faff setup as @Owen says, but I wish there was a simple USB recorder device I could plug in and forget and still get multi-track recording. Lately, I've been recording a stereo mix using the headphone out into my Zoom H4n Pro, which is a great little device, but I'd love the opportunity to remix the audio post gig without having to carry a laptop with me.

I was back up in deepest darkest Northumberland in the Coquet valley with our acoustic Americana trio. Lovely old pub, very cramped but packed with locals and friends of the band, and a thoroughly enjoyable night. The drive to/from the gig was challenging due to the rain, flooded roads, and fog - thank the heavens for four wheel drive. This is the sort of gig this trio was created for, and last night didn’t disappoint. Oh and my double bass fumblings received praise from a couple of audience members who are also musicians, and we were rebooked for what will be our third gig there this year. Job done 😎

If it’s just for back up and you intend carrying it to every gig, then the ultra small form factor amps such as the TC Bam, Warwick Gnome, and Trace Elliot Elf get a lot of love on here.

Yes it does 😎

Pro bassist and tutor Phillip Mann has been making some noise recently about the Genzler preamp pedal that he’s currently gigging. He knows his onions so it might be worth checking out?

As I used to double on fretless bass and EUB the Stanley Clarke was the obvious choice for me, especially as I’m gigging more frequently without any form of backline and using IEM’s. Price isn’t too bad compared with other boutique pedal board preamp pedals, especially those with a full two channels.

So the musical style is Americana/Country - female fronted acoustic trio. I guess what I’m looking for is an accurate reproduction of the acoustic sound of my bass rather than sounding like a fretless bass. I can get a good enough sound with the J-Tone’s and the Stanley Clarke but it just lacks what I misdescribe as the acoustic ‘air’

I think I’ve got this covered as I’m using the EBS Stanley Clarke pre

What’s everybody’s go to choice for a gigging piezo pickup on your double bass? I’m currently using the J-Tone big double but find it hard to eq out the fretless bass tone and get some ‘air’ in my out front sound. So before disappearing down a rabbit hole, I thought I’d asked you more knowledgeable ladies and gents for your thoughts and recommendations.

Ashdown offer a vertical 3x10 but for considerably more money.

Fortunately @PaulKing nothing went boom 😂

I never knew Tom was a lefty either 🤷‍♂️

Good question, I’d probably decrease the decay to shorten up the reverb to stop it getting too muddy. To be fair, if you have eq’d it with the HPF/LPF combination, the pre-delay is a bit of a nice to have.

We really are spoiled for choice up here when it comes to luthiers. A guitarist I work with has used Gary for work on a brand new Martin acoustic and his 12 string electric and he rates him highly. He’s also very local to me so if I need a luthier then I think I’ll be giving him a call.

So, having been a bit poorly this week, I’ve been doom scrolling on the couch and catching up on bass related podcasts vlogs etc. Both Janek Gwizdala and Ian Martin Allison rave about the HX Stomp, but in one vlog I saw Janek Gwizdala using the HX One that has piqued my interest. My gigs rarely call for FX but it would be nice to have a bit of reverb/chorus/subharmonics available every now and again, and the small’ish form factor of the HX One could be squeezed onto my meagre little pedal board. I don’t need the complexity of the Stomp as I’m more than happy with my current preamp choice (EBS Stanley Clarke) so to my question - is anyone using the HX One and if so, what’s your opinion?

And with vocal reverb I always recommend using the “Abbey Road” technique of using HPF & LPF on the reverb so that the reverb only works on the mid-range and use the pre-delay to separate the reverb from the initial clean vocal.

Thanks @NickA And the good news is I got up this morning to a bass that was fully in tune. I did my usual string stretching routine a few times over the course of yesterday and it seems to have paid off. Got to say I’m really liking the sound of the Spirocores, much more mwah across all four strings than the Jagar’s that were on her when I bought her. So I guess it’s “all’s well that ends well” on this thread 😎

…….and a free Parker pen? Do they do life insurance as well 😂

After having had the new strings sitting looking at me for the last three months today I plucked up the courage to make the change. Followed the video posted by Kevsy71 and had no issues - the whole swap taking about 40 minutes. Now rate my peg box 😂

I think the point of the video was ‘trust your ears’. I must confess having played unlined fretless for close to 43 years I prefer unlined to lined. I have a couple of defretted basses where the fret slots have been filled with near matching wood but I still find them distracting.

I know that power transformers do strange things if the are underpowered - an electrical engineer once told me, something about THD or harmonic distortion or something like that. It all got a bit technical and I might have glazed over.

Watch this then start playing using your ears and not technology. I’ve always preferred unlined boards but never really understood why until I saw this Tony Franklin video