stevebasshead

Ordered online/by phone? I think the distance selling regs mean you can cancel or otherwise change your mind within 7 days, might be worth checking on the angle thing and if it can't point back at your head just cancel and order one that does

GE will, I hope, get some amazing karma from this. You know, if this had been on the telly I'd have turned off long ago 'cos it would've felt schmaltzy and contrived deliberately to tug at the heartstrings. What makes this one so special is that it's truly random, one simple act of kindness started a ball rolling that no-one could've seen coming. What a way to end one decade and start another

[quote name='mcgraham' post='702736' date='Jan 6 2010, 12:38 PM']I've sung with singers like this. It's one thing to say you can't hear yourself, it's another to say that everyone else is too loud and 'can you turn down so I can hear myself better'. I'm not saying this is necessarily the case here, just that this irritates me no end, as the gear/setup/other musicians are not the problem - they are! Some questions: How far away from the mic is the singer? What's his mic technique like? How close is the mic positioned to other gear? Is there a floor monitor as well that could be bleeding in? How much of the rest of the band mix is coming through his monitor feed?[/quote] To be fair to him he doesn't often ask us to turn down, only if it's really bad (i.e. in an acoustically bad boomy or reverby room). He's right on top of the mic, the mic position on stage varys depending on how much space we have, some pubs are better than others. He doesn't have a floor monitor and only his own vocal is fed to his in-ears (+the band bleed via his mic). Myself, the guitarist and drummer do have monitors, however, I only have my own vocal in mine, guitarist has his acoustic guitar in his (only used on one number) and the drummer has the singers vocal and I assume his own vocal. We get by fine with the onstage volume and can hear enough of each other without needing anything else in the monitors. I think even our singer will admit that the problem is mostly his own but it's no less real. He compensates by singing louder which strains his voice and gives him awful headaches too which is why we're trying to get something sorted. Does the mic angle make a difference? If it's parallel to the floor is it more likely to pick up reflections of the band sound bouncing off the back walls? Would it be better angling it up at 45 degrees (or more?) and singing across it rather than directly into it head on?

Wow. Before today I didn't know the internet could make me emotional...I must be getting soft. But still...wow!

We're all amazed as well, and yep, only his own vocals go into his in ears but it's the band that bleeds into his mic and hence to his in-ears which is where his problem lies. He's not a quiet singer either, he's got a really strong voice. None of us can understand it but it's been like this for the 4+ years we've been gigging.

[quote name='chris_b' post='702649' date='Jan 6 2010, 11:43 AM']A more directional mic might exclude the "bleed" from the band and improve the vocal monitoring? Or a better fold back speaker for the singer with just his voice in it, to reinforce the vocal fold back around him?[/quote] Aye, it's one of the things we're looking at. His mic is (I think) supercardiod which only leaves hypercardioid to go to. Possibly also one of those "gun" mics I think they're referred to which are highly directional but usually designed to pick up sounds from far away. I'm not sure if they would be suitable on stage but if anyone knows?... [quote name='crez5150' post='702650' date='Jan 6 2010, 11:44 AM']You're correct in what you say but due to the high spl on stage they are not effective enough.... Company I work for looked at building an IEM system with them but it wasn't a goer[/quote] Cheers, yes that's exactly the sort of info I was looking for, I had a feeling it might be the case but was hoping someone was already using/had tried them to confirm one way or the other.

I wonder how many bassists who ask this question, or are in a situation where their bandmates are trying to have an influence, are asking it because their bandmates want them to play [i]more[/i] or [i]avoid the root[/i]? I'd be willing to put money (my own, at that!) on it nearly always being where bassist are being asked to play simpler/stick to the root etc. etc. so I'm going to continue this post in that vein... Now, there's nothing wrong with playing simpler if it's best for the song but what irks me when I've been in these situations is that the other options are rarely explored. The other instruments are never asked to simplify to declutter the mix and let the bassline carry that part of the song, there's an assumption that it should always be the bass that should simplify by default. This to me does not "serve the song", it serves other peoples egos or narrow views of songwriting (i.e. a paint-by-numbers or kit assembly approach). Simple lines (on any instrument) will always "work" but does that mean they're best for the song? Maybe. Maybe not. Unless other alternatives are explored we'll never know but if everyone explored other options one of two things will happen...either something better will be found or you'll confirm that the simple line really was the best after all. In other words, a good band will recognise that the simpler lines should be kept in their back pockets, they can be pulled out later because they'll always "work" but at least the song will have had the chance to be improved by exploration.

[quote name='crez5150' post='702612' date='Jan 6 2010, 11:18 AM']To be honest this will not work as you want it to.... These type of products are really designed to cut out continuous frequencies such as jet engine noise, train noise etc.... Your singer would be better off having some ear-moulds made for him and then using an ambient microphone on stage also fed to his mix[/quote] As I understand it they don't target specific frequencies, continuous or otherwise, or have I misunderstood? They pick up the ambient sound, phase reverse it and mix it into the signal going to the headphones/buds thus cancelling out whatever ambient noise would otherwise bleed past the phones directly into the ears. One of the other options I'm considering actually is an ambient mic [i]but phase reversed[/i] to jury rig a noise cancelling set up for him. Depends on a couple of things, whether our engineers desk has a phase reverse switch and balancing the volume level of the ambient mic to successfully cancel out the band noise that's being picked up by the vocal mic.

Cheers guys. I should clarify though, I don't think I was clear enough in my first post. I'm not talking about noise isolating ones, it's specifically noise [b]cancelling [/b][i][/i]ones, the ones that use a reverse-phase signal of external noise to cancel out noise. The buds my singer's used already block a huge amount of external noise but the band still gets picked up in his vocal mic (SM58 wireless jobby IIRC) and of course it's then fed to his in ears. It's this that causes his problems. The way I'm looking at it is this - noise [b]cancelling [/b][i][/i] in-ear buds will pick up the external on-stage noise and remove [i]that [/i]from what gets played in his in-ears. i.e. It will remove the band noise from the "band noise+vocal" that his vocal mic is sending to his in-ears, leaving more or less just the vocal if you see what I mean?

We're not a hugely loud band by any means, we're a 4 piece and our on-stage is balanced around the drummer and we're all mic'd or di'd through the PA, nothing is backline only. Nonetheless our singer is struggling, even with in-ear monitors, but he'll admit himself that he needs to hear tons and tons of his own voice, probably way more than most singers, before he feels comfortable. So...does anyone have any experience of using noise cancelling in-ear phones instead of the normal buds that come with in-ear systems? Are they able to cope with the on-stage volume of a band or are they more for domestic type noise environments? [color="#0000FF"]<<Edited for clarity>> I'm not talking about noise isolating ones, it's specifically noise [b]cancelling [/b][i][/i]ones, the ones that use a reverse-phase signal of external noise to cancel out noise. The buds my singer's used already block a huge amount of external noise but the band still gets picked up in his vocal mic (SM58 wireless jobby IIRC) and of course it's then fed to his in ears. It's this that causes his problems. The way I'm looking at it is this - noise [b]cancelling [/b][i][/i] in-ear buds will pick up the external on-stage noise and remove [i]that [/i]from what gets played in his in-ears. i.e. It will remove the band noise from the "band noise+vocal" that his vocal mic is sending to his in-ears, leaving more or less just the vocal if you see what I mean?[/color] Ta in advance, Steve.

[quote name='Spolodaface' post='700611' date='Jan 4 2010, 04:35 PM']I have been considering playing the lower 4 strings as if I were on a four-string but the issue I've been thinking about is that if I were to do this in practice later dow the line with a band, i'd be playing in the wrong key to everybody else. That said, my music theory isn't up to scratch so I may be wrong. Thanks for the advice so far though! Reassuring to know i'm not the only perosn facing this challenge.[/quote] If you play the E-A-D-G the same then yes, this will be fine for the band and the key. But if you mean playing the B-E-A-D in the same fret position as you would on a 4 then you will be out of key, however all you need to do is play higher up the neck and you'll be fine. Either way you'll still need to adapt to the extra string being there but just get stuck in and it will come to you

I don't know if this helps but when I went from 4 to 5 it was my plucking hand that was the confused one. I found that concentrating more on where I was plucking and less on where I was fretting helped me. I think this is because the fretting hand has to make a definite movement to reach the low B because it's coming from underneath the neck, if you see what I mean, so to all intents and purposes it behaves as if it were fretting a 4 string until you need to play something on the low B. The plucking hand on the other hand (no pun intended) finds the low B string first and the brain expects this to be the E, so it takes a definite concentration on the plucking hand. Once the brain adjusts to this extra string being the first thing it finds it'll make the co-ordination of the two hands come together more easily. I actually had more trouble going back from 5 to 4 a couple of years later...weird...

If you intend running at any significant volume you'll definitely want speakers that can cope with bass, normal guitar cab speakers will be stressed and likely fail sooner or later. This is because reproducing bass frequencies requires that the cone moves in and out more which puts more load and stress on the voicecoil and the rubber surround which joins the cone to the outer edge. You won't damage a guitar amp though. As others have said, you may not get enough headroom before it starts to distort and the EQ points may be a little less ideal but then again it depends on what sort of sound you want, you may just get exactly "your tone". If your local rehearsal rooms have valve heads and bass cabs you could experiment there.

Assuming there's nothing wrong with the amp and the distortion you're hearing is part of the amp's design (some aren't designed for ultra clean although valves certainly can do clean) it sounds like you may want to try swapping the preamp valve to me. Check and see if you have a 12AX7/ECC83 in there, if you have you could drop in a 5751 as a direct replacement, these have typically 70% of the gain of a 12AX7. If it still isn't clean enough then there's other low gain valves you could try. It won't cost much either so it's worth a little experimenting. Here's a list of gain values which may help: 12AX7/ECC83 - 100 5751 - 70 12AT7/ECC81/CV4024 - 60 12AY7 - 45 12AV7 - 41 12AU7/ECC82 - 19

Just in case anyone's interested, it's similar to Bakelite... "Ebonol is technically known as "XXX Paper Phenolic", and is a paper-based high pressure laminate made from layers of black paper and phenolic resin." [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonol_(material)"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonol_(material)[/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenolic_resin"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenolic_resin[/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite[/url] So Ebonol bears similarities to Bakelite which is phenolic + wood flour whereas Ebonol is phenolic + paper...and as paper is made from wood Ebonol is a close relative by my simple reasoning.

^^^^ and while Owain was on his grand tour of the northern end of Northumberland he called in at mine after visiting Warwickhunt to conduct a 2nd seamlesss transaction of the night He sold me his Akai G-Drive which is in truly excellent condition. Owain's a totally straightforward bloke to deal with, 100% recommended. Great bloke to talk to about all manner of bass related things too, was good to meet you. Steve.

There's different types of switch cleaner, for control pots you'll want the type that also lubricates.

Google for "armoured guitar cable", this (I think) is an example of what you're looking for [url="http://www.blackdogmusic.co.uk/stainless-steel-armoured-cable-10ft-or-15ft-60-p.asp"]http://www.blackdogmusic.co.uk/stainless-s...r-15ft-60-p.asp[/url]

[quote name='Basska' post='687861' date='Dec 17 2009, 11:30 PM']I plan on purchasing a 6x10 when I am over in the states any suggestions on the cheapest fastest way to do so? I live in Scotland and I am going to Florida the cab weighs 130 pounds What do you think bass chat?! Chris[/quote] Stick a mast on it and sail it home

Selective (i.e. Newcastle based) history of my bass guitar buying: [b]Howards![/b] - Not so much a bass buying experience but he replaced the pickups and electronics in my Trace Elliot T-Bass with Seymour Duncan J (neck) and MM (Bridge). If it wasn't for my Ric's it would be my number one best sounding bass. Cheers mate! Nearly bought a Marshall head and cab too but we couldn't get the cab in the back of my car. Did later on buy a Trace 4x10 and 1x15. Great cabs but my back refuses to speak to me now...really should get round to selling them! [b]Grott[/b] - bought my 1st ever bass (Jedson LP copy, short scale) and bedroom practice amp there in about '92/3 Can't remember the name of the shop in the Metrocentre (was just down from the Meditteranean Village, on the corner) where I bought my 2nd bass (Hohner headless passive jobby) [b]Sounds Live[/b] - Tanglewood Curbow 4, later traded for the 5er version there [b]Sound Control[/b] - Ric 4003, Epi EB3, Vintage fretless, cheap Peavey guitar [b]Windows[/b] (dreadful shop) - Peavey of some description. Got my money back (to their credit they were good about that, it was later experiences in there changed my opinion) because the neck was v.poorly made Regards, Steve.

Excellent, really pleased for you!! Some of the function gigs we've done have been slow starters and finished as a party and demands for more, I think it's just the way these things go when it's an audience who don't normally watch live music and need a bit of lubrication before they let themselves go.

You'd think for £2K+ he'd at least upload a chuffing photo...

[quote name='fatback' post='681459' date='Dec 11 2009, 03:55 PM']+1 Damn thing flies out of my hand every other bar. I'm embarrassed to admit I can't pick for toffee. Any tips? fatback[/quote] Try different pick types and thicknesses too. Some have embossed dimples for extra grip, and of course different thicknesses give a different amount of flex when contacting the string. They're cheap enough to buy a big selection and if you spend a reasonable amount of time trying them you'll soon find what works in your hands. Be aware of course that you should progress through the different thicknesses on order, if you go from really thick to really thin it's gonna feel odd anyway so limit this by going gradually thicker (or thinner, depending on what you start with). Your body sweat (both the amount and type) will also play a part in which picks stay in your fingers too.

[quote name='scott22890' post='680919' date='Dec 11 2009, 05:47 AM']...I have heard that the Boss OBD-3...[/quote] If you go to eBay and search on "Boss Hog" in the Musical Instruments section you'll find ODB3 clones for sale whcih are virtually identical (internally) to the Boss. Here's a quick link to one for sale at the moment - [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BASS-GUITAR-OVERDRIVE-PEDAL-GLX-Boss-Hog-Metal-Effects_W0QQitemZ270499931261QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item3efb0d647d"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BASS-GUITAR-OVERDRIV...=item3efb0d647d[/url] They're also sold under the names GLX and Harley Benton and Beta Aivin and are much cheaper than the Boss, if you're just starting out and are on a strict budget I think this would be a better bet for you and you can put the money you save to one side for when you want or need a bigger amp. This is a review (albeit of their compressor pedal) which goes into the details of their general construction and quality. [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/glxbeta.shtml"]http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/glxbeta.shtml[/url] . The guy who does these reviews is a compressor geek (meant in the best possible way) who's views are held in very high regard over on Talkbass. Hope this helps, Steve.

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='680827' date='Dec 10 2009, 11:40 PM']+1 to that. It's always a pleasure to watch a master at work (although I'm not sure exactly what "our man in Mittel" is a master of) P.[/quote] It's his replies to his negative feedback that tickle me...he's not a very forgiving sort when it comes to criticism, straight in with the insults!