spinynorman

I was trying to do something similar, but all the circuit diagrams I can find with 2 tone controls have a switch. Basically they assume you're wiring a Les Paul. I guess you could take a 1V 1T diagram and wire both pickups the same way. AxesRUs sells tone and volume pots as separate items, so I assume there is some difference.

The answer is Hercules. They're not cheap, but well worth it because of what they do and also because they are things of engineering beauty. Most upright stands have a kind of rubber band that holds the guitar in place when not in use. This is a pain in the a*** because it's hard to remove quickly and safely without pulling the stand over, especially if you aren't entirely sober. The Herc has a pair of claws that release the guitar when you lift it off the stand, but hold it securely till needed. Also padded with stuff that doesn't come off on the finish. And well balanced so it shouldn't fall over, even with one bass on it, provided you extend the legs fully. I love mine. [url="http://www.herculesstands.com/guitars/GS422B.html"]http://www.herculesstands.com/guitars/GS422B.html[/url]

I'm insured with Musicguard. But I looked at the policy schedule the other day and it's covering a bass I no longer own, and not covering two I do. I think they charge a fee for updates as well. Another problem caused by GAS. If you only want liability insurance, I discovered it's cheaper with Musicguard to insure a small amount of gear, say £100, with liability cover thrown in, than it is to insure just for liability.

Foghat - "Road Cases". Good honest blues/rock, live and loud like it should be.

If you look at their feedback the vast majority of their business is parts. My theory is they use the crazy over-priced guitars as cheap advertising. Not only are they constantly visible in the listings, they also get the occasional free plug from one of the guitar or bass forums. And every so often they sell one. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180257497188"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=180257497188[/url]

We were all plugged into one socket, so I thought ground loop unlikely and some kind of interference the most likely suspect. Are you saying no kind of power/mains conditioner would help that? I tried swapping leads and basses, it seemed to help for a bit, then the hum came back. My pedal tuner, when in standby, was cycling through notes at random. The landlord, of course, said no one else had ever had a problem. This was all in setup, once we got into the gig I forgot about it. Sounds like something I shouldn't worry about?

At our last gig there was a noticeable hum on everything including my amp and the PA. I suspected the venue's LED ceiling lights but couldn't prove it. So I was thinking of adding a power conditioner to the rig, but another rack mounted unit would mean another rack case, or a bigger one, and I don't really want either. So, would a mains conditioner as sold by Maplin for home cinema/hi fi do the job as well as a Furman etc power conditioner in a rack? [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=46830"]Maplin Mains Conditioner strip[/url] [url="http://www.beststuff.co.uk/tacima_sc5723.htm"]Tacima Mains Conditioner Adaptor[/url]

[quote name='HeavyJay' post='329009' date='Nov 14 2008, 12:08 PM']I'm in a 50s and 60s covers band who play pretty small pub and club gigs with the occasional wedding and function thrown in. We're looking to invest in a budget lighting rig as some of our gigs would be greatly enhanced by it. Because we're trying to maintain a fairly authentic look, I'm worried that if I get coloured lights it might look a bit too disco but if I just use white lights, we might be a bit washed out (and possibly a little holy ). My thoughts are to have some lights shining in from each side of the band, some lights either pointing at the drummer or shining up behind him, and some form of light in the faces of the two front-persons, probably from t-bars. Any advice on this would be gratefully received. Thanks to BOD2 for directing me here.[/quote] Be wary of really budget lighting rigs, like you get at Maplin, they don't throw enough light to make any real difference. As a pub band, we found having lights on a T-bar was a pain, it's just more stuff to carry, more time to set up and more use of space you don't have. Also, in a small space the chances of looking straight into a PAR64 and blinding yourself for 5 minutes are quite high. We've ended up with two PAR64 floor cans with gels, one either side of the drums, and a "moonflower" unit aimed at the ceiling, either above us or the audience, depending on the venue. We paid £16 each for the cans and £30 each for the bulbs, so if I were doing it now I'd go LED. I think you can overdo lighting for a pub band. We've heard several times from landlords about bands that turned up with elaborate lighting rigs, but the performance didn't deliver on the expectation they'd set. My advice would be to start with a couple of lights and get more if you find you need them. For occasional functions we've hired lights. For my daughter's 21st we had wall to wall floor cans in front of us and robot things on a gantry. Very hot. During Sunshine of Your Love I felt my leg getting very warm and glanced down to see smoke. Turned out it was an over-enthusiastic operator on the smoke machine, but for a minute I was convinced my jeans were on fire.

A choice would be nice. Most of the pubs we play only have one socket within reach and if we're lucky it doesn't already have a wide screen TV plugged into it. Some landlords seem quite upset that we need to use electricity. At Sunday's gig everything was buzzing like a bees' karaoke night, but of course "we had a band in last week and they didn't have a problem". I'm looking for a power conditioner - has anyone used a Samson Powerstrip, they seem very cheap?

[quote name='Pkomor' post='326054' date='Nov 10 2008, 04:33 PM']i just saw this, i thought it was a nice idea! [url="http://www.instructables.com/id/Ghetto_In_Ear_Monitor_System/"]http://www.instructables.com/id/Ghetto_In_...Monitor_System/[/url][/quote] Interesting. I used an FM transmitter in my last car, the main problem with it was finding a free FM channel. Bad enough anywhere, almost impossible in London. Apart from that it should work ok.

I had high hopes for this, but not at 420 quid. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300270608244&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020"]Ibanez Les Paul[/url]

We should stop saying such nice things about these. It obviously just encourages them.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='326859' date='Nov 11 2008, 03:36 PM']Whatever you do, don't get involved in programmed stage lighting ... that makes PA stuff look like playing a kazoo.[/quote] It's also a good idea to avoid becoming the band's PA guru, which is all too easy for bass players to do, due to the staggering technical incompetence of singers, drummers and other band members. From my personal experience ... - singer, in a hurry to get home, grabs the amp and heads for the door, without unplugging any of the leads. - keyboard player helpfully plugs both the PA speakers into the line out jacks ... - and then plugs his awful wireless, feedback-prone mic into the speaker socket. - singer, waving his mic lead hopefully in the air "Where does this go again?"

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='326514' date='Nov 11 2008, 09:09 AM']If you're playing pubs and small venues you need a PA just for vocals. Use your backline amps for everything else.[/quote] From the recent experience of young bands just starting out that I know, this is your most likely situation. You may be able to get away for a time without a PA, because as has already been said, some venues have their own, or hire one in, or you may be playing support to a band that will let you use theirs. The only other possible need then is rehearsal, but if you use a properly equipped rehearsal studio, you can use theirs. If you decide this isn't working, the minimum you need for vocals is a powered mixer (eg Yamaha EMX212s) and a pair of passive speakers (eg Yamaha AX12). There are loads of other makes besides Yamaha and you can buy secondhand to save money, but just watch you don't buy something so old it is unreliable. Ideally the speakers should be at head height, so you also need speaker stands. You can put several singers (and keyboard if necessary) through this sort of setup. [url="http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=PA00462"]http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=PA00462[/url] [url="http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=PA00223"]http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=PA00223[/url] [url="http://www.dv247.com/invt/30124/product.htm?gdftrk=gdfV2356_a_7c416_a_7c1181_a_7c30124"]http://www.dv247.com/invt/30124/product.ht...c1181_a_7c30124[/url] You could alternatively buy a PA package like the Stagepas 300, which is cheaper, but I don't know how good they are. On top of that it is a good idea to have a monitor (eg Carlsboro PM10), which plays the output from the PA back to the singer, so they can hear themselves. These are wedge shaped and go in front of the singer with the speaker pointing up at their head. We also use ours as the vocal PA in rehearsals. Again, many other makes and fairly easy to find secondhand. The gear I've referenced here is stuff I've used and it was ok, but you need to find what works for you.

I really don't understand pubs that know they have a noise problem, but still book full on rock bands. Everytime we've played in that sort of environment it's been a disaster, because you start worrying more about the volume than what you're playing.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='323715' date='Nov 6 2008, 08:26 PM']This one says Japanese. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/COLUMBUS-Electric-BASS-Guitar_W0QQitemZ290273235739QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/COLUMBUS-Electric-BA...9QQcmdZViewItem[/url] I think it looks horrible. Don't mind SG basses, but this one looks just a little .... crowded.[/quote] Actually if you took off the redundant cover and put a bridge cover on, it's not a bad copy of a 69 EB3. (The one on the left)

Seems to be a lot more interesting stuff on eBay all of a sudden. Must be the global meltdown. I've got six basses in my watch list. If I bought them all there'd be a global meltdown here, with my wife doing the melting. For example, a Gibson Thunderbird staying remarkably low, unless there's something really wrong with it I hadn't noticed. Even a bit beat up, I'd expect more interest. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320315235794&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=011[/url]

Actually this seems to be the place to look [url="http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/audio/manage"]http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/audio/manage[/url]

Don't have a Mac myself, but the discussion [url="http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35551"]here[/url] suggests VLC, which I have the PC version of. It's not bad, but I think more of a universal music and video player than a library. [url="http://vlc-media-player.en.softonic.com/mac"]VLC Download[/url]

Surely some of this is due to associations with star players. Would anyone in their right mind want a Framus Star Bass or a Hagstrom 8-string if it weren't for the Wyman and Hendrix/Redding connections? Also eBay and the Internet generally has opened up a worldwide trade in used instruments, which has pushed up prices. It'll be interesting to see to what extent it survives a protracted recession.