MichaelDean

I came across a drum (kick, snare, tom) specific gate/noise reducer a while ago and it seemed too good to be true, but I wanted to try it out and when I noticed they had a Black Friday discount on, I pounced. I wasn't expecting to get tax added afterwards, but nevermind. It's Silencer by Black Salt Audio. Currently down to $39 (plus tax of $7.80) from $99 and I think it's an excellent bit of software. It really helps you get some extra definition if you're struggling to get clear hits from a drum recording. It feels a bit like magic when you're using it. https://blacksaltaudio.com/silencer/

That looks great! Glad you're pleased with it! I look forward a gig review of it!

A three gig weekend. Mini tour? A first in a very long while! We were playing with a Belgian doom band. Nice guys, but they need to find a real drummer. Their backing track was bad. Like they thought, we're in a metal band so we need to be loud, lets put the velocity of all of the MIDI drums to 100%. Some of them were clipping in places and they lacked nuance. It's the sort of music where a bit of ebbing and flowing of the tempo can really enhance it and being too rigid doesn't work in your favour. There were also a few times where the bassist seemed to be quite out of tune on his fretless. Gear Dingwall Combustion -> Boss GX-100 -> Laney Digbeth -> Whatever cabs were available. Friday - The Victoria, Swindon We were on second of 4 bands and I think we were a little sloppy due to low stage volume and we probably should have all turned up a bit. It probably would have helped if we'd have had a practice in the week before the run of gigs. Still a good reception. The first band was the new band of a guitarist we'd played with before (Onieromancer). They were really good. The singer had the full range of metal noises that some make and did amazingly well for his first gig. The other band (Boss Cloth) were a real blend of a few different things. A bt punk, a bit metal, a bit indie. Fretless 5 string Yamaha that was in tune. Saturday - The Victory, Hereford This is a cool venue. The whole bar is the side of a ship with cannons above. The back room for the music had lots of rope and nets and other nautical things and a rather unfortunate pole/mast in the middle of the stage. Where we stored gear was up on a balcony that was done up to look like rigging. What was even amazing was that a Wye Valley pale ale was only £3.70 a pint! We played better than the previous night. I was going into a 115 and 210 and we just had more stage volume. The mast was quite annoying for trying to move around a bit though. I was quite conscious of it and didn't want to smack my headstock on it. Very dark stage too. I struggled to see the fret markers at times. I'm starting to consider installing luminlays on my Combustion... At War With The Sun played first and managed to fill a set with about 3 songs. Just the sort of self indulgence I like! And Mudlarker were really good too. Not my favourite style of vocals to listen to, but they were very good. Oh, and we apparently met the entirety of the Hereford metal scene on that night 😂 Sold two t-shirts though! Sunday - Fuel Rock Club, Cardiff This is a fun place to play. We played once before and the sound guy just seems to know how to get the best out of the venue. I think it was my best performance of the weekend. Also the only one where I hadn't had a beer as I was driving. A correlation methinks... It was also the lowest turnout, but when it's a rainy Sunday night and the opening band (Root Zero) already played there on Friday night, how many are you really expecting? They were really good though. As 6 piece, they looked quite snug on the stage! It was a really fun weekend, but I'm very much wishing I'd taken the day off today!

I've got a busy weekend. 3 gigs with a Belgian black doom band, Svarthart, starting at The Victoria in Swindon tonight, The Victory in Hereford Saturday and Fuel in Cardiff on Sunday.

I'd go for one of the Harley Benton boards with the integrated power supply if I was starting again with a new board. You'd have power for anything you want with a robust kettle lead power connection. https://www.thomann.co.uk/cases_for_guitar_effects_guitars.html?manufacturer[]=Harley Benton&feature-49321[]=true&gk=GIZUTKGE&sp=solr&cme=true&filter=true

Thanks! Yeah, just got a small metal enclosure drilled and wired it. Stereo jacks on the inside so I can be flexible on ins/outs. I also appreciate their efforts. I got it a bit wrong as the sockets broke contact on one of the sides when you put the jack in and had to re-do half of the connections 🙄

I've done some improvements to my board itself over the last few weeks. First up, the feet all needed replacing. I leave my board in the flightcase so I just have to lift off the lid and plug in, but the feet I had on there were pulling the T-nuts out of the wood. I cut up some old spare laminate flooring for extra height, and glued and screwed new feet on. They're much more secure now. And then, I've had a big plug socket coming out from the power supply for years. The velcro keeps falling off it too. It wasn't a great solution. I finally found a better method with a panel mount IEC socket extension lead (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008002957857.html). So the top goes from this: To this: Much tidier and room for more pedals should I ever change up my setup!

And it's a bass you can see in the photo. It'd probably be a Les Paul if it was a Marshall.

Anyone need an Atelier shortie? https://bassbros.co.uk/product/2024-atelier-z-baby-z-4j-vintage-2/

I will second that video. I bought a pack of medium scale shorties strings off Merton (excellent seller BTW). They are just excellent. Stainless steel aren't normally my thing and I still think they're not, but these are less grabby than others I've tried. The E string on my Mustang has never sounded better. If you like rounds, give Newtone's shorty sets a go. They're a big step up in clarity from the D'Addarios I had on it.

I also got some strings from Merton and it was a super simple transaction and quick turnaround!

No... I left it in the kitchen for ages thinking that would prompt me. Instead it just annoyed my wife 😂 I've got serious GAS for a new bass, so it would be good to get this finished. Just haven't had the time!

Ooooooh. I've got plenty of ideas! 1. Darkglass Anagram 2. Mortrix MIDI controller 3. Boss FV-1W 4. Harley Benton Spaceship 40 (to fit the above on!) 5. Dingwall D-Roc 5 string I'm sure that'd all fit under the tree 😂

I bought a Hohner Arbor Series P bass quite a few years ago. Never gelled with that thing. It looked really cool in white/white/maple, but that wasn't enough to save it. Neck was too big for a 4 string for me and just something about it wasn't quite right. I think I'm coming to the realisation that maybe I don't like P bass pickups. I'm thinking about moving on a PJ bass I've currently got and my Squier SS Jaguar's P pickup got changed for a Mustang pickup 🤔

I did get one in the end and both guitarists in my band want them now too! I'm very pleased with mine.

I guess if it had a companion receiver unit, you could use it as a wireless too? That could be cool. Combine it with a wireless footswitch and you'd have a fully wireless rig.

I didn't mean it in a contrary way. Tone of voice often doesn't come across well over the internet. I'm interested in what you think they're missing on this.

What opportunity though? They've also got the ToneX One and the original three button ToneX. I'd say the only thing they're missing is a bigger floorboard that's also a fully fledged multi effects unit.

Turn all of the controls down. Then turn them up individually and tap on the pickups lightly with a metal object to see what turns what on. Turn it down again and repeat until you've worked it out. Usually any blend control will have a centre detent so you know you're in the middle. A tone won't turn the pickups on.

It's a practice tool. It isn't meant to be any use on stage. Same form factor as the Boss Katana Go, Fender Mustang Micro, Blackstar Beam Solo, etc, but with the ToneX captures instead of amp models.

I'd imagine the stock cab is 8 ohm and you'd want another 8 ohm load to bring it down to 4. I'd email Ashdown to make sure.

Yes, that was the term! Otherwise known as late/slow/unprofessional! 😂

We organised a 4 band gig at Whiskers in Newquay on Halloween. It was a bit of a shambles, but turned out alright in the end. First up, the sound guy was meant to arrive at 5. He showed up at 7. We were expecting the first band to go on at 7:30... Everyone says that this guy does this all the time and it's to be expected. He runs on "Cornish time" 🙃 This doesn't happen in Bristol! Punters were leaving because it hadn't started. The first band finally started at 8:20. Then, you know, we're alll running late, you'd think the bands would try to keep to time, right? Nope, the first two over-ran by about 10/15 minutes. Changeovers were SO SLOW. I never understand why it takes some people so long to get off stage. Everyone says it's "Cornish time", we call it unprofessional. It was just as well that the venue had a 2am licence. We had planned that we'd be on at 10:10. Didn't end up going on till 11:45, finishing at 12:40. To their credit, a fair number of (very drunk by now) punters did stick it out and seemed to really enjoy our set. We even had our first mosh pit! I did struggle a bit with fret markers while wearing sunglasses for my costume though. I used to find it alright in the hip-hop covers band. There were also a few mistakes, but I'm putting that down to tiredness. I'd had a few late nights trying to finish mixing our new EP and then early mornings because I have a 3 year old! Gear was Dingwall Combustion -> Boss GX-100 -> Laney Digbeth DB-500H -> borrowed Vanderkley 210. Got some shonky phone videos too. WhatsApp Video 2025-11-01 at 11.21.17.mp4

I'm really enjoying these plugins, but my poor 12 year old MacBook Pro is really showing its age 😅 I'm having to do a lot of rendering in track to get a track mixed. Sounds loads better than my previous attempt though. I've reamped guitars with ToneX, drums have all been redone, bass sounds better than before. Very impressed.

I've managed to max it out. Got lots of Amplitube and ToneX bits, a couple of pianos, some drum kits, Philharmonik, a Hammond and a shed load of general plugins that should stand me in good stead.