BigRedX

My first bass - a Burns Sonic - very much shaped my playing style for many years. In the early 80s, the only easily available short-scale bass strings were Rotosounds, and on this bass the E string was essentially useless, so I tried as much as possible to avoid using it. This, coupled with the fact that I was very much into Joy Division and other similar post-punk bands meant that I mostly played higher register melody lines on the bass. My next bass, bought in the 90s, was an Overwater 5-string and having 5 useable strings meant that my bass lines became more "conventional". These days I play 5-string bass in one band and bass VI in another, and although there is some overlap of styles (there are some songs that I could play on either bass), I do write and play in different ways depending on which bass I am using.

Assuming that this is a serious question and not just trolling... Using your ears is fine for practicing at home where there are no other sonic distractions, and TBH is good skill for all musicians to acquire. However at a gig, tuning should be done quickly and silently. That's only possible with an electronic tuner. The "tuning song" is one of the most unprofessional things a band can`inflict on their audience, and having an electronic tuner solves this problem simply so you be stupid not to take advantage of it.

All the Terrortones releases were done by Formation Audio, and I was completely happy with the results.

It might mean that the second hand prices of Pedulla basses will start to reflect their actual value. When I bought my Buzz bass the new price was around £3k but sellers were struggling to get more than £1k for nice looking examples in good condition.

TBH I think most tuning mis-haps are down to user error rather than the tuners themselves being inaccurate.

One thing you need to watch if everyone is using their own tuner is that they are all set to the same A reference frequency. I once did a gig where our guitarist had managed to accidentally change their tuner from the standard A=440Hz to either the minimum or maximum setting, which meant that they were almost a quarter tone out of tune with the bass. The sound on stage was not particularly good and the only person who could hear the problem was our drummer who kept telling us to check our tuning. Of course each instrument was perfectly in tune with itself, just not in tune with the other one, so we kept telling him the tuning was fine. It wasn't until our next rehearsal where everyone could hear all the instruments properly that the problem was discovered and fixed. Strangely enough we got a brilliant review of the gig despite the fact that we were so badly out of tune.

And here are my two bass VIs: Squier VM Bass VI Burns Barracuda

IIRC the BBC licence is for broadcast to private listeners only, and anyone using their radio in a public area are effectively rebroadcasting and also need a licence. The PRS licence will be required by the organisers of the event and has nothing to do with the band(s) playing - unless they are the organisers.

Boundary effect is more noticeable than physical coupling with the stage (unless the stage happens to be hollow and very resonant). You have to have your cabs several feet away from floor, walls and ceiling to break the boundary effect.

Neck is quite narrow (although not as narrow as Fender and Squier Bass VIs). If you want to have a look at all the different bass VI options have a read of this thread. I'm currently using a Burns Barracuda. It has a wider nut and better string spacing at that end of the neck, but is narrower than the Squier at the bridge. I'll probably end up getting something custom made that has the string spacing and pickup routing options that suit me.

These days wherever there is room for me, Helix and computer mounted on a keyboard stand. Ideally not too far from the PA stage box for the computer DIs. I don't really mind which side of the stage I am in relation to the drummer, as in a previous band I did a lot of gigs supporting psychobilly bands with upright bass who would set up on the drummer's right hand side so they would be facing him when they were playing.

Works fine so long as there are feet or other screws on the underside of the unit that can be repurposed to hold in place on the rack shelf. The device I was hoping to rack mount had no such screws and would have relied on the brackets to hold it in place. Having thought about it some more I can't see much point to the 1U version if the shelf makes the unit it is holding taller than 1U. It would only work with equipment that is several millimetres shorter than the 1U height, and I can't think of any musical equipment meeting that description that I would want to rack mount, that doesn't already have its own dedicated rack mounting kit.

Which is why IMO it is best to eliminate the reliance of your sound on what your amp and cab(s) are doing.

RIC don't need to work outside of the US to have real weight to their legal threats. Most web sites (including Basschat) rely on at least one US-based service to keep functioning. RIC just has to target these.

Supergroups will only be any good if they include at least one excellent songwriter.

If you are going to have a volume control, and especially if you are going to have a DI pass-through socket, it needs to be on the front of the cab, or somewhere that is more easily accessible than the back panel.

Saw Renaissance in 1979 using stand-mounted acoustic guitars, so they could swap from electric to acoustic mid-song.

Fantastic thanks! The Scarlet 18i20 appears to do what I need and is the cheapest of the three. Regarding point 5, I meant something that does not require a wall-wart PSU but simply uses an IEU cable between the mains sockets and the device. I'm not a fan of external PSUs for live use. In this case it would mean another item to secure inside the rack and a less reliable connection between the low voltage side of the PSU and the device being powered. For the same reason I'm not keen on connection adaptors unless they are a single cable with the required plugs at either end that goes between the computer and the device. IME every additional connection is a potential point of failure that will happen at the most inconvenient time at a gig and normally require disassembling the rack to fix.

@Sharkfinger Thanks. I must have been too distracted by photos of what looked like the solution to my rack problem to read all the text.

I have finally had to admit defeat in my efforts to securely mount my half-width Focusrite Saffire Pro24 interface in my live use rack and have decided that the only way to achieve what I want in a reliable way is to get an interface that is properly rack mountable - ideally with rack ears that are part of the casing. The Saffire Pro24 does everything I need in terms of connectivity, it is currently being used with a 13" MacBook Pro 2012 model (running El Capitan) which has 1x FW800, 1 x Thunderbolt (1?), 2 x USB 3. What I definitely need: 1. Must interface and work with my current MacBook Pro with El Capitan and Logic 9, and any other Mac made between 2012 and the current line up, and with all versions of Mac OS from El Capitan to Mojave, and Logic X. 2. Must be designed to fit into 1U of rack space and come with all the required fixings either as part of the unit's case, or as a rack mounting kit designed specifically for the device in question that will hold it securely and safely in the rack while being transported. IME rack trays and and other DIY bodges simply aren't reliable enough. 3. Must have at least six line-level balanced outputs. 4. Must have MIDI In and Out on DIN or XLR sockets. 5. Must have an internal PSU or be capable of being powered directly from its connection to the Mac. Any other features are a bonus but are not necessary. TBH as the interface I already have is fine apart from the fact it can't be securely rack-mounted, I don't really want to spent lots of money on a new interface that has lots of stuff I don't need on it just so I can properly rack mount it. maybe @Sibob would care to make some suggestions?

I had been looking for something similar to properly secure my Focusrite Saffire Audio interface in the rack case I use for live work, and therefore ordered the 1U version. However because of the lip under the rack tray, when the interface is mounted the complete assembly is greater than 1U in height and therefore does not fit in the rack space I have available. It looks as though the 2U unit you have has the same construction. I have emailed the seller asking them if there is a version of the tray available without the lip so that any device mounted in it does not exceed the 1U height. In the mean time I thought I should point out this short-coming to anyone else who might be interested in buying one of these trays so they don't suffer the same disappointment I did.

Personally I would wind the saddles at least three quarters of their travel forwards before placing the bridge to give the most useful adjustment. You will never need to shorten the string from the scale length to get your intonation right (if you do there is something wrong with the string and you should replace it), but you will need to lengthen it and the lower pitched the string the more you will need to increase the length. Therefore the more "backwards" travel you have on the saddles the better.

Ian Curtis of Joy Division. Only musician producing music that I still liked at the time of his passing.

It's dead boring looking though isn't it? 😉

Which X2 wireless system?