BigRedX

My Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 interface is now a permanent part of one of my band's gigging set ups and I would like to get it rack mounted with all the other stuff that goes with it. However there doesn't seem to be an "official" Focusrite rack mounting kit for it. At the moment I have it "clamped" between two rack mounting shelves, with a bit of effects pedal velcro attaching to the side of one of the shelves. This is not a particularly good solution as the shelves don't clamp it firmly enough in place and the velcro at the side isn't enough to hold it effectively. After each journey the rack case has done so far the Saffire has become dislodged to certain extent. So I am looking for a solution to fix it permanently in place, but without unduly damaging the casing of the Saffire. Ideally I would use effects pedal velcro over the base but as the Saffire is exactly 1U high, there isn't enough room the fit both the Saffire and velcro in-between the two rack shelves. I had a look at the base of the Saffire, but there don't seem to be any screws that I can repurpose to screw through the lower shelf. @Sibob What do Focusrite recommend in this situation? At the moment the only thing I can think of is to cover both the base and the top of the Saffire in strong double-side tape which will attach it to both the top and bottom shelves, but that seems a bit extreme and either still won't be strong enough to hold the interface in place while the case is being bumped around when it is carried, or it will permanently mark the casing of the Saffire which I don't really want to do. Does anyone have any other ideas. There isn't any room for some of the more obvious solutions as it all needs to fit into a 3U case with a removable top which is full as follows (from the bottom up): 1. Patch bay for all the external connections 2. Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 on a 1U rack shelf 3. Rack shelf holding a MacBook Pro surrounded by flight case foam. All these also need to be on the same face so I can't be creative a move some to the back of the case (which is full of rack-mounted mains distribution unit anyway).

Roots and fifth at the same time is the BEST!

I suppose if you like most bassists have spend most of your bass-playing life playing Fenders, copies or instruments whose designs are very similar to Fenders, you will have little idea of what I am on about. I'd been playing bass for over 25 years before I bought my first Fender-style bass (A Squier VM Fretless Jazz). My previous basses had been a Burns Sonic, Overwater Original and Gus G3. Admittedly two of those are serious high-end basses, but even so the shape of the Jazz felt all wrong - big, clunky and cumbersome. It hung in a peculiar manner on the strap and I couldn't reach the G-string tuner easily. Because of the balance it felt heavy to play standing up for a long time. I persevered for about 3 months before giving up and selling it. It was definitely down to the design, because the Overwater was bigger and heavier, but it managed to balance properly on the strap and despite being 2" longer scale length than the Squier all the machine heads were easy to reach, and it was never a burden on long gigs or rehearsals in the way the Squier was. I subsequently tried a very expensive Jaco Pastorius signature Jazz Bass and all the problems I had with the Squier were still present, so for me the issue is about the design rather than the quality of the build.

@intime-nick Those feet look great and would be interested in a set. However I had a look at my Helix at rehearsal last night, and because the case is a lot more sculpted than the LT version, some of the feet are further from the edge and these replacements might not work. I'll send you a photo of the base when I get the chance - hopefully later today - so you can see and advise.

IME and from what I read on here, Ashdown customer service is either excellent, way beyond the normal, or completely indifferent to the point of ignorance. There seems to be no middle ground. It also seems to be very difficult to get a poor initial response turned into an excellent resolution without a lot of badgering.

@intime-nick how much will a set of replacement feet be? I think I'll probably have to go for a custom-made case, maybe with the all the pedals and other stuff on a lift-out board so it doesn't take up too much space on some of the smaller stages were we play. Any recommendations for a company who can make that?

Actually you might need to. Having the tone control on full treble isn't the same as removing it altogether - usually the sound will be even brighter since the tone control is always removing some of the top end from the sound. You can replicate the circuit in its full treble position with a resistor of the same value as the tone pot and the capacitor in series wired between the signal and the earth.

My basses are playable works of art, that look and sound great. My amp is simply something to make the bass sound loud.

If the weight is the main downside of the Wal, have you thought about having a lighter chambered body made for it?

Since there appears to be a possible issue with unwanted phantom powering going to the Helix XLRs and the fact that we use whatever PA is in the venue, I don't think I can risk using the Helix without a passive DI between it and the PA feed, just in case there is phantom power applied. @intime-nick where did you get your replacement feet from? Also I had a look at the Swanflight cases but couldn't see anything big enough for what I need - Helix plus another 6" at the side and enough extra depth to accommodate all the plugs when the case is closed. Also the base looks quite clunky. How much higher does it make the pedals and how obtrusive is the lip there the base and lid join?

I think if there really are issues with phantom powering and the XLR outputs, I'd be better off using a DI. I already have a couple of EMO passive units that are IMO better than the Radial, so I'll just have to try and find room on the board for it (and the the plugs going into it). I was hoping to keep the unbalanced leads to a minimum, which means that the connection to the RCF cab ideally needs to be balanced since it's one of the longer cable runs. BTW I'll soon be looking for a flight case type pedal board to mount this all on - one where you take the lid off and everything is fixed in place on the base all ready wired up. Does anyone have any recommendations? It will need to be deep enough to allow all the connections at the back of the Helix to be made permanently with the lid on, and about 6" wider than the Helix to fit all the extra bits and pieces. And then the most important question is how to fit the Helix to the base?

For me all the things that would make playing a Squier hard work are also present on the supposedly "superior" Fender models, in that the basic design simply doesn't suit me. That might be because I've spent the vast majority of my bass playing doing it on instruments that have very little in common with either a P or J style bass, so I never got used to their idiosyncrasies.

I really didn't want to read that. The "pedal board" that I'm going to have to fit this to, is already looking oversize with extra space needed for the Linn Adrenalinn, two Sony Wireless receivers and a PSU and mains distribution to power them all, as well as enough space to have everything permanently wired up. So I really didn't want to be adding another unit in the form of a DI box. :-(

I bet some of you will be surprised to learn that I voted "yes". It would have to be a 5-string as there are songs in both band's sets that require the low B string. Also it wouldn't be much fun to do it as I don't find the shape of either J or P basses very comfortable to play, but I could do it if I really had to. Of course I'd also have to customise the body shape and finish to make it more interesting looking. And get rid of those horrible over-sized clunky machine heads...

Not really. Playing live is what I live for. I do however tend to get bored at gigs when I'm not doing anything, so I find it very difficult to appreciate other bands on the bill, because all I really want to do is get up there and play my music with my band.

Go to your nearest decent musical instrument retailer and try out every bass that they have. Where about are you? Then we can make some recommendations for shops to go to.

Used the Helix and RCF745 for my first gig on Friday. And it all went very well. I set up the RCF in a wedge configuration aiming across the front of the stage, and got a great on-stage mix which everyone could hear without needing to put any bass in the foldback. The only thing that I need to address was that I was using the XLR outputs on the Helix to drive the RCF from the left output and as a DI to the FoH from the right. However that mean that the level of both outputs was dependent on the Helix master volume control, which obviously isn't ideal when sending a signal to the PA. Therefore is there any way of only having one output dependent upon the position of the master volume control and the other output at a pre-set global volume to send to the PA and won't change if I need to change the volume of the bass on-stage?

Friday with In Isolation supporting Scant Regard (ex-Rachel Stamp) at The Maze in Nottingham. First gig with my Helix > FRFR powered speaker set up. And very well it went too! A couple of the patches will require a bit more tweaking, but it was a lot simpler to set up and seemed to be easier to get a good balance on stage between the bass and the other instruments. I set up the FRFR as a wedge pointing sideways across the stage and got a great on-stage mix, without being too loud. I think all my conventional bass and guitar amplification will be up for sale vey soon.

@Ashdown Engineering Thank you for taking the time to reply. As you may have guessed I don't agree with everything that you've said, but right now I'm off to play a gig and then have a load of other stuff to do over the weekend. I'll be replying in full to your post next week as soon as I have the time to do it properly.

Are they being sold as "new"? AFAIAA the only place that you can buy a new Harley Benton Instrument from is Thomas as it is their in-house brand. Therefore I would assume that any HB instruments on eBay are not new and should not be described as such.

Every time you buy a deko instrument from Thomann you take a gamble on whether or not it is actually going to be usable. And while a lot of people have been very happy with their bargain purchases there have also been some instruments that really were for decoration only. If this eBay seller is taking the risk and effort out of buying a deko instrument then what is the problem? If there was something wrong with anything you bought from them then it could be returned for a refund under eBay's "not as described" policy, so there is not risk to anyone buying one of these other than a little wasted time. Since the seller is taking all the risk is it not right that they should also make some money at the same time? I own two deko instruments. One has a design fault with the bridge that means it is less adjustable than it should be, but it does't render it unplayable, and in fact it's been used on a commercially released recording. Also there are plenty of guitars and basses out there with far worse design faults that are sold as perfect new instruments. The only thing wrong with the other deko is the fact that someone has stamped a "D" into the back! To me the whole thing smacks of sour grapes on the part of the OP who seemingly can't be bothered to take the time and effort to grab themselves a bargain directly from Thomann, and want to have a bit of a moan on the internet about someone who is making the required effort and also making some money out of it. Besides we don't know how many of those instruments being sold as dekos are actually only suitable for decoration. It might be that the eBay sellers prices reflect the extra time and money they have to put into making some of the instruments playable and covering their losses on buying instruments that simply aren't worth fixing.

Better is entirely subjective. Remember most guitars amps from a purist electrical engineering PoV are terrible, but it's those originally unwanted side effects of amplifying using valves that make them so desirable now.

Money probably. Lets face it whatever amp and cabs he uses it's only for show. In the studio the bass will be DI'd and tracked via some esoteric vintage valve pre-amp and live the sound will be completely FoH PA for the audience and in-ears for the musicians. The choice of amp and cabs makes zero contribution to the sound either recorded or live, so he might as well go for a brand that's going to give him the best deal and keep his name in the eye of other bass players. While I'm sure that Barefaced would love the publicity that a big name player like Nate Mandel would bring, from what I can see they are already selling cabs as quickly as they can make them and probably don't have the resources to support the extra demands a player like NM will require.

Absolutely! My first very cheap and nasty coily lead bought in 1975 had a flat jack plug just like that at one end.

Not only that but a decent cassette to record it on was going to cost you about half what the album would have cost in the first place.