BigRedX

No we haven't. Those of us who can just get on with creating, and don't bother getting worked up over fake internet outrage.

Next Hurtsfall gig is in Newark on Saturday 23rd August: The Facebook event page is somewhat misleading, but according to the info we've had from the promotor we'll be on at 6.00pm.

Some photos from Thursday's "Twister Firestarter" gig:

Last night was probably the biggest and best gig of the year so far. We played "Twisted Firestarter" which is the InFest Festival warm-up party at Rebellion in Manchester. Six bands all in a post-punk/Goth/Electronica style from various parts of Europe. I did this last year with the other band I was at the time and with drums and noisy guitars we were very much at odds with the rest of the line-up. This time we were the only band that wasn't all synthesisers, although my Bass VI is pretty heavily processed, and musically we were definitely in the right genre. We played second and I was a little worried that the event wasn't going to be as popular as last year when it was noticeably busy from when the doors opened; but this time the venue looked a bit sparse during the first act. However by the time we were ready to come on the bar area was heaving, and there was a noticeable rush of people to the front of the stage as we launched into our opening song. Excellent sound from the foldback and the large stage allowed our singer to really get into the performance. Even though our set was heavily biased towards new songs that have yet to be released, the reception was excellent with plenty of people down the front dancing and singing along, and even managed most of them to light up the room with phones and glow-sticks during "Calling Out". Surprisingly we didn't sell a lot a merch afterwards, which suspect was partly down to the fact that most of the people who liked us already have CDs and T-shirts and the strange decision for the merch table to be cash-only; this year the vast majority of our merch sales have been paid for by card. The promotor seemed to be impressed so hopefully we'll get some more gigs from him. There were a couple of professional-looking photographers in the audience so hopefully some shots will surface soon on Facebook. Next is a bit more down-to-earth as we'll be playing a small-scale multi-venue "festival" in Newark in just over a week's time.

Go half way to a gig in Coventry (from Nottingham) when I suddenly released that I hadn't packed the case which amongst other things held the floppy disk for the MIDI files for our backing. We could have managed without the other stuff in the case, but without the MIDI files we had no synths, samples, or patch changes for the effects. We had to turn round and go back for it. Luckily the headlining band had taken so long to soundcheck we still managed to arrive before we needed to set up. After that I took two back-up disks in other cases that were less easy to forget. In my synth-pop band days in the 80s I was using a Korg MS20 semi-modular synth live. Each song had long intros that allowed me to patch the next sound. Even with cheat sheets, I would invariably get one lead in the wrong place at some point in the set which if I was lucky would result in silence when I started playing or if I was unlucky something loud and atonal while I frantically tried to work out which patch lead was in the wrong place. More recently two problems with my Helix and wireless set up. Luckily they occurred in rehearsals rather than at a gig so have the advantage that I now know to check for both. Firstly plugged the receiver into the Aux in instead of Guitar in. Proceeded to tune up and then couldn't work out why the sound wasn't being sent to the PA. That's when I discovered that the default settings allowed the tuner to be active on all inputs irrespective of whether they were connected to the output or not. The second one was when I got the transmitter and receiver the wrong way around and again had no sound. Receiver has now got some brightly coloured tape on it so I don't make that mistake again.

Fender-style basses. I'd been playing bass for almost 25 years before I felt the need to try one. I dabbling with the idea of playing fretless bass with the band I was in at the time and the Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz had been getting great reviews in the musical instrument press (remember that?) and on the forums. Seemed very nice in the shop but once I actually started using it with the band there were all sorts of short-comings. Compared with my other basses it felt over-sized and awkward, even next to my Overwater 36" scale 5-string. It hung weirdly on the strap in such a way that I couldn't easily reach the G-string machine head and it sounded weedy in comparison with all my other basses including my 60s Burns Sonic. The £60 Wesley acrylic bass which it was supposed to replace was for me a superior instrument in every respect.

By Jazz do you mean something with the same body shape and neck width or something with the same pickup configuration and electronics but any shape? Or does it have to have both to be considered a Jazz Bass?

I have ambivalent feelings about music shops. In the days when they were filled with wondrous and exciting (to me) musical instruments I had no money to buy them, and when I was finally in a position to have a decent amount of disposable income for musical equipment, I found I was no longer interested in what the typical music shop had to offer. I was lucky at this point in that one of my very good friends worked for pro-audio dealer and could usually manage to get me anything I was interested in to try out for a week or so at home which was far more useful than any amount of playing in a shop could tell me about a piece of gear. The last time I bought a musical instrument as a result of browsing a local shop was in 1993... The internet in the form of first eBay and more recently Reverb has pretty much killed off the second had market for interesting instruments in shops, and then along with forums like this one have opened up a far larger range of options for anyone looking a bit further than a Fender P or J or a copy of one. It's hardly surprising that typical bricks and mortar stores are in decline as simply can't compete with the scope of the whole of the internet.

Surely all that dust needs to go back with every particle back in the same place as before, or you'll change the sound of the bass when you put the neck back on?

My prejudices are all completely rational.

Yes we would. It would just be a slightly different place.

All stands have to make some assumptions about the design of your guitar or bass. It's up to the player to pick the appropriate stand for the instrument that they have. I've owned a lot of different stands and don't think any of them would have been suitable for every single guitar or bass I have owned. The one that came closest was an incredible fiddly K&M stand with two adjustable cradles for the bottom of the body, but I'd worry about using it for some very long scale bass guitars due to centre of gravity issues. That small travel stand is only good for guitars with symmetrical lower bodies. Every bass I've tried it with made the centre of gravity too high for it to be stable. Also whist it was OK for home use, I wouldn't trust it to hold up any instrument securely in a gigging environment.

I've got one of those. I wouldn't trust for any other than home use with a symmetrical shaped guitar.

DHL whist seemingly decent in mainland Europe are very poor in the UK. Have a look at any Thomann returns thread for more details of the lack of service.

Ultimate are still making stands. If you liked it why not get another one? I've owned both Ultimate and Hercules stands, and while the Hercules is probably slightly better, the Ultimate was much more compact when folded down which may be an important feature.

I think this very much emphasises the difference between us and indeed the difference between myself and most other people who are dissatisfied with modelling technology... I have no idea what a Fuzz Face (or any of the other so-called classic distortion pedals or amps) are supposed to sound like. I've never owned one, I may not even have heard one, and the pedals and amps I have owned in the past I don't own now so I can't do a direct comparison. And TBH I'm not really interested in doing so. That's not withstanding the fact that everything I have owned is unlikely to be a prime candidate for inclusion on any modelling device. AFAICS, there's nothing on the Helix that might be trying to emulate any of the pedals and amps I have owned. What does interest me is whether or not I can get a sound that is right for the composition/arrangement/production I am working on, and the Helix has not yet let me down.

Depends whether you need any of those things. There's well over 100 amp and distortion pedal models on a Helix. I'm sure there must be one that will give you the sound that you want. Remember that can run them in parallel with a separate EQ. I've never had a problem getting a distortion sound I like out my Helix. The only filters I've come across that were any good were MIDI controllable and really what I should heave been doing is playing a keyboard synth and no wasted my time trying to make a bass or a guitar sound like one.

Depends entirely on the circuitry of the pre-amp and power-amp sections. For solid state amps generally you want the gain as high as possible without introducing distortion and then adjust the master volume to give you the overall level you need. For amps with a valve pre-amp and solid state (or Class D) power amp the gain control will usually also act as a drive control. To get the right balance you really need to set it up in the band context as IME bass guitar can nearly always do with a bit more dirt in the mix than you would be comfortable with when playing solo. Have a listen to some isolated bass tracks to see what I mean. They are always more distorted than you would imagine from the overall mix. For all valve amps it's almost entirely down to taste, provided that you haven't got the settings introducing too much noise. Use your ears to get a sound you like not the numbers on the controls.

I didn't even realise that the case doubled as a stand-alone charger until I read it on here. I just thought it was a convenient way of transporting the transmitter and receiver and a handy way of charging both from a single cable.

I don't think there is any song my current band do where I don't have some chorus on the bass. However because I'm using a Helix Floor with several Snapshots for each song, I'm able to vary the type and intensity of the chorus from so subtle you can barely tell it's there to full-on jet flange depending on what is needed in different parts of the song.

Next gig for Hurtsfall is Twisted Firestarter at Rebellion in Manchester on 14th August. This is the Infest warm-up party and in previous years has been extremely popular. I played last year's event with my other band and there were still people queuing to get in after the first band had finished playing, so if you are going to this and hope to see us play I suggest that you get to the venue before the doors open.

From those two choices I'd go for the Fender simply because it's easier to tell which is the transmitter and which is the receiver.

Alternatively intrigued to know why you need any additional pedals.

Which is essentially what most bass cabs are doing, and why I have given up on them for all my Helix Patches. Most of the time I can get a sound that is more suitable for the band mix just using EQ. The only cab sim I'm currently using is a guitar one that is part of a guitar combo model.

Sounds more like a problem with insufficient RF shielding somewhere in the signal chain.