BigRedX

On reflection I don't really think that Idles are my kind of band. I like my performers to look a bit more fabulous and I want my angry aggression to be accompanied by a memorable tune.

Another weird one. Am I missing something really obvious or is it not possible to assign a "switch" control to a Snapshot in HX Edit? For any continuous controller I right click to the right of the value and the list of assignments pops up to allow me to select "Snapshot". When I do the same to a switch nothing happens. However pressing and holding the appropriate parameter control on the Helix itself allows access to this function. Then when I load up HX Edit the parameter has the Snapshot camera icon to the left of it. Any idea why I can't make this assignment in the HX Edit app? The parameters I'm trying to change are in the Obsidian 7000 model and want to be able to control the positions of the Grunt and Attack switches using snapshots.

Which is why when you hear isolated bass guitar tracks, they always have much more drive/distortion on them then is noticeable in the final mix.

The lyrics are great but now Idles need some better tunes to back them up and an image that isn't homeless heroin addicts from the 70s.

One of the problems with "tone woods" is that sometimes there is no choice. Not all of us play P or J basses or their copies. One of the basses I play is only available with an alder body and maple neck and fretboard, so in many ways the choice of woods used to make the bass is irrelevant because there is no choice.

Hurtsfall from our recent gig at the BlaqkhOlesun Festival at Morecambe. 90 seconds of "Revelator" Hurtsfall-Revelator.mp4

In a way I regret selling every single musical instrument I have ever owned. However there is also no point in owning an instrument that doesn't get played because technology has made it redundant (most of my synths), it has become uneconomical to repair (the rest of my synths) or because I have other instruments that are more suitable for my needs (all my fretless basses and those with less than 5 strings).

You'll need to take your laptop to rehearsals then, so you can quickly make the final changes required for the sound to be correct in a band setting. I know I keep banging on about how great the Helix is, but the user interface makes quick changes without the computer a doddle.

The easiest way is to get as close as you can at home and then fine-tune your patches during a technical rehearsal with your band. That means you need to know the user interfaces of your multi-effects back to front so you can make the right changes quickly and effectively (pun intended) in the practice room.

More details of the Leodis Requiem Festival at Wharf Chambers in Leeds Saturday line-up have been released: Doors at 14.00 Bands from first on to last: General Ambi3nc3 (14.30) Astrofaun (15.30) Debdepan (16.30) The Scarlet Hour (17.30) Helle (18.30) Hurtsfall (19.30) Arch Femmesis (20.45) Witch of the Vale (22.00) Sacrilege DJs until late Edit for updated playing times

Are you still going to veneer the whole board?

7 years ago I took a long hard look at my collection of almost 50 guitars and basses and ruthlessly sold all the ones that I wasn't using. I'm now down to 9: Two guitars (Gus G1 and Fretking Esprit) that were custom made for me and which get occasional use when I am writing songs. Two Gus G3 5-strings - a main and a backup for one band I play in An Eastwood Hooky 6-string bass which I use in the other band I play in and a Burns Barracuda which is its backup. A Squier Bass VI, Ibanez Firebird copy and an ancient Kimbara acoustic which will all get sold when I get my act together and list them. There were some real gems amongst the instruments I sold: Two 5-string Overwater Originals, one of which may have been the first 5-string Overwater ever made from 1983. A Pedulla Buzz A Sei Flamboyant 5-string Fretless A Born To Rock F4B A Warwick MiK 5-string StarBass II And a load of other weird and/or rare instruments However I wasn't using them, and wasn't likely to be using them in the near future for anything other than noodling at home, so I sold them all.

Maybe it didn't come across very well, but I was trying to question the assumption that you had to have a device with amp and cab models in it to get the best out of an FRFR cab. I think a lot of my particular bias comes from the fact that most of the time (almost 45 years now) I haven't had anything remotely resembling a traditional bass rig, and even for the relatively brief period when I did, any colouration the amp and cabs added was completely overshadowed by the Bass Pod that was also in the signal chain, something that was brought home by the fact that when I was had a large and small rig the difference in sound between the two could be eliminated by slight EQ tweaks on the Bass Pod.

Why do you need amp and cab models? In real life their primary function is to make your line or instrument level signal loud enough to hear over the drummer. All a modelled amp does is give you a pre-set EQ curve with some adjustments, and is out-performed by any number of dedicated EQ modules. A bass cab is essentially just a low pass filter. IME adding amp and cab models to my Helix signal chain makes the overall sound much worse. I do use a couple of guitar amp models mostly because I either like the EQ frequencies or the drive sound. The rest of my patches don't have any amp or cab models and sound all the better for it. Remember that a lot of classic recorded bass sounds are the bass guitar straight into the desk or studio EQ unit, and haven't been anywhere near a traditional bass rig.

What pile-driver banging? The kick drum on that mix was pretty restrained compared with a lot of dance music.

There's a really irritating squelchy click on the attack of all the "synth" bits that sounds like something in the signal chain overloading.

I still found side dots in the wrong place too distracting, even when I knew they were in the wrong place.

IME there is little point doing merch for a one-off gig unless you are a very well known band. Merch is a long term-investment. Even if you are only playing once a month 4 T-shirts sold at each gig should cover your costs in less than a year. Anything after that is profit.

At the two O2 Arena gigs I have done they had a single PoS location for festival and band merchandise with someone employed by the festival to sell all the merch, so IMO it was worth the 10 or 15% that they took.

I've only come across this twice in the last 15 years (both times at O2 Arenas).

Another thing to consider if you veneer the whole fingerboard, is that the side position markers will then be in the wrong place for an unlined fretless. In my fretless playing days I could only get on with them being in the fretted positions if the fingerboard was very obviously lined. Otherwise I found myself continually playing slightly flat which isn't very good.

Loads of experience with band T-shirts for many different bands. This is what I have discovered. 1. Unless you have a strong visual image that always features a particular 2-3 colour palette stick to black T-Shirts with a white or light coloured print. Everyone likes a black T-Shirt. When I've done white or coloured T-shirts (I was once in a band that had a very strong visual identity based around yellow with red and black, so we had yellow shirts with red and black print) they have never sold as well as black ones. 2. No matter how many young skinny hipsters there are in your audience, IME the people who buy band T-Shirts are mostly L and bigger. The number of unsold Terrortones T-Shirts in S, M and ladies fit sizes will attest to that. By all means have a range of sizes but make at least 2/3 of them L and XL or bigger. 3. If you want to make money out of selling T-shirts, screen printing is the way to go. 100 T-shirts with a single colour print on one side should still work out at under £5 per shirt which means you should be able to make at least 100% profit on every shirt you sell for £10. IMO 100 T-shirts is a minimum order to make it worth while. The more you can get printed in an order the cheaper the unit price becomes. 4. It might sound boring, but T-shirts that obviously feature the band logo always sell well, and have the advantage of turning your audience into walking advertisements for your band. If you want to do something clever, think about printing back and front with the band logo on one side and the clever bit on the other. IME clever T-shirts look great but don't sell as well as ones that are obviously for the band. 5. Store them neatly with the size (and the design if you have multiple designs) clearly labeled. No-one will buy a T-shirt that looks like it's been used to clean the floor of the band van. 6. As others have said have someone working your merch table who isn't involved in having to pack the gear away. Your peak sales will be immediately after you have played and again just before kicking out time, so don't pack your merch away until the last punter has left the venue. 7. Get a card reader. Very few people carry cash to gigs these days. One of my bands has a Sumup machine and the other is still cash only and consequently doesn't sell much merch anymore. If you are taking cash make sure you have plenty of the right kind of change, because you can guarantee that first round of sales of a £10 T-Shirt will all be made with £20 notes.

Song: 12 Long Years (this has been the closing song in the set since the band started in 2018) Band: Hurtsfall Venue: The Bodega, Nottingham Bass: Eastwood Hooky Pro 6 > Line6 Helix > PA

That will make it a bit harder to fit veneers in the slots as you have to cut the width accurately first.

Actually now I know where to look I think the output jack is visible in the first photo (the one of it hanging on the wall).