la bam

Yep, theres no way the popular most common machine head tuner is the best.

Just a thing we take for granted as the design is almost identical on 95% of basses, but is the standard tuner or machine head a flawed design?

Constantly having to be adjusted (mostly albeit only slightly) due to playing, and always getting caught and turned in transit case or bag.... or catching on something somewhere.

Are these are flawed design we put up with - or the best solution for the job.

Pick out the root notes of each phrase and just play them to start. The piece then will be correct and sound correct.

You can then start to add in the notes that join up when you feel comfartable with them. 

This way youll work out where the important notes are and always be on time rather than cramming 100 notes in and the whole section being out of time.

I did this with somebody to love by queen. It sounds daft but after a bit you start to automatically add in the filler notes and know what is right and wrong with your ears.

Great cheap option - behringer bd121 and spectracomp.

That finish looks awesome!

After all that the shop didnt have one in stock.

So after big consideration ive ordered a spectracomp. I like the idea of the one knob so i dont mess my settings up, and the amount of toneprints available. Should receive it on monday.

Id get a markbass compressore but £180 is a lot.

Im after replicating what i use the compressor on my markbass amp for but for walk in gigs which is just balancing the strings, nice volume control and no change in sound quality.

Does anyone know if this is suitable for bass?

Is there any tweaking needed etc?

Absolutely nowhere near me has the spectracomp, but plenty have this pedal.

Having bought one and used one and carried one upstairs to practice rooms and gigs i can honestly say they are worth much more than they used to cost anyway and a price hike wouldnt put me off buying another.

Thats why i dont like jam nights or jamming.

Theyre not jam nights, theyre play something the guitarist can noodle over and show off nights.

If youre di ing from your amp, isnt the best option to not have a sansamp?

From what i can gather a sansamp is ideal if you can create your sound from the sansamp box and send that to the pa and just use whats on stage for monitoring.

It sounds like what youre doing is keeping your desired sound on stage and sending a different sound to the desk pa?

Id either send the full sound from your trace di or create a completely separate sound using your sansamp and pedals and send that to the desk then the output to the onstage amp and adjust as desired.

apologies - this is a 8U rack. NOT a 12U.

thanks.

Ive been gigging for nearly 20 years. Id never used a compressor.

Then recently i joined a tribute band where the bassist i was to try and be plays constantly all over the neck rather than just in the low pockets (which had been my previous playing style).

It became immediately obvious to me that my higher lighter strings where much quieter and needed balancing out.

Compressors had always confused me due to their 4 or 5 dials and undescript titles.

As luck had it i bought an amp that had a one dial compressor on and it was a revelation. Just using a tiny bit balanced my sound and tightened nicely with no loss of tone.

Id describe compression as the effect that shouldnt be needed. The kind of 'how you should sound' using just bass and amp - a nice and rich balanced volume and sound. Certainly not anything anyone would notice on hearing your tone for the first time, apart from yourself as you know how your sound is without it, but definitely a real improvement tool to use.

Just received one of these as an emergency DI for any plug and play jobs.

I cant believe how good a pedal it is for £25.

Its certainly not flimsy, and its not so much a stomper pedal so should last. Im very impressed with the dials too - very stiff (in a good way) so they wont move position without real effort.

It really warms any amp sound ive tried it with. Hopefully itll sound great as a DI into PA too.

Youll have approx 45 mins to get in, get set up, sound check and be ready between the breakfast finishing and reception starting.

Being slick is essential. Some venues are great and helpful, and some are useless. Be prepared.

Heaven - really locking in with the drummer and creating fantastic dynamics.

Hell - pentatonic walking / galloping basslines. Never ever liked playing them. Theyre designed to make you dance, relax and move, but i cant play them without being frozen to the spot. Never enjoyed playing songs like that.

I love mark bass amps. I think theyre amazing.

However, i really dont like mark bass cabs. They always sound as if the sound is coming from a long way away rather than were the cab is situated to me.

I went for a barefaced super compact and that really brought the amp to life.

Its the perfect place for market research for an amp maker!

Avoid paypal one.

Theyre idiots. I used mine for business and they then kept all the money in the account and would only release a max of £400 a month, citing potential refunds. They said they could hold the money for 90 days!!

I went absolutely crazy at them and said they had no right to tell me when i could access my money. Frightening thing is, they took some convincing and i had to go through about 10 layers of complaints dept until they would release the rest.

They genuinely might like the practice more than the gig and look forward to an informal no pressure meet up once a week, a chat, drink and a good blast out playing wise. More of a social night out than a project to drive for gigs.

Haha! Yep! Without knowing it ive probably evolved into a grumpy old sod!

Next gig i go to im going to tell them its too loud, stick my fingers in my ears and tell everyone to stop pushing when theyre enjoying themselves!

Divide the venue:

Left hand side phones, text, facebook, whatsapp, ipads, videoing allowed.

Right hand side no phones allowed.

See who has the better time. And watch the left hand side want to come over and join the fun......and then film it to show their mates!

8 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

A little melodramatic?

I see lots of phones... but I do not see any sign of any life being taken away from gigs because of that. I don't like having my view obstructed, but let's not make up stories

Maybe

But when youre really really looking forward to a gig and youre surrounded by some bloke shouting down the phone looking for his mates to wave at across the venue, another twiddling away on facebook, someone talking to a baby sitter for 10 minutes, plenty others holding a phone up as high as they can to film meaning you cant see past them, with no consideration for others and the constant barage of clowns making everyone stand so they can squeeze past everyone and go and get a pint, then again when they come back, and again when they then need the toilet, and youve paid £100+ for the privilege to sit/stand amongst a crowd for who the band comes 3rd or 4th in their priorities for the next hour after phone, facebook and beer, i think its fair to whinge a bit!

All the above stopped me going to concerts years ago. Feom what i hear from friends or family who do still go, they get just as annoyed.

I cant stand how mobile phones are almost completely attached to people now. People have a genuine problem / addiction with them. How did we ever survive before them? 

As much as i can understand the emergency call issue (and i can) by the same worry how do people gig? Go swimming? Go to the cinema? Go for a job interview? Get married? All those things take approx the same amount of time as a concert.

Its just a sad fact of life now.

The people arent doing anything wrong, and younger concert go ers wont know any different. But i remember when you went to a gig to encapsulate all what was good about it - the atmosphere, the music, the performance, the dancing. Everyone had the same intention.

Go online and look at Queen at wembley 86. 100,000 all getting involved together and truly loving it. Then look at a modern day concert. Lifeless, cameras everywhere, half the crowd not interested in living in the moment because theyre too busy standing still to get a good video.....

Such a shame.