redbandit599

Hi Bert Makes sense, and that's what I'd do. But (knowing my brother in law well) he's the kind of guy who'd like some technical insight before getting up the courage to go to a singing teacher. He's an engineer and these guys need information. With a bit of basic information, even just terminology etc he will feel more confident and able to understand what the teacher discusses and also to articulate what he needs. That's where I think maybe a forum, video etc could help initially. Cheers Jason

There's the Akai Unibass if you can find one, which adds an octave up to your original signal, plus a fifth above if required. Has distortion and noise gate built in, I'm still experimenting with mine and running the octave signal into the pa rather than through the bass amp, sounds better. Or, there was a link on here with details of a discount code for Mooer pedals from a dealer in the states recently. They have a pedal that might do the octave up thing for you, though you may need to split the signal if you want to retain your original note too. Think these were about £30-£40 with the discount.

Hi all We're trying to break in a new singer (he's my brother in law so no nasty sackings, punch ups etc...), he's a real fan of the type of music we play, mostly classic metal and hard rock and can hit the right notes most of the time. But, he is an absolute beginner and so learning as he goes with somewhat sporadic practices (families, work and shifts get in the way for us old rockers these days...) Do any of you know of any good online resources/guides/lessons that would help a new singer learn his craft? I'm thinking maybe tutorial videos, but also it might be good if he could plug in his mike to his pc, sing along to tracks and listen back. This secod idea sounds simple enough, but not something I've done before and I've no experience of recording via a PC. Any tips or advice welcome! Cheers all Jason

Hi Bluesparky Bit late picking this up, all I can say is thanks for a great weekend! It really was an awesome show. Cheers J

Sonisphere 2010 had the same headliners. I'd played and heard a couple of Rammstein tracks but didn't know much about them. I would say that a large proportion of the crowd were the same. During the gig, got talking to a real old campaigner Maiden fan (think he clocked a rare Maiden (Nodding Donkeys) t-shirt from an undercover pub gig they played in Norwich that I'd been too and was wearing) and his comment was 'I've followed Maiden for well over 20 years and I've never seen anything like this, I don't know how they'll (maiden) follow it tomorrow." The crowd were absolutely gripped by the show, you couldn't take your eyes away. This was to such an extent that a large proportion of the crowd were still hanging around watching the crew start to strip down the set because we still thought something else was going to happen. Suffice to say my mate (guitarist) and I spent the next few weeks gibbering on about just what an amazing show Rammstein put on. Since then I've seen them at the O2, which was also fantastic. Though if pyro is your thing, go for an outside gig, bigger, hotter, higher and louder. At Download I suspect they may cause problems for the aircraft coming into the nearby airport... Did Maiden follow it? Well I think the two bands approach things very differently. Rammstein put on a fantastic show (best I've seen) and have some very good songs, Maiden were on great form and played a fantastic GIG and that's a different thing (plus, they've got a few absolute landmark songs up their sleeve.) Enjoyed both immensely and so glad we ditched the awful and over rated Motley Crue early to see Rammstein up close! Haven't been to Donnington since the Monsters of Rock days, going back this year...

I've just got an Akai Unibass UB1 for this purpose, they are discontinued but there are a few about. I got mine on here by contacting a member who had one for sale on an old post that looked like it had never been closed out, and sure enough it worked and I got one for sensible money rather than the Ebay rate! Still experimenting with it at present, and the jury is out. It can add an octave above plus a fifth or a fourth, and has it's own distortion and noise gate. The distortion is a bit 'cheesy' and I found running it into the bass rig clouds the bass a bit too much (but I might be able to tweak this once I use it more in a band setting). Clean it's a bit nasty, doubt that it will ever get any use clean. Tracks pretty well as long as you have a good strong input signal, other wise it invents new notes. Probably best when used with pretty straight ahead lines though. It's monophonic so chords are out, way out.... What I'm going to try is running the octave signal out into the PA and using a (cheap but quite well reviewed) Behringer GDI 21 guitar amp modeller along with the built in delay/reverb of our pa. Had one quick go like this and it sounds more likely to produce usable results. My tone conscious guitarist (who was out front) declared it "a bit boxy, but that can be good in the right place." So, it must have some potential. One things for sure it'll be able to syncopate and keep time better than our second guitarist can...

Blimey! First time anyone has ever explained what goes on in my head, patterns are all I can remember. Now i don't feel guilty! Cheers!

I'd love to see someone turn up at a festival and try and support Slayer with one of these. It'd make the 'chicken wire' scene from the Blues Brothers look like a snowball fight.... That said, quite a nice toy I'm sure.

Thanks for the welcome all. Bert, you're not a journalist by any chance? Some 'creative' editing there! But, your theory comments make a lot of sense and ring true. Thanks! I'm thinking I might start a thread in Effects along the lines of 'Which stomp boxes are the most fun with toddlers?' Wonder if there's anything that causes a 'remote control dancing response' bit like getting cats to chase a laser pointer maybe...

Hi all I've been a member for a while but have never got round to posting an intro. Bought a few effects though... I've been playing bass for about 20 years, and used to gig a lot in the local pub circuit. I'm still in a 'band' with good friends, but with young families and weird shifts getting in the way, the occasional practice is about as good as it gets these days. I'm a competent but pretty basic player. I'd like to advance but am beginning to think that I'm a bit 'theory dyslexic', I'm not thick, but no matter what I read it doesn't seem to sink in to any degree. At least not in any way that is actually useful anyway. I've recently entered the world of effects and am enjoying making weird noises (as is my 3 year old daughter, who particularly enjoys a bit of Bass Synth Wah and Big Muff...) Cheers all! Jason

I think our smoke machine used to empty the dance floor, though it was often hard to tell...

We used to play a pub with one of these, but rather handily there was a plug socket behind a fridge on the bar that wasn't connected into the circuit. My advice is go hunting for those magic sockets and see if you can keep the damn thing red all night. Bit dodgy running a 5 piece rock band, pa, lights, monitors, smoke machine off one socket mind

Another +1 for the DHA VT1, can go from 'just there'(which is what I guess you want) to a nice organic break up or even a decent fuzz. I like the paint jobs, goes with my home made pedal board which my daughter kindly decorated for me (she's 3 next week, so you'll get the idea....) Just sold my Sansamp mostly because it was took over too much for me.

I think that's fair comment around re-sale value, a lot of this is driven by name and that's understandable. I don't change gear often so this is never a consideration for me. I've got the 'Stingray Style' pick up on my Sanberg California, sounds great and it's what I want, but I'd agree it doesn't sound like a Stingray. If it's the Stingray sound you want and build quality is up to scratch then I think your choice is pretty easy. I must admit part of the Sandberg attraction for me is that it's not so well known, and I still get a kick out of spotting those four little silver circles on numerous professional musicians basses that 99% of the crowd will think are the ubiquitous Fenders. Just wish I could play the damn thing as well they can....

Hi mate I can't comment on the specific Sandberg model, I have a California JM5, or the Stingray (which do always sound great), only thing I'll offer is that I've had several Fender players look a bit sick when they see the difference in build quality between the Sandberg and their USA Fenders. Of course, the Stingray may have similar quality build, but something to consider I suppose.

If you do try the 'play the same mistake again' approach, don't forget to scowl at the guitarist at the same time like it's their fault. Works a treat...

Thanks both for the tips, the order isn't set by any means as yet and I will certainly try out your recommendations. At the moment I'm still going through the 'what happens if I turn them all on at once stage!?', once I've had enough of making Dr Who sound effects I'll probably settle down and work out some actually usable tones. Agree about the Sansamp, low gain sounds best to me, so might just end up using it for a little grit, and the other channels for a volume boost and something with extra top end. Who knows, still it'll keep me fiddling for a while. Time for another coat of paint and a few holes to be drilled into my scrap wood pedal board. Fun these effetcs, going to terrify my guitarists though....

Brilliant thanks! This has sorted it, I thought I'd tried every permutation but obviously not this. The labelling threw me, Output 1 is labelled 'dry' and Output 2 'effect', to my mind that made me think that (as I'm not getting into any fancy loops or two amp set-ups)I'd need the 'effect' channel. Obviously, I don't know what I'm talking about! Thanks for putting me straight, though I still can't work out how it managed to nullify effects before it in the chain. Weird. Just out of interest I'm currently planning an order of synth wah - chorus - flange - sansamp - compressor. I read that the Synth Wah works best with as clean as signal as possible (and I'll mostly be using it's octave feature.) The jury is out on if I need/want the compressor and Sansamp currently. I think I might end up trading the Sansamp for a decent straight overdrive pedal. Thanks once again for your quick help, I owe you a beer! Jason