jimmyb625

I had a feeling something wasn't quite right. The window display's been run down in the last week, and the guitar repairs have been advertising that they're moving to Johnny Roadhouse. Shame to see another one go...

[quote name='arthurhenry' post='754772' date='Feb 23 2010, 10:24 AM']A lot of us are a bit precious over our instruments, so what's the best way of politely dealing with this unwelcome request, especially if they've just been eating crisps? On one occasion I arrived at rehearsal for a pantomime gig and met the drummer for the first time in the car park, I carried some kit in including my bass in its case and returned to the car, crossing paths with the drummer again. When I went back into the venue, he was sitting there playing my bass! - Unbelievable![/quote] Surely it's behind you now...?

It may well be too loud. A lot of people are now looking at some really low wattage guitar amps (like 5W Blackstars) so that they can overdrive them, but still keep their ear-drums.

[quote name='thumperbob 2002' post='746493' date='Feb 15 2010, 08:42 PM']"Loud bass, when everything else isn't loud is bass overkill. Loud PA, when everything is balanced in the mix can be overkill for sure, but if the FOH mix is too loud, it can be lowered, retaining the balanced mix - having everything in the FOH mix facilitates greater control (typically by just one person, who usually knows what they're doing and usually has an idea of what a balanced FOH mix entails" !n my experience soundmen do not know what they are doing- only met a couple that did in 30yrs bob[/quote] Bit of a generalisation there? It's like everything, there are good and bad engineers, like there are good and bad musicians. Maybe you've been unlucky, but that doesn't mean they're all like that.

[quote name='johnzgerman' post='747275' date='Feb 16 2010, 02:33 PM']any manufacturer that feels they must write PRO on all of their 'PRO AUDIO GEAR' eg. 'behringer composer pro' or 'ultragraph FBQ pro', is almost certainly not manufacturing 'PRO AUDIO GEAR'. IME the only reliable peice of kit that behringer make and actually does what it is supposed to is their cable tester.[/quote] Yup, this pretty much follows with any piece of equipment. I've seen some really, really cheap and nasty power tools marketed as 'Pro-Quality'. About the only reason pro's would use them is because they're so cheap, you wouldn't care if they were stolen!

They're not cheap, but Pete Cornish cables are virtually bullet-proof....[url="http://www.petecornish.co.uk/hdgtr_bass.html"]Here's a linky[/url]

[quote name='molan' post='466700' date='Apr 19 2009, 01:04 PM']If you're an 'aggressive' slaper then your volume on peak slapped or popped notes is going to be louder than regular fingerstyle playing. A lot of people do use a compressor to tame this but the other thing to do would be to simply lower the volume on your bass a little on those songs that you slap on? Tougher if you're continually alternating between slap & finger style playing of course. If the Mark is definitely not clipping at all but is clipping the PA channel then he should absolutely be reducing the input on the desk. You should always set the level just below the loudest part of anything you're playing rather than at mid-level output. If you have an active sound guy then he could just lower the levels on the desk on the slapped parts but sounds like you have a 'set it & leave it' policy without anyone actually monitoring input live. To test if it's really clipping simply set everything up as normal & then stand in front of the desk and play at your loudest so you can watch the levels. If they are bouncing off the top of the dial then you definitely need to lower the desk input.[/quote] Good info here. To check the levels on the PA, set the channel faders to unity gain (odB) and then use the channel gain input (usually rotary pot) to bring the level up to just below clipping. Quite a few desks have some headroom, so they can take a slight overdrive, but this is mainly to protect them, rather than acts as additional volume. You could always insert a compressor across the bass channel, to control the levels...

[quote name='largo' post='466679' date='Apr 19 2009, 12:41 PM']Bit of background.... My Markbass SA450 amp is DI'ed to the front of house as well as backline. I set the amp up with enough gain to clip the amp using fingerstyle and then back that off just a bit then set my master volume accordingly, according to Markbass manual. However, when I slap/pop (sound's so 80's) my amp doesn't clip but our sound guy (also the guitarist) moans that I'm putting the desk into the red and I'm going to blow the PA speakers !!! For the record, I'm not going to buy a compressor. No rack space and no money :0( Anything I can do? Could he back off the line level to the desk or is he doing things correctly by taking me to just below clipping level as well? I'm not a sound engineer but would like to stand my ground if possible. Cheers,[/quote] A lot depends on the type of desk that you're using. Does it have a selectable mic/line switch? Are you using the XLR input on the desk? On some desks, if you take a DI into the XLR it automatically selects as mic level, so the DI gives it too much gain. You coud try using an attenuator, or an XLR to jack and go in on the jack input.

Given the way things are at the moment, it's a buyers market and someone needs to remind the salesguy/Manager and PMT about this. If you order a high value bass and it's not right, you're perfectly within your right to refuse it. People do it with cars all of the time. As for paying extra for a cab that's not shop-worn, that's just farcical.

Usually the effects loop is located after the preamp and before the power amp. With many 'time based' effects, such as modulation (chorus, flanger, phaser etc) and delay these tend to sound better coming after the preamp. Drive and compression effects are usually placed before the preamp, but this is really down to what suits your ears. I'd try the compression and OD before the amp, ie Bass - Compression - OD - Amp and try the EQ in the effects loop. I have seen that with Bass, some people use the compression last in the chain, so try swapping the two around to see what sounds the best to you.

Damn this old age lark!!

The new Hiwatts are not rated very highly by a lot of guitarists. (for my sins, I am a guitarist, so I talk their language) [url="http://www.vintagehiwattrestorations.com/"]These guys seem to be quite highly rated[/url] they have involved Mark Huss, who's something of an authority on all things Hiwatt. The downside is importing and putting it together. Personally, I've not tried one of the new Hiwatts, so I'm inclined to take the comments with a little pinch of salt, until I get to see/hear them for myself. See if you can find somewhere that stocks them and give them a try, see what you think.

He's already been mentioned, but my favourite is Guy Pratt.

I've got a Hiwatt DR103, which is a fantastic amp, but it's very, very heavy (especially when cased).

Hi there. I'm not really a Manc, but I do work near Old Trafford unfortunately.... Speaking as someone who can't play the guitar, or bass, I envy you!!

I've had great service from vibe-o-tronic as well, but as always, your mileage may vary...

[quote name='Toasted' post='255373' date='Aug 5 2008, 01:41 PM']BYOC is a good place to start.[/quote] +1 I've just got the phaser to add to my guitar pedalboard. Really clear instruction and it will give you a good grounding of how these things go together.

A verbal agreement will still form a contract. At it's most basic, a contract is defined as a service or product given in return for a benefit. It could be argued that the benefit received by the band could be publicity, or free drinks etc, but there is still an implied benefit. Likewise, there is an implied benefit for the pub or club, whereby they can receive a financial benefit from increased bar takings. So, you could [i]probably[/i] win a case if it came to that, although you'd have to be prepared to fight for it.

Musicman Bongo 5 HS for me. It's my only bass (at the moment) but I have one or two guitars as well. Oh well, no-one's perfect

I think you could be right Hamster! Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas

Afternoon all!! Newbie to bass here, but I've been playing guitars long enough to be better than I actually am. Just recently got a Bongo 5 HSP as a 'late' Christmas present, so now I need to set about learning how to play I've been browsing through the threads on amps as well, as I need to get something sorted, although at the moment, I'm going through my HiWatt. Any suggestions? I've heard that MarkBass goes well with the Musicman stuff.