solo4652

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1425113729' post='2704015'] In the last few years I've tried to become less friendly with band members in bands that are at least out there to earn something, the jam nights and little trio thing are more for fun with a few quid now and again, trying to keep a happy ship etc I now stay out of if I can,I get messages saying "the singer is too busy with her family to learn new songs" cool lets get another one then rather than organising her life like we have in the past. Even though it's for fun keeping it business like to some extent seams to work better, turn up rehearse or play the gig, have a beer and a chat, go home, text dates and repeat. [/quote] Aha! Think I've worked out how to use the Quote button. AWOL singer has just emailed guitarist with a vague "...I'm getting there.....was going to email...probably sort something out with the band sometime in the next 2 or 3 weeks..." That's no good to me but, there again, I'm hopeless at dealing with ambiguity. I've said to the band that we should crack on with finding a new singer and tell AWOL singer that. If it turns out that's not OK with the band, I'm out of there. Steve

Thank you. That's the sort of thoughtful, considered advice I was asking for. For me, this has been a difficult period. I'm the band organiser - I'm getting emails from the rest of the band asking what's happening with our AWOL singer, understandably. I'm trying to balance being sympathetic towards her against the desires of everybody else to push on and find a replacement. I'm also asking myself some questions about whether I can be bothered to do this any more. Another 30 minutes-worth of emails from drummer, guitarist and keys player tonight to deal with. Ok - maybe I'm being a bit too intense about all this, but I do try to respect bandmates' concerns and do what I can to keep a happy ship. Maybe I'm naïve. Maybe it's time for me to change direction, simply concentrate on playing bass and leave band management to somebody else. I genuinely asked Basschat members for some help, and I thank those who have been kind enough to offer advice. Right here, right now, that's what I need. There's a time and a place for everything and, right now, for all the above reasons, I'm not feeling especially jolly or devil-may-care. Just saying. Steve

Yes.

@TimR, post 57. Exactly.

@Huge Hands Band 1; Singer sacked by band leader (not me) for using drugs and being unreliable. Band 2; Drummer grew frustrated with singer and left. So did I. Band 3; Singer not pulling in the same direction as rest of band. She left to do what she wanted, and I genuinely wished her well. Band 4; All going well until singer's domestic situation unravelled suddenly, sadly. Sure, I'm upset about some of the "humorous" personal comments within this thread, yours included, because I think they're ill-informed and needlessly personal. I asked for help and many people have offered it, and that's great. Not everybody has been so inclined. Steve

Yes - I agree with your comments about singers, and I think you're right about band 5. We've put a lot of work into bands 3 and 4, and I'm loathe to walk away from that accumulated effort to start from scratch. I'm scouring JMB, Partysounds, Gumtree etc for possible singers. They're thin on the ground, but being able to offer a keen, reliable, mature, experienced and musically open-minded (within reason - no spandex, gore-rock, "post-industrial hardcore", gangsta rap) band may give us the edge when recruiting.

@ Roland Rock, post 39. (Sorry - I can't seem to get the quote button to work) OK - Obviously, I don't know you, either and so, given that you wouldn't dare speculate on those topics, it's only fair that I'll certainly not speculate about you saying things for effect or lacking sensitivity. Let's move on, shall we?

What's going on here? I started this thread because I am genuinely dazed and confused about what to do next with my bass-playing, not because I wanted to engage in a public debate about whether I'm "an insufferable ballache". Yeah, I saw Roland Rock's ( ) but still wasn't sure how to take his remark. Then, Discreet says "[devilsavocado] Well... it may be true!" FFS.

@ Roland Rock, post no. 2 Can't work out whether that's a serious comment or not. Either way, it's not very helpful, is it?

Band 1; I joined an existing pub covers band. Two rehearsals a week, three gigs, singer sacked, band split. Band 2; I joined a start-up wedding band. One rehearsal a week, three gigs. I left because the singer was not very good. Band subsequently split. Band 3; Put together by me. Pub-covers band. One rehearsal a week, four gigs. Singer left to concentrate on lounge/jazz stuff. Band 4; My current band, which is band 3 with a new singer. After two months, singer's gone AWOL to sort out her marriage. Me; - Utterly frustrated. - I have learned hundreds of songs. I have notes for all of them. I can only play 30 of them from memory, but could dust most of the others off fairly quickly. - Fed up with putting in all the hours, hard work and commitment only to see a band fail. - Very reluctant to start up another band myself. - Wary of joining an existing band with all the existing politics. - Not confident enough to dep What on earth do I do now? Steve

OK - thanks for your patient and informative reply. Looks like fans will be needed then, no matter how clever the box architecture is. Back to the drawing board.

£259 at Thomann; http://www.thomann.de/gb/ashdown_toneman_600_evo_iii.htm

Stop it now! I already have a BB1200, so can't really justify a BB300 as well. Tempting though...

Extra info from seller: "I have not had it long, just long enough to record some backing tracks for my guitar students. Electrics work perfectly, no scratchy sounds from the pots. Also, the truss rod works perfectly and comes with a little spanner to adjust it. There is no damage to it apart from the scratches and chips that were on it when I bought it." Can somebody please buy this before my determination not to fails completely. Thank you.

I'm following this thread out of idle curiosity. I have absolutely no idea how valves, transformers and such stuff work. Just maybe, that might enable someone as ignorant as me to suggest something outwardly daft that could possibly work. Top-of-head musings; 1. Are some valves physically smaller than others? 2. Do some valves produce less heat than others? 3. Do you [i]have[/i] to have fan cooling, with the associated fan, motor, thermostat, wires and noise? How about valve dampers - would they eliminate, or at least reduce the size of fans+gubbins? My home radiators have loads of fins behind them to increase surface area for heat release. [url="http://vintageaudiovalves.com/eat-tubes"]http://vintageaudiov...s.com/eat-tubes[/url] and [url="http://www.guildfordaudio.co.uk/store/category.php?category=Valve%20Dampers&section=Accessories&cattitle=Accessories&page=category"]http://www.guildford...s&page=category[/url] 4. Do the valves [i]have[/i] to be next to each other? If they were separated inside the box, would that help prevent localised heat build-up? Indeed, do the valves have to be inside the box at all? In the best tradition of home decorating, if you can't hide something, make a feature of it. Put the valves on full display with just a minimalist (heat-resistant plastic?) cage/cover for protection? Arab tents use the shape of the funnel-roof to encourage air exhaust and thus cooling. 5. Perhaps the cover could be circular with the airflow sent round a spiral (Dyson vacuum cleaner) to increase the airflow. So; small, cool-running valves placed on their side with heat-dissipation fins/jackets (maybe with a smaller fan system with some sort of venturi-effect airflow accelerator?), placed apart, and placed outside of the main box under some sort of circular minimalist plastic cover that doubles as a clever air-exhaust chimney. I'm sorry. I'll shut up now.

"...and the height of the power bottles pretty much dictate things" Do they[i] have [/i]to stand upright?

Thank you - that's a kind offer. I live in Stockport which sort of rules that out. Might just go mad and drop £30 on a new one, once I've talked it through with keys player and guitarist.

Thanks Ray-Machine. I've just looked at a couple of YouTube vids of The Digitech synth bass wah thingy and it does look interesting. The Octasub function alone is getting close to what I'm looking for. £30 new from DV247, too. Hmmmm....

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I have to admit that the more I read about effects in general and multi-effects in particular, the more I'm wondering if I'm looking down a road that I don't really want to travel. I've sold basses which have either been active or have had too many knobs, and I've sold over-complex amps all in the quest for an uncluttered signal chain. For me, simple is good. I've played in covers bands for 6 years now without any effects. Really, it's just the one song - How will I know - that I'm struggling with. A full-tone key drop alongside the key change towards the end of the song means I'm playing one octave higher than I'd like. Our keys player is busy doing other things in the song, so the bassline is all down to me. I need to work out a way to get the 80's synth sound in the lower register, and that's what I can't do. I have a bass-boost on my amp (GK MB500) which I don't generally use, so I could try that to see if it thickens my tone a bit, but I think it will still leave me without the big bass sound that we need for the song. I generally play with a very clean sound - no grind/clipping/breakup, and fairly mids-forward (the Yamaha BB1200 does that on its own, anyway) All ideas and suggestions (most probably without using any effects) welcome. My rig: Yamaha BB1200, GK MB500 head, two Tecamp XS 112 cabs. Oh, I also have a Behringer BD 121 pedal. Never used it. Thanks, Steve

Boss ME50B is £220! Crikey. Anything out there that does a simpler job, no menus for less money?

Errr, I thought I'd posted this as a New Topic. Apologies to Mods if I've double-posted. Techno-idiot here. I've always aimed at a really simple signal chain; passive P bass, into simple amp head into speaker. No effects anywhere. Very much plug-and-play - I've seen plenty of guitarists bring a band to a standstill while they fiddle endlessly with pedals, dodgy patch cables, e-bows etc. Not for me, thank you. However, It's becoming increasingly clear that my KISS approach may be falling short on some songs in my covers band. |For example, bass-synth on How will I know (Whitney Houston). I've read the "Which multi-effects" threads on here and I very quickly glaze over and become completely confused. Shopping list; Must be as simple and straightforward to use as possible. Mainly interested in octave down, synth effect, on-board tuner, maybe reverb (for singer to use in emergency, perhaps) Not really interested in dirt, grind, flanger, drum-machine, amp modulations, fuzz, wah, tremolo Floor, not rack mounted Hit footswitch to bypass when I don't need effects, which will be most of the time, Small, light, easy to set up. Plug and play Don't need to switch effects mid-song Did I mention that it needs to be idiot-proof since I have no idea how such things work?! Quick web search throws up Zoom B1, Stomplab 1B. Any good? Be gentle with me, please Steve