solo4652

[quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1348863417' post='1819378'] You advanced bass players I have played a cajon at a few jam nights. Quite good fun if you take them in the spirit they are made in! [/quote] First time ever I've been referred to as an "advanced player"! Just bought this: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cajon-Cajon-Sonor-Cajon-Grande-Pro-Range-Cajon-Drum-Free-Sonor-Cajon-Bag-NEW-/180962800039?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Drums_Percussions_MJ&hash=item2a223931a7&nma=true&si=nu7zue8rrkLZqNy2QWnkuVYy4JA%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cajon-Cajon-Sonor-Cajon-Grande-Pro-Range-Cajon-Drum-Free-Sonor-Cajon-Bag-NEW-/180962800039?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Drums_Percussions_MJ&hash=item2a223931a7&nma=true&si=nu7zue8rrkLZqNy2QWnkuVYy4JA%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557[/url]

First go with cajon last night at rehearsal. Two guitars, two singers, all going through the PA. They referred to it as an "acoustic" session. Me and the cajon were not miced. I think the cajon was a fairly cheap one. It lives in the rehearsal room. I watched a few videos beforehand just to get the basics sort of right. I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed. The snare sound was OK but the "bass" sound was thin and indistinct to my ears. Of course, it was my first ever go so my technique was awful, but I'm left wondering if a decent, deep-ish bass tone is possible with a cajon. I came across an "extra large" cajon on the web that was supposed to give a deeper/richer bass tone by virtue of its size. Can this be true? Or am I expecting too much from a box with a hole? Enjoyed it anyway. Made a nice change to root, 3rd, 5th. Steve

I play in a noisy pub-rock band with two guitarists, a drummer who thinks he's John Bonham and a singer who doesn't do quiet or subtle. My rig is a GK MB500 (weighs less than 2 Kgs) and a Barefaced Compact (14 Kgs). I don't think you'll get much lighter than that! Absolutely no problems making myself heard with bags of spare volume on tap. I'd also suggest the behringer BDi21. I've just bought one as an emergency backup in case either my head or cab fails at a gig. You can plug your bass straight into the desk via the BDI with no head or cab at all. I've only tried this at rehearsal and it worked surprisingly well. If you have a decent PA it might be well worth trying for £30. Steve

[quote name='SteveO' timestamp='1348675252' post='1816808'] self built here too. It really is easy and cheap - about a tenner for the bits and that included the snare. lots of plans on the web. [/quote] Build?! Make?! From scratch? Sorry, I'm not with you. For me, DIY = Destroy It Yourself.

[quote name='Mog' timestamp='1348620847' post='1816180'] If you fancy building one there's some plans posted by some of the guys in a thread I started in the other instruments section. The builds are easy enough, Im working on my forth at the moment. When it comes to playing I reckon the secret is to not over complicate things. I use one at acoustic sessions and usually try to play basic patterns which mimic the baseline. [/quote] I'd entirely missed the Other Instruments section - dooh. I can borrow a cajon for the next couple of weeks, so I'm going to do that just to see how I feel with it. Looking forward to it. Better forewarn the neighbours. Steve

Hi folks, I'm interested in trying my hand(s) at Cajon, with a view to acoustic sessions alongside our singer and lead guitarist. I'd welcome any advice on: What's a good make to look for? What's a good material? (I've seen some advertised made of MDF!?) Any particular features to look for - padded seat? well-rounded edges and corners? adjustable snares? Let's say there is £120 available. Which would you buy? Cheers, Steve

[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1348254838' post='1811584'] Mine is on when the red LED is on?! That's quite confusing. Liam [/quote] Yes - you're right. I've just re-read the instructions: "The LED illuminates when the effect is activated". "The effect" = all the tone functions (EQ, Drive, Tube emulation). When they're deactivated (LED light off), "...the BDI functions solely as a transparent DI box". So, I'm confused now! When using the BDI with no head and no speaker, it seems I was getting best results when the tone functions were turned off. When they were on, I immediately got hiss, lower volume and more muddiness, especially with the G&L. I'll need to do some more experimenting. Steve

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1348221930' post='1810990'] Probably not but you can It's just foam and mdf IIRC [/quote] Anti-vibration mats: [url="http://www.keepitquiet.co.uk/vibration_pad.html"]http://www.keepitquiet.co.uk/vibration_pad.html[/url] [url="http://www.soundsolutionconsultants.co.uk/acoustic-product/sound-mat.aspx"]http://www.soundsolutionconsultants.co.uk/acoustic-product/sound-mat.aspx[/url] [url="http://www.polymax.co.uk/rubber-anti-vibration-mount/rubber-pad/rubber-anti-vibration-mat"]http://www.polymax.co.uk/rubber-anti-vibration-mount/rubber-pad/rubber-anti-vibration-mat[/url] [url="http://www.studiospares.com/sound-insulation/acoustistop-rubber-floor-tile/invt/465130/"]http://www.studiospares.com/sound-insulation/acoustistop-rubber-floor-tile/invt/465130/[/url]

I've just bought a Behringer BDI21 as a back up in case either my head or cab fails. I used it tonight at rehearsal with no head or cab. Plugged the bass straight into the desk via the BDI21. It worked very well - better than I was expecting. Certainly enough power and loudness to cope with a pub gig. Unsurprisingly, it didn't sound quite as sharp and clear as my usual gig rig, but it was perfectly acceptable as a back up. In fact, I've decided not to take my head or cab to rehearsals now - I'll just take the BDI and use the PA that lives in the rehearsal room. Saves lugging my gig rig to and from rehearsals. Some initial observations regarding using the BDI without a head or amp: Using my G&L L2000 bass, best results seem to be with bass on passive, blended pickups, all knobs set mid-way on BDI Using my Ibanez Blazer or Fender MIJ P, best results were all knobs set to mid-way on BDI. The Blazer in particular sounded very good with the BDI adding some richness to the Blazer's natural middiness to give a full, lush tone. With the Fender P, the BDI's tube emulation was getting a bit close to producing a bottom-heavy thumpiness that was almost too thuddy. Depends what you're after, of course. With all the basses, turning off the BDI but leaving it plugged in didn't work too well. There's quite a lot of noise, the tone is a bit woolly and the volume is reduced. So, either use the BDI as a combined DI and tube emulator, or unplug it completely and remove it from the signal chain. One final point: the red light on the BDI is pretty small and faint - in a brightly-lit rehearsal room it was difficult to see whether it was iluuminated or not. Also, Red light illuminated means the BDI is turned off - I find that confusing because red lights on my head generally mean a function is turned on. Hope some of that helps, Steve

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/early-sixties-ANTORIA-Bass-project-60s-vintage-Ibanez-Goldentone-/261097473626?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cca9f465a"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/early-sixties-ANTORIA-Bass-project-60s-vintage-Ibanez-Goldentone-/261097473626?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cca9f465a[/url]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1347731431' post='1804452'] A DI box won't boost the level of your signal massively. Some allow for tone shaping (the BDI being one) and some (the one that you've got at the moment) don't have any EQ on them - the tone going into them is the same as the tone coming out. What a DI box does is to 'balance' the sound to (in theory) eliminate any humming/electronic noise and change the impedance to around 600Ω, which means that the signal can go along ridiculously long cables without any significant loss. My personal recommendation would be one of these: [url="http://www.davehallamps.co.uk/page42.html"]http://www.davehalla....uk/page42.html[/url] Really useful EQ section and stupidly low noise units - a bit more expensive than the BDI though. [/quote] Thanks Paul. Sounds like I need an active DI box that's small and light. I don't need any tone-shaping, effects or EQ of any kind. I just use the tone knob on the bass (and even then, only occassionally - I like to keep things really simple) Just need 1/4" jack in and XLR out, I think. Any recommendations, please?

The DI box I have already is an ART Z-Direct passive box. I've never used it. If my head fails at a gig, would my passive DI box boost the signal enough to send it straight to the desk? Or would I need an active DI box? I don't really want a load of effects, so I don't think I need the Behringer BDI21. What's a good, simple effects-free alternative, please? This? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ACTIVE-DIRECT-INJECTION-DI-BOX-GUITAR-BASS-KEYBOARD-CHORD-173-291-/261097039090#vi-content"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ACTIVE-DIRECT-INJECTION-DI-BOX-GUITAR-BASS-KEYBOARD-CHORD-173-291-/261097039090#vi-content[/url] Thanks for the help so far, Steve

Folks, I have an GK MB500 head and a Barefaced Compact cab. No effects at all. If the cab fails at a gig, I have a DI box that enables me to go from the head to the mixing desk. What happens if the amp fails? OK - I could simply have a back-up amp at hand and that's something I'm looking into. Is there an alternative? What about a Behringer BDI21? In an emergency, could I plug the bass into the Behringer and run a feed from that straight into the mixing desk? Will that signal be strong enough? If not the Behringer, then what? I don't need any effects at all. Bear with me please - I'm not that clued-up on signal-path technicalities. Steve

[url="http://www.indieguitars.com/product-2.cfm?ID=36"]http://www.indieguitars.com/product-2.cfm?ID=36[/url] History seems to take in UK, Canada and Korea. Anybody got one? Specs look good on paper, but how do they sound and play? Selling them off pretty cheap at the moment - can buy an ex-demo one for £199.

[url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/beautiful-custom-american-fender-precision-bass/109687488"]http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/beautiful-custom-american-fender-precision-bass/109687488[/url]

Something's not quite making sense to me here. Why didn't the band/agent say something like: "We'd like you aboard. Is there any way you could slim down a bit?" Why was the OP apparently not given that option? I just wonder if the the [i]true[/i] picture might be a little more complex than somebody's girth.

[url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/musicman-sub-bass-guitar/107070187#gallery-item-full-1"]http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/musicman-sub-bass-guitar/107070187#gallery-item-full-1[/url]

We played a rowdy trailer-gig last week and survived, even though our drummer wrecked the drum kit that was supplied. Two further suggestions for you: Sounds obvious I know, but make sure that at least one member of the band is with the equipment at all times, including setting up. Don't all walk off and leave a tempting load of kit while you have a break/drink/loo break/whatever. Be careful when loading cars at the end. Again, make sure at least one person stands guard over open cars while you walk back and forth. It's not unknown for thieves to wait until this time to nick things. Good luck with your gig. Steve

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-Never-Owned-Mint-Condition-Yamaha-BB1500A-Electric-Bass-Guitar-/180948446905?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2a215e2eb9"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2a215e2eb9[/url]