Huge Hands

If only life was that simple. You're talking about one guy/girl in a venue who has probably never met the band before v 3-6 mates who can't even address volume issues with themselves, let alone listen to a total stranger. You will get comments like "all sound engineers are @resholes" but you have to be quite strong, direct and thick skinned to do it, otherwise soundchecks turn into chaos while guitarists widdle for 2 hours and lead vocalists chat up the barmaid. - and you might still have another 3 bands to check. I have lost count of the times I have pleaded with guitarists to turn down, to think of the gig, but they start staring into space and continue ragging their rig because it is their sound. I'm only glad I never had to do FOH for Jimi Hendrix! I used to have few tricks up my sleeve too, like making monitors feedback, turning monitors off etc, but only in extreme cases of someone being an @rsehole themselves. Ultimately, stupid games like that only affect the gig, and the man with the mic has the ultimate power of being able to slag you off mid gig, whether you deserve it or not. What we all have to remember is sound is subjective. What sounds better to me might be totally worse to others. This is why bigger bands tend to find engineers they agree with and stick with them/take them on tour. Not a luxury most of us get.

Sometimes though (not saying in your case as I don't know the facts) you have a small venue with a nice PA but then the bass player turns up with an 8x12 and/or the guitarist has a Marshall stack on 11 and/or the drummer only knows to hit to a point where he breaks 2 pairs of sticks in a song. In those cases, the PA system that is probably perfectly suited to the venue becomes redundant, and people start moaning at the engineer (who is also now pretty redundant) that they can't hear the vocals over the racket. I get that people have "their sound" but there always needs to be a compromise on both sides to make the gig work. Having said that, rightly or wrongly, the profession tends to standardise with setting up the drums first, starting with the kick drum. I have seen so many poor engineers spend half an hour setting up the kick drum to the point where the PA is going into clip, then as they're running short on time, try and quickly squeeze the rest into the mix without backing the kick drum off when the PA is already maxxed out.

There are some sound engineers that are experts, and there are a lot that don't have a clue what they're doing. In my experience of doing FOH engineering, there could be a couple of reasons for this: The venue has a "sweet spot" where the engineer is, but you're stood near subs so don't get a proper representation of the mix. The touring engineer has a stored mix that he/she should be tweaking to suit the venue, but hasn't for whatever reason The engineer is incompetent... I know that when I did it, I was based in a venue with an underpowered PA. When we eventually got some budget to put a decent PA in there, it did take a little while to adjust to not just want to blow the roof off with my new sub power.... My complaints were more around bass than kick drum though...

Are you always using the same amp? You say you've tried it in different places, but don't mention if the same amp was with it? Perhaps try it plugged into a different amp, or borrow a mate's bass and try that in your amp, see which part of the chain is causing the issue?

Interesting kit/kick drum/pedal layout. I wonder how that helps him. Nothing wrong with it, if that's his choice, just interested....

I think a lot of this is to do with some players being extremely powerful and the collective might of such a big ensemble. Many viola and similar players probably start out in small quartets and then don't change their methods when they join huge ensembles. I play electric bass in a wind and brass concert band. Even though the trombone is known as one of the loudest acoustic instruments, we have one trombone player who seems to always be able to get painfully loud without trying. He is famed for it in a joking way in the band and seems to be proud of it but I wouldn't want to sit in front of him. Even when he's not there, the levels of the whole band playing ff can get silly - I can end up having to crank my amp quite loud, even though I'm the only amplified instrument. Funnily enough the only people I see wearing ear protection are the drummer who hits hard and the Bari sax player who only has one dynamic - almost as loud as the trombone player... I also remember playing trombone at school myself and remember our section being a bit arrogant about how loud we could play - there was one lad in particular who loved to run up behind other players and blast a note to startle them - if we kids knew what we know now, he'd have had multiple court cases against him!

Ok, so I'm going to say this with no proof, other than a feeling... I have a B1 Xon on my main pedal board, which only ever gets dusted off on big gigs which I don't do that often. When I have used it, I tried to use it as volume pedal, so my custom patch has all effects/dynamics off, but it constantly sits on in the loop with only the ability to do volume. I have always felt that even with all settings set as flat as possible, the B1 feels like it is adding a limiter/compression to the signal path. I had a Tonebone Bassbone feeding it which would switch between passive/active basses or bass/EUB. I was sure I could feel it to various levels on all basses. I figured I was causing it by poor gain structure somewhere in my signal chain which would overdrive something, but I have never managed to get to the bottom of it. It's harder to spot in different scenarios (room size, headphones etc). and it could just be me being paranoid. I'm just wondering if the Zoom circuitry could be more prone to go into saturation somewhere along the line, which is more noticeable on your higher input active basses?

Hi Stew, I had a similar dilemma few years ago but wanted an FX loop too, so went for the Radial Tonebone Bassbone V2. Was a fair bit of cash, but it was good for me. Word of caution, I don't know if the newer models like the one above are different, but the older Radial pedals like mine aren't compatible with a standard 9v pedalboard supply, so you end up having to plug the supplied adaptor into a 13A socket. Wasn't a deal breaker for me, but may be for you. Yours, HH (also Stew). EDIT: OK, I just looked, and it looks like it is 9V.....

That was my first thought. My boy is 8 and only on his 5th drum lesson. I predict a very long and painful road to get anywhere near any grade standard, bless him

I was looking into the very same a couple of years ago. On the Bach website, you could zoom in on the example photos and the fit and finish didn't look good so I didn't bother. You'd have thought they would have put their very best one up there, so if that was their best, I wasn't interested in getting a lesser version....

There is a really good Tiny Desk concert with him on Youtube that has been posted on BC before - same bass player. Note that it has some choice "urban" language at the start, so be careful of who is around you if you play it out loud.

Did someone mention me? I've always had a similar issue when trying to learn guitar in the past. I also think there is a big difference between those with long, slender fingers, and those like me with massive ham fists, I find that my paws get in the way of stretching acros frets etc.etc.

I played in a band for years where the guitarist would insist on counting all the songs in (because they usually always started with some sort of bluesy widdle halfway through a bar) but his count would usually be at a totally different speed (and at worst time signature) to what he would then start playing. His favourite was to stamp his foot instead of counting at gigs because he thought it was more subtle, but would end up sounding like some sort of angry hobnailed Long John Silver, and would stamp so hard it would get slower and slower as he got to "...four" but would then blast off at a totally different playing speed. Luckily me and the drummer were wise to him, and usually came in at the right spot...

Fixed

I have the B1-Xon. I bought an adaptor from Ebay for mine which worked fine, then I put it on a pedalboard and ran it from a standard multi power supply, equally with no problems. However, I had it for a few months first on only batteries, and I used it a fair bit without having to change them. I wish I used mine more, but I don't currently play much music that requires FX, and because I've mounted it on a board setup, it makes messing about with it at home less practical without pulling it all apart. I do like the drum machine/loop functions when I have played with it though.

Anything with Isaac Hayes (RIP), but specifically his version of "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" from the Hot Buttered Soul album, with the whole strings and brass going on.... I love that track. Lovely slow groove with loads of dynamic shifts.

I didn't get that far, they were on their way back and talking to my little lad who would have been non-the-wiser. I wouldn't want to steal WoT's thunder, anyway

My mam and dad were at the afternoon show- they loved it.

Hi Paul, as long as the voltage (12V) is the same, and the output is the same i.e. AC current or DC current, and the current rating of the replacement PSU is the same or greater than 300mA, you should be fine. The other thing to check would be the connector - obviously that it is the same type/size as your unit, but also that the polarity is the same, - for example - positive goes to tip, negative to ring (I haven't looked up your unit, this is just an example).

I tried a set of Roto 88s on my 5 string Harley Benton acoustic after the original brass ones were way too zingy, and loved them. I then bought another set and put them on a modded Squier P5 I have. I noticed when gigging with it that there was one song we did with a lot of repeated fast notes in it where it felt like the strings were struggling to keep up with my fingers due to the low tension. I normally play fairly high tension flats, so may just be what I'm used to.

I like it, but I get what you're saying. The drummer (Pete Ray Biggin) currently plays with Level 42 and is a top UK session drummer. I got to do front of house sound with him on quite a few gigs when he was 19 and playing with Jimmy James around 1999. He had an amazing feel, and as a drummer myself, I never wanted to play again after seeing/hearing him - so I'll forgive him a lot, even though on this occasion, I don't feel the need. I like this and the original. He was a good laugh too.

I guessed they did that because he's not one of Lola's Day Off. Perhaps its a famous mate of Pete's (drummer) disguised?

This has been up there for over a year now IIRC, but there doesn't seem to be anything else posted. Wonder if it was a short lived project?

I read the full interview, it all sounded like QJ was on a bit of a wind up to me. I think he has the stereotypical Jazz attitude that those that haven't studied to a Jazz level aren't great musicians, but that's up to him. It obviously has done his internet recognition no harm, I've seen several "Have you read the Quincy interview?" comments from muso mates on social media. As regards to the Beatles, I'm sure Sir Paul isn't bothered. Regardless of his ex-wife legal troubles, I'm sure he's still got just as much if not more cash than QJ. I don't think he needs us to fight his battles for him...

To repeat Ceebass' comment, I cannot add anything to the licencing debate, but I really enjoyed the track (or should that be tracks?). Two of my favourite songs mixed together. Good stuff!