Huge Hands

[quote name='clauster' post='158975' date='Mar 17 2008, 03:02 PM']Just keeping my eyes peeled for an 8 aux send desk that's not too expensive now.[/quote] IMHO, (get me with the acronyms!) there is nothing as versatile or reliable as Allen and Heath for the money (no I don't work for them!). I used to find the GL range reasonably priced, and easy to maintain (usually faders that died that could be swapped out in a few hours as long as it was all unplugged). Their new posh stuff that I think is mass produced in China is not so reliable, but I reckon if something pre-2002 pops up on e-bay it will be reasonable money and quality gear. If you're running that many monitor mixes, then I would have thought having as much input gain control before distortion and control of EQ per channel is vital. These are the first things that suffer on the cheaper desks. In another IMHO, Behringer stuff is dead cheap, snorted on by the pro snobs (I'm proud to be one!) and quite unreliable. I used to use their outboard gear such as quad gates and compressors, because forking out £90 ish every time one died wasn't too much of a problem. When they did work, you got a lot for £90, but expect them to be throwaway. With this in mind, this is why I wouldn't rely on one as the hub of my PA if I was a regular gigging band with a tight budget. My final piece of advice: If your band is as above and you do buy a mixer that has a separate, external power supply, it would be worth finding and spending a bit more on a spare unit as a backup. In dodgy venues with even dodgier electrics, it can be one of the first things to die, or get upset. Worth shutting the gig down for 20 mins to swap, rather than cancelling completely. Some mixers had management units that allowed you to run two at the same time in case this happened, but that's probably overkill. I would like to add that I've now been out of the live event game for about 4 years, so things may have moved on. Apologies if I've upset any manufacturers with my opinions, which are indeed my own!

Don't know if this is too late, but here's my go: I used to run a venue on a tight budget, and our FOH/monitor desks both received the signal via a simple parallel Y-split on each multicore channel. I know this, because I soldered a lot of them myself! Although it may not be "electronic theory" correct, it works and is actually common practice in a lot of PA gear. In my experience it's only those with big budgets (and a deisre to hear no noise in a venue that has a background noise floor of at least 80dBSPL!) that go for proper transformered splits. I think you could have done this without forking out for an annoyingly complicated 110V mixer, although Peavey stuff is usually compatible or switchable to 230V? Th only other thing to note is that we made sure that one engineer knew never to switch the phantom "on" on his desk. In our case it was FOH who ran phantom as we often ran the venue without the monitor desk for simple stuff. The only ever time we ran into problems was when bands insisted on using weird homemade electronic gear, such as a guitarist who once blew a bank of desk channels with his own effects unit thing he was proud of. We also had a keyboard player who insisted on using his own Canford audio XLR passive splits (on top of our own) to give him a kick drum feed to his own monitor setup. I felt it just drained the life out of the signal to our desks, so I banned him from using them. That went down like lead balloon, I can tell you! The joys of a sound man! Who'd be one???? As I always used to say, "People only notice the sound man if they're cr*p"!

I own a Cort C5, which is similar looking to the one you mention, but not as flashy a colour scheme. Once I sorted a bad solder joint, the electrics are good, and I can get a good warm tone. My only real criticisms are: The neck is really flexible and suffers from temperature changes really badly. I have read other reviews and they tend to agree - you do seem to be forever needing to mess about with the trussing on it, or if you're lazy like me, you live with it and deal with however it is when it comes out of the case! I have found that I can actually bend the neck with my hand with little pressure which is worrying. Secondly, and this may only be applicable to the 5 string, but the strings are too close together. This was a plus point and the main reason why I bought it, so that I could get my fingers around a 5 string, but now it's beginning to p*** me off and I'm looking for something new. I would like to add that I've owned it for about 4 years now and played many gigs with it. Apart from when it had the bad solder joint, it's been very reliable and as I am used to it, the above are only really niggles rather than actual hates. Brand new, I reckon you could do a lot worse for under £300. It is also worth noting that I used to be in a blues band that had the major hump with me because this bass looked "too modern". They were more concerned with that than the music. Glad I'm out of it!

I really like Terry Tribett who played with Jill Scott in the early noughties, part of her backing group "Fatback Taffy". His cousin (I think) Erik Tibett is a mentally amazing drummer too. I think they come from the Gospel scene. There are a load of unknown greats on the Philadelpia Nu-Soul scene, as far as I can tell. The hoodie guy in The Roots as well? Just my opinion.

Me as well, been living away from the area for over 12 years now. Say hello to the homeland for me! I just wish the Greggs' down here did stottie cake!

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='157382' date='Mar 14 2008, 01:20 PM']Welcome fellow southerner[/quote] Sorry, I'm not really. I'm an exiled Geordie who moved down here for the job and the woman. Enjoying all three!! Hello to Chardbass. I did pick the right one!!

[quote name='neepheid' post='156690' date='Mar 13 2008, 01:10 PM']Welcome aboard. Do you really have large hands?[/quote] Ummm - yes. I probably won't win any World Records, but it always seems to be a talking point in the pub with "normal people". I don't think it helps me play bass that much though - I think those with long slender fingers would be better off. I've got big banana fingers (or so a previous singer used to always introduce me!)

Hello all, I was recommeded to this forum by a friend. I think I've spotted him on here, but not sure of his "handle" so I'll have to ask him! My name is Stew, I'm 30, and wow! I've just thought about it and realised I have been playing on and off for about 16 years! I am a huge disciple of James Jamerson, and I also rate Chuck Rainey, Willie Weeks, Russell Jackson and Stuart Zender as some of my biggest influences, although I don't claim to be able to play as well as or like any of them! I currently have three axes - (all cheap!). My gigging setup is a Cort C5 and Ashdown MAG300 2x10 combo (with extra plug in 15" bin if really necessary). I also have a Squier Japanese Vintage 4 string Jazz. I love this bass, but wish it had a 5th string! I've had it for 15 years and it was second-hand then. It's not one of the really early ones with "Fender by Squier" on the headstock, but it has got a reasonably low serial number. I reckon it plays and feels better than the new Fenders. Finally, I have a really cheap 3/4 upright. I didn't feel like paying a fortune if I couldn't master it, and as expected, it is already covered in dings and scratches from where it's been dragged around! As a birthday present last year I got a Bob Golihur pickup set for it (probably worth more than the bass itself, especially after Customs and Excise dumped import duty on it!) and am still enjoying messing around with it to get a sound I like. I haven't been brave enough to gig with it yet - I'm not clever enough to be a full on Jazz widdler! Anyway, hope you're all not bored of my yakking already, I'm looking forward to being part of your community, if you'll have me. I'd love to be playing more, but unfortunately a very demanding full time job always gets in the way! Stew