Huge Hands

One of the points I've not seen mentioned yet is that I was always told when doing a bit of music business studies about 25 years ago that big bands used to see touring as a "loss leader" to promote record sales. I seem to remember being told gigs like Pink Floyd and their huge Wall building tour or Fleetwood Mac and their 7 separate limos between airport and gig would cost more than they got from ticket sales at the concert, but they would still amass a fortune from those people going home and buying their albums. I've read so many stories of UK bands trying to "crack" America and saying the second half of their low key tour was better because they would get gigs upgraded and better facilities as the sales went up. Now that the only income is from streaming services, I believe the focus to get the money in is now on huge stadium gigs - i.e. trying to get as many bums on high priced seats and a much merchandise bought as possible. I assume the up front costs to put a stadium gig on put too many fledgling bands off in case they don't recoup it, which might explain Flea's comments?

I just thought I'd pipe in to say that I tried adding a kill switch to one of my bitsa basses a few years ago. I basically added a toggle switch to the scratch plate and soldered it to where the contacts would be on the jack socket. The new jack socket didn't have the switching on it, or I made it so it wouldn't work when you plugged the jack in, I can't remember. The problem was that when you flicked it, you still got the loud "bang" you get when you normally plug in an active bass to an amp that is turned up. So, it adds a another layer of "what are you prepared to do" - You could leave the bass plugged in, but there would be the faff of turning your amp off and on or up and down before you did (or you'd need a pedal). I wanted mine for the break between sets in gigs to save touching my amp once I'd set it. I suppose an in-line mute pedal might have solved it but I didn't really use any pedals in those days. To get a nice smooth on/off switch like I wanted I reckon you'd need some kind of additional smoothing circuitry to cover the "thunk" effect of the switch.

If you're ok with a soldering iron and there's room, you could solder short fly leads on to your replacement and then solder those leads to the board, then the socket would be free to be a different size - as long as the nut around the socket held it in place against the front panel.....

"Switched" means that when you push a jack into the socket, it will break the connection between the legs, i.e. switching something off. In otherwords, two pairs of the 4 pins will be connected together until the jack is pushed in and forces them apart - the jack points will then connect to 2 of the legs on one side. They are used in patchbays/inserts a lot. -The signal from a fixed source is constantly connected to the output until you push a jack in and then that is connected to the output instead. I'm afraid I don't know Markbass stuff enough to know if it uses these for a particular circuit or if they just use it as a standard jack socket and the non plugged route is redundant.

There is also the case for doing both. I remember sitting with an MD a good few years ago who looked after several cabaret bands - watching one of them rehearse. He was saying "Listen to that bloody drummer". I told him I couldn't hear anything wrong. He replied - "He's playing it exactly as it is written - boring! He should be going boom boom da cack cack da boom! Putting his own thing on it". I've always remembered that and with the concert band I now play in - if we're playing a classical piece - I will try and do my best to play it note for note as written. However, if it is a cheesy cover of pop songs from the last 50 or so years, I will use my ear and experience to add grace notes or runs to make it sound more like the original or a bit more funky, or whatever. This is of course being careful that you're not clashing with the Tuba or other instruments that are following the script. That's my story anyway. I'm not the strongest reader so sometimes I play what I think it right because I couldn't read it fast enough 😆

I used to be a FOH and monitor engineer. I was more than happy to call myself an engineer, because not only did I think I had a bit of a talent for it, I also had been to university to study audio and theory,. Although I came away with a BSc and not a BEng, I felt I was "engineering the sound". I also made sure I knew how everything went together and could make up cable looms, repair certain bits of kit etc. I think a good example is the corporate audio visual world where I now work. We have staff who can go to a room, dial up your call, connect your laptop and ensure your mics/speakers are working and do very basic diagnostics. We call these AV Technicians. The staff who can go to the room, read schematics, strip the relevant bits of kit out of the system that may be faulty and replace with/set up spare ones are the AV Engineers. I would probably say the sound persons are similar - there are some who twiddle knobs but have no real grounding or experience as to why they are twiddling them. I would call them Techs! I agree on the bit about doing the sound for the room and not the sound desk. This is another reason I used to not understand engineers in wide rooms trying to pan everything in the mix - it might sound great at the sound desk in the middle of the room, but what about the poor lot on one side of the room that only hear half a keyboard or toms etc?

I've never been in bands with stage names, but I always used to want to borrow the name of the Cardigan's drummer - Bengt Lagerberg. I've used that one a couple of times when spam callers try and ask my name!

I used to be a pro live engineer. I would have always frowned upon swapping mics as I would have rung my monitors out using my own mics and wouldn't want some weird battered thing with a phase off messing about with gain and feedback, or an unknown thing frying the phantom output on my mixer. However, I was open to ideas, and for example I do remember agreeing to allow bands to swap in a Shure vintage 55H type mic to look the part for rockabilly bands. At the time I used to mainly use Shure Beta stuff so a lot of bands with SM57s and 58 would be happy to go along with mine. This was all before covid of course. I do remember a vocal trio who used to visit once a week and wear so much lipstick the mic mesh shields were just constantly red for months, even after cleaning. We weren't so hot on cleaning them back then and they were in constant use. I have fond memories of a muso once soundchecking and saying loudly over the mic "Hey, these mics smell of badly wiped a**e...." I do remember a "urban myth" type story going the rounds at the time that Texas front lady Charlene Spiteri used to get someone to go out front and disinfect her mic before she would agree to sing at every gig. We would always be incredulous at the snobbery and pomposity of it all, but after last year, I think she was totally right! EDIT - by disinfect, I assume a wipe over with a anti bac wipe. Not good for the paint on the metal, but best for cleanliness you'll get without wrecking the mic, I reckon.

It always concerns me when I see basses for sale pictured with no strings on - makes me think they have been taken off because everything is so out of alignment when they are on.....

Funnily enough last night I stumbled across one of the Anthology episodes online last night. I was watching various clips of them playing live in the Beatles for Sale/Help era. I noted that whilst you could hear scuffed notes from George and the odd one from John, Paul's basslines sounded (to me) note perfect and in time even while he was singing some complex lyrics. That's the bit that amazes me - they always complain that they couldn't hear each other, but he still plays in time with Ringo. I know it may because a different track was dubbed on later, but it sounds different enough to think it is the live track each time. He was/is a quality player in my opinion and the main reason I got into playing bass.

I remember having a Barron Knights skit of Boney M's "Rivers of Babylon" on 7" single when I was a kid. I seem to remember the lyrics started off: There's a dentist in Birmingham He fixed my crown And as I slept He filled my mouth with iron......

I have the more budget NXT5. In my experience, you need to try one live and get someone to record it - I never find it sounds amazingly "double bass" when I stand next to it and play it, but when I listen back to a recording someone has done at the gig (usually on an iPhone at the back of the room), it sounds really alike. All IMHO of course.....

i haven't seen Flight Of The Conchords mentioned yet (apologies if I missed it).

I would check out 60s bands - I did sound engineering in the early 00's and it seemed to me that there were a lot of big name bands that were being toured with one guy who joined just after the lead guy had left and they'd their major hit(s). I seem to remember there being about 5 versions of the Drifters all touring as well!

I just wanted to say that before you totally discount the NS Design - I have an NXT5 and have gigged it many times. I find that even though the stand is a tripod, you can still rock it around and tip it on the feet without feeling it is going to collapse in half.. It is never going to be as mobile as a DB on a single pin, but you can still throw some shapes beside it without it just standing still. I love mine -I just wish I still had the gigs to play it.....

I don't know if it is relevant to what you are saying, but it was UPS who delivered my order to my house at the UK end (yesterday).

Well, my MM-5 SB turned up today and very pleased with it. Very flat neck, low action - totally ready to plug in and play. Think I might have to change strings soon, but apart from that, love it. I ordered on the 3rd, the first sign of the goods being picked and "on the way" was on 9th, and then arrived today (14th). I agree it is a bit of a first world problem that I moaned about a 7-working day delivery from Germany at Christmas time, but it is their own fault for being so much quicker in the past!

I ordered mine last week - due on Monday apparently. I've always wanted to have a MM in my arsenal but never wanted to pay MM prices, I have owned various 5s of different shapes and you can get wider spacing (which I prefer) so don't give up on 5s if this doesn't do it for you. I took a punt on this as the string spacing looked fairly wide on the pics and people were talking about it being a big neck. I'm sure it will do for what I want. The stealth one was out of stock which is why I went for this, and I do have an unhealthy love of sunburst anyway. It looks even better than I thought in your pics.

Based on the Harley Benton thread, I have just pulled the plug on a 5 string MB-5 S (MM copy). My interest was piqued by the stealth one, but it was not in stock for weeks and I am a rare breed that likes sunburst so went for that. I wanted one last splurge before the rules change, but I did have to send a chasey mail for despatch even though everything had been in stock. It took 4 working days before the order was listed as ready to be collected from them by the courier,. i know it is Christmas, but it still seemed pretty slow to me, especially as they used to be so quick (I remember getting "Left Our Warehouse" messages the same day.. I seem to remember my last order was the same and had to be chased too. I just hope it gets through to the UK before the end of the month - I don't want to get caught for any import charges!

Hi all, I did a quick search and can't find this being mentioned before, so apologies if it has.... Did any of you Sky users spot Hitsville - The Making of Motown on Sky Documentaries last night? I noticed it in the planner and joined it about 10 mins in and watched the first hour (it was about 2 hrs long). I just looked and It is not in the Sky Documentaries folder in Catch-up but I was able to search for it and download. It is also available to buy in Sky Store, so I assume it won't be free for long! I can only go on the hour I saw, but lots of insight from Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson, and the odd mention and shot/clip of Jamerson too. Lots we have all heard before but I'm sure the Motown fans on here will like it. I'm going to watch the whole thing now - just don't tell work.....

I'm guessing he has treated all of his guitars the same as he is selling a couple more "vintage" ones that look like they have also been used for axe throwing practice in a fishpond....

That is the one - and (what obbm is saying) is not technically a socket, although most of us, myself included, would probably call it that. Good luck if you go ahead with it. I'm still wondering what @obbm's German helmet bass sounded like!

I'm wondering if you're being a little confused by the terminology. The original photo in your link shows the guy used a male XLR panel mount. Female XLR panel mounts or leads tend to be known as sockets, whereas male pin panel mounts and leads are known as plugs. Obbm is correctly advising you stick with a box mount "plug" like the original unit, not cut up a lead and have a tail hanging out of the box - although you may find that easier than cutting a hole in a box. Sorry if I'm being patronising at any point, I just think the whole XLR world can get confusing when you have a female socket on a cable doing the plugging in action to a male plug in a panel....

Both my parents admitted that in their own way they rebelled against their musical families and didn't learn any instruments. However, both played music constantly, either at home on the stereo or out in the car. My paternal grandad had been a semi-pro guitarist in a local dance band but he died when I was 3 so I never really knew him. My maternal grandparents' siblings were church organists and choirmasters, but were either dead or we didn't see them. I'm assuming there was something in the genes as both me and my brother play various instruments. They paid for lessons and watched concerts/gigs etc, but never really got involved in helping us learn them. I have tried to gently push my own son by leaving various instruments lying around the house and playing music regularly but he just doesn't seem interested. I did push him a little into some drum lessons about a year ago but his drum teacher actually rang me and told me I was wasting my money! Before you start thinking he was a bad teacher, I think the issue was that as I'm divorced from his mother, I only have him every other weekend and he was only getting to practice at my house - his mother was not encouraging him so he wasn't improving away from the lessons. I just hope he doesn't end up on here one day saying how much I didn't support him!

When I was doing my University project back around '97 I asked my dad if he could find an old Betamax machine and tapes as he was (and still is) an absolute car boot sale addict. Even then it was hard to get them but he came good, and there were a good number of tapes for me to experiment with. I plugged up the machine, tried the tapes, and realised he had purchased someone's entire pornography collection.... (When I say experiment, I meant I wiped the tapes as quick as I could......honest guv......)