geoham

We already have two good quality monitors that were being used for vocals only. I just put the bass and keys through these - sounded great! The guitarist did grumble a bit that he didn’t want keys and bass in the monitor, just vocals - so may be an idea to use both aux channels next time rather than run both monitors for a single aux. George

I can’t remember the exact model, but it’s a 16 channel Soundcraft with two aux channels, both pre-fade (though think one is switchable to post-fade). Just use one to run monitors from.

I forgot to add... I double as sound-man for the band, and the mixer is right by my side the whole time.

My current setup isn’t a million miles away from this... got a TC Electronic BH550 head, which is pretty small and class IV, plus a pair of RS112 cabs. I just hooked up one cab with the head, and kept the volume down. A big issue is that we’ve got a LOT of gear and we’re trying to reduce it as much as possible - a lot of our gigs are in busy city centre pubs, and we need to lug it through groups of punters. So, the less gear the better! From my perspective, we have really nice FOH speakers, good quality rack amps and monitors, so the keys player and I wanted to test the theory that we could run without amps - and it worked!

Hehe. It needs to be loud to get a decent tone, so it'll be too loud if we mic it. It'll give too much feedback if we fold it back through the monitors (even though the keys player and I struggle to hear him on the other side of the stage.) I'm sure we've all heard it before!

Got mine!

Both my keyboard player and I tried something similar at our gig on Saturday - ran a DI to the PA and kept our amps muted. I used an amp sim on my Zoom B3n, ran it to the input of my amp and took a DI from there to the mixer. It sounded great on stage, and had a few musicians in the audience confirm all was well out front. I'm thinking about ditching the amp altogether for the next few gigs, but since I used a DI from my amp, I need to think of how best to replace that part. Go straight to a 'line in' on a mixer channel. Probably my preferred option, as it's the most simple - but is it a bad idea? Use a cheap Behringer DI box - there's a couple in our PA cable box (inherited from our singer & guitarist's last band!) Buy a slightly more robust DI Upgrade to a better amp-sim solution with a built in DI. Been considering a Helix LT for long enough, but keep telling myself the Zoom is good enough! I'd appreciate your thoughts! What are the rest of you doing? We're a covers band, playing mostly pubs with the occasional function thrown in, we always use our own PA and don't have to deal with multi-band sets or anything like that. Our next problem to tackle is to get the guitarist through the PA somehow - he's insistent on using a Marshall 4x12 up loud and un-mic'd - I'll keep that battle for another day though! Cheers, George

Glad I'm not the only one to be having problems! I just need to practice elsewhere in the house, or unplug the powerline (which is only in our spare room to give a faster than wifi internet connection to the kid's Xbox).

I put one on a Mexican P a few years back. Loved it, far better than the stock pickup. Proper vintage sound.

Just to close this off (I hope!), I gigged with this last night and it was absolutely trouble free. The only time I encounter the problem is when my amp is plugged into the socket next to the powerline adapter. Google is full of people reporting audio interference with powerline adapters, so I’m happy to put it down to that. I would like to understand exactly why the problem occurs, but it’s not too important. George

Thanks, a few bits for me to double check. I still can’t fathom how this only presents itself when the powerline is plugged in - but I suppose earthing is a logical place to start. It’s a pre-wired harness, so my working assumption that everything is wired correctly may be worth revisiting! Here’s all I did... - Removed old harness, keeping only pickups and battery box from existing wiring - Snipped battery connector from new harness - Fitted new harness, attaching old battery box red/black cables to those on the new harness. - Soldered pickup white cables to the centre lugs on the blend-pot, pickup earths to an earthed lug on the pot. - Soldered bridge earth and additional earth wires from pickup cavities (presumably connected to shielding) to a common earth point on the back of a pot. George

Had a bit of strange one today. The wife bought me a Bartolini NTMB pre-amp for my birthday (today!), and I proceeded to fit it in to my Lakland 5501. It was straight forward enough, but when I plugged it in to try it out, there were some fairly loud clicks & pops. These faded when switching to passive mode, and vanished altogether when I took the battery out. I rechecked every bit of soldering, pulled the whole thing out and tried it outside the bass - the problem persisted. Two hours I tried everything I could think of! Eventually, I tried unplugging a powerline adapter from the socket adjacent to the one my amp was plugged in to and the problem stopped altogether. I can't quite figure out what's going on. I've always used the bass amp on this socket - none of my passive basses nor the previous preamp in the Lakland had this problem. I get that the powerline has the potential to bleed interference into an audio-signal - however, I can't quite understand why it's only occurring with this pre-amp and when it has a battery in it. Any suggestions? Thanks, George

The LCDs on my B3n are similar. I think you can adjust the contrast (I could be wrong - not looked at this for ages), but was never able to get them all identical.

I’ve had anti-gas myself now for the past couple of years, and this seems to somehow relate to moving from gigging occasionally to gigging regularly. I’ve got a Fender MIM Jazz that I bought around 2002, and back then was the most expensive thing I ever owned. I’ve upgraded the pickups and bridge in recent years.. This definitely has the ‘’old slippers’ thing for me! Now I’m a bit more financially stable, I’ve tried several times to buy a new more high end Jazz - but haven’t ever tried one that would justify me dropping four figures on it. I did buy a Lakland 5501 a few years ago - I wanted something modern and five-string. It’s a pretty versatile bass and has been getting out a lot recently - a couple of transposed songs in the set benefit from getting lower than E. But I definitely don’t get on as well with it as I do with the Fender. George

I did think of this, and I’d like to hear how it sounds. I’m not sure where to start with getting good matching pickups, so I’d be keen to hear any suggestions. Also, I’m not sure how I’d feel about having at least one dead-knob - it have five, and I reckon two volume, two tone is the most I could do going passive. George

I’m looking at the one with the push-pull pot, rather than toggle / so hopefully avoid that. Interesting to hear about the pickups being a more worthwhile upgrade, I’ve also read the opposite. Perhaps I’ll need to do both!

Yip, it was Like a Prayer - he did an awesome job! Whether he overplays is an interesting one though. I recall reading that he felt he did overplay with Pink Floyd when he was younger, but held back and played more true to the recordings on later tours with Gilmour. However, to come back on topic - I’m fairly sure Guy doesn’t routinely use Hi-Beams. I think he mentions Bass Centre Elites in his book. There’s a section at the end where he lists all his gear. (My mate has borrowed mine, can’t check!)

Thanks, sounds like a plan!

There’s a decent battery box on the Lakland, I’ll reuse that. Which I suppose means a bit of soldering!

I’m toying with the Idea of changing the preamp in my Lakland 55-01, perhaps to something like the Bartolini NTMB (HR 5.2AP/918 harness). Two questions .. How does this sound versus the onboard preamp? I find the mid frequency isn’t great, and the treble is pretty hissy. What’s involved with fitting this? I can easily replace passive electronics, pickups etc. Presumably much the same - but just want to check no pitfalls to look out for! Thanks, George

I’m intrigued by this line in the manual: nStc: Not used, do not select I wonder what it does? I’m tempted to buy them to find out!

You mention you use a BB preamp - I’m sure there is a model of one on the B3n. You could try doing an comparison - I’d be really interested in the results! if favourable, it could be one less thing for you to carry. George

I'm certainly no legal expert, but I know from past experience that a threat of legal action can be enough to get things moving. I'd start by asking them for their registered address, so that legal papers can be served. I suspect that they wouldn't want to risk the expense of this going to court, nor run the risk of having their terms and conditions thrown out - for what is a trivial amount in the grand scheme of things. You can make a claim online yourself in many circumstances. Have a read at this:- https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/taking-legal-action/small-claims/deciding-whether-to-make-a-small-claim/ (My own experience - a set of expensive hair straighteners failed just outside of warranty. The large online retailer refused to take any responsibility, citing the warranty had expired along with their standard T&Cs. I insisted that this was sold as a premium product and I could reasonably expect them to last longer. I eventually asked for a repair, partial refund or discount on a new set, and if they could not provide one of these then I would take the matter to a small claims court. I had a full refund for the product with 30 minutes.) George

My 2012 Ford Mondeo and 2007 Vectra Estate both did the job with a Thomann rectangular hard case. I doubt my current Qashqai would take it though.

Look up Tom Mulrainey at Hofffnine cabs, seems well regarded.