geoham

Welcome!

Do the smart thing and stick to bass!

I think I've figured it out! (Again!)

Definitely not the battery - brand new alkaline one in there now.

The thing had stopped working altogether today. Had a look at under the control panel again. Just noticed that there is a square of sticky foam attached to the PCB - presumably as insulation. It was mis-aligned, so a couple of pins were visible - and close enough to just touch the input jack.

I've re-aligned this, and tried to move it away from the input jack a little - the bass is back to life now, and I've had no noise issues since.

Fingers crossed!

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1361557097' post='1987593']
Strange as it may sound, and without going into a long nerdy explanation, you can't judge battery life using a multimeter.

If you've replaced the battery with a brand new, never been used before, one - then the battery isn't the problem.

However, if you've dug around and found a battery from somewhere and assumed it was OK because of your multimeter, then you've not eliminated 'duff battery' from the list of possibilities.
[/quote]

The battery may well be questionable! It's an unknown brand (gold coloured with chinese text!) and was supplied in an effects pedal I bought (new!), but removed straight away as I use a PSU. Anyway - I've no idea how many people tested the pedal, or how long the battery was in it for. It has also sat in my drawer for a couple of months too. So, I'm going to replace it with a shiny new one tonight.

Being an intermittent fault, it's tough to know when it's resolved, but I'll report back here ASAP. (By intermittent - I mean it's happened a handful of times over the past month, but never before that)

In any case, are the symptoms I'm describing typical of failing battery? I've been a Fender man all my days - this is my first active. I've only had it for about 18 months and gigged it once.

Mark - I've had a look at the pre-amp and can see nothing of concern, pretty simple set-up, few pots, a switch and PCB. All in good condition, no duff soldering etc. Doesn't mean the there isn't a component on its way out though...

Thanks

Hi all,

Wonder if any of you can offer any advice. I am experiencing an intermittent issue with my Ibanez ATK 200. I suspect it's related to the pre-amp, but I'll describe the symptoms below, and you can come to your own conclusions.
[list]
[*]Sometimes, I'll hear a noise while I'm playing (in time with what I'm playing) - that I can only describe as distortion meets a white-noise like hiss. A bit like a pre-amp being overloaded, clipping sound. This is behind the sound of the notes, rather than the notes themselves distorting
[*]It goes from being very faint to being almost as loud as the notes I'm playing
[*]When it occurs, it's there constantly - but will typically be gone the next day. I can't replicate right now for example.
[*]The noise is far more apparent when pressing the 'bright' switch on my amp (Ashdown Mag 300), but is still there when the EQ, compression, deep and bright switches are off. I can also hear it on a little Peavey Microbass amp.
[*]The noise is not present when using my Fender Jazz
[/list]
Some things I've tried:-[list]
[*]Replaced the battery - I thought this was it, because the battery was only reading 8v on my multi-meter. The new one reads 9.4v and I still have the problem.
[*]Using the 'Active' input on my amp
[*]Reducing the input gain (amp) - the VU meter never goes in to the red
[*]Reduced volume of bass
[*]Set EQ on bass flat, and also cut each frequency individually and together.
[*]Tried different cables
[/list]
The next time the problem occurs, I'll try to make a recording of it and post it here.

Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated!

Does the QTron take a standard Boss type PSU, and can it run on battery?

Thanks

Wee bump! Pickups still sat in my drawer. Anyone have any use for them? Offer me something useful and I'll probably take it!

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1361200672' post='1982619']
Running some drivers and not others that share a box is a pretty bad idea, the unpowered drivers work as passive radiators and mess up the box tuning, meaning the remaining ones can fart out and die really easily.
[/quote]
I won't disagree with you on that one. Mainly my pedantic side coming out thinking purely about the maths side of things rather than practicality.
It's not impossible to convert, but there are easier and much better sounding solutions out there.

In any case, now that we know exactly what the scenario is - I'd recommend just adding an Ashdown Mag 210 or 410. These are 8ohm cabs. You can get 4 ohm versions, but they have a different name, so you should be able to spot them easily enough (214 and 414).

Of course, you'll see plenty of people mixing 15s and 10s. It will give you a different sound - whether it compliments or ruins your sound is subjective! Sticking with the matched cabs as recommended by brensabre79 should just give you more of the same sound, along with the benefits of having speakers at a higher level - definitely the best bet if you like what you have already.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1361148901' post='1982004']
Doesn't matter what drivers are in the cab, you can't change from 4 ohm to 8ohm without replacing them.
[/quote]

This is mostly true. The only exception I can think of is disconnecting some of the drivers. For example, say you have 4 x 4 ohms wired 2 series / 2 parallel - , this would give you 4 ohms in total. Disconnecting one of the parallel circuits, leaving you with just two in series would give you 8 ohms. You could make this switchable if you wanted.

One application where I suppose this might be attractive, would be if you had an 8 ohm cab and a 4/8 ohm switchable cab.
Take out the switchable cab set to 4 ohms for small gigs, and both cabs for bigger gigs. Assuming both cabs were 4 x 10, have the disconnected speakers towards the bottom, and the remaining 6 speakers are raised off the floor.

To address your question - it might be possible if you are willing to sacrifice half of your drivers. Should be simple enough after you've figured out the circuit - just snip a couple of wires! Or a lot more complex to make switchable.

You'd be easier just buying a new cab - why can't money just grow on trees?

[quote name='slobluesine' timestamp='1360857129' post='1977516']
just came across this... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYFYWKgkyZM[/media]

NEVER knew the Floyd could be THIS great

Crosby/Stills on BV's, Steve Di Stanislao on drums (nice drummer...i think he plays with CSN) Guy Pratt on Bass. Dave Gilmour's playing is just f***in awesome, and his vocals...WOW!!

lighting and sound is stunning too,
[/quote]

You forgot about Phil Manzanera and the every great John Carin

[quote name='Stroopy121' timestamp='1357651597' post='1925980']
How's that power supply? Any issues with noise or anything?

xx
[/quote]
I have one of those power supplies - and it's simply terrible! Very noisy on any more than one pedal, and it just stopped working mid-rehearsal. There's a little 500mA fuse inside that decided to go pop. Even though it was only powering two pedals at the time!

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1360406022' post='1969818']


This is all symptomatic of the general devaluation of music these days - not in the sense that people don't enjoy it any more but more that we're all increasingly used to not having to pay much for it.

Let's be honest, most people play music because they enjoy it but unless you make the break into 'stardom' it's a tough way to make a living.

The plumber comparison is all very well but it's a flawed analogy because there is no inherent rate for either job, it's just what people have come to expect and what they're prepared to pay.

I've played a wedding for free, because one of the band members was a friend of the bride. They were on a tight budget and couldn't afford to splash out on a band and if we hadn't played then they would have been quite happy not to have a band at all. It doesn't take much these days for someone on a tight budget to put together a playlist of favourite songs on their iPod and, bingo, that's the music sorted out.

That's the sort of thing that bands are up against these days.
[/quote]

The person asking us to play is someone on a sound engineering college course with me guitarist. You'd think he'd appreciate the industry, as presumably he wants to work in it.

For an actual friend, I'd gladly play for a heavily discounted price - or free for someone really close.

I can't see me quitting me job to make a living from this any time soon - I've done the sums and would need to do 100+ gigs a year, making £200 a time to survive, never mind equal what I earn doing an office job. In the mean time, if I can supplement my income doing something I enjoy, then great.

Considered playing at my own wedding, but decided against it - to start with, my best man/guitarist and I would both be wearing kilts and intoxication is likely!

£1300 is pretty average for a wedding band up here in Scotland. But typically there's no disco - just the band playing all night, so much more work needed.

This is who I've booked for my own wedding, and they charge about the same as you: [url="http://www.saturnsweddingband.co.uk"]http://www.saturnsweddingband.co.uk[/url]

Quote from their site:-
[indent=1][i]"Like other wedding bands in Scotland, the Saturns typically play from 8pm - 12 pm, and stop for 30-45 minutes rest during the buffet".[/i][/indent]

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1360257852' post='1967615']
[b]Try getting 5 plumbers to drive 20 miles on a Friday or Saturday night and work for 4-6 hours each until beyond midnight. Whatever they quote you, we'll charge half![/b]
[/quote]

I always find it interesting that people readily accept going rates of £30 - £50 per hour for a tradesman or more for lawyers, accountants etc - but are shocked when musicians, photographers or even IT technicians and web designers ask for half of that.

Warwickhunt / Mark_Bass

How long a set would you normally play?

The reason I ask, is that when I was pricing wedding bands for my own wedding, the absolute cheapest you could get as about £750 - for a duo with backing tracks. 3 piece bass, guitar & drums £1000 and £1200 for a 5 piece. Typical arrangement in Scotland is for the band to play 8 - 12. I believe that 2 x 45-60 minute sets with a DJ to follow are more common south of the border.

Cheers for all the feedback guys. Part of me think that too many people think it's just hobby and we'd be happy to do it for free. Which is partly true I suppose. I just wouldn't play Girls Aloud songs!

For the PA, our plan is to hire to start with - and use the proceeds of the first few gigs to buy something decent. We could afford a basic vocal PA just now, but don't know how well that would serve us. My preference is to get a full band PA - allowing the guitarists to leave their 4x12s at home!

Hi Guys,

I've recently formed a covers band, and we're looking to get work at functions, weddings etc. So far, we've had a few pub gigs and a corporate function (for the company I work for). We're 5 piece - female vocals, 2 x guitar (one of whom also plays keys), bass & drums, doing a typical rock & pop stuff - from The Rolling Stones to Girls Aloud.



For those of you interested, here are video clips of the function:-
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iWUflqWh6M"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iWUflqWh6M[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Rwxnvc5L4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Rwxnvc5L4[/url]

An acquaintance saw the clips of us playing at the function, and asked us if we'd play at a 50th birthday party in a bowling club in August. He wanted us to be the only entertainment that night - playing from around 8 until midnight.

I'm paying £1300 for my a band to play at my wedding for the same length of time, and that seemed to be about average for established bands. As we're not yet established, and wanting to do a good deal since it's someone we know, we wanted to be a bit cheaper than this.

We quoted £700. We'll need to hire a PA - I've budgeted £200 for that. There are five of us, so that leaves £100 each - not taking petrol in to account (20 miles away). The guy nearly choked! Was expecting something significantly cheaper.

My initial feeling is that £700 is a bargain, and we shouldn't budge, but I want to get feedback from you guys!

So - to all of you that play weddings and functions - what's your going rate? How did you get started with this? Nobody wants to pay top dollar for an unknown band - so should we just basically play for nothing until we gain more experience & reputation?

Thanks,

I've got some experience with aluminium speaker cones, and I wouldn't rule them out - though I would recommend trying if you could.
About 8-10 years ago, I was in an originals band, and we shared a rehearsal space with another band - and kitted it out between us. The other band provided a Hartke amp & speaker cab - and I was always happy with my tone. Our sound was acoustic and jangly electric guitars, with big vocal harmonies - certainly not 'rock'. I also owned a Behringer combo that had an aluminium cone, which served me well for years.

Did you see the Hartke 210 TP on Thomann's site? 16kg and £110. Both light and cheap!

http://www.thomann.de/gb/hartke_210_tp.htm

Looks wide enough, but might want to look at the depth.

I do have the Ashdown Mag 210 cab - it is pretty heavy, in hindsight I wish I'd just bought the 4x10....only 8kg more! On the positive side - it's a very good sounding cab.
Don't mind the weight personally, but I'm a bit on the large side!

Pickups available again

Got a set of straplocks from Den via a trade. Good communication throughout and the part arrived promptly. No hesitation in recommending him as a good guy to deal with.

[quote name='Jack' timestamp='1358424474' post='1938803']


Or an Ibanez ATK, or one of those Sandbergs, or a SUB.
[/quote]

+1 for the ATK. £300 for a great range of tones - sounds rather like a 3eq 'Ray.

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1345675604' post='1780492']
There was a Sound Control in Glasgow, opposite the Jury's Inn on *Jamaica St*????? just next to the bridge. It was my hotel of choice in G'gow for many years if travelling for a gig. It was taken over by another chain when SC went bust, but I don't remember the name of it.
[/quote]

The shop on Jamaica St is now called Kennys Music. Bought an Ashdown Mag 300 and a 210 cab from them for £350. Great deal I thought! They were also called something else (Reverb maybe) before closing down again.

Bridge is gone, Pickups may be back up soon