JapanAxe

Yes I’m favouring passive. I don’t want to lose anything from the bass’s frequency range but plenty of people who reviewed the Thomann DI used it on bass and were happy.

I know the EMO DI boxes, they used to be made not far from where I lived in County Durham!

This may be in Hicksville USA but don't forget that sh!t tends to migrate from there to here, including the bad kind. It's only a matter of time before some UK venue tries it - if they haven't already.

I have been using the speaker emulated XLR output on my Origin Effects BassRig into the PA on some of my dep gigs but I’m finding I want more top end in my signal. I want a balanced output so I’ve been trying the BassRig’s non-emulated jack output via a DI box. The two I have available are (1) a cheap-as-chips Thomann passive transformer unit, (2) an active transformerless Whirlwind Mic Eliminator with 2 tone settings. I’ll probably end up using the Thomann one, but what DI boxes have people found to be particularly good at on bass? Budget would be up to £100-ish.

I’ll take this, PM incoming.

1 minute ago, ForbiddenWytch said:

Any trades?

I wouldn’t rule it out. PM me with whatever ya got! Especially if it’s a Boss Blues Driver that’s old enough to have through-hole components…

1 hour ago, TimR said:

Don't pick up your bass or a notebook until you have learned the tune by listening to it multiple times. 

 

Be that on your way to and from work, or while doing the ironing etc.

 

…

 

 

I do that if I have time but I don’t always e.g. when I’m depping at short notice.

Learning is itself a skill that can be learned. I’ve found that the more I learn, the more I can learn.

12 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

Personally, I think that if I am going to be earning money by playing other people's songs, then the least I can do is to buy the record or CD the song comes from. You never know there may be some other song on there that you enjoy listening to.

I have occasionally bought the CD or the mp3, but it’s not sustainable for me to do that for everything, considering the number of bands I dep with. I regard learning from a track that I got from YouTube as educational use and therefore fair use.

On the other hand when I’ve played in Bowie or Stones tributes I’ve worked from the CDs that I already own as a fan.

I’m probably an outlier here but I usually start by transcribing the song in musical notation. That gives me two routes for getting the music into my head - ears and eyes! Then I start by learning the end and work backwards, section by section, to the beginning. I keep track of how I’m getting on with the set by setting up a page on Trello.com.

I’m currently working through this process for a dep gig in early October, where I’ll be playing a mix of pop, soul, reggae, electro-funk, and Afro beat!

I bought this mixer new and used it for a few gigs on a band project before the inevitable happened.

You can find the full spec here, but in brief this award-winning mixer features:

• 5 XLR inputs with DNA microphone preamps
• Dynamic compression (channels 1-2)
• 3-band EQ plus 2 aux sends per channel
• 60mm faders with mute switch and LED
• USB audio connectivity with level control
• 100 Alesis DSP effects
• Balanced XLR, balanced/unbalanced 1/4" outputs
• 9-band graphic EQ for main or monitor outputs
• Headphone out with independent level control

It is fully working and in excellent condition and comes complete with the original box an documentation.

Cheapest new price I can find is £272 - yours for £155 delivered in mainland UK.

When playing through an amp I just have a tuner pedal.

My ampless board is just tuner > compressor > amp/speaker sim. I may end up using this on an upcoming gig where I will have to slap (or at least fake it).

9 minutes ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

That rarely happens. Most sound men make it what they think bass should sound like, and they're usually wrong. My number one complaint about concert sound is pounding deep bass that has no resemblance to what players want for tone, at levels that drown out the rest of the band. 

Tell me about it! I played a big festival last year and every note on my bass, from C on the A string down, was accompanied by an earth-shaking WHUMPH through the PA. It felt quite embarrassing and made it hard to play in time.

A band that I dep with has recently acquired the Mackie DL16. The ability to set up my own monitor mix makes IEMs a positive thing rather than just tolerable. They don’t currently have an XLR splitter so I think they just give the house sound engineer access to the FOH mix.

Pay day tomorrow?

Pay day tomorrow?

As a guitarist as well as a bass player, I am very conscious of the poor impression that between-song p!ssing-about can create. I am therefore careful to avoid noodling in the gaps. However, I do occasionally like to finish minor-key songs with a bit of ‘Teddy Bears’ Picnic’.

Metal bass in a Dire Straits tribute? BL told the audience it looked like I was in a Poison tribute!

2 hours ago, asingardenof said:

At least there's a red Strat in there, so you can claim some measure of authenticity!

… and a dobro.

This is a hugely useful utility delay in a teeny weeny package. Browse TC’s TonePrint Library to find hundreds of delay tones created by pro guitarists, from pristine 2290 tones to LoFi analog echo and even experimental reverse delay. The pedal is in great condition as you can see.

Yours for £65 £55 delivered in mainland UK.

1 minute ago, bassbora said:

I have seen you mention the Demeter before and I had seen them few years back and they are one of the only amps I would be seriously tempted by. I think one came up for sale here some months back and it did not stay long. I did not really need it so I managed to resist 

Resistance is futile!

Played at the Square Chapel in Halifax with Dire Streets, having depped with them on rhythm guitar the night before. Near enough a full house, and a very appreciative audience, including Mrs Axe (who took these snaps). The D-Roc sounded great through my ampless setup, and considering nobody is trying to look like Mark Knopfler or any of the band, it would be hard to argue that the D-Roc looked 'wrong'. Plus it almost matched the drum kit...

This came to me already fitted to a bass I bought but I've decided not to use it as I generally take out a 5-string too.

It is designed to replace a low E or B Hipshot Ultra-light tulip-style tuner with a 3/8in string post (the part that the string winds onto) and a 9/16in headstock hole. This style of tuner is used by Roscoe, Skjold, Dingwall and others. NOTE - not suitable for 'reversed' headstocks with all the tuners on the bottom of the headstock.

There is some marking around the screw hole (see last photo) and the original countersunk mounting screw was lost so I have sourced a suitable matching replacement - in fact you will get 2 so that you have a spare (you can't use the domed-head screw from the original tuner).

Bass Direct sell these new for £115 plus delivery so let's say £65 delivered in mainland UK.

If you need to check any particular dimensions, drop me a line and I will do my best to help.

My main and best ever amp head is the Demeter 800W head. I also have a lovely EBS which has been for sale for yonks but I’m not exactly sorry that it hasn’t sold! I have a Markbass Nano head for a backup.

On top of that I have a couple of DIY heads that live in my home studio / practice room.

Recently I’ve been doing some tribute band gigs in theatres with no amps at all. That can be fine but it depends a lot on good in-ear monitoring.

39 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

Yes 100% this !!

My pet hate is singers standing behind music stands with the words while they read the song and make an emotionless attempt at singing !! 
 

Or you tell them you are a rock band and then they ask if you cover Adele or Amy Winehouse lol 😂 

Without wishing to initiate another music-stand-related pile-on, I wholly concur with the first statement.

Regarding the second, there is definitely a thing where a band will consist of a bunch of middle-aged men who want to play dad rock, fronted by a much younger woman who wants to sing pop. I’m always amazed the these unhappy alliances last beyond the first attempt at a rehearsal.

I just pull the cable through a bleach-free surface wipe, then dry it off with a clean bit of rag.