Chienmortbb

I am building this in conjunction with me new pedal board, I did not have this in mind when I designed the PCBs. The PCB is too wide to fit between the ribs of the pedal board and not wide enough to screw directly to the ribs, so I have to add extra wood to allow the PCB to be mounted below the pedal board. I think I will also need a bit more height from add feet. This would allow me to add a case and make it safe (remember 230VAC mains on that PCB). This is one of a number of changes I would make if I redesigned the PCB. As it stands, it does not fit any commercially available die-cast enclosure. I could put the modules 2x2 and that would fit may a Hammond/Gorva/Eddystone style box. This would mean more height required on my pedal board and as I am still in the proof of concept stage, I will work with what I have. I have ordered more parts for the project so will hopefully make more progress early next week. I still plan a real life test before then, either today or tomorrow.

I think you will need an amp/cab. You could go the full FRFR PA cab route, though a decent one will cost. A new RCF/QSC worth its slat being north of £1K. They do occasionally come up "pre-loved" but usually in pairs and most sellers will not split. The advantage of these is the ability to use them as floor monitors when PA is supplied. You could bite the bullet and buy a sub yourself. Depending on your band's PA top cabinets, the choice of the sub's crossover/filtering is crucial. Look for one(s) that has an HPF on the output to the tops and if your tops have an HPF, experiment as to which combination gives the best sound. Or you could get a conventional rig, size is your choice, and we could give more advice knowing the line-up and type of music played. This might be you best/least expensive option.

Horses for courses, over the past three years I have seen in excess of 200 gigs in clubs and pubs and perhaps 2 in theatres. Yes, both theatre gigs were silent stage and only one club gig (Abba Tribute, where one of the members covered half the cost). The sound of one of the theatres gigs was excellent (story of Guitar Heroes), the other was so much boom and mud where we were seated that it was rubbish (Jane Macdonald, I know, but her indoors likes her, and she does suffer my choices all year). The poor gig had a rookie mistake by the sound tech in that he had the subs at either side of the wide stage. Power alley central!

If you convert 9 to 12v, you reduce the available current pro rata. So you would need over 650mA from the 9V supply.

The big test will be my Zoom B2 pedal and TC Helicon Mic Mechanic 2. Both are digital pedals and they can cause more problems than analogue pedals as the clock noise is often left on the power rails. I have had to use the MM2 with batteries for a while to cut down the number of power supplies. My cheapo 10 way made them sing but not in a good way.

I have mentioned in a number of threads about pedal power supplies why many of them are not fit for purpose. The buzzword is isolated, but in many cases especially for the sub £100 products the isolation is only via the voltage and current protection circuits. True isolation in terms of the power supply means that neither the 0 V or ground connection or the positive voltage, normally 9 V is connected to any other pedals 0 V or 9 V line. If either is connected to another pedals supply there is a good chance of Hugh or buzz caused by earth currents or injected Clock signals. My first idea was to utilise a multi secondary main transformer feeding traditional LDOs. Low Drop Out regulators are integrated circuits that incorporate serious regulator circuits (usually) to obtain a steady and relatively nice free voltage. Well likely looking through the site of an electronic supplier I noticed some compact switch mode supplies that were PCB mounted looking at the data sheets showed that, as with most switch mode supplies, after the initial regulation and smoothing, there was transformer isolation of the mains and secondary sides of the circuit. It was clear that a number of these small circuit blocks could be mounted on a PCB to give a good pedal power supply. After several years of thinking I sat down and designed a PCB to give me four totally isolated 9V supplies. The beauty of these circuit blocks is that the pins are on a standard layout and the original ones from the French company MYRRA and others, including UK’s Vigotronix were interchangeable. In addition, they can be bought in many voltages. Both types can be seen on the complete module above. The MYRRA one are dark red and the Vigortronix are orange. The Vigortronix range are slightly more powerful, giving 3W while the MYRRA ones are 2.5 watt. However, MYRRA do a 5watt one on the same footprint. I have just tested them for the first time and all four are working 1% of the stated 9V off load. I will try them with a load later.

Well produced, beautifully played, and arranged. You can get so much from it, but it's not a great song IMO.

Me too.

It is really strong now, there are 75m wood screws (8) although I know that the adhesive should be enough on its own. I have a surprise or two tomorrow as the project progresses.

I bought one of the 3D printed kits from Ebay. It just needs some 25mm x 25mm stripwood and eight woodscrews. I carefully cut the stripwood, 4 pieces, to the length I wanted. All good and I used some dark mahogany wood stain I had in the garage. There was a little bit of a wobble so I unscrewed the screws slightly and pressed on two corners to try to straighten it out. CRACK! B*gger. After calming down, I used the remainder of the wood to replace the broken brackets. I also added some feet to give an angle and some small blocks to add strength. Adding the new side pieces adds 50mm to the width, and it is now bigger than the padded bag I keep my pedal board in! Here it is with the wood colour on again:

I think this thread covers why, but full backline and full IEM/Modelling are both good and bad. The tow best live gigs I have heard were a pub gig with a band called Chicago 9 Blues band (based around Southampton I think) and Black Country Communion. One was in a PUB, the other in the Hammersmith Odeon. The blues band were clearly very experienced and using some EV 12s plus an old fashion PA amp. All instruments and the blues harp went through the backline. The vocals were as clear as a bell, each instrument has clear and in its own sonic place. Simply a good band with a great sound. BCC had real amps on stage, Three Orange AD200 stacks for Glenn Hughes, Two 100 watt Marshall stacks for Bonamassa clearly the keys and drums were through the PA. I was up in the gods, but the sound was superb. There were no props, no special lights. The whole setup was smack in the middle of the stage. It was a really stripped down gig. Clearly this gig was hybrid, although I have to accept that they may have fooled me, but they had wedges on stage and I could not see IEMs on either Hughes or Bonamassa. I saw Glenn Hughes a few years earlier at the Engine Room in Southampton. They were using a full PA with small amps on stage. The sound was awful, every beat of the kick obliterated the rest of the sound. Clearly a good sound and experience for both audience, and band can be had either by having a silent stage or full backline, and evangelists on both sides are both right and wrong.

What is the budget? The other question is, do you have any brand loyalty. If the thread goes on long enough you will end up with recommendations for every major bass cab known to man. As @taozero said above, The LFSys range could suit but similarly the Barefaced range get a lot of love too. However those long stretched arms will need to dig deep into your pockets for those. It is barely a secret the @stevis has been working on a new range and I know they are close. These will be lighter and lower power handling but two should do it.

No they are all “ Mersey Beat” artists.

Saturday we play our first of the year. The Rhythm Guitarists last gig as he has real health problems. We are not looking forward to it as both his timing and stamina are shot. Add the lead guitarist’s tendinitis into the mix and you can see why I’d rather be at your gig than ours. can you play bass with the fingers of both hands crossed? Thought not.

Irrational? I have been extolling the virtues of single 10s and 12s for some time but can I get rid of that feeling that I need a second to stack? It would mean that I did not need to bend to adjust my amp but is that worth another outlay of £700-900? Bass cab therapy anyone?

I agree, but Sound Techs vary. I saw a band two weeks ago where the singer (a great singer *) was singing in a band and as the band were introduced, she thanked her Dad on the IPad? Her Dad, a drummer, but clearly no Sound Tech as the sound was shite all night. Sadly I have seen big names with a so-called pro Sound Tech sound shite as the Bass drum was eq'd and compressed to within an inch of the audiences' life. Every time the drummer hit the bass drum, the rest was obliterated for 2–3 seconds. *Aimi Knight, I know he is on Apple Music, not sure about Spotify.

To judge those 15s, you must listen using decent headphones or speakers. As I heard it, the Trace sounded best followed by the Barefaced next and the Markbass sounded like a P bass with 90-year-old rounds on, no clarity at all. I know that Markbass cabs are Marmite. In a cab shoot-out. In consequent years, at the South west Bass Bash, Markbass were voted best and worst cabs. In 2025 surely the benefit of 12s and 10s, in a well-designed cab has been proven. Cabs for Barefaced and LFSys have proven that 12s are the modern sweet spot for bass, especially when crossed-over properly to a decent compression driver horn combination That gives you the benefits of that Trace 15 with the power handling to go loud. Even the simple crossover on the BC110T sounds better than most commercial cabs.

Alex from Batrfaced has a video on three 15” cabs on YouTube . Thoughts?

FFS.

Too few strings and not enough knobs is something we have all been through. I have always hankered after active fivers but two or more basses, great in there own right have been moved on and my last purchase was a P. P/Js have always attracted me but the Jazz pup always sound weak/thin and even adding a bit of blend sounds great at home but sucks, literally, in the mix.

I used to play in the house band at an open mic night. We never rehearsed except alone, at home. Sometimes it did not work very well on the night but hey… it’s amateur night. What it did was teach me to listen and follow on the fly and probably did more for my ear training than anything else, especially when a player asked for bass on o song I had never played! In my current and, the Rhythm Guitarist said when I joined that we play everything exactly to the record. Like scratched record almost every time we played a song for the first time, I would say, “that’s not like the record” In the end I kept my mouth shut. I get on great with the rest of the band but the RG has always been a PITA. He announced recently that he was retiring on health grounds ( heart attack last year, Self inflicted diabetes, and more) with his last gig this Saturday. We had a rehearsal as a four piece last week and it was tight, a lot of fun. Now just the prospect of a one more gig with a below below average RG that cannot keep time and likes to play loud then….relax.

Last night I decided that I needed the string height lowered and as the saddles were bottoming out. So the shim went in again. Then under a strong light, I saw a couple of blemishes in the finish almost like cracks. I traced them back to the screws that hold the individual bridges to the body. I knew when I fitted them that they were bigger than te originals and perhaps I should have drilled them out before fitting? Anyway after a nights sleep I am not too worried as it has taken several months to notice them. I took a shortcut and I have enough woodworking experience to know better. Dunces hat is now firmly backing my head.

If you are going to be a smart arm…slinks off to the corner with his dunces har on!😉

Not much of an update, but I did get the Tone Rider Pickup and installed it. In the end, I took the neck shim out as I found that the saddles were not at their lowest setting. One comment about these bridge per string things is that they come out of the bridge far too easily. It is very nearly there, and I might just take it to next week's gig. I have not changed the decal, I was thinking of painting the headstock as per the Aerodyne. As my name is J Anderson, maybe a Jander in a fender style Font

That alone is worth having.