bonzodog

Thanks for the advice Dad much appreciated. We will get an XLR mixer in next few months so in mean time i will prob just use jack to jack audio cables (not speaker cables)

I didnt realise this would be so difficult.
Called into a local music shop today to buy some adaptors to turn some of my spare XLR-XLR leads so that the female end becomes a jack and the guy behind the counter said I would have to take the leads in and also the mixer so he could see which way it as wired. He said the jack can be wired in two ways and he needed to see the mixer to establish which way to do it. He told me to avoid the ones Maplin do as very often they are wired the wrong way round and wont work.

Why on earth do they do mixers with only jack outputs!!!!

I may just use jack to jack cables instead of XLR as its too much hassle

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1399325712' post='2443216']

Thanks for that. Thats where i am going wrong because I was forgetting that the amp is in the speaker so the leads I need are signal leads.
i like the idea of using XLR to Jack adaptors as I have plenty of XLR to XLR leads lying around

Thanks for the quick replies folks


Yes, you'll have to clarify your terminology with the new system. With 'active' speakers, the cables from the mixer will be signal cables, not 'speaker' cables. Ignore totally your previous set-up, with speakons, and use ordinary jack-to-jack signal cables between the mixer and the new active PA cabs. That'll do for now.
[/quote]

Our band have just bought an active PA and as I have the most experience in PA's I am taking on the roll as sound engineer too.

In the past I have only used separate Power amp and passive speakers so only used Speakon leads.

Now we are using EV ZLX12P active speakers I am a bit confused.
The speakers take XLR or Jack inputs.

We have inherited a seconf hand Alto mixer which will do us for the time being as next few gigs will just be vocal PA for 2 mics.
The mixer only has Jack outputs so the leads it came with are TS Jacks one end with Male XLRs to connect to the speaker.
When looking to buy a spare cable (I always like to have spare everything) I am finding that speaker cables that have Male XLRs at one end, which is what I need, have TRS Jack sockets at the other end. But as I said the ones I have are only TS, not TRS.

I dont actually know the full difference between TS and TRS other than how they look (single and double ring) so am confused if the leads that came with the mixer are incorrect or not. The mixer came from someone whos never used it so I dont have faith that the leads are right. But on the other hand I dont want to use TRS adaptors if that can damage the speakers.
I tried to google it but have also read speaker leads are always TS not TRS which doesn't make sense as I have seen them, so am now more confused.

Would it be easier just to buy TS Jack speaker leads at both ends, as my EV's will accept either and not bother with an XLR input

Any advise would be appreciated as I do not want to damage any gear.

Thanks

I would put should I stay or should i go in second set. We play it late on and it goes down well for the dancers

Seems like a little is the way to go. Will try backing off a bit more than normal at next rehearsal

Afternoon all
We have taken the plunge and bought our own active PA today. When I used to sing around the social clubs I always used to use a fair bit of echo on my voice switching it off between songs to talk to audience. The other two members of the band I am now in prefer very dry vocals and drummer says he actually prefers no reverb or echo at all.
Just wondered what everyone else preferred. One of the reasons being our new ZLX active cabs have two XLR inputs as well as adjusting bass and treble. Therefore if we were just using it for vocals we could bypass mixer and put both our vocals direct into speakers. Only problem being we would have no effect unless we bought a separate unit.

Just wondered what people preferred.

Suppose it depends on rest of the band but I personally adore jamming. I could spend hours jamming in my 3 piece band. Just get lost in the music

I use a 410 transporter along with a 115 with my Hartke HA3000 and love the sound i get

Just wondered if anyone has used the above as part of their band PA and if so what they thought?

We are looking to buy 2 active speakers to use as a vocal PA for pub gigs and these come in bang on budget for us of £300 each. (we already own a mixer) I know for a decent active speaker you need to be spending more but we cant at present. Similar priced ones dont seem to have the decibel levels and from what Ive read these seem pretty good value but I cant see them anywhere to go and listen to.

Our usual source of hiring a vocal PA has dissappeared and we have gigs next week so I am looking at getting them asap so we can try them out before next gig.
We cant go second hand as our guitarist is putting them on a BNPL finance deal via GAK

Thats a bit of a downer but at least you know now and you can move on, and not waste any more time playing in a band you're not happy with.
Good luck!

Give it a couple more rehearsals and then decide. Its all down to enjoyment so if youre not enjoying playing then you wont have the passion so may as well leave.
I personally dont particularly like playing in bands with two guitars anyway but thats just my opinion

[quote name='Bassman Sam' timestamp='1398121224' post='2430764']
Gear4music have them at £209. That's a lot of bass for the dosh and they only weigh in at 7lbs. GAS attack (again).
[/quote]

DJM music have them for £205.00

Can't beat black/black/maple IMO

[quote name='lee4' timestamp='1398113866' post='2430658']
Put flats on it!
These are great basses IMO,and I'm happy with mine.
I had neck-dive issues,but sorted this with a suede backed strap and by moving the rear strap button to by the top contour.
Enjoy.
[/quote]

Yes thats exactly what I am going to do. I already have a wide strap anyway as I suffer with a prolapsed disc and this helps. I also adore the colour of black on black with a maple neck

Great gig last night and first time I used my new Tony Butler bass. Cant believe how good it sounded through my Hartke rig.
Straight out of the box the action was great and inotation spot on.
Really cut through the mix and felt really comfortable.
I just cannot understand how theses basses are only 200 quid brand new.

Just sold my MP. Fantastic looking bass but i just could not get the sound I wanted out of it. Last few gigs I ended up using my jhs vintage as I was getting the sound I wanted.
I agree that its trying to be a quality bass on a budget

Great basses for beginners and beyond. My first bass was a Westone Spectrum in black. Wish I had kept it, especially as I let it go for peanuts

Depends if youre ever in a position where you would not use the full PA. You say some of the pubs are cramped but do you still take the active subs in?
We play a lot of small pubs where we only use a small PA with 12" tops so I still use my bass amp then and only put vocals through PA.
As long as youre happy with sound from a smaller amp and sound of bass through the PA then there is no reason why you cant do what youre suggesting, just as long as you can hear yourself on stage

Bought the Tony Butler sig V4 and should get it on Monday. You can buy them online now for £204 with free delivery and for that bass I think it is a great price.

I like the Matt Freeman Squier but as I said finances are pretty dismal at present and the V4 TB is a lot cheaper and great for the cash.

Greggo - They are great basses for the money but the biggest problem is getting hold of one to try. None of my local music shops who Vintage claim to be distributors stock any.

Thanks for the replies.
I think for the money they are great basses and I really want a black/black with a maple neck.

Can anyone who owns one of the above answer a question please. I bought a V4 reissued series off ebay as a cheap back up bass but liked it that much I regularly use it at gigs. The reason I like it is because the neck is much thinner than a standard precision. I dont mean the fretboard width but the actual distance from the top of the fretboard to the back of the neck. More like a jazz bass. I would say its shallower than a Fender modern C shape.
Due to my current situation I am selling my fender MP jazz bass and intending on buying the vintage tony butler V4.
Its impossible to find them anywhere in shops so i wanted to check the neck was the same as my standard V4, nice and shallow. There are no dimensions on jhs web site and upon googling it the only place I could find a discussion was on talkbass where they were saying how chunky V4 necks were compared to most P basses. This is odd as mine is the opposite. I emailed jhs and they have replied to say the necks on all V4s are quite wide and deep and I should consider a jazz style if I want a thin neck. But I want a precision.
I thought maybe my V4 has got a different neck on it than original but the logo clearly states a V4 and its hardly a bass you would bother changing the name on the headstock.

Im quite confused so anyone with a V4, preferably the Tony Butler model that could tell me how the neck shape differs from a Standard Fender P bass would really help

Thanks

Cool. We play a lot of Jam songs in our set and I very often have to decide whether to play the correct bass part or do the correct harmony backing vocals as on some songs its virtually impossible to do both. Dont know how he does it.

What basses was he using last night?