Happy Jack

Almost exactly a year ago, I started a thread about the Mark Audio AC4 PA system. Silvie and I were sufficiently impressed with it that we sold off almost all our other PA kit plus several Barefaced cabs to fund purchasing a pair of them. Sad to relate, that thread lasted less than a week before having to be put down to avoid further pointless pain and suffering, but some good stuff did emerge. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/321292-markaudio-linear-array-systems/ So ... how did Year #1 go? The first thing to note is that I've played about 50 gigs in that year, but the AC4s were 'only' used at 27 of them. About a dozen gigs were played with bands who strongly preferred to use their own PA rather than experiment (as they saw it) with my radical new one, and I've increasingly opted to use a simpler, lighter vox-only approach for smaller gigs for my covers band and for pretty much all gigs for my rockabilly band. That said, 27 gigs with three different bands at over 20 different venues is enough of a sample size to allow us to draw some conclusions. All gigs were at pubs & clubs with an immense variation in room size and crowd size. The next post will be the basic Review of the Mark Audio AC4 units after a year of practical use, the questions that people tend to ask first.

So is "You slag!" a gender-neutral term?

So the 'official' proof of provenance states: I cannot explain why there is a different serial number on the receipt and guitar, it's just too long ago to recall that, but you wont get any information from Gibson because although this guitar was started during my tenure at the Custom Shop, I took it with me when I left, and so it ended up getting completed after I left Gibson, and so it became somewhat unofficial. Well it's good to get that cleared up ...

You've spayed it so it can't reproduce, I imagine?

Book yourself at least ONE lesson with someone who knows that they're doing. The number of wrong turnings you will avoid, mistakes you didn't need to make, simple things you didn't think of, will more than justify the fee. If you tell us where in the country you are, you may get some helpful recommendations as to who to contact. Oh yes, and you will NOT regret buying a DB.

I don't follow. If all the instruments tune down a tone, would it not make more sense to tune them all correctly but play in a lower key? Not trying to extract the urine, just puzzled.

Mind you, the thing that worries me most is that we've made it to near the bottom of p.3 and no one has yet had a pop at the concept of 'Exoctica', which sounds like a nightclub where they show pornography.

Personally, I'd buy a ZIG bass (base?) every time.

And now, the previously-quoted meme in its full, unexpurgated glory: Captain: What happen ? Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb. Operator: We get signal. Captain: What ! Operator: Main screen turn on. Captain: It's you !! CATS: How are you gentlemen !! CATS: All your base are belong to us. CATS: You are on the way to destruction. Captain: What you say !! CATS: You have no chance to survive make your time. CATS: Ha ha ha ha … Operator: Captain !! Captain: Take off every 'ZIG'!! Captain: You know what you doing. Captain: Move 'ZIG'. Captain: For great justice.

In my experience, the best books for musicians are really short ones.

If you study the photos really, really closely, you may spot the 'feature' that the vendor inexplicably forgot to mention. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hofner-President-Bass-approx-1965/192831895281?hash=item2ce5ad36f1:g:o0QAAOSwNJlcCVGq

I always end up with the side with jam on touching my shoulder ...

Good grief! How did that get past QC?

We only ever start the whole song again when the guitarist forgets to put on his capo.

That may the case now, but it certainly wasn't historically. I used to own this 1971: When I sold it, I replaced it with this 1976: Not a fretline in sight ...

They're in Avrainville, a tiny village just south of Paris. For that sort of money, and with a choice of seven available, I'd contact the seller and say that I was going to come over for a weekend in Paris with a visit to Avrainville (Uber would be good) as the centrepiece, allowing me to try all seven basses and choose the one I like the best. If the seller immediately starts throwing obstacles in the way, there's your answer.

But what a great Certificate! I'm particularly impressed by the need to write in the serial number and year in pen, because he presumably issued one of these certificates every time he sold one of Ronnie Wood's many Ovation fretless acoustic basses. Incidentally, Paul Karslake used to be Ronnie Wood's brother-in-law, so you'd think he's know which "ten years" Ronnie played this bass. He might also be in a position to work out who "Santana's bassist" might have been.

Loving that 1U blanking panel with the draft excluder ... the second I saw that, I ordered one!

We can sale this Bass for £4695.00 including case. But for that sort of money, don't expect us to speech English.

This is 'the new wireless' ...

Yup. In my rockabilly 3-piece I can play much 'better' basslines on a Precision, I can play with more accuracy and consistency, yet the same songs played on a DB just sound like the real thing, and it feels to me like I'm playing the real thing.

Nice one Jack, that's exactly the sort of detailed insider gen that we really need to know. When I retired last year the firm gave me a reasonably top-of-the-range Dell laptop as a retirement prezzy and - frankly - it has been largely gathering dust for nine months. I'd say it has now been re-purposed. What's really sold me on the XR18 is the option to ditch the wireless angle and just run an Ethernet cable. It's not so much that that's what I want to do ... more that this means that the option exists in an emergency where the wireless/router/network/cloud completely f***s up just before a major gig. I love the cabling for the outputs. Did you cut the hole and fit the grommet, or was that already part of the rackmount kit?

Three years is no big deal, and should be easily surmounted. What you really don't want to do is to get involved with a band who have played together for 10 years or more, and where you'll always be the 'outsider'. After three years together yes, they'll have stories to tell and shared experiences, but you have a fighting chance of becoming a fully paid-up member of the band. Musically, their tightness works to your advantage. Your inevitable mistakes will do far less damage and they'll be able to carry you to a certain extent while you get up to speed.

Now that's a fairly crucial piece of information! Thanks.

That's amazingly helpful, Russ, as always. Many thanks. The aim is not to do anything particularly 'clever' ... no IEMs, no personal mixes, no live streaming of gigs, no use of Midi or patches or pre-recorded parts. I've never yet used a DAW and I'm not hugely enthusiastic about starting now. I play pub rock & similar. Most of the bands I play in have maybe one person under the age of 50 and we tend to be pretty old-school. Fundamentally what we're after is the ability to have the PA controlled by our FOH gal Silvie in situations where that's necessary or appropriate. We're talking vocals x4 (max), mic'd up backline x6 (max), mic'd up kick drum, and (in exceptional circumstances) a pair of overhead mics for the kit. A 16-channel mixer should be more than fine ... that's what I use at the moment and I've never run out of channels yet. The XR18 (https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Behringer-X-AIR-XR18-Digital-Mixer/18DJ) looks like a very competent piece of kit and, as you say, at that price it's a bit of a no-brainer. When you say the built-in wifi is ropey, is that in the context of playing big venues with serious bands, or an all-embracing "forget it"? If it's at least adequate for pub/club gigs, then starting with the in-built would obviously simplify the transition process. The other big question is controlling it all via the tablet. This is not an Apple household - we're strictly Dell & Windows, Samsung & Android. Should I just Google for software/apps that will control the XR18, or is there anything else I need to know?