Happy Jack

What's the weight like on these less-expensive Precisions? I've got it in my head that they're all really heavy, but actually I have no real idea.

Vocal abuse is the misuse or overuse of the voice in an unhealthy fashion Well there's your problem straight away. Vocal abuse is swearing at someone. Vocal misuse is using your voice in an improper fashion. On-line stuff is all very well, and some of it is really very good ... if you can find the good stuff and recognise it. But if you're an absolute beginner, then there is no substitute for a couple of one-on-one sessions with an actual voice coach, who can identify what you're doing wrong and show you how to do it right. No on-line voice coach is going to see that your posture is all wrong, you're not breathing properly, and you're straining too hard for that note. Ultimately, you get what you pay for. And on-line coaches cost nothing. Just saying ...

I had the fiver. Loved it to bits but the weight (> 11lbs) led me to sell it. I missed it so much that I bought another one. Loved it to bits but the weight (> 11lbs) led me to sell it. GAME OVER INSERT NEW COIN

And that just about nails it for me. If I was in the weddings market then who knows what route I'd go down? But I ain't. I play pubs. I set up between the Gents toilet and the dartboard, without getting in the way of the TV showing the footy / rugger / tennis / Olympics / whatever, and with everything powered from a single 13A socket which previously had the cigarette machine plugged into it (landlord's going to notice that eventually). Simplicity & flexibility are massively important to me.

A funny thing happened to me on the way to ...

Well it's patchy. I've switched off everything I can find, closed down individual topics where notifications existed previously, and things are definitely better. BUT ... I still get a handful of (apparently random) notifications every day, alerting me to posts which are sometimes even on topics I've never opened!

That reminds me. Sticking your digit into the 'tower' cones would be considerably harder than you might imagine ... they are reasonably well protected with rigid plastic grilles. They're also very well defended against prattish guitar players dropping their plectrums into the horns ...

I couldn't find the 'Ironic' smiley ... sorry!

Dunno Russ, this all goes way over my head.

Best ask Marco de Virgiliis ... I'm sure I have his phone number somewhere. Personally I don't get hung up on numbers. I tend to rate cabs as being Too Quiet, Quiet, Loud, Bloody Loud, and WTF Do You Think You're Playing At You Pilloch.

I spent a very educational and entertaining two hours in a rehearsal studio with MoJoKe this morning and, rather as I feared, I have been thoroughly smitten by these systems, and especially by the Audio Chain - the larger unit with the 2x10 subwoofer. Although I have researched (quite thoroughly) all the major competitors, including all of those listed elsewhere in this thread, I cannot claim to have listened to, or played through, them all. I am therefore NOT an expert on this subject. Nor, indeed, do I have a dog in this fight. I never really got on with pooper-scoopers. But I HAVE invested two hours in getting seriously up close and personal with this Markaudio stuff, and I have been sufficiently impressed that I'll be putting my hand in my pocket. I've already listed for sale about £2k worth of kit here on Basschat to help fund this move, and there will be more to come. I'm not here to write advertising copy for Markbass, and they wouldn't thank me for it anyway, so if you want to know more about my thinking in PA terms please drop me a PM. But this being a forum for bass players, I should at least mention that the deciding factor for me was that this is a PA system that actually is also a serious high-end bass cab, and which can be used quite happily in stand-alone mode (i.e. no PA mixer etc.) to this purpose. Just stick an appropriate preamp or pedal in front of it, plug in to the dedicated socket and ... job done. You can do this regardless of whether or not it is in use as a PA at the time. Rather than - as now - having three Barefaced bass cabs (610 + Compact + Midget) and two RCF PA cabs (ART 322-A) knocking about, and taking at least three of those five to every gig by my main band, I can think in terms of losing all three Barefaced cabs with no appreciable loss of performance. Having been a notorious Barefaced fanboi for roughly a decade, life post-Barefaced will probably seem strange to me at first. But I suspect that Alex won't notice that I've gone.

That's these things, right? https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/diago-patchfactory-patch-cable-amp-plug-kit I love the idea of calling them 'happy jacks' ...

Might have been me. Mind you, I was so poor in those days that I was known as the Three Tenners.

Pedro, please forgive the stupid question, but have you actually managed to arrange these in such a way that not a single jack plug can be seen? Or am I missing something?

Aaaaargh! OCD alert ...

Nah ... he was the Barista.

The self-consciousness thing is the hardest to overcome. You'll never really know what you're capable of if you're always holding back in embarrassment. I used to commute on a very loud motorbike, wearing a full face helmet. I could ride into Central London singing as loud and as committed as I could manage, secure in the knowledge that no one could possibly hear me. I used to walk around my local park on Sunday mornings, football pitches to the North, railway tracks to the West, cemetery to the South, dual carriageway to the East. I just shut up when I got close to dog walkers and joggers.

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to try a set of flats ...

What WERE you watching on telly?

That was a helpful list. Not sure I'd have included LD in that company, and perhaps harsh on RCF to exclude the Evox, but there's certainly some interesting stuff there.

Dave, do you mind if I add a few tips? No? Oh good. Don't have a cold drink on stage with you, and avoid anything with ice in it like the plague. Flat bitter at room temperature is an ideal lubricant, and no, that isn't supposed to be funny. Remember to breathe at the right points in a song. It's ridiculously easy to forget this. Arrange your position on stage so that while singing into the mic you can easily check out where your left hand is on the neck. Don't keep looking down. If you don't get rid of the written lyrics within three performances, you'll depend on them for ever. If you don't know the song, WTF are you doing singing it to an audience? Don't be afraid to simplify the bass line while you're singing, and parts that you would normally play up the neck are harder to louse up if you play them down by the nut instead. Smile and bow.