Greg Edwards69

The alternative if it's a particularly challenging part is to attack it as a pianist would with tricky left and right hand parts, or a drummer would. Break it down, and learn both parts simultaneously, very slowly.

If you can sing in time and in tune it absolutely helps the band sound better. If everyone in the band can sing, then better still.

I can narrow it down to just one year. 1987. GnR - Appetite for Destructions, Def Lep - Hysteria, George Michael - Faith, MJ - Bad, U2 - The Joshua Tree, Prince - Sign "☮︎" the Times, Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation, Faith No More - Introduce Yourself, Kiss- Crazy Nights, Whitesnake - 1987, Motley Crue - Girls, Girls, Girls, Joe Satrinai - Surfing with the AlienREM - Document... and many more. Seminal albums in a seminal year. Not to mention a ton of single "bangers" released that year (other than from the above albums), such as Livin on a Prayer, Wanted Dead or Alive, Nothings Gonna Stop us Now, I wanna dance with somebody, It's a sin, Barcelona, Fairytale of New York, (I Just) Died in Your Arms

I used these when I had my old Warwick Thumb 5-string bass (that I mainly used in passive mode), partly because other brands wouldn't fit in the saddle slot*. Great sounding and feeling B string. I think "piano tone" would describe it best. *I only found out after I stopped playing it that warwick sold spare saddles for non-tapered strings.

No, just as 'digital' earplugs. I use the Xvive U4 and KZ ZS10s as IEMs.

I use a long TRS to TRS (stereo) 3.5mm lead, then a 3.5mm TRS to 6.35mm TS adaptor to convert it to mono for the speaker. Whilst it's technically possible to do it the other way round with a standard guitar lead and a 6.35mm to 3.5mm adapter, I reckon the weight of the guitar lead would break the adaptor off inside the mighty plug. FWIW, I'm considering replacing the mighty plug with a Mooer Prime P1. Whilst the Mighty Plug is great for a lot of things, it doesn't do a couple of things I need for practice, such as a pitch shifter, and octaver. This is also one of the things that has stopped me getting a Spark amp. I also have a Blackstar Core ID Beam, which is okay for bass, but again lacks a couple of essential features and can sound a bit 'woolly' and unrefined in the low end. I'm thinking a Mooer Prime P1 and a PJB Nano X4 could be a potent little practice combo.

Have you tried ordering with a different 'send' address?

That's easily fixed by plugging it into a powered speaker, such as a nearfield monitor, frfr speaker, or regular bass amp, or even a battery-powered portable Bluetooth speaker (if it has a mini-jack aux in). I've done all of these and it works better than expected. So much so, I take mine to gigs (with an extra long mini jack-to-jack lead and adaptor) as a backup to my Helix.

Similar to the repair to my old LMII head, by Electronic Music Services in Southend. MIne had a micro fracture somewhere on the main board that made the amp go into protect mode after 20mins or so. They told me expensive as it is, it's more efficient and effective, and actually cheaper to swap the board out than try and find and fix fault(s) on a microscopic level. I think mine cost a little under £200 to fix. I couldn't bring myself to scrap it.

An update on the Airpods idea. I recently succumbed and bought a set of Airpods Pro 2 (amazon deal - pay over 5 months 0% - sometimes Amazon isn't so evil), and had our first rehearsal since getting them last night. As digital earplugs they actually work quite well. The transparency mode produced a very clear sound, much clearer than any other musicians earplugs I've used over the years (including Etymotic, Earasers, Elacin custom moulded, Docs pro plugs amongst others). And at a comfortable level without any noticeable latency. One of the features of transparency mode (and why I wanted to try them as earplugs in the first place) is that any noise over 85dB is automatically attenuated back down to that level via compression. Fantastic you might say. However, one of the first instruments to get compressed (possibly because I was standing so close to my frfr) was my bass. It was still clear, but just not as present in the mix. It was almost as if I had the opposite experience of passive earplugs that attenuate the top end - the airpods attenuated the low end. I reckon if I move my speaker to the opposite side of the room next time, then the airpods may fare better. But so far, so good!

Maybe you've had an allergic reaction to the metal used on the flat's wrap?

Looks like standard fare for many rehearsal rooms I’ve been in. It shouldn’t have been that difficult for the sound person to work out. Even our singer can use one of those!

I have raised this in the "bug" thread on the Line 6 forum. I'm being told that it's due to "Pans Law". Apparently each half of a split path is reduced by 3db in order to make the mixed result unity gain. But this also applies to the crossover split, which isn't very useful. However, I'm seeing a different result than would be expected from Pans Law. I'm seeing a net reduction in volume on equal splits, and a bigger than expected reduction on crossover splits. (and yes, I've experimented with polarity too)

So with the wife at work for the entire bank holiday weekend, I was finally able to do a deep dive into an issue that's been plaguing me for a while. Namely, the difference volume (or what I initially thought was tone) between split and non split paths. I had found out somewhere else that a Y and A/B split path has a -3db drop in volume. Naturally I assumed it would be the same for the crossover split. So I've had a 3db gain block after the merge block for a while but it still didn't sound right. After much faffing and measuring (inc running pink noise through native into and RTA) I've discovered that a crossover split has a -6db drop in volume! That's quite significant. I've now gone through all my presets set the merge blocks level to +3db for Y or A/B splits and +6db for crossover splits and my levels are now far more consistent. I kind of understand the logic of reducing the level for Y and A/B splits, but certainly not such a huge drop for crossovers. Surely, the volume should be the same coming out as going in.

Whilst I agree that synthesis is the weak point in the Helix for some of us bassists, the legacy synths added last year have largely prevented me from buying another pedal for the couple of songs I needed it for.

On the plus side, it’s useful that Warwick offer a seemingly complete range of spare parts for their instruments and amplifiers, even for older models.

It’s also worth mentioning that 3.60 includes a Russian Big Muff model. This a crucial part of many Muse type bass tones. All I need now is an Animato model and a Prunes & Custard model and I’ll be very happy.

Me and one of the guitarists have recently bought a U4 set with an extra receiver. Only had the chance to use it twice at a gig. First time was "experimental" as we hadn't properly planned out the optimal channel to use to avoid clashing with other wireless devices (such as one of the lead mics and the other guitarists U2) so we had a bit of interference throughout. However, once we worked out what everything else was running on, we set it up again for this weekend's gig and it performed flawlessly. Possibly the best monitoring I've ever had. Only a couple of issues. My shirt kept nudging the volume knob down, so I had to tuck that part oƒ my shirt behind it. Whilst the sound was quite clear, we both set it was a little too bright and shrill at the top end, but upon investigation. this is possibly more to do with our KZ ZS10 earphones than anything. I've never had the chance to use these earbuds with a decent system before, so I was quite surprised by the brightness (although I do occasionally use them with me helix at low volume for home practice, and I recall them sounding a little bright, but I wasn't sure if it was the headphones or my patch settings). I need to experiment with this further. It's also made it clear we need a "'technical rehearsal" soon to iron out some issues. For example: We need to tweak the other guitarists (who doesn't use IEM yet) solo boost level as his rhythm volume was slightly too low and his lead was slightly too loud. I've noticed and mentioned this a number of times in the past but this made it more apparent. If he gets on board with the IEM solution he'll likely notice it more too. The two lead singer are using the older cheaper G4M IEM system which struggles with a full mix, and the drummer has recently started using a wired IEM. However, our desk only has two pre-fader aux outs with the other two being post fader. So any monitor outs taken from the latter are to volume changes. We've also just gotten a subwoofer at last within the last week. So we've only been able to try it at one gig. We definitely need to spend time learning how to balance it with the tops, at my sound out front at the weekend was very, very different to my FRFR (took it just in case, but hoping not to need it soon) speaker and IEM.

FWIW, we’ve recently acquired a subwoofer - an EV ELX200-12SP to beef up our PA system (up till now, just two Yamaha DXR12 speakers up on poles) and tried it out for the first time last night. As I’ve mentioned on another thread, it’s made us realise we need to spend some time with all of the PA gear in a rehearsal space to optimise it all as best as possible and know how to deal with certain common issues quickly. Currently me and the two guitarists have been using an FRFR speaker each as backline/personal instrument monitor (DXR10 for guitars and my headrush 112 for bass). I noticed last night that the sound out front was very different to my frfr. Much less mids, and note definition - almost compressed sounding - even with the eq set flat and compression bypassed on my mixer channel. That said it probably wasn’t the best venue to try it out in either - it’s quite a boomy place, or possibly the sub was turned up too high, although it didn't sound like it. We’ve also been looking into better IEM solutions too (the cheap G4M one we have is fine for bass but doesn’t handle a full mix, esp bass). Whilst the guitarists were considering ditching the backline if we sorted out IEM situation, I’ve adamantly retained my frfr until we got a sub, due to the low end loss sticking the main speakers up on poles. As such, me and one of the guitarists have recently started using an Xvive U4 system. After being plagued with interference the first time we used it, we've since got our channels optimised and it worked great last night. Although we both said it sounded a little too bright and shrill, certainly much, much brighter than the PA. Both of us are using KZ ZS10 earphones, so I wonder if there's something else at play. The desk is a Yamaha MG20XU. So the only eq is on each channel strips that unfortunately also affects the aux sends. The only solution we can think of is an external eq for the IEM. So yes. We definitely need to spend some more time with this gear in a controlled environment! PS, full disclosure. The PA system belongs to one the guitarists father, who usually runs the sound for us. Lovely guy but I believe he turned 80 in the last year or so and I’m not sure he’s up to the task of managing our live sound as well as he used to, so I think I it is prudent for us to spend time with the gear with a view to managing it ourselves. Personally, I think I have the best ear in the band, and I’d love to do the work myself, but it’s not easy playing bass at the same time and having a couple of other in the band also wanting to control the mix without as much knowledge.

Redonizm were back at Starr Sports, Canvey Island again. A decent night again and playing for an appreciative crowd. More importantly, after testing a new subwoofer (EV ELX200-12SP) it’s clear we need to spend some time in a large rehearsal room with the full PA to dial everything in just right. Whilst I think the sub did its job, it probably wasn’t the ideal room to try it out in as the ceiling is quite low and excites everything around low G on the bass, keys and acoustic guitar, even with low cuts and eq. Standing out front I noticed my bass tone was quite boomy and lacked definition compared to my frfr. On the other hand, the new Xvive U4 IEM a couple of us are using performed really well, if a little shrill sounding. But probably the best IEM sound I’ve ever had. FYI, we tried this out at our previous gig a couple of weeks ago at Birchanger social club (that I completely forgot to to a write up about), but we had a few interference issues with the one of the lead vocalists mic and one of the guitarists mics. In retrospect, we should have spent some more time researching and determining the most appropriate channels for each device, but live and learn! Anyway, we worked this out since and it performed very well last night with not interference issues whatsoever. If we can spend some quality time with the gear in a rehearsal space, and get everyone onboard with this IEM system, I’m now confident we can leave all the backline and home and just use PA.

I've notice the same thing with their hipshot stock. The one's I want (chrome shiny ultratlite xtender clover OR Y-shaped and matching ultralite licenced never seem to be in stock.

Phone adverse as well. But as I have a stammer, I have an excuse! . To be honest though, I really should push myself to use the phone more often.

Same here. The power socket on my Headrush speaker is in exactly the right place to damage a straight IEC plug when used in tilt-back monitor orientation. I found an appropriately angled 90 degree lead on Amazon to rectify this oversight. I believe the particular seller sold them in both left and right versions. Up and down 90 degree adaptors are also available Amazon.co.uk : right angle IEXC

I've had several over the years, Zoom BFX708, Boss GT6B, Zoom B9.1ut, Korg AX3B, Korg Pandora PX4D, a couple of Zoom MS60B's, Line 6 M5 and now only using my Helix LT (I also have Nux Mighty Plug if that counts. I've gone back and forth between multifx units and stomp boxes over the years, or building hybrid setups with both, and nothing has come as close to perfection (for me) as the Helix. It has the models I wanted (including the Pearce pre-amp), the routing options I required that can be changed at the press of a button and the global eq which is worth the admission price alone IMHO.

Do what I did and use two of them! I had two on my old pedal board for processing both signals from Attitude bass, and sold them both when got my Helix. I kinda wish I had kept one now