Al Krow

Cheers Phil. My Berg 212 NXT 4 ohm did the heavy lifting for both gigs and just that one for the Sun am solo gig. I also used my BF BB2 (8 ohm) effectively as a backline stage monitor for the male singer/guitarist/drummer at the function gig on Sat night. I was happily perched next to the Berg for that one 🙂

This sounds impressive! May need to revisit my decision to get RCF 932As. Any clips of your band using this live?

No PA no problem? The bass rig's revenge! I'm still in between PAs, so for gigs these are currently being supplied by the respective drummers in my two covers bands, but I'll have to fess really enjoying not being the band roadie - so maybe that partly explains my tardiness in getting the cheque book out. Well best laid plans and all that: we had a bit of an "emergency" with our drummer falling ill and therefore no PA over the weekend, so I ended up using my bass rig as a makeshift PA for a couple of gigs. We managed to get a dep drummer in for Sat's function gig; and the singer in my other band did a solo set for the London 10K on Sunday morning in place of the full band. I used two bass cabs for the full band gig and just a single Berg 212 for the solo gig, powered on both occasions by my DG M900 amp. Worked just fine! Decent amplification seems to do what it says on the tin and provides...decent amplification. Yeah, I accept that my bass rig probably costs as much as many PAs, but it's good to know that it can be put to wider use. Clip from Sunday's solo set (please excuse the noisy generator in the background): Louise Anderson (@singoutlou) Comment from singer was that she felt her lows came through noticeably better whereas she felt that they were often lost with our PAs. The fact she noticed that got my attention, but I guess not surprising that a bass rig does particularly well at dealing with low end stuff! As for dealing with backing tracks it does the job very nicely.

One mounted + one floor PA speaker set up for smaller venues Update from last night's gig. Was an awkward to get S London gig for me, so it was great to be able to jump on a tube and take 45 mins with literally just my bass and lead, rather than a 1.5 hour rush hour drive across town. Drummers in both my bands have compact PAs now to take to such gigs - and they obviously need to be driving anyway with their drums. Last night we had two, relatively budget, Proel 600W 15" tops. Managed to persuade my (slightly reluctant, haha!) bandmates to give some of the tips from earlier in this thread a try out and it worked an absolute treat. We put bass, kick drum and 2 mics through the PA, dep guitarist had backline. Set up was as follows: One PA speaker on pole in standard set up Second PA speaker on floor next to drums - to enhance the bass by making use of floor sonic reinforcement, and to provide stage monitoring End result: - really happy with overall sound and mix; - all of us able to hear each other without any separate stage monitor or IEMs; - no feedback issues, even when Ami (our lead vox) wandered off into the crowd with her wireless mic. Second time we've now used this set up for pub gigs, last night's was a larger venue than first time round but still worked really well.

If you ever manage to get your hands on a BB 2004 that may well tick all the boxes for you in terms of both looks and simply being a great bass. I'm still loving my BB 2005. In fact, it's the only BB currently in my herd.

Thanks Bill. What's your view / recommendation of a decent set up for powerful bass reproduction then?

Yup, it's gotta be all about image and not about how wonderful they sound and feel to play,or their outstanding build quality and great value for money. 😁

Ah ok - yeah. Drummer in one of my two bands is dead set against IEMs and prefers analogue kit; separately feedback from a couple of bass buddies is that IEMs are least good for the bass player in terms of the individual band members (EBS may be able to jump in to correct that if it's not a fair comment), so we would need to combine with a new digital desk and being able to tailor our output individually, but then still need a monitor for him. So I think we'll kick off with the singers having IEMs and carry on using our existing Allen & Heath analogue desks. I find I can hear the bass pretty well from just standing near a PA with our small 310As. The backline combo was really addressing EBS's point of the 932As lacking bass extension - but I'll give them a try out first: it maybe that they're fine for our more limited needs.

Not ruled out IEMs and the singers are actively considering them already, but as Woody jokingly rightly pointed out, it's kinda a separate issue to choice of PA speakers.

Agreed. It was the 12" floor speakers that seemed to be the main source of boominess / feedback with Evox 8. The store guys also commented about the line arrays having a relatively narrow-band frequency range. They clearly weren't intent on selling the unit to me, haha!

I guess I could take a compact portable back line, eg the GK Legacy 800W combos look really neat, to support the PA for those gigs where more low end is needed?

Update on the Evox 8. Popped into West End DJ to try that model out with bass guitar and our lead vox in tow. Disappointingly couldn't get away from the feedback we were getting and the store team confirmed that was their own expectation where a mic was placed in front of these PA speakers, which was a real shame, particularly as had not encountered any similar feedback issues when going to see Paul S's crew (see earlier post). Since my last post on this thread, I've sold my 310As to our drummer who will have as a back up PA for my hard-to-get-to by car gigs and for him to use in his other projects. So I currently find myself PA-less for the first time is nearly a decade and eyeing up a pair of RCF 932As as a possible replacement for our main band PA and for me to put my bass through, which is most typically likey to be without the aid of a sub.

+1 ^^ Some great bass work on there!

Andy made the school-boy error of starting a thread about gear, in particular synth pedals, on BC. Of course he ended up buying one: mine as it turned out. Super smooth transaction, thanks - hope you enjoy the pedal!

I've just recently acquired a Boss SY-200, big brother of the SY-1, and was planning to list my SY-1 in the FS but hadn't yet got around to it. So if you (or anyone else!) is interested in taking it off my hands, please PM me. (Update: NOW SOLD)

Just for the record, in case anyone is concerned that I may be trying to corner the market in used Zoom B1-4s, this was to replace my spare one which decided not to come home with me after a recent pub gig... But Gerry is indeed now my "supplier" 😄

Still this ^^ 🙂 Thanks for another very straightforward / smooth transaction, Gerry. Look forward to making the same purchase off you in 2024 😁

Wow, that adds a whole new dimension to this piece of kit! What are your impressions of the synths on it?

I love the simplicity and compact form factor of the Boss WL-20 wireless. Seems to have a pretty decent range too. Here's me misbehaving at a gig last weekend courtesy of the WL-20s:

We went very budget and got a used Casio CT-X700 off eBay for £120. I think they're around £185 new. It's actually proved to be the best value bit of kit any bandmate in any of the various bands I've been in has ever got - had a more positive impact on our sound than any bit of bass gear I've bought over the years! Weighing less than 10 lbs makes it easy for our keys player to take it as a one hand carry in a soft case. Here's a little clip of it in action: Key limitation is not being able to independently set volumes where the keyboard is split into two for each half of the keyboard.

JBC still going strong, thanks. Look forward to your synthy footage!

It is indeed. I love it! Bought it off @Sibob of this parish last summer and it's become a goto gigging bass for me. It's light and beautifully put together and has a lovely tone.

Really enjoyed playing at a 50th on Saturday night with a recently formed crew. I was a little wowed by a couple of my bandmates riffing off each other on Pinball Wizard, particularly as it was the first time we had played it live together. They've somehow managed to turn me into an Elton John fan - Who would have guessed?

So, in an ideal world, what would be your idea of "heaven"?