hairychris

I have no idea what I'm doing, but enjoy doing it!

Only guitfiddles. Their FSR runs are good gravy!

You have no idea how you'll feel until you do it. I'm very shy under most circumstances too, but stick me on a stage and you wouldn't realise it! My first show was in front of about 800 people and I hid behind the PA stack for most of it. Once I got over the shock I loved the buzz. Make sure that you really know the material, and that you have practiced your set so that you all have it running smoothly. Know what you have to do with your kit to set it up - personally I find Zen in this aspect of the show as once I have my area set up I'm ready to do my thing. I use the same routine at rehearsals: the closer to the mentality of the show you get when rehearsing, even with the little things, the easier the show is! Another tip is the next time you practice, set up your instruments as if you are on a stage, all facing the same way if you aren't doing so already. Pretend that a wall is the audience. Your on-stage communication is going to be a little different to the rehearsal room, a small thing but may catch you out especially if you're all taking visual cues from the drummer. Anyway, the important thing is to enjoy it. You might be too stressed to notice at the time, but once you've finished take a little time to take it all in. You're also lucky in that kids are often natural performers. Back them up and you'll be fine! Good luck.

NG's a bit of a dick but I don't mind him too much. He seems to be a bright chap putting on an act, can be entertaining, and I get the feeling that he says some of what he does just because he can. LG on the other hand - not a fan. Never liked Oasis (and I never liked The Beatles - coincidence?), and I think that the post-Oasis output of the bothers G has been absolute tripe.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1425660257' post='2709535'] Problem solved. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zero-Mod-Thumb-Rest-Tug-Bar-for-Stingray-Bass-in-Black-No-Mods-No-Holes-/261647606658?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ceb69a382"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item3ceb69a382[/url] More models are on the way for different basses. I'm waiting for the Ray5 version. [/quote] I have one of these, it's great, very solid, well cut and fits perfectly. I bought the clear one and it's pretty stealth! Works fine on my USA Sub 5 so should be fine on a regular Stingray as the pickguards are identical. Not sure if the Sterling different... and yeah, the 5s without the normal egg-shaped guard aren't covered yet.

Well, Tool are writing again so at least that's something. More 9am hitting browser "refresh" sessions on ticketing sites to come, then.

Can't see a problem with BEAD on bass if you use the right strings and tweak the EQ.

The only reason that I'm in my current band is because the previous bassist's wife gave him an ultimatum after #2 was born... If you're a professional musician then that's one thing, but if it isn't your main source of income I can see a much harder argument to win. FWIW I've never been in a relationship long enough to have this sort of problem myself but that's a whole other issue..!

I really like the look of these, and the little sequencer is fantastic (although I already have a 4x8 step sequencer from MFB). I'd need to sell some kit before buying one though.

Friends' band lost their bassist, I thought that I'd try out for a laugh. They seemed to like it. That was a year ago. Been playing guitar for >20 years so at least I knew where the notes were!

[quote name='solo4652' timestamp='1423737021' post='2688369'] I'm following this thread out of idle curiosity. I have absolutely no idea how valves, transformers and such stuff work. Just maybe, that might enable someone as ignorant as me to suggest something outwardly daft that could possibly work. Top-of-head musings; 1. Are some valves physically smaller than others? 2. Do some valves produce less heat than others? 3. Do you [i]have[/i] to have fan cooling, with the associated fan, motor, thermostat, wires and noise? How about valve dampers - would they eliminate, or at least reduce the size of fans+gubbins? My home radiators have loads of fins behind them to increase surface area for heat release. [url="http://vintageaudiovalves.com/eat-tubes"]http://vintageaudiov...s.com/eat-tubes[/url] and [url="http://www.guildfordaudio.co.uk/store/category.php?category=Valve%20Dampers&section=Accessories&cattitle=Accessories&page=category"]http://www.guildford...s&page=category[/url] 4. Do the valves [i]have[/i] to be next to each other? If they were separated inside the box, would that help prevent localised heat build-up? Indeed, do the valves have to be inside the box at all? In the best tradition of home decorating, if you can't hide something, make a feature of it. Put the valves on full display with just a minimalist (heat-resistant plastic?) cage/cover for protection? Arab tents use the shape of the funnel-roof to encourage air exhaust and thus cooling. 5. Perhaps the cover could be circular with the airflow sent round a spiral (Dyson vacuum cleaner) to increase the airflow. So; small, cool-running valves placed on their side with heat-dissipation fins/jackets (maybe with a smaller fan system with some sort of venturi-effect airflow accelerator?), placed apart, and placed outside of the main box under some sort of circular minimalist plastic cover that doubles as a clever air-exhaust chimney. I'm sorry. I'll shut up now. [/quote] Briefly 1) Yes, but they tend to be lower power. You'll need more of them for the equivalent power handling, and that's without tonal implications. 2) The smaller preamp ones, basically. All valves have a heating element and run hot, so there is no such thing as a cool valve. Plus the output transformer as even solid-state amps run hot. Heat will always be a problem with the voltages that are used by amps. The currently-being-developed solid-state "valves" look potentially interesting but 1) it's future tech 2) no idea how they sound 3) unsure if they will be able to handle output stage functionality and 4) there are other things in the amp (transformer, especially) that'll still be generating heat. 3) No. Many amp heads don't have a fan, but they are relatively open to the outside world. Cramming anything like an output transformer and output tubes in a confined space/rack and you have to ventilate. Even those normal amp heads can misbehave in a hot venue so may need external fans for cooling. And, fwiw, those heatsinks only pull heat from the tube and try to dump it in the surrounding air. This air needs to be circulated so it's not actually removing any heat from hte system as a whole. 4) Not in theory. However for efficiency keeping the related parts next to each other will help. If you don't you would need a lot of break-off boards and spaghetti wiring which would be expensive to build + repair and potentially prone to failure. 5) You'll still need fans for the airflow, and on top of this you'd need to design/prototype/manufacture this item. Way cheaper to just stick a fan in there, or have the valves open to air like your standard guitar head or audiophile hifi amp. To handle 100w you need a pretty large transformer and 2 large (KT88) or 4 smaller (6L6/EL34) valves, plus preamp. This gives you a certain minimum size that you can work with. Solid-state can go much smaller, especially Class D power amps as they are way more efficient than tubes. Could amps be built smaller? Possibly, yes, but we start to run into other issues as it'll need to be built sturdily enough to survive studios/live, and the 100+w transformers are *always* going to be big & very heavy.

Played an entertaining-but-scrappy free gig in a boozer in Camden with my old band. Your standard Thursday night, 4-noisy-bands-on-a-bill type of thing. Random bloke comes up to me afterwards and said that he was glad that he came to this show instead of going to Iron Maiden who were playing the same night. He must have been mad but I did get a pint out of it!

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1422729474' post='2676233'] Not trying to derail the thread at all. I was talking to someone the other day, and he said something very sensible. All this talk about lightweight cabs, you only maybe carry the cab a very short distance, probably only for a few seconds even, and you can get great collapsable trolleys very cheaply. Most of the time it's the bass that causes back problems, it's the bass that is after all strapped to you for possibly 2 or 3 hours of a gig. just a thought. [/quote] I've played a number of venues where you've needed to get kit up and down tight stairs, no doubt others have too. I have bad memories involving SVT 8x10s in those situations!

[quote name='Angel' timestamp='1422620718' post='2674681'] My no 1 guitar as of .... last October I think? A Feline 20th anniversary Lion. [/quote] Nice, I do like Jonathan's builds! I go to Feline for all tech work... he had 2 Blackmachines and a Les Paul in from me in 2014.

No excuses needed. If you're in a band for fun, then anything making it not fun is a perfectly valid [u]reason[/u] for leaving! Good luck!

I'm a crap musician but even crapper at relationships with real people. Maybe my switch to bass from guitars will help, althouth tbh I have suspicions about the accuracy of the article becauseI haven't worn tight trousers since an unfortunate semi-goth stage in the early 90s.

I'd look at keeping a cheapish bass at home too, then. A couple of hundred quid can get something reasonable 2nd-hand (per Happy Jack) as I know that 4 weeks of enforced not playing an instrument would wind me up!

Haha, I picked up the 5-string one that was on sale here and it arrived last week. Great bass, no nonsense, but so high output that I had to re-EQ everything on my rig! I'm not a slap player, but my band's drummer is.. and holy cow. With the 2-band cranked all the way up it's insane. The only thing that I'm not convinced about is the glossy neck. I also need to do something with the scratchplate as it is a little cheesy! The matte grey, though, I like and have previously owned a guitar with a similar (but smooth) finish.

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1422444678' post='2672655'] Yes, they do play good I've tried a couple in my local guitar shop, and every one has been great I've got a VM P bass, with P/J pickups and it's brilliant I also have a Classic Vibe 60's P bass .... and the quality, sound and playability on that is even better than the VM series Again, I've tried another since, just to compare - and just as good A guitarist pal has a CV tele, and he loves it.... Says it compares to any US Fender he's played Squiers have come on leaps & bounds lately.... If you haven't tried a Classic Vibe yet - I highly recommend a go .... a word of warning though - you will want it! lol [/quote] I A/Bed a Classic Vibe Tele with the 800 quid USA version in a shop last year and there was very little in it. Finishing wasn't quite as good but for playability and tone, well depending on personal preferences I can see it beating the USA. Funnily enough one of the best playing guitars I've tried, period, was a very well set up Squire Precision that an acquaintance owns. As I'm scarred for life due to the bad time that I had with my first guitar which was a Squire, I find the increase in quality disturbing!

Have just received bass #2, both are 5ers. Current "other" guitar count is (after down-sizing): 8 string: 1 7 string: 1 6 string: 7 (I think) I still have a way to go to get my bass quotient to a more respectable level!

Fretting is one thing that I'm trying to get my head around on bass. On guitar I prefer Extra Jumbo by a country mile - I also own guitars with medium and vintage frets (plus an 80s Gibson with their flat & wide things) but if I was speccing a guitar out it would be with 6100 wire or equivalent. Woodinblack's photo is interesting because I also play an SR505, and I think that the frets on it are tiny. In comparison to the Dingwall, though... I've always liked the look of those basses but I'm not sure that I'd be happy with those frets. I also enjoyed that Fender video. I do play guitar with a light fretting hand (which makes sense compared to fretwire preference) but this really isn't helping with bass playing. I keep having to remind myself to harness my inner caveman and grip the neck tighter!

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' timestamp='1422627675' post='2674805'] There's something about older modellers (not listened to anything in the last 5 years) that takes away presence and cut - they make a lot of noise, but it's like using far too much fuzz and you get a mushy background sound until they become too loud and swamp everything. Or maybe they're just really hard to set up well? I've seen (heard) similar issues with Vettas, flextones and the big HD heads when used live. Older Vox modellers suffered similar problems, though less than Line 6 kit. [/quote] That sounds about right. Last one I remember was a now-defunct band of mine played a show, band on before us's guitarist used a Spider head and it was... invisible over the drums & bass. What exacerbated the problem was my lot going on stage afterwards with a Diezel & Engl (carefully EQed for maximum gonad-punching). Not a good look for the other chaps! Modern modellers are a lot better but I am still not 100% convinced. I've seen a few folks using Kempers/AxeFx units, including with tube power amps, and although very nice tonally seems to lack the punch. As for Westax - solid state aren't as bad for getting lost in the mix, especially clean, but you can get perceived volume problems if upping the gain levels. I think that it's the way that silicon distorts when driven as opposed to vacuum tubes. The JC120 is pretty much an industry standard clean amp but isn't the lightest to lug about!

TBH home practice and band rehearsal/small show are 2 completely different sacks of spanners, so to speak. Most of my home practice is done on a Boss BR600 digital recorder running into phones or my desk -> hifi for example. Laney, Blackstar and Orange do good low-wattage tube amps or combos that can be hooked up to an external cab. The various Orange Terror heads get a lot of use, even from touring acts. +1 on avoiding the Line 6 Spider. There's something very weird with how it sounds that makes it go completely missing in live mixes. Either none of the users know how to dial in mids or it's something fundamental. I've heard better things about the Spider Valve though.

Received an EBMM Sub 5 from Andre yesterday, exactly as described: a fantastic bass in showroom condition. Great doing business with him, and would definitely recommend to others. Good seller and decent chap! Chris

Just a note: Music production on Android is pretty much a non-starter because of how the OS works (developers can get closer to the hardware on iOS and latency is much less). Something like the Juno is good, for a while I owned a Yamaha SY22 which was from the late 80s/early 90s but very flexible. If you don't mind older synth engines picking up a used workstation like this is the cheapest way to get a lot of sounds and nice-feeling keys. As has been said, synths depreciate so if you don't mind going back a few years you can get stuff that was stage & studio quality for next to nothing. Otherwise you're stuck with a midi controller running plug-ins/apps on a computer which may be a cheaper option but is more probe to going wrong!