dave_bass5

I was raving about my Cali 76 CB a month ago, so much better than my Spectracomp (for me). Well, ive now done two rehearsals without turning it on, and i dont miss it at all. I think, as always, i was looking for a solution to a problem that didnt exist, and more so willing to throw money at it. In hindsight the Spectracomp was doing just as good a job, although that was used as set and forget. With the Cali im forever looking for that sweet spot. Less choice means less mucking about IMO. Ill stick my Spectracomp back on the board and use that if i need compression. Glad i didn't sell it now. Id rather have that sitting not begin used than the Cali.

What a load of rubbish. Its the job of the singer to sing and be the focal point (most of the time). If the singer is part of a band then he is part of a band. Its a team effort. If the band (inc the signer) rehearse a song why does the singer get to change things on the night without asking the other's?. What if someone else in the band is struggling to play faster? The whole night could go to pot if the band cant keep up. A singer is a singer, not some sort of higher being. I do realise that a lot of singers feel they are 'god', and its only them on stage, but just because they think that doesn't mean its true, and anyone with an ego that size really should check themselves in to a clinic. If you are hired to back a singer then fair enough, you do as you are told, but if you are a band then the singer has no right to expect to call the shots, unless he is a Richard.

We’re learning that song at the moment. I sit at home and play along with a YT bass cover video with the tab. All sounds good, but at rehearsals I’m having to miss out 1/3 of the notes due to the speed were are playing at (and the change of rhythm because the drummer cant actually play it straight). Funny , but I thought I had escaped having to learn this song, I guess the past is catching up with me now..

Looks very tasty already. Not for me, but I think its going to be a big hit.

i always find its the drummer that decided to change/set the tempo of songs. Once the band are paying the singer has no choice but to go with it.

I always shim my necks. I like a med/low action but hate seeing the strings rise as they get past the 12th firet. The shim seems to keep things in line. Not that I ever go above the 12th though.....

I finally got around to playing with my Q/strip at home last night. Just Bass- Q/S - Zoom B3n in bypass mode and headphones. Ok, so its an EQ, not really much to expect. Plugged The Sire V7 in and had a play. Very powerful but i found the best tones were almost flat on the boosts. I never really had a 'wow' moment but i can see it potential. Saying that, even with it off and using my normal Zoom presets i wasn't feeling it last night. I thought id drag the P bass out for a quick go, not played it for months.....WOW, there it is!!!!. I was amazed by how much a small turn on the two mid freq's can go from almost both pups on Jazz tone, to bridge only growl pup, on my P bass. Obviously all the tones in between, but im really, really impressed with this box. I still realise its nothing really special, its just EQ, and all this may not translate donkey well to using it with a rig in a band situation, but its so easy to tweak to get quite different tones that im really over the moon with it. So, back to playing P bass again, although i will miss the B sting. Might invest in a Sire P bass at some point. This obviously delays it going in to the Classifieds for a few months now :-)

Well sometimes it seems like it, although that has nothing to do with her :-) It definitely changed the dynamic of the band, although as my drummer lacks dynamics that's not a bad thing lol.

Same here. In the old band me and the drummer travelled together in his car. We were always on time and continuously having to make excuses for the others being late. The guitarist we had was the worst time keeper ive ever known, other than the drummer when playing :-). We had to start getting to gigs late just so we weren't always in the firing line at weddings etc, when only half the band had arrived. In my current band i travel with my GF (the singer, we live together), and she drives, and is also always late. I get very frustrated and normally arrive in a bad mood.

Or a Way Huge Pork Loin, which i believe is also based on the Neve front end.

I had that on last night and it did seem to do something with my tone. I wouldn't say it was a huge improvement, certainly not as much as backing off the low knob on my bass, but its nice to have a safety net i guess. I do intend to use the Q/strip for a few instruments so its not just for bass.

Its definitely not normal. I use mine with various pedals. I think Danny might be on to something, especially as it does work without the pedals. Good luck, let us know what the outcome is.

Silly question but have you considered its the pre amp not working? It wouldn't have killed your pedals if they still work.

I had my first go on mine last night. It arrived during the day and i went straight off to rehearsals. I will say i love it, love how it looks, love what it can do but think its waaaaay over priced. i agree, at £308 its not quite good value for money, but thats not to say its not going to do its job. During the rehearsal i played with it, and yes, its very powerful. Problem was i was going through the studio's 2 1x15 Behringer cabs, and standing right in front of them. It sounded good to me, but listening back to the recording it was very boomy. My fault of course, and i need more time with it. I ended up using it more off than on, just so i didnt keep the band waiting while i fiddled with it. Next rehearsal isnt for a few weeks so ill have the hang of it by then, and ill also use my own cab. Those 1x15's are horrible, but convenient. Im not sure how useful it twill be yet, but i can see its potential. I think its much better suited for home or studio use though.

I recently purchased a Tascam DR-05 recorder for recording rehearsals. This replaced my old and trusted Edirol recorder. The Tascam producrs much better rectordings, clearer, more even and oval just a big step up from what i had before. I’m very pleased with the results, especially at this price point. My only worry, is that the recording levels goes from 0-100, and i have to set it to 3 to avoid overloading. This works well (and yes, i have asked the band to turn down) but my old recorder(s) had a mic attenuation control on them. I’m just wondering if I should get something that also has this, or just live with wha ti had. I must admit I’m a bit worried about the louder peaks, although th limiter keeps them in check. Thoughts? I’m only use this as a stand alone, its not practical to plug a desk or mic’s in, its just for analysis purposes anyway. My gut feeling is if it works dont worry, but i thought i’d get some opinions before spending more money, in case sonically i could get better.

If it were me, id go for the one in the colour i want and in stock (or earliest delivery time). Other than that, its a personal thing. Order both in none in stock, and then cancel the one you decide against. Ive gone back to using mine again (after about 2 years of using a P bass), and love it. Im finding i use it mostly in passive mode, and it sounds more like i want a Jazz bass to sound, over any other Jazz bass ive played. And that's without engaging the active EQ.

Nice site and a good selection of songs to play through.

and slap......dont forget about the slap.........

Seems like 'our' drummer is in more than one band ;-(

Ever since i upgraded my Iphone 6S to a 8 Plus ive had real issues with both my tone print enabled TC pedals. Ive had to resort to using the old phone just for this. Old phone works perfectly.

Actually i can cope with it not being 'much' fun. As long as i enjoy the gigs and get paid im pretty much ok. Obvious having a lot of fun and getting paid is better, or even having a lot of fun and note getting paid (i would do it for nothing if i had to, as long as it interested me). My biggest issue was the miserable gigs we were now getting, due to lack of pushing the band forward, the others not wanting to change the set or put in new songs, and the obvious lack of wanting to be there from one or two of them. IME all it takes is one or two members moaning about things to bring the whole 'vibe' down. Thats when its not fun, especially as it was me getting the gigs.

This mirrors my past 13 years with the same band. We were all mates at the start, but after the cracks started appearing a big rift in the band appeared, and it became a chore. I wasn't goin to leave as i enjoyed gigging still, so i persuaded those that weren't enjoying it to leave, so the rest could carry on. Me and the drummer kept it going for another two years before he to jacked it in. This was down to us never really finding the fun with the new members that we wanted.

Using Velcro its easy to get round that :-(

Cheers. I’m not sure I will play as much with it as I have other pedals in the past. I play mostly with a pick but have always struggled to get a fuller finger type tone. I’m going to concentrate more on this that overal tone shaping. It will be used always on after my Cali and before my Pork Loin. It’s the she’s of an old band. We split in dec 2016 and I had was enjoying my Sat evening back, but my singer (and GF) was getting twitchy so she put a few ads up. That was may last year and we are still struggling to find a band we feel happy with. The guys we have can talk the talk, but the end result has been anything but inspiring. So, I’m hoping we will gig this year but things are going very slow. We are just doing the standard covers at the moment, nothing that really needs anything special sounding from the bass, but its nice to hear a nice tone once in a while

Haha, cheers. Ive just got the refund from the DK Vintage Ulta, so I’m actually £50 in credit still. If it works out ill sell the BDDI and VTBass, so ill easily break even. Should be here tomorrow and I have a part band rehearsal tomorrow night. Cant wait to get to hear it. I had the Para driver in the past, and while I loved it I found I was forever tweaking it. Too many EQ options and I never really settled on anything. I had to sell it for pice of mind. I’m just hoping I don’t go the same way with the Q/strip. Now I have a pedal board and don’t put my pedals on the amp it will be harder to keep playing with it, so that’s a good thing. I don’t tend to play with the BDDI EQ much anyway.