MananaMan

If the pedal is quiet on its own and only plays up in the chain (and given that it is a Digitech X-Series, which are pretty power-hungry little blighters) I'd say it's most likely due to the power supply. Although its a good 1.3A supply, the transformer looks really small to me - more like a laptop transformer than anything. Its probably nothing, but if you don't have a spare you could try getting a switch mode supply that should be a little cleaner, or try two supplies, one for the BSW and one for the rest.

no, [i]increasing[/i] the buffer size will add latency but should help the CPU out. TBH, I wouldn't bother though... latency is the last thing you want!

Played the Elbow late on last year. Sound guy was capable, but frustratingly slow (3 hours to soundcheck three bands...) Promoter and all staff in the venue are friendly, not too bad a place to get to although parking could be a trouble. Stage is pretty small, we're a five piece (3 guitars) and some of us were on the floor... although we were first on so there was a lot of backline on the stage too. Its also kind of triangular, so it looks bigger than it is when you get everyone up there! Quality of the other bands - sub-standard when we were there, although I think the headliners were OK. As for crowd/vibe, well, we didn't have a good time there and won't be rushing to return (played better places in Camden) but that's not to say you guys won't like it!

cheddatom : yup, although you could try fiddling with your buffer size - not really recommended though as you'll trade latency for processor power. don't know why they haven't brought out a stand alone box full of DSP of this - much as Guitar Rig and Liquidmix have. For live, I'd say a lappy with Guitar Rig would be the best bet - the models in GR are great too and you get the bonus of a full floor board to play with. The Kontrol thingy also handles a lot of the DSP stuff, so you get more processor power for the rest of the mix.

When renting backline I've usually used Matt Snowball - good range of gear, cheap pricing. Not sure if they'll have an AD200, but they might have something else tasty... Harris Hire have a great range of cool things too, but they're a lot more expensive. Best thing to do is, call up one of these guys and see if they can get the amp you need - chances are they'll just buy it and rent you the brand new model if its something reasonably popular like the Orange.

Hey mate, Good ole eBay saves the day : [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PAIR-Wharfedale-EVP-15PSB-Active-Subwoofer-DJ-Disco-pa_W0QQitemZ260287703907QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260287703907&_trkparms=72%3A12|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PAIR-Wharfedale-EVP-...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url] For that price, I'd strongly recommend having em! I think for the kind of money you're looking to spend I wouldn't worry about whether they sound good or not - are they working and are they loud are the most important questions! I'd recommend, if you can, to get powered subs in the price range you're looking at - although some people will go on about reliability and cost of repair etc with powered speakers, for £300 you can't really go wrong and you'll save a lot of hassle and additional expense with crossovers, amp, amp racks etc. If the PA is doing what I think its doing - basically a vocal PA for small-ish pub gigs with added kick drum - then this set up will do you fine. When you're looking to go bigger, better and (most importantly) louder, then you should start looking into system controllers, active crossovers etc. etc. With all respect to Bill and others posting before, for light reinforcement in a small-capacity club on a low budget, while it is a long way from ideal, I think they would achieve the desired effect with passive speakers as a stop-gap solution until funds allowed for more equipment. Yes, there's only gonna be a limited amount of additional sub-bass if running the subs at the same wattage as the full-range cabs, yes there are much better ways of doing things, but if you've got £300 to add some low-end to a vocal PA, I reckon it wouldn't hurt to spend it all on cabs, then buy a cheap crossover / amp at a later date. No, the crossovers in Whafedale wouldn't do at all for Pro PA applications (they barely do for anything at all really..) but for the budget and the situation, they'd be fine. Put it this way : You could rehearse at home with £3000 of Aguilar stack, but you can also get away with a £20 combo made in 1975... its all about scale my friends!

three guitar swingers that know their stuff (or four, or five etc.) = great one guitar swinger that is rubbish = intolerable pain the old tune springs to mind : 10 git-arrrists, hanging on the wall 10 git-arrrists, hanging on the wall and if one git-arrist should accidently fall I'd be bloody ecstatic.

OK, Here's my offering, not really a wide variety at present, just some basic filthifiers! Order runs : Tu-2, PBDDI, Bass Driver, D*A*M BEZekiel Custom, Bass Juice Don't know what your thoughts are, but I always prefer putting the pre amp before the filth, keeps the tone of the distortion pedals better. Interesting to hear what you guys think though! Also looking at maybe getting rid of the Bass Juice - boost in, it doesn't sound as good as the D*A*M. Boost out I prefer the sound of the Bass Driver. Nice to have options though eh?!

If you're interested, I'm currently thinking about selling my Marshall all-valve rig. VBA400 + VBC810 = LOOOOUUUUD. (Also = heavy) I love the tone, loved the sheer noise and playing dynamics. Just couldn't convince the rest of me band to help me carry it all!

How much are you looking to spend? The Yamaha MG series mixers are great, small and affordable. Lovely pre-amps too (for the money). I think they do either an 8 or 10 channel mixer - couple of mic ins, and a load of stereo inputs. The small uns also have a handy mic stand mount if you're mixing live, which may be useful... Just checked out the new line - built in compressors and multi-fx too! bloomin magic!

Sounds like something I used to get when I worked as a rigger / sound engineer for a PA company. After a long gig and then drive home you get pretty strung out on adrenaline and lack of sleep / tiredness. It takes a while to get to sleep due to your altered blood chemistry, then when you wake up you're tired, groggy and kind of sick in the pit of your stomach... I'd recommend eating a banana or two in between setting up and playing the gig, lots of cordial on the way home (don't drink too much plain water, it leeches the salts and minerals out of your blood and makes you feel worse if you drink too much!) and have a bottle of lucozade in the morning before you have breakfast / tea / coffee etc. At least, that's what I used to do and it worked fine. The bananas give you a good boost of sugar to help keep your energy up for pack down, then you're not burning too much fat during the hard work - which puts all sorts of nasty crap into your system. Should also help you keep alert for the way home, if you're still flagging have some isotonic sports drink or something. A bit technical sounding, but when you're working 120-hour weeks 8 months of the year you need to know what you're doing! Only rarely have I ever resorted to illegal stimulants to keep going - in my experience they always make you worse in the long run. f you're into that kind of thing (I don't do it any more personally, but I've been there so I don't judge), I'd recommend finding some coca leaves to chew for long days. Its totally natural, as used by colombian mountain farmers for thousands of years. Its a very gentle lift to your whole outlook (a bit like a mix of adrenaline and caffeine, but a lot less intense!), keeps your stamina up and lasts for hours. They also have the pleasant side affect of allowing you to drink all the alcohol in the pub without feeling drunk!

I always take a spare on tour, in case of serious damage / theft. For genreal gigging though I just take the last set of strings I took off the bass. Broke an E string in Leicester a couple of years ago and left the spare in the van... (yeah, useful!). Took about 10 seconds to re-string and get it in tune, was back and ready by the next chorus! Needless to say, had a few comments from other bands / audience congratulating me on speedy string changing. Oddly enough, no comments on my playing... Since changing from D'Addario to Roto's I've not had any string snapping issues (went through at least a set of D'Addarios every two months for about a year.... they played great but didn't get on with my "heavy-handed" playing style!) Just about to sell my el-cheapo backup bass, and also trying to sell my Gibson, so will have to be without spare until I can get a new bass!

I'm not touching this one (mostly)... BUT........ Why is it that there is this kind of assumption that you only learn things like good gear, fixing foul-ups, stage presence etc. from playing in cover bands? I've learned (the hard way) all or most of these things from originals band s I've played in. When I was doing covers regularly I found iI didn't really care what gear I was using as I didn't really think that much about my sound etc. as my sound had no place in Bad Company... I certainly agree with the stamina thing though, and would add audience control (using pacing in the song order / set list) to that list. I suppose the thing about doing the whole covers thang is down to how you approach it. If you're at a loose end musically I can imagine it being quite creatively stimulating to go play a totally different style of music - if you've been doing prog-jazz, go play some bad-ass rock and roll and riff out, if you've been doing the indie-schmindy thing, go play some funk.

www.stompboxes.co.uk

Hey Alun, Are you still the same bass player from Panic Room from the last few years? Am I right in my rememberance that you used a Marshall VBA? I'm usually wrong, so please don't take offense... I have fond memories of doing sound for you guys years ago. Not normally my thing musically, but I remember enjoying the set. If its the same Panic Room. And I haven't totally lost my mind... EDIT : Totally different Panic Room. Apologies! I AM going mental after all... In fact, that band was called Panic Cell. Oh dear! Nice tunes and good work anyway mate!