Mottlefeeder

Alternatively you could go for the musician's equivalent of a van strong-box using a flight case or similar.

I was joking that a switch that was always on would be equivalent to a piece of wire - moving swiftly on: Toggle switches can stay where you put them, or spring back when released. The former are 'latching', and the latter are 'momentary' or 'biased', and often shown in brackets, so ON-OFF-(ON) would have a centre 'OFF' position, an 'ON' position one way and a spring loaded 'ON' position the other way. Have you looked at the guitar spares suppliers - they might have a pickup selector switch that would look the part and make the right connections? Alterntively, could you incorporate a push-pull switch into one of your pots to give you the functions you need? As a last resort, if you have a scratchplate, do you have room for a rotary switch under it? David

It's verry tempting to suggest using a piece of wire... David PS no joy at Bitsbox, Rapidonline, Switch Electronics or ESR

There is a big difference between concealing something, and chucking a blanket over it so that its outline is still apparent. According to Insure4music, concealing a wallet in a glove compartment would not be acceptable, so I question why putting a blanket over something is acceptable. David

The bootspace in a hatchback is accessible by breaking a side window and pulling the seat-back down, and the roller blind cover of an estate car bootspace is similarly not lockable. Does that mean that you do not insure gear that is in the bootspace of an unattended car unless it has a fixed rear seat and parcel shelf? Also, if I try and improve the securty of my hatchback by putting a plywood bulkhead and roof into the bootspace, it would be more difficult to remove any items except through the lockable rear door, but the bootspace itself would still not be a locked enclosure, so does that mean its contents are still not insured? If you are prepared to accept modifications to improve the securuty of the bootspace, what thickness of plywood would you deem to be an accceptable deterrent? David

Glad you like it - the Eminence website has a similar design using round vent(s) if that is easier for you. David

Thank you David

Checking out sources of KZ ZS10s and I have found two types. Can anyone help idientify whether they have the same innards and same sound, or whether one is an inferior copy of the other? Thanks David

I use a Maplin/Tandy £20 omni-directional electret microphone. Even with an acoustic drum kit played as reasonable volumes about 1.5m away, it doesn't overload, and it picks up enough of the lead guitar amp and/or keyboard amp that I can keep track of what is going on. David

I've gone to IEMs and so has the drummer, the rest of the band aren't interested. PA takes acoustic guitars, vocals and electronic drums: keys has his own combo, but sometimes plays through the PA using the combo as a band monitor. I use three channels of a basic mixer - bass panned left, PA (DI'd from the speaker output) panned right and stage mic panned right. This gives me all the band in a mix I can adjust to get the best fix, with me/them levels showing on the L/R mixer LEDs. The mixer headphone output is combined to mono to feed my Shure SE215s. The drummer takes his feed from the mixer monitor out through a beltpack headphone amp (LD). David

Still on the theme of limiting, I've been looking at the analogue side. Some headphone amps include limiting, and some don't, but none appear to have a limit that can be set to suit the sensitivity of the earphone, so a more sensitive earphone could still provide hearing damaging levels if used for too long at too high a volume. Also, if you use the headphone output of a mini-mixer to provide your monitor signal, you have no protection. Quite a lot of internet information is about limiting long-term noise exposure, and since we have already made the lifestyle choice to reduce the noise, that is unlikely to be relevant to us. That leaves us with protecting against feedback, mics being dropped, active instruments being plugged in to live channels etc. Headwise, a headphone enthusiasts' discussion forum, suggested the circuit below for headphone limiting, when placed between the volume control and the headphone amplifier, but it is not much use if you have an off-the-shelf unit. However with suitable component changes, the idea can be used between the headphone amplifier circuit and the headphone. Unfortunately, the headwise site is no longer with us, and I cannot find its successor. Wickipedia has an article on headphones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphones [ref 13] that contains a link to this limiter calculator which uses the same circuit idea, but calculates resistor values based on the impedance and sensitivity of the heaphone. http://www.jensign.com/S4/calc.html So, if you have a target maximum dB, and you know that the diodes are going to limit your available voltage (Vs) to 0.7V, you can calculate the resistance you need to achieve the limit target. Canford audio suggest a maximum permissibe limit of 93dB peaks to keep within the law https://www.canford.co.uk/TechZone/Article/HeadphoneLimiters, but I also found a recommendation of 100dB for transients .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphones [ref 14] Taking the Shure SE215 as a worked example, it has an impedance of 17 ohms, and an efficiency of 107dB/SPL/mW. Assuming cable resistance can be ignored, set Rs to 0.1, and set R2 to 10000, since it will have no effect compared with the headphone impedance. Entering these figures into the calculator (note the value is efficiency, not sensitivity), and setting Vs to 0.7 gives the value of 200 ohms for R1 to limit the headphone sound level to 99.5dB. In summary, two diodes and a resistor, per channel, and you have a limiter dedicated to your earphones. David

Dunlop do a two-part plastic washer that fits over the stud, and then reduces the hole size with a half-turn of one of the parts. None of my basses leave home without them fitted, and so far I have had no failures. They are cheap (~£5 for a pair) and do not involve modifying the bass. David

I'm a pessimist/(boy scout in a previous life?), so I would go with this solution, but also buy the splitter in case one of the amp/speaker sockets failed. My mantra, if it can fail, sooner or later it will, so have a backup with you. David

This one started as a kit Jack clone, but with a basswood body was heavier than I had hoped for. A few sketches later and I took the plunge - I used it strung BEAD for a while, then moved on to a Hohner B2V David

Hi Scales, I'm not sure where you are based, but I am using a home-brew 1 by 10 that weighs about 7 kg. The build thread and drawings are here I roam around south Manchester / Warrington / M6 J20 and if you are in the vicinity you are welcome to come and audition it. David

I can't answer your question, but it sounds similar to the problem I am trying to solve. If you are thinking in terms of noise isolation and hearing correction with passive ear plugs, the best you might find would be a generic frequency profile that may or may not suit you. An alternative is to go for a hearing aid that carries two profiles, one for every-day use and one for use with moulded inserts to give you the isolation you need at gigs. David