Richard R

Is that the bank holiday weekend again?

No, he just likes very clean breakfast cereal.

Sorry for not getting back on this one. "Real life" in the way Seriously, I would keep it simple. For a mixer get something 8 in, main out plus four aux, analogue. That will give you more than enough for the time being. Mic up the singers and the guitarist cab only, use one channel of aux for the singers, and initially just one for the rock band. Remember most active monitors will let you daisy chain, so you can feed the same signal to a monitor for the rhythm section and for git/keys. There are a nice pair of Laney monitors for sale on this site ad a good price. Just work with that for now, and get the FOH sound ok. If the big band can't now hear the guitar because he is turned down, or want a bit more of the band, then you have two mixes available to give them. You should get a decent monitor and PA mix with that, and plenty of channels spare to DI the bass or keys and fly mics over the big band if you want to. cheers, Rich

I can imagine that with the layout as drawn the guitarist needed to really push the volume from the back to be heard out front in a dead hall, which is why he drowned the sax players. I'm supposed to be at work so I'll have a proper think later on, but my first thoughts - independent of any equipment purchase - would be to rotate the guitar, keys and bass round anticlockwise one position, so the bass & drums are on the back row, and the keys and guitar are in front. That gives the guitarist more projection without travelling through four people in front. Bass of course gets everywhere, that's why we're normally stuck in a corner 🙂 Where are you based, and when's the next gig?

Unbalanced runs from the mixer to the FOH amps or the on-stage foldback is quite common even at pro-level gear, its a line-level rather than mic-level signal so won't suffer in the same way from noise. I'm not quite clear on what you have and how you use it though - so let me just play it back if you'll pardon the pun: Behringer b205d: this is a little personal mixer/monitor which is currently used with the vocal mics plugged in, so that they can hear themselves. Also sends an output to an active speaker. 300W 12" active speaker: just the output from the vocal mix. "PA" - is this just the 12" speaker? Guitar amp Keyboard amp Bass amp - all three above independent mixed by the players. Drums - full kit unamplified? A large "big band" section of unamplified instruments who will balance their sound naturally (assuming they can hear each other) What you think you need: More FOH power for the backline and vocals, without drowning the big band The band members all being able to hear each other. First questions: How do you arrange yourselves on stage? Vocals out front with rock band behind and big band behind them? Vocals then big band, then rock band to one side?

Interesting, not what I would have expected at all. I shall have to keep an eye and ear out.

OK - so what's the advantage of an Alu neck? Yes you could make a truss that is light and stiff, but the thermal expansion is way higher than wood, so surely the thing will need constant retuning?

Very smart indeed.

Not seen this before - but I'm looking for a sturdy bag that has also space for my laptop and this looks pretty much perfect. I hope someone on BC has tried it.

in which case you should like these guys:

So to answer the original question, as someone learning bass and having to look at Tab, stave, lyrics with chords scribble on top of them etc. The main advantage of tab is that it tells you where to put your fingers. That's a pretty big advantage which we should appreciate. If the tab is badly written and there are better fingering available for the same notes then that isn't a fault of Tab per se. The second is that it's all plain text ASCII so easy to reproduce on the web or anywhere without special font. The huge drawback of Tab is that it's hard to convey rhythm very nicely. The best I have seen is to include bar lines in the scale and capital letters for minims (half notes) and lower case for crotchets (quarter notes), and to dot them. I also prefer when I have seen the note names used on Tab, as that helps with working alternate fingering. That gives a lot more use without trying to make Tab as rich and complex as full score, by which time it's harder to read, because it doesn't use specialist fonts.

The listing says it is a HUGE piece of musical history, and the photo of the guitar does not actually show the strap. So I think it's really 100m long and much of the cost if the hire of the truck for the included "free postage"

Hmmm. First that requires me to listen to some Marilyn Manson, then work out how to play it, then where it might fit. Oh and play it at a service that's video'd not just recorded. Challenge accepted, but your £10 will be worth about 10p by the time you have to pay up on my account - so don't hold your breath! I suspect @scalpy can do it in his sleep though.

Now that I would like to have heard! Likewise. Fortunately we also have a CCLI Song Select subscription so can download lead sheets too. If I've never played the song before (even if I've sung it loads) I look at that to figure out what beat the chord change is supposed to be on :-)

Well done for owning up, that was very brave. Do you feel alright now?

I first read this as "When did churches go mental?" - which is a completely different question! 🙂 Apart from the (to me) bizzare fact that there is Christian Metal - why not use the best available technology of the time to make the best possible sound? A cathedral organ sounds old fashioned to us, but they are the most complicated musical instruments ever made and were the cutting edge tech of the day.

I'll ask Dave :-) Yep. Especially if you can get it into "He who would valiant be"

Some of the church bassists on this site will know the song "Lord I lift your name on high" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COQ6cni_TG8 ) . We sing it a bit quicker than that YouTube version (which isn't great, sorry) , and frequently with the bass line to "Summer Nights" from "Grease" running through. I'm sure I've heard Johnny B Goode in the past, and I suddenly realised a while back that one of our worship leaders has been starting a particular song with the intro to "Substitute" by The Who for years and I'm the first person to notice. Anyone else involved in smuggling pop bass lines into their worship? Or indeed from any one genre to another? (Bill Bailey reckons orchestral bassoonists always just play "How Deep is your Love" by The Bee Gees regardless of what the concert is.)

Always on the phone or car USB stick? Ommadawn - Mike Oldfield, Pulse - Pink Floyd, Random Access Memories - Daft Punk. Not that they get played that often as everything else changes around them depending on time & tide, but those three stick.

And then use the proceeds to take Mrs_TG on a fabulous holiday, thus also justifying your hobby further.

@Manton Customs had a bright red tiny bass at the Midlands Bass Bash on Saturday. If I remember correctly it was more of a demonstration piece than a new product line, but you could contact them and ask if they would make to order. There is a photo of me playing it rather badly on the forum for that event. The guitar sound is lovely, but I personally struggled with the small size 😞

Was this the one you brought to the bass bash on Saturday? I thought the finish was very cool. Somehow, despite being setup right next to you, I didn't get to play it, 😞 Probably because we were too busy mopping up spilled coffee..

How much did the raffle raise?

Blast! I forgot to try the Barefaced cabs!! The unknown bass was my Brawley Artemis, and as two people made similar comments I shall look to get the action lowered at some point in the near future. I shall also bring a quality hand-held sound recorder to the next bash. People can record what they try and I'll post a play list to soundcloud.