RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

I tried to like Therapy, but just couldn’t get on with them . I had the short sharp shock ep , but only played it twice . Sold it last year . I saw cop shoot cop support then at the town and country club who I much prefer . Now I may have to dig out some of their stuff. A friend of mine was big into sup pop. He did me a cassette of tad and mud honey amongst others. Touch me I’m sick is one of the best sup pop imho. Front 242 are a band relevant in this thread for me ..

Led zeppelin , Ozzy solo stuff, metal church, Tbh I haven't played either of those artists stuff for many years . I did have The Dark album by metal church , and that ended up as part of a large vinyl sale last year . It could be easy for me to add more to this list ( classic motorhead and the stones for example ) , but I know that I will get round to playing said bands at a random time and would be a tad disappointed if I sold those albums. I saw a few live festival gigs on you tube over the last couple of years ( Bloodstock / wackem / hellfest ) and I saw this quite live, energetic French punk band . They were really good . I thought that they seem really good for a newer ban£. Tagada Jones have been around a lot longer than I thought . 😬 . Some bands just slip through the radar ..

I hear you ( musical term meaning I understand 😬) ... In a slight comparison , I find it hard to see anything that grabs me as much as things did in the '80s and '90s especially . I tried to listen to planet Rock for example in lockdown , and in all honesty there were a couple of what I call newer bands ( massive wagons and I forgot the others ) , but there was nothing there . ( except for constant repeated commercials and music as old as JR Harley ) I tried , then switched off and can't see me going back . I will look into Haestorm more though , as they have rreal talent and looked good on a clip I saw on Download on TV. I got back into sparks and think the Hippopotamus album is one of the best albums I purchased in years. Although ltd in talent , I purchased the Celtic Frost box set , and love it . Same with both Tangerine Dream box sets of late. As for Hawkwind and seeing them multiple times , I can only really listen to Levitation now . Love Rush, and snakes and ladders and Exit stage left are the only ones I don't bother with so much. I mentioned Roses above , but I only have the Lies EP ..and I don't play it . Got bored of them very quickly . As for RATM mentioned above , I purchased the 1st album , and downloaded the rest . Apologies in advance , but they sound very samey and whiney. Not a band for party classics . can't tolerate them now . Soundgarden I don't bother with anymore . When they played Hyde park with sabbath, they played the whole of 5he superunknown album and the last couple of songs were really depressing . Not exactly bad motorfinger . I don't bother much with them now..

,janes addiction , foo fighters , buns and roses .

Interesting topic .. I purchased so much music mainly in the '80s .Mainly metal . Over obsessive those days . So, off the top of my head ; Nirvana , Venom , Motley Crue , Danzig, Ted Nugent ,Hendrix, Atomic Rooster, Angelwitch ,Groundhogs,Stray, Wolfsbane , Di'anno era maiden . Saxon . Probabky others that may cross my mind ..

When I was 15 met some new local friends who were into metal ( or heavy rock as it was known then ) . Those kids were cool and had electric guitars . Copies of les Paul's and strats etc. so I got a nice black Les Paul copy . Or rather , mummy got one for mr from the catalogue . Unfortunately , I was worse than awful . So mummy managed to get the guitar exchanged for a piece of heavy firewood called the Hondo II . Well, it got me going . The large OHM Bass Head and Cab caused lots of vibrations to toilet seats when family members were in there ..plus of course vibrating windows ! Nevertheless I was determined to do something . I found a phone no. In melody maker ,and phoned from the phone box and the 'tutor' said "you don't need lessons on a bass guitar " So, into the mid '80s I found some great fronds at a place of work . One of those friends used to give me lessons for £5. sometimes I'd give him some metal albums instead as I had them on cd . Awesome guitarist and one of my best mates . He was in a band with ginger from the wildhearts and apparently was a level or 2 above him . So , me the guitarist a keyboard player with drum machine ,vocalist ( we all used to work in same company ) managed to do a private gig in pub in central london infront of 200 people 🙀.for my 30th birthday in 1992 .Me and the keyboard player were extra nervous being our first gig . After 3 songs all good .Fantastic ! We did a few more birthday gigs with different lineups for different people etc . That started me joining a band 2 years later .

Thanks again . Yes the setup you explained , is exactly as I've been trying it . I do have a couple of audio interfaces, but I got a Behringher USB Mixer a couple of years ago and have been using that . . What. I have seen on loopops you tube clip, he says that he boosted the signal with a DI Box and the Used The Mixers Output . Currently , I use headphones , but am thinking of possibly using the Headphonr Out From The Moxer Into The Audio Input Of The Moog . I may even go back to using the audio interface as tbh, the main benefit from having the mixer is there are more instrument inputs . The mixer is also bulky , and as I'm playing by myself (😬) I 5hink the mixer may be overkill for my needs . I'll try something later ..

Thanks for this . I thought that the Zoom B3 was a DI Box , which is why I tried plugging that into the Moog . I did try distortion and overdrive pedals but they were not powerful enough . Sounds like I need a preamp or DI box as you mentioned . Any recommendations for good powerful ones ( not too expensive) appreciated 😬

Always apprehensive when I used to gig . 2 Jack Daniels before going on , I just used to do rock poses like Rudy Sarto . Thankfully , I could pull it off as we weren't playing anything too challenging . I wouldn't do it on a fretless though ,unless I was in a les Dawson tribute band .

Thanks for this .. I 'll try this . It does sound like I've put the bass into the zoom by mistake . The reason did it the way I did , was because of the low signal from Bass -moog . It needs boosting . I'll check and report back. 😬

Strange but probably basic recording issue that I am having . I do have a topic in the effects section also which is related to this .. The problem I have ; plugging bass guitar into audio input of moog grandmother . initially I did have a problem with low output , so after various trial and error scenarios, what works best is the zoom B3 plugged into the audio input of the moog grandmother . All sounds great . The recording levels are where they should be . Only one annoying thing ... When I record my squelchy modulation efforts into GarageBand , it all looks good . Playing back my recorded efforts however, I notice the sound is just straight bass and drums from the quick loop I recorded on the zoom B3 without the modulation effects from the Moog Grandmother . Can somebody tell me what am I doing wrong ? Fwiw , I can record anything seperately , whether it's moog , bass , iPad etc . it's just that one would think that the output from the moog grandmother would include the input from the bass /zoom going into it . Itt's a recording issue ..but what is it ? Thanks in advance 😬

Update ; I had a root around for some other mono leads . The result ? Great ..except for one thing ( I may have to ask on the recording forum ) : Zoom B3 has perfect signal going into the moog grandmother . The built in drum machine , and the quick loop I did for a test sound great .. All various modulation sounds are good . The problem I have is that although the various noises I'm making sound really good and powerful - the recording just records the zoom B3 clean and loud but without the squelchy sounds of the grandmother basically defeating the object . I am happy with the zoom B3 , and the other various effects I have . The low output issue has been sorted . Recording is the issue here, and a pita . All part of it I guess .😬 Thanks for all your help ..

There seems to be a few factors to consider ; 'Dance floor ' has been mentioned above , but in all honesty it's Alice in Chains . Not exactly dance floor material . It's not exactly teen spirit or hi ho silver lining . It reminds me of one of the last bands I was in . The idea was to play obscure old songs where in all honesty , imho the people who may have remembered those songs were either 102 or dead . ( no disrespect to songs mentioned / I've been in blues bands etc) A strange mix which was not the stuff in my avant garde / metal z/ 80's / ambient collection . We played songs as ' the weight ' , ' the letter ' , ' born under a bad sign ' , ' the thrill is gone ' and a Pentangle song . I actually enjoyed our 1 and only gig . The letter from the Box tops I do remember when I as abiut 4 years ol£ , was a song I really enjoyed playing . The thrill is gone ( bb king ? ) I enjoyed also . As I say , our 1 and only gig . The punters enjoyed it , but the leader ( singer / backing guitarist ) wasn't able to converse with good humour and couldn't deal with one or 2 punters geeing us up for a laugh . Plus he sounded like Lou Reed on the lulu album, so I quit . Hopefully you get the picture 😬

Love Alice in chains . Fwiw, as another poster pointed out, it could well be one of those songs which draws a few of the crowd to the toilet or getting another round in . Mainly imho because of the long guitar noise/ buildup. I found over time that in cover bands I've been in , I / we tolerated certain songs we had issues with and in our polite discussions various songs would be removed and replaced as things progressed . As a possible solution in the meantime , is it possible to make a compromise by putting a different slant to it ? Something possibly to discuss with the band . wonder what the rest of the set list is like ( in a good way ) 🤔

It's a myftewwy. . She's more talented than me though 😬

Thanks for that . 👍 I did read that a while back .it's interesting though how moog only recommend mono cables etc . I have used the proper mono cables . I seem to be doing everything right regarding connections , although there are one or 2 things that I will try ( again) I'll see if I can connect the moog grandmother to my Roland bass combo , and use the headphone out into the mixer. When I normally use the moog, it is fine and the output from mixer is as it should be . . It's just the weak signal from bass to the grandmother input . There is another thing to try , which is using the output of the mixer into the input of the grandmother . That's a bit more complicated , and involves me RTFM . Il'll report back 😬

Gig bag with decent padding for me . Having a hard case using the underground or bus can be annoying to fellow commuters as well as yourself . Even going into narrow rehearsal rooms can be a challenge with hard cases . Not good for shins ..

I have been enjoying playing the bass through my moog grandmother . The signal while ok on headphones is very low , and iI'm struggling to get the levels up while trying to record on GarageBand . To do this, you need either a good distortion / d I box/ preamp , so I'm led to believe . I have tried overdrive , distortion and even a Zoom B3 . Please advise 😬

Other regret ..learning to drive 🚗 It makes things much more difficult . Even if you are " guaranteed " a lift to rehearsals , gigs etc there were always times when I would have been dropped off at awkward places due to other band mate commitments . Having Psycho , partially deaf drummers in the driving seat can be a bit traumatic 🤢🤮

Me too

I have a few instances of lead singer syndrome . Probabky the one which stood out most ; 4 of us form a new band from scratch through an ad . None of us knew the other etc I had to up my game from basic hobbyist to regular gigging semi pro ( amateur ?) . Drummer was the easiest and most straightforward to ger on with . Guitarist was the band leader ,who often gave me a hard time . Fair enough , I was lacking confidence and faced up to everything while improving albeit very slowly .. However, the singer who was half Irish and half American and quite well off , was full of 'all the talk, but not the walk' . He used to be full of a multitude of ideas , PowerPoint presentations and trying to organise everything with military precision. He even had a fender guitar which he kept under his bed , as ' jimi Hendrix was the best player ever' . I had my Les Dawson moments , but he just could not play it and we all felt sorry for him. He was a lovely bloke , but didn't seem to understand the reality of real life, and why I used to get up at 5am to work . Yes really. He was Harvard educated . He had all these ideas, but he kept saying ," sorry can't make it as I have to go over to Belfast urgently " / Sorry got to shoot off to Boston " . We were all getting frustrated , but wanted to keep pushing for the first eventual gig to see what's what . When we actually did the first gig at the Grey Horse in Kingston , the drummer arrived late and started moaning to the sound guy about the PA . I smoothed that over somehow . Me and the guitarist despite him wondering if I'd be any good , were level headed. The singer on the other hand , was so out of sync with everything and was very nervous rushing everything like Peter o 'Sullivan. Sweating and sometimes stammering , he was shall we say ..poor 😮‍💨🙂 The guitarist said I held it all together . When we had our next rehearsal , singer told us he had to go away again . Drummer quit by email. Singer sent an email to us calling guitarist so many unrepeatable names . In the end , the drummer had faith in me and we restructured a better band ..with better singers 🙂 I managed to up my game very soon after me and the drummer gelled 😬

Thanks for all your help . I’ll leave it as is , as I have other basses in standard tuning . I did have a feeling about the nut needing replacing. I’ve enclosed a couple of pics of the bass in question. Well, some of it 😬

Plodigy, shep seven , take phat , Leann limes