RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

Back in 1992 my first ever gig ; me , guitarist , vocals , keyboards ..which incorporated drum machines . I have no idea what he was using . I know that there was an Akai sampler involved . It was the era of many, many plugs crammed into as many sockets as possible . That as just for him . I'll ask him more when I see him tomorrow over a couple of ciders .🍻 There were only a couple of hiccups but thankfully everything worked out fine . We did another 3 gigs with the same setup 🙀 An odd selection of covers , but we never did Phil Collins in a gorilla suit . I like electronic drums . Playing in a band situation though , I'd say that you have to be 'precise' and not much room for human mistakes if that makes sense . Not reall ideal for mustang sally ..

These synth boxes seem to have improved a hell of a lot over the years . Having said that , they still have the usual off-putting traits to them with the GK Pickup and latency on lower notes. I often thought of ways to get a fairly good selection of synth noises for bass that don't cost the earth . Electroharmonix released the synth9 among others for example . At the end of the day since getting into synths a few years back ( moogs and Waldorf with more to be added) , I think that it's best to keep polyphonic synth sounds away from the bass guitar. It is obviously ok for guitarists though . I found the synth 9 limiting , so I sold it . I love the Digitech Bass Syth Wah, and the Bass Whammy , although the latter is too big for my liking . I have a boss Me-8b , and Zoom B3 which which are ok in moderation . Not sure if the GK pickup damges the bass or guitar you may be using . 🤔 If so, then a back up should you have one would seem to be the way to go imho. What about menu diving ? It was bad enough trying to understand the Boss Me-8b when that came out I'll not invest . Times are hard , but it does seem you do get a lot for the money

The partridge family

Well, I saw John Mayall at the Hammy Odeon in the early 2000's . It was on a Tuesday , and not a stormy Monday . A little before my time when he was at the peak of his popularity . We were upstairs, which was very quiet and spacious . The people I went with were more into the older bluesy stuff than me , but I obviously had an open mind . We went for Stan Webb who was supporting . He was really good, and I saw him once before . Tbh ( and sorry if it offends) , but we were disappointed with John Mayall .. He seemed to have a touch of arrogance about him . Changed costumes a couple of times . Track suit bottoms ?!? The best part of his set imho , was when Mick Taylor joined him onstage . Mick Taylor.played on most of my favourite stones albums . In all honesty , the gig would have been better at a smaller venue / large pub on a Sunday . Anyay, fair play to him and a belated happy birthday 🎂. 90 impressive for sure .

While still at school, my sisters boyfriend gave me an acoustic guitar which was firewood really . He as trying to show me how to play Dr who riff . No plectrum, but a sixpence . As I got older I met with some new friends who had les Paul and strat copies . I I managed to persuade mummy to get me a nice black les Paul copy from the catalogue , along with a jh s practice amp . That never really worked out .. I was practicing feedback technices like Ted Nugent and jimi Hendrix . I even purchased a glass bottleneck for blues slides. Oh, and I had a large orange fuzz box . I sounded like Tom morello torturing cats . ( ok he wasn't around then ,but you get 5he picture) The amp didn't take long to have permanent distortion ,whether it was required or not . Sounded intermittent , but Metal. Said nice friend advised me ; " you have big hands , and a bass only has 4 strings ..try that". So , I got mummy to exchange guitar for a Hondo ii precision copy piece of heavy firewood from the catalogue . That pretty much got me heading into the right direction . All these episodes were done before I went to my first gig . Lemmy , and geezer were the artists on record that immediately wanted me to be like . However, being crushed at the music machine and the marquee and being right infront of stevie Harris , he as the first live bass player who I thought was phenomenal ..

This is true . It seems lbest to don't fear the reaper ( or one of the others ) 😬

I was at this gig . A few of the songs had to be done again for the video . I ended up taking a padded seat from the venue back with me on the underground .😬 Good times

Thanks for the heads up . I don't have Spotify , but will download on Audible

Thankfully never got into him . However, he showed his true colours at knebworth ('85 supporting purple etc) and suffered that day for his attitude 😆

Wow ! That's very professional 😃. Sounds like Lulu outtakes ...

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 ..