northstreet

PM sent

Friday night was with my covers band at a pub in Braintree - The Essex Cricketers. I've seen more people in a phone box. Still, it was only our second gig with our new PA so we used it as a paid practice to get the sound right. And it sounded very nice by the end. Played a couple of the bar staff's favourites and they've asked us back! Now looking forward to playing the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town on Tuesday with my originals band.

Thanks very much for the recent contributions, but as in my last post the problem was with the cabinet itself. It's got a dodgy joint (I think at a bottom edge) and the air compression in the cab was making it move. This movement could be heard as a 'tick', mainly through the port. Turning the cab upside down has changed the weight distribution - and with the weight of the amp on top - and the noise has stopped. I think I was being given a duff steer about the speaker, it's working fine. Like you guys I blamed the amp/speaker/eq/volume etc etc just because that's exactly what the noise sounded like - but it was actually something very simple. But thanks again for the posts.

Problem sorted. How? I turned the cab upside down! Must be a dodgy joint somewhere and the change of weight is stopping it moving = stopping it ticking. Had a tidy up inside at the same time, junked the horn and the crossover, upgraded the wiring and refixed the fibereglass sound-deadening stuff. Sounds perfect now. But just in case, I've bought another VX115 for £65 on Ebay. Happy days.

[quote name='spike' post='809459' date='Apr 17 2010, 02:42 PM']I've never been able to play the guitar well, the strings are just too thin and close together for me.[/quote] And there's too many of them as well.

Thank you for all comments received, whether sensible or not. I've now been told that the ticking is coming from the cab itself - ie not the speaker - but the actual box. I guess that means there's some sort of structural failure - a glued joint broken or something, and it's moving in sympathy with the speaker. Which is probably why the speaker has started to fail as well! I'd like to try a repair (on the basis that if I can fix it it's cheaper to buy a new speaker than it is to buy a whole new cab), but has anyone come across this before and have any ideas of where to start. Or should I just give up and bin it? More bomb jokes are always welcome.

Recently bought some pickups from Neil. Very easy to deal with, prompt delivery and the goods were as described.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='770909' date='Mar 10 2010, 08:49 PM']a bomb?[/quote] "Boom! boom!", as Basil Brush would say.

Wondered if anyone can identify the likely cause of a problem with my amp. As briefly as possible - I buy a brand new Hartke LH500 and plug it into my (used) Hartke VX115 cab. Straight away I notice an unusual noise. As I strike a note I get a noise the cab that sounds just like a 'tick'. It's only at the start of the note, on the lower strings, with the volume & bass EQ up (but not excessively so), and when the amp's warmed up. The tick volume doesn't appear to depend on how loud the amp is - I can drown it if I play loud enough. I don't have other bits of kit to find out whether it's amp or cab, but I get the same noise with different basses. Now I know should have done something about it straight away, but soon after I used the rig at a gig and blew up the speaker. In goes a brand new Eminence Kappa Pro, but the noise is still there. So it must be the amp. Back it goes to the shop, and it comes back noise free. Hurrah. Now, I played a gig last weekend for the first time with the repaired amp, and at the end the noise is back. Grrrrrrr. So I'm taking it back to the shop at the weekend. But, if I had some idea what the problem was, I reckon I'll have more chance of getting it sorted properly (always works for me with car repairs). So is there anyone out there who has any ideas what could be wrong? Thank guys.

[quote name='goigne' post='756799' date='Feb 25 2010, 09:43 AM']i feel i can offer a little advice and it might seem a bit counter-intuitive, but how about actually trying to switch "off" your thought process? so to add to what chris says scales.. scales.. scales... then forget them.. - I've found that the cerebral, including those nagging doubts in my head, are my worst enemy when it comes to improvising..[/quote] I'm with this comment. Every now and again I take a solo in a blues number. If I think about what I'm playing, it sounds stilted and wooden - the best ones are where it's like it's happening without me being involved, if that makes sense. It's a bit scary really, just standing there watching myself play. That's when all the practice pays off.

Just thought I'd throw something else into the mix. At rehearsal on Tuesday night we were in a different room to the one we usually use. The drum kit in was awful, an odd mix of thin and boomy. Anyway, because of the horrible noises coming from this kit, I couldn't hear myself at all, when normally I have no problems. Everything was just getting lost in the dull thuds coming from the kick and snare. I was using my gig kit (Hartke LH500 and VX115) and I had to push it hard to get heard. So my point is it's not just your sound that might be causing the problem, but also the sound the others are making. Getting the guitard to cut their bass, or getting the drummer to tune the kit properly, might just help.

Love Shack by the B52's

Will I damage my amp if I plug my bass into the "wrong" input? I presume the active input is to prevent a really hot bass overloading the preamp. My Ibanez is an active bass (in that it has a battery-powered tone control) but the output doesn't seem very high. If I plug it into the active input then I have to turn the amp's volume control up to get it as loud as if I'd plugged into the passive input. So I'm working the output stage harder. Plug into the passive input and I can turn it down - but what's best? I should mention it's a Hartke LH500 which doesn't have a separate gain control.

We're all (rightly) quick to complain about poor service, so I thought I'd even things up a bit and mention a couple of companies that have given me some really good service. The first one is Blue Aran in Southampton www.bluearan.co.uk. I managed to ruin a perfectly good Eminence speaker I'd bought from them. One phone call and an exchange of emails later, and they'd sent a courier at their cost to pick it up. Less than a week later a brand new one arrives. It's all tracked via their website so you know exactly what's going on. The second is GigGear in Harlow (that's the shop - no experience of the internet service). My Hartke LH500 started making a strange noise. I took it back and they sent it off to the distributor for repair - no problems. Now it's taken a while for me to get it back, and I except GigGear's explanation that the problem lay with the distributor. But it works perfectly, and the delay didn't cause me a real problem as they were happy to lend me an equivalent amp when I needed one for a gig. And no problem with me checking out the repaired amp with my cab before I took it home. I'd also like to mention Martin's Guitar Repairs in Waltham Abbey www.martinsguitars.co.uk. Martin is a bass player himself and he's set up a couple of dodgy old basses for me perfectly. I'll definitely be using these people again.

[quote name='NickH' post='710765' date='Jan 12 2010, 11:27 PM']I have this amazing trick where I take a really nice bass and amp, and make it sound [i]exactly[/i] like a steel dustbin full of spanners falling down the stairs.[/quote] Funniest post this year

Mods - sorry if this is in the wrong place. Guys - my covers band has made a collective New Year's resolution and we are going to get serious in 2010. One thing we'll need to do is get our own PA instead of scraping bits and pieces together like we've done in the past. So we've had a good look around and think we have a preferred set up, but I thought I'd check with the collective wisdom of fellow chatters. The band is bass, drums, keyboard, guitar and vocals. We play a mix of standards - from My Sharona to Maggie May. Venues are the usual mix of social clubs, hotels, pubs etc - 200ish people. Both the keyboard and guitar DI straight into the PA. We haven't needed to (and don't anticipate having to) mike up the drums - he's a loud bugger - or me. The set up we like is a pair of Mackie SRM450s, a Soundcraft EFX8 mixer and 4 Laney 112 monitors (monitoring is an issue as the guitar and keyboard players have always struggled to hear themselves). Andertons are doing a couple of deals and we can get the whole lot for £1,700 on 9 months free credit - that's only £40 a month each. I guess we could get stuff cheaper on eBay but this has the advantage of (i) getting the whole lot in one go, (ii) 12 month warranties, and (iii)we can spread the cost. This is none of those things where you have to buy on spec a bit, cos you can't really try this stuff out in the shop, so I'd appreciate any comments, feedback, unreasonable prejudices or views from anyone whose already doing this for real

For me it was 'The Real Me' by The Who. John Entwhistle was amazing.

Not sure they do servicing, but I can recommend Servtronics in Enfield (www.servtronics.co.uk) for repairs. They recently fixed a Crate amp for me and I was very happy with their service.

I've got a problem with a speaker cab and I'm hoping for some wise words from fellow chatters. A while back I bought a second hand Hartke VX115 cab to go with a new Hartke LH500 amp. From the start there was a slight 'clicking' noise when I played lower notes, but I put that down to wear and tear on the well used original driver. However, I've just replaced the driver with a new Eminence Kappa Pro unit and the noise is still there. The click comes just as a note is played (or slightly after). It only happens on lower notes on the E and A strings, and seems to be related to EQ - more bass = more clicking. But, it doesn't happen every time, only on about one in three notes. The click sounds almost like electrical interference rather than something mechanical - it's not really a noise I've ever associated with a driver fault. It's not the horn because I've by-passsed it - the driver is connected directly to the jack socket. I've tried with different basses, cables, mains leads etc but no joy. And I get the problem when I drive the cab from my Create BT100 combo, although it's not as apparent - which I put down to the combo being less powerful. I guess the next step is to take the driver out of the cab and run it that way just to ensure it's not the actual cabinet, but if anyone's got any bright ideas I'd appreciate any help.

There's not really any point to this thread but I just wanted to write it down to help me work out what's been going on. About a year ago a guitarist mate and I decided to form a band. We started advertising for a drummer and a singer and one of the places we tried was musofinder.com. While I was on the site I created myself a profile, just to see what might happen. Shortly after I get a message saying would I be able to dep in a local covers band (Band A) that had a couple of gigs lined up but their bass player was out of action. "Nothing to lose" I thought, so I went along for an audition and ended up getting the gig. So we start rehearsing. Then, the guitarist in Band A says that he plays in another covers band (Band B ) that also has a Christmas gig and needed a dep bass player - would I be interested? Now up till then I hadn't gigged for 30 years and all of a sudden I'm in two bands learning two new sets of songs with three gigs lined up - all in the space of about six weeks. Suprisingly it all goes off OK, everyone's happy, and after Christmas the leader of Band B calls me up and asks if I want to join full time - their bass player has moved on. It's a good band so I say yes and we've been gigging regularly all year. Band A have also called me up a couple of times, so that's kept me busy. On top of this, in Feb I call another contact through musofinder, a guy is trying to put together a band, am I interested? No harm in having a look, I thought, so I go to a first get together. Turns out the guy is a bit of a waster, it's never going to happen, but I hit it off with the drummer. Afterwards we get talking and he says he knows some else who's trying to form an originals band and would like to along to a rehearsal? Makes a change from covers, I thought, so I go along just to see. They've got some nice songs, and so when they offer me the gig I say yes immediately. You can see us at the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town on 16 Nov - Random Patrols - our first gig. Going back to the band I was originally trying to put together, that's come together really well and we've done a couple of gigs with a couple more hopefully lined up. This one's been more like hard work because none of the guys had ever gigged before so it's all had to be presented on a plate to them a bit, but it's getting better. Anyway, just when I think everything's settled down, the leader of Band B (remember them) calls me up to say there's been a cockup with a booking, he now can't make a gig he actually arranged, but he's a got a mate's band to cover. But, you guessed it, theiir bass player can't make it so would I dep for them! I believe it's called deja vu. What's really odd about this is that I'm not even very good - steady and reliable are the most appropriate adjectives I would use. Nearly anyone could play me off the stage. Turning up on time, learning the songs, and remembering you're rhythym not lead seem to have got me a long way. If you're still reading then I admire your endurance. And, if there is a moral to this story, it's if you're sitting in your bedroom saying to yourself you want to play in a band, then go for it.

[quote name='steantval' post='601752' date='Sep 17 2009, 09:47 PM']Our drummer Mr Jeff Rich has secured us a gig at High Barn in Great Bardfield and looking at the website the venue looks superb. Has anyone out there had any experiences of playing at the venue?[/quote] Played there just before Christmas. It's a great venue, really impressive inside, with a decent size stage and good acoustics. I remember it was a bit awkward getting our gear in though, through a narrow door and passageway. And yes, it is in the middle of nowhere and you will definitely get lost of you don't have good directions.

After a good few hours annoying various sales assistants by trying every bass in the shop, I've decided to buy a Jazz. But I'm torn. I really like the look of the Geddy Lee, but the Highway One has the same Badass bridge and I can find it online at nearly £100 less, which to me is a lot of dosh. To my ears (in the shop at least) they sound very similar. Anyone got any experiences of playing either, or any other views/opinions on their relative merits?

Wirelessly connects your PC to your Bluetooth-enabled devices - mobile, PDA etc. Works perfectly in Windows XP but not in my new Vista machine. Still in the original box with driver CD and instructions. PM if interested. Gone to waynepunkdude