warwickhunt

I should say from the off that I've done live band PA mixing for over 40 years and most of my practice has been 'suck it and see', with a fair degree of success. However, as it has invariably been pairs of 15's on poles with no sub (Peavey passives through to RCF actives... and most stuff in-between). I find myself in a scenario where I go out as a low volume 'acoustic' duo with 1 or possibly 2 QSC K10s; no problems or more gear required. Enter, old band starting back up and my K10's are not going to do justice to full band; 3 vocals, kick, snare, bass and possibly guitar but they could work well if adding a single 12" sub but I'm having to factor in where is best to use it in an average room. All rooms are unequal is my starting point, so my example to follow will have lots of ifs and buts to be decided on arrival. I'm trying to decide 'figuratively' where might be the best place for a single 12" sub in a rectangular room, with band at one end and audience spread across the other 7/8ths of a room. It can't go behind the drums on a rear wall as the drum mics will be a mare. Centre of stage front is obvious position but it is nowhere near boundaries to benefit from that boost. Hence, could a side wall parallel with the front baffle of the tops be used? If it is placed on the left, anyone on that side will get excess in comparison to the opposite side of the room. So where to go?

Quick question... or not! Small to medium size venues, utilising a single 12" sub (to be determined and purchased) and a pair of QSC K10s on stands. Reference is often made re. 'rear/back wall' indicating rear to be the wall behind or where the band are setting up, leading to the assumption that front wall being effectively behind the last audience member (does that make sense?). If a sub (I'm phrasing this as per my band using a single 12" sub) is omnidirectional does that then mean that a sub can be placed either facing toward/parallel/out from a side wall running the length of a room? I'm aware that a sub can be placed anywhere in a room but practical purposes mean it can rarely be the wall or corner furthest from the band (behind the audience) and the wall behind the performance area would lead to the sub bleeding into a kick/snare drum mic, hence my musings on best offset 'side wall' placement.

I use an Electro Harmonix Small Stone phaser + a little chorus and I've been assured by other bassists that it pretty much nails the sound... but other options would work equally as well!

Yes I agree. When I got my first Cali II bass (roadworn) I noticed immediately that the overall body size was reduced; when stood back to back with a Fender the difference is marked!

That's great to see; all under 8lb!

Yeah but they are like hen's teeth 'used' and I'm not convinced a SL will have equal tone to buy one new! I have a pair of Lionel basses (1 of which is very light) but I'm needing to find if the 34" scale basses can be sub 8lb.

Sandberg California V / VS owners. What does your bass weigh? I'm absolutely loving my Cali V (sunburst roadworn & marley blue) basses, especially since stringing with some heavier gauge strings but I find myself wondering how light this range of basses might be and could I find source an even lighter one? I have a couple of Lionel basses which are even lighter (but I find I lose punch and definition in certain higher ranges and yes I've tried upping the gauge on the strings) and I'm aware of the 'Superlight' series but I'm unsure if the different body woods (paulownia) will adversely affect the tone that I'm enjoying from my current 2 basses. For context my RW bass is 8lb 6oz and my JJ pup converted MB bass is 8lb 1oz... is this as light as they get?

I could be wrong (often am) but as it doesn't mention VAT I'm fairly sure that UK residents have to pay the VAT on top of that price.

Is that + VAT?

It could be the fit or equally the tone of that particular IE that needs sensitive EQing but I've found work-arounds now and I can find ways to get what I need using multiple options; so all good.

I might have been having an off day with the early IEM experiments but I was finding that I needed to have the volumes up more than I felt comfortable with to offset the drums. Oddly when playing with backline and regular attenuated plugs in, I found it filtered everything uniformly and attenuated the drums better.

I think it is difficult for drummers to embrace the SS idea because trad acoustic kits have a different feel to electronic or 'flats' kits and if you maintain a full acoustic kit with no backline I think (or experienced) that it is fraught with problems.

Old story but I got tired of being the only band member who knew how or would set up the PA so I gave each band member a job, from putting stands up and speakers on to putting out the 2 floor monitors and associated leads etc. I would do the actual sound and levels. 2 gigs in with new regime and I found the singer hadn't bothered to plug in the monitors (power and lead)... well I certainly wasn't going to so we did the whole sound check inc the obligatory "Can I have a bit more vocal in the monitor" AND gig ,with no monitor! Nobody even noticed when we were stripping down. Not a word of a lie but it happened at EVERY subsequent gig for about 15-20 gigs. It was only spotted by the guitarist and when asked I just shrugged and said "That's not my job, have one of you not been doing it?". Conclusion to this fine story: you'd think would be that we'd have had a more thorough system; nope the singer decided if we'd managed without monitors then there was no point in having them... thus absolving himself of a job! Genuine story.

Were they 'identical' cabs (drivers and physical dimensions) other than the port position? That is an all together different matter. Agreed in which case the OP liked the tone of the cab potentially/partly/possibly due to the size as opposed to the porting location. You could equally get a larger cab that was rear ported and that could/might sound as good OR a front ported cab that was smaller and it might sound worse!

Why front porting specifically? It has no impact on sound projection etc.

Natural discolouration from daylight; the finish under the guard never sees the light of day. The extreme of this used to be when smoking was allowed in venues. Your bass would have a yellowish tinge in no time regardless of finish or colour... and your case stank of it.

LOL indeed. When I clocked the pics I was 'Having that!'... then I saw the weight.

For £250 more, you can buy an absolute 79 stunner... hmmmmm. https://bassbros.co.uk/product/1979-music-man-stingray-4/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1c0u0Cu5rU4-fTPdVp2cPPa6B5RQlUqefbZYCLiuO-lXf4zJ-d_mdh50Q_aem_AUwg8Kvw2nyzVzRiY6XMcYvlX66J62YE38Y2VjvoQ7KE_qsCuXyvyclajQfFFQdpFN8_-x4z-gLx1TeL3z1xgt44

If I'm honest I play in a tribute band which is 'probably' best known for having a big hit with the poppiest/bubblegum sweet song ever... I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick); yet that song is about unrequited love AND that is about as light as that band get! They have songs about suicide, STD, murders, sexual grooming, male prostitution, depression, mental illness, drug abuse. Literally every song is 'dark' if not depressing... and I LOVE playing them!

So that will include everything that comes under the banner of 'blues'... well for me personally!

Ludicrous price for a dog's dinner of a bass! There are plenty of Pre EB Rays that are in perfectly good nick and they are cheaper than that. Why would you pay more to then have to refinish and lose even more money?

I've shared most/many of the experiences of the above @JPJ / @Phil Starr and in a very short 12 month period went from 'old school' backline projecting to FOH for guitar + bass + loud drummer (I've worn custom plugs for 20ish years... still lost a bit of hearing), to silent stage, IEM, PA carrying everything; in the process I've also ran bass/others through monitors +/- IEM +/- backline etc etc (as @Phil Starr suggested). Some/most of these have 'eventually' worked for me but my main two caveats have been that your IE have to isolate effectively (designs/shapes vary and make this tricky) and more importantly the person working the initial PA/mixer set up has to know what they are doing! I spent many frustrating months trying to get a sound through my IE that even resembled bass never mind MY bass tone. I dabbled with all sorts of pedals / DI's et al to no avail, eventually establishing that the mixing desk had some architecture that had (guitar) pre-sets integrated into the desk/interface input I was using. I was all but ready to say 'stuff it' and I remember reading all the threads and thinking many on BC were putting up with rubbish tone for the sake of the Emperor's new clothes... but it worked for me eventually! As it happens I am now happier that I do not have to go down any one route; I now regularly swap between ALL combinations depending on the situation - there is no right/wrong!

A little 1x10 or 1x12 cab will work for you. Don't get hung up on wattage or even ohmage, most manufacturers give half truths and sometimes even tell outright lies. A 4 ohm cab will get the most from your amp but tbh the kind of useage you intend (at the moment) it won't make a jot of difference if it is 4 or 8 ohm; an 8 ohm cab that is possibly more sensitive than a comparable 4 ohm will even things out. An 8 ohm cab choice will mean that at some point in the future you can add a 2nd 8 ohm cab. You may need to go somewhere to A/B a few cabs to find something you like the sound of... all cabs do not sound the same!

Sadly since Brexit, you can't simply send and/or receive a bass and claim it is swapped/free! You will need to pay tax on its true market value; whether you can then go about claiming back the tax is another matter (I simply ceased considering a swap when I established this).

It wasn't a 'standard' for Warwick to have hardware in any particular finish back in the late 80's early 90's. I've seen gold coloured hardware (knerbs and bridges) as often as I've seen black. The only other finish was titanium (dull nickel coloured) which was introduced on the Dolphin iirc.