AxelF

Could you not just soundcheck and save that as a scene, then pull all your FoH faders to zero bar 17/18 and save that as another scene?

I've used the WS90 for about 6 months now with zero drop outs or other issues, they're a bit bigger than I was expecting but perform brilliantly. That's alongside a guitarist's Xvive guitar wireless and three Xvive monitors (though they're all 2.4GHz), plus the router for our XAir and all the audience's devices.

I did something massively original this week, and bought some new gear that I didn't really need as I fancied a change, only to discover that it wasn't anywhere near as good as my current gear.

The tips on my Future Sonics G10s have become loose over time, culminating in one staying in my ear when I took the earphone out just before the first set on Saturday. I then dropped it when pulling it out, delaying the first set for about 5 mins while I scrabbled round on my hands and knees looking for a black headphone tip on a black carpet on a very dimly lit stage...

So instead of doing the sensible thing and buying some new tips, gas took over and I remembered how long I'd spent perusing Crinacle's IEM rankings previously. https://crinacle.com/rankings/iems/

The Linsoul 7Hz Timeless had jumped out at me as being very favourably reviewed for a reasonable price, and I've fancied giving them a try for a while now (even though I love the sound of the Future Sonics). They arrived yesterday and I spent a while A/B ing them, only to decide that I much prefer the Future Sonics. They just have such an incredible, punchy bottom end - nothing else I've tried has come anywhere close. They're only a single (dynamic) driver, but I've never felt the mids or highs are lacking either. Which begs the obvious question...! 

Anyway, I'd love to say lesson learned, but we all know that's not true. Best bit is I later found more of the aftermarket tips I'd bought for the FS in my drawer, and they're now good as new.

tl/dr: If you're after some very reasonably priced IEMs, give these a go https://www.spectrumseries.biz/

They blow me away! And I love these £3.50 tips. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06X3ZKQPQ/ref=pe_3187911_185740111_TE_item

Apologies if this is slightly off topic, but as others have said, I can't encourage you enough to go down the in-ears route - both for the ability to hear yourself/quality of tone, but also from a hearing protection angle too.

You can spend an unlimited amount of money on IEMs, but equally you can give it a go for very little money.

My first setup was a little Rolls box https://rolls.com/product/PM50s (though I'm sure there's loads of alternatives these days) which has two inputs - you feed your bass signal into one channel and an 'everything else' or FoH mix or headphone out signal from whatever mixing desk you use into the other channel. You can then just mix your bass louder or quieter against everything else to suit.

Headphones wise you can spend anywhere from £20 up to thousands, but up to a certain extent you get what you pay for. A really good cheap 'toe in the water' option are the KZ ZS10s which are £35 and a lot of people  seem to like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Linsoul-KZ-ZS10-Earphones-Detachable-Black/dp/B07QKYTGH9

Switching to IEMs was an absolute game changer for me, and I managed to convince my band to go ampless and run a silent stage a few years ago now, so everything goes through the PA. With the right mixer everyone has individual control of their own mix, there are no amp volume wars so it's a far better sound out front for the audience, and no one goes deaf!

I've gone back from my Cosmic Ears (I think only 3 drivers) that I've used for years to using a pair of Future Sonic G10s which are just a generic fit, but have a 10mm dynamic driver.

I don't know whether the Cosmic Ears model I went for (must be pushing 10 years ago now if not longer) aren't high enough spec, or if it's a dynamic driver vs balanced armature thing, but with the Future Sonics the bass is just so much fuller and sounds fantastic.

I'm constantly flip flopping backwards and forwards between deciding to invest serious cash in a new pair of high spec customs, or just carrying on with the G10s.

Ive been loking at all the usual suspects, but my experience with Cosmic Ears has meant im only looking at makes/models that include at least one dynamic driver for the low end. Im aware I might be maligning all balanced armatures based on very limited exposure though.

Future Sonics also do a dynamic driver custom mould IEM, which unlike a lot of the other more well known companies is just one big driver. They've got the usual impressive list of clients, but obviously you've no way of knowing whether they were gifted a pair and never used them in anger, or thought they were the best thing since sliced bread!

Golden Slumbers

Carry That Weight

The End

Abbey Road

The demos sound great but sadly I can't help thinking that they've scored a massive own goal with the foot switch on this.

The tones generally sound fantastic, but if you're running one of these you're probably using it as the foundation for your sound - at a very basic level it seems to take your tone and make it better. What this means though is you're never going to think 'I'm going to switch it off for this section of the tune to make my tone a bit sh!tter for the bridge'.

Conversely there's probably way more occasions where you're more likely to think 'I'd love to kick in a bit of saturation/grit for the chorus' or 'I'd love to engage the scoop for this slap section'.

It's one of the reasons I love the Capo so much (it's the only non-SA pedal on my board, and I've never used the on/off footswitch on that either!)

If the footswitch engaged either the grit or scoop functions (or ideally make this a 2 footswitch pedal with one for each), this would be killer.

Just a bump to say this is now back down to £30 for the Kindle version on Amazon.

For this job I'd go for the Nux Mighty Plug - connects to phone via Bluetooth to play along with songs and has an amp/cab sim app too. Tiny, battery powered, has a built in tuner. It's perfect for travelling and playing with headphones at home.

Greatest female vocalist of all time for me. And Teddy Pendergrass just in case you were going to ask.

Thanks all, I think you're right Al - I/the punters probably wouldn't notice much difference, it's likely just GAS, I'd love to try one though and see!

I'm after some advice re subs please - we're a 5 piece pub covers band playing indie/rock and we run a silent stage (bar acoustic drums) with everything straight into a Behringer XR18 and then two RCF935s for the front of house.

It might be just GAS but I'd love to add a sub or two, just for a bit of extra oomph on the kick and maybe bass too, and have seen lots of sometimes conflicting advice on the subject in lots of different places.

I've read that having two subs separated and underneath the tops can lead to comb filtering and stacking them centrally isn't an option given the size of places we're playing. Would having just one sub under one of the tops be an option or is that a stupid idea? One problem I can see straight away is one of the tops would be getting a low passed signal while the other would be getting a full range signal. Does anyone do this, or are two subs under the tops the way forward at this level? Thanks!

@KiOgon is his user name, you'll love his looms.

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6 hours ago, Boodang said:

We're going to use the xr18 even if there's a sound guy at a gig just so we're in control of our own in ear monitor mixes and not at the mercy of the engineer. 

Yeah I have mine in a rack with some channel strip splitters so that even if the venue want to use their own system we can run into our rack as usual, with one of the pair of outs permanently wired into our XR18 for IEM monitoring and the other one of the pair can be run straight into the in house system. Exactly the same IEM mix at every gig is a godsend!

I'm going to need you to have a stern word with yourself regarding your alignment of pedals, it's upsetting me significantly!

On 03/06/2023 at 16:09, Waddo Soqable said:

There was one in Deptford that I've used a few times, that was quite good,

.. nearish to the DLR.. But I just can't remember what it was called.. 

 

And Alaska studios near elephant & castle, if it's still going.. 

Do you mean Huskys near London Bridge? It's still going if so, though more geared to dance groups. There is one 'band room' though. The one in Deptford is likely the Music Complex? It's good. There's also a Pirate studios at Greenwich and a few just north of the river - the Engine Rooms and the Vatican are decent.

Yeah we regularly use three U4s with our XR18 mixer, plus one of the guitarists uses an XVive wireless bug for his guitar too, never have any issues. We use an external router for the mixer though as Woodinblack says.

I received mine at the end of Feb and wanted to wait until I'd done a few gigs with it before posting a review to try and avoid that 'new toy' bias. I've now done 7 or 8 gigs with both it and an incredible jazz bass that Dan @d_g built for me and I've just been blown away by the tone from this combination, it's easily the best sound I've ever had.

I'm going straight to the desk via the Capo and using in ears with RCF935s as FoH and it sounds equally amazing to me through both. I have the A side set to have just a bit of saturation with the B side then giving a bit of a boost to both volume and hair when needed.

Below is some raw audio straight from the desk from a gig last night, majority are just Capo A side but the 5th clip (Somebody Told Me) I think I kicked in B Side about halfway through the clip. The last one (TIRO) starts with Capo A side plus C4, then goes into Capo A side plus Aftershock, then Capo B side plus Aftershock.

In short, I absolutely love it!

That's a good shout, thanks. Wonder how resistant that would be to repeated use though?

I'm using RCF 935s as PA mains with these stands

https://www.ultimatesupport.com/collections/telelock-series-speaker-stands

Despite the pole and socket both being stated as 35mm diameter (although separately also listed as 1.375" and 1.38"), there's a slight size difference and resulting wobble. I've been looking for a sleeve for the pole but can't find anything that looks suitable, I guess because the sleeve would probably need to be less than a mm thick.

Does anyone have any suggestions for stabilising them please? The RCFs don't have a tightening screw on the bottom like some tops I've seen, and I'd rather not screw anything into them. Does anyone have any experience with these Hercules adaptors?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hercules-Stands-SS100B-Speaker-Adapter/dp/B00521KBTC

I'm using the 935s and haven't found any need for a sub. I'd recommend upgrading the speakers and switching to in ears so you can ditch the monitors too. Probably get it all in one car then.

We're looking for a lead guitarist to dep for a gig in Cheltenham on 1st April. It's indie/rock covers - Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Foos, RHCP, Muse, etc. We're based across South London and are also looking for someone who's also happy to dep semi regularly as the guitarist is away with work a lot if anyone's interested. Can send over audio files of all the parts.

On 10/02/2023 at 20:48, Ander87 said:

oh. Uh oh. Gawd. Oh. It does have a good heavy grit eh…? Dang! The second tone sounds amazing for the type of distortion I like. 
 

Damn… I think I’m in trouble. It could even do fuzzy bit I can see from there….

 

how wide is it? Like an Alpha Omega/B7k kind of thing?

 

this could potentially replace the woolly mammoth, Blackstone Mosfet and lil fella and almost pay itself that way………

 

 

Could do mini tuner, el capo and c4 synth (c4 would do chorus, octaver, filter and synthy lead stuff of course). 
 

HMMMMMM….!!!

Haha I've succumbed and ordered one - I was desperately trying to hold out but lasted about two weeks.. 😂

That's pretty much what my board will be - I think it will replace my current pre and my Aftershock so I'll likely be running mini Polytune, Capo, C4 and Atlas. Can't wait!

Fantastic thanks - will check it out.