TimR

[quote name='teej' post='1108806' date='Jan 30 2011, 10:26 PM']Some food for thought here. I'll read back over it all again, but for now, I'll say I use a generator once a week on average all year round and have done for something like 12 years. I also know plenty of other acts who do this regularly. I guess one major difference is that we're using them in the street with less kit than most bands. Ours is a small Honda, the kind you can pick up with one hand and walk down the road with, powering a Yamaha Stagepas500 (with vocal and double bass into it), and a '70s Roland Cube for the guitar. In fact we don't add any more kit for gigs, but, being street performers we're starting out from a stripped down approach anyway.[/quote] This was my thought when looking into earthing etc. I bet you don't drive a spike though the pavement and get an electrician to test it.

[quote name='Johnston' post='1108511' date='Jan 30 2011, 07:18 PM']Can I just say in response to some of the shopping lists of "essentials" I did my first proper gig with a beat up cheap ass bit of korean Ply, a tuner and 2 cables 1 into and 1 out of the tuner (I think although I might have just unplugged to tune), a few picks and a copy of the setlist. Amp was a P.a. head through a 15" speaker borrowed from my uncle. No Gig bag, no spares, no effects and no tools. We thought that would be it done our gig had a laugh call it a day instead we got nearly another 7 years out of it . I did get my own amp soon after though [/quote] I didn't even have a tuner. Spent years building up a bag of essentials (or "be able to continue playing if a meteorite struck in the middle of a gig" bag). Then realised I never used or needed most of them and pared right down to the real essentials. The only real unusual essential item I have now is buldog clips and clothes pegs for windy outdoor gigs - they keep the music from blowing away.

[quote name='Marvin' post='1108049' date='Jan 30 2011, 12:37 PM']She (meaning me!) reads these from time to time No I'm not planning on extending the family! I was just curious (ok nosey) and Mr M didn't think many would reply. Plus I need some ideas of what 'bits and pieces' I can get him for b'day, christmas etc etc. ( oh I also know what most of the 'stuff' does generally ) Mrs Marvin xx[/quote] ROTFPMSL You've made my day. Although I will admit I'm easily pleased. You can never have too much Gaffa tape, too many spare strings or 9v batteries. But it is a very personal thing so I tend to ask my wife for specifics or I end up with some very nice well meant things but I would have bought different ones. So maybe I'm not that easily pleased

[quote name='Marvin' post='1107997' date='Jan 30 2011, 12:04 PM']I'm not particularly interested but the wife asked...[/quote] Be very careful here. If the wife is asking, the essential number of basses is n+1 where n is the number of basses you currently own. 'A bass and an amp and a few leads' is going to leave you seriously under-equipped. At the very least the answer should be an entire cupboard full of kit, possibly leaning towards a room full of kit. It is not necessary for you to explain what any of that kit does, how often you use it (if ever), or even if it is necessarily essential. All she needs to know is ALL that kit is what you NEED and if possible you need a bit more space for expansion. She's not planning on extending your family is she?

There's a huge discussion here [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=120075"]Sound Guys that want to DI my guitar but not my amp[/url]

We had problems with volt drop on a very long extension lead when we played a gig. When we were asked to play again the next year we borrowed a genny. I think it was only a 2.2kV. we took it with us to every outdoor gig after that just incase. Rather than hiring lots of smaller gennys you're better getting one the right size. They're very quiet but everytime you add one you increase the sound. Put it as far away from the stage as possible, they sound loud if you listen for them but once your drummer starts they're inadiable, but that's nothing compared to the complaining your singer will do when they're breathing lungfuls of exhaust. As has been said before, add up all the ratings on your amps, but be aware that these are likely to be peak ratings. You'll only notice problems when pushing your gear to the limits and then proably only on the loud notes. Things that suffer when the voilts drop are the digital equipment, the amps tended to be OK soundwise but the reverb unit, feedback destroyer, keyboard and guitarists effects were all over the shop, lighting up like christmas trees and dropping out. We didn't earth it but I couldn't get any real info from anyone about doing this for temporary short term (3hours max) considering all the equipment we were using was in good condition. The genny had a metal frame in contact with the ground. If you are playing outside on grass (even in a marquee) it may be wise to insist on a wooden floor or at least a waterproof tarpaulin to stand on, even if it just stops any damp getting into your amp from the grass it's a wise electrical safety precaution. Turn your amps and everything OFF BEFORE you start or stop the genny. Your amps and your ears will thank you.

[quote name='digitalmetal' post='1104718' date='Jan 27 2011, 08:23 AM']This had been my feeling all along and the thinking behind the original post The obvious thing missing from this setup us is clean DI but is a clean really that important? just for the low end perhaps, I dont know, And this thread is making me begin to care less as everyone obviously has different opinions and i may just carry on with my thoughts of requesting My Di (with my valve distortion - what i consider my sound) along with the clean DI if the soundguy insists on that. I will do what i usually do and take a moment to stand out front during sound check to have a quick listen if it sounds too trebbley i will tell them.[/quote] Your situation is different to that of most of us in that you are using the drive from your amp as an effect. The problem is, as has already been noted, bass players have a habit of fiddling with their amps as their ears get used to the stage volume. If the DI is post EQ you have all sorts of problems. If the DI is taken pre EQ then it's only the pre-amp gain that the soundman has to worry about. I lent my amp to someone at a festival, during the set of 6 songs he must had adjusted something at the end of every song. Sometimes this is just nervousness. If you don't know the gear don't try to mess with it while performing. I couldn't hear any difference out front but the DI on my amp can be switched pre EQ or post EQ. when we played I found something that worked and left it as was for the entire set. We're all different.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1104121' date='Jan 26 2011, 06:08 PM']... but I don't think it's what most people want to hear...[/quote] If I could turn up to every gig with a DI box, a lead, my bass and a tuner, I would be a happy man indeed. In my last band I rehearsed through the PA in the rehearsal studio. It was excellent - turn up and play while the drummer was still polishing his cymbals - or whatever he did that took 3/4 of an hour to do....

[quote name='endorka' post='1102332' date='Jan 25 2011, 04:42 PM']Other people have advised you to walk a mile in a soundman's shoes to get perspective from their point of view; this is good advice. Jennifer[/quote] Someone been reading To Kill a Mocking Bird. Maybe take a rifle to the next gig? You could always take an overdrive pedal for use in cases where the soundman won't take a DI from your amp. At least you'll get 50% of the way there.

[quote name='digitalmetal' post='1102070' date='Jan 25 2011, 01:24 PM']Dont get me wrong im not expecting an exact replication of how i hear my sound to be out the front for the crowd , just somewhere near, What i heard from the PA that night was a night and day difference to my amp sound. What was coming from the PA was a clan twangy pop funk bass hifi sound (apologies for my crap description but im not so good at axplaining the sound). Where as my sound from my amp is [b]driven distortion[/b] blended with a fat low end without any high twang at all. Otherwise i may as well not bother taking my amp rig at all.[/quote] Essentially that was the problem in a nutshell. The amp is part of your effect. It actually looks like you have no option other than DI the amp. The problem is how do you convey this to the sound man.

This is a topic that comes up a lot. You've been given the answer, but it wasn't the one you liked so you picked the ones you did. If you point out that you have a DI on the back of your amp, I can see no reason why the soundman wouldn't use it. If the amp goes down mid set then that's your problem, you'll have to stop and he'll have to come up and DI you directly and soundcheck the band again on the fly. Maybe they've had bad experiences of band's gear frying their desks? I've seen some really dodgy equipment, usually, but not limited to, originals bands. As has been pointed out, the sound you like may not actually work in the venue or even in the mix even if it sounds nice in your rehearsal studio. Do you ever practice at low volumes to see how the mix sounds? It's not unusual for a soundman to get the job because he is a mate of the venue owner rather than because he is a top notch soundman, especially if it is a night of unpaid original acts on a low budget. If you have several bands on the bill and you can plug all the bass guitars direct in it saves a lot of EQing and time between acts checking signal levels - do that every night and you're just doing a routine that you know works. Unfortunately it's only you and the other bass player in the room who will notice 'your sound' and he might not even notice you're using an SVT. I would point out that you've got a DI on the amp already. IME that is usually is enough to do the job. After all it saves him using another bit of kit.

Doesn't your guitarist have a tuner? Both ours do. When I arrive at rehearsals the drummer is just finishing setting up, the guitarists have been playing for a while. I set up and am ready to play, the drummer finishes, we have a short chat and we play a number. This happens EVERY week the same. At the end of the first number I turn to one (the same!) guitarist and say "<GUITARIST>, have you checked your tuning?" He checks it and says "ah yes I'm a bit out." EVERY week without fail! He's 60 not 16!

I think facebook is a bit random on what it 'shows' to people. It seems to put a high importance on telling people that you have changed your profile pic or updated your status, but doesn't always show all your pictures that you publish, usually it only shows one or two from your album.

The Warwick forum is quite busy and worth digging around. www.warwickbass.com the Mods actually work for Warwick and talk directly to their tech guys very quickly, I've had replies to my questions in a matter of hours. Although bear in mind they're German so might have a different understanding or way of looking at things. The 3.1 amp seems to be thought to be undersized by many, but they need to be driven quite high above where the clip light comes on. I have the 5.1 and have been very impressed. If you can find the extra go for the 500w. Both are rated into 4ohms and 300W into 4ohms is not a lot. The other thing is that they do/did two ranges of speakers, the 410/411 and the 210/211. The 411/211 series are supposed to be their professional range and are much louder than the 410/210. There is no mention on their website of the 411 ND. Odd. I have the 211pro and coupled with the 5.1 it's loud enough for me. The 3.3 is discontinued by Warwick too. Odd. I would check exactly what you are buying!

[quote name='Roland Rock' post='1090620' date='Jan 15 2011, 04:47 PM']I'm going to defend the lowly Marlin Sidewinder! I picked up my silver Sidewinder along with a cheap 1x15 amp (Cougar) for £200 The output was fine, the tone lacked a bit of definition and character, but was acceptable, and the action was quite high, but it was a great starter bass. I managed to practice, gig and even record with it for about three years. Maybe I lucked out with a good example[/quote] Yes the action on mine was murderously high but once I ripped the frets and gave the truss rod some serious abuse it now tows the line (although a truss rod tweak is needed every now and then). I aso rewired the switch and put in vol/vol control and took out the capactor on the vol control. Helped a lot as the two pickups are really badly matched. I think it was around £100 in 1985 but it's nowhere near as good as what you can buy for around £200 now.

I still have a Marlin Sidewinder bass. I ripped out the frets using screwdriver and pliers and filled the slots (and gouges) with polyfilla. Sounds a lot nicer than you would expect!

OK. I've done some more research. The power supply does have a significant impact. But it's still the current that's causing the problems (in this case excessive volt drop). The transformer in my amp is 640W but the amp is rated at 500W into 4ohms. There's no 8ohm rating so that's not much help. Do the manufacturers get the transformers purpose wound or do they get them off the shelf to keep costs down? I also have a two channel 1500W into 2ohm poweramp. Its ****ing heavy! I'm guessing that the amp power is not restricted by having too small a transformer. More of a case that they use the smallest transformer they can that still gives the amp the power out that they require. They could probably put a bigger transformer in but I'm guessing that then they would have to redesign the amp to get more gain.

[quote name='thinman' post='1087261' date='Jan 12 2011, 09:19 PM']That being the case, is some of the variance in ratings into different loads due to the duration over which output is measured? I'd imagine that with sufficient capacitors in the power supply high peaks could be achieved, but not sustained. I'd like TimR to elaborate on what he was saying about looking at things the other way round, i.e. output is not halved by doubling the speaker impedance - just for education purposes.[/quote] I'm just trying to revise this after about 15 years. Looking over a circuit diagram of a power amp the outputs all run through parallel transistors. I can't see where the power rails have any direct connection to the speakers. All the current must run through these transistors. Increasing the transformer efficiency may help in some way ie the designer may have compromised on the size of the transformer. Wouldn't this result in a corresponding increase in power at 8ohms as well? ie the power at 4ohms may well go up, but so will the power at 8ohms so you still won't get your double. Unless I'm overlooking something obvious. Are you saying that the power rails don't sag at all at 8ohms full power? I thought this sag something to do with the high frequency audio as well. If the amp can do 500w at 8ohms then double that would be 1000w. Let's say you only get 70% or 700W of that at 4ohms as the power is dependent on the current that the transistors will allow to flow. This current isn't directly related to voltage at high power. The amp is marketed as a 700w amp, NOT as a 1000w one that can't get to its max at 4ohms but can get to 500w at 8ohms. Hence you get sold an amp that does 700w at 4ohms and the bonus is it does MORE than 350w at 8ohms. You just increase the power by adding more transistors, not by uprating the already heavy transformer. Anyway it's been a long time and very hazy.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1087245' date='Jan 12 2011, 09:10 PM']I have some from Vistaprint. They look cool as anything but I rarely give them out! Mine are brown and have an upright bass on them with a link to my personal MySpace and a list of instruments I play / styles I do. I added my address and mobile. Possibly less is more here as I have it all on there - had it just been a contact number and no address I'd hand them out more readily[/quote] Yes. Our drummer got the ones from vistaprint AND because you get up to X number of words, he used as many as he could. Arghhh. The free ones have "Business cards are FREE at vistaprint.co.uk" and their logo printed on the back which I think makes them look like you didn't spend any money on them and less professional - maybe that is OK for a solo musician but for a £1600 function band? The premium ones don't have anything on the back.

[quote name='Skol303' post='1086873' date='Jan 12 2011, 04:26 PM']Your business card should ideally reflect your 'character' or 'brand', whether you're a business or a musician. So a black, funerial card might be ideal if your genre of music is "Doom Metal", but perhaps not if it's Gospel ;-) My main tip would be to keep it simple and avoid anything too 'flashy': the purpose of a business card is to pass on your contact details first and foremost. Nobody is going to hire you on the strength of a card, so don't worry about it too much either. Sw***y cards often indicate a particular word that has caused the word 's.w.anky' to get automatically moderated in this post... if you get my gist! So my advice would be to keep you cards plain and simple, and let your music - or your gob - do the talking. I work for a graphic design company, so if you want to post your proposed design(s) I'd be happy to comment on them, for what it's worth... PS: if you want to be really flash, a friend of mine once had a bunch of iPods customised with his name engraved on them and a selection of his music ready-loaded. But then he was pitching his services to major bands in the US...![/quote] +100 Free professional advice but priceless all the same.

[quote name='thunderbird13' post='1086890' date='Jan 12 2011, 04:40 PM']do I want to get involved with people who appear to be so disorganised.[/quote] You're dealing with musicians - it goes with the territory.

[quote name='3V17C' post='1086489' date='Jan 12 2011, 10:44 AM']... (incidentally - ignore the fact the my website is pointing to a myspace page... a temporary measure!!) peace c[/quote] I was going to suggest something like that. Getting a domain is not expensive and you can point it anywhere you want. So when myspace finally implodes you can point it to facebook or anywhere else really, even a self built free on-line one will look more proffesional with a proper address. You can probably also set up email forwarding so [email protected] can be forwarded to [email protected]. AND you don't have to reprint all your business cards.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='1086722' date='Jan 12 2011, 02:12 PM']... there is a strong possibility that your immovable reference bassline was written by a spotty kid who only knew root notes.[/quote] This is the best point yet and goes back to my point about understanding WHY the bass line is like it is. Is it because the bassplayer couldn't play anything else. Is it because they dragged the bassplayer out of bed with a massive hangover and it was all he could manage to play? Is it becase it was arranged by a pro arranger. Is it because they got a session musician who played something off the top of his head first time and they liked it. Said session player then listens to it later and thinks it's OK but given a bit longer could have come up with something better. Did the band all sit down and work out all the parts as a collaborative effort and its part of 'their sound' Is it the signature part of the song/melody. The new bass player in my old band probably thought he was doing great until they told him to stick to the original line. If he had played something approximating the original in the first place he would have been fine as I know they don't listen to what's going on around them. But he improved it so much that they didn't recognise what he was playing. Once you know what the function of that part is then change it if you must.

If you create something that serves no purpose other than to please someone else. Then you have created art.

Art cannot be defined.