mike257

STS are a great backline hire company in Manchester, based just behind the Apollo. They'll no doubt have a selection of P Basses in their stock if you need to hire one for a couple of days.

Traded a Stingray for my California JM4, think it's a 2004, before they changed the shapes to be "less Fendery". Just a really well made, versatile workhorse of a bass. Never felt in any way restricted by any aspect of it.

The Creamery and Oil City both do their own takes, or will rewind the modern Fender efforts (which are basically a standard humbucker in a big shiny box) to something more closely approximating the original spec.

[quote name='dand666' timestamp='1496833074' post='3314119'] I've been currently depping on a lot of gigs through an agency and all of their acts use backtracks. The track is full of 'sweetner', keys, horns, synth bass e.t.c - Works well with some of the new dance track. We all have IEMs and click is in our ears, if you're lucky you'll get a guide track as well. Perfect for a last minute dep! Having said all that, I'm not the biggest fan. [/quote] Earcandy, by any chance?

I'm afraid if you want to do a metal gig (or any moderate-to-loud band show) in a 700 cap room, something like that is unlikely to satisfy. They don't really function like a "proper" line array system you see at big shows. Those systems are designed carefully to suit each venue, with the position and angle of each box carefully selected to ensure an even coverage across the audience and to avoid firing at reflective surfaces etc. These little column systems aren't doing anything that clever. Based on what I've heard them do, I wouldn't use them for anything bigger than a small acoustic ensemble really. They'll do that just fine, but unlikely to have the headroom to do a loud rock band even in your venue's 150 cap configuration.

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1495806826' post='3306773'] Interesting - I bought myself an AKG D5 and was ribbed by my bandmates for not buying an SM58. [/quote] Your bandmates are daft. An SM58 wouldn't even make it into my top five choices for vocals on a small, loud stage.

30 mins is pretty standard - the tours I'm on this and next week are both one support and headliner, with 30 min sets for support.

[quote name='timhiggins' timestamp='1492758173' post='3282879'] Neck/fret impact is no different from playing a robust slap line its just the loosening that de-cruds strings [/quote] Well, it's far less damaging to your reputation, to be fair

Alpha Male Tea Party - tremendous band, mainly instrumental, great guitar work, time signature madness, and their drummer is probably the best hitter of things I've ever had the pleasure of being in a band with (back before he joined these guys), he's unreal. I dep for the bassist in his function band when they're touring too. Lovely chaps all around and new album due out pretty soon.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1492342687' post='3279500'] Have you actually tried them? It does have a whiff of something about it. I had a quick look at the website, not quite sure about the speaker claims as there isn't much real info, but one that caught my eye was a speaker with claimed 10 degree vertical dispersion, 120 deg horizontal, seems a little far fetched. [/quote] They claim their speakers actually achieve "zero distortion" and have also said in marketing materials that this alleged property means you can run them at high levels with a lesser risk of hearing damage, so not only bollocks but actually encouraging unsafe and irresponsible use. They've made spurious threats of litigation against anyone challenging their claims, but have refused to facilitate independent testing. They're a running joke in professional audio circles.

Flare are snake oil merchants who make scientifically impossible claims about their PA speakers, refuse to publish proper test data on their earplugs, and harass and block anyone who questions them on social media, to the point that their marketing director left a one star review of a venue whose in-house engineer challenged their claims about their products. Spiteful and immature. According to the limited data they've published, the isolate plugs perform about as well as those 3M disposable foam sets that cost pennies. You want plugs for £20, get a set of ER20s. You want proper isolation, get some moulds done from ACS or similar. These are questionable at best.

No worries, hope you get sorted one way or another!

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1492165307' post='3278383'] This is the easiest way [/quote] I'm pretty sure you can't Dante directly out of a Pro1 and you need the DN9650 network bridge with a Dante card fitted to do it.

Woke up today with another option to consider! If you've already got eight analogue inputs to your computer from the 828x, you could add a Behringer ADA8200 for ~£150 and give yourself a 16 input recording system, then just get a couple of TRS to XLR looms and record from the direct outs of the Soundcraft MH3 - assuming you can fit it on to 16 channels, that is. Cost difference between buying that and hiring the digital stuff will be negligible, and you have the benefit of expanding your own recording rig in the process

Also - the Mac/iPad editor software is irrelevant here as it doesn't transmit audio to the host device, it's solely for control of the console. So definitely don't go and buy a Mac/iPad for that!

Another alternative is to check if the venue is also running a monitor desk and if that is going to be simpler to take a feed from. If it's another Pro series on a digital split from a Midas stagebox then it makes no difference, but if it's a different desk on an analogue split, you might be able to find an easier solution. In fact, if it's a different house monitor desk, you could (with agreement of the venue) hire something like a Midas M32 (or Behringer X32) to be used as house monitor console for the night, as that has a 32x32 USB interface on board and is much simpler to record from. If there's no monitor guy, it might even be cheaper hiring an M32 locally for the house FOH guy to mix your show on and taking a multitrack over USB. Not as nice a console, but perfectly capable of mixing a great show and much less complex to record from.

Pretty sure you need to connect a Klark Technik DN9650 to the AES50 port of the Midas, and the 9650 needs to be loaded with either: A: a Dante card which can be connected to a computer running Dante Virtual Soundcard Or B: a MADI card which can be connected to a computer with something like an RME Madiface in between I'd start with asking the venue if they're happy to facilitate it, as it's a bit of extra faff and configuration for the guy behind the desk to worry about, when he's likely to already be dealing with tight changeovers and all the other complexities of a live show. If he's happy to do it, I'd approach a pro audio hire company local to the venue and enquire about the kit. Might have to do a bit of ringing around as it's quite specialist equipment and will probably only be carried by rental houses that predominantly use Midas consoles. If it looks like it'll all come together, I'd go in there with a well prepared template file in your DAW of choice, and have an extra person with you to operate the recording laptop, as there's every chance that the house guy might be pressed for time to check it's all good before your show starts. I'd also suggest either bringing along or asking the venue to supply ambient mics to be recorded along with the rest of your input list. These can be phase aligned with the rest of your mix and blended in to add the feel of something actually happening in a real space, and can be brought up at top and tail of tracks to give crowd noise etc.

Glad to hear it! I'm awaiting the arrival of a big one (the 5013) to convert into a backline tech work-case. Going to wind up with LED strips around the inside of the lid, with a tuner, mini-amp and a setlist clip mounted in there, and a guitar neck stand and body rest in the base for restringing, with compartments underneath for tools, strings, spares etc. That's the plan anyway! Hoping to have it all ready before my next tour starts next week, I'll have to stick a photo up if I can get it built in time!

I do it frequently now - function gigs, three piece up to ten piece. I don't really feel the need to be thundering on stage, so long as I can hear enough to know I'm playing the right (ish) notes. More often than not I'm providing PA and on engineering duties, but even when I'm not I'm quite happy to forgo backline if I can get within hearing distance of a wedge. If I'm carrying all that PA, I can't be bothered carrying a bloody bass rig too!

The Ui16 has issues whereby it completely locks up and you can't regain control without a complete reboot of the unit. Had terrible issues with one at an AV company I do some work for. Allegedly the new firmware (currently available for beta testing) fixes it but I'm not massively confident. Won't use it unless I absolutely have to.

Agree that the valve socket is a likely culprit. I changed a few 12AX7s and probably binned some perfectly good ones before I realised taking it out and putting the same one back in worked too! One design weakness in an otherwise cracking amp.

Typical wedding involves a 4/5pm arrival and leaving at 1am by the time you've packed up, so at least an 8 hour day not including your travel time. Can easily run to 12/14 hours. Enough to pay each band member an absolute minimum of £150 but realistically more (especially if it's an extra long day), cover expenses, plus a contribution to the "business" to reinvest in PA gear, marketing etc. If you're essentially acting as the agent seeking the gigs out, doing the back and forth of discussion with the client and managing that relationship from enquiry, through sale, to the delivery on the day, then it's also reasonable to take an additional cut for your time and effort, as that can be quite involved for some wedding gigs. All stuff to consider in your price. It's also standard to stipulate that a hot meal and soft drinks be provided for each of you, or if that isn't possible, a small increase in the fee to offset this. Obviously, the right answer is "as much as you can get away with" though

I'll play anything for the right paycheck, and I get a kick out of a full dancefloor so still enjoy knocking out the standards on a function gig. I really enjoy the chance to rework things a little bit though, or rock up some pop tunes. Frustratingly this week, I was scheduled to shoot some live promo video with a bunch of lads who are brilliant players and good friends too, but for various reasons it had to be postponed. Me and the drummer tried to salvage the day by tracking him in his rehearsal space and put down drum parts for our crack at a few pop tunes - we were made up but the two guys not in attendance have protested the choice of songs and said they're not interested in doing them and want to stick to the "classic" stuff. The annoying part is that we've gone for songs that are always on the DJ playlist either side of our live sets and consistently go down a storm, so I reckon they'd work. I'll be finishing them off with other players/singers anyway, so I'll still get some use out of it, but it's just a shame when you've got a bunch of killer players who aren't up for widening the spectrum of the set a little bit.

I had a track from a post 3 Colours Red band on a Rock Sound cover CD many many years ago, name escapes me now. I'll have a think!