WinterMute

Yup, thats the problem with the serious UAD2 kit... The Volt range is brilliant, particularly the Volt 476, which has very useful 1176 emulations on the inputs. Importantly they sound as good as the SSL or Audient offerings.

Audient iD44 is excellent, but the Volt 4 by UA is very good as well, as is the Apollo X4 if you want to spend some serious cash...

That'll buff right out...

I rewired my entire studio after changing over to UAD2 hardware from Focusrite, the only looms I didn't make up were the D-subs from the A16, which came with the unit second hand, but I did clip all the ends and rewire XLR and TRS for the appropriate inputs and outputs, as you say, there's something very therapeutic about it as long a s you have a decent solder station. Don't think I'd care to get into an EDAC though...

I grabbed a QSC K12.2 from this very parish a while back, replaced a Barefaced Big Twin, which wasn't heavy but was big, not as big as the 8x10 mind... I ran my Stomp and now a Quad Cortex into it if I need a bit of real-world grunt, it happily keeps up in rehearsal with a lead-fisted drummer, drops into the carry case and into the car with no bother. Weighs about as much as a cased bass, maybe a bit more. It's got a DI output for live work.

If I'm not making single cables, all my multicore and patch stuff comes from VDC. They have a bespoke service on the website. They do Neutric, Switchcraft or their own VDC hardware and a wide range of good cables. https://www.vdctrading.com

Love the grain detail through the centre of the ebony top. The last few weeks always go much slower knowing it's nearly finished...

Right, I see what you meant, no variable blend for input/DAW. With a zero latency interface, you monitor through the DAW, the only time you need to blend the input with the DAW is what the DAW can't deliver zero-latency input monitoring.

This kind of parallel master processing is more often seen in Mastering than in multi-track mixing, it allows a more aggressive compression/limiting to be used that can then be blended with the uncompressed master signal to retain clarity but add required loudness. It's a perfectly legit technique for mixing too however, I tend to run 2 sub-masters, one a return from my summing mixer and one ITB master, the summed return will have a limiter attached and then blended underneath the main mix till I get the loudness I'm looking for, both are then run into the Master I'll add a general EQ to the Master, in case I need it, but it's not used often. Personally I'd never add time-domain effects to a master, they will be handled in aux sends and returns, and I can EQ or dynamically control the stem signals going out to the summing mixer if needed, this can be very useful to add a bit of control to the drum overheads or the kick generally before it hits the summing mixer. In the end all you gain is a measure of control of the amount of limited or compressed signal you add to your main mix buss, but that can be invaluable.

Not sure where the idea the Volt has a fixed DI gain comes from, spec says 55db of gain for the TRS input, both UA and SSL use combo input and neither have a dedicated DI input. I've spent a little time with the Volt 4 and have spec'ed SSL desktop stuff for Uni builds, there's very little to chose between them really. I prefer the "vintage" Pre-amp sound to the SSL "4K" but it's so subjective. Both will do exactly the same zero latency or direct monitoring. Both come with a range of software, and the Volt include the Ampeg equation found in the Apollo range, which is very useful. What the Volt ange won't do is play with UA's Luna DAW, which is a excellent bit of software that comes free with the UAD2 age of hardware.

I've got the Quad Cortex, there's a bunch of ways to kick in whatever gain or tone changes you want, song by song, section by section, I can change amps for choruses if I need to. My point was more that fuzz or distortion pedals have never been able to deliver the kind of sound that I want.

I'm another one for amp distortion (or the modelled versions these days) I've never found a pedal that gives me the sound I want, but I have found a couple of amps that sound the dogs. Don't know if that's an active/passive thing, haven't had a passive bass for 30 years, but all my MM and ACG basses sound great through the QC with nary a distortion pedal model in sight.

The musical context is going to matter, you'd not want Lee Rocker's tone on a Ron Carter session I suspect... Most (but by no means all) jazz is recorded ensemble, and the room plays an important part in the sound of such sessions. I find getting the best room reverb signature you can for the track and adding it (sparingly) to each instrument can create the illusion of an ensemble playing in a common space. YMMV.

Bloody ridiculous, sort yourself out man...

You need one of these in your rig.

Following with interest, great choice of wood grain.

I loved the tweeter in my Big Twin T, treble is an essential part of my sound, I'd not buy a backline cab without a tweeter.

I’m surprised anyone could hear it over the noise your jacket is making…

I would have said Jazz or P, but I’ve never played a Fender 5 string version of either that was worth a damn (maybe the Roscoe Beck) and the “super jazz” types like Sadowski are brilliant all-rounders, so maybe I’d have to go with something like that. I play rock and a Thumb or SR5 has been my go-to before the ACG turned up, so if your asking personally, a late 80s German built Thumb or a 20th Anni SR5 please, and my ACG fretless Krell.

On a hopeful note, aikido buddy of mine had a similar op a year or so ago, much the same context, fused vertebrae being supported with new hardware, lots of titanium and a deal of Black n Decker work, proper do or die stuff to save his ability to walk, and he came through it with greater mobility and less pain once the actual op wounds had healed. Very best of of luck.

I played a Warwick Thumb 5 for 20 years, sold it when I thought I'd done with playing bass, now have a couple of EBMM SR5s. a Bongo 5 and a beautiful ACG Krell fretless, I didn't plan on playing MM, it's just the way it came out. I did plan the ACG, meticulously, and I may well drop the SR5 fretless and the Bongo in order to fund a fretted ACG in the future as Alan's work is so spectacular. So Warwick to ACG by way of MusicMan.

It's not how well the bear dances, it's that the bear dances at all... I love seeing these kids doing their stuff, I used to see all the Chinese and Korean kid violinists coming over executing the most challenging scores flawlessly, but ask them to improvise, not a hope. The Taylor Hawkins concert proved just how difficult emulating players like Peart is, even Omar Hakim struggled with YYZ, and he's a monster player. Watching Nandi and Shane play with such energy is a pleasure, and they may go on to great things, I hope so. The young girl is great for her age and experience, she can certainly play, but no-one plays with the aggression and attack that Geddy Lee plays with, always just on the edge of chaos, it's a thing of beauty. Long may there be videos of kids playing challenging music on YT and TikTok or wherever, more music makes the world a better place. Maybe one of them will be the next Geddy or Eddie VH, who knows.

Logic is the obvious replacement for Cubase, Protools not so much, it doesn't have anywhere near the built in synths or samplers, it's not as easy to do the dynamic loop stuff and it's expensive. It's easy enough to add all that functionality but thats very expensive in plug-ins. Protools still offers a lot to people who are looking for a DAW that operates the way a studio does, it appeals to me immensely in that respect and all my production work is in Protools, my writing partner uses Logic, so I have that on the system as well, but I find it's not as good for editing audio or doing some of the donkey work that band production needs. Logic is brilliant for synths and beats and EDM stuff though, and is perfectly capable of audio editing and mixing. Abelton might be worth a look too.

That's a bit of history right there... £42K though, it'll go in a glass case somewhere rather than being played down the Dog and Crackpipe of a Friday night.

The whole thing was on YouTube after the live broadcast, all 6 hours or so of it, in very good quality, I expect there will be a release of an official compilation once they've done the US version next week. The YT version has gone now, but there are loads of clips of all the performances.