RhythmJunky

We have the same taste ......in....garden furniture. I have just like that 😆

I gave up about 15 years ago because after having reached a level where I needed to get out gigging, I couldn't find a band that fitted in with my demanding day job (meaning unpredictable working hours, late evenings etc, not that I'm a world leading brain surgeon or anything). I've recently started playing again but can't see me getting out much until I retire in 10 years or so as the unpredictability hasn't really gone away.

There's plenty of options. It all depends on how much you want to spend and what you want it to do. My current collection of silent practice options include (but probably not limited to) : 2x Korg Pandoras ( I think ones a 3 and one a 5) 1x 8 channel Behringer mixer 1x Zoom B1 4 multi effects with line in and a few drum patterns 1x Boss BR80 micro ( a small portable digital recoder with guitar in and line in) 1xBoss DR880 drum machine with guitar in (no line in). 1x Peavey Minx 30 Watt combo with headphone socket, but again no line in. What do I use the most ? The Zoom B1 4 which I have plugged into one channel of the mixer. I have a digital piano and the drum machine and my computer also connected to the mixer. The computer runs Transcribe ! which is a really good transcription/ slow downer so that I can play along to any mp3 or video file I wish and loop it, slow it down etc and it even guesses the notes for you.

Is there any other way to buy a bass ?

Me too, but strangely i do like some Jazz basses. I think that the 4+1 headstock style on Fender 5 stringers is the epitome of ugly as its so unbalanced.

Oh yeah, Band in a Box is pretty good, but the jazz side is possibly better than rock. Great for knocking up backing tracks to practice along to. I was using it this morning to create some rootless II V I progressions to play along to (on a keyboard). Really, really useful for stuff like that. Took minutes to write. I've just realised that I have a tendency to collect practice gizmos. Is this a recognised medical condition ? Is help available?

Not a hardware gizmo, but Transcribe! from Seventh String is a great practice tool. It's a Windows app that allows you to speed up, slow down, repeat, loop, transpose etc any digital music. I'm just having a pause for lunch from using it this morning to learn Whiskey in the Jar (Thin Lizzy version). I've also got the Pandora PX4B, which I don't really use, and a Zoom B1 Four which I use all the time.

I know somebody who works with him and has done for many years. I can't be too specific. Your comments apparently are bang on. What you see onscreen is what he's really like. Completely devoid of any single redeaming character. Did you ever see that TV series where he toured Ireland with his wife in a car? Absolutely dreadful.

Thanks everyone. It just seems that keyboard players aren't as talkative as bass players. Who'd have thought ?

Another option might be to get somebody to change the input transformer for you to a 240v. I've only ever done it on a solid state amp, which was pretty simple, but it might be a bit more complex on a valve amp with the heaters etc. BTW the power reading on the back of the amp is possibly the consumption rather than the output, which is typically about 1/2 the consumption (roughly). Finally, you might be able to run it off a big yellow transformer like the ones builder's use. These are fairly cheap and powerful, but don't leave it plugged i when you're not using it or your electricity bill will rocket 😉

I've been on that as well thanks, I was just hoping that there may be an entire forum rather than just a section on another forum. The Piano World forum is probably the closest, but its all a bit serious and classically biased.

Thanks Skinnyman. I've enjoyed trawling through gearspace over the years and agree with what you say about the Newtonian nature of the reviews etc. Sound on Sound can be pretty good as well. I just wish that there was a keyboard equivalent of Basschat which is far more active in terms of the quantity and range of topics discussed, helpful and pretty friendly. Maybe that's just indicative of bass players as a whole 😆.

The title says it all really. Does anybody know of any decent keyboard forums anywhere ? I know Piano World and find it's a bit, well you know, b0ring, and Keyboard Korner which doesn't seem too active. Are there any that are even half as good as here ?

Something like the Zoom B1 Four would be ideal. It's a small, cheap multi effects floor unit with line in and headphone out. It has various drum patterns and some fairly usable effects. I bought a used one locally recently for £30, just because I couldn't not buy it really at that price. It will run off batteries or a dedicated power supply or even a USB power supply. https://www.thomann.de/ie/zoom_b1four_bass_multi_effect.htm As for which headphones, that's probably one of the more contentious topics on here... Everyone has an opinion, and nobody is trying to give you bad advice. There's just so much choice. For my tuppence worth I'd recommend Beyer Dynamic DT880 Pros, or you could try models by AKG (such as the K701 or K702) or any Sennheiser or various other brands. If you're trying to either exclude external noise or eliminate the sound of your playing from annoying others then buy closed back headphones rather than open back. My DT880s (which are open) don't leak much sound but I have some other open back headphones where you may just as well have your head between two speakers. Avoid bluetooth.

Am I the only person who so wanted that paragraph to end slightly differently? ....the following day it was perfectly fine, but later decided to go solo and was offered a contract with CBS......?

I got a Kay Precision copy for Xmas when I was about 18 from my parents, bought from a music shop in Oldham. It was natural ash, with a black pickguard. I loved it. I gave it away about 10 years ago to a local teacher who I knew and who used to give free lessons to kids who couldn't afford to pay. I asked her to give it to one of her students who she felt needed and deserved it.

I reconed a pair of 80's hifi speakers (Heybrook HB1's) last year and was delighted with the results. I'd never done it before and found it fairly easy, just a bit fiddly. They're now in daily use again as monitors for my digital piano.

I've just returned to playing bass after a brief (15year) pause. I stopped as I couldn't find a local band to play with. Anyway, one resource that I used to use back then was Adam Nitti's Bass Dojo which was one of the first online teaching resources, back in the days when the Internet was still young (who remember dial up modems hahaha). I've recently been looking around for something to refresh myself and have been considering the usual SBL and Bassbuzz courses, but couldn't really find anything that suited me, so am delighted that I just found out that Adam has archived the entire Bass Dojo classes. Even better, you can access them if you sponsor him on Patreon and the basic access level (garage) is only a fiver a month. I have no connection with Adam other than as a pupil the last time.

So whats it like ? I presume Santa has lifted the ban by now !

BTW, I felt that I should mention that I learnt a long time ago that referring to the UK as "the mainland" tends to rather annoy the Irish.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/work-to-restore-éire-sign-from-second-world-war-begins-at-howth-head-1.4529107 In fact they keep finding the signs.

Great. Glad you got it sorted. 😀

Marvin, can you perhaps send on some photos of how the interface is connected to the computer and the guitar to the interface. A screenshot of the system set up (what audio input you have selected etc) would be helpful too.

I use the dac principally as I had it lying about. It does give slightly better sound quality and as a bonus let me tidy up the cables a bit. Your problem is strange. The only times I've had something similar was when the audio was set to the computer and not the interface and once when I forgot to turn on phantom power to the mic 😳. It looks like something isn't switched on in the s/w somewhere, but as you've tried that then look at the h/w. I'd work back through a process of elimination. Just the laptop, then laptop with the interface and finally with the mixer as well. You can use the Skype test call facility to check what's being heard at the other end. BTW you won't be able to use the laptop mic when the interface is connected, but you probably knew that anyway.

Just read your problem. I think that you need to select the interface as the input in Skype, otherwise its trying to use the computer audio.