JTUK

If you have a thunk like sound, you can't take that out of it... It is far easier to add what you need... so better to start there, IMO.

I don't use strings with silks but you can always cut it back...

No.... because you don't get much variation out of them, in terms of sound,. You may LOVE the thunk sound, but that is all you'll have and you'll be stuck with it. If strings are full of gunk, then your limits are what the string can produce. Now you may not want to..and that is fine... but you can't clean that sound up...it is what it is.

Sure, if you let the amp do the work of amplifying...rather than the sheer thump of a heavy handed attack, then you get way more variation and subtlety. You might need a more powerful amp to keep the headroom as you have quietened down your sound by quite a lot. Mosts guys would break my gear if they played their way through my volume levels on my amp and cabs. Lighter is faster as well... should this matter to you...than, say, a hard LH baseball grip..

I did a stage with a 750w amp and whilst I was ok, the drums were weedy... Killed the gig....IMO Out front, it sounded fine, they say, but the performance suffered because of the on stage sound. We go for a tight punchy sound and some drums sound better through the volume than others...( individual tune) We wont get caught like that again and do a 15-20min turnaround. I think the monitors might have been ok...and man enough but they never got them right through out our set

[quote name='alhbass' timestamp='1374753989' post='2152779'] Thanks for your comments guys. For the record, I was DI'd through the PA, so front of house sound was no problem at all (as a recording of the gig from the crowd shows) - it was just a question about hearing myself. This too was fine, as long as I was reasonably close to my stack (which I was during the soundcheck). It was just that once I started looning around the stage in the heat of the gig that I found I could barely hear myself. We dont get to play stages like this often, but when we do I want to be able to enjoy the experience and be able to hear myself properly. Think I'll just have to keep an eye out for suitable cabs coming up for sale as and when I can afford...and make a bit more space in the garage! [/quote] If you have no full range monitoring, then chances are the drums can't hear you..and the gtr 20 plus ft away will certainly not be able to .. or any other players. The upshot of this is that you can't play together..or will find it very hard. You might think you are rehearsed enough to get through it...but are these the sort of gigs you want to just get away with it..??? Chances are they are amongst your best gigs of the year and you are going with a chancer of a sound..?? Drums on a 30 plus ft stage HAVE to go thru the monitors as you don't want to knacker the drummer halfway thru the set as he is having to smash hell out of his kit..??? To be able to play well, you need to be able to hear what everyone is doing... so you need a good stage sound, and it helps if it is lively and punchy and a decent volume. This is why small cabs don't work. If someone goes on stage with a small cab, you either will have full range monitoring and therefore the amp/cab merely promotes a signal or you are very quiet on stage. People have rigs for a purpose...and they have found out what works, where. You tend to see gtr 412's and Bass 810's on decent sized stages for a reason. Of course, some of it is showy and excessive, but you need the sound covered. If your sound on stage is weedy... well, lets just say that is not a good start, IMO/IME..

I start from the basis that we have done a few of these gigs and the organiser knows nothing[u].[/u] We try and tell them what we want and you can get a sense from this how well versed and capable and/or willing they may be. It might sound as though you think you're something else, but I look upon it as doing things properly and if you aren't happy with that, walk away. I am not interested in gigs, I am interested in gigs worth doing...from my POV. It isn't really about the money, but if they can't/wont spend any...again, walk away... or don't moan after wards. We have min stage sizes, stage riders etc etc but we also have a very close relationship with who books us. They don't do it on a shoestring and neither do we.. We've learnt to walk away .... I hope. A case in point... A local beer festival is charging £7;00 on the door and some people and saying they have to pay twice.. for the door fee and for the beers, but then you want to see how the council makes these people dance thru hoops.. If people want a skanky tent in a tatty field, on a ribby stage .. then fine... but if you want too many portaloos and decent showers for over night camping, then the bar is raised. There are beer festivals and tents with a few beer barrels in them.. the choice is easy, but not cheap. Classic round here...charity beer fest..don't get me started..!!

Buy well, buy once. There are a LOT of horn failures on kit and you'll probably not have to go far to hear a pub band with a blown horn in their P.A which they don't/haven't noticed JBL had a rep for this not so long ago as did HK surpisingly enough altho I wouldn't generally warn anyone off that gear. PV are robust but then lower powered P.A can often get a beating as people drive it hard. You will need very decent tops to put anything meaningful thru them aprt from vox without a big downgrade so I'd say don't try. I'd avoid the lower end price point as you'll more than likely end up going thru the same exercise 6 months to a year later as either the quality isn't there in the first place or you'll break something. The Behringer monitors are decent enough for vox close up ( Mackie clones ,,? ) but I wouldn't have any of that sort of kit not on warranty...or BOG cheap and to get you out of a hole. Phonix parts ends up in alot of stuff... PV, LD, Behringer..???? The point about weight in amps is good... you can get C audio cheap...but it is heavy.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1374684322' post='2151860'] If you don't like their terms, don't accept the gig. [/quote] This...but I'd also be concerned whether they know what they've booked. The upside is that these military gigs do ..or can look after you very well. The food/spread they put on can be pretty amazing...they sure eat well. For this, I'd suck up...if these are the gigs you want... if not, then you can always pass

The size of stage is important to what sound you can get back off it. This is why people use 810's as it fills their space well...but is kind to the other areas and mic placements..or rather kinder. I have a stage rig but whether I can really justify the cost is something else.... and it runs out of steam on anything larger than a 30ft wide stage witha loud pumping band This is where you need a monitor mixer and wedges and even side fills.. and need to know what rigs you are playing with. The notion that you can use a little rig and/or combo is laughable..althu I understand why ppl want to try. You might have to stand on top of it, but it will be missing everywhere else... and how can you play to other ppl if that happens..?? The problem here is how much monitoring do you have in total..what you can put thru it..and what you can achieve via the allotted soundcheck.. This is why you might be thinking at least I can take care of my end and have a decent sized (loud) rig. If a P.A doesn't allow a min of 4 mixes and full band monitoring, then it isn't a proper P.A fit for purpose, IMO/IME.

Two ways to think about it...how do you get the tone you want..? Somethings are best played hard-ish, but then that approach may be a one trick pony. I play ultra light... and try to get that as much as poss on a gig. It means my amp needs to be bigger than others can get away with, but then I get all sorts of nuances. Extra noise is just more bad/poor technique... as your left hand should be pretty clean and your right hard pretty accurate. A hard attack isn't all bad... but it may be all you can do. Many a player has made a great living out of it.. but a light attack can loose some character... but then it is easy to put that back with the amp EQ..plus you have more of your hands involved in changing the sounds. Your choice, but the best argument is that the less beating your hands take, the longer you'll likely last, IMO. FWIW, I never liked the heavy handed sounds when learning...altho I am more open to them now... and I always went after a clean and articulate sound but then the technicians of the day were Stanley Clarke and Pastorious. Also at that time was Louis J...and he beats the hell out of his bass, esp if slapping.. so..???

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1374600392' post='2150774'] Always bear in mind that some folks are more sensitive to movement than others . I am aware of the sightest shift because I am very particular about the action and overall feel of my basses , whereas some players who use a slightly more "meaty" action or who like a little more relief in the neck are less likely to be troubled by small shifts . I know for a fact that the main reason Flea gave up on using Stingrays was because he got sick of the EBMM's necks constantly needing adjustment , hence the shift to graphite - necked basses . My pre- EBMM Stingray needed fairly regular attention , and shifted by big amounts , too , from what I remember , so it's not just EBMM era basses , either . The typical Stingray profile is a shallow "D" , and there just isn't enough girth to make it rigid enough , I expect . [/quote] The thing that made my MM the best...pre EB... was that the neck was bomber and ROCK solid. Never ever moved and I do like a low smooth action...which it was able to deliver.. Now days, my necks need a tweak twice a year... and the saddles a tad more. But I do keep them pretty stable in terms of what I expose them to.....

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1374579512' post='2150342'] I'd look at EV first, then RCF, then Peavey. IMO I'd leave Behringer on the shelf. It might seem like a great idea to cut out humping power amps about until you discover that if you get powered speakers you've gone and increased the weight of the already heaviest bit of kit. Unless you can find powered speakers with digital amps stick to non powered speakers. [/quote] Agree with EV.... and it can be found quite cheaply second hand. RCF is good as well but both names rely on their old laurels, IMO.. but better than the PV type stuff. PV is ok, but no discerning band will use it as being robust and bombproof..which it is..is not what you should be listening for, IMO. Bare in mind that most vox P.A's are an afterthought in bands, when it really REALLY should be the whole focal point of the band. No liine-up can rescue poor vox, I don't think it reasonable for you to take this on UNLESS you get help from the others. Even if you take on the review, you want agreement and help on who carries it... sets it up and breaks it down. If you can't get help on that, then you don't have a band...you just have guys doing it for themselves. Tell the band they need to commit a £1000 from gig money....for a Vox only P.A. It doesn't matter if you go active or passive...the weight will be there at some point. Assuming you have decent mics.. and SM58's are a starter, not the end result, IMO.. look at 12" RCF actives and and an 8 channel desk. Monitors..?? Wharfdale do 15" actives that are ok. The Mackie 150 mini wedges are ok as well... but Behringer do their own type of version.... very directional but ok. You may be able to pick up some Mackie tops but they are as low as you should go in terms of audible quality. If you want...go to a P.A shop which have a large range of cabs in their own demo room and A/B some...you will soon hear what the difference is and what you get for your money

There are garages and garages... If it is a clean and dry garage with a controlled temp, then it should be ok but I would be most put off if I turned up to buy any kit stored in your average car garage.. and I wouldn't store any of my kit in my garage.

I've found the LM amps are great at low volume but don't retain the focus when driven. I think this sorts out the men from the boys in a lot of amps but with Markbass they give out sooner. Maybe you need higher \quality components to be driven harder, longer..or maybe you need the amp to have more in hand so it isn't at stress levels..?? Maybe, you get what you pay for... In short, I think Markbass LM amps stress quicker...but they aren't alone in that.

What is their thinking behind that new approach?

But the best basses are always the best basses. The rest are firewood.... well, not so much now, as people think any bass over 15 years will mature in terms of value but they should be... I do think basses can mature... whether that be by the woods or just that there was better quality control in the parts before they shipped manufacturing out east, but maturing alone will not make up for poor joints and parts. I guess it is possible that a £250 bass will be a great bass in 25 years... but I only know a few guys using their 25 year old Tokai gtrs and I don't know anyone using the basses. Not picking out Tokai at all... just that people will spend £250 today on a new bass rather than have one of that sort of 'vintage'. Not sure I call 25 years vintage anyway.

Tottyville at a nice marquee'd party. We had some London orchestra musicians in and they liked the band. We even had a principal piano player from the Roya; Ballet who we wanted to get up onstage but she was in the middle of 5 weeks of downtime from a tour or whatever and didn't want to touch a keyboard... I wish we knew more at the time as we would have tried harder to involve them ...but hopefully the gig plugged us into some more of those sort of parties...

I find that 2x112 aren't enough for parties in marquees without P.A. I like the carry but I am right on the limit with them. It isn't so much the volume it is the sound ..

Bring coffee tables next week

Possibly... Let me explore a few options. I know someone who has to deliver to Hull and Teesport Ports...but I don't know how or if the parcels could be collected from there. I will check that out and also P&P..

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1374308122' post='2147348'] ................. a solo'd bass tone may not quite be to your taste but in the mix it could work perfectly. [/quote] Don't know why people go for this... Who would want a sound that didn't sound good out on its own..? If there is a quiet passage in the song that is where you want the bass sounding great, IMO..

M20. Kent. They came out of 4560 bins.

Cool... good outcome and feelgood factor

I had a MM in the early 80's and it was one of the very best basses I've had. I moved on from the sound so swapped out the pre amp and pickups but the bass was so solid and playable. I've not found an EB MM anywhere near as good but then again the sound is not what I am after either, so it would have to be total knock-out for me to want to play one much.. I'm pretty good at sizing up a bass quickly, IMO, as to whether it will work for me... and all the new MM's I've picked up have come up short. But...as I say, they aren't what I am looking for anyway but a good bass is good enough to want to play around on one... Whether than means they aren't as good as they used to be or they aren't for me, ..? it isn't a question I really bother with. But, finally, I had one dropped round my house the other day for one reason or another... and I thought it was pretty awful and needed a lot of work to get anywhere near decently set-up. Apart from trying the action, nothing made me want to even play it. Now...that to me...is not a good bass.