JTUK

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1440431957' post='2850672'] What bass are you using at the moment JTUK. ? My fav bass is my Jazz but i do find it lacks a little depth. My Overwater fretless gives me far more depth but not a bass i use for every song. I do tend to keep my amp same set up at home or gigging apart from volume. I think that's where i have the active on the bass set slightly boosted on lo-mid too What i have found recently is that the Markbass rig i've just bought sits far better in the full band mix as it seems to have a more natural lo-mid tone to my Berg cabs. Call that colouring if you like but it does make a fair bit of difference to how the band sounds. Its all original Prog band at moment. Dave [/quote] I use 2 Sei J5's...both have East pre's...but I've found you really don't need...or want ..all that potential tone shaping on tap. +12db is a ridiculous amount but accept that most pre amps would have this sort of sweep so you need to be very sparing. I'll mostly start with the pre switched in but I will try passive and see if I like it. Generally I find passive a more natural sound. Also, I might try the bridge pickup and decide that is the sound I'll use all night.... but that is in regards to the room EQ and I still need to hear the right sort of sound back and also the balance. At a gig there may be 5 or 6 techniques I need to cater for...and they all need to be able to come through when I put them in the track. With this in mind, I just throw them in on a whim so that is why sound set-up is so critical. Of course, these often end up as no more than a fill...so they can be throwaway and gone in an instant. My general sound is bright and lacks huge bass... as I want the character of the sound to come thru... I want a very high end so a percussive strum will be heard...but not one that is so brittle or harse. That will also tend to be a factor in the bass sound right down to the lower notes and then I'll add bass to give it bottom and foundation. A quick look at my amps..and they all have their various bias'... will typically have the bass on about 10.o clcock. The mid bias is the variable but between 10 and 2... and treble and presense to suit. My cabs all have horns up to about 50% I'd suggest the EQ stack is not the easiest or more forgiving sound from a technique point of view and I find dull old strings make it 10 times harder to control as you'll get thick fat noises with no nuance...and also it is hard to wipe off or clean up a thunky old sound. I'm not at all heavy handed so all my sound control comes from my right hand..and to a lesser extent, my left hand. The main difference between the two amps that I'm using atm...cabs aside,..is the balance and heft. Th e actual EQ I can get pretty close as that is the sound I hone so that is the sound I'm working from. I'll get it pretty easily even with a new amp. I prefer 10's over the 12's I have ... but these are fine lines that no one else will likely notice. You wont convince me there is no difference tho...and it is at volume that this is the most apparent. Have to say, very happy with all parts of my sound..it is the playing that is the problem

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1440418610' post='2850462'] BVs only here. I've done a lot more in my current band than ever before and the noise I make has improved. On it's own my voice is not that good, but it blends in well with my singer, somehow. [b]Small problem is intonation, I play fretless, and there isn't a fixed frame of reference..[/b]. [/quote] ?????? don't get that at all... can you sing in harmony or not..?? you pitch to the main vocal??

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1440418732' post='2850465'] That's a silly thing to say. I would love to do a bit of BV here and there but I am blessed with an unpleasant nasal voice so I could have all the vocal training in the world and still not sound good. I once had to speak over the PA at a gig and nearly passed out with embarrassment. [/quote] Which needs to recognised... the bigger problem would be that you didn't know that or care ...and carried on, obliviously

I get that..and we've all been there, but I don't know why you'd want to put up with ppl like this. The worst sound we were likely to get is from a managed P.A and that is where they've screwed the stage sound out of sight. It helps to have a mon engr as then you have someone to refer to..if you don't get enough time on soundcheck.. but bascially we start with a decent level on the stage and then the engrs can fill in the sound if need be. If the band can't get a good sound from the off with their own vox P.A then they quite simply don't know what they are doing well enough. Unfortunately, this seems to be the norm. As for can't hear yourself.... that is soooo basic, IMO. But you have to have people who are open to being told and there the problems tend to start. One of our problems was the drummer had such a loud powerful kit and playing style so the band was going to be loud and powerful...and this was the push for volume, but we never started the gig with a blown mix.. unfortunately we might have lost it by the second set 3 numbers to the end a once or twice and this was intensely annoying.. When I asked a few ppl I trusted about the mix..even a loud one, we never lost an instrument and we never lost vox at the top of that mix. It comes down to how good the player is..and how aware they are. A really sorted good player will not have these issues IMO/IME. and if you have a player you regard as very good and still get these problems, then I'd suggest they aren't that good as these are things they should know and be able to deal with. Sorry, but it is as simple as that.

Nope, BV's only and not strong there either. Pet hate with vox..know your limits and I hate it when someone goes for a note and has no hope of getting it.

I'd say he was using Ampeg but de-badged due to a sposnsorship deal..??

I discount things like PV, Carlbro, H/H as they come from the stone age and I wouldn't dream of using them, but once you get beyond Trace which I never really took to even tho they were everywhere back then, I've have to say GK 700 thingey as the worse. Hon mentions also go to Ashdown ABM 500 EVO altho I don't consider myself an Ashdown basher in general, just not my thing usually but that amp was ugly sounding.

Can't argue with this really... If you do some good gigs and justify a couple of rigs, then you have to have the full beans rig as an option, nothing else will do. IMO.

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1440250387' post='2849364'] The very simple but very famous bass line in 'Radar Love' is also up there, but the unison guitar/bass middle 8 is not compulsary. [/quote] I think you'll find any gtr that plays that will make it so...

An observation... and IMO.. most people can put cabs together with just a little basic engineering. The trick is to reconcile a cab on paper and a cab in the flesh. You are probably going to make and tweak quite a few things to get it where you want but your success will be down to how well you know what you want to hear and what others want hear. So paper stats in the grand scheme of things don't really add up to much ... if the end result isn't pleasing. With regard to a few cab makers, this is most pertinent, IME

I've heard a lot pf ppl say good things about Alto's being better cabs than the pricepoint suggests. Normally I don't take much of a reference but I've heard some pretty sorted sensible P.A people say the same. I'd look..or rather listen to them. The detail is all about the horn, IMO..

Your dogs will love them

cheers

I'd put the singer on wages...... commiserate with his input % wise.

The band could turn up with £20-30k;s worth of kit and the singer hasn't put a bean in.. I'd not be impressed if he had a £500 P.A..and certainly if it sounded like it as well. I'd not be best pleased if I was asked to pay for the P.A as well. Everything about it is just sounds wrong, wrong wrong..

Well, better than nothing I agree.... but I put a lot of time into being ready for a gig so I know when it has worked. I think a lot of people don't get bass players..evern a lot of bass players don't get bass, so if I'm pleased, that is pretty much it. Of course, if someone said nice playing, great playing, I'd like it... but if they said solid.. I'd be thinking, of course as that is the default gig, IMO. I make most drummers sound good, I think, so I'd make the band sound good (IMO)....but just as I want something back from drums, they can have something back from me. I'm just looking for another factor....and the challenge is to make it work and some. The best drummer around here...is also, IMO, the best muso, round here by far, and policesquad will know him... and he can over play A LOT, but I've just got some studio mixes back...and he has it all. Groove and chops. If you can keep up or get a nod from him, you aren't doing badly. Poor drummers hate him...good drummers get him.

I bet I know who that is... For me, solid is where you start.. so it should be a given you are solid. It isn't the bar you stop at..it is the bar you start at. If the drummer is half reasonable then the band has to be good as there isn't much else the bass player has to really be able to do but be solid but if the drummer and bass player can really play that is where the band gets its gears from... Solid to me doesn't imply the bass and drums are able to really kick the song on... so that has to come from the lead instruments. It can work that way.... but there aren't any rules set in stone.. It is one of things you need empathy with and you live or die with how good that is..

Always thought John Taylor was big on tracking basslines...even live, so one of therm is probably sequenced. Ditto L42

[quote name='The Badderer' timestamp='1440017071' post='2847678'] I think what we have is a difference as to how we have been brought up to use the term flashy. I guess for me it has always carried that feeling of being a bit showy off regardless of the result. I guess I view it as flashy and good or flashy and pants.... I think it just comes down to how you were taught that word when you were little. I'd agree if you are being flashy and rubbish, then you are rubbish and look like a monumental tit. If you are flashy and holding it down solidly, then your are just an awesome bass player! [/quote] pointless being flashy and pants, ..as the poster says, that is just being crap. But flashy for flash sake isn't great either. You just want to be a class above really. Trouble is...you can't decide..you have to be endorsed, as it were. Which is why it depends who is saying it.

You need to discuss it and if they don't your point, then act accordingly. I can't see they have a leg to stand on...if as described, so getting dicked...as I see it .. into carrying the P.A when others could help is not something I'd put up with.

I know a few that will travel if the money is there. They wont rehearse but they are sorted.... What is the money?

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1439906471' post='2846647'] The word "fine" has different meanings depending on context and emphasis. Fine wine usually means excellent or outstanding rather than acceptable. To further muddy the waters, up in the North East of Scotland, the word "rare", pronounced correctly has the same positive connotations as fine as in wine. Even though the thing you are describing is commonplace and not rare in the slightest [/quote] Sure, and the guy really might have meant it...but the OP isn't sure as he wouldn't have posted. If someone said my bass playing was 'fine' or solid... I wouldn't be overjoyed.. Having said that, I'd also look to see where the comment was coming from. Of course, everyone likes a compliment but depends who from would depend on its 'value'. You have to start from the position that a lot of bass players are tolerated because they don't threaten the gtrs thunder. They may not want to either, of course... so gtrs just want a solid player but then they often don't know what a good bass player is and don't ever let them choose the drum dep..

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1439759453' post='2845603'] I'm currently training a bunch of Indians to do my job so I can be made redundant, so music provides a bit of solace. [/quote] That is crap, Mike. I know what you mean but I deal with the like all day and if people want service, they'll bring it back home again. many many large companies have outsourced but when the work gets technical, you need to get beyond, do 1,2, 3... and those places are just processing elements, if that, Depends what field they are in, but I find them a pain if they are involved at all at any point. No flexibility and not allowed to think for themselves=RRPITA

It means 'fine'... which is a bit dismissive, to be honest. He couldn't think of a proper compliment so maybe he didn't rate it..so 'fine' and 'solid' kind of insults you but you're not entirely sure..

Yep..the going rate for deps is about £100 for starters...which makes it hard in pubs. So NYE's....? double it and the gig needs to be local. No doubt they'll push the rate if they can with petrol etc etc