The Funk

[quote name='jay249' post='111381' date='Dec 31 2007, 11:24 AM']Any good engineer would notice that, granted there are some fools out there but every good engineer I know, regardless of if theyre a musician, would see that a mile off.[/quote] That's the problem: some venues hire engineers, others hire 'guys'. [quote name='jay249' post='111381' date='Dec 31 2007, 11:27 AM']I will also add that anyone who uses a mid scoop and then complains about lack of presence in a live mix should be penalized and made to go to a 3 hour mid scoop workshop which touches upon the human and commercial losses that result from mid scooping, or three points on their mid scooping smiley face eq licence![/quote] I agree. I've never understood mid-scooping. The mids are the best part of the sound!

That's another problem I've had: some of the venues we've played are used to indie bands where the bass just gives a very simple low rumble out of time and out of tune. In a funk band, the bass is the most important instrument after the vocals. You can't engineer it exactly the same way as you would an indie kid who's been playing two weeks.

Hah! That's wucking ficked!

I feel bad for you guys. It also seems worse that it was stolen by people who have no idea of the worth of this equipment.

I have a fretted and a fretless 4-string Corvette Bubinga. Warwick say that the Ash model has a more open sound while the Bubinga model has a richer midrange. Sounds about right to me.

I'm abroad visiting relatives at the moment and there's not much to do. I brought a couple of books along with me, one of which was The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine. I'd been meaning to buy it for about... 7 years! Well, I found a copy for sale just before I left and brought it with me. I opened it up yesterday morning and started having a read through. Several hours later I'd read through the entire thing. Obviously I'll have to go back over quite a few things in there in proper depth but I just couldn't believe how well explained the whole thing was - and how thorough! It doesn't deal with rhythm very much (apart from a brief introduction to the clave) and it's not a licks/phrases book, but it deals in depth with the relationships between different scales and chords, including substitutions and other kinds of reharmonization. My eyes and ears were opened to more in one day musically-speaking than in the previous 8 years. If you don't have this book already, get it. If you have used it or are using it, please share your thoughts and comments. Thanks.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='111308' date='Dec 31 2007, 08:38 AM']The only way you can be sure is to gig it, which is obviously a bit tricky....[/quote] That's true. I always used to check out bassists' rigs at gigs to see what they were using, especially when I really liked the bass tone. That's when I became a fan of Hartke cabs. After I got a pair of Hartke cabs and took them out to gigs, I realised I had a low end problem. I love a mid-bump but every single part of my signal chain had a mid-bump in it - and there's a bit of low-mid naturally missing from my bass - so I had to adjust and get cabs that took care of my low end problem. So I suppose that's another thing to consider - different bits of equipment might sound great individually but not quite click together.

I think there are a few problems with sound: 1. Communication: if you can't explain to the soundman why you're not happy with the sound, you can't expect him to understand what type of sound you're after. 2. PA Equipment: PAs work best when as few different instruments are going into them as possible. In a lot of small - medium sized clubs, there's no need to send the drums, guitar or bass through the PA, just vocals and keyboards. And standard monitors are not designed to reproduce bass frequencies well. If you have an amp, use it. The reason a lot of soundmen like to run everything through the PA is so they can control and balance the levels of the different instruments. But what's the point if everything comes out as sludge? If you can communicate well with the soundman, then you might be able to take your bass out of the PA. 3. Soundcheck: I've had many soundchecks where through a painful process we've eventually ended up with a sound we're happy with. So we go off and have a listen to the support bands. We come back on to do our set and lo and behold, the soundman is drunk and hasn't made a record of any of the settings. So what was the point in us coming to the venue 9 hours before our set and going through a soundcheck at all? I think it normally boils down to communication, expecting more of a PA that it can do well and occasionally, incompetence on the part of either the bassist or soundman - or both.

So far, nothing has worked for me. We are yet to have people come to our gigs who are not somehow connected to the band, either directly or indirectly. The venues, other bands and some of their audience seem to like us though. If we're only onstage for half an hour, and one of 5 bands, we don't have any control over the night and it's difficult to promote. We still harrass enough of our friends to get paid and booked back though. In the new year we'll have a crack at putting on our own bills and see how that works out.

That horrible speaker fart sound?

I prefer two 2x10s to a single 4x10 for two reasons: height and portability. The downside is cost as a single 4x10 is usually cheaper than a pair of the equivalent 2x10s. The reason I prefer head/cabs over combos is again portability. I think as it's your first rig you should set yourself an upper limit. Your first rig probably won't turn out to be exactly what you're after so resale value at upgrade time should also be taken into account. A secondhand rig is not a bad idea, especially as everyone on here suffers from serious G.A.S. and a lot of great deals can be found in the For Sale forums. You can obviously get more bang from your buck buying secondhand and your rig would probably depreciate in value much less. I recommended Gallien-Krueger, Warwick and Hartke stuff as they all have a clean punch and growl to them, and if you play rock, funk, punk and blues, that's probably the kind of thing you're after. Their pricing is also mid-level and cheaper than the stuff you can't afford, ie. Ampeg, Markbass, Eden, Aguilar, Epifani etc.

I'd recommend getting a pair of Hartke 2x10s and either a Warwick or Gallien-Krueger head. [url="http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/profet-32/9218"]Warwick Profet 3.2[/url] (£185 - GAK) [url="http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/210-tp/69241"]Hartke 210TP[/url] x2 (£175 each - GAK) £535 total - if you haggle I'm sure they'd bring it down to a round 500. I think Fender Jazzes sound pretty good through most amps though. If your budget extends a bit further I'd recommend a pair of Hartke 2.5XL cabs (stack them vertically) and maybe the Gallien-Krueger 400RB or 700RB. The 700RB would probably be a better match for the 2.5XLs power-wise, although there shouldn't be any difference in tone.

A secondhand Gallien-Krueger MB150 could be a good option. You might be able to get one for as little as 200 quid if someone gets desperate (I might in a few weeks).

I heard about one of the EBS heads having a feature where you could power your active bass (9V) straight from the input on the amp. My EBS Microbass preamp/DI runs on phantom power from the desk. I think your idea could be the next step in this process.

Most difficult to spell - cocobolo

It sounds like you might be feeling disconnected from the bass/amp because you're going through the in-ears. If that's the problem and there's no other way of monitoring, I suppose you'll have to get used to the in-ears and trust your sound and the sound guy. It sounds like you're problem isn't so much worrying that the sound might not be right out front but more that you're not feeling 'one with your bass sound'. I chatted with Nick Fyffe ex-Jamiroquai once and he said that he left on in-ear in and one in-ear out. Maybe that could help?

[quote name='alexclaber' post='107876' date='Dec 21 2007, 09:19 PM']I'm starting to think that for many bassists 2-way cabs with woofer and midrange are a more elegant solution.[/quote] That could be interesting. I know the Hartke 2.5XL has a 5" driver and the Phil Jones cabs just have 5" drivers - not sure if they're used as midrange speakers but speakers that size could easily be accommodated in many cabs.

[quote name='dood' post='106580' date='Dec 19 2007, 05:02 PM']Ahhh!! Speaking of Barbara... Dil Katz!! What a bass player! He played on the Mother Earth album amongst others. If I played fretless, I'd wanna sound like that![/quote] I rang him up for bass lessons a few years ago out of the blue. He politely declined and wondered how I'd got his number.

[quote name='TheBigBeefChief' post='101869' date='Dec 9 2007, 07:53 PM']intolerant girlfriend[/quote] Dump her [quote name='TheBigBeefChief' post='101869' date='Dec 9 2007, 07:53 PM']I almost think its unfair to inflict my playing on others![/quote] They'll decide that for themselves [quote name='TheBigBeefChief' post='101869' date='Dec 9 2007, 07:53 PM']I was wondering how long people on here had been playing before they joined a band?[/quote] One day [quote name='TheBigBeefChief' post='101869' date='Dec 9 2007, 07:53 PM']Also how long until they actually gigged?[/quote] A year or two [quote name='TheBigBeefChief' post='101869' date='Dec 9 2007, 07:53 PM']What kind of level were you at when you first started playing with others/playing live?[/quote] Novice

I have 5, so 611

A Gallien-Krueger head into that Hartke 2.5XL would sound pretty good. Only trouble is they'd cost a bit more than £400 new and I've already sold mine. G-K 400RB and Hartke 2.5XL did make a good combination. Clean, warm, punchy, growly. New it would cost him just under £600 but he should be able to pick them up secondhand within his budget.

Sorry, 25W. That won't get you anywhere near as loud as even a quiet drummer.

The Ampeg B15N was great in the studio but always, always, always blew live. A 15W bass amp was just not powerful enough on stage.