flyfisher

[quote name='skej21' post='1005655' date='Oct 29 2010, 07:30 PM']And if he isn't playing the bass drum, you won't have the classic problem of trying to tie-in with a continually changing bass drum rhythm! Hurray![/quote] Yep, 'locking on' is not a problem. Perhaps I'm being a bit over-sensitive. I used to play drums (still have a kit set-up at home for the occasional thrash) but I never considered myself good enough to play in a band. I could maintain a good rhythm but my fills were not 100% reliable and I was paranoid about not getting back spot-on the beat. Obviously I was worrying far too much. Again, it might just be me, but even when I drum along to CDs I find it takes a fair bit of concentration to keep really tight, whereas our drummer seems far too relaxed to me and I get the impression he's just following everyone else, which means things drift. There surely has to be a single point of rhythm reference and I've always thought of that as being the kick drum. That's the drummer's key responsibility isn't it? Not that I'd ever claim to have a lot of live experience, but 4 bands spread over 6 playing years (excluding the schooldays) with a reasonable number of gigs ought to have taught me something I reckon. I recall an old joke or anecdote about a British wartime bomber aircraft (a Wellington?) being described as 5,000 rivets flying in a loose formation and I reckon that's a good simile for the band in question. Not so much one band as five individuals playing the same songs.

[quote name='lojo' post='1005668' date='Oct 29 2010, 07:50 PM']Well it saves 2 trips to the car park each gig [/quote] Oh no, he has got a bass drum, just doesn't seem to use it. I suppose he needs it for fixing the toms.

A priceless comment from our drummer at rehearsal last night when asked to set the right time by providing a lead-in using the kick drum: "[i]I don't usually use the bass drum[/i]". The ensuing silence was no doubt the combined diplomatic restraint of the rest of us resisting the temptation to shout "[i]yes, we know, that's the f*cking problem[/i]". Oh dear - bands and mates. Can the two ever happily coexist?

[quote name='Starless' post='1005262' date='Oct 29 2010, 02:53 PM']There is no point comparing Macca to any of the above mentioned bassists. Macca never gave a sh*t about 'bass as art-form', unlike the kind of pretentious twiddling heroes-of-bass mentioned above. Macca was (still is and will be until he dies) a MUSICIAN and SONGWRITER. Musical instruments to him are the means to the end of a complete rendition of a song (remember those things with words and melodies?). He only ended up as the bass player because 'someone had to do it'. He has a very healthy disregard for strings or tone or technique - as long as the end product is fine that's all he cares about. His basslines are beautifully put together to compliment the complete composition and recording. And yet pseudo experts still insist on picking them out in isolation and comparing them to widdling, solo-ing, bass 'heroes'?? Eh, why? What is the point of that pray tell? Back in my day at school (late 60's/ early 70's) there was always the playground 'look at me' merchant daring to be different. One tactic they employed was to profess to 'hate' the Beatles (or anything else that was incredibly popular). It looks like they grew up (or I should say, got older), had kids and the same 'look at me' DNA has been passed on through the generations and we see it now on Internet forums. I'm not an Elvis fan, does nothing for me, but I can appreciate his impact and (continuing) influence on popular music. I can't therefore 'hate' Elvis. For someone to say they 'hate' The Beatles just highlights their complete inability to appreciate popular music in its historical context - and that context includes the shock-horror revelation that bass guitar in 60's popular music really was almost an afterthought (records were mixed to sound good on a transistor radio after all). Bad-mouthing McCartney because of his (68 year-old) face, or the fact that he might be right up himself, is just hilarious. Takes me right back to the playground...[/quote] Absolutely, 100%, spot on - right down to the school years, the "I hate the Beatles" 6-7 year old kids, and not liking Elvis though recognising the stupidity of denying his influence. Yep, these sort of arguments truly are hilarious.

[quote name='TheGreek' post='1005479' date='Oct 29 2010, 05:13 PM']I was thinking that it may be better invested by buying something and tucking it away for a few years.[/quote] You're absolutely right. It [b]may[/b] be. Your bet, because that's all it is really.

We rarely ever know the full history of such things and there could be a million ifs and buts. You can only really decide based on what's on the table. Offer what it's worth [u]to you[/u] or walk away. But there's no need to tell him to "[i]F@%k right off[/i]", that's just plain rude.

All the above, plus turn all the pots end-to-end a few times.

Ditto. Or cobble together a tester using a torch bulb and suitable battery. A multimeter is almost essential for anyone who makes up cables. The other thing I have is one of these: [url="http://www.studiospares.com/test-gear/behringer-cable-tester-ct100/invt/370030/?source=215_4"]http://www.studiospares.com/test-gear/behr...0/?source=215_4[/url] It can save lots of time when setting up at rehearsal or a gig and things don't seem to be working right.

[quote name='wingnutkj' post='1000769' date='Oct 26 2010, 08:18 AM']My general rule of thumb is "if the courier was to transport my package between A and B by kicking it there, would it survive?"[/quote] Should that rule of thumb begin with "As" rather than "If" ? Good rule though - always assume the worst.

It's a bugger isn't it?!!! But it's not just cheap amps that can suffer such indignities. Our guitarist's Laney LC30 amp suffered the same problem when the tip of a 1/4-inch jack came off and lodged in the jack socket. I had to take the combo apart and desolder the socket to get it out.

Can't comment on the design or componentry for obvious reasons. It looks like a competent construction but is not really to professional standards. Stripboard is a bit "amateur" these days when proper PCBs are fairly cheap to design and manufacture, but I guess it depends on the volumes being manufactured. If you don't physically abuse it, it will probably hold together OK, although socketed components is not a great idea (perhaps this is a test model and the guy was trying our different transistors?). The diecast case will be nice and rugged but that's not the whole story if the internals are not securely fixed and start rattling around, especially if the box is kicked around on stage. £65 seems a reasonable price because there's a fair bit of assembly work required. I presume this is a sideline activity rather than a full-on business?

I'm not sure of the specific technical differences between 'time-delay' and 'slow-blow'. Might just be an terminology thing but 'slo-blo' generally means the fuse will withstand twice its rating for 10 seconds rather than the normal 1 second. At least it did when I was actively doing electronic design work. Sounds to me as if the 'time delay' fuses will be OK. They are the correct rating for continuous operation so the worst that can happen is that they might blow when you switch on. I'd give them a try.

Not sure what you mean by "timed fuses" but I don't think they're the same thing. The coiled wire fuses are typical of slow-blow designs and such fuses are generally intended to withstand the in-rush current during switch-on of the amp. It will do no harm to to use a fast-blow fuse, but you'll probably find it will blow after a few on-off cycles, perhaps the first one if you're unlucky, but it might get you out of an emergency situation.

I've got tix to see FTJ in Cambridge on 27th Nov. Looking forward to it!

[quote name='Wil' post='992231' date='Oct 18 2010, 02:25 PM']I prefer Stanley Unwin's remarkibold way of slappoping the streels.[/quote] Deep joy.

"Imagine a perfect world" Ah, but who's idea of a perfect world, that is the question.

I've known people into photography who amass huge amounts of expensive camera gear, yet have no photos on their walls. I've known people into music who have spent 5-figure sums on their hi-fi systems, yet only have a couple of dozen albums. I've even known people spend £60k on the best 4x4xfar and never so much as drive it up a kerb. I guess some people are just into the gear side of things, but great musicians can astound on any instrument.

[quote name='King Tut' post='987594' date='Oct 14 2010, 12:40 AM']Flyfishers response refers to laser pointers - not display lasers. There is a difference in that a scanning laser is believed to cause much less damage than a pointer because it never stays in the same place for long enough to cause damage UNLESS IT FAILS and stays in one place.[/quote] That's a fair point, and I've read that it's actually quite difficult to cause permanent harm with laser pointers because of their low power and the fact that, in practice, it would be very difficult to keep them focused on one area of the retina to cause tissue damage (think, shaky hands, blinking and gaze aversion reflex). BUT, I regard such things as low risk but having [u]huge[/u] consequences. A bit like suspending a PA stack - the chances of a single bit of the rigging breaking will be tiny because of over-rating etc, but if it did fall someone would probably die, so they have backup fixings etc etc. Fretmeister raised a similar point about laser eye surgery. I wear glasses but would never consider laser eyesight correction because of the risk - tiny though it may be. Wearing glasses, I have perfect vision, with pretty much zero downside, so why would I want to risk destroying that vision. However small the risk, the potential consequence is too great - for me anyway. Something that the unfortunate person mentioned by Freteister is now going to have to live with for the rest of their life.

Yes, similar sort of thing to USB but the drivers are more optimised for real-time data. It was part of the miniDV digital camcorder specification. MiniDV camcorders used tape so downloading the video data to a PC had to be guaranteed because the tape could not stop/start. Camcorders no longer use tape and when downloading from a hard-drive or memory card, the data can stop/start so USB2 is now widely used. Firewire is used in quite a bit of musical equipment and a plug-in card for a PC is only about £15 or so.

Two bands; one is mostly originals, the other about 50:50 . Also also working on some original recordings with a couple of mates.

[quote name='King Tut' post='985040' date='Oct 11 2010, 11:32 PM']I've just bought a secondhand laser GVG 701 - it's either 30 or 40 Milliwatt depending on what you read! Would this be safe to point into the audience - I've no instructions and the company has stopped selling lasers![/quote] You might want to check for other sources but according to this, anything above 1mW is illegal in the UK (read the entire article): [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_pointer"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_pointer[/url] [i]UK and most of Europe are now harmonized on Class 2 (<1 mW) for General presentation use laser pointers or laser pens. Anything above 1mW is illegal in the UK. Health and Safety regulation insists on use of Class 2 anywhere the public can come in contact with indoor laser light, and the DTI have urged Trading Standards authorities to use their existing powers under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 to remove lasers above class 2 from the general market [42][/i] I'd want to ensure my liability insurance would give me gold-plated guaranteed cover before I started pointing any sort of laser into an audience, particularly if it's a DIY rig.

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='985444' date='Oct 12 2010, 10:19 AM']Sheet of A4 and a big marker pen (don't write in biro, you'll never see it on stage). Write down simple chord changes (verse and chorus) and any bits of song you can't remember. Keep it simple, so you can look across and pick up where it's going next, without having to decipher. Gaffer tape it to something at eye level, so you're not looking down. PA speaker cab is usually good.[/quote] Yep, that's pretty much what I do, usually making a few notes on the set list and tape it to the PA head cab. If we're playing a new-ish song I might write the chord progressions and/or structure, it depends on how confident I feel. One thing I do like to have on the set list is the key or sometimes the first note of the song. Muscle memory get's me through most songs but sometime I blank on the starting position - a simple note on the set list avoids this. But at least bassists can adapt to a different key if necessary. We recently played a gig where our singer had learned a simple harmonica solo for a song we play in A. For some reason, the guitarist started the song in G, which I and the lead guitarist immediately noticed and shifted key. But I couldn't get the attention of the singer to warn him not to play his harp solo and it was like waiting to watch a car crash. Fortunately. he quickly realised something was wrong once he started his solo and wisely decided to to persevere. Fun and games! The bottom line is to make up whatever crib sheets you feel you need containing whatever works for you.

I've been playing around with the Kristal Audio Engine. Very stable and completely free for personal and non-commercial use. I'm using it with a 12 channel firewire audio interface. Might not be the best set-up in the world but I'm still learning and have not yet found its limits. It sure beats just using a single mic during rehearsals to record stuff.

The Beatles. No contest. Huge variety of music, global influence and a place in the history books.