SimonK

Not certain everyone "ought" to know this albeit it is fascinating. The table at the bottom also gives the reason why sounds dialled in at bedroom volume do not work well at gig volume as you generally need to reduce boost (sorry typo!) mids on EQ as things get louder.

As a classical guitarist originally, there is place for tab to see how someone else chose to finger something. Certainly a major challenge I had when I took things seriously was trying to work out the best fingering/position... but yes a pre-requisite was being able to read normal music!

I can't ever recall doing it with pizza, but certainly interfering with the brass players plumbing is standard par for the course certainly in relatively junior (or immature) band situations! As is lobbing things at the tubas when the conductor isn't looking...

Someone will come in with a formula in a moment to provide the answer in terms of SPL, but I certainly find that for the same volume I get better dispersal with more speakers, and thus I actually prefer to practice at home at low volume with as many speakers as possible - I use a Marshall 4x12 and TE 4x10 for guitar and bass respectively at home, and despite the low volumes think they sound much better than the fewer speaker options I have. But I do think this is to do with sound dispersal rather than anything else. Thinking logically, speaker area must have an effect on SPL - if you google it there is a talkbass thread that seems to think 3dB every time you double the speaker area with no change in the amp settings.

Thing is the strength of a forum is the personal interaction - asking the question in your own words and hearing someone's answer. Stickies or FAQs work for some people, but I always wonder at the point of a forum where people just say "do a search as we've talked about this before"... to me this misses the point of a forum. (BTW Trace Watts are bigger than other brand's Watts - they used to grow them specially and combine with groovilium)

If I start another thread complaining about a divorce you can probably conclude that I failed the gear abstinence challenge as well!

...we could turn this into a game of "traitor"... who is still in but misleading everyone else that they haven't just purchased a £3k bass... 😎

Yes I agree - hence it's not for everyone as it is a cultural difference. Thus said some bands are a bit more flexible than others.

It can also be defined as Joule per Coulomb, so the amount of energy needed to move a charge through a component (hence also being a descriptor).

This is so important! I make it very clear to every band I'm in that I'm not the right player if they just want someone to stick to what's written. I get bored far too easily and start experimenting once I've played something a few times! Of course iconic bass lines need to stay more or less the same, but elsewhere I start experimenting with different fingerings, different octaves, trying it on a fretless instead, seeing if a different syncopation works...

I broadly agree with this - as Biochemist/Biophysicist speaking (at least originally) - there are plenty of biochemical systems that rely on the flow of protons rather than electrons, with the resulting electrochemical gradient measured in volts, so I would say volts are often used to describe the state of a system.

Every band I've ever been in, of any type, has started off with music/tabs in standard tuning followed by a discussion of whether the key works or not, and then usually the key might be changed to suit the singers (or Eb instruments etc.). But it has always been up to each musician to transpose for themselves - either by doing it on the fly, re-writing/re-printing the music in the new key, or by cheating (often keyboardists using a transpose button but I suppose if I had a lot of Eb songs I probably would detune a bass by a semi-tone). It looks to me that the previous bass player had indeed decided to detune their bass, but then create tabs in different keys on the basis of playing a detuned bass, meaning that the fingering is up a semi-tone in all keys compared to standard tuning. Makes sense, but does need explanation if someone else is trying to use the tab!

...post deleted as your second tab posted above is indeed weird - looks like someone was trying to be helpful and in doing so has just caused confusion! I'd get back to the arranger, tell them you would rather not bring two instruments or have to retune, and ask for them to reprint the bass music written for standard tuning. Hopefully they have the file on their computer and it should just be a case of changing the key signature and then reprinting.

Yes this is gets us into a fascinating discussion in the philosophy of science/physics where we have to acknowledge that our descriptions of the natural world are often analogies that may only work up to a certain point. The classic example is wave and particle duality in physics wherein one analogy works well in some contexts, and the other in other contexts, but neither in all contexts. So with things like that picture (volts/amps/ohms) you have to consider whether it does the job for the context - personally I find it helpful just to remind myself whats going on when I'm thinking about matching cabs with amps etc., but I do appreciate that there is a whole world that sits underneath the picture where the only way to really get a grasp of what's happening is by diving into mathematics. Of course another philosophical problem is why maths works so well as it is also an analogy of the physical world, but an unreasonably good one...

Here's another helpful picture (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm's_law😞

At risk of causing yet more problems, surely if the footswitch is used to switch channels it isn't in the signal path either, and likewise tuners that are not in-line.... I think a bassbash needs to be convened in a courtroom somewhere just to discuss these pressing issues...

I'm liking this idea of coersion being a suitable additional reason to stay active on this thread... can someone add it to the official rules while I come with a scheme to be coerced into buying something a bit more substantive?

Mea culpa - originally the point was about protected titles which was vaguely linked to whether you need qualifications to call yourself a luthier!

Phew - wasn't my fault either. As I was paying for the repair the devious salesman said "oh you have £6 of points to use..."

Trace Elliot everytime on this budget so long as you don't mind the weight. Facebook marketplace has plenty of great options at the moment - I'm desperately trying to stay away from the ones in Portsmouth as I really don't need them... but but.... ! FYI if you keep an eye on things I picked these up (cat optional) for £80 a couple months back, and yes it keeps up with a drummer just fine!

So was up at Anderton's today collecting my guitar with the fixed nut... and forgetting entirely about this thread bought a new cable with a right angle jack on both ends as it fits the latest iteration of my pedal board... am I out or is a new lead OK?

Yes we maybe should find a new thread for this as it is a matter of perspective - but an important topic nevertheless. I'm a director of a community interest company focussing on mental health, with clinicians who have all left the NHS because they are fed up with just doing crisis management with people getting to the Clinical Psychologists far too late. Also there not being enough time to complete the necessary therapy as they have to move onto the next clients too quickly. Everyone in the MDTs were(are) just getting burned out and staff turnover was/is massive. We now run a business that takes private referrals from local GPs which is really tough as while we don't charge anywhere near as much as we could, there is a certain level that we need to run the business and some people in desperate need struggle to pay it - but it is the only way to get support. We then have a problem with risk management where the Police are often the only option as the NHS services simply are not able for us to refer back to, and we have a duty of care to pass the risk on. It's a really sh*t situation but at least we have mostly success stories (albeit it takes a while to do therapy properly). I do think it is a bit of a red herring, or unjustified rhetoric, to tie failing services with the staff running them. Our experience is that the staff are pretty good, but the system is just failing everyone - it really isn't "parroting a reductive and inaccurate line" - it's what is happening on the ground certainly where we are.

Nope, I'm standing by the "one cannot access mental health support" statement. It may be semantics, but if it is something like for every 100 people who need a type of support there is only one place available (again it depends on the service and region, but certainly in many areas you cannot even get on waiting lists). I suppose a 1/100 availability is not a 0/100 availability and thus technically support is available, but if there is little chance of getting it I think one could fairly say "one cannot access mental health support". Should probably point out this isn't about party politics per se, although we have a Labour government at the moment who aren't addressing the problem, the Tories seemed just as incapable of grasping the nettle. The problem is that mental health is a long term and not very popular issue, and doesn't fit into the five year election cycle very well hence it doesn't get addressed. On the bright side, and getting back to topic, luthiers seem far more available so at least you can get a dodgy bass fixed in the UK at the moment 🙂!

Surely it was always thus - there are plenty of great players out there, but it takes luck to get the gigs that will make a living? Probably the most succesful musicians I know are the ones who studied acoustics rather than music at University, and make their living with a combination of playing music and designing theatres, PAs etc... Indeed I'm told designing spring dampers for buildings to stop the noise of the underground in London is one of the most interesting acoustic jobs...