RichardH

Unless later RS450s are different, I don't think it has any facility for tone printing - mine certainly doesn't!

Amazing what you can do with crayons these days....

Yes, gorilla glue comes in various types - looks like you have some of the PU stuff there. I wonder whether the ports would knock out - I suspect not, so sharpie time I reckon!

I must be lucky as my knobs and buttons are in full working order. There are two things people got in a tizz about on the RH450 - one was the "actual" power rating compared to what TC implied it was. As Alec has said, into a decent cab such as the Genz 212 or the TC 212 then you won't be lacking in power. I have used my RH450 with a Genz NEOX212 without going through the PA in a very busy large pub (a rammed Weatherspoons) and had no problem with volume. Secondly, the RH450 rolls off the top end at (IIRC) around 6kHz. Both of the above issues - if they concern you - would be addressed by getting an RH750 As others have said, the built in tuner, presets, tubedrive, compressor plus the size/weight make it a very useful and hard to replace package.

Good point!

It sounds like you have got the mixer sorted thanks to the advice you've been given elsewhere. However, I wouldn't have the EQ set like you have (" high EQ turned up to full and the low EQ down right down"), but you can play with that to suit your voice and the music. You must use the main volume level (17) to control the volume - especially if the speakers are also set to that level. I suspect the advice re setting the main volume on the mixer to zero was because the person giving that advice was expecting you to connect the mixer outputs to a recording device (e.g. sound card on your PC or some other recording device) - which (re-reading your post) I think you are actually doing. So are you using the PA speakers (when recording) just so that you can hear yourself? I understand why you want the main output level at the reference point now. However, in this scenario there are a couple of alternatives. 1 - don't use the speakers - plug headphones into the mixer (PHONES socket just to the right of 15), and use the PHONES/CONTROL ROOM knob(16) to adjust the level in the phones to the correct volume. 2 - use the speakers, but plug them into the CTRL ROOM OUT sockets. See diagram on page 9 of the Xenyx 1202FX manual. Again you then control volume with the PHONES/CONTROL ROOM knob(16). 3 - carry on like you are, but use the level knob on the speakers to set the volume, as that is the only place you can control it - if you set it to the 0dB level you will likely get feedback (the screeching you mention), deafen yourself and probably have the neighbours banging on the walls. Finally, may I ask why you have come over to this bass playing forum to ask for more advice? Why not continue on the singing forum where you got the initial advice?

You need to be quite gentle with it too, or the cloth will shrink too much in some places - and it can melt (don't ask how I know....)

zero dB on the desk it way too loud - that is the reference level, not zero volume. Here is a step by step walkthrough of what I would do: Make sure the speakers are powered down. On the mixer Slide the Main Mix slider right down to the bottom - infinity. This will mute any sound from coming from the mixer out to the speakers. Set the Gain for the microphone. First off turn it right off (fully anticlockwise) before plugging a mic in (this is just reading from the mixer's manual - you don't really need to do this if the speakers are not powered up). Once the mic is plugged in, test singing into the mic as loud as you would normally and gradually increase the gain knob just below the mic input on the mixer (of course you won't hear any sound coming from the speakers - we are just adjusting the mixer at this point!) As soon as the clip light (down next to the PAN control on the same strip as the mic input) starts coming on, turn the gain down a bit. You have now set your mic input level. The input gain is the first aspect of controlling volume. If it is turned up too high, the sound will distort (clip). Set all the other controls on the input strip to 12 o'clock (the 0 position). You will see that you have a three band EQ (high/mid/low) on there - more on this later. At the very bottom is the LEVEL control. This is the volume control for this channel, and the second aspect of controlling volume. Leave this at 0 (12 o'clock) for now. If you are using more than one channel, this knob can be used to adjust the relative volume of each channel - so if you have vocals and guitar and you think the vocals are not loud enough, you can turn down (anticlockwise) the guitar level. The main mix slider is used to control the overall volume when performing - i.e. once you have the relative levels of vocals and guitar (or whatever) set via the individual channels, the main mix slider will increaser or decrease the overall sound. We will come back to it in a moment - leave it slid down to the bottom for now though. This is the third aspect of controlling volume. So in summary, you have three ways to control volume on the mixer - input gain, level and main mix.Hopefully you will see that they each have a different purpose. On the speaker Set the line input knob to 0dB - this is the max recommended level. You would only need to change this if you find that the main mix slider is too sensitive (i.e. a small slide up gives a massive increase in volume) - in which case you could turn the level down a bit (anticlockwise). Power up the speakers. Looking at the manual, the LED controls are all for DSP - the sound processing - not volume - so here is how I would set each of them MODE Selecting an EQ preset: > set to ‘MUSIC’ or ‘LIVE’ LOCATION Selecting a location preset: > set to ‘NORMAL’ HIGH EQ Raising / lowering the high EQ frequencies in a range –12 dB … +12 dB > set to 0dB MID EQ Raising / lowering the mid EQ frequencies in a range –12 dB … +12 dB > set to 0dB LOW EQ Raising / lowering the low EQ frequencies in a range –12 dB … +12dB > set to 0dB SUB High Pass Filter (low cut) settings > set to OFF DELAY Signal delay settings > set to OFF ...the three EQ items are basically tone controls - so if you want more bass, turn the Low EQ up to (say) +6dB. If you want less treble, turn the High EQ down to (say) -3dB. You need to use your ears to decide, but I would just set them all flat. Remember you can do this on the mixer anyway which will be a lot easier to do than going fiddling around on the back of the speaker. I would leave this completely alone until you feel like investigating further - they are all "nice to haves" but you don't need to touch them at this stage. Get comfortable with the basics first. Now you have the speakers powered up and set correctly, slide the main mix slider on the mixer up gradually until you start hearing yourself through the mic. Use this main mix slider to control your volume when performing.

Tip - with that Fender style cloth, it is plastic based. When you staple it on, you can then CAREFULLY run a hot air gun over it (keep your distance), and it will shrink and tighten. I'm not sure a hair drier is powerful enough, but it could work.

I had a quick look at the manual on the Thomann page, and it's not particularly fulsome - it assumes a fair bit of prior knowledge. For each of the two inputs, they are dual purpose - you can either plug a line level source in or a Microphone. The manual states One volume control for each signal input. Turn the volume control clockwise to increase the volume. Turn it counterclockwise to reduce the volume. When using the input for a line signal, turn the knob no further than to position [0]. When using the input for a microphone, you can turn the knob up to position [MAX] . Remember that "0" in this situation is not no volume - that is where the knob is fully anticlockwise - minus infinity. 0 is a reference point. ...so basically don't turn the knob up beyond the 0 position when running a line level source into it, but if using a mic directly, you can turn it up to MAX. Think of this knob as the master volume control. So if you have a mixer plugged in to it, you would set the knob to the 0 position, then set your mixer output to nothing. Then bring up the mixer output level until you reach the volume level you want. You can then control the volume from the mixer.

That sounds like an excellent idea. I would be willing to help if you are anywhere near Lewes. Though your best bet would be to contact the rehearsal studio you are intending to use and ask there - that would be the best place to get hold of an engineer.

Do you mean the pole sways a bit? As others have said, that is likely to be the case to an extent. However, if the speaker is loose on the pole then that doesn't sound right. Can I recommend this book? It may answer a lot of your questions (though won't be specific to your setup).

I used to work in the book trade many years ago, and one of the reps told me a story about Jeffrey Archer, who would drop into bookshops unannounced, check his books on the shelf and sign them all. Sounds like an altruistic thing to do.... except that the bookshop would have had them in on sale or return, and now that they were signed, they couldn't be returned.

If a bookshop arranges an author to come to their store - probably at quite an expense - then I don't see it as unreasonable that customers would be expected to buy the book from the store rather than bring along their own copy.

Gorgeous lump of elm - a definite winner!

Yes, that does sound useful - my band's talking about doing some QoSA, so a drop tuning would be very handy!

Drop D? How does it tell if you are playing the bottom string? Or do you rather mean that everything can be de-tuned by a semitone (or more, I assume/hope) - sorry if that sounds pedantic....

Yup - Roland Micro Cube RX is the way to go. I have used a U-Bass and one of these chappies to get effect - and the batteries seem to run for ages (I use the 7 Day Shop "Good To Go" AAs). You just missed one in the classifieds for £130, but keep your eyes peeled for another.

Yup, me too! It will be the "here we are, here's something I can be given for my birthday by one of the kids" item of the year.

I had my £15 back order cancelled a few weeks ago, but Amazon have this back in stock now, and currently at £20....

Yep - I've joined a new band (still auditioning singers), and there's some more effects-needy stuff on the list - some Muse, RATM, QotSA etc where my usual clean stock sound may need tweaking, and the pitch shifting capabilities may come in handy.

Well, it's certainly nudging me further towards buying, anyway!