EBS_freak

There’s no such thing as too loud a band to ditch the rig. Explain to me why you can’t ditch the rig?

Nothing* - although purists would argue you should be using a balanced connection into your PA. A lot of PAs will want a XLR in balanced connection... but granted, a lot of prosumer desks have balanced/unbalanced input and things like combo jacks. As you go into the pro market, you won't find that. * I seem to recall that B3n is unbalanced line out - like keyboards... and the DI box brings that signal to mic level, which is what most (pro) preamps are happiest running at.

You played with Joe Bonamassa too then? I dunno... custom IEMs would be a really good shout. Better isolation than the typical ear plugs that you are wearing... and you can drive the monitors to the point where its comfortable where you can hear what is going on. With ear plugs, you still rely on ambient bleed to hear whats going on. With IEMs, next to no ambient bleed... and you are in complete control of what gets to your ear drum. In reality, the sound pressure waves on your ear drum could be a lot less than what an ear plug would be due to that ambient block and controlled input of your mix that a custom mould would give you. I'd certainly investigate.

I'd rather go with 16 grams for a set of IEMs

He's already been through his AxeFX phase... maybe it's time to revisit it with the FM3. Anyway, I don't think there's much been mentioned around these parts about the SIM1 XT1 - (it's basically a guitar modeller, eg make you strat sound like a LP, 335, acoustic etc) and XTB (similar for bass) - I've seen today that they've started putting pres and IR in there. Makes for a very interesting little box that is doing something that none of the other modellers are doing. Desperately want to try one - but there's no UK distribution so it would be a blind buy based on all the youtube videos. I think I'll just wait for Jamie to buy one and try and buy it off him once he's done with it.

Guitarists are always the tricksy bunch but they are getting there slowly... especially now tech is helping them along (modellers and the like)... but usually when it's too late and their ears are trashed. This whole "it's not rock n roll" is dated and irresponsible. Even Slash has embraced inears... not getting what he was needing from inears, he worked alongside JH to get the Lolas perfected. If he can make the move, then everybody can. Ah well, their loss. It's one thing killing your own ears... but killing others. Pah. Pricks.

Jamie was only posting yesterday on facebook how he cant get any decent sounds out of it! :0 Is he a Kemper tart at heart? Mind you, I think he's one of those gear obsessives that will never find nirvana! I see he's sporting a St Vincent Musicman at the moment too! (I always wondered who would buy them when they were released - quirky looking things!)

Helix Stomp is comparable price to the more boutique analogue preamp pedals if you don’t want to go full fat Helix. It’s probably where I would go if I was in the market. (I really want one to mess with though!)

You wont be able to achieve that with a spray paint - the weave has was a black, white and silver thread working through it. Grille cloth isn't too expensive (not that it's particularly cheap either!) - it's probably easier for you to build a frame and build a new cover and piped surround. Should be able to do it for less than 50 quid for a proper job on it. https://www.allparts.uk.com/products/grill-cloth-fender-style-black-white-silver-36-wide-per-yard

XR16 - 4 auxes. Into 4 Behringer P2s. Into 4 ZS10s

You should hang out in the IEM thread. We will get your rig in a glovebox... with room to spare. And it will sound better than any monitoring setup or backline rig you could imagine.

Oh, you play with Joe Bonamassa?

OK have some questions. I've looked at the schematic and it looks like there's a pair or relays - one for mute, one for channel select. Whats the socket look like on the end of the vintage pedal look like? I'm guessing it's a TRS. This means that the footswitch internally is either latched fully open or fully closed inside for the mute function (presuming that the one switch vintage switch only controls the channel). If you are using a TS jack to jack, you are going to get unwanted behaviour as the footswitch will control the mute and channel switch at the same time, as one switch. OR if the channel switch mute logic box on the schematic is internal (and the footswitch is just one channel) - it could be that there is a voltage thing going on - in which case the length of cable and pedal could become significant. So I guess I could with some clarification on all the connector types with the supplied footswitch and cable...

Ding ding. Winner. This was the very start of me getting away from amps. I always loved the sound that I could get when recording but could never seem to replicate it through any rig I tried. It was only when I stumbled upon EBS - and the HD350 and TD650 that I got back towards the studio sound that I was looking for - but it was still good but not quite there. Then I started experimenting with studio preamps and power amps through PA cabs... then I removed the power amp element to make use of DSPs to get a flatter response from the cab. There it was. But then I wanted a bit more diversity in my sounds.... so that's when I got a Kemper. So now, I run channel strip profiles, with the cab emulation turned off... and I'm in a very happy place.

There’s a rig run down on YouTube somewhere - they have run amps off stage for considerable time (Triaxis rigs) - but I seem to recall they have been on AxeFX in more recent years.

I love this thread. Not so long ago, I was being shot down at the prospect of not using a bass rig as a bass rig. Thank for the tech Gods for change! 😛

Indeed. It sounds like there's no reasoning with this guy either. I'd imagine when the tender goes out for the PA company, they all do it once and never again. Interesting to see he uses acrylic screens too... but then defeats the purpose of them by just adding another 3, 4, 5 amps on stage... in addition to the 3, 4, 5 amps that are already there... I wonder how many of fans who would attend his gigs actually stay away due to his volume?

215s are a very important IEM - at the shows we always refer to them as the gateway drug that lead onto stronger things! You'll already know nick - but for others reading this, the 215 is hardly representative of the quality that you can get from an IEM - but their place in the market is very important! For those that are struggling to understand the difference, the 215 is like a single 8" bass cab... a UE6, an 8x10. You'll hear stuff through one of them.... and you'll hear lots of stuff through the other, with loads of bass, loads of headroom. It's quite disheartening to hear about people that have "tried IEMs, didn't like them" - and their adventures are either with the buds you get free with your mobile phone or a set of 215s ("hey, they were nearly 100 quid, they got to be good!")

And that was before they turned the PA up.

I’m guessing those guys are defo planted in the acoustic world and not looking for an electric guitar through a cranked amp tone!

No worries - I’ll be surprised if you don’t notice a big improvement in the lows.... but yeah, don’t go spending more on universals, have a set of UE6s in your sight. That’s where things start to get interesting and are noticeably a step up all round.

That’s progress or something like that! I guess it’s true though - the presence of multidriver IEMs from China has really shook up the entry point for IEMs... and when they are offering so much more than the 215s they are competing against... well, it’s a bit of a no brainer. You primarily pay for bass and headroom... and things like the ZS10 have it in spades. As I say, not necessarily sonically brilliant - but for monitoring use as opposed to critical listening, fantastic. Having said that, there’s more than a few people out there who would say that they are great as a set of critical listening IEMs. I’m not sure I agree with that - but I guess it’s all subjective!

http://www.custom-inearmonitors.co.uk/iems/ultimate-ears-ue-6-pro-custom-in-ear-monitors.html The above is where you want to be at. Save your money for those. Well worth the visit to see Paul at CIEM Co. above as you can compare all the different models (albeit in a non custom form!). He's a one stop shop for getting impressions made and handles everything until the customs arrive on your door mat. The more budget option - that will give you far more headroom and a superior low end response, well, that would be the ZS10 or AS10. Much, much cheaper than the Shure. What they give up in "reference" quality, they gain in headroom... which is way more beneficial from a live IEM point of view. Alot of people, myself included, would take a set of ZS10s over a set of 535s purely because of the extended headroom in the bass. The UE6 however... well, that gives you the extended lows, superior isolation (meaning you don't have to drive the drivers as hard) but gives you a far superior tuning (e.g. crossovers, frequency response, phase alignment) to the standard universals (which are typically just place some balanced armatures (speakers) in a casing. You may notice that the UE6 is a triple driver setup - so whats different to your 535s? Well, 535s are a triple balanced armature setup as opposed to the UE6 hybrid setup (which is a dynamic speaker in the mid, the low and a balanced armature in the high). What's this mean? A dynamic typically has greater headroom, greater bass response and has a warmer timbre to a balanced armature. I tend to say that a dynamic roughly equals 2 balanced armatures in the lows. Dynamics give up a little detail - but I would wager 99% of people wouldn't know in a blind test. The hybrid setup of the UE6 with the balanced armature in the highs however, still give you are the sparkle, air and detail where you need it. I would normally recommend a quad balanced armature setup for a bassplayer - but the UE6 gives the same sort of experience (due to the added headroom and bass response of the dynamic drivers) - and a lower cost compared to a quad armature custom.

Is the footswitch a simply passive switch that controls a relay or does the pedal have any logic in it (sorry not familiar with the amp)? It may be the length of the cable has caused voltage drop and by memory, the states of the Fenders are controlled by voltage levels... and this setup may be screwing with it.

The cleaner you can get each of the elements that make up the complete mix, the better the engineer can get it sounding. With Mr Bonamassa, looks like being a sound engineer and trying to deliver a good mix is futile.