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Need IEMs with hearing protection

I essentially am looking for ear plugs that also work as iems. my head is inches away from the rear port of a pa all night every gig. and the low midrange especially that comes out of that is absolutely deafening. i have the shure 215s right now and even with the memory foam tips, no matter how far or how hard i shove them in after every song, my ears are still ringing every night. my tinnitus is noticeable enough as is and im not even 30 yet.
this is ridiculous, if I could wear construction ear plugs like i was about to hammer drill through a cinder block wall i would, just the band is all direct/no stage volume so the iems are a necessity. they dont even have to work well as iems or have good bass response, i dont care. just this headache and prolonged hearing damage after every single gig has to stop

does anyone else have this problem or know of something that could work?
thank you
Go customs. I had a hearing scare when my hearing dropped all of a sudden. I thought it was all my gigging, but it turned out to be the flu. But the incident drove my decision that my hearing is worth $300 (7 years ago: probably ~$400 these days). So I bought my first pair of custom Alclairs, and haven't looked back since.

Alcairs generally go on sale right before Xmas, in June, and around big holidays. You can use the same impressions to get their custom ear plugs for concerts and things too.

The custom IEM, and a little hearing aid gel... you will be amazed with how much sound it blocks out. It's a little weird to play in silence at first, but once you get used to it, it's hard to go back. But definitely no more going home all amped up with a head ache.

Good luck

blisters from playing fretless

fair points
and yes i do suspect i may be using excessive pressure on the strings actually that might explain alot of it
:) and ok didnt know it was ok to bend on a fretless
i will see how this goes
fretless is addictive I really cant believe I havnt gotten into it sooner now ive experienced it for at least long enough to realise yes this is something I want to do alot more of so addictive!!!
and massive thanks appreciated
:cool:

Best Bass to amp wireless rig

I didn't talk about bandwidth once. In fact a point I'm trying to make is that newer, faster, wifi standards are pretty much unnecessary for band use in a venue. Neither the wireless packs for instruments or a tablet-controlled mixer use much bandwidth at all. What matters is distance and reliability. Unless I am misunderstanding, your point is that 5.8 is more reliable, I disagree that that is a hard and fast rule, as you mention a few low-bandwidth, low-use, speed-irrelevant things like smart home gadgets do exclusively use 2.4, often for the same reasons as it can be perfectly appropriate for wireless stuff on stage. We're not moving large files around a network here and we don't need blazing fast ping, we just want something that works.

Anyway, I'm not some 2.4 evangelist. My current system uses 5.8 (and 2.4 as well, but whatever) and it works flawlessly. 5.8 is great and I reiterate that, all else being equal, I too would take the newer technology. I just disagree that 2.4 has "has categorically recognized problems" for this application and I don't see it as an "exclusionary criteria". Plenty of people, me included, have done a collective million gigs on 2.4 stuff without issues.

It occurs to me that you're in the Bay Area in California, USA and I'm in rural Northumberland, UK. An area that is about 50 years behind California technologically. Perhaps we have different viewpoints on this because we live in different wifi environments. :D
Sorry, I used bandwidth clumsily and I understand your sensible interpretation as meaning throughput. A more precise word I could have used would be frequency.
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Phil Jones Bass Engine 17 vs. Micro 7?

Hi all,

Just in case anybody is interested in an update, both the Micro7 and Rumble 100 came in (both used) and I can say that they're both a clear upgrade from my KBA16. The volume on the Micro7 is a moderate but not significant improvement, though it has a very defined, punchy sound that works great especially with the upright.

The Rumble 100 can be quite a bit louder but with more of a boomy, boxy sound that needs some tweaking, though with the EQ and bright switch, I think would also work plenty well.

For the record, I don't plan on using either at a proper gig (though the Rumble might work in a pinch with PA support), but at our weekly community jam sessions where I'm generally the only electified instrument, so a moderate workable volume is all I need.

I'll take them to the jam tonight and will see how they fare!
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Trouble in Band #2!

Hmm originals
I dont see the point of playing out to next to no one and likely being paid poorly.
Thats assuming the writer is any good.

Got a couple of sessions which got to albums and CD's but they struggled to sell.
I'm currently in a band with enough 'pull' that we could do more of the BL's originals ..probably.

Not sure if we will.

The easiest gig to cover around here is Tribute.
At least in terms of money, gig type up and need not have a great deal of talent if you 'look' the part.
Next is crowd pleasers...the song sells although I have to say this is the most boring gig, imo, and the feedback is..same set, different faces.
Deeper cuts... most fun for good players because you are having to work harder putting it across.
Originals...very hard gig because not many venues can make that work as a business model.
A few talented writers but need to be charging $15 a ticket min...and thats up against music down the road that are in bars with no cover.
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Rackmount Preamp Questions

I didn't realize I asked a stupid question until much later, sorry folks. 🫥
(Duh you need power for a preamp!)
No you did not. No need to apologize. It is a valid question and my guess is because of the following. As a recovering engineer, my experience is that to get a fruitful answer, it is best when asking for technical solutions to outline your requirements or end result first and define your use cases, outline your current resources and budget BUT do not get into solution space, As you may have observed, your methodology was scrutinized and faults were outlined rather than help you with your goals. Budget is important because people will either recommend top of the line , or tell you to make do.

Now why regarding the power question, it maybe because:

Phantom power is used to power many condenser microphone, electret mic, bass built in preamplifiers ( like alembic)s and DI boxes using one cable usually an XLR and sometimes a stereo cable TRS ( Tip Ring Sleeve ) -- so reasonable to be confused. For bass amplifiers more than 99% do not do this on the FX loop. There are however some amplifiers that supply 48 volts to microphones usually amplifiers that support acoustic instruments. Some like the AER provide 12 volts from the common 1/4 jack. Again not common and usually preamps and effects need their own power supply. Another thing that can leas to the confusion is that some old amplifiers have power outlets as well and you can definitely use them to power you rackmount. Last but not least is that some amplifiers provide 5vvolts via USB and some pedals and devices can be powered by USB.

What may have been confusing to us is you are mentioning 2 amps. meaning 2 boxes that can be used to amplify music loudly and connected to the speakers , Is this what you meant or did you mean 2 channels in your amplifier

If you do have have 2 amplifier connected separately to 2 speakers, a rackmount preamp, I would set it up like this.

Active ABY box with phase inversion, Why active because it will ensure a better quality split no signal loss and no cross talk,. I recommend the Radial TwinCity ABY or anything from SaturnWorks. They have the option of switching to A or B and combining them as you already now.

Bass to ABY input
A output of ABY directly to the first amp - do not play it yet

B output of ABY output to input of rackmount EQ powered up separately, Output from Rackmount to the FX return of your second Amp, Now rackmount preamps may have pro level +4dB switch in the back , You probably need to play with that, If it has a out level start low and increase. If you have issues try switching it to the front of the amp, Once you are happy with the sound, Oh yeah press button on ABY so that B output is active

Test Amp A and adjust with B volume. I suggest start with clean first and keep volume similar,, Now swatch them on the same. If you notice a dropout of volume then flip the phase switch. Some ABY like the TwinCity also comes with a drag control and Satrunworks provide volume controls as well. But phase is the key here. The BigShot also has a ground lift and if you hear a hum when combining flip that as well,

If both amplifiers are working normally then you can start adding dirt or playing with , Remember EQ to taste and you may encounter phase cancellations and all sorts of filtering and the sound may suck

I use 2 amplifiers all the time mostly for guitar, sometimes for electric bass but use them for my double bass setup because I have 2 sources, mic and pickups and my music relies on that setup. I rely on my active ABY Switch, I do find that many bew effect boxes are capable of internal splitting and do much more than 2 amplifiers and much easier to work with for electric bass.

One caveat, even though we have helpful and technical people here, some even at the top of the industry in their field, this is an ENTERTAINMENT website for bass enthusiasts, there is no implied consultancy at all but the answers here are better than AI or internet lore. If it does not make sense, ask again, do not take rough answers as personal

Lastly DO NOT CONNECT BOTH AMPLIFIERS TO THE SAME SPEAKER OR SPEAKER STACK. You will destroy both of them and the speaker/s, maybe even before power up,

String spacing on P-Bass pickups

I just stumbled on this old topic about which I know a thing or two...
Back when I was also using a pick, it took me a long time to understand why some Precision Bass strings reacted so wildly different depending on whether I was playing downstrokes or upstrokes.
The answer is in the way the strings traveled above the pickups' pole pieces. When they're right in the middle, everything is fine and dandy. But if they're off to one side or the other (closer to one pole and farther from the other), then the sound can change noticeably depending on how they're picked, struck, plucked, hit, slapped, popped, etc...
Unfortunately, old P-basses all suffer from the same disease (except for the anodized guard models (1957 and 58), the dreaded shrinking pick guard that pulls the E&A block towards the treble side and causes the above mentioned problem.
Since then, I've been extra attentive to this issue on my own instruments and on those of my guitar maker friends (causing quite a stir in some cases)...

How short can you go?

This is the Glarry "Kid's bass"....comes in at 25.5" scale, just like a Fender guitar. Strings are next to impossible to find for it, though. There are some odd solutions out there to use short scale or even regular scale strings on it, but it's SHORT SHORT. I really struggle with playing it, especially the upper registers, because muscle memory is a thing and where my fingers land are at least one fret off from where they should be.

View attachment 7428671

you can order custom strings from newtone - length and gauge.
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I need help running my Eden WT300 into my Aguilar Tonehammer 700. Is this possible? I've searched online and can't fine a definitive answer.

But I do agree,

Okay. But I do not think reamp boxes are load boxes ( I ave a load box box from Fryette which is very good and safe and I have run my Mark IV Boogies speaker output to it and it has a mic level XLR as well as line level trs. I know there are garbage load boxes.

The person who suggested a ReAmp box was talking about getting it from the DI I and converting it to instrument level and then plugging that to the second amp.

As far as I know, ReAmp boxes need line level to work properly and if the Eden's XLR out is mic level, then I do not think that will work well if at all.

The reamp boxes take recorded line-level output from DAW/Interface or multi-track tape-recording desk and convert that to instrument level into an amp and then you can mic that amp and rerecord to another track. That's how I use it anyway for guitar so I can change the amp and mics later, instead of plugins. Radial and SaturnWorks reamp boxes are both transformer isolated.
I was addressing the use of ANY device other than a speaker that connects to the speaker output to generate either a mic or line level speaker. This was mentioned several times in this thread which is why I cautioned about this very real issue.

QSC CP12's are awesome

I ran my first two gigs with my 2 new QSC CP-12's over the weekend.
These things are incredible.

Both shows were outdoors, 4 person band, 2 guitars, 3 vocalists and me on bass. Everything but the bass went through the PA.

Show #1 we used them as mains with no monitors (acoustic show)
Show #2 we used JBL 15's as mains and the CP-12's as monitors.

In both cases, I've never heard clearer sound without a full $100K+ House PA in use.
The crowd was blown away by sound clarity at the acoustic show

If you're on the fence about buying CP-12's.... buy them
They are also the perfect upright bass amp. I use a single cp12 for all kinds of small drummer less folk/country/bluegrass gigs and it’s a great balanced tone

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