Wigan: things Ive learnt

Cheers folks and Ma Danglement for a fabulous, if somewhat blurry, weekend (I still had a tad of a headache this morning).

Being in the same room as so much talent has made me come up with the following:

Must practice more...seeing that amount of talent (esp clive & wide open, effortlessly playing in front of 40odd guitarist, without ballsing up) makes me realise my technique needss improving, as does my fluidity (as in playing, not alcohol comsumption)

Must learn modes and practice scales...seeing how scale practice and mode knowledge can open up feeling and emotion, and get you out of the box.

Always keep GT6B under close guard when fellow bassists are around...you know who you are...Julian!

Must find fx unit with following controls...nice, great, Mmmm, woof, a 'that sound' button, and a pants filter.

Too much beer over 2 days, makes for a very flatulent journey home.

Be one of next years' management so I get the 4 poster bed and leather armchair.

I must fill the last gap in my rack case, I think it's gonna be a Samson powerbrite (Cheers Rick)

Kylie does indeed have a fablulous arse

9:00 is a crasy time to finish serving breakfast, esp when the bar doesn't close till gine 4:00am

Ross' new rubix car is a godsend, I think it is still a reversible model like the last one (ie, turn car inside out, pack gear around it, turn outside in)

You can sound like Steve Vai, even if you can only play one note, just by having a rack with rather large sampler attachment.

Flying V, Marshall, 4x12, Rock God pose = good

Curry, too much beer, sharing a room with 2 other blokes = bad

MUST POST MORE OFTEN!!!

Once again cheers one and all, and hope to see (prob will) some of you sooner rather then later

Greg,

Just a quickie.... one of the things that made me go 'wow' at Wigan was the little doofer you had in your Rack... the instantly pleasing dynamic difference in your sound was dramatic.

Am I right in guessing this was a Behringer Ultrafex or perhaps some other psycho-acoustic trickery box?

Even though it was through a bass rig you started making the kind of sounds that make my head turn round and my jaw drop. I loved the extra bass projection you had and that top-end sizzle. Sounded like very well produced CD track yet still coming from a live rig.

Out of all of the things on show the only other thing which came close to producing 'that' kind of sound was vinnys rack and lord knows what was in that stack-o-tricks!

Anyhow, let me know if this was the device and if there's anyone else who experiece of one of these devices then please post about them - fascinating

That was the Behringer Ultrafex (or nice control). It is essentially the same thing as the BBE Sonic Maximiser (more expensive) or the Aphex Aural Exciter (even more expensive). It does indeed use psycho acoustic trickery to add artificial harmonics and sub harmonics to give a cutting top end, and enormous lows without getting muddy.

Niiiiice indeed. I've done a bit of digging and see the UK list price is £75 so I dare say they can be had cheaper elsewhere. I'd guess that many musicians who record / gig regularly would be immensely pleased with one of these... why (I wonder) don't we all have them?

I shall dig further as I found that one of the most sonically intriguing things of the whole weekend

My dreamrack increased one rack-space after that demo, think I understand Vinny better now...

Ivar, just back from rehearsal with Wide Daves Hamer. It truly maked our band sound like Crazy Horse...

Yeah. The last bits for mine arrived the day of Wigan, and I found myself half wishing I'd bought a 10U rather than an 8U (the 8U being now full!) by the time I'd heard Greg's Ultrafex and icarusi's guitar synth: does anyone MAKE a 1U guitar synth?

Mike,

take a look at www.wersi.uk.com and look for teh Axon AX100SB - a 1U midi guitar system.



Andrew S

You realise this means I may have to kill you?

and it's only £750....... including cable and pedal....... <grin>

cheers

Andrew S

Safe, then: that's way out of any GAS budget for a long while.

I'm sure I saw a Soho Soundhouse ad doing the Yamaha G50 and pickup for £349 ? Thats a one rack jobbie, add a one rack synth module and you're away !