The Bassist and Guitarist thread

[clog]

I've decided to get the old guitar out this evening. I got a nice new amp for christmas and have hardly used it yet. Guitar is an Ibanez (wood/walnut colour) and it sounds really nice through my new marshall amp.

Anyway, now that I'll be playing alone, I was looking at one of those looper pedals. Anyone have one that they'd recommend? I did some research a few months ago and by all accounts you can get a good 3-4 minute loop on a pedal for under £80. Just wondered if anyone else had a budget one they'd recommend?

Even though it's a little bit over you can't really go wrong with a Boss RC-3. Have a look at the specs/reviews

 

[Drago]

@DCBassman only 4 left, so get in quick! Ordered mine. Bargain at that price.

https://www.kennysmusic.co.uk/yamaha-sessioncake-sc-01-mixing-headphone-amp-for-guitar-bass

 

[ColinJ]

I have been getting an annoying buzzing sound in my left ear. I thought that it was my headphones being faulty but can put them on back to front and the problem stays on the left. I discovered that any loud sound makes the left ear buzz. If I get an electric guitar or bass then I will have problems unless I can sort the ear out!

I think that the cause of the problem might be wax. (I hope that it is!) If it is then a good clean out might sort it.

 

[delb0y]

I had the free hearing test the last time I went to Specsavers. Left ear, fine. Right ear below normal levels. I notice it a lot when I turn headphones around and have become conscious when mixing my multi-tracked recordings that I might be over compensating on the right. Specsavers said it might be wax and offered a wax removal for £50. They also offered a full consultation and no doubt some hearing devices that would cost thousands. Maybe one day when funds are higher and hearing even lower.

 

[ColinJ]

I had a hearing test done about 25 years ago and the conclusion of the specialist pointing at some response curves could be summarised as "That is normal, that is a very severe loss, and you are about halfway between the two"!

What he didn't emphasise though were some severe notches in the response. There are certain frequencies that I pretty much can't hear at all. Fortunately, most of them are beyond the range of notes used in music. If I sweep a tone up beyond 3-4 kHz there are frequencies that apparently go silent, but then the tone comes back as the frequency continues to rise. The 2 ears have different notches. I can't hear much above 9-10 kHz now. When I was 30 I used to be really annoyed by the line output whistle on TV sets. The frequency of that is 15.625 kHz. Hearing that now would be a complete fantasy.

These days when watching tv shows/films a character will often stop talking stop mid-sentence and I know that they will fish their phone out but I am not hearing it ring. If I wind back and replay the scene, sometimes I have to add 30 dB to the signal before I can detect the sound at all. (I get a big shock if I forget to turn the sound back down before they start to speak again! )

 

[Drago]

I have been getting an annoying buzzing sound in my left ear. I thought that it was my headphones being faulty but can put them on back to front and the problem stays on the left. I discovered that any loud sound makes the left ear buzz. If I get an electric guitar or bass then I will have problems unless I can sort the ear out!

I think that the cause of the problem might be wax. (I hope that it is!) If it is then a good clean out might sort it.

I have something similar in my right ear. Too much volume and it sounds to me like an amplifier clipping when overloaded. T'is damage from the army - I was in about 5 years before ear defenders, although they strangely gave us safety glasses to wear, even though the shell casings ejected away from a right handed shooter! Got a piffling 3 grand compo about 5 years after I left when someone sued the MoD over it, and they gave you 3 grand of you promised not to sue.

 

[ColinJ]

The reason that I suspect wax being the cause is that I discovered that physical manipulation of my outer ear can make the problem stop. If I pull the ear back that seems to do the trick. I'm wondering if there is some wax really close to the ear drum which makes contact if the drum moves further than normal, as it would with a loud sound? Mechanically distorting the ear could be moving the blob of wax slightly...

I meant to sort any wax out a couple of months ago but got distracted by the Covid-19 crisis. I'll put it back on the to-do list.

 

[Drago]

Yamaha Session Cake headphone amp due to arrive today.

 

[Cycleops]

I always thought ear wax removal could be dealt with by your local GP on the NHS?

 

[delb0y]

I always thought ear wax removal could be dealt with by your local GP on the NHS?

That definitely used to be the case because I recall having it done. Not sure it's the case anymore, though. The boy wanted his doing recently and the GP didn't want to know. I think it might well be one of the areas in which the NHS has had to back away from in order to make ends meet. Might be a postcode thing, though.

 

[MontyVeda]

Doesn't olive oil soften earwax? Not tried it mind.

 

[ColinJ]

Doesn't olive oil soften earwax? Not tried it mind.

That's what I am going to try.

 

[Drago]

Next thing he'll be telling is he's been admitted to hospital with an olive oil bottle stick inside his ear..

 

[delb0y]

I think the human body is pretty clever. My right ear is closer to the speaker in my car and the amount of sh@# played on the radio these days, that ear is clearly self-isolating.

 

[Oxford Dave]

I think the human body is pretty clever. My right ear is closer to the speaker in my car and the amount of sh@# played on the radio these days, that ear is clearly self-isolating.

Maybe your right ear could instruct your hand to change channels, or even to turn it off? I haven't listened to the radio for years!