Diary entry 100! Big deal.

It's happened once again: I go into a music store looking for something, and I walk out with something completely different. This time I bought an EQ Rack and a 4-space rack case. Combined, they cost under $300. So what, ultimately, prompted me to buy these this time? Well the recording I'm making for the DJ show sounds like crap. I have a compressor rack I bought last year, but I think EQ is order. Though now I'm thinking that a $15 low-to-high-Z adapter piece for the microphone might be all I need. If that ends up being the situation, does that mean last night's purchases were a waste? I don't think so. Both the compressor and this new rack can be used for anything (bass, vocals, whatever), including anything I'll be using to record or produce the recordings of my own music. And I own 3 racks now, so it's about time I broke down and bought a case for them.

OK, now I bought that adapter piece. And the sound is still amazingly low. So it's probably the microphone. Or maybe I just need a PA or some kind of power to go through first? This is frustrating! And even with the new rack it's a pain in the ass to EQ your own voice. Even when you put headphones on and try to monitor it that way, you can't get a true sound because you can still hear your own voice coming from yourself. I'm sure the other DJs are probably using a cheaper mic and no racks of equipment. But again -- and I don't think I'm desparately trying to rationalize here -- I can still use all this stuff to record instruments.

What I WAS originally looking for in those stores though, was a nice state-of-the-art bass. Before, the idea of spending over $1000 for a bass seemed silly to me. But now that I have the money and already own 4 basses, I wouldn't mind trading two of them to get just one really amazing instrument. I know lots of people will see two seemingly exact looking guitars or basses on a wall, priced $500 apart, and think "What the hell?" I still do the same thing on occasion. But I usually can tell where that $500 went when I pick up the instrument and play it. It sounds better and it feels much easier to play.

I did try a few very nice ones. PRS makes a bass now, and I got to play one. Incredible neck! My fingers just flew up and down the fretboard. And it's special gimmick is a switch that changes the tone to some preset sound. Apparently, the PRS guys went into a professional recording studio and asked an engineer "What would the perfect bass tone sound like?" Then they copied his settings into this one swtich. Only problem is, it's a 4-string! I've grown to like the 5-string too much. Warwick basses are nice, but the tone is a little too earthy for me. I even tried a few Musicman basses, which I never used to like. They actually make a great fretless. Though this seems all reversed -- it's the jazzier bass I'd want in a fretless, and the more rock-sounding bass I'd want as a fretted.

Decisions, decisions...