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So, after 30 years of gigging with an amp behind me and blaring guitars and monitors everywhere etc last night I did my first ampless gig. None of us used amps (x2 guitars, x1 keys and me on bass) so the only noise apart from the pa was the drums. We used in ears with our own mix. It really was great. No need to worry about a bad mix or not hearing anything. However, the main revelation which should have been totally obvious but wasnt, was that for years it's been the amps on stage that have been the problem on stage regarding hearing everyone, rather than being a necessity to hear everyone. Everyone could hear the pa perfectly clear and could have easily got away without the in ears. The in ears were perfect and I kind of had the 2/3ds in rather than fully as a reinforcement. For years I've played with guitars at a million decibels and not been able to hear them at times, hardly ever heard keys and had bad monitor mixes. But I'm now convinced it's the amps that were the problem. Just sound smashing around everywhere. I'm from the totally hardcore you need a big old amp behind you and need to feel the bass and the wall of sound, but now weve took some time and done the ampless thing as a whole band I'd reluctantly have to change my mind. The front of house mix was so much easier to do as well. Literally just have to worry about what's coming out of the front. No clash or bleed with amps, direction, or monitors etc. Oh, and pack down took 15 mins and was so easy and lightweight with no compromise on sound.

Posted this in the wrong thread last night but it was very late. Just home from a great night in The Dreadnought in Bathgate with the punk band Emergency Exit. Turned out to be busier than we expected. Helped a fair bit by a crowd of Blue Angels appearing to see us. Not sure if they were at the last gig we did in one of their club houses or were just on a night out but the owner said he's never seen them in there before. Maybe more gigs at their other club houses who knows. Feedback was fantastic and the cream of the crop comment was that a guy had 2 tickets for Belinda Carlisle in Edinburgh tonight but when he heard we were playing and covering Ramones songs he wanted to see us. Now that was nice of him. Those tickets cost him £34 each he said. Usual phone vids being taken. All in all i thoroughly enjoyed it. Dave

The last couple of years, bit of transition; gone are the racks and 4x10s; I've moved over to Darkglass 100%. Harboured a desire to run a pair of 1x12s for some time, even going so far as to buying a pair of Aguilar's (and then selling them); bought a DG112 about 18 months ago and landed a second one about 90 minutes ago. Originally, I'd had little intention of using the AO900 head for anything other than to utilise the effects return, but having spent about 45 minutes twiddling I've achieved a reasonably aggressive Geddy-esque tone with a passive bass, so perhaps it's time to travel lighter and leave the Sansamps at home. I'll try the active basses tomorrow.

Choked played the Dark Horse in Moseley, Birmingham last night... Not many folks turned up (30 or so) which was a shame as all 3 bands (including us!) were on fire... Not literally, of course as that would have been a bit too exciting. It was also the 1st gig we used the Tourbus (Vivaro van) which meant I could have a whole 3 pints of Real Ale and enjoy the other bands. After we'd played our guitarist had rather too many, plus rum'n'cokes, and chucked up outside (the shame!). Still, highly recommend Ünhang from Brighton; loads of energy, tight as and musically interesting as well as being rockin'. Here's us though, more importantly:

Long music day yesterday. First rehearsal with the prog band (Epsilon) in getting on two years during the day and remembered most of it. Slightly increased bass pit, but didn’t bother with the acoustic on a stand or extra keyboard 🤣 Home for a couple of hours kip then out for a bit of classic rock with The Alibi at a new venue for us. Next to no room so used the FPPR Status as a few knocks wouldn’t matter. Had a great night with the best overall sound in a while. I could probably have been up a bit more in the mix, but didn’t want to touch the stage level and get into volume wars. All good with the Darkglass Microtubes after it was back following some top customer service (picked it up secondhand from an auction and it went pop after one gig, I had no recourse to the auction house so emailed Darkglass to ask for a UK service centre and the said “send it back to us and we’ll sort it” and they did 😁). Four hours prog rehearsal and two hours gig in the evening and still cooking with gas. I do need to experiment with the settings but liking it. I should probably let one of the other amps go now as five is starting to become overkill 🤣

Hello guys I haven' t been there for a long time...A few days ago I purchased beautiful /midnight?/ blue Rick 4003 February 1997./photos/. I would have a few questions: 1.The most important: E tuner is bent-see last photo.It is quite easy to fix -straighten?- it but I am not sure if it could break...It would be disaster..It works perfectly it's only a matter of look. 2.There is a foam to mute strings which I am not going to use.Do I have to unscrew the entire bridge or use a razor to cut out it? 3.The truss rod needs adjusting I did it appr 8 years ago /its my 2nd Rick/ I don' remember how I did it, it's quite easy I would say but RIC manual recommend only 1/4 of round once a time do I have to wait some time/minutes-hours?/ between each adjustment or can I do the whole job within a minutes?Without strings of course... 4.On the photo you can see huge Acoustic 201 300W GUITAR cabinet cca 1972 eq. with 2x 15inch CTS speakers and horn /switchable/. I use it for bass too in my apartment only - not more than 15-20watts putting into it.Can I damage the speakers?I seldom set bass more than 1 o' clock position.I guess not but I am not expert.Mainly I use ACC 126 bass combo /photo/ but I like ACC 201 sound better. Thank you for an advices Jan Slovakia I am putting 7 photos here the Rick is very rare I think black binding and lefty...And beautiful color./Which blue exactly is it?/I bought it on Arni's /great guy/ leftybass site from very nice German bassist. He told me /and sent photo/ that E tuner was OK when packing...I believe him. A few info on gear you can see-some might be interested...From the left: Czechoslovakia/Slovakia/ TESLA /Tesla Vrable/ 40W tube amp 1968 NOT designed for instruments mainly for use at schools etc..Microphone input moded for 100mV believe or not it sounds ALMOST like 1000€ Fender bassman.I paid 85€ for it...Unbelievable.It stands on ACC 126 bass combo 120W 1981. On the right there is mentioned ACC 201 300W guitar cabinet with awesome famous ACC 260 "Doors" amp on it/it's guitar amp but bass and keys sounds beautiful too/ and on it you can see British HH IC 100/Bolan, Waters, John Deacon too?/ as you all surely know it very well and GED 2112 preamp.And very rare today Marshall 4145 4x10 100W guitar combo 1979 /Rush, SRV/ .BTW small Marlboro box is NOT cigarettes but rare old transistor radio, MW broadcasting ended a few years ago...

Jam night on Thursday was fun. This was the 1st time the 4 of us had all played together (we had a run through but weren’t all able to make it). We had a load of people singing along, which is always a good sign. I also picked up another slot on the night. It was with a couple of guys who I was supposed to play with in December, but who pulled out with about 2hours notice. They changed the set list at least twice during the night, but 2 of the 3 were ones I’d learned for December. Oddly the one we played best was the one I’d never even heard before getting up on stage (Walking the Dog). That may have been because it was the last of the 3, or because one of the others had sorted out his guitar tuning issues. The drummer thanked the 3 of us at the end for letting him play as it was the 1st time he’d ever played live; none of us knew it was his 1st time, he played well; I hope he enjoyed it and comes again. If you fancy listening to a bit of it there is 20s on my insta account https://www.instagram.com/reel/Co2Nn5lhx03/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= ….or for full song versions to 2 of them they are on my YouTube channel Simon-C (unless I get a strike).

OK - we're off. First off is filling the existing chambers. And yes, Andyjr1515 still hates routers, but for cleaning up the bottoms of old chambers including the conductive paint well, they have their uses. And with a bearing bit fully enclosed in the chamber so that the word not allowed-ing thing can't leap out and damage the bass body or Andyjr1515's own body parts it's worth a bash: And it does do a decent job, s'pose... Next is another 'this could spoil your day machine' - the band saw. Note the essential pusher stick. As a factory manager once said to me, 'always remember that butchers use these to cut through cattle bones...' Everything squared up and corners rounded to suit the existing chambers, final dry check that you can ease it down and back out again: Then a generous amount of Titebond in the chamber bottom and sides, press it fully home and bash the hell out of it: Fit the second one in the same way and then, once the glue has hardened, a quick whizz over with the block plane: And yes - it's cross-grained. Partly stylistic (if you can't hide it, then flaunt it) and mostly practical (suitable wood available thick enough for the chambers' depth). Next job is the battery chamber at the back, which will be done the same way, and then cutting some plugs to fill a number of the controls holes that will be surplus to requirements.

So tonight was the night, 20’ish song set, nine on EUB. First doubling gig in a few years and it passed off without issue. Left hand was very tired towards the end of the second set (EUB heavy) not helped by our leader starting a medium paced blues tune (Ma Rainey anyone?) in quadruple time 😂 The NS was very well received and got almost as many compliments as the fretless. Quote of the night “Don’t guitars usually have lines on them so you know where to play? Yes, but I couldn’t afford the lines so I had to get one without” 😂 Oh and here’s a picture of bass corner (don’t worry the Heineken zero moved off the amp straight after the photo 😉

Reminds me of Gibson DC Junior bass in body shape and pickup placement

is this the five minute argument or the full half hour?

I went for this Ray35 from ebay. Not *just* because it's the same colour as my 'Ray and P, but... yes I'm shallow and looks are a factor. I paid 650, which is fair enough I think. First impressions are good; it feels nice and solid, really well put together. It's heavy! Haven't had it on a strap yet, so that's something to look forward to. It plays, feels and sounds fantastic. Lovely StingRay tone with the three band EQ (I like) and the three way pickup selector switch giving some lush sounds on tap. The neck is an absolute beauty, no rough edges and is a joy to play all the way up and down. Bad points: There is a quiet hum when you're not touching it, so probably not completely shielded (?)) and the notes are all in the wrong places 😃 I don't know if it's two and a half times better than a 250 quid S.U B. and/or three sevenths (?) as good as a full fat USA model, but it's undoubtedly a lovely Bass that I'm really happy with and can't wait to play in anger.

Yeah, nice one. Extra points, too, for none of you being afflicted with the need to wear a hat indoors. 😆

And just like magic… Just need to watch it myself now.

We've put back the old ska band together. We do mostly originals but we add a few covers too. We've just decided to do this one... so much fun!!!

No, you can't. What you can hear when playing tones below roughly 30Hz is their harmonics. Even if the source is a tone generator that only produces sine wave fundamentals harmonics are still there, created by the speaker. If it's a square wave generator harmonics are there in spades, as what makes a square wave square is harmonics. You may think that's the case, but electric bass produces mainly harmonics, especially below 100Hz. Classic reggae tone is primarily 2nd and 3rd harmonics. This is an RTA of a PBass playing an open A string. Most of the energy is in the harmonics. With lower notes there's even less fundamental and more harmonic content, and this is with the pure signal from the bass. The coloration imparted by the speaker results in less fundamental content.

That's an admirable feat of carving and a very distinctive bass stand. A bit bulky to carry to gigs though.

As mentioned above, a tweak of a knob sorts it.

So you/we could hear something different and it explains our differing preferences on the contour of the older version. Nice to know you're not as cloth eared as we feared!

Both pickups have quite a distinctive voice and both are surprisingly hot. The difference in volume between this and a Wilcock Mullarkey (no shrinking violet itself) is significant. i spent around 45 minutes setting-up mine to my preference. All very straightforward. The nut-slots were fine so just intonation, saddles, and truss adjustment, then pickup height. The bass was wearing very heavy tapes when it arrived and now has light nickel rounds. The rod probably required a full rotation over a few days but moves very smoothly and the relief is fairly minimal now. I have the action really quite low and the bass plays very nicely. A bit of attention and a tweak and these can be really nice players with a couple of distinctive voices.

Had a great time last night playing the first gig since we changed our band name. We have been so busy writing a new album that we haven’t gigged since July last year. felt really good to be back out and playing live. I’m always worried I might lose the passion for playing live but thankfully it is still there. we played at club 85 in Hitchin and I used my preamp / cab sim combo for the first time. I was very happy with the ease of it all. A quick screengrab from an Instagram video someone uploaded:

Had one of our best gigs ever last night at the Butchers Arms in Inverurie. First half was a bit quiet (although there were still folk up dancing) but in the second half it got really busy because an event finished in a nearby venue and a bunch of people came in to continue their night. Bar was packed, had to rescue a PA speaker and some lights one time and one person nearly became part of the drumset but it was a lot of fun anyway. Got a three song "one more tune". I heard we're getting some repeat custom (people who've seen us before and came down in order to see us). Loads of great feedback. Two different people came up and told me they enjoyed my playing specifically. All in all, one of the best nights we've ever had.

Velcro Cable Ties packs of 30, 200x20mm Black or colours £1.99. The quality is OK, they won't last forever but should work for a few years. I'd prefer a 30x200mm but at this price I can have a cable tie on every cable for the price of a large Americano. There are also packs of 20 300mm ties

I love these discussions. People using science to argue their point when in the real world very few people, even musicians, can tell any difference. Pretty sure Joe Average can't. Anybody who has attended a Bass Bash and participated in any of the various tests will know that most people can't even identify their own basses, never mind fretboard material, active/ passive, cheap or expensive. If the OP is looking for a lightweight timber, can I suggest that you keep your advice to that topic.

A couple of charts that were requested by students: Big Mountain - 'Baby, I Love Your Way' Roy Orbison - 'Oh, Pretty Woman'

Looks like it's influenced by the Epiphone Newport and Serek Midwestern. Look better with a 2-a-side headstock.

Figuring out what's going on with just ones ears is daunting, even if you know the physics. That's where measurements come in. That used to be an expensive proposition, but not today. Download this to your phone: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dom.audioanalyzer Set it to Sound Analyzer, 1/3 octave bands, C weighting, Slow weighting. Ideally you want to input a pink noise source into your amp. You can download a pink noise loop to your PC. With that you can see in real time the effect of moving the cab. The phone needs to be placed where your ears would normally be with respect to the speaker, and not moved during the testing. That's critical, as even a slight change in the mic placement will alter the result. http://ethanwiner.com/believe.html

I’ll just leave this here…… and say no more.

I'd come to realise there's definitely something different re: the core tone of the 'old' WB-100 and the new mid-knob version (and presumably this applies re: the R-400 too). The new version seems bigger, wider and cleaner. I chatted to Leszek about this, because I quite liked the more complex mids of the earlier version, which just 'happened' with the bass and treble set flat. His answer was simple and obvious - 'Turn the mid knob up more boldly'. To paraphrase the longer answer, the preamp in the new version is built so the mids and highs saturate less readily, to achieve a super-clean signal. So, last night, I did just that. I pushed the mid knob (600) more than I ever normally would on an amp, rolled the bass back a little... and introduced the mid glow I was looking for. Yum.

Wrong bit of the forum! This is where ppl talk about their basses… you have to wait a few weeks/months/years and look here for for sale basses https://www.basschat.co.uk/forum/19-basses-for-sale/

Getting a drummer is problematic for your PA unless they use eDrums. At that point everything gets so loud on stage that three things become issues; monitoring, picking up unwanted sounds in the vocal mics and potentially acoustic feedback. Even that leaves out the big one, your hearing becomes threatened by the sound levels on stage. I'd strongly suggest you plan for this from the outset and you say: Hold on to that thought and plan this from the start and let it guide your purchases. I use an RCF M18 but Behringer, Soundcraft and Zoom all make great digital mixers with plenty of aux feeds. The Behringer mixers and some of the others offer multitrack recording also so you could trade in your R24 to part fund a good mixer. We run rehearsals with all in-ears, no PA or floor monitors needed. for gigs everything just goes via the PA. our guitarist still uses his guitar amp but turned down and miked up. I'm hoping to get him to go through a modeller and lose that too. Buying a digital mixer is key to everything. Your sound will be in-ears and you'll need to organise that. You can each adjust your own monitor mixes right from day one and that will remain your personal sound whether you are on stage or in the shed. You can keep your programmed sounds and a click track or lose them at will when you add a drummer and send a balanced mix to the PA which means you have complete control of your band sound. The PA then just functions to make everything loud enough for the audience. I think your Yamaha 400 should be good enough at least for a while. Yamaha claim 129db and whilst I think that must be peak level that will make a lot of noise. The 400/600 series are much more competent than the 300/500 series that were it's predecessors. Ultimately I'd probably replace it with some more capable active speakers but I doubt you'd need to do that quickly. With no backline amps and currently no drums to drown out you can just turn it up to the volume you are happy with. There aren't many pubs down in Cornwall or the rest of the West Country you won't be able to fill with sound. Concentrate on finding the right mixer and all the in-ears and headphone amps first of all and get that bit right.

G/D/A/E in that order.

All speakers are below the frequency where the baffle is one wavelength across. Above that they shift to directional. As you keep going higher the radiation angle keeps shrinking. Since a wavelength at 100Hz is 3.4 meters it takes a large cluster of subs to be directional. It depends on how far the backline is from the subs. But by and large if you're getting a lot of output from the subs on the stage it's mostly below the frequencies that your backline cab is producing, the fault of a sound man who doesn't know what he's doing. IME the #1 fault in concert sound today is sound men pushing the bass at lower frequencies and higher levels than they should. I had the pleasure of seeing 'Tower of Power' tonight and the sound man actually got it right. It's a good thing, if he'd turned fabulous funk bass into a boomy unintelligible mess I'd have had no choice but to hogtie him and hijack the board.

To be honest, this kind of attitude is not greatly appreciated here, either. Civility costs so little, and these lazy fashion insults reflect more on the user, really. I'm sure you're better than that; please don't prove me wrong.

Hi All, Just found this thread & thought I'd put some pics of my bass on here a Corvette $$ with flame maple top. This is my 1st post so I hope the pictures come out OK. It's a lovely bass. I used to have a Streamer Jazzman but never got on with it, until I found out years later the neck was warped. This put me off the W's, but just bad luck I guess. So I strayed elsewhere for a bit but was never satisfied kept changing. But the W's keep louring me back in, I played this & loved it, I think its the neck they feel so organic. Anyway got a hankering for a Thumb now & thinking of selling this, trust its OK to ask some thumb questions here. I played a 4 string NT the other day & loved it, its about 15yrs old. But for a similar price I could get a new BO (I haven't tried the BO) would this be a better option? And I notice the BO is one control missing I think its the mid, any idea why? Also I am toying with the idea of getting 5 string, I've not really played a 5er before so I assume its just practicing & getting used to it. And one of the things I like about the thumbs are the woods & organic feel, but I saw a white one the other day 5 string BO & thought it looked really nice too, but is more expensive than the natural or stained options (which I don't understand), any opinion on a white thumb or know why its more expensive. Sorry many questions any advice would be appreciated. And hope you like the pics of the vette (if they come out OK).

I asked on TalkBass: answer I got was just shy of 8lbs, which lines up nicely with the above. I've been going back and forth on these - not helped too much by multiple video reviews in which the bass clearly needed a setup. Here's a new one I found which compares it to a Fender Mustang, both with flatwounds & definitely sounding better to me than in the Andertons review:

Little Willy - The Sweet

Cheers all - I pulled the trigger earlier today on one of those Sadowsky express budget ones. Typically above my budget so hoping it turns out ok and isn’t reminiscent of their first dodgy batch.

They could have done with setting the bass up before filming...

An audience might not hear the difference, but if I'm going to spend 100s of hours playing a bass then I'd want one one where I prefer the sound, erganomics, weight, look etc Especially as they pretty much hold their value so it's an investment. Whether the bass that does that for you costs a lot of not is a personal thing, I wouldn't look down on people playing cheap basses or think people are mugs for playing expensive ones (there's quite a lot of that reverse snobery).

The more watts the louder, yes, but running either an amp or speakers to their limit isn't a good idea, for their longevity or that of your ears. Compare this to a car. Let's say the speedometer goes to 240 KPH and the tach goes to 7,000 RPM. That doesn't mean you should be driving 240 KPH at 7,000 RPM. You can, but probably not for long. The car has that capability so that it will run for ten years or more at 120 KPH at 2500 RPM. How many watts is enough? Between one half and twice the speaker thermal rating. One half is usually enough to drive a speaker to its mechanical limit. Twice gives you more amp headroom, which gives cleaner tone. If your amp can only deliver half the speaker's mechanical limit that's at best -3dB from the speaker's maximum output. -3dB is audible, but just. As for linearity of power versus loudness, it isn't. It's a logarithmic relationship. That's why I said the first 100 watts are the most significant. That gets the average speaker output to the vicinity of 115dB at one meter. 115dB for extended periods will cause hearing loss. (Just ask Pete Townshend. You'll have to speak loudly.) Luckily we tend not to stand 1 meter from our cabs, but still, it's louder than we usually play at. A more reasonable 109dB takes only 25 watts. Where the next 75 watts come in is headroom, again so you're not running the amp at it's limit. Going beyond 100 watts, if for some silly reason you want it twice as loud 200 watts won't do it. That only gets you to 118dB. Twice as loud as 115dB is 125dB. That requires 1,000 watts. Not that it matters, at that level you'll go deaf in short order. The only advantage to having 1,000 watts over 100 watts is that it gives you 10dB additional amp headroom, so that you won't clip it on hard transients. But with a realistic 25 watt average draw you only need 250 watts for 10dB of headroom. The last factor comes down to specsmanship, the fudging of data by marketing departments. The higher the stated power output the more likely the marketing department is writing cheques that the engineering department can't cover. Some companies are famed for doing this, TC and Bugera being two. Some have a well earned reputation for honesty, Ampeg being one. If only there was a comprehensive independent testing source to separate the wheat from the chaff, but there isn't. This is where cost versus claims comes in. If the price makes it seem to be too good to be true it probably isn't.

Also, I have a special hatred for geographically based gear snobbery. That tone of mild disgust when an instrument is MIC and it was so much better when they were MIK or whatever - get lost.

Sorry Sir, you appear to have stumbled unwittingly into an Internet forum rather than the sensible and rational destination you were headed for. If you'd just turn the light off on your way out we can resume our endless circular pointless arguments until Mum brings us jelly and squash.

Groove is in the heart generally.