synaesthesia

The tele shape will not balance with a strap if you have a 34" scale neck and you can place you neck buttons anywhere, I've tested it quite extensively. I have a lefty tele bass I made, it is one of my main studio basses and most of the time I play with it seated. For normal balance, you need some wood hovering around the 12 or 13th fret to mount one strap pin and the other can be at the back or slightly higher. For a tele shape, as far strap pins go, as the yanks will say 'ferget about it.' However, for stage strapped use, I added about 250g - 400g ( I can't remember - weighed it but did it mostly by feel ) of lead shot to my strap at the body end. You get these from scuba diving shops and its about 5 quid for 1kg soft bag. You can open it up and take out what you do not need. You can seal the bag once you have determined how much lead shot you need. The dive weight is sealed and encased in a soft Hard drive case or phone case, you can get these for £1. and this is stitched or attached to the back end of the strap. My strap is a Slapstrap and has enough velcro to firmly fix this weight bag. It adds a bit of weight to the proceedings but sometimes only this bass will do what I want to, from amongst the stable of better balanced basses. The weighted strap works for me. See low res iPhone pics.

Not to rain on your parade but look into it a bit more and you may save yourself a lot of grief, money and trouble finding strings long enough. There is no appreciable gain in sonic terms though some claim they can hear a difference. All power to those who can hear a difference, I own commercially made string through basses and guitars and have even built at least 3 basses with string through body tailpiece arrangements and I say there is no sonic difference. The backs look cool though.

[quote name='ritch' post='935732' date='Aug 25 2010, 10:45 AM']You couldn't link to it could you? I have searched and searched on that site and can't find them. Rich[/quote] Closer to heart of England and often and great bargain prices: [url="http://www.audiospares.com/home.php"]http://www.audiospares.com/home.php[/url] studiospares also a great resource, use your noodle and google

[quote name='risingson' post='935798' date='Aug 25 2010, 11:37 AM']I'm a big Beatles fan as well although I must admit when it comes to the relatives and offspring of famous musicians I've rarely seen the same level of ability, apart from maybe Zak Starky. But fingers crossed, they might emerge soon, as far as I'm concerned they're making better music than what they're playing on Radio One right now![/quote] You take advantage of your associations...for sure.... Jakob Dylan didn't call himself Jakob Zimmermann,,,,,Charlie Sheen follwed his father's stage name, but Emilio Estevez kept his latino name. Some people have their parents talents but this is far from the rule..... the logic that familial relations leads to similar level of talent is pure bullcr*p. J S Bach fathered 20 kids.....we are clearly not celebrating their music. Melanie Slade is famous because of her association with a famous footballer, she was suddenly in the limelight on the back of someone else's achievements - it is not dis-similar to the WAG phenomenon.

[quote name='Clarky' post='926852' date='Aug 16 2010, 08:11 PM']Thanks again. As an opener I have put up a message in the 'Troubleshooting' section in the Alembic Club ...which will almost certainly be read by the Alembic factory-based mods. Fingers crossed[/quote] Just give Mica or Mary a call, they don't respond to email much, but you'd get a quicker response by calling and getting a replacement ordered via phone.

[quote name='michael-faces' post='929985' date='Aug 19 2010, 04:25 PM']I started a thread asking about running a bass into a guitar preamp, and I got loads of helpful answers, but its led me onto another question. Is it possible to run two preamps in a single chain? I don't have two preamps at the moment (second one should be arriving soon), but I'm just curious as to how it would sound, and if its even possible. Would this be a dangerous thing to attempt, and would it result into a catastrophically awful sound? In this case, I'd be running a guitar preamp, into a bass preamp, then into a power amp and a cab. Please let your thoughts known on this![/quote] You would add to your signal to noise ratio in your chain, other than that this is done all the time : each time anyone plugs an active bass into a head, there are two preamps in that chain, each time anyone uses an efx pedal there's another one in the chain. In terms of sound, what you suggest doing would alter your tone - whether you 'll like it or get what you want ---- you'd have to measure that to your goals.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='927202' date='Aug 17 2010, 09:03 AM']A lot of hiss can be due to noisy tweeters ....[/quote] False. tweeters add no noise, they reproduce a signal sent to it.

All amplifiers have two stages of amplification, the preamp stage and the power amp stage. Both have signal to noise ratios. Typically for hi-fidelity audio you'd be looking at -85dB noise floor. Compound the two stages and the noise floor rises. Typically, the noise floor of MI (musical instrument) specific power amps are high. The class D modules tend not to be of the typical MI spec though the applications are MI. e.g. the B & O module is quite common amongst the tiny class D amps and are also used in higher than MI fidelity. The culprit is probably in the preamp, and if defective probably due to a hi filter section being faulty. The graphic EQ is a section that notoriusly contributes a higher noise level to the overall compound signal. If your unit has an efx loop, plug your instrument into the return and if the noise level is the same, then it is the power amp. If the noise level is lower, than it is the preamp section.

[quote name='jakesbass' post='920094' date='Aug 9 2010, 09:31 PM']I wonder what you think of this Bilbo? yours truly on a twenties gig, what I love about this gig is how the guys just play it right, they are all good players in my view and do what is right for the gig each of them is capable of playing very convincingly in a myriad of settings. I get your point regarding quality but I get the feeling you'd not like to do this gig? am I wrong? [/quote] Charleston fusion. The drummer is too syncopated and the pianist is playing late 20c style licks. The drumkit is a post 50s setup. OP's post is motivated by art. Performing in a professional context is not all art, it is work and public entertainment - perhaps public amusement, as in the charleston fusion above.

[quote name='4 Strings' post='901394' date='Jul 21 2010, 10:25 PM']My mind was expanded when I saw Victor Wooten at the Digital Village thing, what a musician, what timing and what a fella. I have always thought Stanley Clarke to be the 'master' though. Perhaps the best electric bass player ever. Having seen him play with his band of youngsters at Ronnie Scotts last week I realise he's not on the same planet as the rest of us, it was, I think, one of the strongest and moving musical experience I have ever had. I would have been disappointed if he played only the first third of the set on electric bass and the rest with his upright, however much I enjoy the sound of an upright and watching it being played well. This is exactly what he did and I am blown away. He is an absolute master of that instrument, I don't just mean in terms of technique, speed (even slapping!) but so musical, such feeling and beauty. It was truly wonderful. As an aside, his right hand and fingers are incredibly strong, even thumping the strings he makes it look like a graceful tickling of the the strings. Had to tell someone![/quote] I hope he did a few sets, last time I saw him at RS he did the same set over, it was a diinner show and no one asked us to leave so we saw it twice. Same jokes and moves though. That was the band with A Sabal Lecco. But Stanley is Stanley, it is always great to see him, he plays effortlessly and his upright work is just effortlessly intonated.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='898105' date='Jul 18 2010, 03:08 PM']That makes two of you. He had absolutely no idea what he was talking about either. A knowledgeable sound man would know which frequencies were too much, and would simply pull them down in the mix.[/quote] +1 million The Sound engineer is talking BS.

Guitar cab speakers are not flat to begin with, PA speakers are flatter generally in response; your typical guitar speaker such as a generic Celestion 12 or Eminence 12"(e.g lil texas etc) have spikes and ravines in response to begin with. For a flat modelling speaker, use a PA cab and use the digital device's cab sims. If those are crap, there is nothing you can do there, some devices offer customisable adjustments, most don't. Otherwise use a guitar cab, and turn off any speaker simulation if your device has that capability. If you are using a regular guitar head, then you have no real worries, except that you need to know that the choice of driver does make a lot of difference. Cab tuning is unimportant if you are making an open back one, but if you are making a closed back one you'd want to know how you might be humping up the mid bass, if that matters to you. I have several cabs built for various purposes: my main pair of 1X12s uses PA speakers in a ported configuration so I can have a deep low end,which I can filter off as I like electronically. I also have guitar cabs built with Eminence Lil Texas, Tonkerlite and Celestion Gt12 -75s for different responses with built in spikes and ravines. The spikes are in the 1.8 Khz - 2.2 Khz zone, the zone that is 'nasal'; and the dip is typically in the 1.2khz - 1.8Khz zone.The difference is about 15 - 20db in the extremes. These are the typical responses of guitar drivers used by Fender, Vox, Marshall etc....They all drop off about 3.5 Khz or so some higher than others, but they all drop off at 150Hz or so and some low end performance can be improved by your box design, i.e. if you want to have thick fender 4X10 or Marshall 4 X 12 lows in a 1X 12 box, or if you play in a metal band and want a guitar 'subwoofer' tone, which really only goes to about 100hz. Your metal grille source is here: [url="http://www.speakergrills.co.uk/"]http://www.speakergrills.co.uk/[/url] There are lots of fabric sources for a Fenderish, Voxy or Ampegish look, but I use french cane or rattan webbing (wicker grille) like Mesa Boogie in my own guitar cabs. The supplier used to be in Lincolnshire when I bought from them but they are now in Aberdeen somewhere. [url="http://www.canestore.co.uk/sheetcane.htm"]http://www.canestore.co.uk/sheetcane.htm[/url] You have to soak the rattan in water (soak for a day or two, not dip), and fix it on while it is wet, when it dries, it pulls back naturally and you will have a taut grille. With regards to your original drawing, keep the box vertical as 2 X 12 but reduce the distance between the two drivers from 54.3 to as close as physically possible. good luck.

Very nice people, Jill helped me locate lefties on her own accord. I'd just hear from her if one turned up and it wasn't always an Azola.

[quote name='macclad' post='833519' date='May 10 2010, 07:55 PM']Thanks very much for this link,i'm sure i will be getting myself one of these lefty's[/quote] If you do, please post what they want for shipping, I don;t think their website is accurate re: shipping prices for v large items like this.

[quote name='Alien' post='832865' date='May 10 2010, 10:17 AM']Generally, that's a good thing. 2 flat surfaces facing each other allow for standing waves at certain frequencies, which can create boom at those frequencies. A[/quote] That is correct to an extent, 'boom' is not a typical consequence, the excited resonances of typical speaker box from standing waves are more likely to be of a midrange 'honk'; and a good cabinet is lined. And yes to others who are offended, more than one person on the planet has acoustically and physically designed and built speaker cabinets; including the placement of grips and handles.

[quote name='Toasted' post='827677' date='May 4 2010, 05:24 PM']If you take a look at Alex's FAQ page, in his usual way (4 lines, no full stops) he writes: [i]Because by not cutting a hole in the enclosure to mount the handle the enclosure strength and stiffness is greater, because a plastic bar handle would be weaker than our steel cored strap handles, because a steel bar handle would be strong enough but would add excessive weight and because most of our cabs are light enough to carry in one hand and a strap handle is comfier for that and if they're not a one-hand-carry then they have wheels anyway![/i] From my own industry I must disagree that cutting a hole in the side of the enclosure reduces the strength - unless of course you cut accross a corner. I definitely agree that the plastic bar handles are not as strong as the steel strap handles. That said there's nothing so comfortable as a steel bar handle of the type that Ampeg/Bergantino/Epifani/Genz Benz/Aguilar/Mesa/Ashdown/Orange/SWR/Accugroove/Hartke/EBS/GK/Low Down Sound/Trace Elliot/Purple Chilli/Marshall/TC E/Phil Jones use.[/quote] +1. The integrity of the shell is hardly compromised, the info provided is mis-leading. Stiffness is not greater because there is no cutout in a planar sheet of ply, a full planar sheet is what it is until it is reinforced or tensioned for stiffness. There are loads of ABS handles which weigh as much as the strap handle, and you lose the chunk of wood in the cut out as well. At the end of the day, it is about how one manipulates these things about with comfort; saving weight is not the only issue. For me the weight saving has become a game of trump cards in the world of gigging. You have to carry or move something a the end of the day, roadie or muso, - the question of reasonable weight has lot all sense of proportion amongst some DIYers.

[quote name='macclad' post='831776' date='May 8 2010, 09:46 PM']mostly bluegrass and jazz,my budget is around £1500[/quote] For a bit more money you can get one from Bob Golihur sent to you from Bulgaria with a solid carved top rather than a ply top. You can get Plywood top lefties with greater ease from Germany also at this price.

[quote name='endorka' post='829387' date='May 6 2010, 10:27 AM']I'd be interested to hear how others develop their proprioceptory sense/muscle memory on the fretless bass in the absence of such guides.[/quote] The notion of muscle memory applying to electric fretless bass guitar is open question; it applies only if you play the same shaped instrument or the same few instruments. This applies to fretted ones as well. I regularly played without dominant choice, a Rick, an Alembic, an Ibanez, a Stingray, Jazz and a P bass when I was recording heavily in the 90s. You can close your eyes and play but eventually you get used to the instruments and you know if that instrument has 24 frets or not purely by how it sits on your lap. (I was more of a studio cat....). With fretless, I have a 30" scale hofner and several 34" scale basses of different shapes and neck profiles, you have to get to know the instrument to work with it. I don't play the 30" scale much but it takes a while and you fall back to better accuracy with intonation. If you don't know it, i.e. you don't play it enough, you'd lose the ability to intonate as easily on a fretless.The acoustic bass viol family has less radical shape differences and neck profiles, than the myriad of electric bass choices available. It is easier to intonate between two different bass viols of the same scale with minor body differences, than it is to intonate freely between a Pedulla buzz and a fretless J. If you pry the F bass out of Alain Caron's hands and give him a 33 1/4" scale fretless Rick, even he would take a while to adjust to find his intonation.

[quote name='macclad' post='831647' date='May 8 2010, 06:21 PM']Hi ,i know it's a long shot ,but does anyone know where i could buy a lefty upright? Iknow its a big job to convert a right hand bass,any help on this would be greatly appreciated!![/quote] It depends on your budget and what you want to do with it: orchestral work, rockabilly, bluegrass, pizzicato jazz......

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='821085' date='Apr 27 2010, 08:16 PM']Replace it with one of the same, Eminence Delta 12 is equivalent to the one in the GS cabs, bit of research might find if both are the same.[/quote] They're not Delta 12s in the GS series.