Mr. Foxen

I like how their stage dressing backline things look like Ashdown rack amps.

[quote name='Greggo' timestamp='1380475035' post='2225864'] I saw an interesting YouTube clip of a guy who tried to prove that wood could have an effect on tone of guitar. He basically had two capos on the middle of the guitar creating a gap of one fret and cloth muting strings between the capos. He theorised that when strings were plucked in front of capo the vibration of strings through the neck / body made the strings after the capo vibrate on sympathy. All well and good but the guy had to have the gain up to pick up this vibration and the pickups could have been very microphonic for all I know. Based on this I would think that if the pickups are also picking up body vibrations due being microphonic, the tone the pickups pickup could be a blend of say 95% string sound and 5% body sound. Which then makes me think that high end guitars probably sound so good because the pickups are better and don't pickup as much body vibration because they are better potted, better made, etc Therefore wood doesn't get a look in. Just my theory anyway. Still fascinating stuff! [/quote] If the pickups are that microphonic, they'd feed back crazily with any amplification.

[quote name='stjohn' timestamp='1380410471' post='2225038'] I play with the preamp just pushed, so you hit it hard and it breaks up a tad, but played softly it is smooth. That is the main thing for me with valve amps really-in real life (live) the difference between valves and ss is unimportant to 99.9% of the audience-they both thump, and they both sound low!! The whole valve vrs tranny thing only really matters to you yourself and other bassests. I ain't saying it's not important to take pride and pleasure in your sound, but sometimes it goes a bit anorak!! [/quote] Depends on the music you play. Sounding low isn't the only/key requirement sometimes.

Whole instruments are always cheaper than bits of them. To the extent I can buy whole instruments and part them out, and keep a fairly major bit that I like for free. Its how I make my basses.

[quote name='CoolWire' timestamp='1380318971' post='2223904'] Interesting. I figured it was down to the efficiency of the bass speakers or something. If a 50W bass atack is as loud as a 50W guitar stack why bother with 500W bass amps? Perhaps its the psycho-acoustic effect of guitar amp distortion that means bass amps have to be more powerful because they usually remain clean? A heaviy distorted guitar signal will always sound louder than a clean signal with tehe same amplitude. All other things being equal, 500W only sounds twice as loud as 50W. [/quote] Because bass sounds different. But since barely any cabs can handle more than about 300w, why bother with 500w indeed. Its all willy waving. 200w has been excessive for my purposes, and my purposes are being retarded loud.

Stuff point to point wired tends to be the cheap nasty end, serious builds were done on turrets. Not being able to hear yourself close to the rig is from mid scooping, poor dispersion and a null zone from a boundary reflection. nothing to do with valves, valves are probably better as the harmonics tend to fill in the mid scoop. The other stuff is entirely to do with the cabinets. 15 + 4x10 makes a total mess all over.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1380287918' post='2223313'] Cheers, I'll look out for some. Is it a simple case of sanding down to the bare wood, brush it on, hang it up to dry and repeat for a few more coats? [/quote] Pretty much, black is easy. Put the effort into the sanding, get a good finish, on goes the black until its black, easy to avoid being patchy, since there is only one shade of black. Then its feeding it oil, coat a day for a week, coat a week for a month, coat a month for a year.

[quote name='CoolWire' timestamp='1380289616' post='2223340'] I did think about that but I'd rather take the DIY route as I'll be able to tweak it to get it to sound as required. This is impossible with commercial offerings that are built on a PCB. [/quote] PCB does stop circuit tweaking, moving centres is just changing component values. PCB means keeping the layout right is easier.

[quote name='CoolWire' timestamp='1380274335' post='2223037'] 'm working on the rule of thumb that a bass amp needs 10 times the power of a guitar amp to achieve the same output. That means I am looking to build a 10W bass amp to get the same feel as my 1W guitar amp. I have no idea where I picked up this idea and I may be totally wrong. Can anyone confirm this? [/quote] Totally wrong. Same power is same output. It might be different output that you want, probably more lows, that comes from power supply and output transformer size.

Rustins ebony stain and Danish oil. You can mix them, or do one then the other.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1380236863' post='2222814'] They do sound good.... [/quote] Caveat is that they'll make anything else bad sounding in your signal chain sound really bad, due to transparency, from playing to eq skills.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1380229264' post='2222682'] This is an interesting read . . . although maybe not if you've just spent a lot of dosh on an antique paper in oil capacitor. [url="http://www.aqdi.com/tonecap.htm"]http://www.aqdi.com/tonecap.htm[/url] [/quote] Dodge bit at the end: [quote] [font="Arial,Helvetica"][font="Arial,Helvetica"][font="Arial,Helvetica"][font="Arial,Helvetica"]Inside the metal chassis of a tube amplifier, this factor is immaterial, since the chassis provides shielding. In a guitar, this might be a problem. However, I have shielded the cavities of all my instruments with copper foil, haven't you? [/font][/font][/font][/font] [/quote] Inside the chassis of an amplifier is a whole bunch of noise sources, you have to lay it out so that they are not near stuff that can pick up noise, so being inside a chassis is pretty irrelevant when the noise sources are also inside it. Also, seems copper foil isn't ideal shielding, even though it looks nice because there is some noise effects if can have that I don't fully understand, skin effects, and eddy currents due to high electrical permeability, that can give noise (think its related to why you grounds amps to the same part of the chassis in amps, because there can be a voltage difference between two points, plus capacitive coupling. Basically, shielding paint is better because it is resistive, but conducts enough for shielding. I'm gonna check with the guy when I see him online.

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1380212204' post='2222409'] The cab is the least of my worries tonight, the drummer has a trapped nerve and can't feel anything in his right hand and the lead singer has a bad cold which has gone to his chest! Going to be interesting [/quote] Instrumental Def Leppard tribute it is then.

[quote name='skychaserhigh' timestamp='1380205412' post='2222304'] I'm not carrying more cab than I need at all !! My cab is the right combination of tone and power handling without it being in danger of it blowing and having to be sent away for repair. [/quote] So what was the 'not even approaching limits' part then? I can use an S15 with my Little Bastard for living room noodling, that's not approaching limits (I do that a lot), S15 is way more than I need for that, I'd use a Midget for that if I had one.

[quote name='skychaserhigh' timestamp='1380204116' post='2222272'] How loud do you need to be really ? [/quote] All of it. [quote name='skychaserhigh' timestamp='1380204116' post='2222272'] Play too loud and you piss off your band mates and end up in a volume war which destroys your band sound and also pisses off the PA engineer (if there is one) as he can't do anything other than take your bass out of the PA completely.[/quote] Not an issue, its my band, and The idea of a bass rig with spl capabilities and good dispersion is that I don't rely on PA, because its a factor outside my control. Plus I've never encountered an engineer I didn't get on just fine with (although when we brought our own the house one might have been a bit annoyed). [quote name='skychaserhigh' timestamp='1380204116' post='2222272'] Both my bands are quite loud and I don't have to run my cab at anywhere near it's limits to be heard clearly and the ports are behind the grill , no problems with tone or low end at all. [/quote] Carrying more cab about then you need to then. I generally leave my second super 15 at home for that reason.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1380186581' post='2221909'] So the question is, what happens if I boost a frequency below the "usable range"? Will I blow my speakers? [/quote] Its the part where you ignore the speakers farting as you turn up that blows the speakers, rather than the frequency boost itself. You won't get very loud before that happens maybe. That rule 'if it sounds good, it is good' rule has a counterpart: 'if it sounds wrong, it is wrong'. Its lesser known and that's why I have a job fixing broken gear.

Yeah, found the gain switch on the side, H, M, L, I thought the H by the mic on the screen was high quality sound, but its the sensitivity. The bit where I go 'oooh' is where the stuff in the room comes alive from the bottom.

That guy again. I would like it, but I'd probably strip and oil finish it, chances are its really nice wood under there.

Bought it anyway and got delivered today (ordered at about 6pm yesterday). Did a quick video of testing an amp I just sorted out for the guy from Pigshackle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im5Lbw4x0GE

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1380029115' post='2219749'] And is that an Ashdown style Knob on the attenuator? [/quote] Should be a chickenhead on the vintage styled models.

http://cpc.farnell.com/alesis/video-track/portable-audio-video-recorder/dp/AV2019932?Ntt=AV2019932 Ordered one anyway as was ordering stuff and gadget urge, figure can do amp demos, the stereo condensers seem to have good potential for practice recording. Anyone used one? Seems cheap compared to other places.

Wristwatch will do that, the ticks as it turns.

[quote name='jmchich' timestamp='1379943509' post='2218495'] So is the new ported 2x15 a replacement for the dubster? Was considering a dubster when I have some money, very sad if it's gone. [/quote] Reckon its more like the Vintage, possibly the retuned vintage (with one plug in).