benbastin

Thanks Simon, Interested to hear how you feel about its when you hear it played by someone else. All the best Ben

Haha! Yes they aint cheap. What do you need one for? Various people rent them out. Might be worth considering.

http://www.stevensoncases.co.uk/ Contra Bass Shoppe used to do one, but seemed to have stopped.

Interesting idea. I've sent you a PM.

There are some new and better photos up on the site if anyone is interested.

I will be keeping the twitter up to date. Infact have just posted part 2!

The PR40 looks very nice, might have to try one out.

Hello Everyone, I've started to write a blog. I'm going to include ideas about playing, music, sound, gear. Anything that comes to mind really. I've put my first post up today. It's about the great Steve Berry and his products. Would love some feedback, or any ideas of things people would like me to write about. Thanks for looking Ben http://benbastin.co.uk/blog

A [url="http://www.dv247.com/microphones/se-electronics-z3300a-condenser-microphone--20585"][font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][color="#000000"][size=2][b]SE Electronics [/b][/size][/color][/font][color=#920001][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2][b]Z3300A[/b][/size][/font][/color][/url] should shoudl fairly nice, £185 on dv247 a used [url="http://www.dv247.com/microphones/akg-c-214-large-diaphragm-condenser-microphone--51651"][font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][color="#000000"][size=2][b]AKG [/b][/size][/color][/font][color=#920001][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2][b]C 214[/b][/size][/font][/color][/url] could be a good bet also.

I use have been using the 4099 for about 3 years now, and I love it a lot. You will always get spill using a condensor mic on stage but they are ways to mitigate this. Firstly with regard to playing live. I always put my monitor to my right side putting me in between the mic and the monitor. I never use the DPA through the monitor. It is primarily for front of house, although I do use it through my amp at lower levels. Also the closer to the sound board you place the mic the better rejection it has, and the XLR adaptor has a built in low cut to accommodate the increased bass response of the mic being close. With recording, placing the mic close the the sound board will help. Thought full placing of the musicians will help also. Have the trumpet player closer to you thus not reducing spill, but reducing the distance and effective reverb resulting from that distance. Also build a small baffle around the bass, giving you the best chance of getting clear bass sound. I record a lot of bands in my studio live and in the room, and spill is part of the game. The DPA is actually, when use correctly, one of the better mics for rejection. Keep playing around with it, and it will pay dividends.

sorry guys, changed the link so it will show up in google better. http://benbastin.co.uk/wooden-end-pins

Hi bassadder. I'll send you a message to discuss it further, but i'm pretty sure we could figure something out.

[url="http://benbastin.co.uk/end-pins"]http://benbastin.co.uk/wooden-end-pins[/url] Little bit of an update here if you are interested.

Wanted to add my opinion here. I've tried all the wheels available and hated them all. They felt unstable to me and eventually will cause serious damage to the bottom block, Unless you are using it just to wheel across a small well paved carpark. The bass buggy is good, but again, can cause serious damage to the lower ribs. I've ended up using Steve's Bass wheel and its the best solution. The OP seemed to be worried about pressure across the fingerboard. The bungee chords cross the bass where the fingerboard attaches to the bass on mine, so no probs there. And the certainly exert less pressure on the fingerboard in general than I do when i'm playing the bass, so I can't see this being a problem at all. The Wheelbass protects the bass, and absorbs any shocks going over ground. If you want to keep your bass in good nick I haven;t come across a better option. I use my all over london, and I love it.

Timbo, I will have all four wood choices tested out by next week. I'm fairly sure they will all pan out to be similar and the different woods will be an aesthetic choice mainly. I believe these can help any bass. Its all about allowing as much of the bass to vibrate as possible. Such as removing a bow quiver from the tail piece will improve your tone, as will a wooden end pin. I will post photos and opinions of all the wood choices as and when. Thanks

[list] [*][attachment=147372:photo 1.JPG][attachment=147373:photo 2.JPG] [size=3]So I am now in full production! End pins are available to order. They are going to be £40 plus postage, which should be just a couple of quid. I am offering 4 different wood choices, Walnut, Ash, Sapele and Oak. I will be making some sound samples of the different pins at some point to show the differences, the woods are all similarly hard and dense so the differences will not be too drastic. All the woods can be stained as dark as people would like. I have attached two pictures of the two rubber ferrules I will be including in the first few orders. I believe I will end up supplying only the more heavy duty of the two but I want to see how they get on in the real work. If any one is interested, please drop me an email at [email protected] or 07845192855 Please pass this on to anyone else who may be interested. Thanks Ben[/size] [/list]

So made some progress recently on both the violin and the bass. On the double bass the C curves have been Bent and glued in. http://www.flickr.com/photos/60334748@N02/10418121485/in/set-72157635031167744 http://www.flickr.com/photos/60334748@N02/10418132955/in/set-72157635031167744 And the violin is being varnished. http://www.flickr.com/photos/60334748@N02/10418062133/in/set-72157636122476095 There are more photos on flickr and they should appear on the scrolling thing in the first post. Hope you enjoy

I will have more info next week. Finalised price etc. I am going to offer a few wood choices, and will endeavour to record the differences on my bass between the metal pin and wood. I don't know what the wolf ball is. Could you link me? At the moment the last piece of the puzzle for me is sourcing a good rubber stop for the end. I am planning to include two with each pin, as they always wear out eventually and thats always frustrating. Cool idea about sending one around for trials, however this will not be an adjustable pin, so many people would not be able to give it a full trial. But we'll see if theres a length a lot of people would be happy with we can try it out. I've tried a carbon fibre one on my bass, and it did help somewhat, but i've found wood to be even better. More info next week. Thanks for the interest.