eddiehoffmann

Would that be ok? Thanks for taking time to reply too, man!

[quote name='DHA' timestamp='1494095323' post='3293273'] Always has been a voltage doubler in my pedals to get a higher plate voltage. I switched to negative centre a few years back so people can use "Boss" type supplies if they wish. There is a loss in headroom when running at 9V instead of 12V but the tone is still the same. What output current is the T-Rex? [/quote] This is what's on their website:

[quote name='DHA' timestamp='1494093600' post='3293252'] They do run off a 9V negative center now, what do you mean by more universal? [/quote] I didn't know that. So is there an internal power pump now? And would it be ok to run it off a T-Rex Fuel Tank Chameleon?

A more universal power sollution please!

And here it is in all its glorious weirdness [attachment=244691:File 05-05-2017, 16 18 54.jpeg]

OK... So I finally found some time to go and pick up the bass form the shop. And... I only have good things to report First impression taking it out of the box is that the Ocean Turquoise finish is stunning. All the guys in the shop were impressed with it too. The white pearloid pickguard looks great too and adds to the overall premium look of this bass. Picking it up and inspecting it closely, the fit and finish are up there with the best Fender stuff. I have to say... All the Crafted in China Fender or Squier stuff I've seen has been quite impressive in that department. I used to own one of the now discontinued Modern Player Coronado II basses and that was the best put together Fender I've owned, including all sorts of US and Japanese. I'll put it this way: If it didn't have Squier written on the headstock you happily believe this is a bass worth at least three times more. It looks that good. The design reminds me of something out of the Jetsons, which I think it's pretty cool. It won't be to everyone's taste though, granted. The setup right out of the box was really good too. The Fender nickel rounds that come with it are not to my taste, still... The bass could have easily been taken straight to a gig tonight. Looks like QC is doing their job properly, or I got really lucky... Or both Now the most important part: The sound! I wasn't expecting much from the stock pickups and electrics, but I have to say... Yet again these Crafted in China instruments impress me here. The bass sounds just like a good P Bass should. It reminds me somehow of how my '77 P sounds. And that means real good! If you have any restrictions about the mysterious 'hardwood' they used for the body, you can forget about it. The bass is really resonant, has the right weight to it and sounds even better plugged in. I still might replace the pickups with the Fender pickups I normally put in all my basses more out of OCD than anything else. This is a gig worthy instrument on a professional level. For real! If anyone out there is looking for a slightly shorter scale perfect sounding P Bass with a great neck (and quirky looks)... Just go for it. It's a steal!

Not here yet. I'll pick it up from the shop next week.

Just bit the bullet and ordered one. I wanted a short / medium scale P Bass to use with flats and this fits the bill. I quite like the look of it and love the colour. A Fender Custom Shop pickup, a Kiogon wiring kit and a good setup should do the trick. Watch this space.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1491819358' post='3275537'] Well, Dusty Hill did once describe his bass sound as "a rhino farting into a trash can"! [/quote] My tone goes from purring kitty to wild boar on heat. That's pretty much the range of it

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1491825323' post='3275600'] Well said, Dood. However, the companies that are doing it right are a lot rarer than you might think. One, maybe two boutique companies, I'd say. The others talk the talk and make extravagant claims, but have exactly the same attitude as Markbass. I think the fact that you can improve a bass cabinet from one of the industry's prestige manufacturers by taking out one of the drivers speaks volumes about the products that we bass players are being served up nowadays. Still, these manufacturers want to stay in business, and why should they spend money on the internals when bass players continue to give their products rave reviews? Cost cutting doesn't seem to have done Markbass any harm. [/quote] I would be really interested to know which boutique companies you think are doing it right. I still don't want any tweeters, properly done or otherwise, anywhere near my cabs, but I'm curious to know what are these companies and how the differ from companies such as Markbass, Aguilar... Please note I'm not being sarcastic. I'm literally just curious about it.

[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1491800446' post='3275384'] How did you connect the red and black to the input? [/quote] From the plate with all the spade connectors on the back... There's a pair with 'input' written on it and another one with 'ground' ( I think it's abbreviated) written just bellow it. Red wire on INPUT, black wire on GROUND and then red wire connects to the speaker where you can see a little red dot right next to the spade connector. Black wire on the remaining one on the speaker.

[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1491722083' post='3274921'] I'd be interested to see how you take the crossover out of the loop. To be honest, I'm going to leave it. I've bypassed the tweeter in the combo (so amp>driver) but I can put up with just using the L Pad on the extension cab. Another unrelated thing I found is that the driver in the Italian made cab is exactly the same as in the Indonesian made combo. I was led to believe that these were different. [/quote] What confused me before is that all the wires were bundled together with cable ties and I wasn't quite sure what was what and to which connector it was going to inside the cab. Once I got rid of the cable ties it was easy to isolate the two wires (red and black) that I needed to connect the input connectors directly to the speaker. I used cable ties again to tidy up the unused wires that are stil connecting the L-pad and the tweeter but no longer in my circuit and job done. The 12" does sound different and, to my ears, better in full range mode.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1491673492' post='3274726'] I am happy if you get what you want by disconnecting the tweeter. I give my advice freely, you can use it or ignore it as you feel fit. 3.5 KHz is fine from most 12" drivers but only on directly in front, 45 degrees either way loses 6dB and that is only 1/4 of the volume on axis. So people to the side I the room do not hear what you hear. On the plus side the 3.5KHz crossover point is useless to counteract the "beaming" of the12". So it really does nothing for your sound. [/quote] I used a tweeterless Barefaced Super 12 for two years and thought the tone and dispersion of that cab were amazing. I also used a pair of Eden EX112s (also tweeterless but with the whizzer cone) and even thought they didn't handle as much power and low end as the Barefaced I never had a problem with dispersion in all sorts of weird positions in relation to the rig. I imagine a full range system will reproduce more frequencies and maybe have more clarity and dispersion, but that's not what a bass guitar should sound to my ears.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1491609243' post='3274352'] Do you know what the crossover frequency actually is though? [/quote] It's 3.5Khz and obviously the 12" can reproduce frequencies higher than that. Besides, I think this rig (and other Markbass rigs I tried) can sound a bit boomy and running the combo without crossover I felt that problem was also solved.

[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1491593126' post='3274226'] Well I had a look inside the cab. The speakon inputs are connected directly to the crossover. Red goes straight to the driver, Yellow labelled 'twr' goes to L Pad and blue goes from L Pad to the tweeter itself. It's dead easy to disconnect the tweeter obviously but wouldn't you want to bypass the crossover too, otherwise you've higher frrequencies being directed off in to nothing? [/quote] That's what I thought too. Thanks for that man! I'll gladly leave anything above 5Khz to the keyboard players and guitarrists to have fun with

I'll open up the cab again tomorrow and get rid of it one way or another. Any advice other than telling me I need a tweeter is more than welcome.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1491575326' post='3274091'] On the Basschat 1x12 Mk2 you can see how complex the crossover design is. That was to get the 12" and Compression Horn or tweeter to sound good together. You cannot just bump a tweeter in and expect good results. Unfortunately even many boutique makers cut corners (and I am not talking kickback cabinets here). The reason you need a tweeter is that a 12`` speaker ends low frequencies everywhere but mids and highs go straight down the middle. Go 45 degrees offline and you might as well be listening to a fart in a plastic bucket filled with foam. [/quote] Well... I never needed a tweter in a bass cab in more than 20 years playing. Always heard myself really well and always have been complimented on my tone. The only time I can't get a good rig sound like I want to is when there's a tweeter I can't get rid off.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1491405460' post='3272788'] Also, if just turning the pad down on the tweeter, I assume you would still have a crossover in place that you might want to eliminate? Say for example (this is purely hypothetical) there is a crossover sending everything above 2kHz to the tweeter and everything below to the woofer. However the woofer might actually be capable of going up to 3kHz quite comfortably. If this was the case then removing the entire crossover network and hooking up the main speaker direct would give you a tad more brightness. [/quote] That's exactly what I want to achieve. The combo sounds awesome with the speaker getting the full range from the amp. Even a slight boominess I always associated with Markbass seems now to be tamed. Can't emphasise enough how much better the combo sounds without the tweeter and the crossover getting in the way.

[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1491402309' post='3272748'] I'll have a look inside the cab tonight - haven't needed to up to now! [/quote] Thanks man!

[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1491398760' post='3272713'] I also did the first mod as soon as I got the combo, but with the NY121 I just turn the L Pad down to be honest. I don't think taking it out of the loop will do a lot more than this really and you retain the flexibility to dial it back in at a later date. If the combo had a L Pad I don't think we'd be talking on here about disconnecting it! [/quote] Unfortunately that's not the case. Even with the L-pad turned all the way down there's still a little bit of signal coming through the twitter. I can still hear its annoying noise and I can tell there's a little bit of signal being reproduced. Specially with fuzz. Fuzz and twitters are a match made in hell by satan himself.