LukeFRC

Well Stevie is going grey with metal grill and I’m trying for a dark blue with leather corners and fabric grill... so I think it’s more exciting if we build beautiful to our own eyes... plus my wife will only let me build it if it ends up as pretty as my green Mesa walkabout...

Rot und sehr dunkel blau ...

So one of the nice things about being a graphic designer, apart from being good at design (as that’s still to be determined) is you end up learning enough about processes to know the best way to get things done for different projects. So I asked Stevie if he wanted help with a badge for the cab. Partly as I wanted a nice badge for my own cab and partly as, if done right, it’s wee details like this can lift a project from very good to great. Like a most the other details stevie has built into this cab we want to try and do it to a high quality. I also wanted it lightweight- a pewter cast badge would be daft on a cab with neo drivers. The first problem we have is the small volume number, while die cast plastic badges, like the big manufacturers use, would be nice - it’s hardly cost effective to make 1000 badges in China to just use 10. Equally you could get a small batch of something from the UK, but the cost goes through the roof. Stevie set a budget for it, which bluntly was a bit more than I would have wanted to pay for a cosmetic thing that erm half of you might not like. So - instead my aim was to get a badge for the grill, a sticker for the gap on the handle and a sticker for the back for about the price of a pint at a music venue. Design is subjective right? And what do you call this thing... we started off on this idea that actually some of Stevies other passions could help name it- like it can be as abstract as anything as long as it’s memorable, pronounceable and means something to Stevie at least. Stevies wife’s maiden name didn’t sound rock and roll enough so we ended up talking about his work as a German translator and throwing random German words at each other. This was quite good as I also enjoy German culture (I’m there now), and design - and it’s the centenary year of the Bauhaus. So Stevies there geeking out on German cab names and I’m geeking out on German design and it’s viele spaß! luckily for you the long compound nouns got dropped, and Stevie started trialing BCcab as a name in PMs with some of you. Bass Chat cab obviously, without it needing to say that, and able to say it without sounding like an idiot, and I think there may have been a second meaning but I forget what that is. So then BCcab - v3. I still got to geek on with my Bauhaus- sorry!! I tried to come up with something that would work with almost any colour scheme and layout, but be distinctive enough that to be worth doing. Not so small that it wouldn’t be noticed, but not so big it took over the cab. so we’ve got a vinyl sticker for the back plate, a domed sticker for the handle and a subliminated aluminium plate 100x40mm for the front. (Soft enough to drill for screws if you need) - and it’s all just going to add £3.60 to the cost. (if you are building the cab and not getting the flat pack Stevie will have a few extra sets you might be able to convince him to sell you if you cover postage too) So the other day I got the first pre production picture of the badge prototype made up. (Colours are off a wee bit on this pic) im excited if no one else.

I’m looking forward to seeing that one

if it helps It's not got enough strings for you!

not tempted by that Basslab then?

really???

why does it say "bridge pickup" ?

We used to have a basschat wiki didn’t we? Would be perfect for this!

I think I might have just solved the decent looking badge conundrum for us too

Which will hurt them in US copyright law - the reason that Rickenbacker are such ****s to sites like this isn't because they are ****s but because they have to show they are actively protecting their IP The video's gone - but everything in a Gibson may make up the "Gibson DNA" but that doesn't mean that everything in a Gibson is able to be protected as their IP.

Yeah that’s what I figure. I think the mistake I made was the finish went a bit dark too so it doesn’t catch my eye. Should have gone silver glitter!

Thumb s had that

You should defiantly buy one and report back. I realise I am adding nothing to this relationship except encouraging you to spend your money but still...!

Maybe I should refinish it in silver glitter

Go on then! switches are parallel/SC/series for each pickup then volume- 5position switch - bass - treble using a copy of a pre EB stingray preamp I built. 5 position switch is 100 neck/100 Neck 80 bridge / 100 both / 80 neck 100 bridge / 100 both idea being in bridge pickup in parallel it’s 100% a stingray in terms of pickup position and how the circuit works. Neck pickup is more or less a precision sound and close to my G&L L1000. Both single coils and you know it’s not an awful jazz sound. Sounds good, though preamp needs a fair bit of balancing between settings as (like a stingray) there’s nothing in between the pups and the preamp input. oddly it comes into its own tonally through a compressor.

Is it helix size or smaller?

And I’m not thinking of getting a future impact!

Yeah - esp as the ones you see secondhand tend to be already priced at the ‘might as well get a new one’ level

But would the next stomp owner be able to get the software at the reduced price?

I just found one for sale and pointed someone who did want one in that direction

A couple of years ago I built a bitsa bass, kinda an expanded stingray in design - and made the body myself from a bit of ash Jon Shuker sold me. It currently sits under the bed. Not because it’s a bad bass - it’s not it’s really good... but because my Sadowsky and G&L are just better instruments... so im emotionally invested in it as I built part of it, but it doesn’t get used... but am I right in thinking that selling a bitsa like this is all but impossible and I would have to split it into its constituant parts?

What he said!

We did that once, lots of drum loops on a laptop and the guitarist triggered different parts with a midi foot switch. Some most of them were more Aphex Twin or Radiohead than straight U2 Coldplay christian rock beats. It worked quite well for everyone singing as, well the rhythm was constant... but we had him and me, and I'm not awful and he's amazing musician. I fail to see how most people given a drum machine would struggle... or if they did they would soon get used to it. (would you hitting piezo's with your feet really be that much better?) Would midi foot pedal triggering something electronic not be easier?