neepheid

Chewing the fat with Ou7shined today, I got talking about the project. I tried his Smokey amp (you know, the ones in a cigarette box) in my 1x10, and it was surprisingly loud but farty as hell (as it's designed to distort for guitar). So I was wondering about how to get a convenient rechargeable supply and an idea hit me - power tool batteries. I'm going to play about with a 12V cordless drill I got for free ages ago - batteries might not be any good, but it's a start. If I butcher the handle of the drill then I'll be able to use the battery latch to plug in/out as needed.

As for a circuit, I was thinking of kicking things off with the 5W version of this: [url="http://www.quasarelectronics.com/ce0015-mono-audio-power-amplifier-with-preamp-module-range-1.8-5w-rms.htm"]http://www.quasarelectronics.com/ce0015-mono-audio-power-amplifier-with-preamp-module-range-1.8-5w-rms.htm[/url] CE0016 - I know there's no tone shaping on this unit, but I want to keep it simple for now, and there's always the tone controls on the bass...

Anyone able to tell me if it will work before I waste twenty quid? Here's all the skinny on the unit - [url="http://fadisel.com/docs/E-16(English-Esp).pdf"]http://fadisel.com/docs/E-16(English-Esp).pdf[/url]

I just cracked one of the batteries open and it is a 1300mAh unit. The circuit allegedly takes a maximum of 270mA, so that's a theoretical life of 4.8 hours per battery (and I have 2 batteries).

I screw the saddles down until I get fret buzz/rattle then I raise them until it stops. I've never measured it.

As long as I can hear myself, I'm happy. Don't need anything bigger than a 4x10 for that for the size of venues/stages/gigs I'm doing and am likely to ever be doing.

[quote name='Batfastard' timestamp='1336832197' post='1651694']
You'll need to sort out a regulator/rectifier circuit to stop peaks and troughs in power delivery. Also You may want to put a acouple of vents and fans in the case to deal with cooling.
Most importantly though go for a bigger battery spec than you think you need because what ever you build will not be 100% efficient.
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Forgive my high school electronics knowledge, but isn't a rectifier for converting AC to DC? This system will be purely DC. Using an old computer case means that there will be places to mount fans should airflow be an issue.

Totally with you on the battery point - will try and get the biggest one I can that fits into the case.

[quote name='mushers' timestamp='1336829415' post='1651653']
your idea does seem sound however with batteries the issue always is once they lose their top end charge which could happen within an hour, will it be pushing enough amps out to keep running the amp after say the first hour ? i have a feeling it should but you wont know till you try it

are the whole band going to be using the same amp ?
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Well, I'm hoping that using an automotive power amp will mean that it is happy to work within a fairly wide band of tolerances as it is designed to be powered from a lead acid battery.

I only intend this to be a bass amp for me at this time, but I suppose it could be used for keyboard or vocals.

Thanks for the comments so far but I'd prefer some advice on my idea rather than ways of avoiding it. I'm going to build it because it amuses me to do so. It may not even be a good idea, it may not even work. But this is how progress is made. The 40 in WD-40 and all that

[quote name='mushers' timestamp='1336821715' post='1651511']
hire a generator ? or better get the event organisers to do so
[/quote]

Generators make noise. We are the organisers.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1336779546' post='1651138']
Why not just buy an inverter and a car battery?
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Full sine wave inverters are expensive, car batteries don't like deep discharging and I'm not subjecting my gear to the abuse that is modified square wave power. I think a neat, self contained unit would be a cool thing to put together.

I might have to play some bass on a beach in July. No power nearby so I'm scheming about building a 12V system, running off a rechargeable lead-acid battery (like ones for mobility scooters or leisure use that can deal with deep discharging). I know very little about stuff like this, but I was thinking of mounting it all in an old computer case for now.

I presume that I'll need some kind of 12V preamp (like a Velleman kit preamp or something) before feeding that to an automotive power amp of some kind (full frequency range, not just for driving subs). Would I control the volume at the preamp, or should I have a separate preamp gain and master volume control in between the output from the power amp and the output?

I'm going to feed the output into my trusty RedSub 1x10, so it can handle up to 250W at 8 ohms, but there's no reason why it couldn't feed other cabs, as long as the power amp can handle the impedance and the cab can handle the power output, yes?

If the amp gubbins take a 5A draw and if I got a 20Ah battery then in theory that would run for 4 hours on a single charge, yes?

I presume any tone shaping will need to be done at the preamp stage.

Still scheming stuff out, but I think this would be a cool thing to build, as long as I can scrounge together the parts relatively inexpensively.

Does this sound feasible, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Yamaha SB of some sort. 5A or 7A?

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1336734048' post='1650120']
I hope she's not reading that over your shoulder...
[/quote]

I used to be quite sceptical of people in bother who claim to have been "misquoted", but with scamps like you guys around, I now understand completely

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1336729276' post='1650005']
>But what if it makes it more useful? Back in the day (here we go again) people used to saw the bottom off Hammonds and put them on stands with the pedals etc remote. This meant it could be lifted into a van with the other stuff and not require one to itself. Can you imagine that happening now?
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Given that when it comes down to it, electric basses are all the same (in the sense that you wear them on a strap and the neck is some flavour of horizontal when you play (in other words, not vertical)) and there is so much variety out there (again, this was not always the case) that if you need to mod a bass in an irreversible way then it's more likely now that you have the wrong bass and there is probably one more suited to your needs without attacking the one you have with a spokeshave or a drill.

The Hammond example is compelling, but with the plethora of good quality, highly portable synths out there there's really no need for this practice any more. Our organ grinder has a Hammond at home but at gigs he uses a [url="http://www.nordkeyboards.com/main.asp?tm=Products&clpm=Nord_Electro_2&clnem=Information"]Nord Electro 2[/url]. Why knacker yourself if you're not Keith Emerson with a squad of roadies and an artic lorry all to yourself?

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1336729365' post='1650009']
I have the Hercules ones that do the grabby thing and they've worked fine with all my basses, I have 35" scale Lakland at the mo and the stand-neck extends far enough for my bass to be comfortably off the floor...
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Scale length isn't the problem though - there isn't a lot of extraneous bodywork below the bridge of those Laklands. And that's where the problem lies. My RD Artist won't fit very well in the Hercules stand for that reason. The Hercules grabs at the nut, then you have 34.5" and THEN you have another 3-4" of body after that where the switches are.

I have one of the neck grab Hercules stands - I could extend it fully and measure from the top of the neck grab to the floor if you like?

My RD Artist, while not as pointy as an Explorer is still a pretty unwieldy beast barely fits in it, but sits fine in a sideways rack.

The other important difference between the SM58 and the Beta 58A is the polar pattern. The SM58 is cardioid and the Beta 58A is supercardioid. The Beta 58A has superior side rejection at the cost of some pickup directly behind it.

To quote Wikipedia's page about the Beta 58A - "As with any supercardioid pattern microphone, stage monitors should be placed between 30 and 60 degrees to one side of the microphone rather than directly on axis to its rear." It is also apparently less sensitive to proximity effect (the increase in low frequency response when sound source is close to the microphone) because frequencies below 500Hz are attenuated in some way.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1336721395' post='1649866']
This type of thing "I had a wonderful jazz last year- a real joy of an instrument but it had been kept so well I was slightly scared to play it- i just had got it and it wasn't 'my bass' yet that I wouldn't have minded damage. Ultimately I moved it on."

We all look after our gear, that's fair enough, no-one is suggesting its ok to abuse it.

But, I get the feeling that we've gone overboard on it, there's me with my sticker and door jambs being less critical if damaged than a cab, friends with expensive (but not unique) basses which don't come out the wardrobe, let alone house and a general feeling that changing one screw is somehow sacrilege and even enjoying these restrictions due to additional perceived value.

This seems to make the gear rather less useful and I recalled a time when this didn't seem to be the case, yet the gear was relatively more expensive then. Are we more precious about it now than we used to be?
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Right, I get where you're coming from. From my point of view I don't think I'm precious about it. All my basses get played on rotation because I love playing all of them. What's the point in having them if you don't play them?

I am not scared to take a Guild B402-A (one of only 335 ever made) to a marquee gig at floor level. I'm happy to play a Gibson RD Artist down the pub. But I'm not going to take my lovingly restored Victory Artist or my IV with me to Belladrum festival. I'll be taking something which is 1) inexpensive and 2) in current production so easily replaceable. Which means either the Yamaha BB614 or the G&L Tribute L-2000. That's just being sensible, not precious.

In my house if an instrument is not being played then it is sold. I have sold my first bass, and recently my first Gibson bass - the G-3 set me off on a noble path but it just wasn't getting played like it used to. There's no room for sentimentality, it's expensive. Same goes for my wife - she recently sold her saxophone because she wasn't playing it. Instruments are to be played - my wife's only rule regarding my hobby. That and threatening to divorce me if I bring a pointy bass home

I do think that irreversible modifications on basses above a certain price threshold is folly. I guess I do have one eye on the future and values etc. in that regard. If I want to muck about, I'll do it on something current and something cheap. I think we learn from our predecessors' mistakes. When I see RD Artists with their Moog boards removed it makes me cringe. It's what made it an RD Artist, you muppet! It's not as if they didn't provide a passive model (the RD Standard), you could/should have used one of those. RD Castrato anyone? I think that it's relevant that solid bodied electric basses and guitars as we know them have only been around in a meaningful, accessible and plentiful form for just over 60 years. That's only one lifetime. They're still very young in the grand scheme of things and we've only had a grandparent's and a parent's triumphs and mistakes to learn from so far. That's not a deep well of experience to draw from.

I'm playing at [url="http://www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk/"]Belladrum[/url] this year, so I'll definitely be attending that one

Video from most recent gig:

[media]http://youtu.be/pDnRbeU0GxA[/media]

Not a classic gig, but the warm up sounded pretty good considering we were literally trying to warm up - it was 11pm in a 3 walled marquee and it was bloody cold!

There were people there, honestly - about 2 songs in they, surprise surprise stand in front of the camera and later on, surprise surprise, someone dunts the tripod and cuts off Kenny, the trombone player for about half the gig

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1336650432' post='1648867']
You are going straight to heaven buddy and when you get there Leo himself will present you with a guitar whittled from Jacos heavenly sh1t and strung from Phil lynotts Afro, but until that day you're just some dude I disagree with who owns a fender. Wow.
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I don't own a Fender. If you don't count Squiers as Fenders (as people who choose to disguise them obviously don't) then I have never owned a Fender. So get off your high horse and stop being a dick.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1336647531' post='1648808']
(If a glass gets knocked on a cab you'll need a j-cloth, not the end of the world.)
[/quote]

Pfft, melodrama. No-one is saying it's the end of the world - it's not the end of the world if one of my basses gets smashed to smithereens. It's not the end of the world if I die - doesn't mean I'll be happy about it, and if it's caused by stupidity, negligence or carelessness then it's utterly inexcusable in my book.

Regarding the gig you mention - if only life was as perfect as that. You don't have to look far on here to find stories of complete lack of respect for gear that has been shared "for the good of the gig" (which could be interpreted as making up for people's shortcomings - you can imagine that I would view with some suspicion a tradesman who came to do a job for me asking to borrow some of the fundamental tools for the job because he didn't have them with him). But gear sharing is another "hot tattie" topic altogether.

It's a shame he doesn't do a 5 bass one, I'd have that. I suppose the only Gibson with a ghost of a chance of being included is the EB-3 though, bleh.

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1336579095' post='1647868']
I would be very surprised if a single contributor to this sight hasnt at some stage owned a decal job squier. It's widely accepted as the norm. It clearly says squier in the title I really don't see what's the problem is. He is selling a squier guitar and he says it's a squier. What more can he do.
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Picking up on the implication that we're somehow all at it (the accepted norm?) - I have only ever applied logos to two basses. One was a Hagstrom that I was restoring - it was a genuine Hagstrom and so I put a Hagstrom logo on it. The other was a Squier Precision. I modded it up and I wanted to have a laugh so I had a Fecker Imprecision Bass logo made in the late 70s style and applied that. I interpret the phrase "decal job squier" to mean one with a Fender logo applied to it and therefore I reject your hypothesis. I have never misrepresented the origins of a bass into something that could be used fraudulently at a later stage and I never will. I fundamentally disagree with the practice.

If you want a Fender, if you need to have that "prestige", then buy a bloody Fender. If you can't afford a Fender, then save up your pennies. But passing off a Squier (or whatever) as a Fender (which is what you're doing, regardless of whether or not you're upfront about it) isn't the way forward. In my humble opinion, of course.


Seems to be mostly a Fender problem. Should have used MOP inlays in black headstocks

PERSONAL OPINION ALERT - THIS IS NOT AN ATTACK ON THE OP (OR ANYONE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER)

I don't abuse my tools, I don't abuse my car, I don't abuse my house, am I being too precious? Sure wear and tear through use is normal, accidents will happen, but an amp is not a table to put beers on, never has been - it's just stupidity or reckless bravado and asking for trouble. Cigarette burns on the headstock? Absolutely ridiculous behaviour. What's precious about being careful? Am I precious for using a stand to put my bass on during the gig? Am I precious for wiping the rusty WD40 off a spanner after I remove a seized nut?

I remember on an old game of Snakes and Ladders when I was a kid - at the top of the biggest snake was a kid laying into a toy car with a hammer and at the bottom of the snake was the kid crying cos his toy car was wrecked. The lesson is there, and has been since way before I was born. Look after your stuff, because you should be bloody grateful that you have it at all.

EDIT: Just googled the board and I got my stories mixed up - the boy laying into the toy car is the first snake you encounter and he's just looking kinda gormless afterwards. There's a snake with a girl shaking her doll and her crying at the bottom because the doll's in bits. Got my heavy handed morality kids board game elements confused but the lesson is the same

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1299675479' post='1155218']
I had this discussion with Rich ^^^ in a slightly different guise of "if you could only keep one bass, which would it be?" and for all my love of weirdy Gibson basses, I'd have to say that my G&L Tribute L-2000 would be the last one to go.
[/quote]

Well, I'm going to have to change my stance here. My wife bought me my RD Artist, so it really has to stay above all others now. The fact that it's a brilliant bass helps

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1336565855' post='1647545']
I don't disagree with your dilema and the fact you are taking it seriously.
But, personally, I wouldn't put aside my dreams and ambitions in the hope/expectation that a pension scheme will pay up sometime in the future.
[/quote]

At the risk of invoking the wrath of private sector workers who think I've got it made and don't deserve it, it's a quasi-public sector superannuation scheme (I work in a University) which had bleedin' well better pay up.