neepheid

I thought they were so awful that I freecycled mine.

Heh, I actually had someone offer me one of those. Great minds and all that. Nah, I'm going to have a laugh and build something myself. The idea has moved onto using a butchered laptop for both power (3600 or 4000mAh per battery - I have 4 of them) and a housing for a 20W RMS 12V circuit that someone pointed me in the direction of.

If I may pipe up here - the power socket/fuse/switch is one entire unit which happens not to be screwed in but probably held in with (hopefully beefy) clips. I will check tonight. So there will be some movement of the entire unit in its mounting hole, but in normal operation it will be fine (and would not have passed relevant safety checks if it wasn't). Probably a cost saving move. Would it have been better to screw mount it? Maybe, but it's not "loose" in the sense that it's likely to break free from the amp, chase me round the stage and electrocute me and I'm not bothered about it. I'll crack the case open again tonight and take some closeup pics of the area. Then you can make up your own minds about it.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1337120674' post='1655971'] Crazy low price. How reliable is the HB combo? [/quote] Time will tell. I've done 4 gigs so far with the RedSub amp (3 with just the head (one gig it was also used by two other bands), 1 in the combo) and numerous 2-3 hour rehearsals with the combo. I've used it to amplify my laptop. I've got no fear with the extended warranty and even that doesn't work out then a replacement head is only £150. The cabinet is solid and you'd probably break a toe if you kicked it.

Did this a good while back Enthusiasm for music - 67% Musical perception - 99% Emotional connection - 6% Social creativity - 56% Musical curiosity - 78% Or for those who like pictures:

I wouldn't intentionally cause damage to any material possession of mine, and I'd feel even more stupid paying someone to do it for me. Also, I hate clothes that already look worn out when you buy them.

I doubt it. I know a lass locally is about to receive a brand new surf green body for her lefty Strat with holes already dug out of the edges of it.

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1337071741' post='1654775'] Matt I think you and your RedSub need to get a room, I'm pretty sure Jayne will be getting jealous of your latest bit of fluff. [/quote] Not at all - for my sins I accompanied my good lady to a Zumba class last night, and participated. So I think being a sweaty, uncoordinated mess for an hour paid for the cover Yes, I was the only bloke there and no, it wasn't like the "Call on Me" video, although I did go home afterwards with the best lass in the place, so maybe it was a little like it.

Pics, or it never happened.

I've just received my Roqsolid cover for my RedSub - as you would expect it fits great and of course I took the red seams [url="http://amplifiercoversonline.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=107_312&products_id=2700"]http://amplifiercoversonline.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=107_312&products_id=2700[/url] It will obviously fit the Harley Benton too, as they're identical.

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. [/quote] 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 ? [/quote] 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? [/quote] 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? [/quote] 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... [/quote] 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.