tauzero

[quote name='andytoad' timestamp='1413573197' post='2579826'] Apart from 4, 5 or 6 string, what models are there and how do they differ? Are there differences in neck profile? [/quote] German neck-through models have been made as the standard model and the JD variant (I've seen 4-string and 5-string JDs but can't recall seeing a 6-string). JDs stopped being made in about 1988. There have been three variants of nut (Just-A-Nut 1, 2, and 3), and two variants of bridge (one-piece and two-piece). Early basses had sculpted rears to the headstock and no volutes, later basses had volutes and plain rears to the headstock. Electrics have been EMG and MEC. They were originally bubinga and wenge - I think that ovangkol is now used in the neck-throughs but not sure for what. It appears I'm the only other person in this thread who thinks that neck profiles are significant. I've always thought of them as the most important feature of a bass. There are huge differences. I bought my 1987 JD Thumb because it had a fantastically slim and shallow neck and it was wonderful to play. I bought a 2000 Thumb around 2002 or 2003 and the neck was a great thick lump - I was having the bass defretted anyway so I got the luthier doing it to reprofile the neck to the same dimensions as the JD Thumb. I believe they've slimmed them back down somewhat now. If buying one, you'd need to either play it or find out exactly when it was made and which model, and try to find an exact counterpart to play on. That's unless you're not bothered about neck profiles, of course.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1414400715' post='2588828'] Last night I also discovered it also needs a new just-a-nut. So this will be getting a new brass one. So, it's looking like this one's going to get some "love" at last. [/quote] Thomann do a Just-a-nut 1 clone - [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/abm_6240_webster_nut_bass.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/abm_6240_webster_nut_bass.htm[/url] although you'd have to check the width.

You've all missed the point. This is an extraordinarily rare [b]non-relic[/b] instrument that has somehow managed to avoid being burnt, gouged, chiselled, and sanded to the point of destruction (and well beyond the point of either redemption or good taste).

Yamahaha banananana bass?

I've used a Digitech BP-200 for similar purposes - I just used the whammy function and shifted it down a tone. Shifting down a semitone would mean doing it by ear.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1413716527' post='2581069'] 1) There's a Blue one at Maplins for about £20 maplins [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-50w-solder-station-n78ar"]http://www.maplin.co...r-station-n78ar[/url] are good if you're using lead solder, but the lead free stuff melts at hotter temps, and these aren't really up to the job. [/quote] Mine recently fell to bits - the element fell out and burnt the carpet. Grrr. It had done a couple of years of service.

As there are 10 string anchors (not 9), if it was a reasonable price it might make a usable 10-string tapper, or even a 10-string straight ERB - the bottom 5 strings are a waste of space so it would be easy to work out which ones to get rid of.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1413216723' post='2575949'] I've always found bass guitars are safe.... until someone else tells us another horror story. [/quote] My Peavey Grind 6 - bought for £210, put it on at £125 and it got just the one bid.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1413122997' post='2575070'] I'd assume that this is happening. But, I don't know why. Why wouldn't s/he make it free p&p? [/quote] Dunno, but the same instrument is available on Amazon for £349 with free P&P so it may be a bit optimistically priced, or relying on inertia of potential purchasers.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1412889864' post='2573149'] We see that all the time here in the Marketplace forums. The market will dictate the value of the item and, if the seller wants sell, the price will be reduced until it does. [/quote] I've said before, that's a mistake because people know the price will drop so they hang fire on buying something until it does. The proper approach for a seller to take is to start increasing the price, then if someone wants to buy it they'll have to get in quickly before it rises too much.

Gramma pad?

[quote name='PlungerModerno' timestamp='1411865649' post='2563433'] I'm just not happy with the set neck joint on 80% of their models... I'd be happy to pay for gibson electronics, but I think I'd put them in someone elses body, namely one with an upper horn to remove neckdive, and a bolt on neck to allow shimming / shaving to get it all working prefectly. [/quote] My basses are all neck-through. Somehow they all manage to work properly without shimming and shaving.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1412513705' post='2569464'] I don't understand people taking basses to open mic nights to be honest, as they very much tend to be places for singer/songwriters to play their stuff. If I was playing any of my acoustic stuff at an open mic night the last thing I'd want is a bassist with no experience of the material being played trying to bluff their way along with it. [/quote] My experience has been rather different. My more recent open micing followed on from getting Mrs Zero to sing in public - we started going to one open mic night, and I finished up becoming the house band's bassist (they didn't have one before), which meant that I could be called on to play with anyone. Some nights were primarily singer/songwriters or people doing rather odd covers, other nights I barely got a chance to have a drink. So I couldn't generalise from attending the same open mic night regularly, let alone from attending assorted ones.

Um, quite a few. Five Antoniotsais (3 5-strings, one 6-string, one 7-string), two Warwicks (both 4-string Thumbs, one fretted JD, the other defretted and reprofiled to JD dimensions), just the one Peavey Grind, a Dean Rhapsody 10-string, Ashbory Mk I and Ashbory Mk II, Sei Original 5-string headless fretless, Status Series I, NS WAV-4, an Aston 4-string, and a bitsa with a 4-string P copy neck and 4+1 Wilkinson bridge.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1412426978' post='2568847'] You'll see a shift in the fundamental to harmonic ratio as you go up the scale. A vibrating source works best where its dimension is 1/4 wavelength. With an open string 36 inches long 1/4 wavelength is 94Hz. The fundamental of the low B would be stronger if your B string was 1/4 wavelength long, but at 113 inches that would be somewhat impractical. This shift explains why the same notes played at the lower end of the fretboard and the upper end of the fretboard sound slightly different. The shorter string length will have less fundamental content. I avoid playing a note on a lower string fretted above the seventh fret in favor of the same note played on a higher string for this reason. For that matter I avoid going above the seventh fret at all unless I have to. I play bass, not guitar. [/quote] Being experimentally minded and not having delved into the theory, if I want a note to sound deeper, I play it on a lower string further up the fretboard, and it works. Of course, there's not just the string length to consider, you're also moving the midpoint of the vibrating length of string closer to the pickups, and for that matter, if you don't change your right hand position, you're plucking closer to the midpoint of the vibrating length.

[quote name='VTypeV4' timestamp='1412264812' post='2567318'] I would like to think it'll be somewhat of an improvement over the Superfly.. Not an awful amplifer to be fair but maybe just a liittle ahead of it's time with regards to its power-stage..? [/quote] It would be nice to see the Superfly preamp section brought back.

Also very interesting. Presumably the high initial peak for a half cycle is because that's the half cycle where the string is struck, so it's starting with a larger displacement than it can ever get to when it's vibrating freely, and the amplitude of the signal is proportional to the string velocity, which is highest when the string is going past the midpoint of its travel immediately after the string has been plucked. Easy to work out when you see the answer in the back of the book...

[quote name='tks.se' timestamp='1412160565' post='2566219'] When playing a low B, most of the tone consists of harmonics to the fundamental. Here's the result of playing a low B and running the signal through a spectrum analyser: [/quote] That's an interesting result, and one which I'm rather surprised by. I was expecting a succession of even harmonics and not much in the way of odd, but the odd harmonics are there in force. The reason I'm surprised is that with even harmonics there's a node at the 12th fret, while with odd harmonics there's an antinode there. Mind you, the fundamental also has an antinode there, so perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised.

I use a clip-on fan, about 6" diameter, which will just about clip onto a speaker stand or sit on top of my cab. Not as powerful as a big floor fan but takes the edge off the heat.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1412206307' post='2566841'] Yeah I think I first learned about Fourier Series when I did A Level physics though I've never used that knowledge in any practical setting - what was your signal generator for? [/quote] Just testing audio pathways. It was a signal injector, I remember now - a 7400 IC, the odd capacitor and resistor, all on a bit of veroboard in a 35mm film container with a length of threaded rod sticking out of it. This was 40 years ago so it's a bit of a struggle remembering, especially these days when breakfast is a bit of a mystery. I also wrote a program for a Sinclair QL which built up a display of a square wave from the harmonics.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1410389229' post='2549045'] I think he means 'harmonics that are lower in volume than that of the fundamental frequency of the square wave'. [/quote] A square wave is actually made up of a series of sine waves, all the odd harmonics of the signal. The amplitude of each harmonic is inversely proportional to its harmonic relationship, so if the fundamental is 1V p-p, the 3rd harmonic will be 1/3V p-p, the 5th harmonic will be 1/5V p-p, the 7th harmonic 1/7V p-p, and so [i]ad infinitum[/i]. I once built a square wave generator using a TTL IC, so it was providing 5V p-p, tuned to about 1kHz, and it would happily radiate into the RF range.

I thought it was 2x250 into 4 ohms, 2x175 into 8 ohms. And, indeed, doing a quick google, Ashdown's website agrees with me (and it was them that told me it was 2x175 into 8 ohms). There is a Superduperfly, the 1000W version, which has an internal fan and runs nice and cool.

[quote name='bassmachine2112' timestamp='1411745739' post='2562510'] Made in USA/handcrafted basses are good. Foundation basses are very good. [/quote] BXP basses are very good. Although there's not a lot in it, I actually prefer the BXP Grind 5-string neck to both the BXP and USA Cirrus necks (played all three back to back so I could make a direct comparison).

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1411423737' post='2559475'] The battery is under the neckplate? Surely then you'd have to remove the strings to change the battery?! [/quote] I doubt it. The screws holding the neckplate on are diddy scratchplate-type screws, so presumably it's a cover plate concealing both the battery and the actual neck screws. Either that or the neck pocket is tight beyond Fender's wildest dreams.

[quote name='dudewheresmybass' timestamp='1411030894' post='2555664'] Is it just me or are there two different girls pictured? One in the woods, and a differing one in the bedroom? [/quote] The one in the bedroom is the one he's just strangled and hasn't yet disposed of the body.