tauzero

[quote name='RyMed' post='136597' date='Feb 8 2008, 02:49 PM']It got everywhere! Any tips on cleaning the insides once dried out?[/quote] Take everything apart. Wash it in clean water. Rinse and repeat. Dry in the airing cupboard for a couple of days. Remantling is the reverse of dismantling. Works for computer keyboards, anyway. Except that I put them in the dishwasher.

[quote name='Jamesemt' post='137159' date='Feb 9 2008, 04:50 PM']Hi guys, I currently own a Superfly and am looking to upgrade the rig slowly (ie cabs first). The Superfly is 2x250watts at 4ohms. Is there any way for me to run both inputs to one cab?[/quote] Yes. You need more than one speaker and the ability to do a bit of rewiring (of the speaker, not the amp) though. I've got a Superfly which I'm running into a homebrew 2x10". I've wired two jack sockets on the cab so that I can either run into one socket and have the speakers in parallel at 4 ohms, or run a separate channel into each of the 8 ohm speakers. You could do something similar with a 4x10" - if it's an 8 ohm 4x10, it would almost certainly be 4 8 ohm speakers, which could be wired up to give you two separate pairs of 4 ohm speakers.

[quote name='johnny dissident' post='137121' date='Feb 9 2008, 02:57 PM']Do any of you chaps gig with both double bass and bass guitar ? If so ,what rigs do you use or have used ?[/quote] I'm still in something of a state of flux, playing EUB and bass. I have been using a GK 200MB (predecessor to the MB150), getting the sound set up for the bass guitar which I use for most of the set and compromising on the EUB sound. The intention is to use an Ashdown Superfly and switch EQ as I switch between EUB and bass. [quote name='johnny dissident' post='137121' date='Feb 9 2008, 02:57 PM']Also, does anyone have any advice for switching between instruments mid gig, as I'm finding it a bit of a 'mare at the moment.[/quote] Which bit of it is the problem? Physically, my EUB is on a stand and my bass has straplocks so I just swivel the bass round behind me to play EUB. I can see that being a bit less satisfactory with the bulk of a double bass body. Electronically, I just press the Behringer A-B switch (and will in the future also be doing a little tap-dance on the MIDI program control footswitch).

[quote name='Mike' post='137978' date='Feb 11 2008, 09:33 AM']I flew back direct from Phoenix Skyharbor, Arizona to London Heathrow with BA, and they were absolutely terrific. Going through customs Stateside, I attracted only amused glances and a few questions from staff, including an "Oh, I love Paul McCartney" ![/quote] Presumably if said member of staff had loved Heather Mills instead, your bass would be on its way to the bottom of the Atlantic by now...

[quote name='Paul Cooke' post='137002' date='Feb 9 2008, 10:09 AM']some guy named *4music* got it for £1028... was that a good price?[/quote] List price is about £3500, I believe. So yes, a good price.

Many years ago, I was in a band of which the singer had a Kramer Al-necked bass. I tried it and I thought it was a dreadful thing to play.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='136143' date='Feb 7 2008, 10:52 PM']For those of you who missed the thread last time this bass was discussed it's from [url="http://www.mikeyguitar.com/index.asp"]Mikey Guitar[/url]. An interesting idea but I can't help thinking that the fretless conversion works the wrong way round. Instead of lowering the frets it should really raise the fingerboard otherwise the fretless action will be too high.[/quote] Given the way that it works, by rotating the frets, I think that would be impossible. What might be feasible is to have cams to raise and lower the bridge and nut.

+1 for Stringbusters. There have been two occasions of getting the wrong item (once was them, once was me), both times sorting it out was absolutely hassle-free. Plus they're cheap. If I was richer, I'd change my strings more often simply for the pleasure of dealing with them

[quote name='OldGit' post='135430' date='Feb 7 2008, 12:23 AM']My brief to Jon was "62p bass with 5 strings please..[/quote] I bet it cost you more than that, but top marks for trying.

[quote name='barneythedog' post='135152' date='Feb 6 2008, 04:57 PM']For more info on this seller see my post in the "how to spot a scam" sticky I will gladly post my full email exchange with him should anyone be interested [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=9854"]here[/url][/quote] There seem to be quite a few people who are happy with him (141, in fact, with one neg from over a year ago). Are you sure the second chance offer actually came from him and wasn't a forgery?

[quote name='joegarcia' post='134017' date='Feb 4 2008, 11:56 PM']Can't think of a use for it at the moment though.[/quote] A very very small Omni cab?

Through-neck headless five, twin neck, fretted and unlined fretless, neck profile the same as my Antoniotsai fretted 5, probably EMG pickups, body shape similar to Sei Flamboyant, wenge fretboards, maple/wenge laminate, not sure about body wood but probably a spalted or burled maple cap. Week after next would be fine.

[quote name='Rich' post='133095' date='Feb 3 2008, 04:03 PM']Shame, because the Fly guitar is simply brilliant... if I was a gtrist, I'd have bought one years ago.[/quote] I was seriously underwhelmed by the Parker Fly g**tar when I had a play on it, although that was because I didn't like the neck.

[quote name='ARGH' post='132955' date='Feb 3 2008, 12:23 PM']Its still E when you play an E,but I just think the only way to develop now is to develop the instrument....styles and techniques come and go,like fashion(80s slapola,Sheehans Tapping),as do types of instrument....but standards change...and as Ped says,groove..or feel is unquantifiable,you have it or you dont. but thats personal,the instrument will change...[/quote] Well yes, after all, in the guitar world, there had to be a significant change in the instrument for an innovator like Hendrix to play so wildly differently to a twangy conservative like Hank Marvin. I don't see why there shouldn't be innovative playing on four-strings. And I played the 7-string at the barn dance band's rehearsal on Wednesday, and it's difficult to get more conservative than 300 year old tunes. So you can play old tunes on a new fiddle as well as new tunes on an old one...

A bit of an odd one last night - return visit to the social club where I played my first gig with this band. Reasonable room, upstairs though. It's about three weeks since the singer's mother died, and last night would have been her birthday, so there were assorted sisters, brothers-in-law, nephews, and nieces sat in the corner getting hammered (and having some sort of shouting match outside afterwards, as well as one niece getting abusive about the ents secretary). As far as gigs go, it was about standard for us. The drummer and I are both getting a bit pissed off with the fact that we've been doing an identical set for two years though. Oh yes, and the singer went and invited this bloke up to sing, so he did a couple of numbers which Denis just about knew and I busked. I told the singer afterwards not to get any guest singers up again as it made us look like a bunch of amateurs. In equipment terms, it was the first time out for the cut-down 2x10" homebrew, which proved to still have plenty of bottom end to it. Needs some acoustic foam in it, I think. Need to have a good session programming the Superfly for it - not easy while we're in the flat... Oh, and the ents secretary had a word with me when I arrived - she wants to do an open mic night there and knows I regularly play at the one just down the road at the Roadhouse, so I (or Kaz and I) may finish up hosting one there. And the other band might get to do a barn dance there too...

Obviously a psychiatrist would be the best person to ask about this. As none was at hand, we asked Clement Freud to speak for a minute on the subject of Gear Acquisition Syndrome: "Gear Acquisition Syndrome, or GAS, is, according to Grandfather Sigmund, a form of kleptomania. The sufferer feels a compulsion to own a piece of equipment, be it an instrument, an amplifier, a speaker, or an effects unit. This feeling is not extended to the point of outright theft, however, and legitimate means of acquisition are pursued. The drive behind GAS is, in fact" Bzzzzzzz! Paul Merton has challenged. Paul? "He repeated GAS." That is a correct challenge. Paul Merton, you have fifteen seconds on the subject of Gear Acquisition Syndrome. "I remember once acquiring a gear. When I started driving I had a Mini, which I later replaced with a Maxi, which had five gears instead of four, so I had acquired a gear. Some Formula One drivers have taken this to the extreme, with seven gears in their" And there goes the whistle to mark the end of the minute.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='133063' date='Feb 3 2008, 03:05 PM']Ugly. And if you really wanted an upright bass guitar (apologies to those who are offended by the "g" word - you think of a more apt one) why not just put a really long spike where your bottom strap button would be? Or perch it on a barstool? [/quote] Or, indeed, screw it to a cymbal stand. Or get a Dean Pace (6" fingerboard radius my arse) and get it fretted.

If it helps, I'd never heard of Laklands until a few months ago, and I've been playing bass for thirty years.

[quote name='Absolute-beginner' post='130339' date='Jan 29 2008, 10:38 PM']I'd welcome suggestions on this, say around the £200 mark. Ive looked at shecktor and Ibanez and Yamaha. .[/quote] Precision and Jazz variants make perfectly adequate instruments until you get to the point where you can work out what you're looking for. There's so many reasonable budget basses out there that you're really spoilt for choice. As long as they seem reasonable without going through an amp, you should be able to get a good noise from them with an amp (any Precision-type bass will sound like there's a pillow over the speaker but that's normal). Find one you're really comfortable playing and get that. After a year or two, make sure you've got a few quid spare, then every time you walk past a shop with a bass in, go in and try it out. If you find one which is a significant improvement over what you have, buy it if you can. If you find one which is beyond all your previous experience (as long as you have got quite a lot of previous experience by now), buy it. You may even find that your ideal bass is a Precision or Jazz variant - many have, but whether that's simply down to bassists' innate conservatism, I don't know.

[quote name='Rich' post='131779' date='Feb 1 2008, 10:19 AM']Said it before & will say it again... the Hipshot detuner thingy is the single most useful mod you can make to a 4-string bass.[/quote] So much easier to just use a Digitech BP-200 (or similar) whammy to drop the entire bass by a tone. None of this arseing around with different relative tunings, and you get lots of free effects too.

[quote name='Absolute-beginner' post='132101' date='Feb 1 2008, 05:57 PM']Craig charles??? a nice bloke, are you kidding me??? what a complete stoned tosser! IMHO![/quote] When I did Robot Wars, he was just sat quietly behind the operator booths reading a paper until it was time to perform. I'd have rather liked to ask him about the Red Dwarf film (which was at the time allegedly being filmed in Australia) but I didn't. Flippa Forrester was much more chatty, I got talking to her at Technogames - she wasn't one of the presenters on that series IIRC, she'd actually turned up out of interest.

[quote name='noisedude' post='132341' date='Feb 2 2008, 12:14 AM']So why am I now already looking at cheaper alternatives for sweaty club gigs? Surely I bought it precisely for such packed and noisey nights and yet I'm convinced that I'm going to dent it the first time I turn round too fast near the wall at rehearsal. I'm actually scared of denting this bass, even though it's technically already 2nd-hand! Maybe it's the untarnished gold hardware or maybe it's the gloriously unblemished finish. I don't know. But can someone tell me why I'm not happier at getting exactly what I wanted??[/quote] I'm in a roughly similar situation - got an Aria Pro II Rhino as part of a deal, and it's surplus to requirements. Normally I'd take it down to the Roadhouse for an evening or two doing duty for me at the open mic night, but I don't want to because, although it's the least valuable of the basses I've got, it's (as far as I can make out) absolutely unmarked, and I'd like it to stay that way until I can sell it.

[quote name='Hamster' post='130888' date='Jan 30 2008, 07:05 PM'][quote name='OldGit' post='130870' date='Jan 30 2008, 06:41 PM'] Would a 500k pot brighten my darker sounding P pickup?[/quote] Yes - it will allow more highs through. If that doesn't work, try a 1meg. [/quote] Um, why would it allow more highs through? A pot is a simple resistance, which doesn't vary with frequency. Quick summary of resistances/impedances: Resistor (fixed or variable): a resistance which doesn't vary with frequency Capacitor: impedance which is inversely proportional to frequency - blocks DC completely, then the impedance falls as the frequency rises Inductor (coil): impedance which is directly proportional to frequency - so it increases as the frequency rises The effect of changing the volume pot is that (IIRC) it forms a potential divider with the pickup, so as the frequency rises, the proportion of the signal voltage across the volume pot would decrease. However, I don't know what the impedance of the pickup is - I would have thought it would have a pretty negligible effect, otherwise there just wouldn't be any top end. Oh hang on, it's a Precision, isn't it?