JPJ

37 minutes ago, NickD said:

That's a hell of a board, but how on earth do you power it?... there are some pretty power-hungry items on there!

What you can’t see is the CIOKS DC7 strapped to the underside of the board which appears to cope admirably with the kit above.

1 hour ago, Paddy Morris said:

Very neat looking set-up.  Do we get a close up of the pedal board? Always good to see what other players are up to.

Sure, here’s my bijou little ‘does it all’ board, used with EUB, and fretted and fretless electric basses. Wireless from the basses, hardwire for the EUB, with the SansAmp and the Plethora X3 in the effects loop of the EBS Stanley Clarke pre. DI out from the Stanley Clarke and amp feed via the Micro Thumpinator. 

Just posting this because of how constantly amazed I am by the little TC Electronics BG250 208 combo, especially with my NS EUB. Wife was out yesterday so they both snuck into the lounge in her absence and it was a great opportunity for a photo 😎

Thanks Bill, I’ve found the same by experimentation ( in other words lots and lots of failed attempts) 😂

Companies like GR using sandwich construction will most likely be using a pre-preg (pre impregnated) carbon fibre mat cured in a vacuum oven. There are some air curing pre-pregs available but they are eye wateringly expensive and you still have to think about how you are going to finish it to seal it against moisture ingress. Alternatively, you can buy carbon fibre sheets either as pure carbon or foam cored from company’s such as these (no affiliation) but then you have to think about how you are going to construct the cabinet, oh and carbon sheet isn’t cheap either. 

On 08/11/2023 at 12:18, Soledad said:

Brilliant. His mastery off the fingerboard and his intonation just for starters. Notice he's humming along to his tune, playing what he hears.

Over in my EB world I'm reminded again - why do EBs have dots all over the neck, and lines on most fretless?

Funnily enough my NS NXT has dots all over the fingerboard. I try not to look because there’s too many of them and they put me off. Oh and no lines on my fretless P bass either 😉

I’m not as bad as I used to be (but still pretty bad):

• SWR SM1500
• SWR Marcus Miller pre + SWR Amplite power amp
• Ashdown Geezer Butler signature ‘Head of Doom’
• Ashdown ABM 400 1x15 neo combo
• TC Electronics BG250 208 combo

I’m Paul and so is my wife

41 minutes ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

 

So it feels like the Thumpinator almost ought to go at the beginning of the signal chain; to clean up all the infrasonic gubbins before it reaches your FX and amp.

 

 

 

I have mine at the end (last before the amp) to catch any damaging frequencies created by the Sub'n'up patch in the Plethora X3. It works for me, and I take the PA feed from my preamp pedal earlier in the chain so the PA gets everything.

4 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

 

 

Also when I was calling it a "somewhat subtle effect" I naturally meant "somewhat subtle audible effect", I also pointed out that it regardless was still "making a quite significant difference".

 

Apologies, I've just reread my post from last night - I didn't mean to sound arsey 🤦‍♂️

If anybody is interested there’s a great video showing speaker cone extension without, and then with a Microthumpinator HPF. This visually demonstrates the “subtle effect”

SFXSound Microthumpinator

10 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

No basses, electric or upright, are ergonomically unsafe. If you are experiencing health issues when playing any bass it's your technique that is wrong, and needs to be corrected.

 

Personal lessons would be the best way to ensure you develop an" ergonomically safe" technique.

Chris from my experience with first the Stagg and then the KK Baby Bass, getting the bass to stay in one position was the problem for me which necessitated a certain amount of left hand holding of the bass (although to be fair the KK was considerably better when sitting down). I’m now using an NS NXT on the stand and this problem is completely alleviated allowing a much better left hand position. In fact, the NS is even ok on the end pin attachment.

On 22/10/2023 at 12:17, Berserker said:

Here's some quick and dirty sound samples. Really like the sound of both pickups together. There's a real growl to this pickups, I thought the input was clipping at first. 

 

1. Pick - both pickups

2. Pick - Neck pickup

3. Pick - Bridge pickup

4. Fingers - both pickups

5. Fingers - Neck pickup

6. Fingers bridge pickup

 

Those pickups sound great and very little volume difference between the neck and bridge pickups. I also like the finish, looks like one of those early eighties Washburn's 

11 hours ago, MrCrane said:

You can also add Rod Clements of Lindisfarne onto the list.

 

 

A personal influence and a lovely guy to boot. Back in the very early 2000's I almost bought that fretless Overwater from Rod, but young children and common sense prevented me from going ahead with the purchase. 

I use a Fender Tony Franklin fretless, doubling on NS EUB, in an Americana/Country/Rock band, and like Beedster I actually find it easier to play fretless over fretted.

16 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Cheers guys, there's no pad on the Soundcraft MTK series which explains 

 

I'm just back from selling a MB combo to a wonderful 78 bass player (not a BC'er) who's still gigging regularly and been in a band that's been going with the same line up for over 4 decades - very inspiring! I did say, I'd double check items 1) to 4) that @JPJ listed and lo and behold the group master switch had indeed been disconnected for that particular channel. So I guess nice and easy! Thanks very much for jumping in though gents - it prompted the rechecking! 

Great news, pleased to be able to help

12 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

Thanks very much for that advice! It is indeed an analogue desk. Already checked for 1 to 4 last night, so shouldn't be an issue, but I'll definitely double check. 

 

In terms of an input pad being accidentally triggered, what am I looking out for? 

The input pad is normally a small button next to or near the input or gain knob (circled in red on this Yamaha example)

Lots of stuff to check really. Most mixing desks in rehearsal rooms have been well abused by the less than knowledgeable. But in the case of your own desk (assuming this is an analogue desk) I’d first check that an input pad hasn’t been accidentally engaged. Then I’d go through 1) check the channel gain is correctly set, 2) check that there’s no compression on the channel, 3) check there’s no extreme eq on the channel,  4) depending on the desk, check that the subject channel is assigned to the correct group and that group master is where you want it to be. 
Sorry if I’m teaching granny to suck eggs with this post, and I’m no expert, but the above is based on my own personal experience. For more detailed help, it’s probably worth sharing which desk you are using and how old it is.

There is an absolute steal of a bargain on a TC BG250 208 in the for sale section right now, only £125 and you can't go wrong at that money. Note, I am not affiliated with the seller in anyway. Just highlighting it here for interested parties.

8 hours ago, slowburnaz said:

For what it’s worth, here’s a fretless with my pickups and a Lusithand (though these are the coil pair per output versions):  

 

Fretless demo starts at around 3:35.

Two beautiful basses but I gravitate towards the fretless. It seems there are some really usable tones in this combination of pre and pickups, but in terms of a comparison to Wal, they should 'cleaner' to me, without that signature Wal distortion. Also, there seemed to be a noticeable volume difference between the various filter positions that I don't get with my Overwater filter pre? 

Just had a chance to watch the latest iteration video through my studio monitors, and again, I find myself preferring the sound of the Funkle over the Wal 🤯. It sounds to me like the Lusithand preamp is more 'open' than the Wal (in a sort of 'goes up to eleven' way) if that makes sense?

Playing around with the filter pre on my Overwater I have now discovered that the filters are indeed one per pickup, and that there is a pull up function on the master volume that appears to replicate the Wal pick attack. Despite my Overwater being a neck through all mahogany construction with what looks like an ash top, it does not sound anything like a Wal, having its own unique sound which I actually now quite like. 

My rig has two EV ZLX15P tops (the plastic box ones). EV’s marketing department claim 1000w but there is plenty of internet based evidence that they are only actually 250w RMS. We’ve played similar sized venues using ours for vocals, a smidge of guitar and bass, and a bit of kick drum and we’ve been fine. Sure, not the loudest but enough to have a great gig and be booked again.

Warren Murrel, bass player with Robert Jon & the Wreck, used the 500w version on their last two UK tours. I had the pleasure of sitting virtually in front of it at a recent show and it was sounding mighty. 

Here we have my John East 4 knob Uni Pre with black knobs recently removed from my Overwater Original series where it has seen very light duties. 

The circuit comprises three stacked knobs (volume & pan, treble & bass cut/boost with pull up on the treble for bright, mid frequency and cut/boost), and a single knob passive tone with a pull up for active/passive operation. Comes complete with output jack socket and battery clip. More details available on the East UK website here

Price includes 2nd class signed for UK postage.

So as I think I threatened earlier in this thread, today I’ve finally had a chance to reinstall the Overwater filter preamp in my Original series five string. I had removed this to install a John East Uni-pre as I felt I couldn’t get a tone I liked out of the bass in comparison to my John East J-Retro equipped five string Overwater Jazz. However, recently I’ve been playing a lot of passive bass (both fretted and fretless) and I’ve come to realise my tonal tastes are changing away from the deep dark bass I had tended to favour since first putting a J-Retro in a Fender Jazz five string many years ago. 

The preamp went back in without much of a fight, and initial impressions are that there is now a boat load of tones on offer. Control set is master volume, pickup pan, and two filters which work in parallel across both pickups. I’ve had a little play and I’m looking forward to giving it a good run through later. Oh and I’d forgotten how good a 36” scale low B sounds 😎