Kiwi

Whats the serial number, if one may be so bold as to ask?

[quote name='OldGit' post='142562' date='Feb 18 2008, 04:40 PM']Ha ha yeah .. Hey welcome back CK .. good break?[/quote] Yeah thanks, the break was VERY much needed - especially with the new job which didn't start as well as I wanted. We have a break with band for most of March too. It seems to be a quiet month for many musicians from what I can tell. So I'll be dropping in a little more over the next 4-5 weeks. However I'm still going to be dipping out for busy periods in the future. Besides which, I reckon Ped's doing such an ace job keeping things in line, that he might as well keep on with it.

[quote name='OldGit' post='142472' date='Feb 18 2008, 02:21 PM']No, the other end [/quote] Pissed bass players eh? I thought they must have meant leg end too. But WTF, any attention is an improvement on being ignored completely - or being patronised like I'm the hired help.

just found out this morning that someone went up to our percussionist after the gig on Saturday and told him "Your bass player is a legend" I guess it doesn't get any better unless they're female, wealthy, available and highly attractive...

Blimey woman, about time you showed your face around here.

We book our own gigs and have our contract written out on our booking sheet. Our food clause is a hot meal but doesn't specify what quality which has been my concern. Interesting, we got frozen lasagne last night. It wasn't bad food necessarily but the guests were getting much fancier fare. Might have been worth us checking what the client was getting charged, we're assuming that our meals are a different price because they're less sophisticated. The inner temple wedding gig we did, we got roast chicken and boiled veg with cheesecake for dessert. Last night we didn't get any dessert (not that there was time anyway)

[quote name='whynot' post='141843' date='Feb 17 2008, 12:31 PM']CK... We're at the Landmark next Friday. Not sure of the event as yet. Did a celeb Charity/Fund Raising one at The Dorchester last night. Really easy enjoyable gig. As per usual good food laid on as per contract. 1st set 15 minutes followed by a couple of cabaret acts. Cast of We Will Rock You turned up straight from the show and did a 20 minute spot and we finished off. This was a re-booking so hopefully will get it again next year.[/quote] Oooh, now I wouldn't mind playing at the Dorchester - how was parking? Whats the clause in your contract for food? I've been trying to get us included having food to the same standard as the guests but our percussionist "manager" reckons it will make us too expensive. Sounds like a fun gig though, have you got a link to your band's website? We had parking problems at the Landmark because most of the spaces were for residents only and there was an obvious over provision for them. I ended up parking around the back of the hotel on a single yellow line in Boston Place. At least the load in was easy.

Landmark Hotel last night for a Charity gig for the Princes Trust. Had Kylie's former keyboardist Steve Turner depping with us which was a lot of fun. I know lowdown has worked with him too, small world eh? Punters started off being inhibited (the dancing was more like shuffling) but we managed to get them bopping around consistently by the second set once more young'uns got in on it. We got two cheers at the start of "Good Times" and "Valerie". Most unusually some of the audience were digging the bass lines. Must have been a bass player there somewhere During soundcheck, we had lots of "fun" with a noise limiter which had been installed because the high court judge, who considers venue licensing applications in London, lives in an apartment next door to the hotel. Apparently he's made a number of complaints about the noise from the hotel during functions and we were told he has been known to spend evenings monitoring the dB levels from his window. I guess he doesn't get out much? We got them to switch the limiter off because kept tripping off, even when we were playing at relatively low volume. But the venue manager was still monitoring using a hand held device and frowning. Honestly we tried it at 96dB and we sounded like background music.

I've just installed a preloaded scratchplate with an EMG 89 (coil tap HB) and two EMG SA pickups with the SBC mid boost control. The sound is wonderful - very clear, clean and powerful. The gain from the humbucker is awesome yet the two single coils have no problem with Gilmour impersonations (he has the SBC and TBX installed on his guitars) and Chic funky chords. The pickups sound very different, maybe less 'organic', compared with the original seymour duncan set I've just removed. Consequent the other pickguard preloaded with mid 80's Seymore Duncan JB and two single coil pickups for sale if anyone is interested, £80 excl. PM me for pics.

I'm one of those long time BC fans. Her lyrics can be a little pretentious at times but there's no escaping her playing. I saw her at the Jazz Cafe a couple of years ago and the incredible diversity of the crowd who showed up was a tribute to the breadth of her appeal. BTW, when she played that full 99min concert in Switzerland, it was recorded although it hasn't been published yet. You can still see a stream of it here though if you have Realplayer installed. [url="http://r.bluewin.ch/?id=48859"]http://r.bluewin.ch/?id=48859[/url] If anyone can capture the stream onto their hard disk, please let me know. I'd love an offline copy.

[quote name='Muppet' post='132448' date='Feb 2 2008, 10:37 AM']We have a leader? I thought we were an autonomous collective....[/quote] Thats what I thought too. Congratulations Foal30, you have been assimilated. [i]NOTE TO SELF: Ask Phatmonkey for an "ironic" emoticon.[/i]

[quote name='Mike' post='114734' date='Jan 6 2008, 03:16 PM']Looking great so far Kiwi. Can you expand on cutting wood using a water jet? New to me![/quote] Basically the process involves creating a very high pressure and thin jet of water so powerful that it can cut through most soft materials up 250mm depth or thinner materials like metal and plastics. To paraphrase one website: * Cuts virtually any sheet material including metallic and non-metallic composites and honeycomb constructions. * Accommodates highly polished and reflective surfaces. * Clean and precise cut, free of heat affected zone. * Eliminates many secondary finishing operations. * Accurate, even on the most complicated designs. * Heat and abrasion free cutting means no distortion at the cut edge There's a PDF [url="http://www.controlwaterjet.co.uk/art/Waterjet%20PDF%20Option%201.pdf"]here[/url] Latest from Jon on the bass is these shots. Two of the facings glued and sanded. Plus the neck has been routed for the carbon fibre rods and planed to final depth, ready for shaping. [attachment=5353:Picture_308.jpg][attachment=5354:Picture_309.jpg][attachment=5355:Picture_310.jpg]

I have a Cutlass 1, its a lovely sounding bass apart from the well documented neck issues. Best Cutlass to get is probably an early one, before Geoff Gould took his eye off the ball as far as production quality went. But you'll probably have to fight me for it. . Clips and pics here: [url="http://www.freewebs.com/crazykiwi_bass/musicmancutlass.htm"]http://www.freewebs.com/crazykiwi_bass/musicmancutlass.htm[/url] Compare with my 78 stingray here: [url="http://www.freewebs.com/crazykiwi_bass/musicmanstingray.htm"]http://www.freewebs.com/crazykiwi_bass/musicmanstingray.htm[/url]

[quote name='Mike' post='129966' date='Jan 29 2008, 01:07 PM']I think he was hugely messed about when he asked for the payment he was owed. Hope that worked out okay.[/quote] I was and it did, thanks Unfortunately, I was one of many. R5R5 got screwed around more than I did, and I recommended the Bass Centre to him! I get the impression that either their bank or their accounting firm charged the company for withdrawls above a certain number so they kept lumping in their commission sale payments in with their salary payments. Then I suspect they had to give their accountants a certain number of go's at processing the payments before they had to cover the Bass Centres bank charges. All of this translated into ridiculous delays, because they expected the customer to wait while their accountants got their arses into gear and organised themselves. I really didn't see how that translated into a positive attitude towards customer service, they should have had a contingency plan rather than force their customers to wait up to 3 months for payment. Having said that, I do miss being able to walk in there and engage in some healthy banter - Jimmy Simms and Dan were great.

[quote name='G-bitch' post='129185' date='Jan 28 2008, 11:59 AM']Nice amps but just a little too 'polite' for my tastes and also I've found that I prefer lower power valve heads so that you can get a little power section saturation without causing structural damage to the building you're in![/quote] You can get that with the V8 and V4, they have 2 channels so you can run one clean and the other dirty and change between them with a footswitch. Alternatively, pair the Trace valve heads with an inefficient cab and you can push the power section at reasonable volume. The cabs will act like a powersoak. [quote name='ped' post='127954' date='Jan 25 2008, 06:54 PM']Look at what a chap on Talkbass did to his Trace[/quote] Looks well camp, mate. I can see why you like it.

just post a photo if you can along with a serial number. John will create any Series bass with any features for anyone with the money, so it doesn't necessarily hold that all Series 1 basses are automatically desirable. Prices also fluctuate wildly, sometimes ebay bidding can get out of control for a specific bass. I once saw a hideous refinished neon pink Jaydee with pink neck LED's go for £1300 on Ebay a couple of years ago. Also the Roadies can function and look identical to Supernaturals (even to having 2 pickups and active 3 band eq) except for having a black headstock but they lack the kudos of a MK model.

[quote name='thedontcarebear' post='121659' date='Jan 16 2008, 06:30 PM']I don't get the price of that, it's just a jazz bass.[/quote] Have a listen yourself maybe? [url="http://www.freewebs.com/crazykiwi_bass/celinderupdate4.htm"]http://www.freewebs.com/crazykiwi_bass/celinderupdate4.htm[/url] There wasn't a lot of difference between the cost of this bass and the cost of a 70's jazz bass to be honest. In fact, there are probably cheaper basses out there that could do the job just as well. I just wanted a modern bass that could do the 70's Marcus Miller jazz thing quite well with none of the potential risk that a vintage instrument offered. I didn't have to play this Celinder first before purchasing to know that it would be a winner. If I want to test an amp, generally its the bass I go for first. However it does lack a little as far as mids go so its not the growliest of jazzes out there. The body is very heavy and dense, the bridge is very heavy and dense, the neck is very stiff (with graphite reinforcing) so that kind of recipe is going to end up with a bass which puts out clean, snappy highs and thunderous lows. Softer woods tend to enhance the mid range at the expense of highs and lows. Generally we bassists like a combination of both which is where all the nice innovative designs come from. I'm personally very surprised at how similar a Fodera sounds to a mid-60's jazz tonally, yet they're completely different designs. Go figure. I also have a Celinder P-bass care of Mr Flanker that is getting a LOT of gigging at the moment. Also, a great bass that does the 70's p-bass thing as well. It has a stock Celinder bridge and pickup in contrast to the jazz. I'd say there's not much in it as far as the quality of the pickups go but I probably prefer the Badass bridge because of the mass it has. There's probably no superior or inferior way to design a bridge, it depend very much on what kind of contribution you want a bridge to make to the overall sound of the bass. If you want the wood to do the talking, then a lighter bridge will do. If you want the bridge to add solidity and snap through adding mass, then a heavier bridge like the Badass will do the job as well. The more basses I play, the less point I see in making generalisations where bass design is concerned. There are many different ways to achieve the same thing.

Another update - some pics of the neck glued up. Its REAL! I was expecting there to be slightly more wenge but there's nothing wrong with a lot of stiff maple. [attachment=4618:Neck_1.jpg][attachment=4619:Neck_2.jpg]

or they could make it out of garlic bread?

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='113543' date='Jan 4 2008, 02:21 PM']That would have to be a peak reading. There are no twelve inch drivers capable of that level broadband averaged. Twelves do exist that have 100dB sensitivity (making a pair 103dB), even a bit more, but they only achieve that sensitivity above 200 Hz or so. Below 100Hz, where it counts, 98dB is the practical limit in a direct radiator cabinet.[/quote] In terms of my experience of listening to the two, I would agree that the Neo212 has a distinctive response. Its certainly less even sounding than one Acme (which was quite happy being powered by 400w and sounded very good). There's definitely a mid hump with the Neo 212 (somewhere around 400-600Hz) and a touch of boominess, but that was at 'home' levels of volume. I couldn't say whether that character was due to the neo magnets, the cabinet design, the speaker sensitivity through the frequency range or ambient acoustics though. Probably a combination of them all I expect. I'll see how the neo 212 shapes up at rehearsal this weekend, 3dB here or there probably means very little on stage.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='113403' date='Jan 4 2008, 10:24 AM']A pair of Low-B2s are ~96dB. A typical 2x12" is ~98dB. However, based on the EBS cabs I've heard I'd expect a sensitivity peak in the high midrange plus a very high sensitivity tweeter which would make it sound more than 2dB louder. Lowpass the two rigs at 500Hz and you'd hear little difference in output. Lowpass the two rigs at 200Hz and the Acmes would probably be louder. Lowpass the rigs at 100Hz and the Acmes would be significantly louder. Alex[/quote] I haven't measured the B2's myself but the blurb on the Acme site says a B2 is about 93dB. EBS rate their 212 at 103dB. I was content to go with those figures for the sake of a purchasing decision. When I ran the Acme's with the amp, the lows were considerably more distorted to my ears but I don't have the inclination to lowpass the cabs, thats not how I use them. Still liked the sound the Acme's made a lot and in other circumstances I would have kept them but didn't want to tailor my setup around the speakers. I wanted speakers to match the amp.

It was me who made the original comment and I was going by my experiences of comparing my Acme B2's to my EBS 212 with a sensitivity difference of about 10dB. There was definitely a difference in volume and a marked improvement in performance at band rehearsal volumes. When I used the B2's with my 140w Burman heads the amp sounded like it was putting out about a quarter of the power. I have learned that sensitive cabs are more versatile in allowing me to satisfactorily use them with amps with a wider range of power ratings.

[quote name='Hit&Run' post='113344' date='Jan 4 2008, 07:42 AM']It was off ebay so hopefully I've got some form of 'buyer protection' (I used paypal).[/quote] Protection don't mean squat if the seller operates without a credit card and has shifted the money out of their paypal account before you lodge your claim and 'does a runner'. I'm still waiting for £70 still owed by a PC seller who couldn't tell the difference between an AMD CPU model number and its actual rated speed. Don't think I'll be seeing that money again. There are some horror stories about pretty much every courier from what I've seen of people's experiences. I think it boils down to the bloke who is on your round basically. When I get things express shipped by Fedex on my account, often items come through having been passed by HM Customs and Extortion without duty or VAT charged. The express shipping is extra but it has saved me a tidy sum on the big ticket items like my Smith fretless. I can also ask the seller to ship Fedex on my account number and that way I can avoid any 'extras'.