Dingus

[quote name='ShergoldSnickers' timestamp='1398552548' post='2435289'] Still got a pair of Epos ES14s. They were designed by Robin Marshall who also designed speakers for Mordaunt Short. The side panels are connected internally by a rod that is tensioned to pull the panels toward each other, to increase the rigidity and resonant frequency. The drive units are mechanically tuned and matched with regard to roll-off points, and require only a single capacitor between the treble driver and bass/mid unit. I ended up using a pair for monitoring in a friend's commercial recording studio, and after contacting Robin Marshall because we were slightly worried about the amount of abuse the drivers could take, he sent some for us to destruct. It took the full power of an Alesis HR16 drum machine, all possible cymbals and hi-hats going, to blow the aluminium domed tweeter. It was wired directly across the amplifier output, and it took the full output of the mixing desk and power amp to break it, It wasn't the coil that went — the aluminium dome shattered! The sound in the main recording room was unbearably loud before it went. There's an interview with Robin Marshall, where he mentions BBC speaker designs as well as the ES14, here: [url="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/567/index.html"]http://www.stereophi.../567/index.html[/url] [/quote] Epos ES14 - one of the best hifi speakers ever. Really fabulous design. Still sound great, especially with Naim amps.

Lets face it, whether you are an aspiring musician or not, most 9-5 jobs are crap and pretty soul destroying . Contrary to the current propaganda, wanting to avoid that kind of routine is understandable and quite commendable in many ways.

Morrisey is a genius. His music has mostly been crap since he left The Smiths ( would have been great to see them carry on without him with Jimmy Somerville as the new singer) , but he knows a thing or two about generating publicity. Like this whole vegetarian "all I eat is toast" facade. If his career ever starts petering out all he needs to do is announce to the world that he is eating meat again and finding it delicious and he will get such a tidal wave of exposure that money could never buy.

I can't play a 35 inch scale bass . Even on well made basses that play relatively effortlessly I always wonder how much easier they would be to play if they were 34 inch scale, or shorter. In fact, I really like the Rickenbacker scale lenghth of 33 1/4 inches. The thing about 35 inch scale for a five string is that, yes, it tightens up the B string, but at the same time it tightens up the other strings , changing both the sound , feel and overall tension quite significantly. Going to 35 inch scale gives the basic sound of the bass a different complexion to all the strings, not just the low B, usually with a greater emphasis on the higher harmonic overtones of the notes. You may like that or you may not. Also, it's very noticeable to me that some bass makers manage to avoid the inconveniences that 35 inch scale can cause by designing basses where the low B on a 34 inch scale instrument sounds just as clear and feels just as taught. Sadowsky, EBMM and Fodera all spring to mind as offering excellent sounding five string basses with 34 inch scale. Indeed, Fodera will do you a 33 inch scale bass with a superb low B, albeit at a cost. The bass guitar is hard enough to play as it is. To me the imperative is to go shorter and make it easier, rather than to go the other way .

I don't think the neck profile on the Classics is quite as slim from front to back as the original pre-EB Stingrays were. All the original Stingrays I have ever played, including my own '82 one, have had [i]very[/i] pronounced shallow "D" shaped neck profiles whereas on EBMM basses the necks have a bit more meat to them, by comparison.

I personally know musicians who are or were in signed bands with record deals, doing world tours, appearing on T.V and having their music in the charts and they still weren't making a steady living and were existing with an income slightly above the Income Support level , but with no real security and all kinds of pressures upon them. By the same token, I also know some other musicians who have made a decent living for the last thirty years doing all kinds of gigs as backing musicians, but those lads are all [i]exceptionally[/i] capable players. The first thing you have to do is be realistic about how good you really are.

AVI are a fantastic little company with a very refreshing no-nonsense approach to audio, and everything they make is built to a very high standard of quality. Those Neutrons are superb speakers, some of the best of their kind in that price range, and they sound even better if you partner them with a suitable subwoofer to extend the bottom end. It's a shame AVI dont make conventional separates systems any more. The components they were turning out about ten years ago sounded extraordinarily good and sold well internationally, but the people who run the company have decided that computer-based audio is the way of the future, and have geared all their current products towards that market. They may well be right.

I have nothing against Bass Guitar magazine and I'm glad it exists , but it does have to be said, most of the features are pretty devoid of any really interesting content, and overall the whole magazine reads like the text is an inconvenience and an afterthought, really just excuse to hang the advertising on . The interviews and features are too short and usually pretty vapid , and, for the most part, the equipment reviews aren't precise enough or impartial enough to be useful. The problem all these magazines have nowadays is that they no longer have a captive audience that will automatically gravitate towards specialist interest publications and buy them because there is precious little else available that is about their favourite hobby . The internet is choc-a-block with far more interesting bass guitar orientated content than Bass Guitar magazine could ever hope to compete with and it's all free , but compete they must do, just to survive. In that respect, I sympathize with them.

[quote name='planer' timestamp='1398424474' post='2433922'] I didn't realise it was just the two of them, cos I heard before I saw. He could be playing a kazoo up his ar5e for all I care, it's the sound, the feel and the energy of the tracks I like. I have to agree though, that they may be a one-trick pony. Time well tell. [/quote] Take it from a man who knows, a kazoo up the arse gives a sound, feel and energy that is totally unique. You can get close to it using the active E.Q on a Wal, but nothing really matches the real thing.

[quote name='SteveK' timestamp='1398382286' post='2433657'] The real test for them is, how they are going to maintain interest for an entire album or live set with such a limited format. [/quote] ..or indeed the second album To me, they are basically like a hairier version of The White Stripes but with a bass. I'm much too old and frightened of loud noises ( and beards) to enjoy this kind of music ( I much prefer that nice Robert Palmer chap from the other thread), but no doubt with similarly orientated young hipsters , this lot will find favour, for a while at least.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1398379844' post='2433638'] As for the general slagging off of guitarists on here, why all the sperm fountains over a bassist who sounds like one? [/quote] The Sperm Fountains - great name for this kind of a band!

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1398283398' post='2432554'] I believe the expensive ones have their new vibration and wood ageing process like on the Attitude 3. [/quote] I've been trying a vibration process on the ageing Mrs Dingus lately, but she sounds just the same as ever.

L.A can indeed be a bit frightening sometimes , but the reality is that it isn't any more dangerous than most big urban centers in the U.S.A. In fact, L.A visiting is probably a lot safer than a lots of cities in North America that you don't immediately think of as being particularly dangerous , like Houston, St Louis or New Haven, so I wouldn't let the threat of crime put you off unduly. The image of L.A as a violent and dangerous place is as much a problem of perception as it is of reality, the major difference with L.A being that its' crime problem is frequently represented in the media and popular fiction, so it looms large in the collective imagination of people all over the world. Yes, L.A has a problem with gang-related violent crime , but by the same token, Los Angeles also has a disproportionately huge police force that operates as a [i]de facto [/i]paramilitary organisation , dedicated to containing that kind of crime within certain areas. With the exception of the area around Norwalk/ Long Beach, generally speaking , as long as you stick to west L.A near the coast, you will be fine, and once you go down towards Orange County and San Diego there is nothing but predominantly affluent middle class suburban sprawl that is so safe that it is boring. Just use your common sense. South Central L.A is indeed pretty dangerous, and parts of downtown L.A around Skid Row are even more dangerous than that , especially at night, but they are areas it is pretty easy to avoid. Even if you do end up in South Central L.A by accident ( seems to happen quite a lot) , the chances are nothing much will happen. As for what to do and where to go, L.A has so much to offer that it is difficult to know where to start, but the problem is that the city is so spread out it can be difficult to get around , especially taking L.A;s notorious traffic problems into account. As has already been suggested, Santa Monica is indeed an excellent place to visit, and if possible arguably the best area to make the hub of your visit. There is lots to do and see around the Third Street Promenade and the surrounding streets, and there is Santa Monica Pier to stroll round, too. The great thing about Santa Monica as well as its' many attractions is that it is easy to get to lots of other interesting places, like Hollywood, Malibu , Venice ect. And for music venues, The Baked Potato is pretty amazing in so much as on most nights you can usually see some of the very best players in the world there in a very loose and informal setting. You never know who is going to turn up there to jam or just hang out. If you heading down towards San Diego then there are lots of beautiful beach towns that are well worth a visit, like Laguna Beach , San Clemente and La Jolla . You could also nip in and have Sunday brunch at the spectacular Hotel Del Coronado . It costs $85 for all you can eat, but the food and the location are something really special . For $85 though, take a big appetite, and maybe even a big plastic bag so you can steal some food for later. I've never found that much to do in San Diego, except try to avoid getting dragged to San Diego Zoo. San Diego has a reputation for being one of America's most boring and conservative cities, not least of all because a very significant proportion of the population are from the armed forces and their families, by virtue of the fact that the region has a proliferation of military camps, huge naval bases and airfields. The area just north of San Diego is much more fun, in my opinion.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1398277689' post='2432446'] However the OP makes no mention of prefabricated bodies. For all we know he's off down to his local timber yard for some boards of whatever he decides upon. Also I would contest that wood being cut down today is the same as that from 50 years ago. Environmental growing conditions have changed and in general the trees are harvested at a younger age these days. Also the various seasoning processes that the boards see from being cut to being fabricated into bodies have changed especially in the case of mass-produced instruments. [/quote] Do you think any of those things will make a tangible difference ? Generally speaking, an alder body is an alder body, in my humble opinion. In practice, any decent example will sound fine.

Thanks, I just thought it up and typed it on the spur of the moment.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1398243072' post='2431910'] If you are going to finish it in a solid colour then it doesn't matter. If the grain is going to visible, whichever wood has the most pleasing grain pattern to you. What Fender did back in the 60s is mostly irrelevant. What ever wood you buy here, today, will be considerably different to what was being used on the other side of the Atlantic 50 years ago. [/quote] Mmmm, except that most prefabricated ash and alder bass guitar bodies on the market are usually made from North American ash and North American alder, just the same as Fenders were fifty years ago. Bodies of either wood that are fifty years old may well sound slightly different to their new equivalents though, due to changes in their moisture content . For a '60's style Fender bass , alder is the traditional choice , and ash is a bit more complicated as a proposition, because whereas alder is a fairly uniform wood, ash has far more variants within the species. Lightweight swamp ash sounds different to very heavy and dense Northern ash like Fender and Musicman used in the 1970's. Overall though, like Molan very rightly says, a whole host of factors influence the final tone of the bass. I have played a few late 1960's Fenders that had actually had ash bodies and they sounded no different to their alder equivalents , to my ears at least , anyway. . In reality, either wood sounds fine in most instances.

Dave "sex symbol" Ellefson...

Yes, let us know what those EMG's are like, Dave. I am keen to hear what they are like from someone with first-hand experience of them.

I am mystified as to what has just happened in my absence ? Why do I always miss the exciting stuff? I really am a good looking man , just as handsome as Justin, albeit in a more downtrodden manner.. Let him sue and I can provide medical evidence to support that claim. Or is the prospect of liable because Manchester United are using their lawyers to rewrite history in an Orwellian manner and threaten to sue anybody who says that David Moyes was ever their manager, hand picked by Alex Ferguson to succeed him, and that he was gloriously useless?

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1398147483' post='2430824'] And he's a great dancer. As I may have mentioned before. A few times [/quote] Justin is O.K at big events like the Grammys or the Brit Awards with all his troupe of professional dancers to back him up, but put him at a wedding disco in Deptford and he would go to pieces. Some of his moves are pretty slick , I will admit that , but none of them can match my own radical and innovative choreography, especially the way I now combine the classic Claire Sweeney jazz hands with the leg on a string routine. That has never been done before in the history of dance.