MiltyG565

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1360955747' post='1979095'] Even with volumes, you'll be selecting different coils because you'll be mixing single coil and humbucking pickups. If you get jazz pickups that are stacked humbuckers (the second coil is a humcancelling dummy) you'll be selecting between different humbuckers in terms of voltage but still get the single coil sound. Polarity is still something to be careful about though when selecting a single coil and humbucker. Aaron Armstrong will be able to make you a custom set of J/M/J pickups and advise on how to blend them. [/quote] Ok, what i was going to do was have the single volume pot for the jazz pickups, and one for the MM pickup. Then have a series/parallel pull pot for the jazz pickups. How much would a custom set cost?

[quote name='Myke' timestamp='1360955020' post='1979079'] This is a really interesting design I know nothing about anything to do with building and pickups etc. so won't offer any opinions except on the look of the thing but I will keep my eye on this! Topic followed [/quote] Don't go stealing my ideas, Myke... IF THAT IS YOUR REAL NAME!? Joking aside- thanks for taking an interest!

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1360954600' post='1979064'] I'd suggest talking to someone like Aaron Armstrong about the impact of polarity in different coil combinations too. Having lots of coils makes life very complicated unless the coil switching options are restricted to a few options that work well. [/quote] There won't be a coil switch, just volume controls.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1360954185' post='1979047'] OK, I didn't see the bit about eq - sorry about that. But with multiple coil combinations you'll still need an eq with an input buffer. It won't help much with the series/parallel changes but it will help between parallel and single coil selections. [/quote] I agree. I am quit ignorant still of this technical stuff, so that is why i have asked for the opinions and help of you guys I am reading now about input/output buffers.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1360950960' post='1978952'] You haven't mentioned eq so I'll assume you're intending to run a passive bass. [/quote] I have. [quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1360825710' post='1976992'] Then the preamp will be bass and treble boost only. [/quote] [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1360950960' post='1978952'] If you want a bass that will do jazz and MM sounds, you'll just need a heavy ash body (wood from near the root) and a bolt on maple one piece neck. [/quote] Agreed! [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1360950960' post='1978952'] BTW, have a go on a HH stingray too, if you would like to see for yourself the impact of volume changes in coil switching without an input buffer. A Lakland Skyline 4402 would probably give you what you are looking for without the risk of failed experimentation. [/quote] I've actually just finished changing one from a HH to a H without coil switching. I like it better this way.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1360944675' post='1978827'] sorry... I kinda pulled everything you were saying to pieces.... I do think you would do better blethering on here as what you want tonewise and what you're after and see what the suggestions are.... I'm no expert but i have a feeling that the pup set up you're after may not give you what you want... [/quote] It's no trouble, it's good to hear an honest opinion. TBH, i was just speculating based on what tone i think the pickups will give, not necessarily saying a tone that i would prefer. Obviously the idea is to have a jazz bass, and a MM in one, particular tone of the pickups doesn't matter too much, so long as it produces the tone of those basses.

[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1360946919' post='1978875'] Your pal will want better quality than that, but it may be worth exploring. Just a thought. [/quote] He definitely will. He knows quality, and wouldn't stock something that he personally wouldn't be happy with. I asked because i know you guys would know a lot more about bass (individually and as a collective ) than me, although i'm happy to offer him advice. I know what is good and what isn't when i play, and could see/feel things that are wrong, but i don't have as much experience with different brands as you lot would. I've had an epiphone, and that was an absolute PIG of a bass, i've had 3 OLP's- 2 were alright, but not up to my standard. 1 was head and shoulders above the other 2, and i still have it. It's a korean made one. My first bass was a stagg jazz copy, the neck was so fat and cheap that i'm surprised i even still play, although that could even have been a couple of years old when i bought it 2 years ago. No idea what a new one would be like.

Great response! Writing these all down. [quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1360946258' post='1978865'] A Washburn Taurus can be had for very little money, ive owned 2 Peavey milleniums and they would make a good beginner bass and i would think you could get one for a lot less than £200 [/quote] Good stuff, a contender for the likes of the Ibanez GSRM 200?

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1360944904' post='1978833'] What would you say your maximimum budget would be Milty ? £200- £300 is what I am guessing . If I was starting out again today I would be nagging my dad for one of these : [url="http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Yamaha-BB424-Bass-Guitar-Tobacco-Brown-Sunburst/D9P"]http://www.gear4musi...wn-Sunburst/D9P[/url] Just a bit more than your budget probably , but not so expensive as to be out of the question . A Squier would be my other choice . [/quote] Just to clarify, i'm not on the market to buy a cheap bass. A friend of mine owns a music shop, which is a pretty small outfit, and he is expanding all the time. He doesn't play bass much i think, and if he's going to stock a couple of basses, i want him to be as well informed as possible. He has a lot of Lag guitars and other cheap but good guitar brands (acoustic) then a lot of Stagg electric guitars. So it's pretty clear that is the sort of area he is aiming for- low price- good quality.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1360944484' post='1978821'] I would say Yamaha . They are widely available and are usually excellent for the money at whatever price point . [/quote] Hit and miss i find. My Yamaha guitar is fairly poor considering the praise they get. I think you have to spend a pretty penny with them to get something actually decent. But then, i am a perfectionist. [quote name='bremen' timestamp='1360944534' post='1978824'] um, Squier? [/quote] Yes, i suppose, but aren't the really cheap ones a bit horrible? There are cheap brands out there that do make genuinely good basses for the money!

Just found that the Peavey Millennium range starts around £200... WHAT!? It looks like something i would expect to pay double that for! Any testimonies on how it plays?

Pretty much as the title says. I want to hear any affordable and beginner brands that make decent basses. We all know stagg and encore, what are some others? If you have played them, that makes your suggestion all the better! BTW, we are talking the kind of price of bass that a small town music shop might stock. So good, but very affordable. Cheers

The first part of the clip- The distortion isn't that bad. If you aren't happy with it, you'll have to speak to an expert though.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1360889715' post='1978115'] A friend did the same thing with his pickups, he had a yamaha with jazz pups and stuck a MM inbetween just to see what it would do. He seemed happy with it. One though... while theoretically two jazz and a MM pup would give "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]give a great, throaty (steady on) sound, full of mids, bass and treble" it's possibly not going to work that simply, in the same way a jazz with both pups on has a slight mid cut, you may find you have all sorts of different frequencies being cut out(is combing the correct phrase?) also the way a pickup is contsructed has a massive effect on how it 'sees' the string. A humbucker with fat wide poles like a MM pickup sees the string differently to say a jazz pickup where the string goes between two magnets. Personally if I was going to have two jazz pups and a MM then I would go for jazz pups like the Delanos with the fat poles so they all were working off the same idea. But then I doubt personally I would ever run them all on at the same time.[/font][/color] [font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]Also... stacked, humbucking, overwound jazz pups... could possibly give the opposite of "great treble response" ... ? that's what I would have thought, though what kinda great are you looking for.[/color][/font] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]But... reading what you write again... you want a throaty sound fill of bass mids treble.... so given that you are wanting more of the whole tonal spectrum... what do you want? My thought would be that a proper choice of woods, construction [/font][/color][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]technique and pickups and pickup placement would get you close to your sonic goals easier than a complex set up of J-MM-J ... what do you want it to sound similar too? what else bass wise gets into that sonic territory? what kinda music will you play with it? [/color][/font] err... if we accept that woods affect tone... I don't think lightness in and of itself give more treble. I had a fender '75ri, but made in a lighterwieght alder, it was darker than the brighter and snappier tone of the traditional ash '75ri. Things sound different but I don't think that their is a corralation between weight and brightness. Also wood weight varies depending on where in the tree it comes from, you can find some very light mahogany, ash, alder, whatever... and some heavy as fook stuff. [/quote] Cheers for the suggestions, i'll probably re-read this a couple of times over the next few days. Like i said though, i'll try this, then refine it if needs be. Cheers

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1360913119' post='1978170'] I don't think what you have suggested will give you what you are looking for. Choose either bolt on or thru-neck depending on your taste. But you'll need to make sure the neck is just about stiff enough, not too stiff if you want mids to be prominent. A stiff fingerboard will help keep things rigid if you opt for a higher proportion of softwoods in the neck but you'll need a super stiff spine. Maybe consider laminates of mahogany for mids and maple for rigidity and brightness with a nice and thick maple or ebony fingerboard. The body can be mahogany or alder. Chambering can tune things a little. For a broad frequency response in pickups, think about piezos and add a MM humbucker in the stingray position for extra bottom oomph, attack and graunch. You can coil tap it or make it series/parallel for variety. Just run it through a preamp with an input buffer to even out voltage changes with different coil combinations. Try a stingray with piezos out at a bassbash sometime just to see how you feel about it. If you don't like that combination, you can always have single coils added later. [/quote] Great suggestions, thanks for that, but i'm trying to keep it simple in terms of build and controls. I think for now, i'll just have the Jazz with a MM pickup in between. And if needs be, refine it after that. Maybe make a MKII?

A nut of bassists A fret-load of bassists A cab of bassists A mid-range of bassists

I once had a person argue with me on YouTube (the place for intelligent debate) that using overdrive was the only way to play bass, because it cuts out all that filthy, nasty low end (because what BASSist would want a low frequency? madness!). He then went on to say that only a "pussy" would use a "Gallien Krueger 4x10 piece of sh*t" and that you had to use some 2x18 bass monstrosity to be a man... Gain to cut low end - 2 18" speakers... I don't know that this guy knew much at all about gear. Anyway, if you don't want to lose the low end, you might want to get an overdrive pedal with a bass control on it, or put an EQ pedal after the overdrive.

[quote name='Inhibition' timestamp='1360779765' post='1976417'] Hey guys, thanks so much for the warm welcome !! You all seem very nice ! About the drummer jokes, I'm used to them by now Dot Hacker is Josh's band yeah ! I speak to Jonathan the bass player regularly and have had the fortune to speak to mr. klinghoffer once. Both down to earth, humble and friendly guys [/quote] Oh wow! Lucky you Dot Hacker is a band i actually need to get a listen to! I love his work with John Frusciante, especially Communique, which is just one long drawn out vowel sound, very atmospheric! Bloody brilliant! One very down to earth musician that i would like to meet is Chad Smith. He seems incredibly humble and down to earth. As much as i love Flea, i think i would be very very disillusioned if i met him. Same goes for Anthony. I think they are very different people in reality than how they appear to their public, which is probably the case for most stars, if we are honest. But i don't get that impression from Josh Klinghoffer or Chad Smith. Go on then... What did he say? [quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1360783832' post='1976532'] Hm. Discreet, Milty and me are nice. Leen has yet to visit me and buy me the beer he promised, so I wouldn't jump to conclusions there. Be careful on the Internet! best, bert [/quote] What is with that guy? always promising pints and whatnot... bloody cheek!

I've been thinking about how the electronics in this would work. So basically, what i have got, and this is in no way set in stone, but to make it work without there being too much fuss, i have compromised on this a bit. So basically, there would be a volume control for the MM pickup, and a volume control for the jazz pickups (just one) with a pull pot which will switch between series a parallel (but it will still only have one volume pot when in parallel). Then the preamp will be bass and treble boost only. I think that having a mid boost wouldn't be that beneficial as the idea of the MM pickup and the series wiring is for more mids and fatness, so i compromised and decided it wasn't entirely necessary. I've also decided that having a bass or treble cut isn't entirely beneficial either. I'm choosing the pickups specifically to be hot and bright, so why even bother trying to dial that out? The only thing that i would do if it was too bright is have the treble sitting very low, and have the bass rolled up quite a bit to even it out. So there are 4 knobs on the bass (possible even 3 if the preamp is stacked knobs), which is perfect! Without those changes, we were looking at 6/7 knobs! And that just isn't entirely appealing to me. I think this is starting to take shape nicely... in my mind. Still have to decide on colours and scratch plate shapes and all that other stuff.

I've heard recently that a music theory/grade exams company, which are more focused on classical instruments and theory (I believe ABRSM) are to bring out a new syllabus to rival Rockschool this year. Can't see anything on the website, but i heard this from a reliable source, who has a dialogue with ABRSM (or whatever company it is if it isn't them). So, anybody know more about this?

I've many times accidentally hit a bass string with a fingernail when i had practices and hadn't time to trim them back (i'm a lot better at keeping them short now). If you ask me, it's a very different sound. Not bad, in fact, i think good. You could play bass like that, but it would obviously be slower, and a real bastard on your nails, but if you need them long for classical, just apply the same technique to bass. Or you could bet those little picks that go on to your fingers/thumbs.

[quote name='fermented grooves' timestamp='1360816685' post='1976976'] I knew you were gonna say that. [/quote]

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1360815152' post='1976975'] Thank you! I'm so proud I can't sleep tonight! Recordings are ok, but you should really see us live, if you liked what you heard... [/quote] I can't sleep either, funny enough! I've actually just decided to stick with it for the long run and got myself coffee. Hopefully i'll get my second wind in the late morning I intend to see you live You wouldn't happen to be particularly knowledgeable about electronics? Trying to solve the great mystery of how i will wire my JazzyMan.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1360814819' post='1976974'] Good news!!! Singer no longer has to go away and the gigs are back on schedule! [/quote] Eh? I'm just hearing of this now. I spend 10+ hours a day on this site... how do i miss so many threads?

Alright, so looking for recommendations on timber suppliers. Looking for a nice piece of ash. Well preferably a long piece, or a couple of shorter pieces. Going to start the build soon hopefully.