6v6

Ibanez SR (SR300F) or bass collection jive bass? http://www.basscentre.com/bass-collection/bass-collection-jive-bass-solar-flare-lined-fretless.html

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1361965332' post='1993642'] My guitar has no pickup or preamp system. I didn't buy one with a preamp because you get less guitar for the money. [/quote] You could consider installing one - I added a B-Band system to my acoustic and the results are excellent (much better, and more convenient/consistent than a cheap mic in a bad room IMO, I have several condenser mics I could use but almost always just DI the b-band) http://www.b-band.com/

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1361964491' post='1993625'] Another thing i need to record is my acoustic guitar. I would need a condenser mic for that, won't i? (as well as a decent room to record it in). [/quote] Depends, if you have a pickup in the guitar (like an under saddle one or similar), you again could get away with just DI-ing the guitar pickup, and maybe have an SM57 picking up a bit of the natural guitar sound - in a mix with other instruments this would work perfectly fine, maybe not good enough for solo pieces though (where as you say condenser and nice sounding room would be better) As you can see, there are almost no situations which cannot be solved with a '57 and a bit of DI-ing

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1361957081' post='1993483'] The final recordings aren't going to be for putting on soundcloud, or the composition competition, but to be given to and sold to people to listen to. Whether people want to buy or listen is another thread. [/quote] I hate to be negative, but your first attempts won't be pro-studio release quality (actually IME they probably never will be ), and you definitely won't get anywhere close with one mic and a £100-£150 budget. As others have said, for bass just keep it simple & DI, maybe add one 57/58 on the cab. I personally avoid using condenser mics for anything other than vocal overdubs and drum overheads - they (particularly omni LDC's) pick up so much room sound and spill that it's incredibly easy to ruin a perfectly good take with a bit of background noise or a bad sounding room.

I agree, it seems an insane price to pay for valves which are completely untested, you could've bought three very nice fully tested NOS valves from a reputable source for around the same price, but presumably someone saw the word "mullard" and went a bit nuts with their bidding?!

Ok, since I mentioned the 58 and several cheap clone mics have been suggested above: I've also got three Beringher XM8500's, which are copies of an SM58. They don't sound as good (especially for vocals), but they are very cheap, so if you just want something cheap to get started with, one of those for ~£20 would be perfectly fine. I use mine on toms when there aren't any SM57/58s around I can borrow. The other thing to mention, is for home recording (as opposed to recording your band), do you really want to mic up an amp at all? I got the amplitube Ampeg SVX plugin recently (it's on special offer for about £30 atm), I just plug my bass into a firewire interface and record via that - obviously this requires you to have a fairly reasonable computer and audio interface or the latency will be too much to use it "live".

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1361759424' post='1990503'] I'm going to do some recording. Obviously, this involves certain equipment and abilities, but one of those things that i don't have (that i want rather than need) is a mic. I'm fairly sure you guys on here can point me in the direction of a decent mic for a bass amp. My budget is pretty low, so think £100-£150. I was looking at a bass drum mic, specifically, this one- [url="http://www.andertons.co.uk/instrument-amp-drum-mics/pid9342/cid755/shure-beta-52-dynamic-bass-drum-microphone.asp"]http://www.andertons...-microphone.asp[/url] but what do you guys make of that? [/quote] Haha - Just realized I've recommended what you linked to - I have a Beta52 and they are excellent IMO - when I got mine they were over £200 so the current price is a very good deal - they are built incredibly strong, like all Shure mics, and have a nice smooth sound on both kick drum and bass guitar. The only think to be aware of using a kick mic for bass guitar is you won't get much treble, so if you care about tweeters/slap and the like, you'll need to record the amp DI as well as the mic. [quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1361759424' post='1990503'] Originally, i had wanted to get a mic that would do for bass, and guitar and vocals, but i realised that was asking a lot of one piece of equipment, so i would also like a mic for guitar (acoustic, maybe electric sometimes) and vocals. Shure SM57? Need something that will again be cheap (i know these are easy to come by on the second hand market) and reliable, but also good. So what do you guys think? [/quote] If you can only have one mic for bass guitar and vocals, just get a Shure SM58 - it will do an okay job of both and will always be useful when you get some more specialized mics. The first decent mic I bought (over 20 years ago) was a 58 and I still use it regularly. If I only had a mic and no DI on a bass cab, I'd probably prefer an SM58 over a 57 - slightly better bass response and slightly smoother high mids to even out any clank.

I'd probably try to find a used sennheiser 421, or an SM57/58 *will* work, provided you close mic and don't mind eq-ing back in some off the rolled off low end. Alternatively something like an AKG D112 (a kick drum mic) up against the cab, perhaps combined with a bit of DI from the amp would work well and is within budget (won't work for vocals tho) I'm not sure about condensers on bass cabs - I'd always assumed they were a bit fragile to be used on bass cabs, but it sounds like plenty of people do use them, I also prefer the smooth sound of a dynamic mic for bass so normally use either a Shure beta 52, or an SM57 combined with DI (if the beta 52 is on the kick) Actually - I just googled it, you can get a beta52 for a similar price to a D112 now, they are a better choice IMO, they used to be over £200!

+1 to other responses, the onboard Realtek hardware and drivers are really bad, even with big buffer sizes it will probably still experience dropouts He will need some sort of external dedicated interface with ASIO drivers, even something like one of the cheap Beringher UCA devices are likely to work better (although personally I'd suggest spending a bit more to get something fairly decent from a manufacturer with good drivers/support) Also be aware there are almost no wifi chipsets which play nicely with realtime audio, so he will probably want to disable (ie physically switch off via the laptops switch/function key) any on-board WiFi when wanting buffers small enough for amp-sims/vsti's Also get him to check the latency with DPC : http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml - generally with laptops you at least have to disable WiFi (and often other troublesome bits of hardware) to avoid big latency spikes, which is what causes the cracks/pops and glitches.

[quote name='BigLicks67' timestamp='1361870932' post='1992046'] I noticed the Indonesian built Lakland Jazz/P bass copies are more expensive second hand than USA Fenders. Considering you get a hard case with the Fender, I was wondering what makes the Lakland's better/more expensive? [/quote] There are far fewer of them around - try buying a brand new Skyline Bob Glaub/44-64, there are hardly any for sale in dealers anywhere in the UK, particularly with rosewood 'boards. There are also approximately zero of the USA made Laklands available in the UK dealers, so I'd speculate that some people who may have considered a more expensive model are jumping on the Skylines as a substitute (again driving up the price since these folks are probably not on a super-tight budget) This lack of supply, combined with the fact that they get raving reviews everywhere on the internet (whereas there are loads of Fenders for sale, and Fender reviews are quite mixed, particularly wrt setup and QC/Consistency), is what makes them approximately the same price as a used US Standard (despite being a bit cheaper new) All IMHO obviously

Well on an amp that old, it's a bit hard to be certain, since the output transformer may not be original - the only way to be 100% sure would be to measure it, but looking at the schmatic and part numbers can give information on what would have been fitted originally: http://www.turretboards.com/layouts_schematics/fender/schematics/fender_bassman_ab165.gif This shows that the output transformer (TR3) has a single secondary winding, and that the part number is 125A13A A bit more googling finds various replacement transformers claiming to be equivalent to a 125A13A, and all of them I looked at have a single 4ohm secondary, e.g: http://www.tubesandmore.com/products/P-T1750L So assuming your amp is original, I'd say it will work best into a 4ohm load. What your amp tech told you is somewhat true, although I personally would not make that recomendation, particularly if you plan to use the amp for bass. If you have a high quality output transformer, you can mismatch the load a bit on tube amps and get away with it, *but* doing so risks sounding bad, reducing headroom and possibly reducing the life of your power tubes, so I would definitely stick to a 4ohm load.

My suggestion assuming your budget will stretch to it is the RME babyface: http://www.rme-audio.de/en_index.php It's not cheap for a relatively simple/small interface, but you're getting something which should have rock solid drivers, and the possibility of expanding easily in the future should you need to. If you're interested in potentially using amp simulators in the computer (I know you said micing up your amps, but late at night it's incredibly useful to be able to knock out an idea in near silence with a software amp sim like amplitube/guitar-rig or whatever) RME have a reputation for providing the best, most stable, and lowest latency drivers. They also recently added class-compliant mode which means you can use it with your ipad if you wish for a truly portable recording solution. For mics the industry standard for recording guitar is a Shure SM57, which can also be used for almost any other purpose in the absence of more specialist mics, it's an incredibly versatile mic. If you have more cash, you could consider the Shure beta57, or Sennheiser 421, both of which are excellent, industry standard mics.

[quote name='edstraker123' timestamp='1361347030' post='1984754'] Hi, I've currently been doing some research into a new guitar and have been checking out Strats by Fender and G&L etc. On almost every site I looked at, the advice was that the G&L guitars were better made and were consistently good straight out of the factory and that you had to play quite a lot of Fender's to find a good one. Presumably this would also apply to Fender bass guitars. What have peoples experience been in buying new Fender basses, what is it that distinguishes a good one from a bad one , is it tone, is it finish , could you buy a MIM that was a better bass than a USA etc? Is there anything to particularly look out for especially if your LGS only has a couple of Fenders to test against each other ? [/quote] My experience recently when I went looking for a MIA P bass was the setups on every single bass I tried (about 6 of them) were seriously terrible - the action on all of them was way, way too high. All needed the nut re-cutting, new strings, possibly a fret level, possibly neck-shimming, major tweaks to the truss rod and bridge etc etc. At the time I thought the shop were just lazy, but it sounds like this experience is pretty typical. Suffice to say I didn't buy one Since you mention Strats, I've owned/own quite a few USA Fender strats, and the pick of the non-custom-shop ones are the American vintage reissues IMO (I had a '57 reissue), provided you can get on with the vintage radius fingerboards and small frets. Of the more modern ones I reckon the USA deluxes take some beating, but try to find one that's not too heavy - the necks are *great* on these, slightly more modern feel than the AV models due to bigger frets and flatter fingerboard, but they still feel like a proper Fender should (not too modern, comfortable) I also had a USA G&L legacy - this was great, really light, resonant, but pickups were a bit weak, and it had a very flat fingerboard with huge jumbo frets. G&L make some great instruments IMO, but they do not feel the same as a Fender - much more modern feel IME (not sure if the same holds true for their basses?). I've also played a tribute Legacy, which was very similar to the USA one, but much heavier and less resonant (woods not as good basically). Anyway, getting back OT (before I get told off for talking about guitars ), IMO the thing which distinguishes a great Fender (or any instrument for that matter) from a just-OK one is the un-amplified tone and resonance, when you play fairly hard the whole instrument should vibrate, so if you can feel that resonance through the neck and body then you're on to a winner IMO, invariably it leads to a better amplified tone and a more satisfying playing experience.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1361348380' post='1984763'] Hi, the easiest responses to eq are the ones without a hump and a long slow tail off so the pink (I'm colour blind) plot might be better to eq. Having said that there are no problems with any of these. Looking at excursion limited power you can see the advantage in a smaller cab. Remember you are dealing with Xmax, which is kind of worse case. If you used method for calculating Xmax used by Eminence then this speaker would come in with an Xmax of about 10mm and the power handling would look even better. Beyma quote a maximum Xdamage of 27mm peak to peak or Xlimit 13.5mm. Have a look at the cone excursion charts on your models. You should find you only exceed these limits at very low frequencies. Almost all ported designs operate better with a LF filter on the amp. Eminence specify them on most of the designs on their web site. I always use a 40Hz filter on the mixing desk even on the bass bins. [/quote] Thanks, I'm assuming most amps will have this built in rather than being something I need to build in to the speaker as a high-pass filter network? (I was, at least initially, planning to not fit a tweeter so I can concentrate on getting the box+woofer right and not worry about crossover design, thinking I can always add a tweeter+crossover later if needed) [quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1361348380' post='1984763'] I quite like shelf ports, they help stiffen the cab, take up minimum space and are easy to construct, the advantage of a circular port like a drainpipe is that you can vary the tuning simply by sliding in a different length port so you could try both the 50 and 42Hz tunings to see if you can hear a difference and if it is important to you. Not much would be my guess. Anyway nothing to stop you finalising a design and getting the saw out. Looking good. [/quote] Cool, thanks for the feedback! I've done some more plots focussing on the 70L box size, experimenting with some different tuning frequencies to see what effect it has on the port length. Using an example port dimension of 35x6cm (which seems about right for my planned box dimensions), it seems like the port length is not super-critical - even changing it by as much as 5cm only makes a few Hz difference to the port tuning frequency. I plotted them all together, tunings of 44, 46 and 49Hz result in a port length of approximately 25, 30 and 34cm respectively, so it seems like I could build say a fixed 26cm port into the box, then potentially have a couple of removable sections of say 4 and 8cm, then experiment with them, see if I can hear the difference then glue the one I prefer in when decided?

Next thing I checked was the power handling, since Mr. Foxen pointed out these charts are informative in the driver reccomendation thread, and it's clear that the xmax limted power handling is directly related to the box size and tuning: Again, the 70L/50Hz yellow plot seems to be a pretty good compromise to me, and should handle the amps I expect to use with the cab (something like a LM3 or PF500 which produces about 300w into 8ohms):

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1361291322' post='1984032'] It's great to see this going ahead. I hope you are pleased with the result. [/quote] Thanks again for all your assistance in the original thread! So here's my first attempt at producing some specs for the box via WinISD, I loaded the driver T/S specs and created a QB3 ported enclosure, which resulted in a plot for a box of ~111L tuned to 42Hz. I'm looking for a smaller box than 111L ideally, so I experimented with box size and tuning, eventually settling on a compromise of 70L tuned to 50Hz - this appears to be a reasonable tradeoff between losing low-end extension and introducing a big peak from the port (which I assume will make the cab boomy?) Anyway, here's the plot - I'm currently thinking the yellow plot looks pretty good - not hi-fi flat but looks (based on some limited mixing experience eqing stuff) like it should give me a modest boost in the low end, but still produce a fairly even an eq-able response?

Thanks to everyone for your help and knowledge-sharing - I've ordered a Beyma SM212, and started a build-diary thread, where I'll document the box design before I build it, and then the actual build: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/200152-1x12-diy-cab-build/ I'd very much welcome input from the experts who contributed to this thread to point out my inevitable errors and oversights as I work my way through the process

Hi all - starting this build thread as a follow-up to the discussions prompted by my Which Ceramic 12 inch driver thread (link : [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/199000-which-ceramic-12-driver"]http://basschat.co.u...ramic-12-driver)[/url] Suffice to say I got a lot of really great information from that thread, not just a driver recommendation, and I've started getting to grips with modelling driver+enclosure using WinISD Pro (link: [url="http://www.linearteam.dk/default.aspx?pageid=winisdpro"]http://www.lineartea...ageid=winisdpro[/url]) I've now ordered a Beyma SM212 12" driver, which should arrive in the next few days, by which time I hope to have figured out cabinet dimensions & port tuning such that I can get some ply and build up a box! (link: [url="http://profesional.beyma.com/pdf/SM-212E.pdf"]http://profesional.b...pdf/SM-212E.pdf[/url]) I'll post the process of designing the box in WinISD, with graphs and details, in the hope that some of the experts contributing their knowledge to the original thread will point out all my mistakes, and hopefully this may also prove useful to other novice bass-cab-builders like me So far my experiments with WinISD lead me to think a box of about 70L volume, with a shelf port tuned for about 50Hz should work OK, I'll post some charts for this configuration later & perhaps the experts can advise if I'm way off base

I had one of these as my first ever guitar (over 20 years ago now, eek!), black LP custom style, really heavy - it played horribly, pretty sure there was something wrong with the neck, it also had the chrome-covered pickups which sounded tinny and weak (having read this thread I now understand why, lol!) That said, it got me truly bitten by the bug - after a long period of saving and blagging some cash from my parents I replaced it with a 70s USA Fender strat (which were fairly cheap back then) - the day I got that strat and upgraded from the Hondo was and still is one of the best days I've ever had in my entire life! (I still have the strat, I, um, don't still have the Hondo )

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1361198224' post='1982577'] Have you sued the max power handling graph in WinISD? That's fairly informative. [/quote] No I hadn't (so far mainly been experimenting with frequency response plots of box-size/tuning frequency), but I just looked and plotted the Beyma and Delta Pro: Am I correct in thinking this means that despite having higher peak power handling, the Delta Pro actually has much much lower average power-handling than they Beyma (limited by the Xmax?)

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1361128296' post='1981528'] BTW, it's not all that difficult to figure out what the Berg HD uses. It's a cast frame driver with an 80oz magnet and 350w coil; that means it's a Delta Pro 12 motor. The Berg version might not be exactly the same as the stock version, but it won't be significantly different. Often the main difference between stock and OEM is push button versus spade lug input connectors. [/quote] Lol - that's pretty much all the information I was after when I started this thread! However it's great that the discussion has turned out so much more detailed (although I admit I found some of the more obtuse responses frustrating initially) - I'm certainly learning far more than I would've done by just buying a Delta Pro and sticking it in a Berg-sized-box without really understanding if/how/why it would work. Thanks again to all who've taken the time to contribute, I'll be sure to start a build thread when I get started actually making this thing

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1361126682' post='1981485'] <snip> The Beyma sounds 'cleaner' less cluttered, rather neutral sounding. I practice with headphones and that is the sort of sound you will get. It will go a little deeper than the Beta (and maintain the bass output at higher powers) but without a peak it won't jump out at you. The well controlled frequency response up to 6k is plenty to cover anything the pickups are likely to put out so you won't need a horn but the lack of the usual peak might not immediately appeal, of course you can eq it back in. Finally my sideswipe at the delta this has a ridiculous peak of 8db between 1.5 and 5kHz with a really sharp cut in and out and this will totally dominate the sound of this speaker. I suspect whatever you play through this you are always going to hear the Delta sound! Essentially it comes down to taste, if you like a bit of presence at the upper end of your bass and a little mid scoop, a speaker with a character of its own, then you may well get on best with a speaker with the sort of response shown by the beta. If you like something that is more neutral then the beyma is a good bet. Hope this helps and that the experts will let me off the couple of oversimplifications I've used [/quote] Thanks, this does help a lot - I'm definitely starting to see how the data on these datasheets ties together and getting a much clearer idea how to make an informed driver choice. As an exercise (and because it's mentioned elsewhere in the thread), I took a look at the Eminence Delta Pro 12A - I'd assumed it would be similar to the non-pro Delta, but it actually looks a fair bit flatter? http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Delta_Pro_12A.pdf It seems like this frequency response chart indicates a gradual rise in the HF response, with a bit of a bump around 2.5KHz, but nowhere near the huge peak of the non-pro Delta, ie it's not as flat as the Beyma, but should be a lot flatter than the Beta/Delta you described? Given that the Delta Pro seems a fair bit more expensive, and has a lower xmax, it seems to me that the Beyma is still going to the best choice? As mentioned elsewhere I do realize I'm not going to end up with a Berg sound, I've pretty much decided I'm better just trying to make a nice sounding cab and treating it as a learning exercise rather than attempting to clone some existing manufacturers product.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1361110109' post='1981132'] You're getting some great support here! [/quote] Agreed! Thanks to all for taking the time to share your knowledge - it's very much appreciated, I'm learning a lot! [quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1361110109' post='1981132'] I'm rather boring in that I just follow the instructions on WinISD. What is interesting is that it kind of shows what the program is doing, Mms and Cms for example are the weight of the cone and the bendiness of the suspension and this immediately gives the resonance fs. Add in the SD, Bl and Re; cone area, force the magnet exerts on the coil and resistance and you can pretty much calculate how much air the speaker is going to move for a particular input. The other thing is the 'errors' that are thrown up by WinISD, the usual discrepancies are Vas and the efficiency figures. They almost never match the manufacturers spec. Not this time because they cheat, most manufacturers give measured figures from finished speakers. Vas depends upon atmospheric conditions and is horrible to measure consistently, efficiency is measured over the whole frequency range usually so often midrange humps boost the efficiency a little over the theoretical. Win ISD's recommended procedure. [color=#0000cd]The suggested procedure for entering driver parameters is following (check first that "Auto calculate unknowns" option is checked):[/color] [color=#0000cd]1. Enter [b]Mms[/b] and [b]Cms[/b][/color] [color=#0000cd]This gives [b]fs[/b]. If either is not available, then enter [b]fs[/b] and other parameter.[/color] [color=#0000cd]2. Enter [b]Sd[/b], [b]Bl[/b] and [b]Re[/b][/color] [color=#0000cd]Now, you should get all but [b]Qms[/b] (and [b]Qts[/b]), [b]Vas[/b]. Please note that Vas may not match exactly what is specified by manufacturer, because exact value of Vas depends on environmental parameters. See [/color][color=#0000cd]FAQ[/color][color=#0000cd].[/color] [color=#0000cd]3. Enter [b]Rms[/b] or [b]Qms[/b].[/color] [color=#0000cd]Either one will do, although I tend to prefer [b]Qms[/b] over [b]Rms[/b], because it can usually be measured in driver measurement procedures.[/color] [color=#0000cd]4. Enter [b]Hc[/b], [b]Hg[/b] and [b]Pe[/b].[/color] [color=#0000cd]If [b]Hc[/b] or [b]Hg[/b] or either is available, then enter [b]Xmax[/b] and optionally either [b]Hc[/b] or [b]Hg[/b] if available.[/color] [color=#0000cd]This procedure is most accurate. Also note that it also calculates true SPL (1W/1m) value. So it might not match the marketing SPL value, which is generally somewhat vague. Not in all cases, though.[/color] [color=#000000]Hc is the height/length of the coil and Hg the size of the magnet gap. This is where the discrepancy between Eminences Xmax and others like Celestion and Beyma comes in. WinISD will calculate Xmax as if the moment the coil leaves the magnet gap controlled movement stops. In practice if you remember your iron filings experiments with magnets the magnetic field will extend quite a way beyond the magnet. Some manufacturers measure Xmax at a certain percentage distortion and others use a fixed proportion of the gap depth. Beyma are using the most conservative method so don't worry about this.[/color] [/quote] Ok, thanks - I think I've cracked it now - I tried entering the data in a different order to that in the WinISD procedure (which always gave me the errors) - I used the parameter list as mentioned by Bill Fitzmaurice, and kept saving after every couple of parameters as suggested by Balcro: It turns out that the calculated values of BL factor (12.83897) differs from the datasheet (rounded down to 12.8) and the calculated value of Vd (385 cm^3 vs 382 on the datasheet) Here's what I ended up with - the only parameter I'm not sure on is Pe - is this the Power Capacity stated on the datasheet (350w AES)?

[quote name='VTypeV4' timestamp='1361096744' post='1980881'] 6V6, When you're inputting the data for the speaker make sure you've got the correct parameter value/scaling. For example Vas can be measured in Litres, Cubic Cm, Cubic M, Cubic inches or Cubic Feet. I've never used WinISD but I've put data into Eminence designer before and it's thrown up errors becuase I didn't check.. Hope that helps.. [/quote] Thanks, I've checked and double checked and I do think I have all the units right - problem is WinISD doesn't report the validation failure very helpfully, i.e it doesn't clearly identify what criteria caused the check to fail, it just gives you a long list of parameters which it has failed to validate. I'll try again later, but if anyone can help me out with a driver profile which works it will save me some swearing!

[quote name='davidlovellbass' timestamp='1361095320' post='1980850'] [url="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Hanshare-Electronics/Convert-/_i.html?_fsub=2826040011"]http://stores.ebay.c...fsub=2826040011[/url] [/quote] Interesting, thanks! I'm sure it's just the perspective of the photograph, but the picture makes it look like the bolt in the centre of the 9 pins is drilled off-centre and is about 0.5mm from pin 1 (which may have up to about 300v on it!) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-convert-tube-socket-12AU7-12AX7-6SN7-6SL7-/320737763638?pt=US_Amplifier_Parts_Components&hash=item4aad75e136