bassmayhem

My Dingwall family...

These are the fretless basses I own right now: A beautiful Skyline 55-02, my main fretless. A hobby project: an old defretted Fender neck on a custom built body from Bizzotto guitars in Sweden. Needs shaping of the fingerboard before it is ready to play... Now this beauty has arrived:

There is a nice short scale Greg Curbow bass for sale in Sweden for £1600. Not the Cort version, but the real deal: https://vend.se/408903-curbow-international-petite Nothing for me, though. I prefer going the other way...

I have only played two four strings: one US that was very bad(!) and a MiM that was very good. The US was badly set up and had the frets sticking out that nasty, flesh eating way. The Mex was exactly how you expect a good bass to be. Obviously, there are "Monday samples" of everything. I really like this instrument, but it won't be a hit, unfortunately. It is hard to be inventive and innovative, especially when you set the industry standard a million years ago like Fender themselves did...

Had these before: Ned Steinberger Design, very "upright-ish"... Fernandes 60's Jazz Bass copy: VERY good! Like the real deal, this one... I also had this: an old lined fretless Steinberger L2 I bought in Hamburg in early 1984. Three digit serial number beginning at 2...

Many manufacturers, and Fender in particular, are lousy in publishing Info on string spacing. Everything else but not that. It is like most string manufacturers miss the "playing length" of the strings. From ball to silk can mean the double winding at the bridge end stretches over the bridge saddles, just like what is the case with Gibson T-birds. More spec's that matters! That should be a standard...

Well, this is surely an old thread... I got a VB-2 (and VB810) in a trade a while back. The amp had a cracked cabinet, so I had one custom built in smoked oak, just to let it look nice. I am not surprised people "over there" call it an SVT killer. It has very, very nice tone and way better quality than any Ampeg amp I've played. They are also cheap second hand. If you find one: get it!

My main big gig rig: Vanderkley Spartan with two TKS 2126: My main small gig rig: Quilter BassBlock 800 with two TKS S112: My blues rig: Peavey VB-2 (with custom made smoked oak cabinet) and one or two TKS S112: My living room rig: very well sounding with more clean volume than you'd expect from such a tiny item. Even on five string...

A friend made a new cabinet for my Peavey VB-2, a very nice tube/valve amp that costs close to nothing. The original cabinet was broken, so I ordered a new made from smoked oak. I just mounted the amp in the box; it looks nice, but will have some more bling-bling before it is ready. A nice grille cloth, a few rounds of oil and then leather corners. Looks rather nice already...

I try to find info about string spacing on these, the five strings. Anyone who can shed a light?

[quote name='Basscabman' timestamp='1501016460' post='3341876'] Problem solved! Digging around In me box of bits I found an Entwistle JBXN bridge pickup I bought for a project PJ I never got around to using, Banged It In and Instant honk! [/quote] Thumbs up! But more honk closer to the bridge...

Really, really nice!

Anyone out there with experience in Stambaugh basses? I have the opportunity to buy one; it felt very nice and sounded pristine. I'd like some input from Stambaugh bass owners/players...

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1501063993' post='3342145'] I think he uses that rig so he can play any gig he wants in Sweden without having to leave his house. Just point the speakers in the right direction, and job done [/quote]

My latest big gig rig setup: Vanderkley Spartan and my two 4 ohm TKS 2126... Dingwall Super J and Super P via Relay G50 wireless straight into the amp.

You get that nasal tone with the bridge pup in 70's position. With all newer Fenders (clones) they just make 60's pup position. Hence: less honk. The pickup cannot change that.

[quote name='scrumpymike' timestamp='1500469693' post='3338037']...An alternative would be to plug some sort of twin-socket adapter in to my existing amp and get the sound differentiation with FX pedals - has anybody done this? [/quote] There are lots of twin input preamps out there. What can make difference is if your basses are active/passive. Then you have to choose the right preamp. The EBS MicroBass II has two inputs, one 10 Mohm, and two sets of different EQ, that you can put on each input or combine. The RMI Basswitch has two inputs, one "straight thru" and one with switchable 10 Mohm input and full EQ. Everything depends on the basses you use. I use my Basswitch with my active Dingwalls in the B-input and let the amp take care of that signal, while I use the A-input (10 Mohm) with EQ to taylor my upright bass tone. For me, that works fine, since I set the amp's EQ almost flat, and occasionally twiddle a bit on the knobs on my e-basses.

Don't change cab - do something in the beginning of the chain! A nice preamp with two channels is the trick, for example the EBS MicroBass II or the RMI Basswitch. Then you can sculpt and form the tone independently, or at least let the P-bass pass through untouched and tweak the J-bass to your liking. You never told if you tried the P-bass in the TE-rig;had you done that, you'd have more to compare with. I am a J-bass guy from ground up, and I always have to tweak a bit to get the J as potent as the P...

Wal basses are nice. A friend here in Sweden has three for sale right now: [color=#333333][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]5-string Wal Midibass 1991 [/size][/font][/color][url="http://pratabas.se/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=85913"]http://pratabas.se/v...php?f=8&t=85913[/url] [color=#333333][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Wal Mk II fretless 1987 [/size][/font][/color][url="http://pratabas.se/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=85910"]http://pratabas.se/v...php?f=8&t=85910[/url] [color=#333333][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Wal Mk I 1993 [/size][/font][/color][url="http://pratabas.se/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=85911"]http://pratabas.se/v...php?f=8&t=85911[/url]

[quote name='petebassist' timestamp='1499341604' post='3330837'] I tried out my new Lifeline pickup the other night (fitted on the E string side) into the band PA via a KK Pure Preamp. It seemed slightly boomy at times and if I upped the mid and treble I got slight feedback, so it took a while to dial in an acceptable sound, which was a compromise between volume and quality. I've got Evah Pirazzi Weichs on, and it's a VB150 hybrid Eastman with solid front and back with laminate sides. I thought I'd try to reduce the boom/feedback by stuffing a rag behind the tailpiece to dampen the sound. I'd be interested if anyone else had any tips using this pickup. Thanks, Pete [/quote] I use the same pickup AND the same strings on my all wood bass; a BIG bass with 110 cm (43") scale. It sounded terrible with the Realist Copperhead, but very good with the LifeLine. I have tried a lot of different preamps, as well as direct into my different amps, and found I only have to cut the low on the amp and - depending on amp/preamp - cut some low mid. I find it very easy to get a nice tone without a lot of disturbing colouring. But - when I used the GB Streamliner it didn't work: to low emphasized, also big cabs with 15" woofers are difficult (for me) to use. I prefer small single 10"-12" cabs with tweeter for the upright. I use the Basswitch to get the 10 Mohm input stage, but not that much tone tweaking other than a "massive cut of the lows" to match the acoustic tone of the bass.

First gig done! Very easy to get a good sound with this rig! The Spartan matches well to my TKS 2126 cabs. Every bass you use sounds like the bass amplified, not "amp tone" like Ampeg and Trace Elliot. Just pure magnified bass tone.

The most important thing is to have good sound on all instruments, meaning they don't overlap and steal everyone elses frequencies and space in music. Good rehearsed band and good arrangements make a lot for the overall sound on stage. Hold your horses and play with your ears - not your guts. I like to have "a little more volume than needed" which allows me to lay back a bit and I don't have to push to hear myself. That means by no way loud, just loud enough to play and hear everyone else. We try to keep down the volume when rehearsing too. Tonewise, I tend to go "flat", but generally scoop out around 1 kHz, where vocals tend to be, and to not interfere with cymbals and stuff. Also cut some of the lowest low. The kick drum in our band always sounds like the kick drum itself, just louder. Not like an empty oil tanker colliding with an iceberg. Mostly we do our own sound check and play through our PA without a tech; it always work. I go wireless and walk out in the local to listen. When we have a tech, things start to get complicated, as always...

Home! Tested! Wow! If you are not into old school saggy tube amps - well, I am into them too - this is definitely it! Headroom, headroom, headroom, clean natural tone with lots of power. Lots! Premier gig on outdoor festival stage on Saturday...