cytania

Definately worth trying various makes. They tend to have a family sound. Mark Bass would suggest you are after a modern sound, but going for Tube suggests you maybe want a retro tone but I suspect it won't take you to Ampeg-land which is what I think I see behind Maroon 5's bassist on the Voice. It is possible to fake vintage tone I recently stumbled on putting my BDI21 though the SWR's effects loop with SVT-alike settings. Can then blend modern clean with tubey bloom. Mark Bass trys to cover this with a VLE control, not sure how close it is. If you are a beginner then consider getting a cheap Pod/Cube/Zoom type unit that lets you cycle through amp simulations. They may not be the real thing but you can quickly sharpen up your tastes and get a load of one-trick effects fun out your system. Consider the cost money saved aginst getting all sorts of pedals and pre-doodads you'll tire of. The compressor and booster sort of cancels themselves out. I'm sure both are useful but the compressor weights all you strings the same and removes playing expression, so then you have to kick in the booster to reintroduce umph. Better to leave more headroom, get used to playing lightly with energy (untiringly) then quite naturally you'll dig in when things get exciting and the amp will show that.

If it's not his and it's collect and cash only... then are we bidding on the opportunity to steal it?

Woah, a reverse headstock. Mind you £2824 is alot to pay and no furry, sparkly, crazy finish...

First off, there's nothing to say you can't have several bass tutor's and see them as you feel fit. It's not a martial arts film master/pupil thing... :-) Beware 'not taking your medicine' syndrome or even not understanding what's being said but, you need to look at what you like about this tutor's playing. Were you complimenting his playing in a 'that's nice' way or do you _really_ want to get that style? The guitarist turned bassist is a sort of sub-style (seeing alot of it on TOTP on BBC4) so understanding it's [s]handicaps[/s] peculiarities does help. Try some other tutors maybe in a few months you'll think; 'Hold on I get what that guy was saying' and you can reconnect.

Just seen JJ and his Shuker bass on the 'One Show', feature piece on 'No More Heroes' a favourite of guest Alan Davies.

Black and White surely?

Weird question time. Obviously the tiny dot markers on the side of the neck are a great help fretting accurately but what about the big abalone/pearl dots on the front. Most the time the neck is angled so you can't see them. Anyone with bass necks 'sans front dot' able to confirm they are unnecessary? Or is it more subconscious? Is their function just as a bit of bling to dazzle the audience with?

Wayne, I'm shocked. Spill the beans on these wicked guitar pickup imposters!

This from the Barefaced site; "Many bassists think that the neck pickup gives the most bassy sound, the bridge pickup the most midrangey/trebley sound and thus if you have both pickups on you get lows, mids and highs in equal quantities, because it's an average of the two sounds. However, that's not actually what happens. Because the pickups are in different locations there is a phase difference between the two signals, and so instead of getting simple addition of the sounds you get a mix of addition and subtraction. The subtraction happens in the critical midrange area and the further apart the pickups are, the bigger the midrange cut tends to be.[size=1] So if you want a nice fat grunty sound with plenty of mids, especially lower mids, use the front pickup soloed. If you want a growly aggressive biting and more compressed sound use the back pickup soloed. If you want a mellower sweet round sound that sits back in the mix then use both pickups up full. And then as you roll back the volume on either pickup the midrange scoop will decrease until the sound eventually gets back to the sound of the soloed pickup." Now the strange thing is on my Spear the mid-blend of pickups is the sound I like, suggesting what is subtracted is musically good to my ears. Truth would seem to be that live no one really wants to be radically changing settings for every song, even if you did the mix would be upset. Main point of active EQ is the boost it gives and the ability to blend it is useful too. Anyone seen the Doug Wilkes answer guitar? A bass version would be interesting... http://www.wilkesguitars.co.uk/pages/the_answer.htm

Only lobbed the cryo thing into the original post as it seemed like a counsel of despair, 'quality ain't what it was but hey we can hack it'. There certainly is alot of snake oil in the hifi world, check out the Russ Andrews site. The Kodachrome thing is interesting. I think there's still a film underground but primarily with black and white film which was always easier on the home dark room and seen as serious photography.

The lumber bass would be perfect for playing with Seasick Stevie! Wouldn't want to show up with too flashy a bass for that gig.

Thanks for the 'How A Valve Is Made' video, absolutely fascinating, well worth viewing Part 2 as well as you get sight of Monsieur Valvemaker himself. At first I thought 'I can do that', but the amount of big kit starts to mount up as things go on. I expect to see Monty Don presenting valve making on a future 'Mastercrafts' programme.

Ok, so valves have been old technology for decades but how likely is it they'll keep being produced? Sourcing from Russia can't go on forever and apparently quality is down hence the need for cryo treatment. Somehow the hi-fi and guitar niche markets don't seem enough to support a valve industry at realistic prices. Second is from the Barefaced site [url="http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information/the-neodymium-issue.htm"]here[/url] "bass cabs containing loudspeakers with neodymium magnets may become more expensive and may even cease to be produced." What Alex appears to be saying is that other industries will price driver makers out of using Neodymium. Anyone reckon doom beckons for either of these two? Or is it just a case paying scalpers prices?

Hi PB, just tried the effects loop thing you mentioned, despite my being full of cold. Great idea as essentially it's a third input jack. The problem is still there with it though. If it's the amp then the problem is excessive peakiness, the kind of super-tweeter top that 'presence' controls add. Which means the Orange Terror Bass also kicks out alot of crest/peak energy. Think fret buzz, but none of my other maps show up anything. Going to get an opinion when I'm over this cold and get a mixer fault looked at by a local tech.

Thanks for the offer PB, I'll take you up on it if I start getting really crazy. When I was last in Hot Rox I tried out an Orange Terror Bass with my cab and that did give the buzz too. My friend's amp is 300w and fairly wooly sounding so may not be causing enough of a peak to bring out the fault. As regards the inputs I've tried both the passive and active jacks with no difference, Hot Rox declare the amp is OK for what that's worth. Hopefully Alex will come up with some more ideas. I've been wondering about getting half a speakon made up with the other end bare wires and then connecting this direct to the driver, thereby removing the cab connector. I can see why alot of the long time players here have several amps, spare cabs, the odd driver etc. Had thought of popping over to Bass Direct to try amp/cab pairing with stuff there but it's a bit cheeky...

Just adding the punchline, it's not the preamp tube, fitted one myself and although the sound is wider (presumably a tad more gain) the fartiness is still with. Bad driver now most likely.

"Hello Sandringham! Are you ready to [s]Rock[/s] Royal!!" Sometimes by the time the PA's setup, we've retrieved the mixer power supply and rushed out to buy more mike leads I can hardly remember that I've got bass to play. Usually by this point I'm getting nostalgic for folk clubs where you tune up and plug in. Then there's a sudden fast forward and I'm drinking the best pint of cider in the world (it isn't, it's just Strongbow but we've just finished the set) and the gig is a vague blurry memory where I tried to smile at the barmaid (who seemed 100 miles away) and concentrated on making bottoms move. Not as direct a connection with the audience as singing solo but utterly exhilarating (nor the sense of feeling naked as no one appears to know 'Green Grows The Laurel' (it's only been around a century)) and I love being in a group.

I agree, swam alot last year which really helped on stage but developed a skin reaction to the pool water so now out of shape again...

Here we go again... Ben Jamin, the effect you mention is real but applies primarily to acoustics. Afterall there is a big area of thin wood on the top that flexes to make tone. If anyone here believes it greatly influences bass tone then they should get Yamaha's BB2024x where the wood has been treated/cooked (Yamaha dub the process ARE) to replicate this. Compared to vintage Fender prices these Yammy's must be bargains. I'm also reminded of this recent thread; [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/163553-nearly-bought-a-precision-bass-today"]http://basschat.co.u...sion-bass-today[/url] Note that until Jack blew the lies away taking the neck off he liked the tone a fair bit. Leo Fender may have had looks and tone in mind but he also created instruments that could be made easily on a production line by workers untrained in the black arts of luthiery. The bodys were covered in Fullerplast and then given a sunburst, even before the final nitro colour was applied. The necks were bolted with shims and all sorts of paint crud in the pocket. These aren't paragons of perfect woodworking or precision engineering, which is why they are easy to copy and why Squiers get so close. Even the lousy quality of the seventies (somewhere round here there are pics of stripped precisions with the body blocks all asquint) couldn't kill the onward march of Fender. The design is so basic, so solid. Where Gibson necks go wobbly and need removing and regluing a Fender just gets shimmed and voila. This must be part the reason Fender is so dominant today. It's hard to make them go bad. What the original piece is saying is that Stradivari are not special and I guess neither are old Fenders. Both are benefiting from mystiques and given that Stradivarius' legend has lasted centuries I'm not sure the crazy prices old Precisions go for will be shaken by anything I say here. Ah well, post anyway...

What's going on here is a 'Top Trumps' approach to picking gear. You line up spec sheets and prices, balance your criteria and then choose blind. This is understandable given the lack of shops stocking bass gear and even in specialists you are unlikely to be able to setup a rig and play it loud (with a nasty guitarist playing alongside just for a reality check). No wonder this debate is a hot one. Money is tight and constantly buying gear just to try it out and to sell it on is punishing. No one wants to buy a lemon. The answers are being sought in electronics when they are really in psycho-acoustics. Alex's 8 points about 3 pages back hold all you need to think about. A point I will add is drawn from an Adi Vines column in Guitar and Bass magazine a few months ago. He compared in-ear monitoring with old fashioned wedges. Floor monitors he contended made a band tighter because they were getting some of the tasty volume the audience were. I have a friend whose 300W Ashdown into a GK BLX 4x10 and 1x15 sounds louder than my SWR 500W and Compact. Did I say louder? Well it's gutsier, ballsier. Part of this I think is the feel of the rig shaking the stage, the punchy mids up close at my ear level. Many of our early gigs I was frustrated by setups where the bass amp on stage was low to get DI or miking to the PA good without feedback. I still wonder about getting some drummer headphones and standing there looking a noob like Paul Gilbert or Keith Moon (or do they look cool?). Hearing yourself, hearing the band, getting some volume in your gut. These are the things we crave, yet have to juggle with what the audience hears. Beware sitting in bedroom A/B-ing amps/cabs. If Class D amps suck it's because they don't compress/distort/clip in a musical way. Using figures on them will just keep us chasing our tails.

Monkey Man - originally Toots and the Maytals, slightly slower tempo, different bassline with a quick ascending scale. Faster and simpler as done by the Specials, Reel Big Fish, Amy Winehouse et al. My tuppenceworth Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison. Drove the wife mad trying to learn this but it's worth the effort, even if I have to change a few bits because the guitarists don't play all their signature lines. Always cheers me up playing it.

[size=4]Hi PB, if you imagine you monitored the output from your amp on a graph the recorded music would be a flat ribbon with a slightly ragged top, except maybe for total drop outs and quiet passages. Your bass would be a series of spikes way above it. Bass is asking the speaker to move alot faster and harder. At least that's how I understand it.[/size] [size=4]Today I played with the bias of the amp (a tiny wheel pot component, being careful to go nowhere near the power sections) but no payoff. An ECC83/12AX7WC/SOV-CRYO valve is on order from Watford, so we'll see if that's the chap.[/size] [size=4]Pretty sure it's not room rattle, cab is not really as loud as it used to be. Could be a sympathetic rattle inside the cab but I've been inside and given everything a poke, nothing obviously lose. If the valve don't fix it then I have to conclude it's the speaker...[/size]

Ooh, like the look of this 12BH7A/Sylvania, as used in early Ampegs. http://www.watfordvalves.com/product_detail.asp?id=19 What do you reckon? Compatible?

The saga of my buzzy SWR/Compact goes on. Like watching an Agatha Christie whodunnit my suspicion goes from the amp to the cab, from the cab to the amp and back again. Last night I theorised it might be the internal cable to the driver sagging onto the speaker cone. So tried the compact upside down this morning, but no difference. I also managed to rig up something Alex suggested before christmas - playing a regular music source through the SWR amp. So in goes my cheap ipod-shuffle and some adaptors and bingo! no buzz, no fuzzy distortion, no matter how hard I drove up the volume or gain. Full bass brought out a little rasp but different from the bass buzz problem. A great demonstration of the quality of the Eminence Professional Series 3015 driver that Alex uses. the music wasn't muffled, the mids and highs were pretty darn decent. This suggest to me (having scoured Alex's excellent notes that go out with every Compact) that the problem is Crest Factor, the peaks from my two basses are much higher than recorded music. Does this suggest I should go back to the amp as the main culprit? One thing that bugs me is that particular notes provoke the buzz, usually A and G in the upper registers. I was considering switching out the valve anyway but the range of 12AX7options on Watford/Hot Rox is bewildering. Most of their remarks are oriented on guitarists who want edge and clarity. Can anyone recommend a current production tube in stock at either of these sites that is good for bass? I'd like mellow and smooth. PS. Two great things about Barefaced 1) Alex answers emails promptly with solid ideas and 2) the Compact takes apart with simple tools, the insides are accessible and straightforward.

Many thanks for the replies, particularly Alex's, very reassuring to know I can get it reconed by someone who really understands it. Barefaced are an utterly brilliant outfit. I like the way that the Compact is actually built in a way that will allow me to check the insides out. Just need to find time to do it. Anything non-obvious I'll take photos.