richrips

[url="http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/shopping/goods/goods_detail.php?offset=60&category_id=2&sub_category_id=19&brand=70&view=1&count=12&sort=1&search_status=1&id=153097"]http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/shopping/goods/...1&id=153097[/url]

anyone tried this pickup arrangement??

we did this at the ICMP diploma. may be worth giving dave marks and crew a PM, tho may be copyrite etc... i have a paper version but no scanner.

Incidentally one of my favourite songs to play on bass!

from memory:

verse (mostly octaves)

F (before bar) G then D then Eb then Bb then back to F and repeat

before chorus go from the Bb to B to C to F to G

chorus (not octaves)

Eb B F (fills on F... do them by ear!)

thats the basics i think. god i am bad at describing music! can we have someone better at this to help out?

r

Technological conservatism.... the reason Fender et al see ever increasing sales of designs dating back 40-60 years.

In one sense, if it ain't broke don't fix it. You can get great sounds out of old designs so why upgrade? you wanna sound like a 65 strat through a twin reverb? why not?

On the other hand, could this attitude be having a negative effect on musicians in general? By sticking to tried and tested "traditional" designs, we inherently limit the tonal possibilities available. Unfortunately, styles and tastes of music evolve and a "traditional" instrument maynot be capable of producing the sound an artist wants on his/her recording. The result? Traditional instrument gets left out, and replaced by something which can make the sound needed. With regards bass, this is typically a keyboard, synth or computer/software. Surely then the survival of bass guitar (played live and on popular modern music) relies on it's ability to produce the sound needed. This can only be possible via technological advancements in instrument design, and manipulation of the electronic signal produced.

If people begin to associate bass guitar with "vintage" sounds and "old" music (i suspect many already do), they would possibly be less likely to choose to feature bass guitar on their new record if they intend it to sound modern, opting instead for keys/synth/computer sounds?

My point is, are we shooting the future of bass guitar in the foot by being conservative in our approach to technological advances in bass design? Is every lovely sounding '62 reissue jazz (rosewood, 3T sunburst) purchased a potential nail in the coffin of live bass playing?

Discuss/abuse as you deem fit!

Rich

(p.s. i think cost is the main reason carbon hasn't gone mainstream, rather than looks imho)

such a super cool guitar.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aBYNORgw6E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aBYNORgw6E[/url]

(insert pitiful financial excuse here)

Rich

My main bass has always been a 3 eq stingray. Recently i have found the bottom end not deep enough for my current reggae band (sure you can boost the lows or use a sub octave, but that tends to sound hollow and flabby).

Is it possible to get a standard H modded to HS anywhere in the UK? The bass has sentimental value as my first real bass, and has the odd chip so would be poor performer in retail value. Anyone had a stingray modded???

Cheers,
Rich

[quote name='nbtone' post='845728' date='May 23 2010, 01:37 PM']I don't have much time , but if you want a better sounding bass guitar you could delve into the patent documents that I posted online here [url="http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=nitewalkerpreamp"]http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=nitewalkerpreamp[/url] in the files section. I don't include the power supply in any of the info, but the one I use uses a Hammond transformer with a full wave bridge with a 15 Henry choke running to the plates and a half wave bridge running to the heater. The overdrive just boosts the plate voltage a bit.[/quote]


Any samples of your preamp doing their best Timmy C sound available?

Checked out the website and they certainly seem an interesing venture.

Cheers,
Rich

Dave Pegg = genius.

This is my favourite recording of him. different bass, but the skillz are there!


[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgqhWVrTmn8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgqhWVrTmn8[/url]

Quick shout out for the Ovation Magnum!!

Neck made with 3 carbon support rods, mahogany, ebony fretboard, and set AND bolted on. All this in 1977, thanks to the designer's background in helicopter design. Surprised they aren't mentioned in that link to all the Alembic/Modulus stuff. The Magnum is a great example of the kind of innovation lacking in companies like fender and gibson at the time and years ahead of mainstream bass technology.

The neck doesn't feel wildly snappy, probably due to the mahogany, but considering its 33 years old, it is showing no signs of warping and only requires a touch of truss rod adjustment when i swap out heavy flats for something lighter. The sustain, even with flats, is monumental. it's like the strings are attached to a mountain at each end!

I think carbon is a great idea. even quarter sawn wood has inconsistencies in density and flex properties. Carbon, if moulded correctly, is far superior from a mechanical point of view. unfortunately, as the link in one of the early posts demonstrates, getting the carbon fibre process spot-on is tricky.getting even amounts of carbon and resin is super difficult and good cloth is $$$$$$$ expensive. I've had a range of problems making fibreglass/foam surfboards over the years and even now i wouldn't want to spend money on the weight/stiffness gains of carbon/epoxy, because i know a few cock-ups in the process will result in critical flaws like over-saturation (cloth floating), under-saturation (bubbles = weak point), and creasing (forces concentrated = more likely to snap).

If done correctly, carbon is a winner.

Rich

If it's the rage sound i'm after, i think you mean the OD sound on the chorus of War within a breath (for example) from 4.44 onwards in this one:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAw3MMUSVpw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAw3MMUSVpw[/url]

Definitely the best, nastiest rock overdrive bass sound going....

now if someone would list the few simple caps and resistors available for less than 50p which will make exactly that sound (if only.... i have a feeling a few SVT's are needed somewhere...), that would be lovely.

r

Well...i have been after 70's pickup placement.....

$90 a hit?? My dog cost less than that!

looks like dimarzio, though it doesn't look like the most optimal arrangement for the magnetic fields.... at least that leaves plenty of room to say... install a willpower neck pickup, and maybe 2 MM humbuckers..... all that mahogany is making my router hand twitch.

Damnit.... thought this was my little secret. I keep looking at it and wondering if the neck and body are lined up right..... maybe that in itself is a reason to bid!

Hey thanks to everyone who has replied so far. seen a few mods on the web for such things as blends with dry signal and potentially a low pass filter mod, but don't really want to take the sd-1 apart without hearing from someone who has used it on bass with/without mods. Sure it is a guitar pedal, but some of the best bass fx are modded guitar pedals (woolly mammoth anyone?) so ideally i'm looking for a few component swaps (caps/resistors etc) to let that bottom end through!

Any takers???

Found a thread on talkbass with comparisons but the soundclip links are dead...


Any help much appreciated,

Rich

Hi,

I have a mint SD-1 which i got in a trade. I heard a few rumours that it could work on bass. Has anyone got experience of this? I want to use it as a warmer distortion when my fuzz is too much. Is there a simple mod to let more bass through? I've seen the 5 star mod but can't find any samples.

Simple capacitor swap for a useable bass distortion? or a waste of time which should be flogged to a G££££££ player?

For reference, the sound in my head is off the intro to this Curtis Mayfield song....cant find the original but you know it!

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2iRWCAvW3w"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2iRWCAvW3w[/url]

Anyone with experience with the SD-1??

Cheers,
Rich

The terror is about the grindiest tube class-d going. i tried the shuttle and new markbass rock thingy and both seemed more valve warmth than valve grind ( as stated above).

I second the idea of a straight class-d amp with a valve pedal. i find my LG1000 to be quiet and clean on it's own, but putting a valve overdrive or valve compressor in the effects loop suddenly allows you to get the full 1000w out of the power section with whatever flavour grind or warmth you want, and i'm still a few hundred quid up on any class-d amp with a valve built in to it.

Hope some of that's useful,

Rich

Nooooooooooo!

Was keen for this one. Horn players eh....

post when you are coming next!

rich

Sounds wickid. let me know if you do play barfly soon.

Few pics would be cool if you find the time.

The bass cabs in this look quite similar to yours. well a bit....

[url="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14p3j_deep-purple-burn-live-video_music"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14p3j_de...ive-video_music[/url]

rich

[quote name='wotnwhy' post='834389' date='May 11 2010, 04:42 PM']I got these! picked them up on the weekend and had a little play with them.

very, very good! well built and monsterous speakers in them. just need a bit of re-furb work to make them look as good as they sound![/quote]

Really cool. I'd have had them if i didn't already have something similar. I didn't realise there was a vintage genuine equivalent to my cabs. I think they look great with that worn scruffy vibe. Do they sound monstrously deep? Who are they made by?

Check out how similar the design is to my cabs:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=60932&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=60932&hl=[/url]

You may be interested in the design aspects of your new cabs and why they (hopefully) sound awesome:

[url="http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/OmniTop15.html"]http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/OmniTop15.html[/url]

Gigging near Cardiff anytime?

Nice 1!

Rich

[quote name='Stu-khag' post='834357' date='May 11 2010, 04:17 PM']my work headphones have limiters built in to them so couldnt hear anything from 16khz. went to 19 on the cheap headphones[/quote]

Why limit high frquencies? Does this reduce ear damage? can you hear a difference with music played on each set of headphones?

Intriguing

rich

Points to ashdown for a great innovative product though!! From working in soundcontrol (RIP) i saw a fair few 'flys returned. the preamp seemed to pack in quite easily and half the power stage occasionally. Havn't heard of any such probs with the little giants, which have a solid state, not a class-d pre-amp.

rich

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='834316' date='May 11 2010, 03:38 PM']Don't panic, a lot of soundcards or speakers aren't capable of reproducing some of the higher (or lower) frequencies... [/quote]


Just showed this to be correct. i could hear all pitches through one pair of headphones , but stopped aft 15k with another. From the sounds of it, it seemed like i was hearing harmonics on a few as the pitch appeared to drop on some samples of increased frequency. I product of the sound clip? the headphones? my ears?

Looks like we play the right instrument though, should be able to hear a low E when i'm 99!

So don't panic, could well be the sound setup.

Rich

This is a total steal for a great bass! Summer = reggae = this bass!!

Almost tempted to cash in my Magnum and get this instead.....

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='832635' date='May 9 2010, 10:36 PM']Technical advancement means change in sound though, which is the point of a musical instrument. Graphite necks have a different sound. Look at the whole debate over neo vs non-neo. The magnet doesn't affect the sound, but the better engineering accompanying the neo speakers does, generally for better mechanically (greater xmax etc.), but some people don't like the tone (corresponding different breakup modes).

There are a few forces at work. The main bulk of the tension from the strings is transferred to the neck via the machine heads, which are beyond the truss rod, with an additional witness point at the nut. A single action truss rod can only provide compressive force, and only to the section of neck between its witness points, generally just above the nut, and around the 15th fret. It doesn't necessarily run parallel to the strings. Without the action of the truss rod, some parts of the neck are under compression, and some are under tension, the part under compression I'd guess is what you consider your fulcrum, your truss rod acting on the part under tension. It is also a dynamic system, as the tension on the neck changes during playing, especially if you do gripping the headstock bends and such.

Alternate system: No trussrod.

Truss rods are for people who can't deal with big wood in their hands.[/quote]

That seems to make sense. Hadn't considered the strings not ending at the nut in the context of tension. I guess any distance from nut to tuner is then going to add it's own warping effect to that end of the neck, although the short distances would make this effect quite small relative to what is going on over the neck as a whole.

I may have to start another thread on the more general lines of precision in bass guitar design with regards neck flex dynamics. I think extreme precision could be key in making the bass guitar an instrument suitable for producing the edgy, precise, electro sounds found in much modern music. After all, we don't want to give everything up to the keyboard players if we can help it!

Thanks for the interesting responses so far,

Rich

interesting system. Good to see there are alternative approaches out there. Any more?

Cheers,
Rich