richrips

$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

[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

Most open gear tuners stiffness id dictated by a piece of bent metal which pushes against the screw thread. it is held under the 'cog'. if you disassemble the tuner you can remove this piece of metal and slightly reduce/increase the bend with pliers or in a clamp to reduce/increase stiffness. Some tuners do not have this piece of metal and the only way to adjust them is via the screw as described above, although this may affect the overall stiffness of the tuner assembly and effect the tone. Try both and compare, Rich

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='832298' date='May 9 2010, 04:00 PM']Since the tension of the strings is a constant, might be some flawed thinking here.[/quote] Not really. The strings exert a constant force, but the overall force on the neck (which is compressive, end to end) is a sum of the tensile force in the neck and tensile force in the truss rod (there may be other forces at play, let me know). These forces needent be equal as each depends on the perpendicular distance of the force from the fulcrum. If the truss rod is set nearer the back of the neck, the distance of the force exerted by the truss rod to the fulcrum is increased, thus the force can be smaller whilst providing the same moment as a shallower truss rod. Hope that makes sense. Just checked out the link for the technical paper. Fascinating stuff. I like the idea of putting a load bearing member beneath the fingerboard at the inertial cedntre of the forces acting on the neck, rather than rely on wood, with its weird respnses to temp/humidity. Not so sure about the modified truss rod slot, as it would imply a wide range of rod movement. if this were adjusted frequently, it seems there is potential for the rod to wear on the sides of the slot and develop the dreaded rattle.... I'd rather see what optimum flex characteristics could be acheived using a rod with a fixed position and fixed pivots which are effective (as a compromise over the 2 seperate tension/compression pivots in the moving rod suggested in the pdf). There should be an optimum curved shape, without seperate pivots, that is still an improvement on the current continuously curved rod placement which obviously is not ideal because as neck thickness varies along its length there are bound to be changes in flex characteristics. Good observation that the guitar industry is able to maintain sales growth despite a distinct lack of concerted technical engineering innovation. I guess that's why a USA p bass still costs nearly a grand after 50 years of no technical advancement. Rich

These look absolutely wickid. Weird shapes are the future!! I could definitely see myself with one of these. People are funny about shapes.... recently an Ovation Magnum 1 sold on ebay for £820, yet around the same time an Ovation magnum 3 sold for just over £400. The difference? Only the body shape- the 3 is much more traditional, precision-esque whereas the 1 looks like a space ship. Same woods, same pickups, same electronics, same sound. Makes you wonder.... there's obviously a huge market for quality basses in non-traditional shapes. Now who can sell me an unmarked used Big Al at a knockdown price? Rich

After toying with the idea of making my own bass, and having several weeks free this summer, i've been looking in to materials, shapes, pickup positions etc etc and had a thought about truss rods. The truss rod is usually situated just beneath the fingerboard. It's job is to counter the bending effect of having strings under tension on one side of the neck. To do this it provides a tensile force of its own. A couple of things strike me as strange in the standard arrangement. 1.The moment of the force the truss rod can exert is a function of the tensile force within the truss rod (how tight it is) and it's position in relation to the pivot about which that force operates. In the standard arrangement, it would appear that the pivot is the wood between the strings and the truss rod, which is essentially the fingerboard, hence the distance from the pivot is increased as the truss rod is set deeper in the neck (furthur from the strings, deeper below the fingerboard). 2. If the truss rod were routed in to the back of the neck, rather than just below the fingerboard, it could be between 1.5 and 2 times farther away from the strings than it currently is. The distance from the point at which the truss rod acts and the pivot (which would be the position within the neck at the mid point of the 2 opposing forces- string tension and truss rod tension) would then be increased. This would mean less tensile force would be needed in the truss rod to produce the same neck-straightening force (moment) as a truss rod located nearer to the strings (such as a traditional position directly beneath the fingerboard. Less tension in truss rod = less overall force acting on neck. This would appear to have benefits such as: -Less chance of truss rod being damaged since it is under less tension. -potential to use lighter truss rod as its strength requirements would be lower = lighter neck -Possibility that the truss rod could be just beneath the lacquer on the back of the neck, so replacement would not require removal/damage of fingerboard if it did break. I'd be interested to hear from luthiers/builders as to why this is not common practice as i have never seen this, yet to me it seems logical??? Any responses much appreciated! Rich

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NATIONAL-VAL-PRO-85-BASS-GUITAR-/140405368235?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item20b0cfe5ab"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NATIONAL-VAL-PRO-85-...=item20b0cfe5ab[/url]

i did this to a yamaha. i'd recommend sawing slots VERY carefully then putting in hard maple markers with as little (decent) epoxy as possible. I used wood filler instead and the markers slowly 'sank' as the filler gradually contracted as it continued to dry out, but luckily i soon snapped the truss rod so i didn't have to live with my mistake for long! To start some heated controversy, i'm going to step out and say: Ahem... I think the idea of not having fret markers on a fretless is just to show off and can't see a logical reason not to have them. The argument that a neck looks better without them is on a par with saying you'd happily drive a car with no speedometer because the dashboard looks more refined, plus people will be impressed at how well you can accurately judge your cars speed without it! And if you really don't need them, why do unlined fretless's usually have sidemarkers? Why do i feel i've just put myself against a wall facing a firing squad of irreconcilably angered fret-marker-less fretless bass players? ....and i guess the upright brigade will be after my blood as well..... well it was nice knowing everyone! Hope the first bit is of some use! Cheers, Rich (in a deliberately inflammatory mood after watching this. Why can't UK politics be this honest and exciting???) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfCRyLlyqJI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfCRyLlyqJI[/url]

These look very similar in design to my BFM Jack Cabs which sound great. Seriously cool and a massive deal too!! [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pair-15-200w-Bass-Bins-/200466223076?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_ConElec_SpeakersPASystems_RL&hash=item2eacb7cfe4"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pair-15-200w-Bass-Bi...=item2eacb7cfe4[/url]

[quote name='waltsdog' post='827708' date='May 4 2010, 06:04 PM']Just had a quote from a local luthier for a bog standard neck replacement they were talking £300.[/quote] Ouch! I've just been looking at tonewood suppliers. Seems the maple and ebony will cost me less than £100. set of router bits = less than £20. and i can make my dream bass for little more than several hours fun in the garage. Also been looking at vacuum bagging carbon construction with interest.... Rich