Happy Jack

I played bass last night at a low-volume open mic where the PA was a single Bose L1, operated by a guy who knows what he's doing. No bass rig was supplied. There were two small combos for the guitarists so all that went through the PA were the vocals. And my bass, a Takamine TB10. Played very quietly, the Bose L1 sounded fine. As soon as I started to push it the sound went horribly wrong, all farty and grim. My Fishman SA220 is WAY better than that.

Mick, if you do a try-out with Paul, just make sure he wears the hat, OK? The hat matters.

[quote name='markdavid' timestamp='1495444051' post='3303683'] 1. Why is the intonation on these type of bridges funky? I understand you cannot individually move saddles but as you can move the bridge this should not matter. [color=#0000ff]Actually you can move individual saddles - just remove the piece of fret wire (for, dear reader, that is what the saddle is) and place it in another slot. Trying to intonate four strings simultaneously by tapping the entire bridge to move it in fractions of a millimetre is pretty much a guarantee of "funky".[/color] 2. Why are the measurements for the position of the bridge so different, to illustrate what I mean by this a typical Fender bridge has the saddles maybe approx 1-1.5 cm from the ball ends of the strings, the violin bass often has the bridge (and corresponding saddles much further forward, surely the fact that the bridge is floating shouldn't really have much of an impact. [color=#0000ff]Not entirely sure this is relevant? Trying to picture what you mean, and failing. [/color] 3. The scale length thing confuses me, a violin bass has a 30" scale but surely the fact that the bridge is much further forward than say a Fender mustang (another 30" scale bass) means that the scale length is actually shorter than the 30" ??? [color=#0000ff]The scale length is actually 30.5" and the bridge should be no "further forward" than is required to meet that length.[/color] 4. String tension should be lower on a violin bass than most 30" scale basses as the speaking length of the string is shorter due to the bridge being further forward, am I correct in this assumption? [color=#0000ff]Not as far as I am aware, but someone who knows that they're talking about will be with you in a minute.[/color] 5. How far forward is the norm for the bridge on these basses? [color=#0000ff]Sufficient to give a 30.5" scale length.[/color] 6. What is the best way to intonate these basses? [color=#0000ff]If I say "trial and error" you may think I'm taking the piss, but actually I'm not.[/color] [/quote]

If it was just you (on the bass) we were talking about, then this would be easy. Take along a 4-string bass strung BEAD for the AC/DC songs. If you have to carry two guitarists with you, then best just walk on by and find some other material.

What happened to the old Rickenfaker thread?

Is it too late to point out that this is, in fact, a twin-blade razor? It's just that you use one blade at a time ...

Right you are sir ... chilling as we speak sir ...

Oh no, Barefaced is not off limits. It's just witch-hunts that I find tiresome. Alex isn't a childhood friend of mine, and I don't own shares in his company, so I have no personal axe to grind here. I'd be equally as disappointed in "the community" if it chose to hound remorselessly Warwick Basses or Eden Amplification for perceived reliance on ... yuk ... marketing speak. But you don't, do you? You don't try to start a fight with Warwick or Eden, or Fender or Markbass or whoever because they're not Basschatters, they don't waste their time trying to engage with Basschatters, and frankly they couldn't give a rat's derrière what you think. Can you imagine Stevie sending his graphs to Aguilar and Bergantino and trying to point out the errors in their marketing claims? Actually, I can. And I can easily imagine the response he'd get from those companies. Alex is a Basschatter who actually put his money where his mouth is. He reckoned he could make a better bass cab than most on the market, got criticised to hell and back for daring to make that claim, so he just went off and succeeded. Were you one of those who mocked him back in 2007? Was Stevie? I neither know nor care, but if you really want to "take on" Alex then all you need to do is to design your own cabs, start your own businesses, and compete with him. Wouldn't that be a much fairer fight? Then, instead of challenging him for his snake oil and false claims, you could prove him wrong by out-selling him in the market place. Or not, as the case might be. But if you really think it all works better if you sit back in your chair accusing him of daring to change his mind occasionally (are you and Stevie particularly proud of having never once changed your minds on any topic, I wonder?), and if you genuinely believe that you are making a valuable contribution to the Basschat community by trying to drive Alex away, then you must do whatever you think appropriate. I shall now give you back your playground.

Well you'd best dig out the history of the Barefaced 410 while you're at it then ...

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/11/08/writing-about-music/

Oh no, you've gone and started them up all over again Pete! Maybe the solution is to print out all the bickering, scrunch it up really small and stuff it in our ears. Then we wouldn't need to worry about trivia like how these cabs (Barefaced or any other) actually sound.

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1495023333' post='3300527'] Is that even legal? [/quote] It's a Barbie Fairytale Castle - can't you tell?

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1495017921' post='3300444'] I'll see your birthday cake ... [/quote] ... and raise you ... [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Sundry/Barbie%20Cake%20with%20added%20Ken_zpszcntpuqz.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/Sundry/Barbie%20Cake%20with%20added%20Ken_zpszcntpuqz.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1495011967' post='3300356'] In those embarrassing situations where someone​ hands you a bass and says "you're good, play something" that's basically what's expected, and I wish I could do it that well and get back to drinking, no questions asked! [/quote] Yup, I feel sure I would hate that if anyone were ever so foolish as to look at me and say "you're good, play something". Don't worry - that ain't [i][b]never [/b][/i]going to happen.

Well I've had my Basschat for ten years now, it's had plenty of mods so I can't claim it's all-original, and it certainly has plenty of mojo, but I have no intention of looking for an upgrade just yet. Forum GAS is a terrible thing.

Loved that lick at 1:18 though.

I've rarely seen a better case argued for using your ears rather than all this reductio ad absurdum. If you like the sound, buy it. If you don't like the sound, buy something else. If you want to score points, endlessly, boringly, repetitively, then analyse the sound to death using oh-so-clever graphs accompanied by casual put-downs ("I suspect not everyone will know how to read this ..."). Perhaps clutching a copy of this graph will somehow make your PA sound better in The Tickled Trout. I promise you it won't make a blind bit of difference in any pub I've ever played. I imagine that the RCFs sound great. I know the Barefaced RFs sound great. Lots of things sound great. Get over it.

Apparently I must enter a post.

[quote name='Steve Browning' timestamp='1494406040' post='3295623'] Is that Soho Square in the background? [/quote] Yup.

[quote name='andyonbass' timestamp='1493633535' post='3289515'] I've used one of these to good effect in the past.........[url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Uni-Ball-PX-20-Permanent-Marker-White/dp/B00177ZN6G/ref=pd_sim_201_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=J5B260C9HW5FK1CFA1SY"]https://www.amazon.c...0C9HW5FK1CFA1SY[/url] [/quote] [quote name='King Tut' timestamp='1494368291' post='3295498'] Got one of these - worked a treat! Fank you :-) [/quote] How "permanent" is this marker, do you reckon?

I saw them later passing through Chinatown. One guy pedalling the bike, the usual half dozen guys with shaven heads and saffron robes trailing behind beating drums, but now they've been joined by a guy who walks on one side playing bass, and another on t'other side playing an amplified ukelele of some sort. As street theatre it's quite passable, but quite what the [i][b]Supreme Lord Krishna[/b][/i] makes of it all I dread to think ...

Hurry Krishna ... mobile Krishna ... pedal pedal ... hurry hurry ... [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/20170509_123555_zps6jkrp28v.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/20170509_123555_zps6jkrp28v.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

This guy doesn't have a background in advertising, does he? [size=4] [/size]

One cab solution, there's only one cab solution, One cab solu-u-u-u-u-tion, there's only one cab solution. [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Sundry/Come%20On%20England_zpsagycsbr7.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/Sundry/Come%20On%20England_zpsagycsbr7.jpg[/IMG][/URL]