SubsonicSimpleton

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1422126260' post='2669050'] Erm, thanks for that information. But my question was due to you choosing the BZ6000 (presumably over other basses) as a starting point for a project. As you were planning to defret the bass, I asked whether the ebonol fretboard which the BZ6000 has would be harder or easier to refret and then refinish than a standard wooden fretboard. You've given me a lot of general information about ebonol fretboards and what people think of them, but not addressed my actual question. [/quote] Pretty sure I answered you exactly when I wrote [quote name='SubsonicSimpleton' timestamp='1422120797' post='2668942'] No idea tbh [/quote] All problems have solutions, usually more than one solution - I was trying to make a general point that it is a safer option to modify an instrument that can be tested in playable form than buy a kit that doesn't provide any meaningful spec on the constituent parts. How many neck through 6ers are available at ~£200 new? the BZ6000 was the only one that sprang to mind as being well thought of.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1422122566' post='2668993'] I'm not quite sure I understand how your answer matches my question. I only asked because you said that if you were going to build a fretless you'd start with the BZ6000. It has an ebonol fretboard, and I wondered if that was a factor in your choice of that bass. [/quote] The BZ6000 is almost the same price as the kit, can be returned after actually playing it, and seeing how the neck responds to the tension of the strings, and any adjustments to the trussrod, and general opinion of the current crop of Harley Benton offerings is very positive. The kits on the other hand are a completely unknown quantity, and even if you used only the stock hardware you will still incur extra expense finishing it and probably have a really difficult time returning it if it turns out that you got one with a defective trussrod or unstable neck timbers that result in the finished article being unplayable. Ebonol is a bit marmite for some people but there are budget fretless fours that use this material for the fingerboard, so it would be fairly easy to check out something like a Squier VM fretless at a local music store and workout whether you loved/hated it before comitting. There are quite a few offerings from Ibanez, ESP, Yamaha, Cort, Peavey etc that could also be defretted, and if you go the modding route you can get a really clear idea of whether the ergonomics of the bass will work for you before you commit.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1422118187' post='2668911'] Is it easier or harder to defret and refinish an ebonol fretboard than a wooden one? (No, I'm not thinking of hacking away at my bz7000 ). [/quote] No idea tbh, but on a kit instrument you would probably have to do some fine tuning to the fingerboard anyway, so if the prospect of doing that work is scary then don't even consider the DIY route.

Wood is not a homogenous material, and every piece will have slightly different qualities which is one of the reasons that if you try a bunch of mass produced instruments with the same spec from the same manufacturer back to back you will find that they tend to have variation in how much they weigh and how they respond to being played. If you buy a kit, you are taking a gamble because you cannot tell how the different pieces of wood will interact when you finish assembling the instrument - if you buy a complete working instrument you can make a proper judgement about how the instrument feels and discard it if it is a dog before embarking on modifying it. If I wanted a 6 string fretless, I would certainly consider buying one of these http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_bz_6000_nt.htm on the basis that I could evaluate it properly and then either return it or use it as a platform for further modification(defretting, select hardware upgrades), I would also look round my local music shops and gumtree ads for potential secondhand instruments to use, as six strings don't hold their value well secondhand. One really important issue with the kit basses I have looked at on ebay etc is that the hardware looks like it is cheap trash IMHO, and decent six string hardware is expensive because no-one can really leverage economies of scale due to the low demand. If you cost the price of decent quality bridge/machineheads/pups, you are probably going to have to spend more than buying a decent midrange 6er outright.

If you have transport, you should probably make a trip to check out the double bass stock at Tim Toft Violins(stone, staffordshire), Turner Violins(Nottingham) and Bassbags.co.uk(Derby) - I have never bought anything from Alan Gregory, but what most non-specialist retailers regard as a setup usually constitutes taking the bass out of it's shipping crate, standing up the soundpost and bridge and fitting the strings, which isn't the same as the work that a decent luthier will do to get the instrument to optimum playability and tone. Given your budget, you might also want to add Duke as a potential option, depending on your tone goals - handmade pro quality laminate which are very reasonably priced for what you get, and the [url="http://www.duke-bass.de/duke-special"]special[/url] doesn't have the (garish IMHO) highlighting of the two-tone & didi beck models that thomann stock. If you don't have a clear idea on what you want from your new DB in terms of tone, ergonomics and the type of musical situations you want to use it in, it might be worth renting one for a few months.

The amp linked in the OP doesn't have any individual channel send controls for the monitor mix - you definately want to be able to control the levels of each channel going to your foldback independantly of what is being send to FOH if you are going to be using more than one microphone or amplifying both instruments and vocals IMHO.

Sounds like you need to revise how you are practising - getting the accuracy and muting techniques to play cleanly requires a patient approach to practice. Try getting out the metronome/drum machine and practising your lines/scales/arpeggios really slowly, and focus on clean even execution - you might be suprised how challenging it is.

Use an image hosting service like imgur.com and then post links to the pics in your ad, they will display as normal.

Nothing quite like a NDBD, I hope you get the same satisfaction and enjoyment from the sound that a 3/4 can deliver that I've been enjoying since getting my 50/4.

Try listening to what these guys do with the double bass, I find them really inspiring to listen to, and they really bring a very broad palette of dynamics and phrasing across the full range of the instrument. Rinat Ibragimov http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgZ_-f7pVk4 Bozo Paradzik http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2FGE8h8YSw There are some real gems in the classical repetoire if you want to go that route, but probably best to find something that really resonates with you personally, and inspires you to take the challenge.

There are quite a few videos on youtube about cheap chinese instruments, one of the most important bits of advice is that you need to establish a relationship with the person you are contemplating ordering from, and ask them lots of questions in order to establish how legit they are. Personally if I wanted an inexpensive J or P backup I would go play a bunch of Squiers and pick a good one rather than blind order from china.

Doesn't Xmax remain the same, but the SPL before distortion (and maximum SPL) increases due to the increase in displacement of the whole system as you add additional drivers.

At what point do you consider intent, and who really gets hurt? What is worse morally, what is worse for the consumer and what is worse for the manufacturer. A supposedly reputable dealer to rebuild instruments using genuine parts from stolen instruments to hide their identity, and defraud the customer while profiting from stolen goods. A chancer deliberately rebadging cheaper goods with the express intention of duping potential buyers into thinking they are getting a premium product when in fact they are getting something else which is less desirable/valuable. A manufacturer mass producing inferior copies of another companies product and selling them at a cheaper price. A manufacturer mass producing better quality copies of another companies product and selling them at a cheaper price. A small builder making quality period replicas and selling them as such. I would argue that replica instruments do not hurt the brand image or profit margins for Fender, as they are really in competition with the second hand market, and they don't hurt the consumer either if they are good quality in themselves and not misrepresented. All the other instances are bad news for the consumer and/or the companies profit/brand image, lawsuit era instruments were great for the consumer, but hit Fender/Gibson in the pocket quite seriously, and yet we don't see a sudden angry mob of villagers with torches and pitchforks demanding that Tokais and other lawsuit era instruments be banned from the for sale section of the forum and smashed up and burnt as fake trash because the companies who produced them copied the originals with the express intent of stealing their customers.

I stumbled on the studio jams channel a couple of days ago, loads of great material on there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8tiL14J-bs and found these guys at the same time - not really jazz-funk, but I enjoyed their interpretations of cissy strut and watermelon man, and thought some of the more rock oriented people might like them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN6VeTP75kY

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1418979200' post='2635343'] If you put build a "bitsa" bass and put a Fender logo on it then the problem is that its technically illegal. You're breaking the law if you try to sell it, regardless of whether or not you're open about what it is. The guy selling it now might be honest about what it is, but the next guy might not be, which is why disclosure doesn't affect the legality. I've C&P'd this from elsewhere, but Trading Standards are quite clear about this: 1. Using a logo/trademark that doesn't belong to you is illegal unless you have permission or a license to use it 2. Using a disclaimer ("this is not a real Fender") is not a legal defence in Trade Mark / Copyright law 3. Counterfeit goods (like Bitsa basses with Fender logos) cannot be legitimately sold, even with a disclaimer. Now, personally I don't really care if someone wants to build themselves a bitsa, thats fine by me. But the law is what it is. Again, more C&P: Fender sell replacement necks with logos to be fitted [b]only[/b] to Fender guitars. Warmoth (and others) sell licensed (non-logo) Fender style necks which can be put on anything you want. It is the addition of the Fender logo on a guitar that was not made by Fender that puts you on shaky legal ground. Adding a Fender logo to your homebrew bitsa is probably fine for your own personal use, but selling it becomes dodgy. [/quote] So what happens if you make a bitsa using a genuine fender neck sourced from a genuine fender instrument, but fitted to a body of unknown origin with aftermarket hardware, are you then obliged to scrape off the fender decal and remove the production date stamps etc?

That looks like you'll be having some serious fun, glad to see you didn't have the same soundpost palava I did.

There is quite a big difference IMHO between replicas which have the Fender decal on the headstock and the basses and guitars which crop up on ebay on a fairly regular basis where the seller has applied not just a Fender decal, but also custom shop decals and a fake serial number decal and then tries to pass off the instrument as being from the fender custom shop, when it is fairly obvious to anyone with a good eye for detail that the instrument is actually a cheap Squier. In the case of the replica, there is no claim that the instrument is a Fender, the decal is used to complete the look, not in an attempt to defraud potential buyers. There is a London based luthier (can't recall his name of the top of my head) who specialises in pre CBS replicas, who uses hide glue exclusively and vintage trussrods etc (made a replica tele for Wilko Johnson IIRC) who also sticks Fender logos on, as players get him to make high quality replicas so they can retire their genuine vintage instruments from use on the road (for whatever reasons) - is this morally wrong, or just pragmatic and sensible? Personally with regard to vintage instruments I would rather own a good fake than the real deal, as if the need arose to perform maintenance such as replacing pots, refretting etc the real thing can lose a huge amount of it's value the minute it ceases to be original, and with a good replica, you should be getting an instrument that has had much more attention paid to it's assembly than a production line Fender ever would have. Also I don't have much faith in the vintage market, especially in the wake of the Music Ground trial, where it came to light that a "respectable" and long established business had been not only caught re-assembling stolen instruments to hide their identities, but also had been defrauding customers for years with faked amps and instruments (of which I had heard rumours as far back as the early 90s). If I buy something like a limelight I can actually be certain about what I'm getting.

What sounds good at home often doesn't work effectively in a band situation, and what works well with a band isn't necessarily going to sound great in isolation, also worth noting that that the sound you get will change as you crank the volume up due to the limitations of the amp/cab and the non-linear way that the human ear perceives volume at different frequencies - really you need to tweak your equipment at rehearsal where it is running at band volume and you can make adjustments so it fits within the overall mix properly. Using the headphone socket on an amp is also not going to give an accurate idea of the end result, because you will be bypassing the speaker cab, which will have a large influence on the sound when you have the amp cranked.

Zoom B1on is very affordable and includes chromatic tuner, basic drum machine and looping functionality as well as the effects, can be used with headphones or in front of an amp, available as cheap as £39 from some retailers.

Surely the ability to internalise music quickly and efficiently is a skill like any other, that requires practice to develope - aside from how people feel about using stands on stage, surely there is an argument that if you always rely on having a pad there as a crutch, that you never really put yourself in a situation where committing the music to memory is essential, and you actually defeat your own opportunity to develope that skillset as a result. I was lucky some years ago to work with a pro musician from Ghana who had earned his living from the age of 12 gigging on a daily basis, and his ability to learn material extremely quickly amazed me - he nailed ~45 numbers for the function band I was playing in at the time in 3 days, no crib sheets, no charts and no mistakes. On talking to him about it, he told me that much of the time when he was learning his trade in Ghana he was often expected to learn material from the radio and play it the same day, no luxury of cassette tapes or record players, so as a matter of necessity he had developed the necessary skills to keep his gigs.

You could try using a high pass filter to cut the very low frequencies that might cause potential damage to your drivers (and will certainly gobble up all your amp headroom), we mostly hear the harmonics on very low notes rather than the fundamental anyway. You might be suprised by how high you can set a high pass filter without compromising the sound.

Your playing will naturally be influenced by the musical ideas that you have heard and found interesting, the important thing is to avoid listening to a very narrow selection of music. Cast your net wide and explore the vast amount of music now readily available on youtube.

The port should still function correctly when it is downward firing, (if the size of the feet are correct then the gap under the cab acts as an extension to the length of the port), and it looks like the cab has been designed with this in mind, or BF wouldn't have put feet on the same face of the cab as the port.

If you haven't done so already, it might be worth going for a lesson with a good bass teacher who should be able to identify if there is anything about your technique that could be contributing to this issue. Well worth IMHO considering changing to a lighter gauge of strings 35-95 would considerably reduce the amount of physical effort required to play, and should help your hand to be more relaxed while playing - strings direct do [url="http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/strings-c1/bass-guitar-strings-sets-c34/legacy-legacy-4-string-nickel-roundwound-bass-guitar-strings-40-100-long-scale-p971"]a 40-100 set which costs less than a tenner[/url] (legacy are rebadged rotosound nickels), I moved from 45-105 to rotosound RB35 35-95 (£15) set when I was experiencing a lot of discomfort in my left hand and all the aches and pains stopped, so I would recommend that it is a very cheap and simple change that might help.