rmorris

[quote name='The Burpster' post='216434' date='Jun 10 2008, 09:24 PM']For what they cost you will be hard pushed to beat cables made by our own OBBM. he uses top components by Neutrik and Van Damme. These are music and TV industry standard parts and are probably the best VFM you can get. FYI my guitarist has a Whirlwind lead (cost him £35 odd squids several years ago) He was gutted when I gave him my Neutrick and Klotz lead to use (about £8 all up) as it sounds just as good if not better than the Whirlwind. If you want to spend lots on a lead, thats entirely your own choice. Will it be any better in sound quality and durablity/reliability than one made of good components? I seriously doubt it.[/quote] +1 Neutrik connectors are the standard along with Switchcraft. I think Neutrik / Re-An now have a less expensive second line of connectors I think made in Far East rather than Europe. Have to say they are good vfm although I'd still tend to go with the Euro parts - I have a few of those connectors so don't need to choose atm. It's nice that they have a collet mechanism to grip the cable rather than a bendable bit of metal. Much more reliable in the medium / long term. Once you have decent cable it's the mechanical integrity of the cable which is critical for guitar / bass applications. I'd always opt for a copper screen ( rather than conductive tube / foil with a drain wire ) and if using with high impedance outputs you 'must' use cable with a semiconducting layer between the core and screen to avoid lots of noise when you flex the cable. Braided screens are best electrically but can suffer from flexing so a spiral screen - or better a double lapped "Reussen" shield - is probably better ( and try not to step on it too much ). Personally I have a mixture of Switchcraft / Neutrik / Deltron connectors with mainly Klotz instrument cable ( or Van Damme GAC-2 cable for lo-Z apps ) with a bit a bit of Musiflex and Studiospares 'Europa' multicore thrown into the mix. btw the Neutrik 'Red' jack plugs with the shorting link to avoid 'plops' when unplugging look good too.

[quote name='danfergie123' post='217034' date='Jun 11 2008, 04:59 PM']Is a cable without resistance [i]practically[/] impossible, or [i]literally[/i] impossible?[/quote] What you're talking about is a superconductor. As far as I know it's only known to be possible at absolute zero ( 0K = -273 deg C : very very cold indeed ! ) One of my physics tutors in the 80s was working on superconductors at 'normal' temperatures but as far as I know it's still something of a 'holy grail' - in a rational agnostic sense :-) I stand to be corrected if anyone knows different. In everyday terms pure silver is the beat conductor but tends to tarnish unlike gold. Practically it's not something you need to be concerned about - concentrating efforts on keeping contacts clean and free fom oxidisation is much more critical. Isopropyl alcohol to remove grease etc and look at Caig Deoxit and Kontakt products to remove oxide / corrosion buil up on jack conectors etc.

[quote name='bremen' post='218566' date='Jun 13 2008, 09:20 PM']+1. Also don't worry about having to play at absolute zero to keep the cable's resistance down.[/quote] yeah - I have a feeling that the string tension may be affected at zero Kelvin - and the amp won't work - and the speaker cones will be frozen... The cables will perform exceptionally well though :-) maybe I've spent too much time dealing with liquid nitrogen :-)

[quote name='dood' post='222461' date='Jun 19 2008, 08:25 PM']I would think of the MXR as a multi channel pedal, where the Sansamp to be is more of an amp / cab sim. FWIW, I don't like the drive sounds as much on the Sansamp either.. I run it on the edge of dirt with lots of direct signal mixed in.[/quote] I'd definitely agree the Sansamp BDDI is more of an amp sim kinda thing - I don't think it does a convincing 'distortion' with drive up high. I tend to run it with mild drive - just hear a lively edge to the tone - presence between 9 and 3 o'clock depending on the context and strings. Lots of presence tends to bring up the noise level and I don't like that but the attack is good. I tend to have only a little direct in the blend if any. I find that even though it might sound a little too effected on its own it sits well in a mix with rock / indie bass and drums. Will be interesting how the new Sansamp Bass VT stuff sounds ?

[quote name='BassManKev' post='221362' date='Jun 18 2008, 01:30 PM']that last one sold on here i thinkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk went for £135 few months back edit: £125, close enough [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5818&hl=g5"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5818&hl=g5[/url][/quote] yeah - all things considered I think I'll stick it on this site first and maybe the local gumtree. Recent ebay charges changes + compulsory Paypal as means of payment to be offered have dulled the ebay appeal somewhat. Some people reckon ebid is a better alternative if enough people switch allegiance but I heard ebay was bidding to buy it ? Anyway, I was hoping to clear around £130 so I guess I should take this to the sale forum now - will probably be there sometime on weekend when I have taken photo. Will just mention that I am in Brighton in case anyone fancies a no obligation try out. Thanks again for your feedback.

[quote name='Toasted' post='221348' date='Jun 18 2008, 01:13 PM']If you can get a fair price here, it's better than ebay IMO. I sold my last G5 to a fella in the US for $350 + shipping.[/quote] that was a good price depedig on the exchange rate at the time. I guess he really wanted one !

[quote name='Phaedrus' post='220521' date='Jun 17 2008, 12:28 PM']I'm wondering what chorus pedals folk on here like. Do regular chorus pedals sold for guitar work okay with bass? I thought the EBS UniChorus would be worth looking at, but one review I read said it was really noisy, with a lot of hiss. Thanks, Mark[/quote] I have to give a mention to my Roktek Chorus Pedal. Cheap fx I know but it works for me on bass for a bit of a Peter Hook sound on a budget. Tried Boss etc but they sounded more 'washed out' which I didn't get with the Roktek - Depth between half and full / Rate barely above minimum ( unless wanting that 'underwater' sound ) / Tone at Max - with a plectrum... Also good after a Boss OC-2 Octaver to smooth the edges.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='221363' date='Jun 18 2008, 01:31 PM']Obviously. I would never record with just one pedal though, so a DI box for the desk, and a blend pot for the pedal to go through my amps would have been nice. I suppose I could just mix the two outputs with something else.[/quote] Indeed - always good to be able to have blend control rather than needing external mixer etc where you'd rather not have to bother and want to keep the gear level / setup hassle down. Would be good to have all options - pure effect / effect-dry blend / buffered dry signal. But I guess it all comes down to cost / target price. Blend / mix controls are not that easy to engineer - well they sort of are but it takes a fair few components to do it 'properly' - and if you want 'good' components then the cost can become significant when you consider that a raw component cost probably ends up at retail at something like x4 the cost to the manufacturer.

thanks for the feedback on this people. I've had a look at the bank balance and think I'll have to sell it although it can be a lot of fun. Pondering whether to put it up in the sale section here or go straight to ebay / ebid . I guess I'm looking at £s somewhere between a Boss SYB thingy and an AKAI Deep Impact so I'll do some research.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='221297' date='Jun 18 2008, 12:18 PM']Why two outputs instead of a blend pot? It will annoy some and please others I guess.[/quote] a buffered dry output is pretty handy for recording - saves a bit of messing around with more cables / boxes.

[quote name='xgsjx' post='220353' date='Jun 17 2008, 08:23 AM']This is actually not true. What you may have experienced is the pickhand of the G*****st hitting one of the pots on the said instrument, thus causing what may sound like a temporary reduction in noise. I heard this phenomenon last night & had to investigate it. [/quote] yeah - that's probably it :-)

there are different ways to define the power output in Watts so the 'Wattage' is nominal only. For a given amplifier the sound level you actually get depends on the speaker cab(s) efficiency ( SPL / Watt ) and the impedance characteristic - the 4 ohm etc rating is nominal and will vary over frequency and interacts with the amp. And, of course, how clean ( or not ) you want the sound to be. But in general I'd agree that a typical rating of 150 - 300 Watts should be plenty. How loud can the drums be ? :-) And if drums are being amplified a lot then you'll need to go through the PA too - You're not going to be able to balance a good on-stage sound and get a good out front sound with just the amp. And think of your hearing too... btw I heard a rumour that guitarists can turn down the volume on their amps although I'm not sure it's true ;->

[quote name='Silent Fly' post='219277' date='Jun 15 2008, 04:26 PM']I think Toasted answered to this [/quote] well sort of. I was just thinking in more detail given that the impedance vector will affect freq. / phase response . And I was wondering if a trimpot or similar to vary the impedance would be of significant benefit.

I understand that you might not want to say but I'm wondering if you've added only resistive impedance or also inductive impedance to more closely model a Hi-Z pickup ?

[quote name='bremen' post='218566' date='Jun 13 2008, 09:20 PM']Also don't worry about having to play at absolute zero to keep the cable's resistance down.[/quote] yeah - it's hard seeing the frets through the liquid nitrogen and the strings might become a little brittle ?

sorry - obviously I haven't got the hang of the 'quoting' mechanism here yet.

heres a nice bit about clipping on the peavey site [url="http://www.peavey.com/support/technotes/concepts/clippingrevisited.cfm"]http://www.peavey.com/support/technotes/co...ngrevisited.cfm[/url] [/quote] nice peavey link. worth saying that not all solid state front ends distort the same way depending on the circuitry eg. op amp ( iintegrated or discrete ) with negative feedback or open loop FET transistor etc.

re: "I think the difference you'll get in tone if you increase it past the clip level is a bit of digital distortion, which to 99.99% of folk sounds crap. " Why digital distortion ? We are talking solid state (opamp and / or transistors ) here aren't we so it would be 'solid state' analogue distortion.

Anyone have opinion on this Synth Bass / Envelope Follower ? I have one and thinking of selling it - but would be good to hear opinions as I haven't tried Akai Deep Impact etc. Cheers.

[quote name='BassManKev' post='136885' date='Feb 8 2008, 11:20 PM']theres on for sale at my local music buy sell place not great cosmetics, wood is pretty worn and dinged in places, but still looks nice, with the thru neck style body, but with a bolt on neck. voume knob missing. its the active 80's one with the precision pickup with the switch for series/parallel, and the active passive switch. it plays really well, great punchy tone, but i didnt get chance to try it in active mode, daft bugger didnt have any 9v batteries to put in it! (it takes two, which suprises me as it only has one active eq knob, boost n cuts bass and treble at the same time, in additon to a passive tone knob) they are askin for £150, which seems to be above the average costs iv found on the net, but the guy doesnt seem to wanna go down much. opinions?? i think a few guys have one on here[/quote] fine basses - I have a modified 1A , a black 1 , and a later fretless ( different pickup / bridge ). but from your description £150 is too much I reckon. I'm guessing from what you wrote that it's pretty much a buy/sell place ie they don't pay a lot of attention to the playability setup etc. ? Otherwise I reckon they'd have sorted the issing knob ? Depends if you're happy to look at that yourself but if it needs a fret dress - quite likely given the vintage depending on your playing style - that's not cheap. Against that it is a retail situation so not likely to be as good a price as a private sale. From the description / problems I'd say £110ish with a (cheap) set of strings thrown in, guessing that it hasn't been restrung in the shop.

Other - Westone Thunder 1A natural wood finish. But now pickups / electronics replaced with EMG P pickup + electronics. Wearing Warwick Reds 45-105 atm. Okay for plectrum stuff but not so good for fingerstyle.

have reds on one bass. okayish but a bit rough sounding / feeling. okay bashing along with band in practice but did't come out well on recording.

this site has audio clips for strings + everything else - pickups / effects... [url="http://basstasters.com/"]http://basstasters.com/[/url]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='214560' date='Jun 7 2008, 07:21 PM']I use DR Hi Beams and Lo Riders, I find the Hi Beams to be very supple and the Lo Riders are good for hittin' hard. They last for ever. A person of your calibre should have no problem following the wiring diagram. DR Hi Beams but get them from the States, Mymusicstuff, I think, ebay shop.[/quote] Sorry - I meant DR rather than D'addario for round core ( vs hex core ). Although for all I know D'addario may do them as well. DR Hi-Beam = Round Core DR Lo-Riders = Hex core which tallies with opinions on these strings above.