Gottastopbuyinggear

Thanks both.

Skol, I might not have been completely clear. I'm happy to do the slicing up and removing the in-between-songs trash bit manually - it's just the effort of manually exporting 20 tracks to MP3 that I'm trying to get over. At the moment I'm slicing up the imported file in Logic Express, deleting the trash, and then bouncing each song individually to MP3, so that might mean 15 or 20 songs. I've done that once, the second time I just bounced a total of 20 songs across four files. I'm having trouble summoning up enough enthusiasm to do even that now!

dood, sounds like Reaper's worth a look - I'll have to investigate.

I've got a spare Line6 audio interface so I can give him that so that he can play along to stuff - I do a lot of my practicing by playing along to tracks on iTunes with PodFarm or Amplitube, so I'll suggest he tries that as well.

Sadly he's supposed to be off to university in the autumn, and I'm not letting him take either of my basses, so it looks like I'll be in the market for a Squier or similar in the near future.

I've started recording our rehearsals so that we can all take a leisurely listen and decide what needs to be worked on. I'm using a TASCAM portable recorder, and currently importing the audio files into Logic Express, carving them up into individual songs, and then bouncing each song to MP3 individually.

It all takes a bit too long, so I'm looking for a way to speed the process up. A way of carving up MP3s into individual files, removing the trash between songs in the process, would be ideal, so that I don't have to convert to MP3 at the end of the process. Alternatively something similar for WAV files with an efficient way of batch encoding them into MP3.

I have both Windows and MAC machines I can use, and could even stick Linux on an old laptop if necessary.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for software to try, or ways to do this? From searches I can see there are potential ways to do this with Audacity, or utilities such as mp3splt - I guess I'm hoping that someone here has done something similar and can recommend an approach.

That pretty much matches my thoughts too. As far as I can see the attraction is in the "gamification" - the instant gratification of scoring well. So if that helps develop some basic left and right hand skills then that should be a launch pad to being able to play to backing tracks, or having a jam with other people.

I'd like to work out a good reason for getting him to start reading parts too, so maybe a couple of reasonable beginners bass books. He can read treble clef for clarinet okay, so it shouldn't be difficult to adapt to bass.

I know what you mean about spending time learning in the "wrong" way. When I learnt guitar as a kid I could never really see the point in learning scales. It's only having picked it back up in later life, and having had a go at saxophone too, that's made me realise how important it is for both fluid reading and playing, and improvising.

I'm still not sure why he's suddenly developed the interest. He's not actually a huge music fan really, though he has been branching out a bit with his listening lately, and we did go and see Robben Ford recently with the excellent Brian Allen on bass, so that may have helped.

Until recently my 17 year old son has never shown any interest in guitar or bass, despite the house being littered with plenty of both. The other day he asked me if I'd heard of Yousician, and said he fancied having a go at using it to learn bass.

Just wondered if anyone had any experience with it at all, and whether it seems like a good way of getting started? He's got a reasonable understanding of music having done GCSE, and clarinet to grade 5, so it's not his first foray into playing an instrument.

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1469022674' post='3095158']
Do you have links to the stuff on amazon by any chance? I know I could search myself but it's always nice to have somebody's say so that a thing works rather than finding something random and discovering for yourself that it doesn't!
[/quote]

These are the ones:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00OJXVDAU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B011LO5KOO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can buy USB power packs and USB to 9v converters on Amazon. I spent £20 on a 16,000mAh power pack (which is knocking on 3 times the capacity of the old PedalTrain Volto) and £10 on the converter and it's been great. It was more a convenience thing for me - one less mains socket to find and lead to trip over, and quicker to set up/tear down.

The only thing I found was that if there was no current draw then the power pack would power off, so if you're using a pedal that is truly off when it's off (if you see what I mean) or only draws a very small amount of power then you might have problems. I found a BDDI or VT Bass don't draw enough, but having a TU-3 in the chain is fine, presumably because it's buffered and the buffer's drawing enough power.

I use one in a two guitar band with quite a loud drummer through either a Markbass Traveler 210 or, more recently, my home built 1x12 (both 8 ohm cabs) and I don't go above 12:00 on the gain.

Like you I as a bit wary before buying, but I'd be very confident it'll be more than loud enough for you.

i don't personally think the amp colours the sound, though it can be a bit bright, but the eq is pretty versatile. Not having a separate gain and volume hasn't given me a problem either.

I'm on the second cab, which I don't really need, so it's not a huge problem. Looking forward to hearing more on yours though.

Blimey, this is making my Basschat 1x12 build approach look pretty agricultural! Ageing Bosch jigsaw failed half way through the rough cut for the speaker today, so I need a new cutting device. How much would a laser cutter capable of cutting 3/4" ply set me back? A little more than a jigsaw I suspect...

I'm very impressed, and a little envious...

[quote name='Raymondo' timestamp='1467836443' post='3086675']
Have we really got to go down this road again?
[/quote]

I'm not going down this road again for less than £50 a head, free beer and 20% of the tips

A quick update on this. First, I've made the frame and added the grille cloth. It's not perfect, but it's turned out better than I hoped and is pretty straight. It's actually a really snug fit, so it's not held in by anything but doesn't fall out. I've added a couple of loops of webbing at the bottom to grab hold of to pull the grille out, though you can't really see that as the photo's a bit poor:

[url="http://s1172.photobucket.com/user/andrewjdowden/media/1x12%20Build/IMG_0481_zpskvm7xe4w.jpg.html"][/url]

More importantly, though, I'm now ever happier with the sound I'm getting from this. I used it last night with my Ampeg PF500 for the first time, having used it about half a dozen times with a GK MB200. I'm not sure whether it's the amp (set pretty much completely flat), the fact that I've just put some La Bella flats on my Precision in place of the D'Addario Chromes I had before, or maybe the speaker breaking in (if you believe in that sort of thing...), but I can't now detect any drop off in the bass as you go down the E string.

All in all I'm still really pleased, and for anyone considering a build based on the information that's in the Basschat 1x12 thread I'd say go for it!

Now I've just got to find some time to finish the second one...

That's the risk you take when you buy secondhand - it could pack up the day after you get it. Could be the buyer's a bit of a chancer, and is maybe having second thoughts about it and is trying to set up an excuse to return it, or it could genuinely be developing a fault, but either way I'd suggest it's tough luck.

Thought Gary Clark Jr was excellent.

Not a particular fan either, though I quite like the last album, but it's definitely floating my boat tonight!

Laptop - MacBook running Logic Express. Sounded better through the MB200 and a Markbass cab than it did through the PA, but that may have been my lack of competence with the PA.

I've done this, and it does work. Used the aux in to run a drum track whilst auditioning a keys player while the drummer was on holiday, and could play bass at the same time, which I'm not sure you'd be able to do if you plugged your audio in to the effect return.

EDIT: Err, I must be half asleep - you wouldn't be able to use the effect return anyway, as the MB200 doesn't have an effect loop!

Sadly not, rivets. Though you could drill them out I guess.

My pedal train metro has about 31mm clearance in total, just over 21mm from the frame and just under 10mm from the feet.

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1464201317' post='3057544']
No word of a lie, I always order a chicken dhansak as hot as a Madras... It's unbeatable
[/quote]

Is that the curry equivalent of a P with a J pickup at the bridge?

As TimR has pointed out, this isn't about running your pedals from a phone charger, it's about running them from a USB power pack.

I've just bought one of these - £10 from Amazon: [url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B011LO5KOO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1"]https://www.amazon.c...0?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/url], and another £20 for a 16750 mAH USB power pack: [url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00OJXVDAU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1."]https://www.amazon.c...?ie=UTF8&psc=1.[/url]

That's about three times the capacity of the Pedaltrain Volto for about a third of the price. As a relatively light user of pedals I'm expecting this to last quite a few rehearsals before I need to recharge it.

I bought a Fender pick guard made for an American Jazz (with notch for truss rod adjuster) and it fits perfectly on my 2007 MIM Jazz - all the screw holes align. In fact, coupled with a new control plate (I wanted a second one, wired for blend rather than VVT) it seems to fit better than the original where the two meet

Used this at a practice last night. GK MB200 just a shade over 12:00 on the gain, bass between 10:00 and 11:00, Lo Mid at 14:00, Hi Mid at 13:00, Treble between 09:00 and 10:00 (allegedly flat on the MB200 would be 10:00, 13:00, 14:00, 10:00). Played a MIM standard Precision with flats, with tone variously between full on and rolled about half way off.

I have to say that to my ears it sounded great. Bearing in mind that I don't like a lot of highs in my sound it seems to have a pretty even response across the entire range to me, possibly losing a tiny bit of volume low down on the E string, but I suspect that may be coming from the bass (and maybe my ears) a bit too. To put that in context, we play Been Down So Long by The Doors, and CCR's Fortunate Son, and there was plenty enough ooomph on the low E's, F's and G's in those two. Heading up the fretboard, Crosstown Traffic played across all strings up around the 8th and 10th frets didn't suffer from the issue I have when using the Markbass 2x10 (traveler) which always seems very boomy around those frets on the A string in particular. On the whole it's definitely nowhere near as forward in the mids than the Markbass, which is exactly what I wanted.

Another good indicator was that I didn't do any tone tweaking on the amp during the evening, and whereas I've been using a VT Bass to try and get a better sound for some songs (and not really succeeding much of the time), the only change I made was using the tone on the bass.

I'll try it next week with my Jazz, which has a bit of a stronger low end, and with which I've had a bit more success with when played through the Markbass. I suspect that the combination of mid prominent Precision plus mid prominent Markbass has been a big part of the problem I've been having (and add to that my inexperience), but I'm really chuffed with the sound I got last night.

A couple of other observations - I turned down just a smidgen towards the end of the evening, which may have been the drummer getting tired, or may have been that I was too loud to start, but I wondered if that could have been the speaker moving towards it's expected efficiency as it breaks in? I couldn't detect any significant panel vibrations, though I can't have been giving it more than a fraction of the 300W odd that it should (according to Phil's original design criteria!) be able to handle.

In summary, pleased as punch!

Edit: Almost forgot, I really can't see me actually needing a second one of these anytime soon. But as I've said before, since when has "need" got anything to do with it!

Phil, this is completely based on the dimensions in the diagram that Ghost_Bass's posted (#554) over on your design thread, so should be identical in dimensions to the 18mm ply cab you built. I've perhaps gone slightly more belt-and-braces than you in that the rear panel is battened, and there's no bracing in it yet, but apart from that it should be pretty much identical. Port tubes are 190mm. Weighs in at 13.5 Kg - not sure how that compares to yours, but I'd assume it would be pretty similar barring any differences in the ply density.

I'm more than happy for you to point people over at this thread, though whether they'll get an unbiased view is a different matter - it may be your design, but it's my build and I'm proud of it! Seriously, though, neither of my bands are gigging yet (though I sincerely hope that at least one of them is well on the way there) so it'll be a fairly small audience. Also, I don't consider myself to have a particularly discerning ear. Having said that, I know what I don't like about my Markbass cab (which was one of the original triggers for building a cab - I was originally thinking of starting with a 2x10...) so I'll be able to give my view on how it compares, and I'll also be able to compare to my Ampeg PF115HE.

Made some good progress last weekend and this.

Three coats of Tuff Cab, left to cure for a few days:

[url="http://s1172.photobucket.com/user/andrewjdowden/media/1x12%20Build/IMG_0472_zpss8ep0oxd.jpg.html"][/url]

Hardware attached:

[url="http://s1172.photobucket.com/user/andrewjdowden/media/1x12%20Build/IMG_0476_zpshjrsofot.jpg.html"][/url]

And all of a sudden I appear to have a cab!

[url="http://s1172.photobucket.com/user/andrewjdowden/media/1x12%20Build/IMG_0477_zpsteeegkbt.jpg.html"][/url]

I've used a hot glue gun to secure the ports for the moment (thanks for the idea, ColinB), and haven't braced or added any acoustic wadding yet, but couldn't resist putting it all together and giving it a quick try. Baffle is screwed in (stating the obvious) but with gasket tape around the edges where it meets the battens.

First impressions - I'm extremely pleased, and to my ears it sounds excellent. Pretty sure there are no leaks, and I doubt if there are any rattles or buzzes attributable to the cab itself, but I did get quite a lot of stuff in the living room rattling and buzzing for 15 minutes or so this afternoon! Not quite certain but I think I stopped just shy of getting my first ASBO.

Don't think I'll be able to resist taking it to rehearsal on Tuesday - I've some thick card that I can use to protect the speaker in transit, and it's a big room so hopefully it'll be safe. Now I need to get some grille cloth and make a frame up, and then get around to making this one's twin.