Dan Dare

I'm fortunate because I have a couple of pensions, the mortgage is paid off and I have savings. Money from gigs was handy to pay for toys and fun stuff but I didn't depend on it. My part-time job is closed at the moment, but they're giving me a little furlough money. Don't know how much longer that will last. My daughter is in secure well paid employment (teacher/department head in a private secondary school), so I don't have to worry about having to help her out (she earns more than I did when I was working full time). So all I have to do is keep my head down and not be careless with my money. I feel for those who aren't as fortunate and who depend on the weekly or monthly paycheque. It certainly makes me appreciate my good fortune.

Perhaps they've wrecked their hearing by standing close to crazily loud amps for too long... I find a heavily treated, distorted or very loud sound can make it more difficult to discern pitch, probably because of all the overtones, harmonics and other dirt present. I used to notice that if I went outside the hall or put my fingers in my ears at a loud gig, the sound appeared to drop in pitch. It appears that most people can discern pitch differences. Few seem to be completely tone deaf. I've met a couple over the course of 60+ years. When they attempt to sing, their voices go up and down like an air raid siren as they hunt for and never find the note. What does vary a lot is the acuteness of ability to discern pitch differences. Some seem to find semitones tricky and once you get into microtones, a lot of people struggle. Back in the good old days of vinyl records, I had to return a record deck to a shop because it was running slow (it didn't have fine speed adjustment). It was playing records less than a semitone flat, but it drove me up the wall. I couldn't convince the shop staff when we listened to it playing and compared it to another that there was any difference. They exchanged it for me, but I could tell they were humouring me. On another occasion, I was at the old Virgin Townhouse studios one evening and one of the cutting engineers, who I was friendly with, asked for my help. He had a master disc, which the band had rejected because it didn't sound right. He couldn't work out why. The band couldn't tell him what was wrong, just that it didn't sound "right". They had given him a tape of a rough mix the studio engineer had made for them and told him they wanted it to sound like that. I asked him to play the rough mix and immediately noticed it was a smidgeon higher in pitch. The difference was slight, but it was there. He couldn't hear it. We played the master tape and the rough mix together and I adjusted the varispeed to make the master play at the same pitch. He cut a fresh master disc and told me when we spoke a couple of days later that the band had been happy with it.

This bloke does him quite well, too

I rarely sell stuff. When I do, it's because I have replaced it. I rarely buy stuff, either. I kept the same bass for many years (and still have it). I've picked up a couple of others to keep it company, but only have 4. Had a bit of a flurry of amp and cab trying, buying and selling in recent years when I decided to go lightweight, but have settled with what I have now. Haven't seen or heard anything that makes we want to change thus far. Never say never, of course.

Higher power class D modules do, although they are more efficient than traditional designs, generate fair amounts of heat when driven hard. Heat sinks are often not viable because of their small size. A heat sink needs to be large enough to have plenty of surface area to work properly. Components are packed tightly together on the modules, meaning that those which generate heat have little or no space around them - so you can't mount the power transistors directly to a large enough heat sink, the way it's done on traditional designs. So the only practical solution is usually a fan, or even multiple fans, as is the case on my AG700. For practice/studio work, the best answer is probably a smaller, lower powered model - TE Elf or similar.

Rather than buy for negative reasons (I want this because it isn't/doesn't sound like a Fender), it would probably be better to buy for positive ones (I want this because it does x, y and z, which I like). A lot of other things to consider - what type of player are you, what music do you play, what rig do you use? Etc, etc. It all has a bearing on what will work for you. What do the people who you like/admire use? That's a good starting point. In the end, there is no substitute for going shopping, trying plenty of stuff and making a considered, rather than on the spot decision.

If you use emery or sand paper, stick it to a piece of softish foam with some double sided tape. Then it will be more inclined to follow the contour/shape of what you're sanding and less likely to create flat spots or remove finish unevenly.

I'd bet the grille cloth/badge is rattling. Size is not everything. As Bill points out, there is a great deal to building a cab that performs well. If what you've done works for you, that's good, but the BF is a far better and more realised design. It will also hold value far better - you are unlikely to recoup much of what you've spent on the Chillbass plus the replacement driver.

Photoshop's a lot of fun, isn't it?

My parents, God bless 'em, paid for my violin lessons during my teens. They didn't think much of it when I started playing the guitar and the bass or, heaven forbid, developing an interest in non-classical music, but by that time, I didn't care what they thought and revelled in their disapproval. So yes, they helped by getting me started and ensuring I could read music and their gripes merely spurred me on when I went my own way.

Keep an eye on the Fusion website. They have sales on occasion. I got their almost Sherman tank proof model for around £100. Nice bag. Failing that, the Thomann others recommend is nice for the money.

I play bluegrass mandolin and like a reasonably heavy pick - a Tortex in around 1.5 thickness. You need something rigid for playing at speed - the pick must push the string out of the way, rather than the other way around. When the fingers get a bit sweaty, it can be difficult to keep a grip on the pick, especially as Tortex is a hard and smooth material. I've found that drilling a hole in the centre of the pick so you have skin to skin contact through it helps a lot.

I usually go straight into the amp with no effects. As I play in a soul/rhythm and blues function band, that's what's called for most of the time. I do like to fatten the fretless with a bit of reverb and maybe the slightest hint of chorus and/or a touch of compression when I use it. It's all down to what the music you play needs.

Debatable. It depends on the frequency the filter is set at. It can certainly increase the perceived clarity, but not necessarily the trouser-flap factor.

Looking at pictures of the Chillbass cab, it appears to be shaped more like a guitar cab - wide and not very deep. I can't see whether it has any porting, but it doesn't appear to be a sophisticated design. Was it expensive? If not, I would be inclined not to try to improve it. I'd sell it and put the proceeds, plus the money you were intending to spend on a replacement driver towards something like another BF 1x10. You will not make the Chillbass sound as good as the BF and you will always notice the deficiency when you compare the two.

I wonder whether the perceived lack of thud, slam, heft, etc in some class D heads is due to the fact that manufacturers build in some sort of subsonic filtering. PJB do this, for example.

Thanks. You may have just saved me some money 👍

Where are you? I still have my old Tascam 424 Portastudio (double speed). I don't have the means to transfer them, but it should play them. If you're near London, you might drop by with your laptop and we could try to copy them across.

Malcom Hine (MPH Guitars) in Edmonton. Google will find him. He designs, builds and repairs valve amps.

I take it "Junior Bass Groovador" didn't pass the audition...

I take it they used lead-based paints back in the day.

Doesn't seem any point in being entirely cable free. Going wireless from your instrument to your rig, pedal board or even the PA if going direct has an obvious purpose, but how often would you need to cart your pedal/effect board around whilst playing?

I'd be very surprised if there was such a beast as a class A bass amp (apart from low power studio stuff). Class A amps are very inefficient and produce large amounts of heat. For live bass use, you'd probably need something the size of a coal bunker, with truck cooling fans. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating, but not that much.

I reckon a Quilter plus F112 would be pretty spectacular.

Split the difference and experiment with a slightly heavier pick than .73 (which is pretty light)? I'm mainly a finger player, but use a pick sometimes. I also play mandolin and guitar and found it worth experimenting with pick weights. Maybe try something in the .85 - 1mm range? Should still have much of the flexibility you like but produce a bit more poke in the sound. Another thought occurs. Pick material makes a difference. The difference between, say, a Dunlop Tortex and a nylon Herco is quite marked. The Tortex is harder and will be a bit stiffer for a given thickness.