Passinwind

23 hours ago, scalpy said:

Quite interesting that two threads of a similar nature have cropped up recently. This and the ashdown pedal board amp one suggest what I've been wondering for a while, is there a market for/ the technology for a class d pedalboard amp that would fit under a board, like a regular pedal power supply? If the baby sumo fitted under a board I'd have it in a flash.

At NAMM I saw a 100 watt power amp that fits on the end cap of a very slick modular pedalboard system. I let a number of bass players know about it and asked them to go pitch the manufacturer on doing a bass oriented one as well, which to me means 300 watts at minimum. That's also probably about the most power we might expect to fit in your scenario, and as a semi-pro builder I'd want about 8 by 6 by 3 inches for a proper enclosure that would meet safety and EMC certifications. An actual pro could do better than that though, I'm sure. So, how much space is there under your pedalboard, exactly?  And do you see a market for a few thousand sales a year over several years, minimum?

Speaking of which, a lot of these small-ish boutique power amps are not strictly legal in the US at this time. I see that as potentially playing with fire, both literally and figuratively. YMMV. Over here there's a loophole for not-for-sale test builds, but I'm still generally pretty careful about who I let try my various DIY bass amp and power amp builds out on stage.

On 11/02/2020 at 04:36, Sibob said:

Other options:

https://www.grbass.com/amps/pure-amp-800/ - ICE power module, standard in Bergantino, Genz Benz etc etc. 800 watts

https://www.juleamps.com/shop/viewitem.php?productid=60 - waiting list apparently, Hypex power module. 500 watts

Both are essentially just power-amps, so any preamp in front should do the job, although both can take a bass directly to it.

Si

Si,

Did you try the Jule Simone 500 we had in the Marco Bass booth at NAMM this year? I didn't get to play through it much (or anything else in the booth really), but it and the matching tube preamp generated a lot of interest, for sure. The GR guys were right around the corner too, but I didn't notice if there was a Pure 800 amp there.

RIP.

I saw him play many times and it was a joy every single time, from tiny club dates with the PMG to an arena show with Joni Mitchell.

Just reacquired this DIY modular preamp/amp build from 2015. Traded away an even older modular rack build for it, as my luthier freind already has one of my similar all in one amps and the pictured rig was a bit redundant.

On 02/02/2020 at 07:45, Toddy said:

, I have no desire to be a dinosaur, and no disrespect to the modern light stuff, but cannot these amazing sounds be reproduced, yes I've done the massive 8x10 stuff at festivals,  but to get a punch like that in a venue was phenomenal, are we on the right track ?

 

IMHO, the market has voted and old obsolete stuff lost. Whatever remains of that technology isn't obsolete...yet. Pretty much the same way it works with the tunes we play, or don't. 

That's a fab idea. In a similar but different vein, I've exchanged various bits of amplification gear I've built with a luthier friend for a couple of of his basses in the last few years. I think it's encouraged both of us to refine our craft by bouncing ideas off each other, but beyond that, it's just plain been a lot of fun.

22 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Interesting read. Thank you.

There's still time to fix that logo... 😄

The ones with the duff logo are going to be collector's items, mark my words. 😎

9 hours ago, Basilpea said:

Anyway, that's where I am at the moment - any more advice will be much appreciated.

 

FWIW, a good friend of mine owns a lined fretless 4-string Rob Allen Mouse. In all honesty I greatly prefer the sound and feel of the various standard scale RA basses I've played over the years at GTGs. All the RA basses I've tried have been piezo-only though. I'll admit that I've been less than thrilled with any short scale bass all the way back to the EB-O I started on a zillion years ago as well. BTW, there's a pic of an unlined Turner Ren 5 on the latest page of the Turner "club" thread on TB.

On 17/01/2020 at 07:33, therealting said:

Lots of companies show prototypes at NAMM with handwritten labelling and the like. If they sound and feel good enough, then the aesthetic details are sorted out in time to meet shipping deadlines in the summer etc.

Yep. I see lots of that every year and many production pieces look substantially different by the time they get to market.

16 hours ago, stevie said:

It's interesting to see how many builders have decided against having a standard black cabinet. I guess that's one of the benefits of DIY.

My wife actually made me promise not to build any more black cabs over a decade ago. And I'm considerably more than OK with that. 😎

1 hour ago, Happy Jack said:

Yup, the second guy was awesome ... amazing masterclass in standing very still while staring at a tablet on a music stand and playing lots of (rather pointless) notes very quickly. Unfortunately, when I woke up he'd finished.

 

Bummer. Damian plays a whole lot of other styles, some of which I really dig, but NAMM chops is NAMM chops. Hence my absence from that and all similar off-site events. 

I have a bunch of these in different sizes: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Cuff-0803-Adjustable-Re-Usable/dp/B0051PUJC8

On 23/01/2020 at 13:37, GuyR said:

Rick Turner Renaissance basses also sound great, but rare in UK

I played a fretless Ren bass at NAMM last week. It was a four and had lines, but it was very nice. RT is a great guy too, I really enjoyed talking to him. No idea on scale length options and the like though. 

4 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

It did not say! On purpose, I think: 'we're not giving you any publicity at all after we've chucked you out of the show'.

I think they always put that sign up somewhere near the front in an unused space as a warning. I meant to look up that booth on the show locator map to see if it was legit, but I really needed to hear more slap bass first (as if) and then I forgot about it. At least a few people do get shown the door every year for real in any case.

39 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Not expecting Ibanez to do it, but I think most of dingwall basses are available fanned fret(less).

A friend of mine has one, but I think It was a conversion.

I'll be camped out right across from the Ibanez booth at NAMM and will be sure to check these out.

Classic = old, plain and simple. Nothing to do with the quality of the material whatsoever. All the rest is subjective fluff...oh, wait!

2 hours ago, deepbass5 said:

Just wondering how many of you out there have lost the enthusiasm to lug tonnes of gear round the country of an evening.

Does the lure of the next Gig still drive you to carry on or do you long for quite nights in and summer evenings in the garden at home.

Neither one really. 2019 was my first year without any gigs in decades and I'm fine with that, but eventually I'll probably at least start taking sub calls again. I typically get out of the house at least weekly for a long running house jam that suits me pretty well and I can just walk to that one.

Unlined fretless has been my main squeeze since 1977, when I bought a brand new Travis Bean fretless. That was actually the only bass I owned for a twenty year stint. In 2003 I finally got another one, this sapele bodied Crescent Moon custom build by the late Craig Mueller:

I sold the Bean a couple of years ago, and then last year my good friend Marco Cortes at Marco Bass Guitars made this one for me out of pre-built bits he had kicking around the shop, save the custom neo sidewinder pickups he wound for me:

For the last few years I'd been using EB Cobalt Flats on the Crescent Moon, but I'm currently trying a set of DR Sunbeam roundwounds on it. That works better for my slide bass schtick, but time will tell if the switch will be permanent. I started off with GHS Pressurewounds on the Marco Bass, but just recently put on a set of SIT Silencers, which are a little brighter and seem to suit me better. I do my own onboard preamps for all my bass guitars (my designs, my builds), and am a firmly active-only kind of a guy.

I'll have a semi-official presence at the Marco Bass Guitars booth, Hall D #4728. There will be at least one of my amps in the booth, plus a number of basses featuring my latest onboard preamps.

I'm planning on being there at 10AM and 2:30PM Thurs-Fri-Sat for at least an hour  in each instance for sure, and then it may be hit or miss the rest of the time since I intend to float around a lot. But as always, the show is mostly about the people for me and I will be happy to go wherever it takes for a meet up.

I use a wide variety of solutions. Just recently bought a set of these D'Addario ones, which I like a lot so far: https://www.amazon.com/DAddario-Accessories-Guitar-Strap-PW-DLC-01/dp/B073WNCLLF

The Grolsch or hardware store fender washers are my least favorite, I've seen them pop off way too often.

Nice to see what she's up to these days. I saw her sit in with some friends quite a few years ago a few times in a local hotel bar, just before she moved to New York. Her parents were very cool and had their heads screwed on straight, but it seems that she still had to pay her dues and find her own way anyhow.

On 24/09/2019 at 05:18, cheddatom said:

I always thought that as most of the audience are there (or should be) to see the headline act, then they would see it as a climax anyway.

Not if their ears are all used up by the time the headliner comes on. Which is one of many reasons that I've always  preferred single band shows in clubs.

On 06/09/2019 at 10:07, Stub Mandrel said:

I think some manufacturers are basically lazy and make fretless basses simply by leaving the frets off.

Also, 'defretted' basses will be this way.

Yep. When we were spec'ing out my new fretless late last year my luthier friend had several potential conversion necks already made up with fret slots and "fretted" side dot markers that he tried to give me, and he acted like my request for unlined and only minimal side dots where usable notes are was unusual. I didn't want to be too hard line since it was partially a gift, but I had to put my foot down on that one.

20 hours ago, bassfan said:

Following on from the ever popular “how many basses do you own??? “ by @musicbassman

I’m curious to to know how many of those people that own multiple basses, myself included, ever take more than one out of the house? Do you rotate them? Do you have different basses for different bands/gigs?

 

All four that I own leave the house regularly. I'm not currently gigging, but each band or act typically had a preference for one or another. When I go to my weekly jam or an open mic I often try  to figure out which one has been sitting at home the longest, or in the very rare case that I have something new I'll concnetrate on that one for at least several months. I also frequently have a bass around that I'm working on for my luthier friend, doing custom preamp installs, and I always try to take those out in public at least once before I bring them back to his shop.

I almost never bring more than one bass along, just every once in a while if I'm doing my originals duo thing with just a drummer and myself. In that case I usually bring a guitar too.