mybass

[quote name='rayfw' post='139093' date='Feb 12 2008, 09:13 PM']I have an EBS Multicomp that seems to eat batteries for fun. I reckon it goes through an alkaline 9V in about 8 hours. I know I can solve the problem by using an AC adaptor but I was wondering whether anyone else experiences this or is my unit faulty?[/quote]

My early chorus and octave pedals from EBS ate battery power. My later Black label ones are better but there is a much better and constant signal from using mains power. Seems as soon as the battery is slightly under power, the chorus or octave effect suffers. I often use a Boss pedal board or a cheapo stand alone power supply.

Not using these strings anymore due to moving on to another choice so.......
I have got five sets of 45/65/80/100 nickel wound "Bass Master" strings to sell. One set was missing the E string so I have made it up with an "Elites" E string.
Bass Masters are made by/for Mansons Guitar Shop and came in these tin cans, very handy.
Hopefully someone will buy them as a job lot for £45 which I can include UK postage for. I'll use two cans as pictured to post them in. Very good strings with a good lifespan.
cheers chaps and gals

[quote name='BassDad' post='136021' date='Feb 7 2008, 07:56 PM']Hi guy's looking for some advice here hopefuly.

My lad Alex (Bassboy115) has just got the Hartke 4.5XL cab. Great sounding cab no worries there, however as everyone knows it weighs a ton My question is, if I fit castors to the base how will it affect the sound of the cab. I'm thinking of some low 50mm dia. Would it be ok to leave them on or should I fit removable type. If removeable are prefferential is there enough space inside the cab to accept the obligatory spiggot which I presume would be present with removable castors, without coming into contact with the speakers or any wiring?

Sorry just noticed more than one question

Any help/advice greatfully received.

Frank[/quote]
You can get heavy duty rubber wheels that have brakes on them. Usually used on a cab as two with brakes and two without so any sloping/eneven stages won't see your cab wheeling itself off the stage. Sometimes it does help to have a cabinet raised off the stage floor IF the stage itself is a crap one and reverberates bass frequencies. Sure I've seen wheels for sale in Homebase megastores or maybe try Studiospares or the like.

[quote name='robert43' post='134177' date='Feb 5 2008, 11:07 AM']Hi can any 1 tell me if acoustic bass stringsare the same as electric bass strings ? as my son has been offered at the right price a s/hand samick acoustic bass but the strings have seen better days.
Or is it like acoustic / electric guitars the strings are diffrent steel acoustic I am takling about thanks[/quote]

I have Guild phosphor bronze on my Washburn acoustic bass. Sound much better than a set of nickel wound electric bass strings. I think Fender make a set too. Make sure you get the right scale lenght as some acoustic basses are short scale necks, ie. 32" short scale and 34" long scale.

[quote name='dannybuoy' post='134000' date='Feb 4 2008, 11:32 PM']I've just changed the neck pickup in my Yamaha Fretless for a Seymour Duncan quarter pounder, and it's the first time I've messed with my bass's electronics. Everything seemed to go ok but I have a small problem. The central pot is a pickup blend, fully clockwise selects the neck pup, fully anti-clockwise solos the bridge. If I have it fully on the neck pup then back it off a tiny bit, I get a crackle and the sound drops out; turn it back a bit more and the sound comes back. It's like there's a small dead zone in the pot. I'm hoping it doesn't get worse and start kicking in when the neck pickup is soloed, otherwise I'm in trouble!

Has anyone experienced this before? I'm thinking maybe heat damage could've caused it?

I might have to replace the pot, although I'm gonna have to buy a cheap backup bass first! Any help or advice appreciated...[/quote]

Passive or active bass? WD Music do blend pots, about £7/8 for the pot. phone 01233 820082. Posting is usually a day or two.
Maybe heat has kernackered the pot but I think these "double gang" pots can be a bit more prone to problems seeing as they are two pots in one. I have just put in a new blend pot for a bass and it didn't let the signal through from the bridge pickup. I am sure the least amount of heat was used to make a good solder point but I have had occasional pots that misbehave.

[quote name='Paul Cooke' post='132876' date='Feb 3 2008, 08:13 AM']OK, after getting back from Sheffield with a nice bubinga bodied bass in my clutches... I'm wondering how to clean it.

It appears to be a natural finish as there are open pores. Can I get away with using Mr Sheen or Pledge on it? or have I got to use something fancy?

PS. Yes I did use the search function and nothing came up... [/quote]

Similar subject matter from Basschat member "pyrolator" on Jan 4th about this.
Warwick make their own brand of wax finish that I'm sure contains Carnuba wax which, if they make it must be the right ingredient for natural finish basses. I think they sell it on their own web site (www.warwickbass.com ?)
The rest of "pyrolator's" chat has more info.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='124640' date='Jan 21 2008, 02:22 PM']Yup active for deffo. Maybe I didn't word it correctly but I had it wired as an active circuit (battery in circuit) and as a passive (different/simpler configuration, minus the battery) and I was just checking the diff in the inputs on my amp. I wasn't expecting magic just experimenting - and I think that the different resultant outputs are interesting/relevant. Believe me Matt and I spent hours on this and I can now solder and de-solder this thing with my eyes shut - but I'd prolly burn myself.

Maybe if I get a minute I'll up the active diagram and someone can check it for me.[/quote]

Thats good, and set me right too as I didn't quite get the gist of what you wrote. Your wiring looks correct but, I'm looking at the green output from the pre amp going to a tag on the tone pot that is then earthed out? Just checking with/for you that it is correct.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='123527' date='Jan 19 2008, 08:25 PM']I swapped my J Reflex Reds over from my old fretless into my new home-build project but they no longer work - it may have been something to do with the new pots I got off fleabay being utter crap and actually carrying voltage on the shaft and my guess is that the Reflex pre-amp module is now fubared*. Seeing as I specifically wanted to give the bass a dress rehearsal at this wee intimate pub gig we did last night I opted to wire them up passively for the time being, which was fine except the guitar is extremely extremely quiet (I had both the input and output knobs on my Evo500 round to 11 and both pups turned up to max on the bass just to get something close to being loud enough - ended up going through the PA) bearing in mind the pots are only 10k.


* while wired as active - put through the passive input in my amp you get barely audible sound, put through the active input you get lovely clear nice sounding bass but only in 3 second intervals - I guessing the amp is cutting out because the signal is bad.

Presuming that the pre-amp IS blown, rather than shelling out for new pups I was thinking of fitting one of [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130170324364&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=003"]these[/url] but I'm worried that as they are probably designed to convert ordinary passive pups to active that they will be woefully under powered by my uber quiet Reflex Reds.

Wadaya think?[/quote]

Are these actives? I'm sure I tried some many many years ago. They used 10k pots. If they are active and I may be stating the obvious, they will need a battery, NOT just plugging into the "active" input on your amp.
The passive/active input on an amplifier generally acts as a level input control for low/high volumes FROM the particular passive or active bass guitar.
I wouldn't think that using a pre amp designed for passive p/ups would help IF you have active p/ups in your bass.
Do check the wiring again, making sure the battery connections (if any) are wired correctly. My experience of any type of signal loss, (basses, guitars, mikes, cabinets) has very often been faulty or broken wiring. Brrrr, could be new p/ups!
Good luck.

[quote name='steve-norris' post='113207' date='Jan 3 2008, 09:21 PM']Like many of us here i am no expert but i have owned quiet a few basses and recently built one up from parts.
The one i built had a solid rose wood neck(ziricote board), a walnut body, the electronics consisted of two darkstar pickups and an audare preamp. I could get a whole bunch of different tones out of it but fundamentally it sounded deep full and woody. My gut feeling is this came mainly from the neck construction.
I might be talking out of my bomber Harris but i also reckon my current Warwick dolphin will sound like a Warwick dolphin even with different pickups and preamp, it might amplify whats there in a slightly different way but i think the fundamental sound will still be there. so for what its worth i think the neck construction and wood makes more difference.[/quote]

The Warwick Bass I had did have a bubinga/wenge thru neck and I agree that the neck wood plays its part with the overall sound. Same as for the fingerboards too.

I had one of the earliest bubinga/ FRETTED Warwicks in the country and I found it lacked bottom end on stage but was a great recording bass, probably because the mid range was well defined.
My rantings about this to Melvyn Hiscox (guitar building author) when he worked at Roger Giffin's shop some years ago, prompted him telling me to make my own basses, which I now do. ( Okay, he more or less dared me to try and make one! My basses are FRETLESS and often UK ash, with maple neck and macassar ebony fingerboards).
My ears told me that bubinga has a strong mid range and was quite bright. However, I consider that ash does give a better low end with the wood matching I use.
I was at the Frankfurt music fair years ago and tried Mike Tobias's basses. Not happy with the sound from several of his lovely "exoctic" wood basses, he eventually brought out a FRETTED ash body bass and that was the one I liked.
Strange stuff wood. I do feel that the over exposure to all the more exoctic woods (as I call them) and the fashion of several layers of differing types to make a body/neck may have sometimes blinded us away from the fundamentals. I used to have hilarious chats with Sid Poole (R.I.P.) a top notch guitar builder about all this and his remarks are too "colourful" to write here! He was a straight mahogany/maple man.
Our 6 string band mates still largely use the woods that have been used since the first Gibson or Strat was made. Bass player preferences changed alongside our attempt to get the bass to stand out more clearly in the track and on stage, the result being that we now have super duper pre-amps, speaker systems and active eq. Coupled with all the new woods available now, the sound of the bass has evolved quite a bit.

[quote name='mcgraham' post='105062' date='Dec 16 2007, 09:25 PM']Hi there,

The neck on my main bass seems to need a truss rod adjustment maybe once every one or two months, although that's the average, sometimes in weird weather I've adjusted it up to 6 times in a month. I'm not sure if anything can be done or if that is perhaps normal in response to changing weather throughout the year, or at least on the 'needs more adjustment' end of the spectrum. Points to note, I like my action lower than most, and I like my board only fractionally away from zero relief; it also has a paper/card shim that has been in since I received the bass. It doesn't help that I need to take the neck off to adjust the rod either.

Any thoughts or experience on how best to deal with this?

Mark[/quote]
Sounds a bit drastic all that adjustments per month stuff. I would check it into a repairer for analysis.

[quote name='Jebo1' post='101802' date='Dec 9 2007, 05:29 PM']Hi everyone, a friend of a friend is selling this bass (http://bristol.gumtree.com/bristol/94/13397294.html)

I've been offerred it for the seemingly reasonable £750. To support this, I'm going to take lessons to get used to the darn thing, but what should I ask the seller etc?

Give me a hand people!

Cheers, L

Oh, and I'm 6'2" so a full size shouldn't present too many problems for me.[/quote]

Is that the "Frampton Cotterill" one asking @£900?
I guess £750 these days is a pretty good price for a beginners double bass.
Check out the fingerboard anyway. It would be better to have an ebony one on a double bass. Some cheaper basses had a softer wood f/board fitted and stained black, so heavy use will wear it down much easier than an ebony.
Any major work on a double bass is expensive as the repairer often has to dis-assemble the bass to repair correctly.
If you are already getting it for £150 less, that saving could be put towards a f/board replacement.
I remember there was a string instrument shop ( above and in the vicinity of the Colston Hall theatre in Bristol), ask for a quote from them maybe for a replacement f/board or even to inspect it for you.
Many basses have cracks. This shouldn't affect the bass IF they have been repaired correctly, often by the repairer gluing thin "inserts" along the line of the crack. Also, look inside the body to see if there are any internal "patches" where the crack(s) were. These are also used by repairers to help by strengthening the new repair.
Hope this helps.

[quote name='steve' post='88883' date='Nov 15 2007, 12:17 PM']Just bought a bass case from Pete, he's a brilliant chap to deal with, - friendly and helpful, I can't recommend him enough,

cheers mate[/quote]

Thanks Steve, feedback is always appreciated. Glad the case made it up to you ok.

[quote name='anthomp' post='95250' date='Nov 27 2007, 06:55 PM']Just a few words on dealing with said fellow.

Great communication all through,met me half way in the dealing and travelling.
And what a lovely bass i got,immaculate and my recent favorite.
anyway , a pleasure.
anthomp[/quote]

Likewise and many thanks Anthomp. I'm glad the bass was all you expected.

I found an address through Basschat for a supplier of Decal transfers, "The Decal Shop". However, I have recently spent over two weeks trying to get an order sorted with these people. They will not supply a phone number, (maybe something to do with them making "Fender" logos?) and there isn't an online page(s) to peruse for ideas. My first email went unanswered but they have replied since the second was sent. This reply gave a hint of some form of ordering but still not a direct contact detail.
Has anyone dealt with these people successfully? I am sure someone must have been able to order.
Any help appreciated.

£600 plus postage. Collection is ok.
The preamp comes with the Aguilar footswitch, I did a couple of UK tours with it powered with my peavey power amp, flightcased in a foam lined case (now sold). It has sat at home for a couple of years unused.

GX40 case made by Tribal Planet for sale, in as new condition/unused.

Just did some business with Martinbass7750 and everything was excellent. A well packed item was at my house within 48 hours and he was a pleasure to deal with. Top stuff.
cheers
Mybass

[quote name='obbm' post='83855' date='Nov 5 2007, 09:10 AM']I've hit a real problem at the last two gigs.

1. The lead guitarist has started using a Marshall Amp with his 2x12 cab sat on the floor instead of his usual Fender.
2. They've both been on hollow stages.

Result is that I keep being blamed for the sound being too bassy even though I'm running the amp flat, the DJ4 biased well back to the bridge pick-up, the bass wound down on the J-Retro and a slight mid boost.

I stood out front during sound check yesterday and the Marshall was just so muddy it drowned out any bass. In order keep my house in order I think I need to isolate my bass cab from the stage.

I think that a Gramma pad is the answer. Anybody use one and where is the best place to buy?

Failing that I'll use my in-ear monitors and turn the amp right down so there is no bass guitar and see if people still complain.[/quote]
Why should you turn down for the guitarist? Tell him to get his Fender back in. Also, Guitar players love trying to have a full range of frequencies, I think the Gamma pad was more designed for them first than bassists.

Serious carpel T syndrome will hospitalise your hand for quite a while. Beware of that.
I go to see a really good "muscle n' bones" expert a couple of times a year. A really good osteopath type practitioner can do wonders, believe me!
But, you can start by always massaging the lower arms, hands and each finger for a few minutes before playing or practise. Don't over pressure it, its more like getting warmed up. "Kneed" the palms up into each finger.
I do this especially in winter when the old digits feel a bit cold at a gig. Also stretching the old body can help realign the back/neck/shoulders. Again, my osteo man will often go to another area to treat a problem than the one that I think is the problem, finding the cause rather than the sympton.

A positive feedback for Anthomp, pleasure to do business with and pleasant reliable contact all along.
cheers.

"Galli" strings. Anyone use them? If not then they may be worth a look at. I have been using the nickels on my fretless for 18 months and was happily surprised that they last ages. I used to change a set of my previous strings after 10 gigs or so, this being because of loosing the brightness of the string, important for my fretless sound. The Galli are staying on for 40 gigs average and staying true to sound.

[quote name='Alun' post='82402' date='Nov 1 2007, 05:43 PM']

After seeing him live last night with jazz painist Geoff Eales I have to urge all Upright enthusiasts to see him if at all possible. I've heard him before and knew he was good but his playing last night was unbelievable - tone, solos, groove - everything.

Makes me sick

Alun[/quote]
Yes, he is a great player. I took lessons off him many years ago and he was terrific. He used to play a six string Fender too, the almost guitar sized bass that is, with Barbara Thompson's "Paraphenalia" many moons ago and I think he was once in "Soft machine".

[quote name='DHA' post='81606' date='Oct 31 2007, 08:58 AM']Hi Pete,

I don't think it will have an output valve being a pre-amp. I expect it's more likely to be a setting thing, try turning the levels down and see if it's still there.

Could be you are overloading your amp with the output level being set to high?

Dave[/quote]
Thanks Dave. Yes I will check that. seem to remember I was fiddling about with the settings as I hadn't used the pre amp for some time.

I have an Aguilar DB680 pre-amp. It hasn't really been used much and is in storage at home but I thought it best to plug it in every so often. As a note tailed off, there was a very slight and decreasing with the signal "hiss" type noise. I would guess it is the output valve?
Can you shed any light on this please.
cheers, Pete