lurkingbass

Thanks for the heads up. I am not from UK and I won't be buying from abroad. Here I have option of new [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 2nd gen for around [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]£[/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]140 and new Clarett is around 330. Still quite big difference in price.[/font][/color] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]That article makes sense, but what about latency? For example if I want to play 24/96 flac or even DSD audio in Foobar2000 for example, and play along on my bass using some apps you guys mentioned earlier, with lot of effects etc. and record all that, everything simultaneously.[/color][/font] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]Would I experience any lag or problems on Scarlett?[/color][/font]

Thanks everyone for help, after all your suggestions and help, I am closest to idea of [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Clarett 2Pre + active monitors.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I can make compromise here and deal with sound via apps (i prefer mouse clicking on big screen rather than tablets.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]If in the end I wouldn't like this, hopefully I could connect some kind of EQ/effects box/pedal. But lets ignore that for now.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Regarding my budget, it may sound stupid, but I have no idea. I am begginer and I want to save as much as I can, but I still want invest in something that would be good for a decade.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I also need to buy new computer (at least most of components), and I am Windows user. Regarding Windows, please, it just isn't up for debate. I am not a pro and I will never be. I am perfectly happy Windows user and I know what and how to install to get bit perfect audio reproduction. I really won't became Apple user, so hopefully there won't be discussion regarding this.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I only need to investigate and buy new motherboard which is approved for [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Clarett 2Pre because of thunderbolt connection issues that I was reading about.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]So, I am not in a hurry. When I am finished with PC, then I can buy [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Clarett 2Pre. I have enough money for that two. I [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]have old 5.25'' active speakers and they will do for now, untill I find really good ones that I like.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I am not yet sure how much I want to spend on monitors, I still need to sell some of my other stuff to know. But, suggestions accepted. I will be looking for a 8'' pair.[/font][/color]

Thanks for explanation, that makes much more sense to me now. So if understood you correctly, Focusrite Audio interfaces, connected to the PC and speakers, also acts as a DAC? But a real DAC, which bypass any onboard PC audio or audio card and converts raw digital to analog signal when listening to music? And about that app that you are mentioning, would you also rate sound manipulation while playing bass as a superb? I mean if I want to boost or cut some frequencies, add some effects etc, while playing? If all this is correct I would probably go in that direction, only it will be little harder for me to find appropriate active speakers because I like more older, warm sound over any Hi-Fi, and controls at least on side, not on back. Thanks.

I need to be able to manipulate with raw bass sound when playing, and maybe connect pedals in future. And I need that on front panel, so that I can do whatever I want with sound while sitting and playing in front of my desk. At least low/high bass, low/high middle, and highs in general. Active speakers mostly have basic functions which are located on sides or worse, on back. Also I can't connect pedals. But lets say that I go on suggested option of active speakers. How do I get better control over raw sound and effects? Is there some kind of mixer with built in DAC and effects (or connection for pedals) to which I could connect bass and active speakers?

Thanks for suggestions. I really want only amp + speakers. As for speakers, I can find by myself, probably older bookshelfs, not Hi-Fi. For starters I have a pair, later I can find better. I am not interested in Hi-Fi sound. Amp is my main concern as it is most important to be good for playing bass, so it should be bass amp. Since there are stereo bass combos out there, such as that Ashdown mentioned above, there has to be stereo bass amp only, to which I could connect speakers. I hope to hear from someone who knows about that kind of bass amp, it is very hard to find online because related words are too general in music world.

I saw PJB 100W combo Session 77 and it can reproduce everything between 30Hz and 20KHz, so there probably are bass amps that have full or at least very good range. I don't care much about lets say 17KHz and above, my only concern is to be able to connect stereo speakers to it and hook everything up to PC.

Hi everyone. So basically I want to build a budget minimalist home stereo setup that will be hooked up to PC. Both for playing bass and listening to music from PC. Not a Hi-Fi setup, but a dedicated stereo bass amp and 2 bookshelf speakers with lets say 6-7'' drives and a tweeter. Power between 100-150W. Bass sound is more important, so is there anything on market such as this, or could it be improvised to get good combo? Thanks!

Everything understood now. I contacted Thomann regarding this and they suggested this cable: https://www.thomann.de/gb/pro_snake_bassamp_speakercable_15_m.htm I guess I'll go with that one. Thanks for helping me out everyone!

Yes, I understand that. But in this case I am only able to connect jack to speakon. So, what you are saying is, it should be same as speakon to speakon, or did I misundersand? Tnx!

So amp has only jack output. Do I get any benefits using jack to speakon instead of jack to jack, in this particular case? Thanks!

[size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Hi, another newbie here.[/font][/size] [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I bought Behringer Ultrabass BXD3000H head, which is [color=#000000]300W @ 4Ω or 180W @ 8Ω.[/color][/font][/size] [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][color=#000000]I want to buy [/color][/font][color=#000000][font=sans-serif]Harley Benton BB115T cab, which is [/font][/color][color=#000000][font=sans-serif]8 Ohm 200 Watt RMS.[/font][/color][/size] [size=4][color=#000000][font=sans-serif]I have 2 quesions:[/font][/color][/size] [size=4][color=#000000][font=sans-serif]1.) How do I know if head is in [/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]4Ω or 8Ω mode? I assume I need to use it in [/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]8Ω to be on a safe side.[/font][/color][/size] [size=4][color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]2.) Which cable do I need to connect head with amp? There are few outputs on head and inputs on cab.[/font][/color][/size] [size=4][color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]This is photo of head: [/font][/color][url="https://thumbs4.static-thomann.de/thumb/bdbmagic/pics/bdb/288556/8722847_800.jpg"]https://thumbs4.stat...8722847_800.jpg[/url][/size] [size=4]And this is cab: [url="https://thumbs4.static-thomann.de/thumb/bdbmagic/pics/bdb/238706/6088561_800.jpg"]https://thumbs4.stat...6088561_800.jpg[/url][/size] [size=4]Please advise. [/size] [size=4]Thanks![/size] [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]EDIT: I found one review of this head, google translation from German: "[color=#141414]according to the official data sheet and user manual, there is as a speaker output both jack and a "professional speaker connection" (which is probably Speakon).[/color][color=#141414] [/color][/font][/size]In practice, however, it has only latch" He also posted photo of this head connected with this amp which you can see here: https://www.musiker-board.de/attachments/p1000044-jpg.278781/

I understand, but i want to avoid this: [b]http://imgur.com/a/0Lehm[/b] that is actually my friends bass, I asked him to move strings to the side and took those photos; it is both heavily bent and cut under strings. It sounds horrible too. I understand that there are far better than plastic, faux bone, nu bone and similar saddles available, but I managed to find cheap bone material for 2 saddles. It should be legit, guy has 100% positive feedback. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Luthier-bone-saddle-blanks-for-guitar-banjo-mandolin-etc-/182295564527?hash=item2a71a990ef:g:1f0AAOSwEppUT7To I will probably buy it and shape it, thanks for a suggestion. Do you know where on fingerboard is best to copy radius for saddle? (it is long scale, 34'') I will also send email to Hohner, maybe they could help me with this. Thanks!

Because I've seen photos and read about plastic saddles, after a while lots of them bent under string loads, also strings got burn/cut in them. Sound vise, from what I've read, bone can't be inferior to plastic. What I am actually asking is: if there is guitar saddle with exact width, length and height, that I need, is arc on top going to be good for bass too? Of course, we are talking about non compensated saddles. Is it same thing? If not, can someone please explain where exactly is arc difference between guitar/bass saddle assuming all other dimensions are same?

So, any advice at all? Majority of saddles are advertised as an acoustic guitar ones. So lets say I am looking at non compensated saddle, and dimensions are right. Is that same thing, same as an acoustic bass saddle? I found lot of them on ebay, but there are lot of fakes too. (plastic) I also found nubone saddles in Warwick store but they are too expensive, around 50 euro. I want to spend up to 20GBP/22EURO max, and it needs to be real bone.

Yes I did. But after more looking at this saddle it seems that it was sanded down from top, and probably sanded too much on this side where 4th string should be leaning on. 1st string is only 3 mm above 15th fret. I want to achieve around 4 mm, maybe a tad less. If I am not mistaken, that means I need to lift saddle for around 2 mm. So I face more than one problem then. 1st, achieving completely straight veneer, both top and bottom. 2nd, final saddle would be actually 2 parts, because 2 mm veneer is not so small to disregard it. 3rd, when saddle lifted 2 mm, strings are probably going to bend it sideways. All this combined, I think vibrations from strings would be weaker and not evenly distributed to the top plate and pickup, and we all know what that means. That is why I think it would be better to upgrade to new, bone saddle, and to sand bottom carefully if needed. But I don't know which one to look for. I assume compensated would be better, but there are many kind of compensated. I don't know if it would work after sanding bottom, strings would lean on different angle on top of it then..

So, after long time playing around with tuning, I decided that this saddle is no good and that I need a new one. It is too low, and also in standard bass setup, 4th string is barely touching it, if at all. As soon as I go in lower tuning, there is a gap between, and it is impossible to use that string without incredible loud buzz, like church bells. I want to be able to play in lower tuning, much lower tuning. Kyuss Space Cadet for example, which has 4th string in C. I was reading about saddles, and right now I only know that I want to buy bone saddle. I measured width, and it seems 74 mm which seems to be standard. But most of saddles that I managed to found are labeled as "acoustic guitar" saddles, so I am not sure do I need specifically acoustic bass saddle or is it same thing if it doesn't have cuts on top of it for each string? Actually, which kind of finish on top edge would be best for this bass and tapewound strings? I see all different kinds, I am not sure which one would be appropriate and why. Thanks!

Hi Twincam. Thanks for explanation and suggestions, now I have better understanding about situation here. I didn't strip truss rod nut that much, so I managed to adjust it yesterday. So, I played a little bit last night, and it is sounds a little bit better now. Not much, but it is improved. Neck is more straight now, but still not 100%. Strings are not hitting other frets that often now and there is less buzz. All of this just a little bit, not much. I think that truss rod nut will need another 1/8 turn, but right now I am going to leave it like this. When I adjusted this yesterday, it was raining, warm, and humidity was around 60% But today, first time after summer, we got this cold, dry winds from north, which normally lasts for a few days. The problem with this weather, is extremely low humidity. And according to weather report today is between 11-14% only! So I made homemade humidifier, similar to this one: http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Guitar-Humidifier/ I placed it in case with guitar, not under headstock, but in free space between guitar cutout and case. Like that it makes more sense to me, because I am not sure how much air is able to spread from under the headstock to the body. I am now concerned about this, because since I bought this bass, it was late summer here and humidity was fine. This 11% is really extreme. Regarding setup, I was thinking to leave it like this before easing truss rod another 1/8 of a turn. I am not sure what would be best, how many days to wait before doing this. This extremely low humidity will last a few days, after that it should get back to fine numbers 40-55% This last suggestion for raising a saddle sounds interesting, and if I don't manage to achieve good setup adjusting the truss rod, I will think about that. Thanks!

Hi @cheddatom and @Marc S ; thank you for suggestions. I was also thinking about loosening the truss rod and I just did it. I am not sure if it will make a difference but I will see in a few hours. It wasn't easy at all, it was stuck completely. But since seller claimed that bass wasn't used at all in last 10 years or so, I concluded that it is just stuck, nothing less or more. So I decided to use all my strength in hand, while controlling bottom of the key with my thumb, and after few minutes of (literally) hard struggle, it finally started to turn. Afterwards was relatively easy to turn how much I wanted. I turned it somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 of a turn, I am not sure because I stripped truss rod nut a little bit until I made it going. I am not from UK and in my place all BC'ers that I know of, are charging everything quite expensive, and are not that friendly. At least those easier things such as replacing strings, adjusting truss rod, tuning etc. I think that I need to know how to do by myself. Of course there is always risk of damaging it, but I always think twice before doing something, I read a lot online and ask for opinions. Hopefully I will manage to make this bass sound nice, as it should. Thanks!

Hi all! Total newbie here, just started playing. Bought very nice 2nd hand Hohner acoustic/electric from the 90s. It has few issues and I hope i can get good advice here. It came with old strings and one of them broke when I over-tensioned it, never mind, got new ones and replaced. I got D'Addario black nylon tapewound strings and they are exactly what I wanted (deep mellow sound, no squeaking). But, first two wouldn't fit all the way through bridge so I had to make holes just a little bit wider. 3rd and 4th string went through so I wasn't tampering with those. I guess this was because this bass was designed for strings 45-100 and I mounted 50-105. So [color=#ff0000][u][b]1st question[/b][/u][/color]: Is this ok? Did I make anything worse by doing this? I think nothing has changed, but still would like to read other opinions. Anyway, lets go on to the real issue. Strings height. They are too low. I inspected why is this and I found out two causes. 1st cause is saddle, it is obviously sanded too much. Distance between 15th fret and E string is barely over 3 mm. I googled and found out it shouldn't be below 4 mm. I also pressed E string against 1st and last fret and it seems there is no gap at all above other frets. When I play it slow and smooth it is fine, but as soon as I start to play it harder strings are hitting other frets, buzz is also there, it is just not good. Also last (G) string is barely sitting on saddle, if at all, and I think it has too high action. When I mounted those new strings, this one was so loud, it sounded as church bell. I managed to fix it by straightening the string itself, but I think that action is still too high in comparison to other strings. Playing in lower than standard tuning is impossible, strings are hitting frets all the time. [color=#ff0000][b][u]Photos here[/u][/b][/color]: http://imgur.com/a/BUcIC (click on photo to zoom in) And 2nd cause, neck is barely, just barely back-bowed. [color=#ff0000][u][b]Photos here[/b][/u][/color]: http://imgur.com/a/5jKpc (click on photo to zoom in) So, my thoughts about this issue. I think saddle is main issue, but I am not so sure about replacing it. There are few reasons for this. Obviously, first one is I don't have experience with this, but main reason is that replacement saddles look way too high to me. (when I look at them on other, new acoustic basses, so much higher than on this one) I am 100% sure that I would need to sand bottom of new saddle at least few times before I get it right, and strings on this bass cannot be removed from bridge, only from headstock, so that looks like it would be a huge pain in the ass. Also there is a wire inside, under the bridge, I guess it is piezo pickup and I also don't want to tamper with that. (actually I didn't test it plugged in, but still..) So I was thinking to straighten neck, a little bit, but I am not so sure about this either. It is relatively old bass, from 90s. First, I am not sure if that would help at all, it is almost 100% straight, actually on photos looks much more bended than it is. Then, I am not sure if it is safe to do that. I am newbie, idk if humidity is important, but I was thinking if I am going to do it, maybe it is better to wait for days with higer humidity, so that wood could adjust easier? Then again, if this would help, I guess action would still going to be high on G string? [color=#ff0000][u][b]Please, your thoughts and advices regarding this! What is my best move here?[/b][/u][/color] Also few things that I am less concerned about, but still wanted to ask. Cracks alongside neck, on edge. Important or not? [color=#ff0000][u][b]Photos here[/b][/u][/color]: http://imgur.com/a/ErsfO (click on photo to zoom in) Fretboard corner slightly detached from body, does this need fixing? Actually, it looks like top plate is distort a little bit, under fretboard corner. [color=#ff0000][u][b]Photos here[/b][/u][/color]: http://imgur.com/a/WkDlT (click on photo to zoom in) I apologize for long post, I am beginner and I am still learning basics. Hope I explained everything good. I really like this bass and I would like to fix those issues if possible. [color=#ff0000][u][b]Thanks for reading and help![/b][/u][/color] Cheers!