Beer of the Bass

Yep, they haven't finalised the stage times yet, but it looks like I'm playing with Jen and the Gents earlier in the evening and McNach is playing with Seabass Kid at around midnight. So, for anyone in Edinburgh, why not come along for the whole evening and catch us both!

DI Fuzz is always nasty if there isn't time for an extensive soundcheck, and I don't think that trying to find a way around that is being precious. What I would really like to have is a simple DI with no amp simulation going on, but just a steep lowpass filter at 4K or so to take the edge off like a tweeterless cab does. My BSS AR116 offers this, except that the lowpass is only available if using the 20dB or 40dB pads. I guess the Markbass DI might do the job if using the VLE filter judiciously.

I don't know how they might affect the modelling in the Variax, but nylon tapewounds do still sound different from other strings on basses with bridge piezo pickups. This is why they're a popular choice on electro acoustic basses or piezo solidbodies, especially fretless ones.

I can't see that there would be any benefit in running a speaker level DI with a Class-D amp. They're designed so that the power amp is relatively uncoloured and not run into clipping in normal use, with all of the dirt and tone shaping coming from the preamp. Speaker level DIs tend to be used with all-valve amps where the power amp is considered an important part of the character.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1388227944' post='2319614'] Flats with a pick? I have only twp words to say to that. Herbie Flowers! [/quote] Hmm, kind of an interesting example, since he seems as happy gigging with a Squier Affinity as with his much coveted early Jazz. Though he's actually a TruBass 88 player, which will get Dad3353 dribbling again!

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1388193304' post='2319444'] You know you'll only get a limited sound from flatwound strings, so why not just put them on a cheap passive bass instead of a vintage P? [/quote] I feel almost exactly the opposite. Stick a new set of stainless steel rounds on a bass and it'll sound just like a new set of stainless steel rounds! Without those bright upper harmonics grinding away over the top I think flatwounds are actually more revealing of certain aspects of the basses sound.

Ooh, looks nice, if somewhat massive for a 100 watter! Personally, I wouldn't want a Bulgin plug on any piece of kit I was gigging with, as the cables pull out easily and people stopped using them for a reason.

I've had a very quiet year for bass gear changes. I've built a Superfuzz clone and changed my strings, and that's about it.

I've seen some eBay business sellers put up outrageous prices when an item is out of stock, so that nobody will buy it. It seems ridiculous, but I think it costs them less in listing fees than if they pull the auction and then re-list later when they have stock.

I think Charles Mingus's comments about the electric bass are pertinent here. This being a bass players' forum I think most of us will agree that a good player can be supremely expressive on electric bass, but Mingus thought otherwise; [quote]"You can't bow electric bass. The acoustic kind with a pickup is another story, but you can't bend it because once you put in that amplifier you can't bend your notes. A real bass player will tell you. They had amplifiers way back in the 40's. Joe Comfort with Nat Cole had one; in fact I think he invented it. Oh, you can hear it better, but on one level, one volume. There's no dee-ah, dee-ah; it's all ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I don't know if it will ever be able to happen. I'm not an electrician, man. Once a microphone touches that wood, the wood is no longer wood. It's something beyond human control. The wood and the strings make it happen. Get rid of the steel strings if you want to hear straight music, good music. You must go back to gut. Ask that little kid who was with Ornette Coleman, what's his name? Bass players are not particular anymore. They know that nobody really listens so they go out and bullshit."[/quote] I'd say that if musicians raised on electro-mechanical instruments (i.e. us) have doubts about whether digital instruments can be truly expressive, we're just going through this same thought process and will probably be proved about as wrong as Mingus was. Of course, this is all IMO as there are still jazzers who agree with him on this point.

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1387874831' post='2316604'] are they sort of the squier Vintage Modified of the "Ray" world, if that makes sense? [/quote] I think the closest Fender analogy would be the Highway One basses of a couple of years ago, since they were made in the same factory as the US standards but cut the price by using a cheaper, unbuffed finish.

I wonder if one of these horn tweeter designs would still come out ahead if the blind test included a fuzz pedal, or other distortion effects? Although I suppose the switchable 3.5KHz roll-off mentioned in the specs might help with that.

Set 1 may be Thomastik Spirocore Mittels. They would have barrel shaped aluminium looking ball-ends with roman numerals on them. Set 6 have the same colours as Innovation Honeys. Those would have visible orange nylon cores around brass bar-shaped ends.

I got my bias probe from Tube Town in Germany, as it was the cheapest I could find one at the time. It's just an adaptor which puts a 1 ohm resistor in line with the cathode for easy measurement, with attached leads for your meter. [url="https://www.tube-town.net/ttstore/product_info.php/info/p471_Bias-Probe-Octal--KIT.html"]https://www.tube-tow...Octal--KIT.html[/url]

I reckon the mystery strap button will be behind the 7th fret-line, as a sort of tactile marker to double bassists who are used to the heel being there. It certainly appears to have double bass scale length and strings. I think somebody couldn't afford a Framus Triumph and had a go at making their own.

I'm not so familiar with the Markbass cabs (other than hearing McNach's little 1x12" combo), but I have a 2x12" using B&C drivers which I've read are somewhat similar to the Markbass OEM models. I would say my cab is a little mellower and less upfront in the upper mids and highs than many cabs, but it's quite even sounding. This could be interpreted as muddiness or a lack of aggression, but this can be EQ'ed in effectively if desired.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1387272161' post='2309985'] Can you recommend an exact string gauge that might be suitable for an experiment? I'd like to try one flatwound string. Would a B string be a reasonable experiment, or should I go for one of E A D G? My bass is 34" scale. Or, is putting a single flatwound string on a bass otherwise strung with roundwounds a poor experiment as the string is too atypical? I was thinking that trying a single B would be a good idea, as if I really like it, I can then buy a matching E A D G four string set. BTW: I don't know exactly what you get in terms of string tension for different gauges. I like bendy and rubbery, but not floppy. If that makes sense. [/quote] Twit (if I can call you that!), I have a spare LaBella flatwound B which I got from the basschat recycling section, but it wasn't to my taste. If you PM me, I can stick it in the post.

The Alphabass schematic you posted is very definitely fixed bias, as the negative voltage bias supply is shown. Cathode bias amps don't have this.

I think it may just be a quirk of some basses, perhaps to do with the stiffness of the neck. My five string, home-built using an OLP neck is quite touchy with regard to B strings. There are certain B strings which just don't sound good on my bass, but there seems to be no rhyme or reason to which ones those are in terms of tension or construction. One of the best sounding B strings I've had was a DR black beauty .125" which is obviously quite light, but a D'Addario Chrome flatwound .132" works well too. Other Bs I've tried have been less good on this bass, but I really couldn't predict which will sound good without trying them.

The six digit number looks like an EIA code, which tells you the manufacturer and date. 157 would correspond to the manufacturer and 288 would be the date (i.e February '88) If you google speaker EIA codes you can find lists of which manufacturers correspond to which number, but 157 seems to be missing from most lists.

I looked up the makers of the "vortex cabs", and was amazed by their FAQ. I can't help but feel that they're just trying to intimidate the reader with words they borrowed from Steven Hawking books, and that they might as well have just said "Magic". Bill's description above is much clearer and doesn't conflict with any of the behaviour of sound waves which I recall from high school physics classes! [url="http://bigeloudspeakers.com/faqs.htm#What%20is%20MVW"]http://bigeloudspeakers.com/faqs.htm#What%20is%20MVW[/url]

I don't think we could call them guilds though. What about fans of Guild basses? The Guild guild (or guild of Guilds) would seem a little inelegant to say the least.

I tried one out several years ago which was going for £49 and decided to pass on it. I suspect I should have snapped it up, stuck some huge black nylon tapewounds on and rejoiced in the 60s garage-band "whump" sound of it.

A band I was in as a teenager tried to do Stratus. For a seemingly simple line, it's surprisingly difficult to keep it going consistently for the length of the tune - it's almost like a sequencer part! As I recall, my tendons were always killing me by the end...