Beer of the Bass

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...

That does look nice. I'm a big fan of natural finished ash and maple together!

[quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1386954200' post='2306808'] That is a good point. I have checked and it isn't lined. What would I use to line it? Just the thin wadding that you would use for upholstery and hobbies? My wife has probably got a load of that and a staple gun! Might give this a go over the Christmas break. Can't hurt anyway, it is defnitiely not a top of the line cab but I like the look. [/quote] That's the stuff, but ideally quite thick. Still, If you've got loads of thinner stuff you could use multiple layers.

I won't be gigging them until tomorrow, but here are my initial impressions of the Status Half Wounds. They are just a touch less smooth feeling than flats, but they seem well made. They feel a little more flexible than a 45-130 set of Dunlop nickel roundwounds, and quite a bit more flexible than a set of Chromes in the same gauge. The sound does indeed have some elements of rounds and flats - the top strings have a touch more zing than the bottom strings, but the transition is quite gradual from string to string - no sudden jumps in brightness. They have that a bit of that punchy, flatwound-ish envelope that I like, but not too thumpy. So far I'm enjoying them. Edit; After another half an hours playing this evening, I'm wondering if the E and B are in fact too thumpy for my needs. I'll have to try them with the band before I can be sure. I really want to like these strings, since it took Status ages to get them back in stock!

Just a though, but if the VS112 is muddy in the mids have you looked to see if the cab is lined with wadding? This is a corner that's often cut on cheaper cabs, and reportedly it does make a difference to the clarity in the mids. It would also be cheap-as-chips to try lining the cab...

I suspect the infamous "Unleash the fookin' fury" tape didn't help his PR either!

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1386795333' post='2304775'] Just what it says. [/quote] You've been quite critical of BFMs older designs at times, so the statement "up to his usual standards" coming from you looks like a barely disguised dig. If you [i]do [/i]have reservations about the designs, it might be more useful to bring them up for discussion than to leave veiled remarks. Of course, I could be reading too much into your comment but either way, some clarification wouldn't be a bad idea.