Beer of the Bass

The one that really bends my brain is the "Duncan Designed" pickups in Squiers. These are pretty much copies of Fender pickups, so it appears that Fender is paying a royalty to Duncan for making a Fender style pickup.

[quote name='ubassman' timestamp='1380455090' post='2225426'] So, open question... when is an 'expert' clearly not an 'expert? [/quote] The only time I've come across these Expert Village videos is when people have posted them on forums as an example of how not to do things. This is not just in bass playing either, it happens across the board. I think these are people who are not competent enough to accurately judge their own level of competence.

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1380452073' post='2225356'] I think that very often bassist can take this too far and it is easy to end up with some awful tuba type noise. Yes, you can hear it in the mix but it isn't pleasant. One of the worst offenders I have heard recently was a gig by The Zombies. The bass sound was so harsh - either the soundman or the bassist (Jim Rodford) had got it completely wrong. It might have sat well in a punk band but not the Zombies. Of course it varies from song to song if you are playing covers and it entirely depends on the sound you want to generate but, as a rule, my bass isn't particularly noticeable except when it isn't there. [/quote] I agree with this! While it's wise to avoid removing too many mids, it's easy to come away from bass forums with the idea that you must not cut any mids, ever. Lots of players sit in the mix just fine using amps with the classic Fender tonestack with its built in dip around 500Hz ,like the Hartke LH500, Trace V-type, Alembic F2b and many, many more.

On an Ash body, not much short of proper grain filler will get rid of that grain texture. I did a satin Tru-Oiled ash body, sanded to 400 grit before finishing and the surface texture looks similar to the one in the OP. Mine wasn't stained though.

Having had an amp with both James (passive Baxandall) and Fender style tone stacks on otherwise identical channels, I much prefer the James stack. Also, it'll help you make the most of your 15 watts as it retains more of the midrange, where a lot of your perceived loudness lives. If you want a switchable bass cut, I think the most elegant way to do it would be to switch the cathode bypass caps on one or more stages of the preamp. I found the calculator at [url="http://www.ampbooks.com/home/amplifier-calculators/cathode-capacitor/"]http://www.ampbooks.com/home/amplifier-calculators/cathode-capacitor/[/url] really helpful for this.

The Silver Series is almost certainly the better bass - they were the next model up from the Korean ones in the early 90's and cost a fair bit more. I had a Korean Squier Strat from around the same time, the neck was decent but the pickups and hardware were cheap and the body was plywood (though there are good sounding plywood instruments out there).

[quote name='solo4652' timestamp='1380028400' post='2219725'] Hmmm. There's talk here of burning furniture, damaging existing components, lead poisoning and wrecking marriages. Could I simply use wire glue, like this: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/141050534572?showlimghlp=true&lpid=92&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=92&ff19=0"]http://www.ebay.co.u...&ff14=92&ff19=0[/url] Alternatively, could I buy a jack socket with the wires already attached so I can then use those little plastic junction-box thingies to connect it to the existing wires? Or shall I take it round to the Tech? [/quote] Lead poisoning is not a great risk when soldering - the temperatures used are not high enough for there to be any appreciable amount of lead in the fumes, and it doesn't produce inhalable fine dust. Clear up the bits when you're done and wash your hands and you'll be fine. The fumes from the flux are more of a risk, as often it contains rosin which is a sensitising allergen, but with decent ventilation and short exposure that's not too much of a worry either. The ROHS regulations which have banned lead solder in new equipment are environmental regulations intended to keep lead out of landfill, rather than being driven by workplace health and safety.

[quote name='Greggo' timestamp='1380027587' post='2219706'] Does S.U.B stand for Stringrays Ugly Brother...? [/quote] If it didn't before, I think it does now!

Also, if you can find the old style tin/lead solder (they don't sell it in Maplins), it's easier to use than the lead free kind and doesn't require as high a temperature.

I think the difference in sound between P and J pickups is mostly down to the wider, flatter coil of the P compared to the taller, narrow coil of the J. In general, pickups which sense a wider area of the string tend to be mellower/thicker sounding, with less of the higher harmonics.

I'm using D'Addario tapewounds rather than flats, but I've got into using a roundwound B with them (in my case a DR Black Beauty so that it doesn't look too odd). It seems like a daft idea, but double bassists mix and match sets all the time so I thought it might be worth a shot on bass guitar and it sounds much better matched than I expected.

Having seen inside a BF cab (albeit a prototype rather than a current production model), you might have difficulty using T-nuts or washers as the cabs have a lot of bracing which doesn't leave much area to install hardware on the inside. I suspect the black coating is a little too textured to be messing around with adhesives or self-stick feet too.

Even if the lightwave systems became more affordable, I'd be put off by the lack of access to the strings at the bridge. If I'm prevented from palm muting on a bass, I don't feel comfortable playing it.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1379771588' post='2216624'] Also Lace seem to manage to produce a pickup (Alumitone) with almost no wire in it at all that operates at normal output levels without the need to boost the signal (and of course all the unwanted non-string noises that also get picked up and amplified). [/quote] The Lace Alumitones are an interesting pickup, as they are in effect a single turn coil formed by the body of the pickup. So they're ultra-low impedance, even compared to more conventional low impedance pickups like the active EMGs. They've got their own matching transformer built in to the body of the pickup to avoid the need for a dedicated preamp.

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1379687023' post='2215742'] Oh, but that's simple. A pot is essentially a resistor, and as any resistor will have a certain frequency response for starters. [/quote] Can you explain how a resistor could vary with frequency, unless it was also behaving as an inductor? I am not convinced that a simple carbon track pot has enough inductance to make a difference here. I brought up the issue because I do not believe that fitting higher quality pots of the same value will alter the sound of an instrument in any way (although it can be a worthy upgrade for other reasons), and the cases where people think it did can be explained by conformation bias or because they have corrected other issues (such as bad solder joints) in the process.

Is it OK an octave up on the A-string? My bass was really wolfy around the octave A with Spiros, and I found that one of those little brass wolf-eliminator weights carefully placed on the afterlength evened it right out.

I don't know if your outbuilding is too small for it to be an option, but a little woodburner (of the sort found in hippy vans/canal boats/yurts etc.) might do a good job of keeping the damp off. As well as heating, they keep the air circulating, and the combination of the two keeps the humidity down.

I've settled on Spirocore Mittels for the moment. The arco sound tends to be on the bright side and takes some practice to control well, but nothing else I've tried quite gets the growly pizz sound I like. I also have close to zero budget for experimentation at the moment, so working with a long-lasting string which I already own two sets of is the only sensible option. I think my old bass is just about dark enough that the Spirocores complement it nicely, while on a brighter sounding bass they might be grating. On the current bass (old German flatback), I've also tried Innovation Honeys, but ended up going back to the Spiros. The Honeys were pleasant to play and easier with the bow, but I kept wanting that Spirocore pizz sound back. On my last bass (plywood), I've also been through Thomastik Superflexibles (sort of like Spiros with less growl) and Thomastik Dominants (fantastic, loud, just enough growl but horribly breakable).

Out of curiosity, has the Zoom stuff got better in the past few years? I had the first generation 506 (from around 1996) and while it did some fun stuff, the sound on cleaner patches or bypassed was definitely lacking something compared to plugging straight to the amp. I still have it in a cupboard somewhere, it might be fun to dig it out some time...

[quote name='Norm' timestamp='1379585789' post='2214397'] a long while ago somebody posted some Zappa stuff with a pick playing bassman. I cannot for the life of me remember the track or the players name but only the fact it was an ace bit of playing! Surprising to hear a pick player on that jazzy, jazzfunk Zappa thang! Hopefully somebody will be along soon to enlighten & refresh my fast disappearing memory? ;-) [/quote] Will this be Scott Thunes? I know Silddx on here is a real Thunes enthusiast, so it may have been him posting it. Zappa had several pick-playing bassists over the years - I'd guess he liked that sound and sought them out.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1379585089' post='2214385'] You can pick up a second hand Pitchblack for about £35, so its not like the "good" ones are all that expensive anyway. If you're on a tight budget I quite often just take my Snark clip-on tuner to gigs and rehearsals, that works absolutely brilliantly and is considerably cheaper than any pedal tuner (I think mine cost me a tenner). [/quote] Just for an alternate view on the Snark, mine works well for only a couple of weeks until the battery gets low, and it leaves blue marks on my headstock. I don't like it very much!

I've got one of the Harley Benton (Thomann) tuners, the one that looks like a Boss TU2 copy. I've seen them branded Beta Aivin too. It reads the B string without any trouble and seems fine to use. The only issue I've had is that it doesn't like to have the power supply daisy chained with a high gain fuzz, as it causes noise in the fuzz. That may be specific to my particular pedals though.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1379514227' post='2213563'] This is the whole reason for laminated necks. There are several, smaller resonances which has much less effect than a single large resonance. [/quote] I'm really not so certain about this. If the neck laminations are solidly bonded together (as they would have to be), surely they'd respond to vibration as a single unit. I'd see it more as a way of increasing the stiffness and stability of the neck.

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1379512685' post='2213539'] anyways im interested to know more about these half pots and exactly how they cause the sound to be a bit sheepish and any recommendations of where to get replacements please thank you very much [/quote] This can be a bit of a can of worms on here. No-one has been able to adequately explain (IMO) why cheaper pots would affect the sound compared to more expensive pots of the same value, although many are adamant that CTS or similar sound better. The higher quality pots do feel nicer, last longer and have a better taper though.

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1379442339' post='2212829'] Obviously good for metal, but do they sound good? [/quote] A friend of mine has one of these. For something so weird looking, it doesn't sound odd at all. My friends example mostly sounds like the set of ancient strings that he's had on it for years.