Beer of the Bass

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1379360898' post='2211835'] Dunno about most, within certain genres maybe. Even the SVT is fairly clean up until its cranked into drive. Loads of bass is done straight to desk, can't really do much cleaner than that. Like Motown. [/quote] Even straight to desk, there's a lot of voicing applied by preamps, EQ, compression, tape saturation etc. on the "classic" recordings, especially Motown. Bass forums regularly have threads about people not getting their P-bass or Jazz to sound like their favourite recordings. So it's a good observation about bass tone in general, but hardly Rickenbacker specific. I could see that the hardware and narrow string spacing might make some players less comfortable using certain right-hand techniques, so that could be perceived as a lack of versatility perhaps. I had to change out the Rickenfaker bridge on my oddball DIY bass for a Hipshot because of the palm muting issue, and the pickup cover (or gaping hole) on a Ric could limit what you can do fingerstyle too.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1379350079' post='2211579'] Definite theme of all the tone come from a driven valve amp going on, even Macca, who you wouldn't generally associate with drive, has a small combo pushed thing going on. [/quote] You could say much the same of most bass tones from the past few decades though. And even many of the supposedly "Hi-Fi" tones depend on a heavily voiced signal chain of some sort too...

[quote name='Grassie' timestamp='1379331746' post='2211278'] I had one of these with the DD pickups, and compared to the standard pickups in my Mexican jazz, they were indeed quieter and slightly wooly sounding. Stick some Basslines in there or even some Wilkinsons. [/quote] The Mexican Fender pickups have ceramic magnets, so they'll tend to be louder and brighter than a typical vintage style alnico pickup. I don't think this is a reflection on quality, more the style of pickup.

I like that too. For some reason I can picture it being used in a polka band, with a big sparkly Weltmeister accordian, matching waistcoats and moustaches!

It's odd, I thought the usual thing in pro sound would be to run a DI before the amp in addition to miking the speaker. Surely if they'd been doing that, the sound guys could have turned up the DI fader to FOH and put some in the sidefills within seconds of the amp going down? I wonder if the Soundgarden bassist is one of these guys who is unusually insistent about not having a DI there at all?

It's a job that any luthier should be able to do, but I think the issue is more the cost of the work (at most luthiers' hourly rate) is greater than the market value of the bass. It might make a good project if you wanted to learn how to do it yourself though.

I'm sure those cost less less than a new TNT combo did in the 90s. I paid £235 for a new Mark III head in about '96 or '97 (I had to save up for ages, being a teenager), and I think the combos were more expensive. I guess it's just the way gear prices are going.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1379239082' post='2210059'] Tell them they'll need to get a dep to cover the Christmas gig. Let them see how hard it is to find a player who actually wants the gig. They'll also notice how vans do cost money and drivers are needed. Also, if they won't have a meeting it does raise the question; "what issues do they know of that they DON'T want to face up to?" Good luck [/quote] We've already had that conversation and agreed not to accept the gig, so no worries there. The thread is more about me being surprised that we needed to have that conversation at all, since if it had been me opening the email from the promoter, they'd have got a polite no straight off the bat.

[quote name='maldy' timestamp='1379192352' post='2209763'] Totally agree with this and this happened to me in an old band. There was one member who would accept any gig. Sometimes ones that would pay us in beer. This was good for him because he didn't drive, but not so good for the rest of us. I talked to the rest of the band and we all agreed it was not on. Next time it happened I spoke up expecting the rest of the band to back me up. The buggers didn't and I looked like the spoil sport for turning down the gig! [/quote] Gawd, yes! We played at a beer festival last year, with lots of enticing ales and though it paid OK, they also gave us beer tokens. I was driving, inevitably. If only you could get doggy bags for beer...

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1379158315' post='2209233'] I think it happens to a lot of bands - when you're ready to start gigging, anything seems like a good offer because, if nothing else, it gives you a chance to test out the unit, see what people think, etc. After a while, you become more confident that the band is competent and liked, and you don't really need those gigs any more - that's when various band members start considering the cost:benefit ratio. Looks like you're just the first one to reach that stage. I'd hope that, as long as everyone's polite and upfront about it, it shouldn't do any lasting damage to put your foot down occasionally! [/quote] That's a good way to think about it. I've got about 5 years gigging experience over the rest of the band, and I went through that early stage you describe with another band entirely. So if I'm annoyed about it, it's because I'm going along for the ride with the rest of the band on the same trial and error process which I'd already been through myself.

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1379172187' post='2209472'] Miserable buggers. I've always just played for the love of it. Never thought about cost. I've wasted money on worse things than gigs [/quote] I can see where you're coming from, but if we're going to play gigs for the love of it, we have to ask ourselves "will we love this gig?" rather than ranking all gig offers equally. There are some gigs which break even or make a small loss which can still be worth doing for a whole host of reasons. I had a good chat about this with the band today, and fortunately we seem to getting to a bit more of a consensus on what we're looking for in a gig.

I've declined this particular gig, but there's definitely a difference in attitude between the band members. I guess that my being a couple of years older and married affects things too. A couple of days after Christmas I intend to be relaxing with family and friends not running around sorting out van rentals and hanging around half empty hotel function rooms, though I would probably make an exception if it paid well. I'm not even solely focussed on the money side of things - there are some paying gigs I'd be happier not doing (certain pubs) and some expenses only gigs which I love doing (certain smaller festivals which I would have been at anyway). I guess I just don't have that attitude that having a gig is always better than no gig, which I need to talk about with the band.

This must be a common issue! In one of my bands, the member who does most of the gig bookings is not very good at saying no to gig offers. We've had a couple of gigs in the past where we've been left out of pocket, playing to oblivious audiences and wondering why we bothered. Currently I'm trying to explain to the band why I'm not keen on doing an out-of-town charity gig in between Christmas and New Year, where I'll have to rent a vehicle to shift our gear (I'm the only driver) and the promoter is offering "as little as possible" in payment. We do still get plenty of gigs which feel worth doing, but I feel like we could be more selective. Any tips on getting my viewpoint across without seeming like a grumpy b@stard?

[quote name='Fionn' timestamp='1378834542' post='2205355'] Full contact makes a difference, as in the case of neck-through-body basses which have notably better sustain. Both my basses are neck-through-body. I like the acoustic resonance afforded by that method of construction. Bolt-on, less so. Shimed bolt-on .... even less so. Folk will buy basses with shimmed necks then add expensive high-mass bridges and the like to improve the resonance. Why not just buy a bass which has been correctly made in the first place? [/quote] So long as the playability aspects are sorted, I don't understand the notion of correct and incorrect in instruments. If a bolt-on neck as typically executed is less effectively coupled to the body than a through-neck resulting in a different character to the sound, I don't see that as being wrong or incorrect. It's just the nature of that instrument. Personally I find that many of the "improved" bass designs with through necks, no dead spots, long sustain and perfectly even response don't interest me at all.

[quote name='Fionn' timestamp='1378833545' post='2205337'] The space in the neck pocket which is caused by a shim means that full contact is lost at a critical point in the structure of the instrument. As a result the resonance is effected, sustain is lost. The acoustic qualities of the instrument are compromised. A new instrument that needs a neck shim is either porly designed, or poorly made (or both) in my opinion. Aye, that includes the holy grail that is Fender. Och, maybe such technical imperfections are crucial to the wholeFender vibe. [/quote] Although I've never heard any difference when adding a shim to an instrument. Perhaps I have cloth ears, but then there are plenty of other subtle differences I do pick up on. I think that unless the joint has been chalk-fitted by an extremely skilled woodworker (as is done with glued joints in acoustic instruments), there's not going to be full contact anyway.

I suspect that the shim has always been considered to be part of the factory adjustment procedure in bolt-on basses. If the pocket is designed to give the correct neck angle and elevation with a small shim in place, there is scope to adjust the angle in both directions (either by using a larger shim or removing the shim) to correct for manufacturing tolerances. If it was designed for the perfect angle without a shim, adjustment would only be possible in one direction and any instruments that needed to be adjusted for less neck angle would have to be rejected. Viewed this way, it seems like a smart bit of design for production line instruments.

I've just had a thought - what about Prince's Hohner tele? OK, it's not quite conventional tortoiseshell, but it looks great.

I have no photoshop skills, but I think a natural ash body, maple neck and tortoiseshell pickguard would look pretty good.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1378405268' post='2199896'] Just to add that I have been using it regularly and I still like it a lot. An EQ pedal in front of it is not necessary, but it helps as the tone controls of the thing are ok for very crude adjustments but not much more. Plenty loud! Last time I used it was last Saturday. There was an annual "big busk" think along Portobello beach, here in Edinburgh, and we went there. Three small guitar amps (two roland microcubes and one minivox), drum kit (yes, although not played very loud), trumpet, saxophone... I did not push it hard and it was more than enough to keep up. We stopped when two of the guitar amps died. I still had plenty of juice, but I don't know when the guys charged their amps. I wish mine had a battery charge indicator... I just charge it the night before just in case. Love it. [/quote] I'm glad it's been holding up OK. I heard from one of the music shops in town that they've had an extremely high return rate on these and stopped carrying them. Although this might have just been a story to help punt the Alesis battery PAs they had in stock!

Although at your pro gigs, the big valve bass rig will be almost certainly be mic'd (if you're lucky or employing your own sound crew) into a PA comprised of Class-D power amps...

I did this with a bandmates' bass, because we had zero budget for new pots. It was a cheapy Encore, fitted with a decent alnico pickup of unknown origin. It sounded fine, but it was definitely at the grindy/clanky rockish end of P-bass tone - I liked it but it was hard to dial out the clank with the simple EQ on the old valve amp we had in the rehearsal room.

[quote name='Pete1967' timestamp='1377610766' post='2189349'] Stentor told me that Schaller only manufacture in house, in Germany, a statement supported by their website [url="http://schaller-electronic.com/hp801/Produktion.htm"]http://schaller-elec.../Produktion.htm[/url], but it doesn't say so explicitly. [/quote] I bought a new Schaller guitar bridge last month. I can confirm that it is marked "Made in Germany" on the box and on the underside of the bridge itself. Also, there is at least one manufacturer of classical guitar machineheads in the UK, such as Rodgers, but AFAIK they don't offer tuners for other instruments. Given that a set of their guitars tuners costs as much as a decent student classical guitar, I dread to think what a specially made bespoke set of bass tuners would cost!

I don't know about the PF350, but I'm enjoying the word "flunge"! Sounds like something from Viz's Profanisaurus...

The necks seem a bit nicer on the VM Squiers, in terms of shaping, finishing and how the wood looks. If you're buying to upgrade, a neck you get on with is half the battle IMO. Some of the new colours on the Affinity are cool though.

I've skipped a few steps on this build diary, but here's the very nearly finished guitar: [url="http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w453/MJBeer/jmfinished010_zps761ec933.jpg"][/url] I still want to level and dress the frets, as it turns out I have a couple of high ones, but otherwise it's come out well. I've wired it with a single volume control and a five way switch going 1: Bridge, 2: both pickups series out of phase, 3: both pickups parallel, 4: Neck with treble roll-off (fixed tone control), 5: Neck. If anyone is curious, there's a slightly more complete build diary on the offset guitars forum; [url="http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=72108"]http://www.offsetgui...php?f=8&t=72108[/url]