Beer of the Bass

It took me a while to realise that the biggest difference in sound between 10" and 15" cabs at the low end of the market (peavey etc.) is that most manufacturers 2x10" or 4x10" cabs have a tweeter and most 1x15" cabs don't. This is a bit of a sweeping generalisation, but is true for most of the cheaper cabs that are knocking about at the kind of gigs I do. And it has nothing to do with the driver diameter!

I think my home made bass guitar is a keeper, partly because I love the way it sounds, but mostly because it's quite crudely built and weighs 12 1/2 lbs, and is thus unsellable! I put it together in my parents back room when I was 18 (12 years ago) and have slowly improved bits of it since, adding better pickups and bridge, re-shaping the neck and dressing the frets. Most of my other instruments, including my double bass (late 19th century German) I would move on quite happily if something I liked better came along.

There were some pictures on Talkbass of Herbie Flowers at the O2 arena playing a Squier affinity...

[quote name='simon1964' post='1105315' date='Jan 27 2011, 05:43 PM']Agree with your comments on the bridge, but I'm not sure what you mean by the neck collapsing into the pocket. Rics are through neck, so I don't follow?[/quote]
There's a big, deep rout for the neck pickup which leaves a very small area of glue joint where the body wings meet the neck. The neck can flex forward as the glue joint creeps, and the action creeps up and up. I don't think it's fixable without major surgery. This happened to an Ibanez rick copy I used to have

For general practice and playing I try not to look at the fingerboard excessively, but I've used pencil marks on the upper positions during recording sessions. It's a bit of a crutch, but my logic is that anything which gets the part down in fewer takes is justified when in the studio.

OK, question for the sound guys. I'm getting in to using some overdriven valve amp sounds with my current band, so I feel I'm justified in wanting some of that sound in the FOH (though I'm not averse to running a clean DI in conjunction with that). Is it worth either carrying a speaker level DI box around, or getting my own mic to minimise hassle for the sound person?

My band Jen and the Gents recorded some tracks last weekend, at the Depot Studio in Edinburgh with Garry from CP productions. Our drummer had a camera running through one of the tunes and has put together a wee montage with the finished track. Here it is:

I have a Dave Hall DI/EQ box, in fantastic green/yellow splatter finish. Possibly the best way to describe it is to link to Dave's eBay auction for the same box. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DHA-DI-EQ-balanced-XLR-DI-and-3-band-EQ-Q-pre-amp-/310287008723?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item483e8c03d3"]DHA DI-EQ[/url]
It looks identical to the one pictured and is in great condition. It's useful as a DI box, or stuck in front of my old valve amp to overdrive the input and add some EQ, and even does a good job as a preamp for piezo pickups on double bass.
But what I really need for my particular setup is a good basic DI box, either passive or one which can be phantom powered, with a switchable pad. Not a Behringer please. The current price for a new DI/EQ is £69.99, so it would ideally be a DI which retails for a similar amount, or with a cash adjustment. Anyone got something suitable?

Mev Taylors in Edinburgh used to do a rental scheme that was not too expensive, but only with the entry level instruments. I'm not sure whether they still do it though.

Edit; yes they do - link [url="http://www.mevtaylors.co.uk/rental.htm"]Here[/url]

My favourite response to "That's a big guitar!" is "That's an original comment".

I regularly carry my bass in a 3-door fiesta, either in the passenger seat with the scroll in the footwell, or with half the back seat down and the scroll between the two front seats. Unless it's a smart car or an old mini, you can probably get it in. Buses or trains are usually workable, and it fits in a black cab too!

Like other posters, I think there's a gap in the market in between small studio amps of 30 or so watts, and 300 watt big-venue gigging heads. So somewhere from 100-150 watts would be great for the size of venue most of us actually play. And a good DI out is essential.

[quote name='dan670844' post='1077811' date='Jan 4 2011, 08:21 PM']I was also thinking of the G2 as a first go, but the sound clips don't sound so could it put me off! it sounds very middly even for a guitar amp but maybe it was badly recorded, whats the power tube a ECC82?[/quote]
The valves in the G2 are 6n1p and 6n2p - obscure Russian surplus valves! I didn't find it excessively middly - I can get a good crunchy marshall-ish guitar sound out of it, though it was a bit squashy sounding for bass, which is hardly surprising. The type of tone control it uses doesn't scoop the mids like some do, so that may be what you're hearing. Though if I was starting afresh looking for a tiny valve amp, I'd probably use one of the [url="http://www.ampmaker.com/wf-55-4w-tweed-style-amp-830-0.html"]Ampmaker[/url] kits, as their turret board layout looks much neater than the G2's point-to point style.

I haven't built the bass preamp, but I have built one of their G2 kits (a 2-watt guitar head). I thought the kit and instructions were well thought out, as it went together without too much difficulty. It sounded great, too.
I was tempted by the bass preamp, though I suspect you could put together something similar for less than the cost of the kit (though maybe not - rack cases are surprisingly costly).

I had TI jazz rounds on my archtop guitar for a while - they were quite different from any other other roundwounds I've tried!

On the subject of post power amp DIs, does anyone feel there's much benefit of this approach over taking a line out after the preamp if the amp is being played pretty much clean? I'm considering building a box using this schematic to use in between my head (a 100 watt Carlsbro) and speaker. This would be used when PA reinforcement is required, or possibly for recording if I like the sound.
Though I could also use a standard DI box from the echo send (preamp out) of my amp.

I'm about due some new strings, and was thinking of getting some from Status. Can anyone who's tried both comment on the difference between the round-core and hex-core roundwounds?

If it's one of the better laminated basses with an ebony board, and it doesn't need any work doing, that price seems OK, I'd say.

Is it considered that rude for a band playing earlier on to leave before the very end of the night? While I'd like to be able to hang around every time, I've usually got to give other band members a lift home, take the dog out before bed and then get up early for work, so it's often not an option for me.

The bass which has been my main electric for the past decade weighs 12 1/2 pounds, which I guess qualifies as heavy. I built it in my parent's shed aged 18, using a 50mm thick piece of walnut for the body. I never used to notice the weight, but more recently I've found my shoulders aching after rehearsals. In some ways I'd like to find a lighter bass, but I'm kind of attached to my 12 1/2 pound beast, and I get a sound which I like, so I'm sticking with it for the moment.
There's a particular unplugged tone quality I've noticed in basses with dense body woods (though I'll accept it may not apply to all) - mine is very bright and sustainy, in a Rickenbacker-esque way, and sounds nothing like any Fender I've played unplugged. So perhaps there's a perception that the lighter Fenders will lean towards a particular tone?

Another vote for Nyman! I've used it for a while now, and have never felt the need to try anything else.

I don't have a fretless any more, but my favourite strings were TI Jazz Flats, like lots of other people here. They have a bit more sustain than other flats I've tried and plenty of mids, which works well for a fretless tone. They do work best for players with quite a light touch, so they may not be for everyone. I also enjoyed Rotosound Solo groundwounds for a brighter sound.
I've never quite got what people mean when calling a fretless electric tone, "upright-like", since double bass pizz tone can be anything from a dark thud (i.e with guts or orchestral strings) through to a much more singing tone (with Spirocores etc - think Dave Holland). The Thomastik flats are closer to the latter.

[quote name='Fozza' post='1041132' date='Nov 29 2010, 01:37 PM']Last question (you'll be relieved to hear) is about the bridge pickup. I'm not a huge fan of the stock one. It's too honky and tinny for me. I've looked on the web but I haven't seen any direct replacements out there. I assume any possible replacement would have to be routed. I realise much of the sound of the pickup is due to it's placement right by the bridge but does anyone know of a reasonably priced alternative which will give me more punch and smoother highs? I was thinking off a Darkstar but it's a bit heavy for my pocket and seems overkill for such an inexpensive bass. Perhaps I'll get all the tones I need out of the coil-tapped Dimarzio?[/quote]

If the bridge pickup route is the right size, a toaster style pickup like this [url="http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/Replacement_%22Toaster%22_Pickup_Rear_SRK1R"]Kent Armstrong[/url] could sound good. They're single coils, so are likely to have more highs than the existing humbucker. I have one in the neck position on my bass, but I'm sure it would work well at the bridge also. They're intended to be guitar pickups, but work well on bass.

[quote name='macclad' post='1036947' date='Nov 25 2010, 09:06 PM']Hi i'm in the market for a set of lower tension strings to suit mostly pizz although a small amount of bowing might happen ,Clarky has recommended Innovation silver slaps but i'm not sure if they are ok for bowing, has anyone any suggestions ,many thanks in advance![/quote]


Innovation Honeys could do the job, I reckon. They're not incredibly low tension, but much looser feeling than most steel cored strings like Spirocores, and they're easy to get a decent bowed sound out of.

[quote name='kingforaday' post='1031934' date='Nov 21 2010, 09:32 PM']cool, cheers for the info, things like projection and build quality are the bits that scare me really, can't tell that from pictures so thats really helpful thanks.

also if anyone has any suggestions of other basses i should check out let me know[/quote]

I went through two of the Primavera basses a few years ago. The sound was pretty good for a low-end laminated bass but I was distinctly unimpressed with the build quality. The first bass cracked across the end block a few weeks after I bought it due to shrinkage. I took that back to the shop I bought it from, and the replacement served me well enough for a couple of years. Both basses were quite sloppily constructed inside with badly fitted blocks and linings and lots of runny glue. There were also imperfections such as wavy grain and knots in the ebony fingerboard and chipped out bits of veneer patched up with filler under the finish. Having said that, they were a new model when I bought mine, and the distributor seemed quite concerned that I'd had problems with the first one, so they may have improved their quality control since then.
Personally I would either go for the Strunal (as other Strunals I've come across have been decent) or hold out for an older German or Czech blond.