Beer of the Bass

[quote name='phil.i.stein' post='1023291' date='Nov 14 2010, 11:58 AM']try marlowedk on youtube

nothing too flashy.[/quote]

Cheers phil, those look useful...

I'm not a big slap bass fan (meaning electric bass slap, not double bass.), but I feel like I ought to be able to do a bit if a band asks for it. During a band rehearsal yesterday, the drummer suggested some slap bass on one particular tune, I tried it and realised I could do with working on it a little. I practice fingerstyle and pick playing, and just want to add some basic slap to my arsenal.
I don't like the flash, saturday morning music shop associations, and things like Level 42 are really not my bag, though I won't put them down, as musical tastes are a subjective thing. I don't mind certain types of slap groove though, especially where it's not shouting "look at me!".
With that in mind, where can I find some material to help me get the basic techniques down? A book, online video tutorial or anything else would do it.

From about 5:30 in, this is a classic. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJeCaPmla70&feature=related"]Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz[/url]

Edit: Actually the bit I like best is in the next part... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaPFyIAQNIc&feature=related"]Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz[/url]

It'll work either way round, but you'd be best to connect the wire that goes to the brass surround to ground (i.e jack sleeve) and use the one attached to the piezo face as the signal.

For anyone considering the 1960 marshall-esque head, for about the same price (or less) you could pick up one of the less fashionable models of british 100 watt valve heads from the 70's and get it re-capped and tweaked by a tech. I know which route I'd prefer.

I've messed around with piezo discs in the past, and you'll get much more output if you can mount it so that the disc is squeezed a bit, rather than just attached to a surface. I'd recommend putting it in the bridge wing slot on the bass side and working out some sort of shim to wedge it in place. It will probably give a workable sound mounted that way.
Personally I found it nigh-on impossible to come up with something that was sturdy enough and well shielded against hum though, so I went with a Rev. Solo pickup.
The DHA should work OK as a piezo preamp - I've used mine for that before. The passive input on most Ashdown heads is also fine for piezos, as it has 4 megaohm impedance, IIRC.

I find it affects the sound leaving a clip on tuner on the bridge - it's subtle, but a noticable muting effect. Mine goes on the pegbox cheek on the bass side.

If anyone is wondering, I now have an eminence Kappa 15 (not the kappalite version) on the way as it looks to be happy in this cab, and one was going very cheaply on eBay. It doesn't give a midbass bump in this cab and has decent sensitivity. Also, it's apparently the same driver as in the Orange OBC115 cab, which a few players with similar tonal goals to me seem to like.

OK, cheers for the input everyone. I think I'm going to go with the Beta or Delta, and embrace the bump. This is kind of a "character" rig, and I'm not going to throw loads of money at it. I actually like the sound of the existing Celestion at rehearsal volumes before the excursion weirdness kicks in, so something with a non-flat response at the low end will probably do the job for me just fine. I like some of the older style hairier bass sounds, as long as there's a bit of upper mid response for articulation.
It helps that I'm not a professional musician who needs to be able to cover any sound or style at the drop of a hat. And for any gigs where I want to be clean and even sounding, I can use my other setup (AI Clarus head and EA Wizzy 10 cab) and let the PA do the heavy lifting...

Hmm, we're watching it too, and admiring Mr Sklar's splendid beard, but our TV makes the bass pretty much inaudible.

Hi Stevie, have you played a cab with the beta and had a bad experience? I'm open to all suggestions as to what may work for me, but it'd be useful to know where you're coming from. I'm not trying for a flat sounding rig with this setup, so a bit of a mid-bass bump could be acceptable, but then I also don't want something that sounds like an elderly mobile disco cab!
Are there really any cabs I could pick up used for £100 or so that would have better drivers than the mid-range Eminences anyway?

Cheers for the suggestions. The price of the Beta is definitely attractive compared to the 3015. So higher Qts is a desirable property in this situation? Is the Delta also worth looking at, or does the bigger Xmax of the Beta make it a better option?
I think I'd rather go with a new driver than keep the Celestion and block the port, as I feel a little wary about how reliable a 40 year old speaker might be when driven by a 100 watt amp.

The band I'm playing electric bass with is looking into doing more gigging, so I'm thinking about getting my scruffy valve rig back on the go. I'm using an old Carlsbro CS100 valve head (which is ace!) into an old Peavey 1x15". The cab is currently loaded with a 70s Celestion G15B-100. I've been playing around with WinISD, but I'm unable to find any specs for this driver, so I have no idea whether it's a good choice for this cab or not, or whether I'd get better sensitivity and tone with a more modern driver. The cab sounds good at low volume, but gets a bit woofy and indistinct as the volume is increased.
The cab has an internal volume of 90.5 litres and (as far as I can gather from WinISD) has the port tuned to 50Hz. It's a tubular port, so there would be scope to lengthen or shorten it if necessary. So can anyone with some knowledge recommend a driver which would work well? Since I'm using a 100 watt valve head, sensitivity is probably more important to me than ultra deep bass or huge power handling. Of course, I could always pick up a different cab used, but my budget is pretty limited, and seems like I could get a decent driver more cheaply than a new cab. Any suggestions?

FWIW, I found brand new Picato flats to be less bright than Chromes which had had 6 months of regular playing. They're cheap too. I like the slightly brighter sound of the Chromes better for what I do...

How's the sound compared to things like D'Addarios or Thomastiks?

Re. class D amps and hiss, my Acoustic Image Clarus has a noticeable hiss through my EA wizzy cab, but the hiss is almost inaudible through my old 1x15", so the high end response of the speaker makes a huge difference. Personally, it's never bothered me, since the XLR out is dead quiet, and the hiss from the power amp is pretty insignificant in a band context.

It's not an eBay link, but I spotted an Aria pro II ZZB (the pointy blue one!) going for £149 in Cash Converters, Dalry Road in Edinburgh this afternoon. I'm skint and not a pointy bass fan, but it could be a good find for someone.

Looks like a lot to take on - i wonder what you'll find under the finish? I've got a servicable rickenfaker bridge in a drawer - PM me if it's any use to you.

Old valve PA amps can be ace for bass. I have a 100 watt Carlsbro, which I like the sound of as much as any other similar size valve head I've tried. I modded one channel to a Fender style tone stack for a bit of variety, but the stock channels (which are flatter) are fine too. And given that a 100 watt valve amp is useable at surprising volumes, 200 watts should go a long way...

I was struggling to find one when I had a Bassix EUB. I never did buy one, but I did find ski/snowboard bags in about the right size online, which might be your best bet.

If you're feeling really DIY inclined, the original 2-band stingray preamp circuit shouldn't be too difficult to build. There's a guy over on Talkbass who had a load of PCBs made up and was selling them cheaply.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='922452' date='Aug 12 2010, 10:48 AM']I have tried more than a few I personally won't buy an instrument with multiple string courses that aren't tuned in unison unless the intonation on each string is individually adjustable. After the 5th fret the tuning difference between the strings is unusable. Any manufacturer that tries to tell you otherwise is obviously staffed by people who are all tone-deaf.[/quote]

I reckon that on a project bass with a limited budget like this one, it's got to be worth starting with the option that doesn't cost anything, at least until it's evident that the bass is going to be viable as an 8-string. You can always fork out for the Schaller later if the bass works out but you're not happy with the intonation.
It's also a personal preference as to how much pitch variation between the bass and octave strings you can live with. I think I have a reasonable ear for pitch (since I've payed double bass and fretless electric for a good few years and people generally ask me back), but on my rough and ready 4-saddle 8 string, I hear the pitch difference as a chorus-y modulation which just adds a bit of flavour, until about the 12th fret on the bottom strings. Higher than that it becomes too much for me. But then I also enjoy listening to Cedell Davis, so maybe I'm just weird about this stuff. Some kinds of music sound a bit insipid if they're perfectly in tune, in my opinion.

You may be surprised how low you can get with big strings on a regular guitar scale length. My brother has Danelectro baritone strings on his strat and tunes down to A (with lots of tape echo and chorus for that underwater sound!).

The neck is still as straight as when I strung it up yesterday, so I think this experiment has worked. It's kind of crude compared to some conversions I've seen on the the net, but I didn't want to throw lots of time and resources at a £30 bass! My photography is crap, though I'm sure you get the idea. I opted to go with the rickenbacker stye reverse stringing as I felt like it would suit my right hand style. The 4-saddle bridge is surprisingly not too bad for intonation. The E and the A pairs sound out of tune beyond the 12th fret, but I can live with that. The next things I'll do are to get a better pickup and give it some sort of cosmetic makeover, as the white on white is a bit nondescript...

I liked the idea of an 8-string to fill out the sound of a 3 piece band I play in, but am perma-skint at the moment, so buying one wasn't happening. I decided to pick up a cheapy 4 string precision copy and convert it as cheaply as possible. I ended up with one of the "Johnny Brook" basses, secondhand for £30, which ought to be crap, but played nicely and sounded good unplugged. With a pickup upgrade, it'll sound fine. I've added four guitar tuners on the headstock, keeping the original tuners but plugging two holes and making a somewhat unconventional 5+3 layout. I've also kept the bent-bit-of-tin bridge, and filed new notches in the saddles. I made a new nut from some plastic scrap I had lying around. I strung it up today, and amazingly enough it seems to work! The neck appears to be standing up to the tension (with the truss rod tightened a bit) and my hacked bridge seems workable.
Tomorrow I'll tweak the nut slots a bit (they need lowering) and take some photos. Fingers crossed the neck won't go banana shaped overnight...