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Beer of the Bass

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Everything posted by Beer of the Bass

  1. Beer of the Bass
    Dunno if this is relevant, but I had Thomastik Dominants on my last bass. They're a nylon cored string which keeps some of the feel of the spirocores (i.e. not floppy), bow more easily than the spiros and still have decent growliness and sustain for pizz. The only downside is their tendency to sudden breakage, though some people reckon you can avoid that with careful installation. They sounded good on that bass, but I've stuck with spirocores on the current bass as it came with them and sounded great. Dominants could definitely be worth a shot for mixed arco/pizz duties.
  2. Beer of the Bass
    I'm not one for casting aspersions, but one of his two feedback ratings is for purchasing a miniature set of digital scales. Is this a clue as to the guys occupation?
  3. Beer of the Bass
    Hi Jesse, glad you're liking the sound. I found running it with the bass and treble controls up a bit (about 2-3 oclock) gives you a little more oomph. Ben, have you noticed the one on [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dynacord-Bass-King-T-Valve-Amp-1970s-FULL-WORKING-ORDER_W0QQitemZ330329578945QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL?hash=item4ce92d5dc1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1688|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50"]ebay[/url]? It's been sitting for weeks, priced a bit high at £250. Since it's not shifting at that price, I'd think they might accept an offer. It's worth a try...
  4. Beer of the Bass
    I've had a look through the old threads about earplugs, and I'm wondering, does anyone know of earplugs with a higher level of protection than the standard ER20s? I've just been at a 3 day music festival, wearing ER20s almost all the time, and my ears are still not right, nearly two days after it's over. I blame the dub tent, but the main stage was pretty loud too. My balance is off (it feels like being slightly drunk), I've lost some of the high frequencies and my ears just feel weird. I've been to see my GP, and she reckons I don't have any kind of ear infection, it's just the effects of excess volume. So, are there any plugs with more attenuation than ER20s (something for industrial use perhaps?), or should I declare that situations like that are just too loud and stop going? The size of the systems has increased massively in the past couple of years and it was never not loud enough to begin with!
  5. Beer of the Bass
    I've got an old model one in my drawer. It's pretty well used, and there is a crack in the epoxy on the back (where it has been dropped at some point) which has been repaired with glue. However, it's fully working and could be had super cheap (say £15 posted?). PM me if interested. I've moved over to a Darkstar for my electric bass needs...
  6. Beer of the Bass
    OK, I'm not going to go for it, as I need to keep some cash aside to finish my driving lessons. Though I'll point out to everybody that these are great little cabs, and will do much more than you'd expect for the size. That's for electric bass as well as double bass. Ridiculously compact also. You can put one of these and a compact head in a cajon bag, sling it over your shoulder and catch the bus to your gig if you like. Someone will love it...
  7. Beer of the Bass
    Ooh, would you consider selling it rather than trading? If so, what sort of price? I have one of these already, and two would make a great mini-stack with my AI clarus head.
  8. Beer of the Bass
    Just out of curiosity, have you noticed any change in acoustic response with that clamped to your bridge? Or is it pretty minor considering that you're amped up when using it?
  9. Beer of the Bass
    Cheers for the tip about APC - I'll check 'em out. Not gone gone yet, but pending the usual...
  10. Beer of the Bass
    OK, I've no scales in the house and a gig tomorrow, but I'll get it put in a suitable box and plonked on some scales on Thursday so I can work out postage. Stay tuned! It'll certainly keeps up with drums when I've used it - if your guitarists are cranking big amps it might struggle a bit. I think the preamp is quite low-gain, so it can seem less loud than some 50 watt valve amps when used at low settings, but the maximum cleanish volume is about the same as other 2xEL34 amps. With any lower powered valve amp, sensitive speakers are a big help. It's great with an old fashioned 1x15, and slightly underwhelming with my 1x10". Nice sound though, warm and wholesome rather than agressive.
  11. Beer of the Bass
    Hi Umph, I've got to dash out just now, but I'll take a photo of the innards later if I get time... OK, later: Here are some pics from above and below with the grilles removed. Here also is a PDF schematic. I'm crazily busy for most of this week - I could probably research postage costs by about Thursday, and post on Saturday morning. I'm still vaguely toying with the idea of keeping it and re-jigging the preamp...
  12. Beer of the Bass
    I also think a preamp should be your first port of call. I've used a Little Mark 250 with my double bass (with an Upton RSII pickup), and the input impedance is definitely a little low for most piezo pickups. The sound without a preamp wasn't glaringly bad, but not as clear as it could be, with a hint of a nasty high-end peak. Putting a K&K preamp in line cleared things up considerably. I found the EQ on the Markbass to be plenty useable for double bass, so you would probably be fine with a simpler preamp than the Fishman Platinum - anything that has an input impedance of 1M ohms or higher.
  13. Beer of the Bass
    A wee bump before I either eBay it or keep it!
  14. Beer of the Bass
    Hmm, anybody interested if I was to look into postage?
  15. Beer of the Bass
    I wouldn't agree that a laminated bass is necessarily lighter than a solid bass. For example, my first bass was a Prima 50 laminated bass (which I'd hesitate to reccomend if you're looking for a new one). My current bass is an old German flat-backed carved bass, which is much lighter. The laminated bass will definitely withstand being bumped around spiral staircases better though! There's an old Kay for sale on here, though it's maybe a bit far away from you.
  16. Beer of the Bass
    Aww, don't say things like that! You'll make me want to hang on to it!
  17. Beer of the Bass
    Dynacord Bass King T head, believed to be late 60s/early 70's. This is quite a quirky design with a transistor preamp and valve power stage (much like the old Musicman amps were). Valves are a JJ ECC81 as the phase inverter, and a pair of older "Pinnacle" branded EL34s giving somewhere in the region of 50 watts. Speaker outputs are 16, 8 or 4 ohms. Working nicely, not super loud but provides a sweet old-school bass sound. This amp doesn't get really dirty when cranked, but provides a nice little bit of valvey goodness to your sound! It's relatively small and not too heavy (for a valve amp). Also worth mentioning: the front panel is backlit plexiglass, so it looks great in the dark! It would also be quite a simple matter to rewire one of the input jacks to a power amp input if you wanted to use it with the pre-amp of your choice. I'm looking for around £80, or would trade for a preamp/DI unit such as a Sansamp or similar, or other interesting item - try me! Local pickup in Edinburgh is preferred, but I'll look into postage if no-one nearby fancies it.
  18. Beer of the Bass
    A cautionary tale: I bought the Zoom 506 when they first came out (1996 or so?), and I used to use it all the time with my first band, mostly for a bit of compression, sometimes some chorus or an octaver. One week I forgot to bring the Zoom to a rehearsal, plugged straight into the amp, and the drummer said "Hey, your bass sounds f****ng great today. Have you changed something?". I don't think I used the Zoom again after that, though I did get into individual stompboxes for a while. Somebody please tell me multi-effects have got better since my old Zoom. I dug it out of a cupboard a couple of years ago, and it sounds awful even on bypass...
  19. Beer of the Bass
    Ashborys are great! I had one for about a year, and even gigged with it several times. After one gig, a guy came up to me and asked if it was some sort of midi controller, as he couldn't accept that something that size sounded like a bass! I didn't stick with it though, as the sheer tininess of it was a bit too much of a leap for me, and they really need a lighter right-hand touch than I have. They can be very deep-sounding, a little like a fretless electric with flatwounds. Not at all like a double bass though, despite what some say.
  20. Beer of the Bass
    I dunno - it made sense to me, but I like Flann O'Brien. I presume you're suggesting that bassists rather enjoy moaning about our lot, and wouldn't dream of doing anything to change it.
  21. Beer of the Bass
    Peacock, surely?
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  23. Beer of the Bass
    I've played with a few folkies of various sorts, but it's such a broad genre that it's impossible to suggest one approach. It can vary from having a fairly free rein with people doing their own interpretations of traditional songs and tunes, to playing Scottish dance tunes where doing anything different to the accordianist or pianists' left hand will get you dirty looks! It's surprising that more double bass doesn't pop up in folk music - to my mind it's the natural accompaniment to other acoustic stringed instruments, and really adds something...
  24. Beer of the Bass
    If it helps, my Bassix EUB has a set of p-bass style schallers, and they've held up fine for about 7 years now. Mine are mounted on the tailpiece, as it's headless. One thing though - it's irritating to have to trim the strings to fit, as I can't swap them around between the EUB and my double bass, but that probably applies to many EUBs.
  25. Beer of the Bass
    I've got the Ray Brown method book too. It's worth it for the terrifying thumb position photos and great tailoring! I find Rufus Reid's book more useful, but Ray's suits are sharper! I get the impression Ray would have been a pretty hard taskmaster as a teacher, but it'd probably pay off...
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