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Everything posted by Beer of the Bass
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Most models of WEM Dominator were open backed combos, I suspect there's a reason why almost nobody has made an open backed combo for bass since then.
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The fingerboard on my bass (installed back in 2008) has had some slight movement in the wood under the G string above the octave and needs some minor re-dressing. I'm wondering if the overall amount of scoop from the original setup might be reduced a touch for the way I play now, too. Both the people who have worked on this bass while I've had it have now retired due to ill health. There's one local name who a couple local bassists have mentioned as being the guy to go to, but I can't get an email or phone answer from him and I don't want to seem too pushy. Do the basschat massive know of anyone else doing bass setup work in Scotland currently? There are a couple of classical oriented general string shops who I've not had wonderful dealings with in the past, and any number of guitar luthiers, but someone with some bass familiarity (and especially pizz setup for jazz) would be preferable. I'm I'm Glasgow, but anywhere Central Scotland is possible.
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An interesting one here, Upton in the US appear to be getting into the string business. While almost all new string designs in the past 20 years have been either going for low tension gut-like or for a darker sounding hybrid or orchestral string, these are less damped, bright and sustaining in the Spirocore mode. It'll be interesting to see how they're received on their release - I like that type of sound but I get the impression it's not what's fashionable for many styles today. I probably wouldn't jump on them straight away myself, and I don't know what the pricing will be like compared to European-made strings, but it's interesting to see.
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Apparently more common than you'd think with small builders, because the market for solid body guitars and steel string acoustics still demands nitrocellulose, and the logistics of setting up spray facilities to modern safety and environmental standards don't always add up for a smaller operation.
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Minimum Watts required for small to medium pubs
Beer of the Bass replied to LuizFurness's topic in Amps and Cabs
I've never owned a rig that did more than 200 Watts into 2 x 12" speakers, and I can't think of a pub gig that wouldn't be fine for in the styles I play. I take out a 50 watt Ampeg PF50T a lot of the time, though that could be right at its limit if it's a good sized room relying on backline for the volume. -
Rick Beato gets all uppity about “Yacht Rock”…
Beer of the Bass replied to TrevorR's topic in General Discussion
For some reason I've been targeted for "comedian DESTROYS Woke heckler" and a lot of "Western values" far-right pipeline stuff in my YouTube recommendations. I wouldn't even mind the odd boob or crotch by comparison with that stuff!- 74 replies
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Rick Beato gets all uppity about “Yacht Rock”…
Beer of the Bass replied to TrevorR's topic in General Discussion
I do feel like Beato's videos have taken a turn towards the tone being "You are not a big serious studio pro like me, and will simply never understand what makes me and <namedrop> pals so great". All a bit self-aggrandising and tiresome IMO.- 74 replies
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A little bigger than the ones discussed here, but I built a compact cab a few years ago with the 4ohm 10FE200 that's been quite continuously useful, and to my surprise it's still going despite being pushed quite hard on a few occasions. There's an 8 ohm version too, but the specs are a little different such that the 4-ohm works better for a ported cab. I intended it to be a small cab for low volume double bass use, but it's come along for messy parties and festivals with the electric bass where I don't want to carry anything larger around too. It's not huge in the lows, but at least as good as the Euphonic Audio Wizzy 10 I was using before that, and smoother in the upper mids.
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I haven't heard of this approach - the heel forms a physical landmark, and I feel like you can form an awareness of the spacing of positions in between the nut and heel fairly quickly. And precise intonation is still mostly about listening and muscle memory - markers will tend to help with getting the right note but not so much with getting that note in tune. I have used dots on the fingerboard face from the octave upwards from time to time, either stickers or marked with a white fabric marking pencil. Yeah, it's a crutch, but it can help build confidence up in thumb position and help nail things in fewer takes when recording.
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If you're running into a distorted amp or pedals, certain intervals in equal tempered tuning give you particularly nasty sounding intermodulation. It's one of the reasons why root/fifth (no third) power chords caught on in rock music. If you do use any thirds or sixths, they sound sweeter if you adjust to approximate "just intonation" in the key you're playing in, and it's particularly noticeable with some gain. So my guess is that he would have been going for that.
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I'm a little wary of the 432 thing because, while deciding you prefer a different pitch is quite harmless in itself, people rarely have just one unusual belief and once you open yourself to the conspiracy worldview, some of the ideas going around are a lot less benign.
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Counterfeit Gibsons making the news
Beer of the Bass replied to oakforest5961's topic in General Discussion
Many of the faked '59-'60 sunburst Les Pauls are a little different from if you were to build forged instruments from scratch, I gather a lot of them are less valuable earlier 50s versions which have been re-worked. Not only did they start out as guitars made in the same factory in the same decade, but it's also been going on so long that many have genuine ageing and play wear too. -
I had the J-Tone black rubber covered single wing pickup for several years, I'd say that as piezos go, it's one of the less fussy about running into ultra-high impedance. Straight into the 1Mohm input of a GK amp or most buffered tuner pedals was fine. Yes, an HPF, phase switch etc can help if you really need to push the volume and control any resulting feedback, but the pickup is fairly usable with most typical bass amps as-is.
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once you've played a 5 string what's the point of 4?
Beer of the Bass replied to DDR's topic in General Discussion
I suppose a lot of players develop their playing styles around the E or G string being on the outside, particularly for pick players in heavier styles, or more old-school slap techniques. My bass guitar style transitioned to 5 smoothly enough, but I think I'd struggle adding a high C or low B to double bass. -
once you've played a 5 string what's the point of 4?
Beer of the Bass replied to DDR's topic in General Discussion
Yeah, with hindsight, if I'd timed it right and moved some other gear around I could/should have done that. Always the way! -
once you've played a 5 string what's the point of 4?
Beer of the Bass replied to DDR's topic in General Discussion
I suspect I would like those 5-string Rics a lot, they're the kind of spacing I like for a 5 string, they lose the anachronistic Ric metalware and I love the walnut/maple aesthetic. Bit out of budget for me though! -
once you've played a 5 string what's the point of 4?
Beer of the Bass replied to DDR's topic in General Discussion
I'm thinking it's something to do with the difference between a plucked note and a bowed one. Plucking, the energy is applied the string in one burst and it's all decay from there. With the bow, there's continued energy input through the length of the note. -
once you've played a 5 string what's the point of 4?
Beer of the Bass replied to DDR's topic in General Discussion
I recorded once with a very experienced producer/engineer who was absolutely insistent that the fundamental frequency on a double bass was one octave below the same string/position on bass guitar, on a session where I was playing double bass. It was a very strange experience, I eventually just kind of conceded so we could get on with things rather than pushing the point even though I know they're the same. -
once you've played a 5 string what's the point of 4?
Beer of the Bass replied to DDR's topic in General Discussion
I brought my 5-string to a very 70s sounding band where the bassists on the first two albums were both short scale 4-string pick players. I wondered at first if it was appropriate, but it turns out no-one else in the band had even thought about it that way. My bass is passive and basically does what a Jazz bass does apart from the extra string, I use lower notes very sparingly and I'm running into an Ampeg. I'd say it works fine in that context. I probably could use a four string in that band, but I don't own a large number of basses, so if you want me and you want fretted electric, that's my bass. -
My endpin is the larger diameter steel tube type, so the right diameter dowel slots right in. I tried both walnut and oak, I *think* they sound subtly different from each other, but the difference between wood and metal is the more noticeable, it's a little bigger sounding. The rubber stopper I used on the wood does like to wear through, so I only really bring out the wood pin if it's an unamped setting where I'm shooting for every last drop of projection available.
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Hotclub style jazz - strings and things
Beer of the Bass replied to julietgreen's topic in EUB and Double Bass
Probably more familiar as Gypsy Jazz, but many advocates for Traveller and Romani groups are encouraging people to move away from the word Gypsy. So Hot Club Jazz seems as good a name as any given that it originated with Rheinhardt and Grapelli's Hot Club quintet. Though I depped on a gig earlier in the year with a Romani guitarist who calls it Gypsy Jazz, and I was not about to correct him! I've just gone for the approach of showing up with the sound that I have (a more modern steel strung sound) and just trying to be stylistically appropriate within that, but if it was my full time gig I'd probably be looking at guts.- 9 replies
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Frank Zappa and Grand Funk Railroad.
Beer of the Bass replied to bubinga5's topic in General Discussion
Do the 2012 remasters keep the original bass and drum tracks? Many of the 90s reissues quietly re-recorded parts that Zappa wasn't happy with, and I feel like while they're cleaner sounding, they miss some energy from the original releases. Hearing the original "We're Only In It For The Money" compared to my 90s reissue was particularly noticeable, just a weirder, more interesting sounding album all around before Zappas 90s "improvements". -
For that budget and in the UK, a decent mid-20th century European laminate bass could be a good choice, and they do come up if you wait around and watch on here and other bass specific selling places. Or relatively recent carved or hybrid student basses like the Stentors, Zellers, and Czech and Romanian ones under a few names would also be good. Any older carved bass in that range will likely have something keeping the value down, perhaps less than ideal old repairs, or needing immediate work, but you might just get lucky.