Beer of the Bass

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1495008852' post='3300315'] This is the amp that persuaded me that guitarists didn't need valves, although it's still a minority opinion. [/quote] Yes, I remember finding the old Sessionette in one rehearsal room we used to use to be pretty good sounding, and there are some valve combos that I like less. I think solid state guitar amps have trouble finding their niche in the market - there are lots of entry level combos that aren't all that inspiring, a few high-end modelling rigs and not too much choice in mid priced gear. I think that may be starting to change though. I'm still quite attached to valve amps myself, but in all honesty that may be because it's a technology which is quite approachable to the amateur tinkerer. I mean, if you were to build the most basic version of a valve amp taken straight from the old RCA or Mullard application notes it'll sound good as a guitar amp, while getting the same behaviour from a solid state amp takes some real design skill.

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1495110595' post='3301350'] I saw a Stentor some time back - in fact, I had considered trading it + some cash for my Gage (then saw the light! lol) It certainly wasn't a small proportioned bass, and the endpin extended beyond coping with me at around 6'00".. perhaps the smaller basses are the Stentor Student range? Does anyone here own a Stentor Student bass? It'd be worth knowing whether they're full size [/quote] A friend has one of the hybrid Student models, and IIRC it's standard 3/4 in terms of scale length, just at the more compact end of body proportions. His has held up OK and not given him any trouble, and it sounds OK though I've heard much "bigger" sounding basses.

I looked at the Stentors when I was searching for a bass, something like 12 years ago. I don't know if this is still the case, but I remember noticing just how small proportioned all of their 3/4 size basses were, to the point that the endpin didn't extend far enough for me (I'm about 6'2"). It's not necessarily a negative, just something to consider.

I'm curious here; I've seen claims from people other than Alex that the right cone design can improve off-axis response beyond what a simple model based on diameter would predict, though I also see some disagreement with this. My question is, what would this look like when measured? Are we talking about raising the frequency where it starts to roll off, making the roll-off less steep or just increasing sensitivity in that range both on and off axis?

It would be an awkward fit in many car boots - just a bit too long to fit across the width where a pair of 2x10" would fit easily side by side.

Even when there's PA, I do find dispersion to be an issue in venues that have a house 4x10" sat on the floor - often it'll sound great when I kneel to adjust the amp but when I stand up again I can't get it clearly audible without being too loud for the stage. A single 1x12" either raised or tilted, or a pair of 1x12"s stacked in portrait orientation seems good enough for my needs, despite not going all that high off axis. The guitarist has also commented unprompted that he can hear me better with the pair of 1x12"s, if that counts for anything.

Cheers for the suggestions, but after a couple of gigs with the Red Labels, there were just too many things I missed about flats! It would be quite fun to have rounds on another bass to pull out for the gigs that suit it though...

Snark aside, what might we take from those measurements? The on and off axis measurements show that the off-axis response does start to drop off somewhere above 1KHz. A comparison with the Kappalite 3012HO and LF might be interesting, since those were used in the previous Barefaced products and would presumably be what they are attempting to improve on with the new driver. It's a shame not many driver manufacturers include data on off-axis response - I've noticed that Faital do but I'm not aware of any others. I'm not too familiar with spectral decay plots, though it's clear enough what the axes are. I presume that the "decay" bit suggests that this shows the behaviour after a burst of test signal ends? And that the frequencies which still show some amplitude after a few milliseconds would indicate some sort of resonance which might colour the sound? Am I way off the mark with that interpretation? I don't really have a benchmark for what other drivers would look like when measured in this way though.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1494704469' post='3298060'] Three separate sound guys at three consecutive gigs all joked that they hoped my "homebrew" DI pedal wasn't going to damage their gear. Its well worth changing the aesthetics of the pedal to match the internals. [/quote] I did have an engineer complain that my DI/EQ was noisy, when I'd never found it to be so. I think it just looked noisy!

It looks like Hondo had an H-80 bass, and that would fit with the Made in Korea sticker. I can't find a picture of one though. They did use a very similar headstock shape to yours on some things. [url="http://samick.wikia.com/wiki/Hondo"]http://samick.wikia.com/wiki/Hondo[/url]

That's not a bad price for a panel from Modulus. Though I've not used their panels, I've found them to be good to deal with when buying valve amp parts. Regarding input impedance and passive basses, just how low are you considering? I could hear little difference between 1M and 10M, for instance, but when you get down to 100k or so I do hear a difference in the highs.

[quote name='Yank' timestamp='1494322224' post='3294905'] Hell, once you lose your sense of humor and try to tell others how to phrase things, you might just as well move to a communist country where you'd fit right in. In a free country you can call me a jerk and unless I want to fight you over it, I have to let it slide or insult you right back. Remember, if someone insults you with a smile on their face it's male banter. Sometimes you gotta have a thick skin. [/quote] Free speech (or as close as we have to it) doesn't exempt you from criticism though. Say what you like, and people will tell you what they think about that; you can't have one without the other.

On bass I tune before each set, or if I can hear anything change during the set. It's rare that anything shifts much. On guitar it's a bit more frequent due to whammy bar usage, though I try and set my guitars up to be as stable as I can get them.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1494269958' post='3294595'] Yep, I`ve got into some really good bands purely by watching them as we`ve been on the same bill. If I`d been playing Jonny Big B*ll*x and the evening being all about me I might not have seen them. And that would have been my loss, not theirs. [/quote] There have been two bands I've ended joining after having seen them on the same bill, so it can have it's merits. I'm more likely to stay around at DIY type gigs where the other bands are usually friends (or friends of friends), less so when they've been flung together by a promoter.

[quote name='mep' timestamp='1494272852' post='3294636'] I'm I being too PC or just overreacting? What do others feel about this term? [/quote] I'm not too keen on the term either, I don't find it funny and I wouldn't use it myself, and I think it should be fine to point that out in any reasonably open discussion. I'd stop short of saying that people absolutely must not use it - that would be where accusations of political correctness might be justifiable.

Possibly pushing the bounds of "famous" these days, but Nick McCarthy from Franz Ferdinand is a fine bassist on both electric and double bass. I used to see him playing with a couple of bands in Glasgow before Franz Ferdinand took off (one of which I pinched his spot in).

Isn't Yngwie Malmsteen very much in the "transfer your widdly guitar chops across to bass" camp, capable though he is? Mike Oldfield is a good call (thinking of the old Kevin Ayers albums). Also, John Scofield is doubling on bass with the Brad Mehldau trio at the moment, playing a short-scale Mustang bass in a convincingly restrained, unflashy style.

From your description of the problem, it doesn't sound entirely like a problem caused by lack of a speaker load. That could certainly cause a lack of output if the output transformer or any power amp components were damaged, and it may blow the main or HT fuse, but it would be very unlikely to affect the channel switching operation as you describe. Without knowing that particular amp it's hard to say, but it's possible that if the footswitch uses a stereo jack with DC voltage on some of the contacts, connecting a mono jack with a speaker has shorted out and damaged something in the channel switching circuit. Though you could still have other issues caused by being run without a speaker load once the channel switching problem is sorted out, if you're unlucky.

That's kind of reassuring, given that I'm using DIY cabs with the same driver which ought to perform similarly. The power handling doesn't look particularly impressive when modelled, but possibly efficiency in the mids helps them to seem loud, and it can be hard to know how modelled low end handling relates to a real bass signal. I have got the impression that they could handle a bit more amp than my MB200, and that would appear to be borne out in use. It sounds like a fun gig. I haven't been up that way in a few years, but it's a beautiful bit of the country and playing outdoors in the sun is always good when you can get away with it.

That panel does look quite good for decal paper. I've been using it on various things myself, and the results are rarely entirely perfect. I've found it likes to creep when coated over, and my prints always seem to end up a little low-resolution looking, but I'm not computer savvy enough to figure out why. One thing I do quite like the look of is to apply clear decal paper to the reverse side of 1mm clear polycarbonate and use it as an overlay, rather than applying directly to the metal panel. I would be able to get access to a laser cutter, but I've never got around to sorting out my graphics skills well enough to figure it out properly.

A band I played with a few years ago busked on the Edinburgh Christmas market during an unusually cold winter, where it was a couple of degrees below freezing some days. With long johns, multiple pairs of socks, jumpers, scarf, hat, big coat and army boots it was still a bit of a challenge! I was playing double bass, and while my right hand was fine, my left hand was hard to keep warm due to the raised position. Our hat got pretty well filled though!

[quote name='Abominathan' timestamp='1494000016' post='3292533'] Ever since I've owned it yes, never had a problem but that doesn't mean that it's set up 100% how it maybe should/could be. [/quote] I'm not very familiar with Laney amps, but in a lot of EL34 amps the bias supply needs a few resistor values changing to run optimally with 6550s. Of course, this might have been done already - it would just need someone to check the bias and see if it's in a reasonable range for the 6550s. Chances are that if it's run well for years, it may not be far out. [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1494023474' post='3292761'] What is it they say about "one man's treasure"? I've got a bad back just looking at it [/quote] Ach, a valve amp this size isn't so bad, and can be a fun thing to have around. I probably wouldn't be committed enough to cart an old-school 4x12" around myself, but I'd cheerfully have a head like that.

It looks like a nice bit of kit, with those Partridge transformers. Has it always had 6550s in there? I'd expect to see EL34 in a 70's British 100 watt amp, and the bias requirements are a bit different for 6550s.

Chromes are at the stiff feeling end of things, for a given gauge. I wouldn't describe them as similar to Thomastiks in many ways.

I had an oil can guitar a few years ago, bought on a whim. Mine was made from a can of Unipart brake cleaning fluid. It was kind of entertaining, but it was about the most uncomfortable thing imaginable due to the shape and size of the can. They could be a fun wall-hanger perhaps, but to actually play one seems like a bit of an affectation unless you have a genuine need to cobble together an instrument from scrap materials.