Beer of the Bass

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1482426014' post='3200520'] I like a worn looking bass, but I like it to be wear that I've caused. Everyone likes their favourite old jumper, but would you wear someone else's? No thanks. [/quote] I'm very fond of my 100 year old double bass and 80 year old guitar, plus a couple of other instruments around 30 years old. All of them have playing wear from previous owners (especially the double bass) and I quite like that about them. So I suppose by that analogy I'm walking around in dead mens' knitwear! That still feels a bit different to imitation wear somehow.

I didn't find the Chromes B to be great when I last had one a few years ago, but I've replaced the neck on my bass since then so I might get different results now.

I did something similar last month, sticking a set of rounds on after several years of flats. I stuck with them for about a fortnight before putting on another set of flats. Fender flats are still quite cheap from some shops - mine were less than £30 for a 5 string set from Rich Tone Music.

I wouldn't go really cheap (because when I have most of them have died), but I've found that the Klotz "Kik" cables sound fine and go for years - the one I got in 1995 is still working. I've got a couple of Thomann Cordial cables which are alright too, the ones with the Neutrik plugs.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1482340496' post='3199749'] With the Leslie speaker and ignoring minute pitch changes due to the Doppler effect I thought it'd be a really slow Tremolo, no? [/quote] The pitch changes are important to the sound though! On a proper dual rotor Leslie, the bass rotor sounds not unlike a tremolo effect, but the highs almost have a chorus-y aspect to them. The Univibe emulates that with a circuit that is essentially a phaser.

It doesn't help that Fender guitar amps have an amplitude-wobbling tremolo effect which they've always labelled as Vibrato!

Entertaining though it is, I feel like that Burman 4x18" story must be somewhat embellished. The sound systems used for Dub, Dubstep etc now tend to have multiple 18" drivers in horn-loaded bins with Kilowatts of amp power behind them, and while they can be uncomfortable at close range I've never seen effects like that.

[quote name='sprocketflup' timestamp='1482088617' post='3197548'] Half Man Half Biscuit have numerous, such as 'D'ya ken Ted Moult?' and 'I hate Nerys Hughes' 'Dickie Davis Eyes' was another. [/quote] Not to mention their ode to Pete Docherty, "You've got a sh*t arm and that's a bad tattoo".

There was a Sonic Youth lyric that went "Last night I dreamed I kissed Neil Young. If I was a boy I guess it would be fun". Also, there was a Scottish band a couple of years ago who had a song rather splendidly titled "God is Love but so is Arthur Lee". I can't remember what they were called though...

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1482074018' post='3197394'] When I used a separates rig I could do this on my status when the HPF was disengaged. Being an inductor, a magnetic pickup acts as a LPF not a HPF, lows are more likely to be filtered by the preamp input capacitance. Your right though that its a negative test rather than a positive one in that it can prove the absence of a HPF but not the presence of one .. if this does happen though youve definitely got a problem. [/quote] I've seen some sources suggesting that a magnetic pickup has something closer to a bandpass response due to the capacitance of the coil, albeit with a much steeper slope on the high end than on the low. I've mostly had high impedance pickups similar to Fender types, and amps of no more than 300 watts, so I suppose it's not surprising that a different style of pickup through a more powerful amp might produce enough subsonic content to observe this effect. But a double bass bridge piezo did have enough subsonic response for me to push on the strings and watch the cone move if I turned off the HPF on my old Acoustic Image amp.

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1482061481' post='3197252'] Place a finger on a string over the pickup and push it towards the pickup, if you can see the speaker cone move in sympathy then you definitely have no HPF. [/quote] I have never seen this happen on a bass guitar with magnetic pickups - I'm not sure that most pickups go low enough for it to be a useful test, but I have observed it when using a piezo bridge pickup on double bass with certain amps. Going by visible cone movement with double bass, it would appear that my GK MB200 does have some form of subsonic filtering going on, but it would be nice if the manual mentioned this.

They're quick and smooth for simple returns, it's just that issues with any more complex resolution can take a couple of days while they refer it to the relevant people within Thomann and then go back and forth with the manufacturer. It's a large organisation where everyone has a defined role, and sometimes that can show. I've been quite happy dealing with them, so it's more an observation than a complaint.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1481975910' post='3196691'] I have experience in selling to large resellers. I know how they work. From Thomanns POV they sell instruments. They accept returns. If an instrument is returned they have a system for this and they don't lose money as they will have agreements with their suppliers. With a large seller, as soon as you want to do something outside of their system you are on your own. Their system can't handle it. The people yout talk to in customer services aren't allowed to make decisions about what might make sense. So you HAVE to work with them in ways they can operate. [/quote] From the couple of times I've returned items to Thomann, that seems a fair assessment. I got a satisfactory response from them, but I took care to be clear about what the issue was and what I was asking from them, and it does take a little time for the wheels to turn compared to smaller more specialised retailers. They can feel kind of impersonal and procedure-bound compared to a small retailer, but that personal touch you get from smaller businesses can sometimes be as much a curse as a blessing if the guy you're dealing with has an attitude problem!

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1481897788' post='3196104'] Years ago, the speaker in my Gallien Krueger 200MB (the little 1x12 combo) fell apart - the cone just parted company with the surround, having hardened and crumbled away. [/quote] I think that may be common to foam surrounds. I once spent hours carefully replacing the foam on all four woofers of my old Wharfedale hifi speakers with replacement foam rings I'd found online. The operation was a success, then I had to get rid of them for a smaller pair of bookshelf speakers a few weeks later when I had to move flat. Fortunately not many speakers used in bass cabs have foam surrounds - the GK is quite unusual in that respect.

I'd guess that the sound is the cloth flapping against the divider. You could remove the cloth and either rebuild the frame with the divider recessed slightly or add strips of thin wood around the edges to raise the cloth above the rest of the frame by a couple of mm, then refit the cloth. If you're determined not to refit the cloth, perhaps try slipping some black felt or foam gasket tape in between the cloth and divider. If you've used a synthetic grille cloth, heating it up with a hot hairdryer (or a heat gun on low) to shrink and tighten it slightly may help too.

[quote name='paul h' timestamp='1481630557' post='3193829'] Back of the net! Looks lovely. I have recently found my gas veering towards the 335 side [/quote] Cheers. I feel like I did OK for £85.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1481376472' post='3191844'] The only issue with my Hondo II Les Paul is the intonation from the 12th fret up on two strings. How's yours? [/quote] There don't seem to be any issues on this one. Is it dodgy fret placement on yours, or just not enough adjustment range on the bridge?

I've just picked up this guitar from someone on a local facebook buy/sell group, as I'd been fancying a 335 type and this one was a very good deal. It's a Hondo Revival H935, and from the information I can find online it was made in Korea, probably by Samick, mid to late 80s. It's interesting that it uses the Gibson headstock shape, as I had thought that the copies had stopped doing that some years earlier than this guitar (but maybe that was only for guitars sold in the US?). The seller's dad had played it in a wedding band, and it's does look like it's been well played. I've seen some Hondo badged instruments of dubious quality, but this one seems very well put together. It's built in the classic 335 style with a mahogany centre block, long-tenon glued neck, and the neck is maple with a volute at the headstock. The tuners are quite serviceable Grovers and the only thing I could really criticise is the pickups, which are cheaply made ceramic magnet types, unpotted and held together with glue inside. Oddly, they don't sound too bad but that might be something I'll upgrade. It may get some sort of vibrato too, if I'm going to use it with my band. It would benefit from a fret dress, which I'll do at some point, but overall I'm really pleased with it. I think I'll enjoy playing this one...

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1481370694' post='3191803'] Finally, and this is a note to everyone. JohnDaBass has bought an HPT, The Thumpinator. It has tightened up his sound and is protecting his speakers. Please use a High Pass Filter. There are several available, the Thumpinator is a UK one, on the Other Place, FDeck makes a few different ones that have variable filters. These stop low frequency rubbish getting to the driver, give you much more headroom, a better sound and protect your speakers. I have no commercial interest and in either product I just know they are a great idea. [/quote] Another thing worth mentioning is that for the DIY inclined (which presumably anyone building their own cabs will be), Francis Deck has kindly put the schematic for the earlier version of his HPF in the public domain. This version is aimed at double bass use, with a less steep 12dB/octave filter, but it should still be useful with electric bass. [url="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxocGZ0ZWNobGxjfGd4OjQyNGJhOWE3YzdjMDY0ODg"]https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxocGZ0ZWNobGxjfGd4OjQyNGJhOWE3YzdjMDY0ODg[/url] Someone else has made a neat stripboard layout for it too. I keep meaning to build one for myself... [url="http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/hpf-technology-hpf-pre-2.html"]http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/hpf-technology-hpf-pre-2.html[/url]

Maybe they're going into the Turkish baths business with their new product, the Steamhammam? Or perhaps it's a kind of portable bain marie, the Steamhamper!

Steamhamster. Gotta be!

I'm probably due a new one myself. I'm still using the 25W Antex that my dad bought 20 years ago, and the shaft on it has got bent so that the tip is slightly loose. And I'm building valve amps as a hobby, so it gets more use than most! I'm inclined to just get the current version of the same 25W Antex, as it's been fine for everything I've tried to do with it.

The "unsuitable for bass guitar" line is a bizarre approach to take. Looking at the small number of 12" speakers they [i]do[/i] list as bass guitar drivers, all of them have specs that indicate that they would all be rather less robust than the Beyma when handling the low end of a bass. They have the Celestion BN12-300S and BL12-200x and the Eminence Basslite S2012. Other than having "bass" in the model name, I can't see what would make any of those a better choice.

Aargh, I hate it when that kind of thing happens. There have been times I've cheerfully let other people play my instruments, when they're someone who can play, isn't falling over drunk and they've asked in a friendly way, but those are the only times! I hope they didn't get arsey about when you stopped them.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1480770926' post='3187008'] When does one decide one needs new flats? Flats just sound better the older they get. One of my basses has some 20 year old flats on it - not planning on changing them any time soon [/quote] People often say that, but after a couple of years I find the pitch on the lower strings gets indistinct and I just can't get them to sound good any more, even in a band mix. I don't know if my tastes are different or if my body chemistry kills strings. The Fenders are just starting to settle in now, so I reckon they'll be on for a while.