Beer of the Bass

Seeking out the Reverb listing, I notice the top is described as "solid spruce" and the back and sides only as "maple". Often omitting to specify solid means laminated, but from the limited pictures it's hard to tell. It's quite possible it's a good bass, but quite a gamble buying blind with what looks like a single stock image that may not even be the one you're buying. The price also puts you in the range of a few other options - you may find something in the UK, or a solid wood Thomann or Gewa European made bass with some budget left for setup.

My cittern is a 650mm/25.6" scale, similar to standard long scale on guitars. I've settled on CGDAD with unison pairs, and also spend a fair bit of time capoed at the 7th fret giving me GDAEA for melody playing. The JJB gives surprisingly deep bass on the low C string, actually rather more than a body that size can project acoustically. That can be useful for solo song accompaniment, but rolling off a touch of bass at the preamp gets it a little closer to the balance it has unplugged.

It's years since I've had to do it (on a bodgily converted 8 string P copy) but that's what I used too.

On my cittern (mine is tuned much like an Irish style bouzouki with an additional low course), I have a JJB pickup, a two sensor model very similar to the K&K Big Twin. I installed it internally with the discs on the inside of the soundboard where each end of the saddle would be. I don't have any controls on the instrument as I use an outboard preamp, though I think they do offer a passive volume control that mounts in the soundhole. Even with shipping from the US, the JJB pickups are very well priced and probably as good as any piezo.

It makes a little more sense when you know the mic they're imitating, the DPA double bass mic. But yep, definite failure of communication somewhere with the listing and graphics!

When I had a set, it was on a new laminated bass that probably benefitted from the high frequency warming. My current older bass is on the dark side, so I like every bit of definition I can get with the Spiros.

I've used Superflexibles on an EUB and one double bass some years ago, and have settled on Spirocores since, but not on the same instruments so I don't have a direct comparison. The Superflexibles do tend quite stiff - they're an older design than the Spirocores, when they were introduced they would have been more flexible than a solid steel core, but they're quite high tension strings. Certainly no lighter feeling than a mittel/medium set of Spiros.

Low B or High C? I suspect the larger gauge tapewound low B strings just might not work very well - I had a D'addario set a while ago and liked the EADG strings, but the low B was really muddy and indistinct, and I ended up using a roundwound low B with them.

Reminds me a little of the Nitewalker preamp guy, if anyone remembers that. Not so much the product, but the general flavour of fervently pushing their eccentric homespun invention that nobody seems to entirely get the point of.

Or on a lower budget than the Helix, whatever small bass amp ticks your boxes, plus a Joyo American sound pedal or one of the other flavours of amp simulator in that line.

I think Michael Mondesir on bass may have been with Nikki Yeoh for longer than his brother on drums - certainly when I saw the trio in the 90s it was Yeoh, Michael Mondesir on bass and Keith LeBlanc on drums. Memory is a little hazy, but that was a good gig.

I'll see if I can watch it on iPlayer later. But from having seen and chatted to some other musicians who came through the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland jazz program, they're often quite big on the No Amp approach for bass. So possibly the bass mic was what we were hearing.

On my PF-50T I've found the point where the preamp is just beginning to have audible grit at the hardest I play, I leave the preamp volume there and adjust the master to the level required for the room.

I played guitar with one band who'd advertised for a rhythm guitarist despite only wanting one guitarist. Apparently they'd done that after auditioning a bunch of widdlers, and I was the first one to come along who treated it like part of the rhythm section.

Yep, I also find that a bit of extra midrange bark really helps it to come through clearly without being overwhelming. My Ampeg PF-50T seems to get there particularly easily compared to my GK MB200 with the same speakers, which I presume is a combination of extra harmonics from slight dirt, and the broad-brush nature of the EQ on that amp making it easier to boost without harshness.

I briefly played with an old friend's solo project where she had electric bass playing the usual bass role and double bass (me) playing mostly bowed parts. Though it was an awkward and unwieldy lineup and it wasn't too long before it got slimmed down to make gigging and rehearsing easier.

In the context of Clarke/Duke shows at the time, it doesn't feel so outrageous next to George's keytar and his plexiglass whammy bar Clavinet! Though I suppose it's not what Clarke would go for today, since it's on sale. And I think Ken Smith has talked about working on Clarke's double basses too, so there must be a fairly established relationship between them.

I don't think I've ever owned a rig bigger than 200 watts through two 12“ speakers, and it's just never been a problem for me. I don't know if that's down to the types of band I play with or what. The times I was aware of my amp sounding pushed were always with just one speaker.

Maybe, maybe not. If the builder was numbering sequentially but doing custom work, the previous ones may or may not be similar.

Presuming the preamp is original to the bass, the Omeg pots are a UK company, and the stripboard construction suggests a small builder one-off rather than a production model from a larger company.

Have you got pictures inside the control cavity? Parts supply was less of a global affair when you go back to the 70s and 80s, so the choice of pots and other parts may give you some clue as to whether the origin is UK, Asia or other.

I feel that EADG like the bottom four of a guitar would be a little low. It's possible, especially if you have a long scale tenor, but it would miss a chunk of the range that a banjo sounds good in.

Bridge piezo pickups on double bass. I don't think there are any that sound all that great, but they work, a mic is finicky in the situations I play and I don't have a lot of cash to throw at chasing the perfect amplified tone.

Apologies if this is an overly dumb question, but how are you setting the VLE and VPF filter controls on the Markbass? The "off" setting on those knobs is fully anti-clockwise, and I've seen a few people not realise that and start with them at 12 o'clock.