Beer of the Bass

[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1466324618' post='3074865'] If you're doing a more folk-rock thing, just use what you're comfortable with. Last time I took notice, Dave Pegg, who must be pretty much the icon of such behaviour, was using an Ibanez SR 5 string. [/quote] I'd agree with this; from what I see of bands playing this sort of thing at the moment, there isn't the same prediliction for retro instruments that's fashionable elsewhere - you tend not to see the more flashy boutique coffee table jobs, but it's not all four string passive Fenders either.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1466017404' post='3072868'] Haven't detected a problem in 50 years? Blue [/quote] You would only notice a problem with silicone polishes if you ever need to have an instrument repaired using glue, refinished or touched up. Silicone is hard to get rid of and nothing much sticks to it. I've known a couple of luthiers who won't let it anywhere near their workshops.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1465833784' post='3071404'] You can pick up old pianos on eBay for as little as 99p - saw one made of Yew and another of Walnut recently. Not sure if they're laminated but if it's solid wood that's a mega buy. [/quote] They're usually veneered over softwood or low grade hardwood for the casing, and what bits of hardwood there are don't have many clear sections. Then you have to get rid of the rest, not to mention the risk of moth and woodworm infestation There's a reason older pianos are hard to give away!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1465769608' post='3070903'] Orange cab speakers have an Outspan. [/quote] But are the small ones more juicy?

Very tidy example, that Superbass. I've been looking at a lot of pictures of Marshall wiring lately, to try and pick up hints for my own build in a Marshall style, and they're not all as neat as yours.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1465727240' post='3070475'] A real shame, as he [i]did [/i]have some qualities. [/quote] A good point. If I want to feel inspired by Rich, the music and not the rants should be the thing to do it.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1465702047' post='3070290'] I wonder if many of the responses are from millenials and there's a generational thing. I understand millenials don't like criticism. Blue [/quote] I don't think that's what's going on in this thread, but if that helps you feel validated then have at it. I get the impression most basschatters are a little older than the usual definition of millennial, and certainly several of the posters making pertinent points in this thread are older. Myself, I was born at the start of the 80s so probably just about fit in the millennial bracket, but I'm willing to avoid the cliches about boomers if you'll do the same about us... I don't hear a lot of coherent musical criticism in Buddy's rants, more non-specific impotent rage. More targeted criticism would make it clear exactly what parts of the set needed work, but I don't think that's what he was going for. To me the tape sounded like an insecure individual attempting to establish a pecking order, and nothing to do with the quality of the performances. He's not whipping them into shape, but beating them down for his own satisfaction. If more people are more inclined to question that kind of behaviour now, I'm happy about that.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1465551510' post='3069131'] Nice work. The iec power connector doesn't look too bad considering I bet it's a right pain in the arse to do. Is there not a way these can be cut out with a dremel and small cutting wheel? [/quote] [quote name='Bottle' timestamp='1465559272' post='3069249'] Hole punch would be neater. Laser cut the neatest. For a one-off though a bit of elbow grease is the quickest [/quote] A dremel would probably do it, but I tend to go with hand tools first. If I ever do more than one-offs, I'd fork out for a proper rectangular chassis punch. The round ones I picked up for the valve sockets were a joy to use, compared to trying to drill the same size hole cleanly and then get rid of the burr.

Here's an in-progress shot of the chassis wiring - I've still got quite a bit more to do though. The overly long and coiled wires are the ones I haven't connected yet. As the reverb circuit is an add-on to this amp design and might need some tweaking once built, I've kept it off the main board and built it using a little strip of eyelets next to the valve socket.

I do wonder if Alex was responding to the market with this range of cabs - if you spend years trying to persuade bassists they don't need a 4x10" and they still want a 4x10", it seems like good business sense to recognise that and come up with a better 4x10 instead! In general, designs which try to change players perceptions of what they really need find a few enthusiastic adherents and influence other designers but never find a huge market share; the original Steinberger basses would be an example. Quite a few successful manufacturers of bass gear have looked at the industry standard gear that working musicians are using and then tried to make an improved but recognisable version of that. If done well, it seems to be a winning formula; something like what Sadowsky did with Fender designs.

[quote name='ColinB' timestamp='1465463001' post='3068372'] That's a really pro job you're doing. I built a 5E3 many years ago and it's still going strong even though I've kept on 'tweaking' it. Bassman output tranny so I could run an extension cab, mods to run 6L6s, the two pre-amp channels in series rather than parallel. My next tweak will be the Ampmaker VCB/VVR variable power control ([url="http://www.ampmaker.com/store/VCB-VVR-kit-for-cathode-biased-amplifiers-ZK02.html"]here[/url]). I'll be following this build with interest. [/quote] Cheers! I'd looked at the VVR kits, and if I ever do a cathode biased amp I'll probably give one a go. This one is going to have a post-phase inverter master volume to tame the volume a little, as it seemed like the simplest way to do that. [quote name='Bottle' timestamp='1465472909' post='3068528'] Firstly, wow, nice lead dress! Secondly, I did a valve amp build last year [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/257258-diy-valve-amp-kits"]here[/url] so I wouldn't worry about a guitar amp build in a bass forum my kit was bought from [url="http://www.ampmaker.com/store/home.php"]Amp Maker[/url] and is a 4W Fender Tweed Champ clone. Sounds amazing Good luck with the rest of the build. Shall be keeping an eye on this thread with interest! [/quote] Again, cheers! I'm trying to put some effort into the lead dress - so far I'm not managing the full Hiwatt/Burman style neatness, but I'm sure it's coming out a bit tidier than my last effort. I'm also discovering that cable ties are my friends. I'll take another pic tomorrow - I've got most of the wiring around the transformers, power/standby switches and can caps done, but not quite ready to put the board in yet.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1465465084' post='3068416'] I consider 'heft' to be related to the uncompressed and unsagging reproduction of low frequencies. Basically the sort of thing good subwoofers do really well and that poor PA systems and weedy bass amps and cabs struggle with. It's also something that serious solidstate power and high excursion neo drivers are better at than valve amps and old school drivers (unless you use a BIG rig). However, there are definitely bassists who consider 'heft' to be related to the compression and distortion added by valve amps and certain cabs, which thickens a bass sound. This mid-bass to lower-midrange thickness is also sometimes described as punch, though I'd tend to call the transient character thump, with punch being higher up in the midrange. [/quote] That sums it up well, there seem to be these two quite disparate properties being referred to as "heft". I'm a big fan of the second of those qualities (whatever you want to call it), as it really seems to create a sound that's clearly audible, satisfying to play, and finds a space in the mix easily.

I played at a private party last year where I brought my 100-year old double bass and wished I'd just brought electric bass instead. It was a party at your classic communal hippy dwelling, with a dancing audience who were in a whole range of altered states. The gig was great fun (as was the rest of the night), but mashed people kept stumbling into the "stage" area and I just spent too much time fielding people away from the double bass, which escaped major damage but did end up with a bent tuner and a couple of new scuffs.

[quote name='Passinwind' timestamp='1465397162' post='3067864'] The bass seat in his band was notoriously short-lived, sometimes even lasting less than an entire set. It'd be interesting to hear someone like Tony Levin's candid take. [/quote] The only interview I've found with Levin on the subject was fairly diplomatic. This could be a professionalism thing on Levin's part, as it's probably not a great idea for a working bassist to be too critical of former employers.

After building myself a guitar amp several years ago (which was based on the Fender Princeton Reverb) and tinkering with a couple of other amps in between, I've found that putting together valve amps is something I really enjoy. I wanted to get a couple more builds under my belt to see if I can up the standard of my work, but parts can be costly, so when a friend asked if I would build an amp for him (in an informal sort of way) it seemed like a good idea. After quite a bit of discussion, we settled on the idea of a 50 watt amp based on the old Marshall plexi but with added reverb, and it's going to be in a 1x12" combo cabinet. The reverb is based on the "1-tube reverb" circuit found on the Hoffman amps forum, which is less full-on surfy than the classic Fender reverb but reputedly works well in this style of amp. There will be a couple of small tweaks from the standard 50-watt plexi circuit, which I'll detail as I go along. My parts choice is an attempt to find the middle ground of decent quality, dependable stuff without either going too cheap and compromising quality or falling for the whole boutique snake-oil thing. Once I'd got most of the parts together, I started assembling the board which the smaller parts are mounted on. Marshall would have used turrets for the wiring, but I'm used to working with eyelets so I used those, mounted on FR4 fibreglass material. There are still a couple of resistors missing here which I managed to leave off my initial parts order. While waiting for some more parts to arrive, I got my chassis prepared with the necessary holes. I'm not much of a metalworker, so I bought a ready-made blank chassis rather than folding my own as some builders do. I did pick up a couple of old chassis punches on eBay which do a much better job of the 3/4" and 1" holes for the valves than drilling would. The hole for the IEC mains connector is always a bit tricky without specialised tools. I drilled out the corners, chomped out most of the material with a hand nibbler and then filed it out to the correct size. This left a few scuff marks around the hole, but thankfully those are on the back panel. Next up came fitting the valve sockets and doing the heater wiring between them. The layout of this affects how quietly the amp runs, so I've tried to be careful about keeping them twisted together and routed correctly. I have deviated a little from old style Marshall construction here - I've avoided looping wires around the preamp sockets as I've read that this can induce hum. Here's the chassis with the transformers mounted on top. I've used Dagnall transformers from Modulus Amplification as they were a reasonably priced option but are good enough for Marshall to use in their expensive handwired reissues. The reverb transformer is the exception to this - it's an unbranded generic one. From left to right are the reverb transformer, power supply choke, output transformer and power transformer. With all of that iron, it weighs a bit! At the moment I'm in the process of doing the off-board wiring underneath the chassis, so there will be more to follow...

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1465371120' post='3067545'] That's the thing - when I think of 'heft'. I'm not thinking about bass. It's a solid, low-mid backbone. It's all so confusing :-) [/quote] I wonder if this interpretation of the H-word might be that subtle form of distortion that valve amps do well, as do certain speakers? I mean the sort that adds some extra harmonics to the sound (so adding low mids on top of your lows) but stops well short of sounding gritty or dirty and would still be thought of as a clean sound in any musical context.

[quote name='luckydog' timestamp='1465389349' post='3067745'] It's sad, Buddy sure had some personal problems. That approach is just plain wrong, but maybe the band knew he had problems and put up with it ? Otherwise, fair chance half the band wouldn't have bothered with the second set, or Buddy would have regularly needed surgery to remove a drumstick from his a*se between sets Displaced anger, maybe he wasn't happy with himself for some reason (not necessarily real or to do with drumming ?), dunno amateur psychology 1/2 hour? Sad stuff really...... [/quote] Dave Panichi (the bearded trombonist he's ranting at towards the end of the recordings) said that Rich was guaranteed to kick off after seeing his wife, any time his dope ran out or when there were guests on the bus to show off in front of. So yes, it does point at the rants being triggered by issues other than the performance. And Panichi wasn't actually sacked after this altercation - he says that Rich rarely followed through on any of his threats. I wonder if Panichi even shaved in the end? Although Rich was one hell of a drummer, he does come across as rather a pathetic figure off stage (again, IMO).

I'd walk if an employer tried to talk to me like that, and I have done so before (not in a musical context - it was an Italian restaurant where the proprietor tried to copy Gordon Ramsay's management style, minus his culinary flair). Perhaps there are a few people who get by in that kind of environment, but many will get out at the earliest opportunity. Contrast this with how Duke Ellington managed his band. Charles Mingus wrote this after being fired; “The charming way he says it, you feel like he’s paying you a compliment. Feeling honored, you shake hands and resign.” IMO Ellington was the better bandleader.

There are a couple of string shops in Edinburgh which tend to have some basses, Stringers on York Place and Gordon Stevenson up in Bruntsfield. But neither keeps a huge stock, so you'd probably want to phone first. It's hard to try out basses in Scotland! What sort of thing are you looking for, and what's your budget? If you're doing mostly rockabilly, a decent old German or Eastern European plywood bass might be a good option, and they do show up used now and again.

Ah, I went to see Bill for a small repair last year and he showed me the plans for a new bass he was starting. One of his would be way out of my range too, but I'll definitely give him a call the next time I need repairs or setup.

I hope you've not made the trip to Glasgow just to visit the Violin Shop. I don't think they open on Sundays.

Were these in Varsity Music? If so, run a mile! Nashville is a label they put on the most basic Chinese instruments they seem to buy a container load of every few years, and the double basses I've seen in there have been awful, genuinely worse than anything else I've seen on the market. They had one in their window with no soundpost for a couple of years, with the top slowly collapsing! If I was looking for a good value bass at the moment, I'd either keep hunting for a used instrument or order something from Thomann or Gedo and keep some cash back to have decent setup work done locally. Alternatively, it might be worth ringing the Violin Shop in Glasgow - it's a while since I've been in, but they've often had some not too expensive used instruments and I think they also carry the Stentor basses which are probably one of the better cheap new basses stocked in the UK.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1465044875' post='3064912'] I do wonder if BareAssFace Inc. from Pennsylvania or Dortmund's BareGesicht GmbH would get the same kind of response on here..... [/quote] I think I've said this on a Barefaced thread before, but I reckon some of the attitude towards Barefaced on this forum is because anyone who has been here for a while remembers Alex posting about his DIY projects before there was a company at all, and people have trouble adjusting to them being a professional outfit now. It's like the old Scots "Kent his faither" putdown. Small companies who had their growing pains elsewhere and arrived on Basschat fully formed don't get nearly the same treatment.

On John Entwhistle and bass tone, does anyone else feel he lost his way a little once he got to the point where he could genuinely have any rig he could think of? I mean, Live at Leeds is fantastic, a real benchmark of rock bass for me, but later on when the Alembics and Buzzards, effects and huge multi-way rigs came in I enjoy his tone far less, though the playing is still great.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1464716573' post='3061796'] Why he need so many cabs? I thought these Barefaced cabs were loud? [/quote] I guess he's running some sort of wet/dry or clean/dirty multiple signal path setup?