Beer of the Bass

I spent a couple of hours jamming on a friends bass last year which had the Innovation slap strings on, though I'm not sure which set. The E and A were definitely on the thumpy and indistinct side - I could see it working in bluegrass or rockabilly, but maybe not the best thing for a defined pizz sound. They were easy to get around and would probably slap well if you were into that, but otherwise any of the strings Jay suggested would definitely help get the sound a bit clearer. I quite liked Innovation Honeys though, they're still a synthetic cored string but much less thumpy than the slap strings.

I think the Orange Terror bass also used something different from the B&O modules. I don't know if it was something proprietary or an unbranded OEM module that they bought in.

It's hard to make out from the photos, but is that a crack I can see on the E-string side, just next to the inner edge of the f-hole? If that's un-repaired and open, it would knock quite a bit off the value as it runs along the edge of the bass bar - making that stable is an expensive repair. So it becomes kind of hard to say without having it looked over in person by someone with some experience.

I feel like that's on the low side, unless the bass has any issues that might detract from the value. Does the label say Czechoslovakia? That would put it firmly after 1918, so that estimate of 30s or so is probably pretty close.

It seems like standard practice for online musical equipment retailers to cover the cost of return carriage only where the item has a fault or has been mis-sold. I haven't checked the policy of each and every retailer, but Andertons work this way, as do Thomann. I don't think Barefaced are asking for anything unusual in this.

Regarding the earliest amps being made with germanium transistors, I think the Burns Orbit was though I don't know about the others. The inconsistency of germanium transistors must have been a real issue with those - I've played around with them in fuzz boxes and you have to test the gain and leakage of each individual transistor as they're all different! As a slight aside I was reading about Walter Woods amps yesterday, which would appear to be the first use of class-D and SMPS in musical instrument amps. I find it interesting that those are still revered for their sound today even though the technology was in its infancy at the time.

I've had the 16mm Alpha pots go crackly in a guitar, though I do volume swells in one of my band's tunes, so it gets cranked up and down a lot. The full-sized Alphas have been fine for me in both instruments and my amp.

They were on the Bass Players Market group on facebook. I don't know who the poster was though.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1461571771' post='3035653'] Most switch mode power supplies don't use transformers at all. [/quote] I was under the impression that a typical SMPS does use a transformer for isolation purposes, but that they can be very much smaller due to the high frequency they operate at.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1461018928' post='3030789'] There's a venue in my city that declares proudly, on it's website, that all the entry money goes to the band. [/quote] Ah, I know which venue you're talking about. It's not my favourite place. It also feels a bit unhealthy that it's almost the only venue of that size for that style in this town, so that I sometimes wonder if they have rather too much influence on what goes and what doesn't go on the local scene.

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1461416353' post='3034463'] Is it just me, or does that wear look fake? Be careful, there are lots of "old" basses coming out of eastern Europe. The extra 100 years of "age" puts at least £2,000 on the price. If it really is that old, an it's survived in that condition, there's a good chance it's a pretty nice instrument, but as I said, be careful. [/quote] That feels unlikely in this case - these fairly plain Czech/German flatbacks don't really attract a premium beyond what a new European made instrument of similar quality would cost, so it wouldn't seem an obvious thing to fake.

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1461421161' post='3034501'] Not strictly accurate to talk of car stuff not being able to be used because it's only designed to run on 12v. With the exception of hardwired valve amps (which can have internal supply rails running at 500v dc - that's why you don't poke around inside them), solid state circuitry runs at very small voltages. The mains current is stepped right down. PCBs wouldn't tolerate mains voltages. [/quote] Higher powered solid state amps (whether class AB or class D) typically use power supply rails at +/- 50 to +/- 80 volts DC. So not as high as would be found in a valve amp, but not tiny either.

I would be surprised if anyone was using "car radio" modules in bass amps - can you show me an example of a maker who does? In-car audio stuff is built around the restrictions of running from a 12 volt battery supply. It would make little sense to use the same modules in AC powered equipment.

It looks very similar to my own bass, but in much cleaner condition. Certainly the outline, scroll and tuners are identical to mine. As far as I can gather, identifying these basses is somewhat imprecise - I'm told they came from towns around the German/Czech border region (which changed nationality at least once) and looked much like this from the late 19th century to the first couple of decades of the 20th. Is yours all solid wood? There were some 20th century examples with laminated backs and sides, though others are solid. It should be a nice instrument - these are towards the lower valued end of old European basses but if healthy and well set up they can sound very good, especially as jazz basses. I had a new ebony fingerboard put on mine, which seemed to help.

I like the tune after the first cut, the one with the sort of wonky reggae feel.

I guess a 4x10" was inevitable after the other 10" cabs. Interesting that they're offering it in a 2 ohm version - they must be going for the SVT users as I can't think of any other reason to do that.

The Thomann bag does look good - I've got a pleather gig bag for my guitar and I much prefer it to the cloth ones. If it ends up leant in a manky corner of some of the less salubrious venues it can be wiped clean!

If double bass is what you want, I'd recommend starting on one rather than an EUB. I played one for several years before buying a double bass, and in retrospect I don't think it was the right way to go. You can learn your way around the neck on EUB, but it's hard to really develop your tone production and I felt like there was still a big learning curve for me after I got a double bass. EUBs can be cool, but IMO they sound better after you've got your sound together on acoustic.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1460496260' post='3026347'] Wheels are turning rather slowly regarding my double bass strings with a defective G. I contacted them and got a response the following day saying that they would pass details to their "expert", then nothing else that day. I'm hoping I'll hear from them tomorrow, and that they don't quibble over it. [/quote] I thought I should report back; I've now got a replacement string, and although the defective one has been returned they had already dispatched a replacement rather than waiting to inspect the returned string. I guess it took a couple of days to get in touch with the manufacturer and get the string from them (since Thomann don't stock single strings, only sets), but otherwise the process wasn't too hassley. So it turns out they did quite well on this occasion.

It reminds me of one of those rocket shaped lollies.

This sort of runs in parallel with the "Do you always use drive/grind" thread that's going on in General discussion at the moment. Those bass sounds which don't sound dirty in context but would actually have quite a bit of distortion going on (if you were to measure it) are just the kind of thing that a good valve amp does well. I suspect that on the Ampeg you can merrily sail in and out of power amp clipping before you really notice that it's distorted. I had a 100 watt valve amp with a fairly efficient 2x12" for a while, and found it was always plenty for my needs, and I never really got it to the point of sounding grindy though it would squash and compress in a pleasing way at louder gigs.

It seems illogical, but a 3/4 size bass is the standard instrument for most purposes. Unless you're very small in stature with small hands, I'd go with a 3/4.

You can make the bass a lot quieter with a practice mute on the bridge and something to cover the f-holes. If you have wooden floors, a bit of stiff foam under the endpin helps too. It might be worth trying that out before you go for the EUB, unless you particularly fancy one.

I always liked the bassline on the Fraggle Rock theme - a nice old-school slap sound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLQS6xo40kI

I have an aversion to blue LEDs - they make me think of the trim on boy racer cars or the decor of a particular sort of cheesy nightclub. It's a shame, as there are some nice bits of kit blighted by them, like the Genz Streamliner. I suppose I am at least a little picky, as when I did my DIY cabs, I spent ages choosing the right sparkly grillcloth and piping and made sure that everything behind the grille was black, no pesky silver screws peeping out!