Beer of the Bass

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?

I was looking at the Celestion website trying to choose a guitar speaker when I noticed that they have a couple of new bass drivers, the Pulse10, 12 and 15. Since I finished my cab build a while ago, I haven't had more than a cursory glance at the specs and they don't seem to be a huge departure from what's out there already, but it's interesting that they're coming out with new models. Here's the 12: [url="http://celestion.com/product/157/pulse12/"]http://celestion.com/product/157/pulse12/[/url]

If it's been damaged that easily with a water-based cleaner, it might be french polish, which gets cloudy white-ish marks when water damaged.

If it's one of the old models (pre-JCM800), it has two parallel input channels which are voiced differently - one brighter and one bassier, each of which has a high and a low sensitivity input. Many players like to link the two with a patch cable and then blend them with the volume I and II controls. Most models can run 4, 8 or 16 ohms with a selector on the back panel.

I've recently changed out the filter caps on my Dynacord head, but one of them had failed years ago and been sloppily replaced with two marginally rated caps positioned right where the hot air rises from the power valves, with the wiring to them running across lots of the audio wiring. So it felt quite reasonable to sort that and refresh the ones in the bias supply too while I was at it. I had a bit of a learning experience with one particular amp I had several years ago. It came to me with a loud hum - first I changed the main filter caps to no avail, as it turned out to be the one in the bias supply. Then I ended up chasing a crackling noise in the power amp. I had replaced most of the resistors in the power amp and replaced and re-wired the output valve sockets before I figured out that the noise was from one of the power valves, which I had just assumed must be OK as they were new. So, I had a quiet, working amp at the end of it but it occurred to me that I had replaced many more parts than might have been necessary, and someone with a bit more experience would have been more methodical and addressed those specific issues right away.

I wouldn't cut up the combo cab, but if you were to build a head sleeve for the amp chassis and stash the combo cab away somewhere then it seems like a reasonable plan.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1463583685' post='3052555'] Apart from putting the wrong pickup in the wrong position, of course. [/quote] I think it was made for a bridge with much narrower string spacing, and if the right bridge was fitted the strings would align with the pickup just fine. It's kind of an eccentric design, but (with the exception of Fender) what wasn't in the mid 60s?

I'm going to guess that the bridge is not original, as the strings are badly mis-aligned and it looks like a well built instrument otherwise. With that chrome cover it's hard to see if anything has been changed underneath. The tuners look cheap by modern standards, but I'd guess that the choice of hardware available to small builders at the time was nothing like what is available today. I've no idea about the collector value of this sort of thing, but it does seem that Allen was a well known luthier who made instruments for some significant players.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1463573833' post='3052431'] The thing is old caps can work ok but for how long? And people think there serviced amp is going to be good for another 20 odd years which it won't be. The other thing people don't seem to test for is a caps esr rating which is from my understanding a better way of evaluating a cap. [/quote] I guess there's also the question of how much bench time is really justified for an amp of a given value, bearing in mind that anyone who isn't into DIY pays by the hour to have their amps worked on. Perhaps on premium-valued vintage gear it would be worthwhile to test every part, but I've always had the kind of B-list valve amps that would be hard to shift even for a couple of hundred quid (although I note there are some people on a mission to slowly push up the prices). Many of those are good, solid amps, but a few hours of time from an experienced tech would be getting close to the market value of the amp. Taking a pragmatic approach to that sort of lower valued gear, it may make more sense to assess the functionality of the whole unit and deal with any problems as they occur.

Regarding things like replacing electrolytic capacitors on old amps, I found it interesting reading through John Chambers' website. He's an amp tech with decades of experience and the site is a mine of information for anyone interested in these things. I noticed that he does not routinely replace capacitors in old amps unless they have visibly deteriorated or the amp isn't working correctly. This seems quite different to the prevaling wisdom nowadays, but it's evident that he knows his stuff. I do tend to go through any older amp of my own and replace them, but I realise this is like the guys who strip down old Morris Minors in their garage - tinkering as an end in itself.

It might help to go down a gauge, as changing from rounds to flats of the same gauge usually requires at least a truss rod tweak.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1463358696' post='3050767'] If they're similar to the S112, I'd say light [/quote] They're a bit heavier than the S112s as the boxes are about 10% larger and birch rather than poplar. But still nothing like the 30kg Peavey 1x15" I used for a couple of years. I guess using a mixture of lightweight and old-school gear would still be a yes to using lightweight gear, so I've voted accordingly. At the moment there doesn't seem to be a big difference in age distribution between the two groups, which is interesting.

Hmm, how do we decide if we're a yes or a no here? I have a micro head and lightweight 1x10" for the situations where that works, but at least some of my next few gigs will be with a valve head and a couple of ceramic 12"s. I'm not sure which box to tick!

I've now got it reassembled and fully working with the new filter caps and a fresh pair of JJ E34L valves. Here's a gut shot before the valves went in - it's tightly packed in there! After checking the voltages and setting the bias, I had a play with one of my DIY 1x12 cabs. It's a nice sounding little rig, though I haven't had a chance to turn it up yet. I'm pleased at how quiet it is in terms of hiss and hum - I've had modern micro heads with more hiss than this! I definitely need a more bass guitar voiced preamp though, as I like to boost the highs a bit to bring some articulation out of my flatwound strings. The treble controls on this work so high up that I can barely hear a difference when playing with a tweeterless cab. It looks good with these cabs too - I think it will be fun trying it with the pair of them next time I jam...

It's definitely a bit of a niche interest, and then there are further niches within the genre. I mean, I would cheerfully join a band that was influenced by some of the eccentric 70s UK prog bands, but some of the music that gets called prog now sounds almost like a metal sub-genre and I don't really enjoy that stuff.

One thing that occurred to me is that it's harder to drive and park in cities than it would have been 40 years ago - there are more vehicles on the road and parking is heavily regulated. Also, relatively few people have lock-up type spaces to store their gear. If I could always park a van outside the venue and had a ground-floor space that all the bands gear was stored in, I wouldn't think twice about using stuff that was large and heavy if it did a better job. Keeping my gear in my flat and having to contend with city-centre parking, lighter gear makes a lot more sense for most gigs.

[quote name='surdopickups' timestamp='1463050676' post='3048063'] I recommend magnetic pickups whit very low impedance [/quote] Umm, would that be because you make and sell magnetic pickups with very low impedance?

Regarding the red-plating, a good quick check would be to swap the position of the two EL84s. If the same valve still red-plates, it may well be a valve issue. If the red-plating stays with the same socket, it could be a poor connection on the socket or one of the issues Mikey points out.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1462966957' post='3047335'] I can't remember what I paid for them but I guess it couldn't have been much different from my usuals or I wouldn't have felt inclined to try them when I really don't have a *need*. I suspect they'll last a long time at this level of brightness, 'though... If you want to give the ATK a try, just let me know. [/quote] Actually, that could be quite useful - I'll maybe drop you a message. It's hard to figure out strings from reviews alone!

[quote name='fuzzonaut' timestamp='1462976249' post='3047471'] Nice! I have one of those, in a wooden enclosure. It was my first amp with tubes in it. When I had it serviced a few years ago, I got a power amp input installed (at the back). I'd go with this solution, as it also leaves you with the possiblity to use the full amp as well. After using it as a bass amp, I now use it as a "mixer" amp to run (and mix) different stuff (synths, vocals, drone boxes) through the channels. [/quote] I was thinking about only removing the two input channels on the right, fitting a simple (B15n based) valve preamp in their place and sending it's output straight into the power amp. The two channels on the left would still be there, and the three central controls would still work on those. So it would still keep most of the original functionality of the amp, just with fewer input channels. It could also be put back to the original state quite easily, if it doesn't work out. The more I think about it, I reckon this is the route I'll try.

Hmm, I'd been thinking about trying these. My Sadowsky flatwounds are good in an old-school way, but I'll be doing some stuff this summer with a guitarist who likes to be loud, and a bit more brightness might not go amiss. Shame they cost a larger number of pounds than they do dollars!

I've used an Artec "Giovanni" tele bridge pickup which was nice. It's a bit hotter than a standard tele bridge, but not so hot that it loses the tele sound. They're fairly standard vintage style alnico pickups and seem well made. [url="http://www.eyguitarmusic.com/Artec-Custom-PickupVitage-Tele-Pickup1pcs-of-Bridge-pickup_p_1214.html"]http://www.eyguitarmusic.com/Artec-Custom-PickupVitage-Tele-Pickup1pcs-of-Bridge-pickup_p_1214.html[/url]