Beer of the Bass

Something like a 75-watt Peavey TKO (especially the Black Widow version) can actually be a pretty useful pub gig amp that works alongside most drummers, and from the ones I've used they don't seem less loud than some nominally 300 watt 1x15" combos. It's almost impossible to gauge the amount of useful volume from that number alone.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1448556735' post='2916454'] Not really, just look at what you are comparing. 130W into a single sealed 12 with 200W into a ported 2x12. Now even if the speakers were identical you are comparing chalk and cheese. I'll explain ... But, you are right about the strange powers people seem to think they need. 120dB is going to get you to the volume of a drummer. You don't need to be louder than the drums. 200W through a decently efficient but unexceptional speaker will give you 120dB. [/quote] Indeed, this sums up very well what was going on with these different rigs. But I've spoken with more than a few bassists who would play through that 130 watt combo and conclude that the solution was that they needed more amp power!

Discussion of amp requirements on bass forums always seems strangely unrelated to the world I tend to gig in! I have never owned a rig capable of more than 200 watts, but any time I've lacked volume or headroom it was as much down to the speakers as the amp. Out of the gear I've owned, a combo doing around 130 watts into an undersized sealed 1x12" often ran out of steam, and a 200 watt SS head into a ported 1x10" could also be underwhelming in some contexts (but great for others). I started playing with a 50 watt valve head into a sealed 1x15" and that was often dirtier than I wanted it. But a 100 watt valve head or the 200 watt SS head into a reasonably efficient ported 2x12" seemed enough for pretty much everything I've done. Some of those bands have been with drummers who in my opinion are quite loud, though I've never played in the heavier rock or metal genres. Have I just been extremely lucky with my bandmates?

For anyone doing the alcohol soak or wipe, I much prefer isopropyl alcohol to meths. Maplins sell it in cans. Most meths has additives which are supposed to make it unpalatable, that leaves a residue I detest the smell of. Isopropyl evaporates without leaving any noticeable residue. Any alcohol will absorb water from the environment if it's not stored under controlled conditions and it still evaporates readily even with a few percent water, so I wouldn't worry too much about potential water content. It's probably less than they're exposed to from sweat anyway.

Is that the BP100, the one that with the two discs that are held on to the top of the bridge with clips? What are you plugging it into? These pickups are known for their treble emphasis which will bring out finger noise, though it will be made worse by plugging it into a bass amp with too-low input impedance. It can be improved to some extent by using a dedicated preamp, though even with that a lot of bassist struggle to find a sound they like with the BP100.

I feel a little bad saying this (as he regularly takes a hammering in live reviews), but Finlay Quaye in the late 90's was cringingly bad. He just didn't have enough material ready for a full set and was shamblingly terrible. There are only two gigs that I've walked out of early into the set. One was the re-formed Electric Prunes (60's one hit wonders who I'm not sure had any original members). The other was the Hamsters. They were accomplished enough, I guess, but they just seemed like self-indulgent middle-aged white guy blooze rock dullards living out their adolescent fantasies in a rather tedious fashion. They played a load of Hendrix covers but seemed to miss whatever it was I loved about Hendrix in the first place. I realise they probably have some fans on here, so this is all IMHO of course!

Someone has to say it; if that's the kind of music you're into, you'd be doing yourself a massive favour by getting used to working with notation rather than tabs, or at least using it alongside them.

Yes, I think Zawinul is doubling it with a synth, even live. That's why the bass doubling effect stops when Zawinul has both hands on the Rhodes.

I think that'd be three left and two right, (or at least it was that way round when I last ordered a set of tuners).

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1447622291' post='2909080'] Here's the transcript ... [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34801885"]http://www.bbc.co.uk...gazine-34801885[/url] [/quote] He may have a point about the ubiquity of recorded music as a sort of aural wallpaper, I'm not keen on that either. But I heartily dislike his contention that a song with few notes in the melody must be of low quality. When I was a teenager, I couldn't stand hip-hop and rap, and I tended to make similar judgements. Lately I've heard some of those records again and it occurs to me that they were actually doing something bold and interesting by largely ignoring conventional tonality.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1447619419' post='2909016'] I'd agree that most of the 'consumer' pop is not very enlightening, but then, nor was much popular folk music 'back then', nor 'sing along' stuff such as 'Roll Out The Barrel'. There's music for all ages and tastes; there always has been. No need for a crusade. [/quote] This is a good point. It's not reasonable to compare pop music of today with classical music of other times - a better comparison would be with the songs performed in music halls and pubs, sung in homes at social gatherings or published as cheap song sheets.

They can usually be adjusted that way but they don't all come with low action, especially at the cheaper end of the market. Are there particular models you're looking at?

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1447523436' post='2908343'] Funnily enough you've caught me messing around on WinISD with smaller cabs. A 35l cab looks interesting, roughly 1dB up from 100-200Hz but 3dB down at 40-70Hz. I think if I really wanted to go for a lightweight cab then reducing the size and compromising on deep bass looks interesting, you'd lose about 3kg and the panels would be inherently more rigid. I find that size affects portability just as much as weight. [/quote] Is there an issue fitting in enough port area with that volume? I've noticed when playing around with WinISD that it can be a bit of a juggling act with smaller cabinets.

If you're primarily playing dirty and overdriven tones, the first thing I'd look for is the absence of a tweeter. Beyond that, I'd really want to try them all.

[quote name='petebassist' timestamp='1447174964' post='2905552'] I love the sound of the bass on the theforgottenworks sample tracks - what did you use for 'tangle' in terms of bass, pickup, recording method etc? That's a great tone. [/quote] Cheers! It's my old German/Bohemian flatbacked bass with Spirocore Mittels. We just used the internal stereo mics on a Tascam DR40 for this recording, quite close to the bass at about the height of the end of the fingerboard. (I hope Paul S doesn't mind the digression!)

LaBella do a set which have been around for a long time. I've not tried them myself (as they're reputed to be challenging to bow) but Ron Carter and Buster Williams both use them. From the sound of those two, I'd expect them to be at the bright and growly end of things.

You can lose some acoustic volume and projection if you take it really low so it depends how much of a priority that is to you, but a good player will still pull out a full tone that way even if it's less loud. For certain styles and sounds (NHOP etc.) a low setup does seem to be the convention, and if that's what you're going for it would be silly to battle on with anything else. Adjusters are the way forward, as you can play around until you find the optimum height for your own playing, and go back if you feel you've taken it too far. For myself, I like what would probably count as a medium action, currently 7-10mm with Spiro Mittels, but I have friends who like to jam unamplified and I'm not doing anything that's especially ambitious technically - I'm not much of a soloist. I would certainly take it a bit lower if my bread and butter was amplified jazz gigs where I was required to solo regularly.

The band I play guitar in have just released our debut album, which we had a launch gig for last night. We've been playing for several years but somehow I still feel like a bassist moonlighting on guitar! Bass and mixing on this recording is by LawrenceH, sometime of this parish. Here it is, enjoy! [url="http://newurbanfrontier.bandcamp.com/"]http://newurbanfrontier.bandcamp.com/[/url]

If you want something cheap and simple, these aren't bad. I like mine better than the Revolution Solo II pickup I had. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/J-tone-Big-double-Bass-Pick-up-/200613316399?hash=item2eb57c472f:m:mMv8R28HOczqgXmXPBsADZw"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/J-tone-Big-double-Bass-Pick-up-/200613316399?hash=item2eb57c472f:m:mMv8R28HOczqgXmXPBsADZw[/url]

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1446752230' post='2902132'] Does dying whilst getting flaky and astronomically over-rated since count? Syd Barrett. [/quote] I feel like Barrett deserves a sort of respect for [i]not[/i] staging a comeback in his later years. I mean, he did his thing for as long as it worked and then lived out the rest of his life quietly pottering around Cambridge not seeking any recognition. There's a certain dignity in that IMO.

I don't think my passive, bolt-on five string with Jazz pickups sounds significantly different from a four string Jazz.

It gets stranger and stranger; it seems to be the creation of whoever runs this website. I haven't even listened to any of the songs yet and I'm already thoroughly baffled. [url="http://wooftunes.com/"]http://wooftunes.com/[/url]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1446669428' post='2901404'] I have nothing against them and of course would love a fraction of the success they've had, but there's something about their songs that's missing for me. Too formulaic. They do it well, though. But then I'm probably a bit old to be in their target audience... I think they are lacking an element of good old rock 'n roll 'danger' for want of a better word - they're just too [i]nice[/i]. Where are the drugs, the girls, the trashed cars and hotel rooms, the guns? [/quote] I could understand Dave Grohl being less enamored of those bits of the rock n'roll mythology after Kurt Cobain went the way he did. I mean, once you've seen that lifestyle reach its logical conclusion, what is left? I suspect Grohl is a lot happier with becoming middle-aged than if he hadn't got there!

I've experimented with stick-on piezo pickups on a solid body, and they just don't produce anything musical. I think unless the piezo is right under the saddle, it won't get enough of the string vibration and will pick up all the unwanted mechanical noises more than the actual notes played. I could just about imagine using this in some sort of avant-garde noise context, but not for anything more conventional sounding.

The choice will depend on how large your cab is and what porting (if any) it has. A cheap 10" that I can vouch for as sounding fine is the Faital 10FE200. It's not a heavy-duty driver, but with your modest needs that might be OK. The 4 ohm version is more suited to ported cabs and the 8 ohm version to sealed cabs. But otherwise, it may indeed be better value to find a used 4x10 cab.