Beer of the Bass

I have a question about tube ports and their lengths. Am I right in assuming that standard downpipe means the 68mm stuff? I've noticed that winISD and a couple of online calculators come up with quite different lengths than the ones used in the prototype cab, quoted below. The exact figure varies depending on the end correction selected (I used "one end flanged"), but WinISD is suggesting a length of 298mm for a 50Hz tuning in 50l, rather than 190mm. That's with four 68mm diameter ports. I'm trying to figure out if I've missed something in the process. [quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1436343308' post='2817185'] If anyone wants to start a build before I've had time to write this up and get drawings done it shouldn't be too difficult. The external dimensions are 360x424x530mm the baffle front is set back 30mm from the front of the cab so internally the depth is 306mm. The four ports are made of standard guttering downpipe 190mm for a 50Hz tuning, and 260mm for a 40hz tuning. [/quote]

It's surprisingly OK, as stuff in a tin goes. I've taken it camping many times.

It's interesting that they chose EL34s. I realise the sound is as much down to the circuit design as the choice of valves, but I always thought of those as a British thing and they seem to crop up in more guitar amps than bass amps. It looks good though, if I had anything like that sort of budget I would be wanting to check one out.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1448643211' post='2917132'] Given that they're making some new episodes of The League of Gentlemen, perhaps they might buy it as a prop. [/quote] Creme Brulee's new direction?

I must admit, I got my double bass from a shop that had it on commission sale. They invited me to make an offer, and I did so by knocking the "1" off the front of the price it was tagged with. I was quite surprised that this was accepted without further haggling. This may have been an unusual case, as the bass was being sold by the executors of someone recently deceased rather than by a player.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1448641662' post='2917114'] Many shops will want 15% commission of the sale price - you might want to ask what they are going to do for that 15% other than add a pic/brief review on their website and look after it for you so that Tom, Dick and Harry can have a go without any commitment to buy... [/quote] Given that eBay's final value fee is usually 10% and any risk is skewed heavily towards the seller, that might not look so bad by comparison.

That's something I've often wondered about in the interminable valve vs SS discussions that musicians often enjoy. While I understand that with the right voicing, compression and perhaps a touch of soft clipping, a well designed 100 watt solid state amp [i]could[/i] perform in the way we'd expect a 100 watt valve amp to perform, I'm not certain how often this is actually achieved in practice, especially at the more modest end of the market.

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1448582169' post='2916699'] I suspect Messrs Stagg, Encore and Vintage and all the other regular entry level people are actually doing just fine!! [/quote] I gigged with a £99 Axl guitar for a couple of years and it was fine - I only changed because I fancied something different, not due to any need to upgrade. A lot of cheap instruments are surprisingly good now, so I wouldn't look down my nose at something on the basis of price alone. Vintage in particular look like they've actually had a musician somewhere near the design process, which may be what cheap instruments often lacked in the past. I think it's the lack of joined-up thinking in the design of this one that people are despairing about.

I think the only times I've seen people use hard cases are when flying or in major orchestras where the transport is laid on.

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1448569059' post='2916583'] Not sure that bridge pickup is going to be up to much. If it is like a real sidewinder/mudbucker then the inductance of the pickup will cream off a lot of highs. By being so close to the bridge it will have no real low-end either, so it will sound like muffled nothing. They could have stuck a MM pickup in there or something. [/quote] The pole spacing is much narrower than the string spacing too, so there's a strong chance the E and G strings will be lacking output compared with the A and D. An old bandmate had one of the low end Stagg electric guitars, sort of a bolt-on neck Les Paul shaped thing. It wasn't up to much, to be quite honest. Even with a decent setup and new bone nut it had the worst tuning stability I've come across, not much sustain and muddy sounding pickups.

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.