Beer of the Bass

It's a question of how you use the scientific/engineering approach, isn't it? Ideally, ears and musicality decide what the goal is, the science helps you figure out how to get there. Those old JBLs have particular properties which a lot of musicians find pleasing, that much is undeniable. But if I wanted an explanation of what makes them sound that way and how else I might get that sound, I'd want to hear from someone with a bit of engineering background in the field.

None of the clips which are deliberate examples of playing behind the beat sound very good IMO, yet I love things like the Meters track posted above which are said to be behind the beat. Could this be because the ones set up as examples are moving the whole pattern behind the beat by the same amount, rather than playing with the position of individual notes?

Thanks for the link to Atlansia's facebook page. I love the drawings and slightly cryptic descriptions of what he's up to!

I'm quite partial to Charlie Hunter who does the extended range guitar/bass thing, though I guess he's sort of unique even among the ERB guys.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1430751737' post='2764260'] I will probably my regret asking this but by why would anyone want a valve front end these days? If there is any magic in valves it comes from the output transformer and owner supply not the preamp. [/quote] Even if a valve preamp won't sound the same as a full valve setup, many of them still sound very good. And a valve preamp isn't really all that impractical; they're not especially bulky, don't kick out a lot of heat and don't need re-valving frequently compared to a valve power amp. So really, why not?

Yes, it would make sense if the instrument was put together to test the concept. It looks like they've put all the effort into the neck and then just bunged a quick body together to see if it would work. Still, the listing is upfront about it and hasn't priced it ambitously, so that's fair enough. I'd certainly give this one a go before the 15-string monstrosity on that other thread!

The finish on the body is 'orrible! It seems odd when the maker can clearly turn out really nice looking instruments.

I might have the innards of a Maxon single coil without the cover in one of my boxes of bits - I'll have a look tomorrow. It's from the version in the larger EB3 cover, but the coil and magnets are the same and you might be able to bodge it into the cover you've got.

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1430513509' post='2762296'] I mean Holt , who goes there ? [/quote] Otters?

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1430581140' post='2762841'] On the beat (the standard approach), before the beat (aggressive/pushy), behind the beat (laid back groovy). Believe it or don't but those are [i]all [/i]valid ways of playing. [/quote] I've always found this intuitive way of thinking about it much easier to get my head around. If I think too hard about playing ahead or behind then I'll just play out of time, but visualising it as a spectrum going from pushy/eager/urgent at one end to that laid back greasy feel at the other end seems to amount to the same thing.

I wonder how they were running a pair of KT88 to get a 40 watt rated amp out of them. Most instrument amps seem focussed on wringing all the available output out of the valves, so was this more of a conservative, hi-fi sort of design? This could be interesting...

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1430520639' post='2762368'] I tend to agree... I've just strung my P with La Bella 760FS and I love 'em. Perhaps I'm mad, but they don't seem particularly 'high tension' to me... not compared with Fender 9050ML for example. I seem to be able to bend them with ease when necessary... I did tighten up the truss rod slightly, but that was largely to lower the action as I find it possible to get the action lower with flats than with the rounds I had fitted previously. Conversely the flats I found most alarming tension-wise were Chromes, which seemed like solid steel bars and pulled the neck into relief... obviously my experience doesn't correlate with those here! [/quote] Yes, I found Chromes to be on the stiff side too. I've got Sadowsky flats at the moment which are much softer feeling than Chromes in the same gauge, though I haven't had a set of standard LaBellas to compare to.

The aesthetics are nice, it reminds me of the old Linear Concord and L45 amps. So it's basically a B15n preamp with a cathode follower to buffer the output? I'm sure that'll sound good.

I've seen this company who advertise on eBay and are happy to do cutting to order too: [url="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/farmwoodproducts?_trksid=p2047675.l2563"]http://stores.ebay.co.uk/farmwoodproducts?_trksid=p2047675.l2563[/url] I haven't used them, but there seem to be relatively few timber merchants who do online sales. Otherwise it's a case of finding a decent local supplier - I'm sure there must be one or two round your way.

I'd say Jack Bruce too. As big an impact as Jaco had, it's going to be hard not to fall into "troubled genius" cliché when writing an essay about him. Bruce seems like an interesting character, especially since he was making music like this on the side while he was in Cream; [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCDNdLx9LnM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCDNdLx9LnM[/url]

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1430149722' post='2758396'] I was expecting to see a thread about gear made of clear perspex. [/quote] We had that thread a few weeks ago. Whatever happened to that chap?

I've just remembered, Talkbass regular Francis Deck documented his design for a small bass cab using the Deltalite a few years ago. It was a small box design, tuned low to get the same gentle bass roll-off associated with sealed designs, and he has dimensioned drawings so it wouldn't be difficult to recreate. I haven't tried this design myself, but it might not be a bad starting point if you don't want to get more deeply into design stuff. [url="http://personalpages.tds.net/~fdeck/bass/#projects"]http://personalpages.../bass/#projects[/url] Edit; It's the same link Subsonic Simpleton just posted!

I've read that the EBP value is a rough indicator of suitability for a sealed cab (if it's not quoted in the datasheet, it's Fs divided by Qes). For sealed cabs you want an EBP value of not more than 100, ideally less. That rules out the 3012HO, though the Deltalite or Basslite might be OK depending on cab size. You'd only add around an extra kilo of weight by going for a ceramic driver like the Beta, which might not be enough to be a deal-breaker in a 1x12".

That's some impeccably neat wiring - I wish my DIY jobs looked like that inside! The price does seem high though, I don't know what the collector market is like on these but the fact that nobody has bought it yet might be indicative.

I like the bevelled edge around the grille. That'll look great with the tolex on - very Matamp-esque.

It looks like the Betas should work in that volume (I guess it's around 45l per driver, depending on how far the baffle is recessed and how thick the wood is). It won't be a low-end monster, but I've had cabs with a similar shaped low-end response and been perfectly happy with them. I don't know how good the cab construction is - you may find you need to add a brace or two to make a decent bass cab. I've been looking at the specs of a few inexpensive 12" drivers, as I've been thinking about making a couple of 1x12" cabs later in the year. There are a couple of other drivers which have comparable specs, like the Celestion BL12-200x or the Fane Sovereign 12-200, so those might be worth a look too. Both of those should be a little less upper-mid forward than the Betas going by the frequency response graphs - it depends what you're after really. You could also add tubular ports to the back of the cab but make plugs for them, as it might be interesting to try it both ways. With that cab I'd be inclined to buy the version with the Celestion Vintage 30s in it for £156, as you should have no problem moving on a pair of unused Vintage 30s on for more than the difference between the two cabs.

There have been a few BC threads on the bass version, and it seems the consensus seems to be that the latency is a little too much for it to be useful to most players. But I'm wondering whether the guitar version might be worth a try. There are a couple of songs in the band I play guitar with where I'd like to drop in some sounds which I can't make with a guitar alone. It occurs to me that using the MIDI synth module I already have (a Mutable Instruments Shruthi) could really open up some interesting avenues. I could use a small MIDI keyboard, but the idea of stomping on an A/B switch and triggering it from the guitar is kind of appealing. Since the Shruthi is a mono synth, the monophonic nature of the Sonuus might not be a limitation. I'm thinking of ambient/spacey noises, or slow filter-swept pad type sounds rather than trying to play riffs or basslines, so perhaps the latency would be less of an issue than it is for people trying to play funk bass with it. Has anyone on here tried the G2M, and do you reckon I could use it for this without too much frustration?

It looks like one of these: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Double-bass-pick-up-/190451348663?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c57c8f4b7"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Double-bass-pick-up-/190451348663?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c57c8f4b7[/url]

The big bridges do look a bit weird. I'd be inclined to stick one of these on the five string version: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-Guitar-Bridge-5-String-Chrome-With-Mounting-Pegs-Screws-allen-key-/281265741124?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item417cbe9d44"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-Guitar-Bridge-5-String-Chrome-With-Mounting-Pegs-Screws-allen-key-/281265741124?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item417cbe9d44[/url]

I built a little valve overdrive/preamp box a while ago which was loosely based on the Real McTube design. I added a simple tone control in between the two stages (of the kind used in some 50s Fender amps) and changed some component values to make it more amp-y sounding than the stock circuit. Any more complex passive tone stack would be more lossy and you might not have enough signal to overdrive the second triode. Sweepable mids would need an active tone stack and increase the parts count greatly, to the point where you'd essentially be designing something from the ground up. I'm quite happy with mine, it doesn't get into high gain distortion but is excellent for a bit of grit and it works well as a slightly dirty boost too. My one reservation is that it's quite picky about what the output is plugged into - it's fine into any high impedance input like you would use with a passive bass, but it doesn't work well if it's plugged into a lower impedance input. In my usual setup it's not an issue, but I thought I'd mention it. There are some photos and my modified schematic in this thread: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/182457-valve-preamp-overdrive-pedal/page__view__findpost__p__1744666"]http://basschat.co.u...ost__p__1744666[/url]