Beer of the Bass

I've been pondering my gear needs and having a look over this thread. Currently I have a 2x12" cab loaded with a pair of 4-ohm B&C 12HPL64 drivers, wired in series for 8 ohms. This has good sensitivity and gets plenty loud enough for my needs even with moderately powered amps. The lows aren't massive on paper (it's 3dB down at around 75Hz), but in practice they're more than sufficient and I often roll off the bass EQ on the amp. It's a very light cab for its size and capabilities, but I think that most of what I do could be covered with a 1x12", occasionally adding a second one where needed. Portability is very important to me, as I live upstairs in a city centre flat. With that in mind, I've been looking at a few different options for one or two smaller cabs and comparing the specs against my current 2x12". In terms of tone, I don't need or want highs in the tweeter region but I like to hear plenty of upper mid, and I'm not bothered with trying to produce the lowest fundamentals. With that as background, would it be a crazy idea to think about reducing the volume of the cab using the SM212? Playing around with WinISD, reducing the volume to around 35-40 litres gives a midbass bump of just over 1dB (depending on tuning). Having played cabs with larger bumps, I feel that could be workable. Using the same volume but plugging the ports for a sealed design gives the expected smooth roll-off, but the maximum SPL of a pair of them is still very close to my existing 2x12" which has always been enough for me. It wouldn't be too hard to build one and try it both ways. Obviously these would be a compromise compared to the 50 litre design presented here, but it seems this could be an acceptable trade-off for my particular needs.

I think it's a period where the recording equipment and techniques had been well established and refined, but just before certain sounds and production tricks which date badly became fashionable. I'm thinking of overuse of digital reverb on everything, DX7 preset synth sounds, electro-acoustic guitars recorded direct from the piezo, electric guitar and bass overly processed with 80s rack units.

Don't you just love it when sellers post pictures of a valve amp switched on with no speaker cab in sight? That really sets the mind at ease!

I think I may have mentioned this last time Eberhard Weber and ECM came up, but I really like some of the Maja Weber album cover art that was on those albums. I wonder if you can get prints anywhere?

If you're looking for a bit of tape colouration within a mostly digital setup, I've known people who track to digital then bounce tracks to tape almost as an effect. The advantage is that you can get away with a two or four track tape machine (so you can afford a better machine for the price) and still have the flexibility of tracking digitally.

I liked it! I was aware of Barre Phillips as having made an album with Dave Holland, the others I'm not familiar with. It's fair to say that four double basses must be a challenge to work with, as they don't have the range of timbres that a more standard lineup would offer, but I enjoyed this track.

I've tried taking it as low as possible and just don't get on with it. My problem is not fret buzz, but my right hand plucking technique usually involves my finger coming to rest on the adjacent string (like a classical guitar rest stroke) and if the action is too low, I cause the lower string to clack against the frets. Both my basses have narrow string spacing, so that may have something to do with it.

If you're looking for older and weirder gear, some of the old Acoustic heads had a built in fuzz, though they don't pop up that often in the UK. If you can find an old Peavey Century, those do distortion and are very cheap.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1418422921' post='2630234'] Yes I got the Boyoho MY1-251PA. Cost is £109.66 for the amp, £3.94 for the cable set and £12.62 postage form the Netherlands. So £126.22 although this can change as the £/€ exchange rate changes. [url="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Class-dmodule"]http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Class-dmodule[/url] or you can contact them by email to order. They also do a 150/300 module at about £90 and couple of dual channel ones that can be bridged for higher outputs. [/quote] That looks like a good deal, and it's nice and compact. I have the Connex SMPS800RE and the 600 watt IRS2092 power module. While having a conservatively rated power supply could be a good thing, my modules work out a fair bit larger than this integrated module so they're not going to make for as compact an amp. If I hadn't already bought the Connex modules I'd have been considering that one, especially as they're available in Europe and have decent documentation.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1418378067' post='2629642'] Connex Electronic are a small Chinese company that has built a very good reputation for quality and price in HiF circles. They have a few likely cndidates in their range but when I tried to order another item from them before, my order was refusd and my money refunded as I was blamed for a flame war against them started by another Brit. Connex products are distributed in Europe but none of the distributors stock the integrated modules. [/quote] I have a couple of Connex modules for a project that I've been meaning to get on with (not having a gigging band has made it less of a priority). I haven't wired them up yet, but they look well put together. Their response to emails can be slow (apparently this is normal when dealing directly with Chinese companies) and their documentation isn't as good as some manufacturers - for example I still don't know the input sensitivity of the power amp and I'm going to have to work it out for myself by measuring the gain. Their prices are very good though!

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1418380865' post='2629667'] Thanks. BTW: Major D'oh moment. The nut height can't cause buzzing when a note is fretted. See username for explanation. [/quote] If the neck is straight or slightly back-bowed, you can get buzzes from behind the fretted note if the nut is cut low. Though that usually happens higher up the neck rather than at the first few frets, so is probably not what's going on with this bass.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1418038462' post='2626128'] My guess is the soundman was a bass player. Who has that kind of gear lying around for backline? [/quote] It could well be that. In which case, it might have less to do with the backline and more to do with him being perceptive about the sound each band were going for.

There's a smallish festival I've been going to for a number of years; audience of maybe three thousand, fairly large main stage. The music tends to include folk-based things, some world music outfits and a fair bit of reggae but very little rock. Because it's a remote site down a long access road, most bassists use the rented gear on stage. They hire in a decent system and sound guys each year but the quality of the bass sound has been variable to say the least. Many years it's been the sort of indistinct mush complained about in this thread. One year the bass sounded better than usual, not overwhelming in the lows, plenty of mids and nice definition. As it happens, the supplied backline that year was an SVT and 8x10" with a mic in front of it. I have no idea whether that was the root of the better bass sound or just a indicator that they had a different and more sympathetic sound team than in other years! I'm prepared to accept that mic-ing cabs isn't always the solution, but I wonder if it tends to correlate with better sound simply because it's a sign that the sound guy is paying some attention to the band.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1417870071' post='2624703'] I was always taught that if you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all, of course I took no notice and that's why I am disliked by anyone on here with a Ricky bass [/quote] Hmm, I wasn't going to mention the Ric! I like 'em myself and wouldn't say no to one, but they are a prime example of a premium priced luxury brand where prices are set according to demand and perceived prestige rather than by cost.

Which cab are you talking about? Any of the neodymium Eminences cost more than £75. Crossovers, tweeters, midrange drivers, boxes and hardware all contribute to the cost too, then there's wages, overheads, shipping and taxes. I'm not convinced anyone is getting rich selling bass cabs, and they're probably not one of the more profitable lines for the big companies either. If you'd like to tell us which is the "correct" gear to buy, I'm sure we'll be all ears...

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1417732670' post='2623657'] Perhaps it has one of the legendary Selmer refins. [/quote] Apparently the faux-burst over a solid undercoat was an occasional late 60s Fender thing. It seems like a strange idea, but it must have made sense to somebody in the factory at the time.

Aside from the weirdly placed Jazz pickup, is it one of those funny fake sunbursts with painted-on grain over a solid white undercoat? Fender did some odd things!

[quote name='monsterthompson' timestamp='1417722846' post='2623526'] (from the BF site) - so how do you mic this beast? [/quote] There's a thread about this style of crossover running on Talkbass at the moment. One speaker is running full-range, while the other is lowpassed and only carries the lows and low mids. So I think it would just be a case of micing the full-range one of the pair.

I've had one of the other patterns of the Dangleberry material and it was a print, albeit a decent quality print under a clear layer so it's not going to wear off like some printed pickguards. Apparently EY music in Hong Kong have brown celluloid tort, but it's a thin layer under a clear surface and their red tort is printed (I read this on another forum, so I can't confirm this).

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1417467020' post='2620715'] What an awesome band!!! I owned a CD of them from years ago, and somehow I forgot about them Three more CDs were purchased on Amazon in the past 24 hours. And I only realised now they were playing in Edinburgh just a week ago! [/quote] Aww, that passed me by too, otherwise I'd have thought about going. They're better experienced in a field than under a roof though! I remember having a couple of their albums in the 90s when I was a teenager. The CDs came with a leaflet inside which listed the other ones you could order from them. When you called the number it was apparently just the phone in their communal farmhouse, answered by whoever was around in whatever state of refreshment they were in at the time!

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1417205506' post='2618275'] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/247362-1969-precisionnot/"]http://basschat.co.u...9-precisionnot/[/url] [/quote] Yes, that's the bass alright, but with different pictures and sold from a different account.

Isn't this the same bass there was a thread about a couple of weeks ago, just with a new description? Edit; Here it is the first time round. Disgruntled buyer trying to pass on a lemon, or the same seller under a different account? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1969-USA-FENDER-PRECISION-BASS-COMPLETE-WITH-HARD-CASE-/111485049623?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D24932%26meid%3D5c7cecd71af0486e84003c249bd5d048%26pid%3D100009%26prg%3D10513%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D281469825444&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=m8BC2WIi1c%252FoY9WpklZzLKOW7Eg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1969-USA-FENDER-PRECISION-BASS-COMPLETE-WITH-HARD-CASE-/111485049623?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D24932%26meid%3D5c7cecd71af0486e84003c249bd5d048%26pid%3D100009%26prg%3D10513%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D281469825444&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=m8BC2WIi1c%252FoY9WpklZzLKOW7Eg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc[/url]

Can I suggest not using the very cheapest generic brand routers for this purpose? I had one and it worked, but the plunge mechanism, depth stop and guides weren't made to very close tolerances and everything had a little play in it. It'd be fine for general joinery, but less than ideal for the clean, accurate routs needed for luthiery.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1417013604' post='2616091'] # No, of course you don't. Thats why records don't have any artwork on them and why nobody has ever made a music video. Every single major musical movement of the last 60-odd years has had an image. Music intersects with art, fashion, photography and becomes part of something wider, it does not and it will not exist in isolation. The people who think "image isn't important" when it comes to making music are quite frankly kidding themselves on. [/quote] Agreed. Wearing ordinary, functional clothing and playing under plain lighting is as much of a calculated visual statement as wearing sequins and bringing a massive lighting rig.

The whizzer cone idea can be an effective one for double bass. I have an EA Wizzy 10 which uses one and it does seem to make the orientation of the cab a little less critical, rather than only sounding right when it's pointed straight at you. It's a shame that their neo magnet 10" is an OEM unit and not available elsewhere, as I can imagine it might be useful.