Beer of the Bass

Nice bass! How are you getting on with the wider spacing compared to the Musicman? My only 5-string has the narrower MM style spacing and when I've tried Fenders they feel a bit weird at first.

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1414858969' post='2594046'] At 99p a bargain for the strings and the tuners alone (if real double bass strings). [/quote] The strings are pink too, so I'm guessing it's a set of these; [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SLAP-HAPPY-WEEDWACKER-Nylon-Upright-Double-BASS-STRINGS-/111267838991"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SLAP-HAPPY-WEEDWACKER-Nylon-Upright-Double-BASS-STRINGS-/111267838991[/url]

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' timestamp='1414763661' post='2593076'] I'm a little late to the party, but a speaker swap would be the obvious thing, depending on finances something like a Jensen P10R or P10Q. I used to use a couple of home built amps around 10-20W depending on valves fitted, and found that a Jensen P10R really dropped the volume compared the the Celestion G10-35L I'd previously used, which was not a particularly efficient speaker. The Jensen alnico should also be in keeping with the overall character and tone of the amp. [/quote] I haven't tried one, but I'd be a little concerned about the dip in the mids around 400Hz that the P10R has on the spec sheet. I tend to run the bass and treble controls on the amp fairly low to mitigate the mid scoopiness of the amp as it is, so while the Jensen is a classic of its sort I wonder if it might not be the right thing for me. I think I'll look at trying a master volume first, as it's a DIY amp anyway and it could be as cheap and simple as an extra pot and coupling cap. If I don't like that, it'll be time to look at an attenuator or alternative speaker. I played at a private party last night in a fairly large bare concrete ex-car park with vocal PA only and a dancing audience and the amp was running squeaky clean turned up to 10 o'clock! I'm not looking for a dirty sound really, just that slight squashiness and sparkle you get with a blackface style amp turned up around halfway.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1414787133' post='2593412'] Been thinking of giving them a try however im slightly worried they will be too dull sounding. [/quote] I had a set of D'Addario tapes on for a while and I'd say they're brighter than many flatwounds. Apologies for the shameless plug, but the three tracks here were recorded with them. [url="http://jenthegents.bandcamp.com/album/right-now-ep"]http://jenthegents.b...um/right-now-ep[/url] Graham Maby with Joe Jackson managed to be pretty bright sounding with tapes too, though in a fairly earthy, clanky sounding way.

The "better" sustain thing could be a double edged sword IMO, as the quicker decay that usually goes along with with shorter sustain could also be perceived as punchy and characterful. If you can hear a difference and you like it that's great, but for some it will be moving away from the qualities they enjoyed about a Fender style bass in the first place. Though I have known a couple of players with aggressive right-hand technique who actually move the saddles around on a BBOT bridge, and for those players switching to something like a Badass or Hipshot would be a wise choice.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1414770167' post='2593175'] Yes, I didn't mean that it was not hard wood (as opposed to a softer wood) but either way it's softer than a BBOT or a Badass. Is there a more rigid and more high mass bridge for double bass? A sort of 'double badass'. [/quote] There were cast aluminium adjustable bridges from Selmer and Framus, but they appear to have been a fairly short lived fad so I've no idea what they sounded like. My bass still bears the scars from one - they sat on three metal cups which leave big round marks on the top!

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1414763943' post='2593081'] Perhaps there's a reason double basses have soft wooden bridges ... so that the movement, the energy, of the string is more easily transferred to the body and so to the large sound box. My guess is that a more rigid bridge on a double bass would lead to the string ringing longer but the volume would be reduced because there would be less transfer of energy to the body/sound box. YMMV. [/quote] Double bass bridges are quarter sawn maple and not particularly soft as woods go but the mass appears to be critical, as evidenced by the clip-on mutes orchestral players use for some passages - a fairly small amount of weight attached to the bridge can change the sound noticeably. I suspect maple was the best compromise available for balancing rigidity against weight while being hard enough and reasonably stable. However, a double bass bridge is coupling the strings to a thin and somewhat flexible soundboard on the front of a resonant chamber so may not be particularly analogous to a bass guitar bridge which anchors the strings to a solid slab of wood.

Nylon tapes tend to be low tension and big gauges, so they could be worth a try.

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1414665364' post='2591932'] I read that & I really don't have a clue what that means ? [/quote] You're not alone; see LawrenceH's post on the last page! I think Barefaced haven't described it sufficiently clearly for anyone to know what's going on with the porting, even people who know their stuff regarding cab design.

I'm not sure doing that would get you anything useful. The 4 ohm 2x12" would receive much more power than the 16 ohm 2x10" and is probably more efficient than the 2x10" too, so you might not hear the 2x10" much at all even if your amp can handle it.

What you're describing sounds like the Aphex Exciter or BBE Sonic Maximizer. There are pedal versions of each; I haven't tried them but both are designed to generate extra upper harmonics to liven up your signal.

Though there's good stuff all round, Leonard Smalls' piece was the one that did it for me. Hmm, maybe I should have a go at this composition challenge lark next month, depending on what the picture is!

Had you been playing through it when it started smoking or was it literally straight after switching the amp on? If the latter, it sounds like your amp may be putting out a DC voltage and I'd second the suggestion to get that checked out.

There are not many valve bass combos around nowadays. I think this is because open backed cabinets are are the easiest to design a valve combo around but they don't work so well for bass. As far as modern low powered valve heads go Ashdown have a few, otherwise it's a case of looking for an older amp.

[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1414288005' post='2587953'] Precisely. Even the nagnets aging takes decades. You'd need a time machine to chevk on the sound difference, and then it wouldn't be great. [/quote] It's not hard to degauss alnico magnets through other means than waiting a few decades though, so the difference is actually well understood and easily recreated. There are quite a few pickup makers out there who have measured the strength of the magnets from vintage pickups and charged the magnets in their new pickups to the same level. Personally I think that ageing is a bit of a red herring when it comes to electric guitars and basses. So many of our benchmark recordings of what are now considered vintage instruments were made when the instruments were no more than 10 or 15 years old.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1414233884' post='2587301'] Today I noticed a Laney 300w 1x15 combo second hand in town for £120. It was heavier than I expected. The front grill was made of some tough seeming material, not just a cloth grill. It looked very much like this: [url="http://www.musicworks.co.nz/bass-combos/rb8-laney-richter-300w-1x15-bass-combo/"]http://www.musicwork...x15-bass-combo/[/url] But, the Laney logo on the front had something else written on it, e.g. "mad <something or other>". Does anyone know what model of amp it's likely that I've seen. It looked very much like the RB8, but I'm wondering if it's an earlier model. From looking around, it seems that there were some other models around before the series was named "RB", but I can't find a 1x15" model. Any help/advice/opinions would be appreciated. I think I'm likely to wait longer to buy something, but while this amp is available at what seems a reasonable price, I do want to check it out. [/quote] Is it one of the "Hardcore Max" models? The rehearsal studio I used to use had one of these and I wasn't keen on it. It seemed to have no real lows or highs and needed heavy EQ just to get a sound I could live with. As affordable 1x15" combos go, a Peavey TNT or Ashdown Mag 1x15" would be better IMO.

[quote name='Stroopy121' timestamp='1414217386' post='2587134'] What about strings? Are gut strings considered to be massively better than the alternatives? What ARE the alternatives? Flatwound nickel? Synthetic stuff? xx [/quote] Strings should be no problem; gut strings are a bit of a niche interest and the majority of players are happy with steel or synthetic core strings.

Playing double bass while vegan can be a tricky one, as quality instruments are usually built using hide glue. Many varnishes use shellac too, which is derived from insects. Cheaper instruments are less likely to use either of these, but getting clear information on what they do use could be difficult. Also be aware that even cheap bows often use leather grips and mother-of-pearl inlays on the frog. It's a bit of a minefield!

There was the time at a small hippy festival near Dumfries when a naked guy ambled across the front of the stage, poured beer into one of the monitors then threw a child's bicycle on stage. I was the only member of the band who noticed, the others were too engrossed in the music! We saw him being led away with a blanket around him after the set, and he was ranting about a conspiracy involving cows...

I liked Hole at the time (I was a teenager in the mid-late 90s so it fitted well with the teenage angsty thing), so I'm prepared to cut her a bit of slack. It seems like the guitar is used more like a visual prop or cuing aid, and is probably not meant to be heard in the FOH mix. That's why there are two more guitarists in the band - Love will be well aware of this! When was Grunge ever about polished performances anyway?

[quote name='Zenitram' timestamp='1414012913' post='2584938'] I just discovered the Waldorf[size=5] [b]Streichfett[/b][/size]! Fans of German will know that means [i]spreadable fat[/i], or as one wag put it, it makes you sound like Margarine Dream. [/quote] It's an interesting one, that. The patch at the beginning sounds just like the Korg Delta I borrowed from a friend a decade ago, which he has yet to ask for the return of!

I've gone ahead and ordered the bare PCB and microcontrollers for the Shruthi. I'm going to source parts myself and use the ladder filter board from these guys; [url="http://www.tubeohm.com/TubeOhm/Shruthi-Filter.html"]http://www.tubeohm.com/TubeOhm/Shruthi-Filter.html[/url] Listening to the demos, the ladder filter just does the thing I like better than any other filter design, and I like the way the Filter FM settings resemble some of Tim Blake's droney noises on the old Gong records! Parts will be ordered as and when I have the money spare and I have a couple of other projects on the go, so it may be a few weeks before I have any further progress to report...

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1414077655' post='2585606'] OK, so it means 'Without Amp'. Brushing aside the fact that a preamp is, at the very least symantically speaking, an amp, what's the rationale behind the name? Is it aimed towards the studio market, saying that it's just as good as a mic'ed up amp? [/quote] The original Sansamp was intended for recording guitars direct in the studio, so that's exactly what they were going for with the name.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1414067996' post='2585426'] Maybe that's why Tech21 have never made it into a full bass head - the sheer paradoxity would make it explode! [/quote] They do make guitar combos, but they leave the Sansamp name off.

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1413996977' post='2584658'] Dingwall think the same, the frets are [i]tiny[/i] on the Lee Sklar signature. It puts me off, to be honest. Whether true or not, it just makes me think that a refret will be needed sooner rather than later after a few dresses. [/quote] I think that's a Lee Sklar thing rather than a Dingwall thing. Didn't he have mandolin fretwire fitted on his old mongrel bass? I find I quite like small frets, though more vintage Fender size than mandolin size. As a flatwound player I'm not worried about wear.