nilebodgers

1 hour ago, Downunderwonder said:

Typical for a flatter than a flat thing but not typical.

https://fendercustomersupport.microsoftcrmportals.com/en-us/knowledgebase/article/KA-02007

48 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

My custom shop jazz had that and nothing I did would get the action lower than 2.5mm unfretted at the 12th fret, I play with 1.5, I sold it on to someone who was happy with a higher action 

That’s very interesting. I thought I was going nuts when I was chasing the problem. I did a full level, crown and polish with the neck dead straight and the fretwork was spot-on, but as soon as I put the neck back on the bass and strung it up the upper frets were buzzing.

I’d read about the ski slope problem and this was in the same place, but the fact that it was a dynamic effect under tension and not static like a simple rise in the fretboard made it something different that I’d not seen mentioned before. I improved it, but couldn’t completely fix it. Maybe a tool that could level frets under full tension like the Katana system might have sorted it, but I suspect that neck wouldn’t have been stable long-term with a lower action.

2 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

0.3mm or 3mm?

 

0.3mm is pretty much flatter than a flat thing! Then 2.5mm of action is just a bit ambitious. Making it flatter still won't help.

 

If 3mm of relief then 2.5mm of action does not compute.

0.3mm / 12thou is a typical relief spec. so not unusual at all. 2.5mm at 17th fret should be easy if the fretwork is ok unless played very hard.

Hellzero makes a good point, my mim p-bass needed the upper frets dressing slightly to get the best action and that didn't have the ski-slope problem.

I also had a mim j-bass that had a ski-slope that only showed up when the neck was under full string tension, so conventional levelling wouldn't fix it. I did my best to cure that by spot-levelling under tension and I made it acceptable at the Fender factory spec (6/64in), but the action would never go lower on that bass and it wasn't worth a pro luthier looking at it so I moved it on.

I think the Ashdown 2x10 is sealed rather than ported. That would suggest that it is more likely to be mid-bass punchy than have lots of LF content.

I’ve found that lots of LF can be a problem in smaller venues though as it tends to sound boomy, so a more extended response cab could need dialling back quite a bit.

Lol - if I ever play in a band again I’m playing bass, nothing else. I’m keeping my old career in event production and audio engineering a deep dark secret, nothing to see here.

2.2mm at 17th fret across all strings.

Hard to answer without knowing the size of venues you play and where you locate the power amps etc. Having said that, I would have thought that a couple of 10m and a couple of 5m would give you enough options for most smaller venues provided you can chain the cables.

I'd also advise marking the cables or connectors in some highly visible way to prevent them being mistaken for XLR mic cables. You would know the difference, but helpers might not be as clued up.

*** Ignore this re. marking - active speakers, so normal signal cables not speaker cables.

9 hours ago, greghagger said:

 

you’re not wrong there. Static chords for two are more bars are harder to play interesting walking lines on. 
 

You might do this already, but you can add extra 2-5-1’s into these bars to give you more to play over. 
 

your feedback is really useful as it helps to ensures I include things that beginners jazzers need. 
 

I might need a volunteer or two to have free access to the course and give me feedback.  That’s when I start making it towards the end of this year. 

When you say adding extra 2-5-1s do you mean while other chordal instruments are sticking to the unmodified chord? Eg. In 4 bars of Cmaj7 you could treat it as a bar each of Cmaj7, Dmin7, G7 and Cmaj7?

Thanks for your reply Greg.

I find the simple jazzy blues progressions hardest to sound good playing over oddly enough. The multiple bars staying on a single chord are tough. A tune that changes every bar is a lot easier as by the time you have outlined the chord it's time to move on.

One thing that I found when I started working through exercises was I realised that there were areas of the neck where I didn't know the notes without thinking about it or doing a visual octave reference off another string. I stopped what I was doing and spent several weeks on note recognition drills around the cycle of 4ths to make the entire neck automatic. I can now jump around and play in different registers easily and it made a big difference as I'm not wasting thinking time finding a note.

Ok, I’ll bite. My back story is I’ve been working on learning jazz walking bass for quite a while now following an online series of tuition videos based around 3 main modules: arpeggios, scales/modes (Ionian, Dorian, mixolydian, Locrian corresponding to the 4 basic chord types), chromatics and applying them to various jazz standards (autumn leaves, satin doll and take the A train so far). (I have programmed the standards into iReal on my iPad so I can work on different keys and tempos easily)

The biggest challenge for me so far is combining all the options on a bar-by-bar basis to create a convincing walking line through the changes that doesn’t sound like an exercise. Basically applying the theory.

Suggestions of which version of a standard to listen to would be useful if they were supported by a complete and accurate transcription of the bass with an analysis. Expecting a beginner to be able to transcribe a line by one of the DB playing legends is nuts. If the beginner could do that then by definition they wouldn’t be a beginner!

(Plenty of challenges coming up beyond that one if I crack it - playing at some of the fearsome tempos, learning some of the huge repertoire, finding anyone to play with at my skill level etc.)

It moves the pickups 3mm further from the strings assuming the same spacing from resin to strings is maintained. This will make a difference, whether it is audible or acceptable is down to you.

2 hours ago, Lo-E said:

I agree with Lozz that there may be something awry with your line out and it’s definitely worth inquiring about. 
 

That said, I’ve found the line and/or DI outs of most amps to be pretty inconsistent from model to model and brand to brand. It often seems like the DI is added as an afterthought and doesn’t get the design attention that the rest of the circuit gets. 
 

If you’re happy with the sound of your line out, I’d suggest running it through a Countryman Type 85 direct box. This box was (still is, really) the industry standard DI for decades and the design remains virtually unchanged since the 1970s. It will work with line or instrument level inputs and it doesn’t color the sound in any way. Add to that the facts that the company is small and very, very helpful if you ever need support and the need for support is very unlikely as a Countryman DI could survive practically anything and you have a recipe for success. 

Countryman are not readily available in the uk. Our industry-standard active DIs are BSS AR133 and KT DN100. Either of those are a great choice.

The recent Rick Beato interviews with Brian May discuss this too.

2 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

I’m confident to set up most my basses, perhaps not a vintage one, I would leave that to a professional, but all the basses I’ve ever had have never needed anything done to the nut , it’s one thing I wouldn’t touch 

My MiM P-bass needed the E and A slots tweaking. It wasn't bad enough to make the lower frets sharp, but it felt a little stiff to play.

57 minutes ago, disssa said:

I made my own "custom" pot. I wrote something about it here: Klick

Nice work, very resourceful!

1 minute ago, Nicko said:

The exception that proves the rule.  I also have a guitard friend who I would trust to do this, given that he builds his own guitars as a hobby.

Yes, it's one of those things that you need to have done a lot to develop the touch and eye to know when to stop. I've done enough to work on my own guitars+basses and fix an obviously too high nut action, but I'd not try and do it for money where people might want you to get it as low as it will go without buzzing. (although basses are a lot more forgiving than guitars as the files cut slower on wider nut slots)

Just now, Nicko said:

Very much so.  This is a job for a pro.

Yes it is. I'm not a pro, but have all the right files and am pretty confident of my skills, but I am also really careful and don't try to get the lowest possible 1st fret action. Once it's good enough I stop.

On 11/08/2021 at 19:30, disssa said:

Currently not.

 

Here my latest creation:

 

It is the Preamp of the Peavey Century 200H. Sounds really like the original amp

 

Interesting. How did you get round the Saturation pot needing different value gangs (10k and 1k reverse log)? Did you find spares of the original part?

54 minutes ago, BassAdder27 said:

Are the RM cabs rated to 300w each 8ohms ? 

I know the 210evo is.

I thought I’d look at getting a softcover for my new Ashdown RM210 evo2 cab and have looked online at the Roqsolid and Hotcovers options which are approx the same cost (hotcovers has better padding) and both have recommendations and their fans.

The hotcovers one looks sturdier, but I read a comment in an old thread that they don’t really fold up when off the cab which makes them difficult to store at a gig.

What are people’s experience of the two manufacturers covers on small-ish cabs?

On 12/09/2021 at 19:29, nilebodgers said:

Which amps actually have a transformer-isolated DI these days though?

 

……

Aguilar DB751 - pic of a Jensen Di box transformer on the pcb: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/aguilar-db751-di-output-too-low-question-for-owners.1404614/

 Nice. Very expensive component though. (Doesn’t help if the sound crew are too dim to either switch the pad off or turn the gain up on the desk though as per that thread contents.)

Those “fadebursts” (?) look horrible!

Dry is the important thing. I stored my old Yam BB for about 12 years in a completely unheated but dry warehouse without any serious issues.

44 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

They’ve always had ads on the Spotify version. Is this something different?

Yes, it’s them in person shilling for some craft beer subscription club. Start of the show and after the normal Spotify ad break. 

They have added a really annoying voiceover beer advert this week which is a bad development IMO. (At least on the Spotify podcast version)