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itu

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Posts posted by itu

  1. There are a few pedals that tend to act differently to the bass signal, especially if the bass has a hi-Z (high impedance, "passive") output. These include OD/fuzz/dist, some compressors, and envelope filters. You can find them by testing only.

     

    If any of your pedals loves to be the first in a row, put it there. Any pedal that is on (processing the signal), is practically pushing out a lo-Z (low impedance) signal. If the tuner pushes out a lo-Z signal, it may be very feasible to put it to another place.

     

    Do make lots of trials to find out your own functional fx chain. If you have two or more basses, use different signals (like a simple Precision, and a Kingbass with the paramatrix pre).

     

    Note:

    Impedance has nothing to do with signal level: a hi-Z signal ("passive") may be more powerful than a lo-Z one ("active"), and vice versa.

    • Like 1
  2. It's not so uncommon that something has happened in the delivery. If there's a dry joint, the movement may have affected the PCBA. You can use a wooden/bamboo chopstick to test components. Put the CD on and touch components. Any crackle in audio may indicate a dry joint.

    • Like 1
  3. Amps are nice as they have lots of knobs and lights, but cabs don't. Cab is that big, cumbersome box that has a sound of its own. Put some time especially to the cab.

     

    Check the space you have in your (or drummer's) car. What is the max output you need - in dB, not watts. The music you play may also affect the choices you have. My uneducated guess would be something like 2x10" or 1x12" for light weight and size. 2x12", 1x15" are the next steps, and 4x10" to 4x12" if space and weight are not an issue, but you need lots of volume.

     

    Two similar cabs usually have the best performance in sound and volume. Two eight ohm 1x12" cabs offer you portability (only one needed) and volume (take two cabs along).

     

    Check Barefaced and similar units, and if possible, do some side by side trials, and let your ears decide.

    • Like 2
  4. D'Addario and others give you direction, but you need to do real life trials to find the right strings. Yes, it costs somewhat, but then you have done the work, and have found the best set for your ears and fingers.

  5. 4 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

    I take your point. 

    It might be nice if manufacturers measured/ declared such specifications?

    But they do! When you order bigger amounts of magnets, you specify material, shape, size, and strength. Any pickup manufacturer could include details of magnets, coils etc. Why not? Should we ask them?

    • Like 1
  6. 2 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

    Magnet material also seems to play a part,  if only because of the way the sound is presented tonally.

    I suppose magnet size/strength will govern the field through which the string passes, also affecting output. 

     

    AlNiCo magnets are the softest,  warmest sounding.

     

    Ceramics are harsher and seem "louder/hotter"

     

    And as for Neodymium...

    The field/strength is the word here. An AlNiCo may be weaker than an Nd. The material specifications are dependent on the production process. Therefore the strength cannot be read from the type. Otherwise it would be like the car manufacturer "Ford" equals fast and tractor brand "Lamborghini" equals slow.

     

    Measuring requires expensive equipment. As long as people are not able to measure components, these text based descriptions live.

  7. Alembic brown bass.

    White Moon.

    Fretless StingRay.

    3 string fretless StingRay.

    2 string fretless played with a slide.

    The first 5 string Modulus.

    5 string Parker Fly.

    Koa Pensa-Suhr.

    Carved Rickenbacker.

    Double neck Rickenbacker.

    Pink JayDee.

    Fretless Klein bass.

    Six string Ken Smith -> six string Yahaya.

    Peavey TL.

    Peavey Rudy Sarzo.

    Jack Daniels.

    Star bass.

    Höfner.

    Manson.

    Kubicki Ex-Factor.

    Zon Hyperbass.

    Hagström The Swede.

    Overwater C bass.

    Yahaya Attitude.

     

    Whichever of these would certainly sound different in my hands, but never mind. These have been the basses and players in my youth, and still are. Of course there are others.

     

    (I'd like to find someone to Mosrite, Atlansia, Ibanez [well, Gerald Veasley is already there], Burns, Danelectro... and if someone does not know the players of the basses mentioned, I think I can add them later on.)

    • Like 1
  8. On 08/03/2024 at 11:19, Rodders said:

    I've always found the B string to be quieter than all the other strings on the bass (only ever owned 34" scale), is there an accepted way to fix that? 

    Some things may (or not) help:

    - string choice (do several trials*)

    - pickup height adjustments

    - bridge adjustments (in connection with the previous point)

     

    * Try very different gauges. Thin is not always worse!

    • Thanks 1
  9. On 06/03/2024 at 23:46, bassman1982 said:

    4. Blend is a linear positive line from 0 to 100%.

     

    6. If I modify the knob mapping for all the Toneprints I'm going to use, and make the knob mapping identical for each Toneprint, will that affect the sound of the Toneprint? 

    4) Do you really need the blend when you are already in deep with all parametres? I don't see any benefit with dry signal, when the levels, and processing can be tweaked with such finesse. For me ON is 100 % ON, and therefore I have used the blend knob for other parametres. After all, by compressions nature, signal level has usually areas, where compression is not present at all.

     

    6) I have not seen this happening. Sounds strange if everything is set only to different places. Have you really checked every function and value there is?

  10. 7 hours ago, LiturghianPope said:

    ...whether passive pickups would allow greater flexibility and the ability to try various different external preamps and hearing major differences, as opposed to active pickups which already use a preamp which has a certain profile.

    Again, @Boodang wrote some very good notes.

     

    I want to add that as long as you use any passive, hi-Z components in between the pickups and the preamp, the response is sacrificed. Any pot, be it blend, vol, or tone, will degrade the original sound.

     

    You want pure sound from the pickup, connect it directly to the preamp. You have two pickups, you should use some non-loading circuitry (Noll Mixpot or similar) between the two, or use two preamps, one for each pickup.

    • Like 1
  11. First could be C#/A (could be c#m/A, too) or Amaj7.

     

    The second one is a major third doubled.

     

    The third one is C#add9 or c#madd9.

     

    I and III do not reveal their major or minor character, therefore C# or c#.

     

    Now, quickly, someone is needed here to adjust us to the right track!

    • Thanks 1
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