itu

Fake books are usually feasible. For reading, I recommend Standing in the shadows of Motown, because it includes the book and the CDs. Very good stories, songs and transcriptions.

Wow! What kind of a process you have?

I am very sorry. If single coil g-word pickups are mechanically similar (including magnets), the DCR may be the factor that describes the many differences somewhat. Other than that, no one can reduce sound quality parameter matrix to a single number or word: "How did the band sound?" "56.3!" (Here the number 56.3 equals the word "round".) A new variable frequency professional LCR-meter seems to cost around £10k. Ouch. But an ebay unit "ET4501" and its variations (ET4502, ET4510) seem nearly affordable. Interesting.

I had one. A fun unit, it was definitely not a transparent one, my use pushed it closer to an effect. Turn the knobs liberally from end to end, and find your thing.

If you want to use no strings, please sing. If a stringed electric bass is a must, Atlansia Solitaire is available as fretless and fretted. I see the fifth string good for me, as many of the singers (4 + 1 + 1) in the bands (3) I play tend to transpose many of the songs. I can go a second, or a third down, and still play in the area, where others do not play (piano, g-word etc.). Am I doing right things with wrong instruments, or should I always play with unsuitable instruments and create something funny instead of functional? Do you think the camera is the reason for a good picture? Tom Kennedy is simply an excellent musician, no matter which tool he uses.

http://www.matweb.com/search/DataSheet.aspx?MatGUID=4f19a42be94546b686bbf43f79c51b7d&ckck=1 Steel is different, usually resilient compared to Al. Different materials, different sets of properties. Anodized surface does not affect the base material.

Impedance, you should try to read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_impedance When a (bass, or g-word) pickup has different physical measurements, the electrical parametres may already change. When the distances to strings is different, the output is different. It is possible to find similar pickups, but just looking at any single figure does not give you trusty answers.

OK, this will be the theoretical part... The wire is one part. It can be thick, thin, twisted... usually it is lacquered copper. The amount in the coil is related to the pickup's resistance (R). A short amount of wire equals low resistance and so on. When the amount of wire is low, in theory the frequency response is wider and output lower. This depends on few other parameters, too, but is a very rough generalization. If the output is very low, the signal level can be amplified with an opamp (operational amplifier + a power source, like a battery; EMG), or the voltage can be raised by a transformer (Alumitone). The coil has impedance (Z) and it changes over the frequency range. At 0 Hz, or DC, the Z is R. A pickup is practically a low pass filter. Most of the pickups have limited response, and the output starts to go down after few kilohertz. Coiling a pickup: yes, there are (stories of) magical hands, or machines, or makers, but the basic idea is to put some amount of a wire to a coil. There are also multi-coil pickups, please check https://www.herrickpickups.com/ Now we get to the basic principle: when the string (a conductive wire) is moving (vibrating) in a magnetic field, it produces small electric (AC) signal, which can be amplified in an... well, you know the rest. The power of the magnetic field, and the parametres of the coil affect the output - and the sound. Magnetic material is actually a bit on a sidetrack. What is meaningful is the magnetic field (1 Tesla = 10 000 Gauss). Now it is so that the materials differ not only with each other but also within one "species". Because of this, a very weak neodymium could be weaker than a very strong ceramic. Neodymium is considered the strongest (i.e. the power/weight is the best so far) following by AlNiCo, Sm-Co, and ceramic. Now we have the parts (wire, frame, magnet). The next step is to put them together. The ready set may be single, or multicoil, stacked, or a parallel humbucker... The sound comes out from a complete construction, where we have lots of parametres, but not a single will guarantee the end result. A practical approach If you are really into pickups, an LCR-meter would be very helpful. While I was working in a broadcasting company very long time ago, I had a chance to use a high end LCR-meter and measure my former Modulus Graphite Quantum's bartolinis. Very interesting, although expected results, by the way. Prices of the meters are really high, though. There are single frequency units, but one f does not tell much about the overall response. As an example, this second hand Agilent costs over £1k and has only 6 static frequencies: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-Agilent-Keysight-4263B-LCR-Meter-100Hz-to-100kHz-RPG/253214470569?hash=item3af4c231a9:g:81AAAOSw6KVZhUTA

Funny how I expected to see a NAD Amp 1 in here. I think I have to go and take a good sleep.

Anodizing is the best way to get the colour to the Al. But, as the base material itself is soft, the hard coating will be detached if the material is hit. The soft aluminum is not able to support the hard surface. Some aluminum qualities also corrode especially by acids, like sweat. Aluminum oxide is very hard, by the way. If the colouring is done in a proper way and you treat the unit decently, it may look good for ages. Paints tend to wear quite quickly. The base treatment is demanding, and most of the painted aluminum looks bad sooner or later. Anodizing is simply the best choice.

When the steel is frozen a lot (the basic home freezer does not mean much here), it shrinks a bit. This video is about hot and cold (liquid nitrogen, -160 degree centigrade) and a shrink fit:

The first question is: what are you after with this modification/project? More (or less) of something or simply different sound? What is driving you to this?

Adjust the gain so, that the input is not distorting. Check it with low volume level. This way you amplify the signal, not the noise! Gain is just an adjustment. It has to do with good and good quality signal level. If it has to be at 3 o'clock, be it so.

I have it. I tried some five (or seven?) OD/dist/fuzz pedals side by side and that 'tweaker was the best. I also have a Spruce effects Old growth fuzz modded for bass. Not cheap ones, but when I listened to them, I took the one (two!) that was for me. Amptweaker has lots of switches to tweak the sound. It works with hi- and lo-Z ("active and passive") basses, which is a bit uncommon. OGF works better with a hi-Z ("passive") instrument.

Sorry for the slow answer: the unit pushes 9 VAC! I would not even try that one.

Tried that 112 but was not my cup of tea. I heard the box too well. Some damping material would have probably helped. My 2 x 12" alusonic has some colorization from the aluminum box, too, but not as bad.

910248. bartolini preamp and pickups, with rotating switches (single/par/ser). Mixpot.

@mar_to_the_t: I had one, too. The cut of the body revealed the bass. I can say it felt good. 1991 model.

Certainly! By the way, is there a 90's Quantum 5 in the background? With a cocacola (yes, a joke) top?

I have used clear nail lacquer on Vigier, Modulus, and Status necks. Lacquer dries quickly and sticks very well. Cheap, easy to find. Of course any colour is good, and it's always nice to start the conversation in the shop about which brand is the best for you with the salesperson...

Some background The element was the other of two from a Glockenklang Soul combo. Because of an incident in a gig, the other speaker was hit, and became perforated. This happened after the last set. Later I bought new elements from the company. Their customer service was very good. The box is slightly larger than the half of the Soul cabinet. A larger volume relates to lower frequency, or better efficiency. My speakers are the Soul, an alusonic, and now this small box. I will probably use it with my electric double bass, a 5-string Clevinger. The building took around a month. Costs were reasonable, although a new cab would be easily in the same ballpark, well under £200. Remember that I had the element already. There was no reason to do this myself except for the fun. Now I do know what I should do differently, how much faster this could be done... the work has taught me quite a lot. For those thinking about similar work I can support the idea. A box is after all a straightforward work compared to a bass neck or body. A cabinet will be the ugly duckling, down on the floor, that has to withstand some kicking and hitting. Components are cheap, tools simple. If something goes wrong, a wood panel is easy to replace. Sound is another story. Bass cabinet has to be tight and sturdy. The sound can be tailored with careful calculations, that affect the shape and measurements. How well the cabinet works with my amp, no one knows. I will not say mine is excellent, but seems to be one functional and fun trial: I really do respect the people of Glockenklang that designed and produced my excellent sounding Soul. Mine sure isn't that good, but decent is now enough for me. And there's one less speaker floating free.

The big thing in doing the box was to get the wood sides cut to measure. They weren't exact, but close enough. I don't have a big saw, table etc. so this obstacle was bypassed by the shop personnel and their heavy equipment.

Yes, I know. Here we go:

Starting point I happened to have a 10" Volt in my garage. It was floating in free air, so I decided to put it to a box. I think this helps with the bass response... First steps I went to a shop that cuts wood. They cut the 15 mm plywood to pieces and I started tinkering. The wood parts are 300 x 400, 300 x 450, and 400 x 450 mm. A sharp eye may see, that this will not be a neat box, but I will come back to this later on. I needed a Speakon, some wire, glue, and quite a lot of screws. There is a good way to build a cabinet with strips of wood in the corners to seal the seams but I decided to use lots of glue & iron... not so wise from the weight point of view. Help needed The element looks good, but how about the specs? Mr. Nichamin from Volt was very helpful and sent the data sheet. T/S and everything else. A good friend of mine loaned me four long clamps. Building process The work was somewhat slow. Main reason: the soft glue was sticky for hours. So I did one phase at a time in the evenings. There are two threaded rods through the cab to make it even stronger. Overkill, maybe. So are the metal corners inside the box. There are quite a few bolts and nyloc nuts, there. Every attachment is asymmetric more or less. This was intentional although the panels will not resonate that much, but just decided to make things different. As said earlier, all parts do not fit exactly, and the smallest wood panels needed some work: the backside was simply cut shorter to fit. Front is slightly slanted. This way the element is not protruding from the cabinet and offers some extra protection. A piece of metal mesh is in front of the element. I opened the hole for the element with a router. It is one practical tool. All functional corners were rounded or chamfered. The filling is foam and polyester. The reflex ports are now 50 mm in diameter and 30 mm long according to Volt's recommendation for this volume (around 40 - 50 dm3). As everybody can see, the case is not finished, yet. The extra glue has to be removed. It needs some paint or wood oil. And lots of filing. Conclusions The weight is decent. My amp is at the rehearsal place in the other side of the town, so first test will happen within few days (no files will be added). The next cab will/could be made from thin plywood and lots of braces. Much harder to build, but the result is also substantially lighter.

Highest quality is relative here. As long as the track is carbon, it creates noise. Lifetime is also limited. Top end is cermet or conductive plastic. Wire pots are overkill because of their size and high power handling.