itu

Composers die and their actions will be forgotten, but good music lives forever. OK, pretty long.

The bass is in the luthier's shop. I have a hunch that I have a meeting with him in the very near future. Aluminium parts still have to be anodized. I will take pictures when we meet.

I remeber playing it in music school long, long ago, but the score is missing from my library. Maybe in some Real book?

Dear Baloney, I think your comment includes the original, although a theoretical question. But magnets are produced in big amounts and the tolerances already dictate the strengths. Magnetizing - which has also tolerances - produces components that are then selected to represent certain specs. A magnet is not ideal, because materials and production methods are not ideal. There's no one magnet that represents all similar sized magnets, except that it's more or less magnetic.

At the moment I think you believe that a certain family, like AlNiCo represents certain "power level", although an AlNiCo magnet can be as weak as a plastic rod. The size does not only dictate the magnet, there are many parametres starting from the materials and the production process. There will be tolerances, too. Magnets are produced in big batches: you can ask what are you after, and the factory can find the right products for you. If you make an order of two magnets that are only slightly different in size, they can be ordered with the same "power level". As I said earlier, Neodymium can be magnetized far weaker than an AlNiCo, or SmCo, or a simple ferrous magnet, although it can be the most powerful of these few families. This depends on the production process and the need. Am I clear enough, do I answer your questions? (The pickup itself seems to be ordinary, although you say it is special made. Do you want to open it up a bit?)

A very rough idea of the cable: 0.5 mm2 = AWG20 => 5 A = 5000 mA Because some diameter is lost in the connections, and the cables will degrade over time in active use, I would suggest using 2 x 0.5 mm2.

You should read about magnetic inductance: when a metal part (string) moves in a magnetic field surrounded by a coil, it creates voltage to the coil. The voltage is dependent on the amount of wire in the coil and magnetic field. Voltage can be increased by making the field more powerful (move the string closer, or use another magnet), or putting more wire to the coil. This has also other effects: a bigger coil reduces the frequency response (EMG has less wire, and has wider response, although faint signal). Very powerful magnet would affect string movement. Coil magnet pickup is a BPF (band pass filter), as it doesn't go down to DC, and is limited up to, say 4 - 5 kHz. Piezos and light based pickups can reach much wider response, but require a bit more complex electronics. This equals higher price, which one certain Leo didn't like.

Yes. Depending on the preamp you may need a suitable cable to the speaker. It would work with an unbalanced plug to XLR cable. Genelec is probably not the cheapest option, but practically any active unit will work.

How about an active speaker? Buy a Genelec. Low vol, wide response...

I am not quite sure, what is @BigRedX after here? I did make an educated guess that the magnets are from the same batch, although they are different in length OR some poles are adjusted to different height and the main magnet is uniform. I would be very much surprised to hear that magnets of different strength would be selected to E, A, D, and G string on any mass produced pickup. But I know that you can buy bigger batches that are of certain strength, because I worked with magnets some years ago.

Put the Chief (or the Grizzly) right after the bass. Not to the loop. Try that first. Then compare the sound in the loop. If your bass has a preamp (a battery powered tone stack), it may be so that the placement of the OD/dist/fuzz can be whatever. The signal that drives the pedal is lo-Z (low impedance) and the signal is practically the same in the pedal chain. But if your bass is so called passive, that fuzzistor of yours may act differently if it is the first after the bass, or deeper in the chain. Do trials, and please comment here later on.

What's that? Looks incredible!

The distance is the key word here. You move the poles further away from the strings, the magnetic field diminishes, and the signal becomes fainter. I was about to write that the sound becomes fainter, but that can be adjusted by amp gain. Make trials to hear the difference in sound.

Buy a Bourns MN 250k or 500k blend pot, and tin it in between the pickups and the vol pot. Done.

Slowly. You can also try Rod Stewart's Da ya think I'm sexy. Bassist (whose name I forget) has very good feel.

Mine's powered, Countryman type 85. Built like a brick. Can be used as a hammer, or a brick.

Harley Benton Noise Gate NG-100, a grey one with 4 knobs. It can be used like the expensive Boss Slow Gear unit.

Piezo creates high voltages compared to a magnetic pickup. The impedance (Z) of the output is also very high, in the mega ohm range (magnetic pickup is just few kilo ohms). The preamp has to be able to tame the signal, and turn it to reasonable Z. Even if the preamp works fine, the recording interface should have a high impedance input. Usually the XLR input is for lo-Z signals like microphones. If the (jack) input has any switch for hi-Z input, use it.

13 is slightly complicated, but 7 and 9 doable. Every now and then I even play 7 when there's maj7, and vice versa. My bad, and I don't actually hate them.

No one walks in the States, is that something similar to (water) closet classics?

Just add Broadcaster. Why not Fender LocalRadioster version? Or AMster built in the Netherlands.

My Status, Modulus Graphite Quantum, and Vigier necks have been hollow, except MG Genesis (carbon spine). The heel part may be filled with some material, like wood. That talkbass builder, Marko Ursin, has built many interesting basses.

When mixing several systems, it is not so uncommon to build problems in the overlapping frequency area. Again, a real time analyzer (RTA) and a good X-over can solve many issues. One thing to remember is that ear gets used to any sound - even to bad one - quite quickly. And louder sounds better, although that's poison to your ears until it's too late. Do several measurings like once a week until you feel comfortable with your system. Sometimes a friend visiting and listening to your system could open up interesting details. Loudness is one thing you should understand. Measure some levels, and compare them to the board's master. Write down the levels somewhere: a 10 dB difference is much, but you can approximate the loudness with those steps, 0 / 10 / 20... remember that everything over 85 dB(A) may cause a possible hearing damage in the longer or shorter run. Doubling the power (88 dB(A)) halves the "safe" listening time. 120 dB(A) isn't that far away. These figures are averaged, and your hearing may be more sensitive to loud sounds, than someone else's.

If the jack was faulty, it would have been Switchcraft. Where's that coat...