itu

When I had a copy of Status (Washburn) I used double ball end Rotosound Funkmasters (606?) and they were always exact length.

My Dragonfly has a battery saving function and it goes to deep sleep after certain time. I changed the 2 x AA batteries after 18 months of use, and they were still in decent condition. I do not see an issue keeping the wire connected, but the consumption has to be very low.

Heavy duty use, there's probably some kind of a thermal fuse that needs to cool down. Are you driving the amp at max, or close? Is there lots of space around that the amp can cool well? Remember, the pot positions do not tell much about the power.

Addition:

If you push lots of lows out the amp will certainly warm up. Low end needs a lot of energy and that means watts. A picture of your settings and the casing might reveal something.

Try an old one:

- H&K Bass/Crunch/Blues Master and Cream Machine

- SWR Interstellar Overdrive

1 hour ago, oldslapper said:

However, the gas has passed without incident. 

...except brown noise. And funny smell, like jazz.

(Stolen from Frank Z.)

Can we see, so could you share some sharp pictures? We might be able to help you forward.

26 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

I have found only one downside to active basses: when you play with pedals a lot (especially overdrives and fuzzes) the output impedance seems to matter a lot. Passive basses seem to get a better response from some pedals than actives. 

This is one very good point, although I would write this:

"Hi-Z basses have different response from some pedals than lo-Z."

The pedals I have also seen the biggest difference with response are OD/fuzz/dist, and compressors. For some reason the signal level doesn't seem to be the issue but the bass' output impedance.

I made one from 6082 first, but something happened and I had to make another. This time from Alumec-89, which is far harder than the previous Al, but very reasonable to machine. This still lacks colour (anodized black) and some finishing, but you get the idea.

I didn't make those DBE slots, because there are lots of ordinary strings available.

Pink

Pastel

Purple

Ped's Sherwood green

There are lots of details to look at:

- electronics

- mechanics

- detuner, or Ex-Factor!

...but one is not the most obvious: the neck. Greg Curbow had similar construction (Rockwood).

That bass is in right address!

Last time I bought a truss rod, it was a two way, and there was no way to put any washer to it. The hex end was welded to the end.

A hint:

The thread was dry, there was no oil at all. There would not have been a possibility to grease it after it was built to the neck.

The answer is hydrogen!

What?

If you are really interested in "active" bass (should be low impedance, lo-Z), it might be feasible to understand the signal path:

pickups - blend - vol - tone stack - output

Many, not all, of these "active" basses have only battery powered tone stack (two band shelving, three band, semiparametric...). Simple and cheap. The parts of that stack cost a few pounds, minimum.

An interesting point is that people talk about "active pickups". What's that?

An ordinary pickup consists of a coil (copper wire) and a magnet, or few. The steel string induces more voltage in the coil, if the magnet is powerful and there are lots of wire in the coil. When there is much wire, the output is high - and the frequency response is narrow.

EMG produces similar pickups, but they save copper. They can also use magnets which are weaker. But this equals less output - and wider frequency response = more high end. Low end is easy, high end isn't.

Because EMG produces less output, they have built a buffer inside the pickup. That buffer amplifies the signal to the same level as with high impedance (hi-Z, "passive") pickups, but keeps the signal impedance low, and response wide. 

Many of us know, that any pot (vol, blend, tone) in the signal path affects the response of the signal. G-word players have used treble bleeders for ages, because even vol pot reduces high end. Remove all pots from the signal path, and get some more sizzle.

If you change pot-based adjustments from the signal path, you can keep the signal as it is. True active circuitry adjusts amplification (done with similar pots, but affecting elsewhere) instead of turning the signal partially to the ground, and losing high end.

Are you still with me?

There are very few mixers out there, like some EMGs (not all), and John East. There are also many basses with a simple tone stack and high impedance adjustments (vol, blend). This means that the signal from the pickups is degraded before the tone stack.

If you want an "active" bass, you need to decide, what does it mean for you:

lo-Z pickups - active mixing - active tone stack

OR

hi-Z pickups - blend - vol - active tone stack

...or something in between?

Mirror is your dear friend. You can see, what is happening in the fretboard and the right hand side. Adjust the strap from the feel, not the "my knees are not seen, so I have an attitude".

@chris_b had very important points: bad setup will certainly drive you towards bad habits. Bass is slightly more ergonomic than say a violin (look at their heads!), but it is up to you to take care of your position while playing.

If you want to try, and go really slow, take a big wrench (Bahco, anyone?). Turn the tuner leaf slowly. If it seems to turn back, you're fine. But turn it as slow as you can. A quick bend may kill the leaf.

One nice set of stuff you have there.

On 18/02/2023 at 03:19, Marcus Cornall said:

My FB has a sweepable mid going from 200hz to 2k and I find that really useful for dialling in for different rooms. One thing I would miss with one of these little class D heads.

The hf is only 7khz.

I was working in a broadcasting company long ago. I had the chance to use some high end equipment then. I opened my then MG Quantum SPi 5 custom. She had triple (neck) and double (bridge) coil bartolinis which I decided to analyze.

With the system (I think it was Philips or Rohde & Schwarz, but anyway something that cost awfully lot!) I measured 50 Hz - 10 kHz. The -6dB limit was already passed at 1 kHz, and from 2kHz the response went down really quickly. At 6 kHz the signal was 25 dB (!) less than at 50 Hz depending on the coil.

If your amp is capable of boosting 5 kHz surroundings by 15 dB, there will be something, maybe. On the other hand: is it feasible to go to the g-word and keys territory? I try to avoid that area, because there simply is not too much space there. Bass is a low frequency instrument, we are filling lows. Mark King may disagree, but he is an exception.

How about some song you have wanted to play? Here are several gentlemen offering their expertise and transcriptions. Theory, transcription, and some analysis, maybe?

Fretless and pick: Paco de Lucia - One summer night (Carles Benavent)

Fretless 5: Tribal tech (Gary Willis), CAB (Bunny Brunel)

Fretless and drumsticks (funk fingers): Tony Levin

Slide: Morphine (does not have to be a fretless, but...)

E-bow: Michael Manring - Thonk

Octaver: Paul Young - No parlez (Pino Palladino)

Nylon strings, and piccolo tuning: Brian Bromberg

Fingers, just plain fingers: John Giblin

Someone has certainly used a bow, a looper, a synthesizer, and whatever.

I need to add one record from a double bassist: Edgar Meyer - Dreams of flight

5 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

You said "Why is it so hard to save a bit more and buy some quality?". So you're talking about the cost to the customer, not the component or assembly cost.

This is pretty complicated topic. Values, costs, impacts... any single number is a simplification. Some years back a multidisclipinary team used quite a lot of time to understand customers. Of course cost is always one thing.

I think, to be honest, that we have the possibility to think about other values, too, as western world is so rich. The less we earned, the less we would be concerned, and interested. Somehow the problems raise interest, because we have the possibility to be aware. Not too many people go into details, many know maybe only some terms, but do not really understand the big picture. No wonder: there are numerous details, and it is a minefield.

I certainly didn't understand it, I still try to remember at least some aspects that were found by the team. Logistics, factories, workers, lifetime of the product, spare parts, tools, serviceability, advertising, packages... many of these are related to each other in a really complicated way. Overall costs are hard to calculate, but it seems to be possible to some extent.

An example, and just one detail:

Apple watch is a popular unit. The first ones we studied had a silly amount of package material that was hard to put back to circulation. Tapes and glues were very sticky and were not so friendly to remove (complicated recycling). This affected logistics, too, because the small unit became bulky. Off white colour, well, I think you get my point.

So sorry, @DTB, my bad. I do have chinese products, too, because as said, lots of electronics are made there. Like my work phone.

I try to find and support local. Not an easy task at all. But we are getting better, and there are already some possibilities.

(Last time I bought headphones, they were 2nd hand. Head. Something.)

That head has to be heavy, so it obviously is good for metal.

Now the bass has travelled back to the luthier. When it's ready, Al parts have to be anodized. I think black will be fine.

In my previous work I was in mainland China to source reputable companies to produce high end products. There were quite a few problems to be solved, and our decision was not to move the production to China.

I did some research and studied their culture with the sourcing team. IP and patents are less than important, and many technical solutions were impossible to take there because of this. Logistics would have been a nightmare, and the decision not to move production was proven right after few years.

@tauzero iPhone may not be cheap to the end customer, but check its BOM and come back again.

Definitely not. I thought that I should add that it is possible to get good stuff, too, but hand on your heart, @dyerseve, do you see these product brands mentioned as quality stuff?

Beats? Silvercrest? Should the heading be: "Cheap headphones from China"? Why is it so hard to save a bit more and buy some quality?

Every time I see text "cheap", it makes me wonder how many Chinese kids or slaves were involved.