itu

1) True in a closed box. The problem is that if you want to produce reasonable loudness, you have to push the eq to reach lower frequencies. That equals lots of power and driver excursion, both of which are always limited to some extent. 2) Not true in a reflex box. The cabinet cuts lower frequencies very effectively after the tuning f. The driver simply cannot produce any feasible loudness under that. The element acts like it had no cabinet around itself. A HPF (high pass filter that cuts lower f) is your friend. You have better power reserve behind you, and handling noises are limited. Win-win. ±3 dB is very strict, and suitable for HiFi stuff. I might use ±6, or even ±9 dB limits when we talk about PA systems. HiFi is about flat response, PA is about power. (That's why I hate the term FRFR, which is somewhere between flat response and power, but I think closer to power.)

A lesson maybe just too strict word here. First of all, we all learn stuff that was played and performed before us. In our learning phase we listened to the others and tried to imitate something that already existed, "standing in the shoulders of giants". To me this "lessons affect you and your creativity" is - sorry you all - pure BS. A teacher can offer you tools. It is true that if your tools are limited, your style will be limited, too. But - and this has been here many times - learning to use your tools gives you more possibilities to express yourself. I have met very few people who can create original music. No matter what I can still hear the giants behind them, because we use the same scales and tunings after all these centuries. Listening to modern music or very old music can open up ears to understand the evolution of music. I'd say original choices are very rare. But listening to the music in a scale of centuries gives good understanding, why we play today like we play. (And no, bass is not a g-word, or violin, and its predecessors have had many strings, and frets and so on. That "Jaco needed four strings" nonsense is just BS. And Dragonetti needed three.) After being in music schools for two decades since the age of 5 years, I still struggle with bass. My technique is far from perfect, my speed comes from Mediocrates, theory I know basics and a bit more, AND I feel my limited abilities to learn anything anymore is frightening. In the bands I play, I try to join the community, and give the best I can to the music. Every song gives me the opportunity to learn something new. Once again: In terms of expression, those tools help me to make that song mine.

There are even slap frets up there.

20 Hz - 20 kHz is the average. I heard about a person who has reached 37 kHz in tests. Like @Bolo said, an old fart like me may have issues reaching 10 kHz. Small venues and loud drummers have done lots of harm to my hearing. But: far more serious is to lose the 1 - 5 kHz area, because that is the critical area of speech recognition.

@Macbass68: Remember that power does NOT tell you about loudness. dB is the right instead of wattage. When you double the power, you gain 3 dB in loudness. 100 W to 200 W. This amount of difference can be heard in studio surroundings. When you want to get 10 dB louder (this can be heard on stage, too!), you need to multiply the power by 10. This means that a 100 W amplifier should be replaced by a 1 000 W amp. Low impedance (Z) is also hard to the amp. 8 ohm is an easy one, and does not heat the amp that much. You can think Z as a stick that you push. If the number is big, the area of the stick head is big, and it is easy to push it with your thumb. The smaller the Z, the thinner the stick, and at some point like a needle.

I've tried Braun and Philips, and this time the latter won. I had a Washburn Status copy long ago, and the neck shape did not feel good. A local and very talented carpenter took off the lacquer from the body, and did some extensive shaping of the body and neck. Neck lost several mm from its thickness. Felt far better, but because Washburns had somewhat soft necks, this became really springy: no need for trem. (Now I have a bolt-on copy of Status. Although the neck is thicker, its shape is boxy and fits my hands well.)

EBS had a built in 9 V Phantom in their preamps. Just connect your bass with a stereo (TRS) cable.

Basic theory (that was cut short last time because of a cat): Sound travels 340 m/s in the air (20 °C). Wavelength of a 20 Hz wave is 340 m/s / 20 Hz = 17 m. 40 Hz is half of the previous, 8.5 m, and so on. Standing wave means that some distance from a wall to another parallel wall happens to be the same as some wavelength. Therefore to avoid standing wave the space should consist of non-parallel or well damped walls. Standing waves can be best tamed with (parametric, or 31-band) equalizers. Basically if you know the height, width, and length of a room, you can easily calculate standing waves and their harmonics, and kill the ringing with an eq. As cabinets are usually the shape of a box, there are also three main frequencies (and their harmonics) affecting the sound, if they are not tamed with suitable damping material in the walls. Horn or high range driver has usually its own case (or does not need one at all). A box volume limits either from the two: lowest reproducible f, or sensitivity. If the box is small, you can go low, but you need extra power. If the box is big, and you don't have to go so low, you may get a louder unit. A bass cab can be considered as a PA speaker, that doesn't have so neat f response, but can push lots of sound out. A good quality HiFi speaker may not be very efficient (like 0.1 %) whereas a PA speaker may have 2 % efficiency. In power numbers a 100 W amp creates up to 2 watts of sound in PA system, while at home the level is ridiculously low, like 1/10 W. But the response can be pretty straight. Why is a non-linear response OK? Because it is one part of the sound. Besides the response is usually some sort of a band pass filter (BPF), like with bass it could be 60 Hz - 4 kHz that removes over three octaves of the sounds we are able to hear. Ear can sense 10 octaves (some papers claim 16 Hz as the start): 20 - 40 (Hz) 40 - 80 80 - 160 160 - 320 320 - 640 640 - 1250 (yes, you saw the rounding, and understand the reason in the next lines) 1250 - 2500 2500 - 5000 5000 - 10000 10000 - 20000 In a band context there are several other instruments and sounds (drs, keys, g, voc...) that compete with the high end parts of the bass' response. Therefore we could cut quite a lot of the high end without issues. Remember a g-word response starts from 80 Hz, which is only one octave higher compared to bass. It is not even feasible to mix many similar frequencies to create any more mush. In studios the (frequency) bands are limited more or less between instruments to get better overall sound. If this raises any ideas/questions, I may continue. Now that cat tries to reach my keyboard.

30 Hz x 2 = 60 Hz. As I wrote earlier, this 60 Hz is the first harmonic of B. Ear needs this to create the lowest f = 30 Hz. It does not have come out from the speaker. Human hearing is around 20 Hz - 20 kHz. Yes, it is possible to use subwoofers to go lower. Problems: A) How to control the lowest (mush) range? B) Wavelength is quite long at the low end. Is the space big enough that the frequencies are usable? C) Lowest frequencies need a big box and consume LOTS of power. Is the system feasible to carry around? D) The highest f that comes straight out from the neck (24 frets, 4 string in EADG tuning) is around 500 Hz. Put there three harmonics (1 kHz, 2 kHz, 4 kHz) and there you have the upper limit of the need. This is not very easy to push out from a big cone. X-over and a horn?

1) An ordinary bass cab does not have to produce but the first harmonic. Therefore the usable f range should start from around 60 Hz. HiFi is another world. 2) A bass with a coil-magnet pickup can produce frequencies up to around 4 kHz. 3) Back to HiFi, and the linearity of a f response. If the range is expressed with the Hz only, it is useless. If the (±3 or ±6) dB limits are mentioned (or they can be seen in the curve), the audible range can be estimated. A ±20 dB curve is worthless, but suitable for marketing... 4) An element may have some specs. When it is built to a cabinet, the end result depends on the build quality, dimensions, a possible X-over, are the seams air tight, stability of the materials, stiffness and so on. A shorter version: a) The bass needs a cab that is able to produce reasonable sounds between 60 - 4 000 Hz (and between maybe ±9 dB). Bass is not HiFi stuff. b) A good, solid cab with relatively big dimensions is most probably functional. Has to be listened with the amp and the bass you are using. c) Everyone can make a cabinet, few can build a good one. Plain numbers of one component do not reveal the performance of the whole system.

Glockenklang amps can do dirt. On the other hand, very clean, too.

Hellborg: - Wal double neck, and a fretted one - 27 fret bass (Italian Reccanati?) - Status (36 V circuitry) - Wechter - Warwick - amps and cabs like TE, EBS, Warwick... He's obviously been searching for the perfect sound.

Older Ibanez, and EMG have P pickups in one cover. They look exactly like humbuckers. Some Ibanez units have visible polepieces.

Stan the Man (Alembic, Löwenherz, EBS, Carl Thompson...), Jeff Berlin (Markbass, Cort...), Les Claypool (Carl Thompson, A/DA...), Phil Lesh (Modulus Graphite, Ritter...), Stuart Hamm (Kubicki, Fender...), and the list goes on. Certainly not least: Jonas Hellborg.

Status was not mentioned, although that name states "stable". I know they can only be found 2nd hand with some luck. But if you are after a Status, you sure want to invest to your bass, and not waste your money to Fender/Squier. Have you ever tried a Limelight?

This is old. Zombie. But important. Anyone has the paper available?

This is an EMG magnetic viewing film that I found from some music shop maybe two, three decades ago. I do not know whether they still sell it. Green thin film filled with oil and iron particles. You can buy similar stuff here: https://e-magnetsuk.com/product-category/magnetic-measurement-tools/magnetic-viewing-film/?srsltid=AfmBOorfmS1KTjOfyFqR4muH4SaqQq50KoIPhFn1zOUjMcd29qqtPwtH

This is a picture of the magnets from my Passion II from 1989. As can be seen, here the polepieces are not visible, but magnets are.

You can ask a luthier to build you a similar fretless neck. Can be a really attractive option, also pricewise.

Not specific. Usually those models mentioned have a thick sound, if not heavy bodies, too. If a suitable instrument happens to pass by, I might be tempted. But has to be with a dark fretboard. I am actually amazed, how cheap most of them sell, as they are real workhorses. Probably you could use one as a shovel in the garden, and play a gig in the evening after wiping soil off of it.

Anyone has a Roadstar/Roadster with rosewood board? I see maple every now and then, but where are those darker fretboards?

That fingerboard is the crown jewel of the bass. Very attractive.

...and the comparison of about similar units pricewise. A £179 solid state amp is not directly comparable to a £1500 valve amp.

My feel has been that single coils tend to sound somewhat compressed, no matter split duals or true singles. But that's probably because of my instruments, amps, and playing style.