Soledad

I saw one Brighton a week ago, £200. I do fancy a new one, never know how a used one has been worked. Really pleased with the 212 btw - good balance of depth but crisp n tight. I think a 212 and 1 210 would make a good pair, then a bigger head... never ends

yes, saw that! Just waiting on that 210

Now that's handy - just so happens I know someone regularly visits Houston. Could get a few sets shipped there. Question is which ones...

Recently been some v big price drops on the TC RebelStack cabs. I got a 212 from Andertons for 299, they have the 115 now for 279, but the 210 is still full price (499) which is annoying as I would get a 210 if it dropped. Are these about to be replaced? The 212 i got had previously been over 500 and I reckon it's a really good cab. I'm keeping an eye out for a price drop on the 210. Anyone know what's going on?

Never used them, but the OP gave me the impression they would be mega-bucks. Not too bad, a bit more than the D'Addarios I use but not silly money.. My question will be Sun, Fat or Hi... I don't need huge top, but wide range mids and the lower highs, plus crisp very tonal E. I'll read the DR site info, but any pointers? (I use D'Addario 45-100 nickel rounds). re: plus crisp very tonal E - hard in words, but clarity of pitch, not muddy or thumpy. Tend to like a fair bit of tension in the E and prefer 100 to 105 as it feels / sounds more dynamic - in theory I'm thinking a bit lower mass... but who really knows

Good work there! It's good to see actual ev outputs charted. It is counter-intuitive to me that the 2nd is of greater amplitude than 1st, If I overlay (in my head) 2 pure sinewaves an octave apart, then part of the time they are additive, so there are peaks where the 2nd's perceived and measured amplitude exceeds the fundamental. Is this what is going on here? Re strings, I noted somewhere above (sorry don't recall who said it) Fender went 34" as a compromise with a bottom E. No pre-sight of low B. My own experience with 5s has been mixed but often the B has been 'sloppy' and I've felt it needed more tension. There's a table here also (above somewhere) for equal tension Es and Bs (based on diameter ) but surely the tension depends only on core diameter and tensile strength, the wrap is there to add the appropriate mass. I am using a 100 E at the moment which actually feels a little tighter than some 105s I've used before. Sorry, bit all over the place here, but string diameter is not a reliable indicator of tension, is it? - the maker will determine tension by deciding core diameter and tensile properties.

Thanks all - It's worth a go for me I think. I often find I want that low D, sometimes the C. And broadly speaking the G is the string I like least of the std 4 - I suppose I emerged from the deep dark part of the lake, or summat

Did you mean to say this? I don't need to look up timbre or tone or much about fundamentals and harmonics. Regarding my point/question concerning headless v headed - the OP heading is 'clear B string'. It is not possible to consider or discuss the real-world behaviour of the string in isolation, the entire system must be considered. If it helps, the creator of physics agrees with me. Given the termination points of the string are really important parts of the system, my point is relevant to the thread topic. And you don't own the thread.

I'm inclined to guess that Hiram is closely associated with a Rickenbacker, in which case being in tune is not an issue But just to be sure, it's the parts of a halftone that hurt, if the shifts were exact halftones I'd be OK. Doea anyone actually use a capo on a bass... is it even legal?

Excellent, thanks all. Bearfist - hadn't thought of the nut! I'm thinking of doing this to a fairly modest bass, and I'd seen elsewhere here one of the makers formin a nut from brass. I think I could manage that and do a nut-switch - after all we could both do with one anyway. I'll report back but it may be a while.

Any particular issues? Checked string tensions off D'Addario site, on a 45 - 130 set the B is lower load on neck than top G so that should be OK. Bridge saddle adjusting far enough back? So far as I know, pups are just pups with a conductor cutting flux. Can't really see the active pre-amp being a significant issue. Thought I'd buy a 5 string set and try it, can always use the top 4 and go back to normal. Not on a posh bass of course, just in case. Has anyone done this and anything odd to watch out for?

agree with all this, but can't see why the amplitude of a string would be less than its first harmonic? I accept there are points along the string where the is1st, 2nd etc amplitude will vary relative to fundamental, but stuck on the basic point. Another interesting point (to me) - headless basses. What is the view and bottom line re Headless v head?

Me too - way better. I think the tone is sharper / cleaner in the attack, and it forces accuracy as there is no give. Those soft ones are actually a bit inaccurate I reckon - got some no-brand really thick molded ones with indents for thumb / finger - great, cheap (I mislay them). I'm kind of back on using picks recently quite a bit.

It's Marmite then. see...

this has gone weird.

Good thread, important landmark place. I remember Barry. He sold 2 Fenders for me on commission, got an early Bass Collection from there, followed by an NT Thumb fretless, a Trace all-valve. Very hard to go in there and not spend, big time. And even harder to not go in there. Heaven in a shop. Re stairs (apart from the tube) I have some recollection that late in their tenure there, they opened upstairs...?? Had some guitars, Trace Acoustic, I was with someone trying a Telecaster there so I'm not imagining all of this. But for most of its life it was one big floor of goodness I recall.

Tasty - even sounds good on my laptop !

I use this to play a tracklist, could be quite a few tracks and I use it as a challenge to go straight in and play tracks I don't know, so for me it's practice that forces me across styles, chord progressions, pick to fingers etc. Re-tuning seems the obvious option but if you try living with that every single track, it is an absolute pain = and it breaks the non-stop flow.

Well done - it needed saying. The Jazz neck is not Leo's finest moment. P width at top then tapers a LOT to what feels live a Vee shape at the nut. So left hand form and position has to change significantly as you move around the neck. It's one Fender design you don't see many emulating - though my Sire V7 seems to have nailed the Jazz neck rather well I have a hunch that some day soon I may end up trying a P/J Hot Rod type P with P neck, back pup etc. I went from nappies to a Precision so it should feel homely to me. (I was a late developer, OK?)

here's my take - you cannot get or have 'heft' without shifting serious volumes of air. Lots of punchy mid-tone doesn't get you 'heft'. Top never gets it. And it's not about super-lows either. Just shift big air with pitch to it - so it has note values, not just a big breeze. That, to me, is heft.

que??

This sounds very promising - i'm going from Spotify playlists on my iPhone to a playback. I'll investigate Anytune - may need the bigger UI of a pad but sounds exactly what I need - also it's not the odd track I want to tweak. I often just run a dozen quite random tracks and aim to get into them quick. I think it's good practice to force me to play styles and lines that are outside my 'habit'.