ShergoldSnickers

Yep, Ped's just about nailed it. There's almost an SM58 type presence peak across the whole mix, but higher up the frequency range if you get my drift. I reckon the 6 to 12 k range needs taming a bit. The bass could do with poking through a bit more - I think the basic level is OK, it's just a bit of tweaking in the lower mids and maybe a bit higher up the spectrum. Overall, the tracks sound a bit like they're being played through a typical Bose PA to me. Brilliantly played though.

[quote name='Doc B' post='163539' date='Mar 26 2008, 07:57 AM']..... 2x Shure SM58...[/quote] If you want to record anything other than voice, or mic up a guitar cab, the SM58s will struggle to give you a transparent sound. I find SM58s to be rather coloured and a bit numb when it comes to delicacy and handling transients. A better solution would be a decent condenser mic. Getting a good quality signal in in the first place is crucial. There are plenty of condensers to choose from nowadays, some at really affordable prices. AKG, Rode, CAD, Sennheiser and SE Electronics all have lower priced mics available. To drive a condenser, you'll need some form of audio to digital interface that can give the mic a voltage to work from - phantom power. Most input boxes do this as a matter of course.

[quote name='paul, the' post='157146' date='Mar 14 2008, 03:39 AM']Hey snicks! Loved abokey dokey, a mish of styles but it really works. I've got that saved. And the tone of your Marathon on Recent Lie is.. to.. die. for. Will listen to monkey notes tomorrow. It's a big file and my intranerts playing up. Your music certainly sorts mice from men .[/quote] I think Monkey Notes might go on for about 19 minutes. I know one of the ones we've done recently does. . Much obliged that you've taken the time to listen to any of it . Cheers, paul, the - a gentleman indeed. Snicks.

Gorgeous phrasing, interesting to listen to and no unnecessary frills. It complements what else is happening perfectly. Absolutely loved it. More please...

There is something about a band that just clicks that pokes right through the musical genre - it's infectious. I don't normally listen to this type of thing, but this put a smile on my face. What more can I ask from a track? Class - the rhythm section in particular

I must have been inside elom's head as that pretty much sums up exactly what I was thinking. OK so there are some rough edges, but it works in the main. Yeah, keep doing it and keep posting the results. Given that I'm actually old and not just getting old, I hope these comments don't do you any harm... "Jeeze - if that Snicks likes us then we're doomed..."

[quote name='alexclaber' post='151302' date='Mar 4 2008, 08:17 PM']A better question than 10" or 15" would be simply, well designed cab vs poorly designed cab. I'm sure we'd all want the well designed cab and if it was well designed then we wouldn't care what it contains! Alex[/quote] What I was trying to say but so much more elegantly and economically expressed! Just glad it appears I haven't stuck my neck out too far on this one, but hey, if you don't try you don't learn. Snicks

Speaker size/response is a complex issue. There is no reason why a cab made with 10s should not go as deep as a similar cab using a 15. The frequency response is likely to be different in the mids though. So what factors affect bass response - and perceived bass response? This is my understanding anyway... [b]Suspension compliance.[/b] This is a measure of how easy it is to move the speaker back and forth on the suspension. The more compliant a speaker is, the lower the resonant frequency will be, and therefore the lower the potential bass response will be. Too much compliance results in the speaker flapping about and hitting the end stops. Too little compliance will give a resonant frequency too high for practical bass use. [b]Speaker cone mass.[/b] A 15 will generally have more than a 10 - fairly obvious. The mass usually affects higher frequencies, where the speaker can't be pushed and pulled quick enough to reproduce high mids and above. This is one reason why 10s will often sound clearer. [b]Speaker cone stiffness[/b]. A stiff cone is better, as it helps stop cone break up, where only parts of the cone are effectively working. Easier to control stiffness with a smaller one. [b]Excursion limits.[/b] The further the speaker can travel back and forth the more work it can do, and the stronger the bass output. This has no bearing on frequency response per se, but can boost the amount of bass a speaker can produce, and alter the perceived response. [b]Enclosure design.[/b] [i]The[/i] critical area of getting what's required from a driver, and a well designed cabinet will have more bearing on the overall response than anything else. Assuming the driver is half decent to begin with that is. A good cabinet is able to combine extended response with efficiency - not easy. A 15 enclosure may [i]appear[/i] to sound bassier due to the lack of mids that 10s would provide, but won't necessarily go any deeper. The slight overhang - the tendency of a 15 to continue moving after the signal has stopped, due to higher mass - may also change the perceived bass response. As it happens I have an Eden Nemesis NC115 - with a single 15 plus tweeter. Sounds fine to me, but if I need more welly I'll probably try an extra 2x10 cab first to see the difference it makes.

There's a gorgeous tone to the bass there Stu. It's got both depth and definition with enough meat on the low notes. As 'paul, the' mentioned, it's tastefully played and on a really smoooooth and polished track. Stick at it Stu and feed us some more... Snicks

Always happy to welcome another Mac user, especially if they are also a Fentimans ginger beer fan!

[quote name='Sibob' post='148159' date='Feb 27 2008, 11:14 PM']Enjoy Si[/quote] I did as well. A lot. A wide spread of material and styles all played really well. The mark of a real musician who understands how music is constructed and makes it all seem easy.

[quote name='metaltime' post='149782' date='Mar 2 2008, 12:31 PM']going to a recording studio to record for the first time ever in an hour any last minute advice??[/quote] Probably too late but... Make it fun. If someone is struggling, help them out by encouraging them. Getting annoyed or impatient with band members will not get the best result. Run through the song together as a band a couple of times first if you can. Lay off the booze Lay off the weed Don't monitor/mix at silly volume levels. Tempting though it is... Good luck and do we get to hear the results?

It's not a Jazz, but I've been astounded by the difference Wizards have made to my Shergold Marathon bass. The standard factory pickup was rewound and remagnetised by Andy, and a DiMarzio J-type (bridge position) added in the 80s was replaced with a stock Wizard J84. [url="http://web.mac.com/ianhalstead/Desperate_Din/"]You can hear the results here[/url]:

No overdubs, no editing, warts and all. All completely improvised, but try not to let that put you off. Then again, you might have your worst fears realised. After flogging Garageband to death with multitrack overdubs, I thought live recording everything the band does in 'rehearsals' would make a nice change. The results are here on a web page in the process of being finished. Music links at the bottom of the page. [url="http://web.mac.com/ianhalstead/Desperate_Din/"]The songs can be found here[/url] The ones I like best are Sandwich Spread, our signature 'tune', and Recent Lie. It's all a bit of fun, we don't take ourselves too seriously, so feel free to criticise as much as you want, we won't be bothered. All recorded directly to a Korg D888 digital 8 track. Drums - stereo condenser overhead (Rode NT4), kick drum mic (AKG D112), and a CAD m179 condenser for a touch of extra snare and hi-hat. Guitar - SM58. Sounds like there are overdubs, but it's all loop station. Bass - direct signal plus bleed from the other mics! Those Wizard pickups have transformed the sound of the Marathon bass. I've left as much as possible uncompressed - overcompression is one of my pet hates. The drums are completely uncompressed, so when they really get whacked you know about it.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='148024' date='Feb 27 2008, 06:44 PM']Roadkill! Pick em up on the way. If there is not enough elevation go for badgers.[/quote] Those German giant rabbits are the proper job. Failing that, smear the drummers neck in lettuce juice* and shout "angriff!" Don't forget to also point at the drummer. [b]WARNING:[/b] Casual use of lettuce juice is dangerous.

Grado - [url="http://www.gradolabs.com/"]a specialist headphone manufacturer based in the states[/url]. They spend the money on the basic engineering and sound spectacular. They reproduce bass both cleanly and effortlessly with the proper fundamental notes sounding as they should. It's impossible of course, but I swear I feel the vibration of those low bass notes through the floor when I'm using them. Models I'd recommend? SR60 about £70 - £80 SR80 about £90 - £100 Not cheap, but you can use them for 'audiophile' music listening as well. Astounding value for the levels of sound quality. You'll never need another pair of headphones.

Take a balloon and fill it with paint. Now drop it from a height. Trace the outline of the resulting mess. Now make a bass body based on that shape. You still wouldn't get a worse looking bass.

Welcome Davide. Ah, Verona - a wonderful city. When my grandmother died a few years ago, she asked for her ashes to be scattered in the grounds of Basilica San Zeno. She left enough money for myself, my wife and my mother to have a great holiday based nearby in Garda. She was in love with Italy, as is my mother. Once all the children leave home I'd love to be able to travel to Italy again. I've some fantastic memories from that holiday.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='110395' date='Dec 28 2007, 11:14 PM']That all has to do with diffraction, which is a different matter entirely. Also a diffraction issue, and less than about a 2 inch radius has little to no effect.[/quote] I just learned something Bill. Primarily not to start swimming in the deep end before ready.

[quote name='Hit&Run' post='110281' date='Dec 28 2007, 06:14 PM']Aphex's 'Punch Factory' is meant to be pretty good. I haven't got one myself but they did get good reviews in magazines (IIRC). There's bound to be a few people on here (basschat) that do have one, and I'm sure they'll chime in. It looks pretty simple to use with 2 rotary controls and an on/off footswitch. Price wise, they're about £85 delivered from a UK supplier, or about £60 delivered from the US. Though you may get stung for some VAT/import duty if importing from the USA... I've been thinking about one for a while...[/quote] Their best possible attribute is that you don't really notice it compressing. There is none of the breathing that you get with most other compressors. When you first use it you have to check that you've turned it on it's really that transparent in operation! The only reason I know it does do something is that the recording levels aren't all over the place when I do a take with it switched on. It takes virtually any power supply AC or DC and has a balanced wet or dry XLR output as well as the usual jack. Highly recommended. Edit: forgot to mention that if you have phantom power on the XLR connection it can use that for power.

There has been a tendency for some time now for hi-fi cabinets and multi-channel sound systems to follow this path. You don't see many cabs that don't try to keep a fairly narrow front face, making up internal volume with back to front depth as well as height. A narrow front face apparently helps to give a better stereo image when using two cabinets and helps the perceived location of sound in a room if using more than two in a multi-channel set-up. Even lateral dispersion is one of the factors affecting how well a pair of speakers create a believable stereo image. Some say that rounding off the edges of cabinets helps as well, but whether this would have any useful purpose on a bass cab is debatable.

[quote name='99ster' post='108780' date='Dec 24 2007, 02:20 AM']Cool bass...! I had the 6 string version for a while (fretless as well).[/quote] If you still have any pics I'd love to see them.

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='108592' date='Dec 23 2007, 04:10 PM']Hopefully, there's going to be a Basschat gathering in 2008, so maybe we can make that happen? They're both quirky 70s British basses, which personally, I've always liked.. See you then and have a good Xmas in the meantime![/quote] Cheers, silver. Have a good one yourself. Here's to quirky basses!

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='108312' date='Dec 22 2007, 08:03 PM']The Wizard Thumper is overwound, so it's hotter with slightly less top but more midrange than a standard P pickups. Lots of overwound P pickups are available, like the Di Marzio QP for example, but... Wizards sound awesome, they're made in the UK, they're a bit cheaper, they have a lifetime guarantee(!) and Andy (at Wizard) will help you with any query you have. He's a great guy. [url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk"]Wizard Pickups...[/url][/quote] +1 Dealing with Andy was so easy, and the advice I got was spot on. He remagnetised and rewound the original Shergold p'up, and on the strength of that work I bought an overwound J type to replace an old DiMarzio in the bridge position. Pleased as punch.