chyc

Do you not even take the strings off to clean the fingerboard?

Some people gave tips, the majority said don't do that. I accept that. Perhaps yes there is some disappointment that I cannot do what I want to do, but in a way I should be glad that there was not much I could have done to prevent failure doing what I was doing.

I'd love to say it's for different clients with different requirements, but yes it's me, for run, recording different sounds and practising different techniques. I should clarify that when I say I feel the UltraMags can be swapped indefinitely, this would be bounded by the useful life of the string. In other words, I feel that the Rotos will suffer metal fatigue failure after the strings' sounds are no longer pleasant. The Chromes obviously had a lot of life left in them. I measured the widths of the D strings. UltraMag is ~1.7mm for the entire length of the string. The Chrome is ~1.7mm at the playing end, and ~0.9mm at the snapped headstock end with the silk removed. I guess this string swapping is not something I can continue doing, particularly if I want to stick with D'Addario.

Thanks for all the responses. Looks like I'm out of luck. Just to reemphasize that I feel my Rotosound strings will be able to do this indefinitely as the string diameter is constant for the entire length of the string. The Chromes, by virtue of them being cheese-wire at the headstock, will not. Obvious answer will be to switch to Rotosound flats so long as they are similar in design to the UltraMags In answer to how often have I done this, I reckon every three months or so for 2 years, so each string has been placed on the bass 3 or 4 times.

I've got two sets of strings that I like, for different purposes (chromes vs rounds), and so swap back and forth fairly regularly (every 3 months or so). However, and this annoys me somewhat, yesterday the D'Addario Chrome D string snapped upon tuning. Now that my Sauron gaze is looking at the string, I can see that while the meaty end of the string is chunky enough, the headstock with its silk is extremely thin, almost like guitar string thin, so it was a disaster waiting to happen. The other strings I own, Rotosound Ultra Mags, are much chunkier around the headstock and I have no worries about this happening to these. Surely I'm not the only person who changes strings back and forth. What can I do to stop this happening (please nobody say to buy another bass !)? I'm not a string expert by any stretch, but it is disappointing that the D'Addario Chromes really are so thin up top, so it may be that I just cannot do this with these strings. My eyes watered when I bought these strings as well, so this question may be academic as I wrestle in my head to pony up for the same thing again. For info if there's something I can correct, when I unwind, the strings maintain their coil around the peg. When it comes to putting them back, I slot the end of the string into the centre of the tuner which seems to lock it in place, then tighten the string with the coil pre-wrapped around the peg, albeit loosely.

Microphone stand came quickly, as described in excellent condition. Thank you very much Chris for the great transaction.

Hmm I hadn't considered you solder in the 9v to the pickups independent of the preamp. I was imagining the EMG kits with all the preassembled trunking. Yes that you're describing would work, but I would note that wouldn't be a drop in replacement.

Presumably in the same way that you can technically plug some speakers directly into line-out as it's all electromagnetic waves. The preamps are designed for different levels of gain and impedence. I've plugged in an ultra-high impedance pickup into a mere high-impedance amplifier. Did it make sound? Yeah, I guess. Did it sound great? No, not so much. You also need to deal with the fact that active-pickup-preamps, when they have a bypass, still supply come kind of active circuitry to buffer the pickups. My Warwick for example has active MEC pickups, with a preamp bypass switch, yet when the battery is removed the bass doesn't function at all, even when preamp bypass is engaged.

Just for the record, Elixirs are what I have currently on my TT4, and yes to my ears it does sound really Hi-Fi and a bit brittle as you say. Appreciate it's more than just tone so if the feel and tension are just right with those then switching strings may not be for you. The Ultramags do feel different.

Do you know what EMG pickups you want? EMG do passive pickups which could work here (warning: I've never tried), but I have in my head that EMGs are famous for their active pickups, which won't work in the Sandberg without swapping out the preamp. I believe the confusion stems from the fact that you can pair an active preamp with passive pickups, as with the Sandberg you own. For active pickups, you need an active preamp, but one specifically designed for such a scenario. I own a Sandberg TT4 and I get what you're saying, it's a very glassy tone. On one of my other basses I fitted it with UltraMag strings and those really gave it a mid-range punch (once things settled down) that I absolutely love and it sounds like this is what you're after. I have a new set ready to be put on my TT4, but I don't want to waste strings with life left in them still. Shame the timings haven't worked out here because if you'd have asked this question in a year or so I would have been able to give a more definitive answer as to whether it helps. Based on my other bass (also a Sandberg BTW), these strings may well be a cheaper solution to new pickups.

I've heard the two side by side, and to my ears the 10" was better for pizzicato, but I'm not really a good yardstick as I was playing at the time. The lower frequencies in the 12" felt like they were resonating the bass, which is very easily solved with a bit of EQ, but it didn't seem to happen with the 10" Monza. I think stevie would have been better placed (literally) to hear the cabinet. In any case the difference was subtle so if it were me, I'd actually have to factor size/weight/price into the consideration. Either one would be a very good fit in my opinion.

This talk about BB2s has got me thinking about a decent alternative I tried recently. At the SE Bass Bash I was able to try out the LfSys cabinets using my double bass, the cabs being made by @stevie of this parish. I was impressed with the sound that it generated. If you had to make me choose between the cabinets he sells, then no question the 10" Monza was the best sounding of the bunch for upright bass. My favourite sounding cabinet that I own is a 6.5" GSS. I would recommend that one except you're saying a Doubleshot doesn't give you enough grunt. The Monza seems to have that GSS sound, but it can go much louder, probably as loud as I need it to go. Wished I'd played them side by side now. Maybe next year's bash I've never tried a BB2, but I would say that if LfSys's 12" cabinets are supposed to go toe to toe with the BB2, then the Monza is more appropriate for double bass. How does the Monza compare with a doubleshot? I don't know sorry as I've never seen a DS, and sadly I probably never will. I was incredibly saddened to hear this year of the passing of Rick Jones at Acoustic Image. I own two Acoustic Images. One is old enough to vote and drink alcohol. Warning, subjectivity ahead: This is my best guess as to why I prefer smaller cabs. Flat-response is a really good indicator of a good speaker cabinet, but there are other things to consider. For me the signal coming from my pickup is absolutely not the sound I hear or indeed I want to hear out front. A piezo pick-up contains far too much fundamental frequency for my taste, so for double bass for me at least a flat response sits lower in the priority list. I would guess that the 10" cone naturally limits the ultra-low frequencies that I hate so much compared to the 12" that these electric types seem to prefer these days. Also, at the other end of the frequency spectrum that horrible scratchy noise that electric bassists hate so much I would regard as string detail and I love it! My Rolls-Royce amplification setup has me using a blended signal of microphone and pickup. The pickup does the grunt work, and the microphone gives me the upper frequencies and air that I find lacking with just a pickup. Coming back from my aside, if people are recommending BB2, I would say that LfSys seem to be similar in mission to Barefaced, and also apparently a fair bit cheaper as well. To be honest, I'm really surprised nobody's mentioned LfSys yet as they seem to be very well regarded on this forum.

I doubt it's too difficult for someone skilled with the right tools. The tongue and groove parts interlock together so nicely I would hesitate to say you could do it with a jigsaw. The routed edges are very professionally done as is the rubber protective trim, but yeah there's nothing magical about it, and it isn't even plywood: it's MDF. If you didn't care for collapsability then absolutely it would make a nice project. However, I do care about how small it is in the back of the car, and despite getting my hands dirty making BC112 and four BC110 speaker cabinets, if I were to lose my stool I'd probably still buy another one. The design of this along with the quality of the finish really is very nice.

This isn't cheap, but I own one and it's excellent. I use it for an acoustic upright, but it looks like it might accommodate your EUB. Collapses down to nothing, and is a very nice stool for sitting on if that's how you play, and a very nice stool for sitting on when you're not playing if not! https://www.bassico.eu/classical-accessories-instrument-stands/rc-williams-co.-bass-stand-und-stool/8837-0-0-8837-0.htm?cat=908&produkt=3792&l=EN

It's not always true that you can use an amp without a speaker, but for the Elf you can do this.