Woodwind

I'm quite intrigued by how many players of passive instruments have the tone on full.

When I played a passive jazz the tone was mostly under half and it was similar on my aluminium neck kramer with passive humbucker.

 In both thos cases I would use new strings regularly, but found opening up the tone beyond half seemed to bring up an unpleasant midrange. YMMV of course

Fretless stingray 4, 3 band eq.

currently set at:

Treble down a third.

Mids boosted a tiny amount and bass adjusted + or - a tiny bit based on the resonance of the room.

How does the pricing in Pond5 work?

You set your price presumably?

Is this regarded as royalty free music, so you exempt yourself from PRS and PPL earnings once the track is in use?

13quid seems very, very cheap for a track.

I hadn't heard of Pond5 before so had a quick browse around the site.

As a place to sell SFX it seems quite interesting.

On 26/10/2021 at 10:16, kwmlondon said:

 

Reply removed>>>

Apologies, my answers have all been posted earlier in the thread by others, but wouldn't load on my phone

2 hours ago, spacecowboy said:

Hmmm, share buy, lock it away, equal dividend split on sale at agreed 10 years in the future sales date...

This is exactly how Stradivarius violins are owned by investment companies. They buy them, then loan them to pro players and then sell them at a later date

Massive thread resurrection.

I know the world stopping over the last 18months would have made this project more difficult.

How have you found it looking back now?

Pretty much my only purchase in 2021. A Mantic Hulk.

I bought it for a new composition I was working on and got to road test it on an excerpt of this piece at my show on the 1st of October.

Superb! I can't wait to use it again.

(apologies for the stock image photo')

4 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

Folks who like super bright round wounds are the ones who change strings most regularly, flatwounds if wiped down now and again, or never if you thats your thing can just let it be. Flatwounds get better with age!

 when I played rounds I changed them before every gig (originals band playing once a month).

Now I play on light weight ground-wounds.

I have the had the same set for 6 years. I think about buying a fresh set, but that's more remembering habit rather than desiring a new sound 😂

On 23/10/2021 at 01:18, Phil Starr said:

A bit of an update, I've been using the amp for a couple of days in rehearsal with a single 6" cab, surely the ultimate bijou pairing. I wanted the Gnome for  just this sort of thing. We have a duo with amplified acoustic guitar and two vocals and I needed something super compact to carry with all our luggage or a weekend away which would produce a satisfying sound for rehearsal. Which it does in spades. Within 5 mins the amp was quite warm and fair enough to get the volume through a small speaker it was working about 3-4x harder than with a 'normal' bass cab. the funny thing was that as we turned up it stayed at a similar temperature and even between songs it seemed to stabilise at 'quite warm'  not quite q hot water bottle more like the forehead of somebody with a bit of a fever, so maybe 40C. The tone controls are OK the bass control seems to shelve so bass is enhanced without getting extreme boost at the bottom end, the mid frequency is lower than my Peavey or MB so it really enriched the bass without getting harsh. The treble is not particularly dramatic, I mean it works but you don't get searing treble and with this speaker moderate roll off wasn't making a huge difference, but this speaker is only flat up to 6kHz so maybe it is acting mainly above this frequency. I liked the mid control though.

 

The best sound I've had so far is with my Zoom Hartke emulation and a touch of compression and bass boost, it pretty much sounds like it does through headphones. the Gnome works well with flat controls and something else doing the eq/processing

 

So tonight I took it all to an open mic in Reading, the Butler if you know Reading. everything else through the provided PA but bass through the Gnome and 1x6. Maybe 50 people in the pub and it was a lively night with an enthusiastic and noisy audience. The pub is an awkward space with an L shaped bar area. I needn't have worried the Gnome and mini speaker were more than adequate My duo partner says the bass dominated the on-stage sound and and Nicole running the sound said it was about right out front. The amp was up quite high and the compression light was flickering but I reckon there were a few more db if I wanted them. I you remember that this was with a tiny 6" speaker then with a couple of decent 12's I think the Gnome would cope fine with a shed building drummer.

 

Finally if you are in Reading on a Friday go and check out the Butler's open mic. The standard was insane for an open mic, some of the singing was exceptional, there were at least six singers I'd have loved to gig with. the audience were enthusiastic too, it was a great evening.

 

Aha looks like the host recorded us, this was with everything set flat with a tiny touch of the top trimmed with the tone on the j bass https://fb.watch/8P3Y8FUcuU/ apologies for the audience singing

Is the bass sound in the video just from your micro cabinet?

Blimey, that's superb!

14 minutes ago, EssentialTension said:

Definitely persevere.

 

And realise that lots of things that happen at gigs, including bumnotes, missing the bridge, etc, and weak intonation, sound much worse when you listen back to a recording than they did in the live situation.

This!

Not on bass guitar, but there are many times I have left the stage deflated due to fluff ups etc, but am accosted in the bar after by many new fans.

A performance full of conviction and life is worth a great deal more than a technically perfect show which may happen to be devoid of feeling.

Perseverance.

Stick with the fretless.

Concentrated practice and mindful playing will reap rewards.

For my own playing, when I'm working on something new and my intonation is out I'm aware I'm too conscious of the note I'm trying to play and not what has surrounded it, ie the shift to get there and what my left hand was doing to play the previous note

On 20/10/2021 at 11:22, Dennis Finch said:

...14, I began to play the bass trombone which I adore! You can make seriously loud noises on it without any lugging of amplification  

 

....

Last but not least, my bass trombone is a Yamaha YBL 830 G Xeno Custom, 2 rotary valve system....

 

 

Kind regards.

 

Den Finch.

 

Hello Den,

Any videos of you in action with the bass trombone?

I'm a massive fan of the bass 'bone.

Thanks for linking this.

It certainly confirms my on the ground experiences.

Car amplifier is a great idea.

Several 12v mixers around to run all the OP's inputs from this as well

other options -

I see a lot of solo singer guitarists using the Roland street cube.

Once away from a supportive resonant wall they sound awful to my ears - really straining hard.

The newer street cube ex is much better.

I was watching a player with one yesterday. It is clearly more powerful and they were running several inputs. The sound was much nicer.

I see Harley Benton now have a busking amp that may be worth a look:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_streetbox_60.htm?ref=mobile#bewertung

If you could run two of these you'd be spreading the headroom a bit - ideal for percussive instruments like your Cajon

Will you be busking in resonant spaces (eg railway arches) or completely outdoors?

I ask as I used my phil jones double4 running off a battery as a two channel system for my Contrabassoon effects and samples.

In railway arches it is the perfect volume.

In unsupported areas - footpath etc it completely dissappears. It's like I'm making no sound at all.

I have seen people running multi instrument sets ups in outdoor spaces using the new 240v powerblock systems and using a mixer into a single powered pa speaker.

If I was starting from scratch tomorrow this is the route I would go. The battery for my double4 was 100quid right off the bat which makes this thing pretty good value -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jackery-Portable-Explorer-Generator-Outdoors/dp/B08RNPYLQW/

It says it will provide 200w (400w peak) so that would do a mixer and 100watt+ PA speaker

On 09/10/2021 at 11:37, Phil Starr said:

Will do, how quickly do you want to do it? I built mine to deliberately match a Kustom Guitar combo which I'd adapted for bass practice. It's slightly unusual construction as a result but I can just give you dimensions to copy right away. If you want to order parts i can give you a parts list too. If you are happy to wait I can get you some drawings done and eventually I will build the combo with the Gnome and have some photos of the build.

 

you can see some of this here https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/442331-a-house-jam-combo/ the cab starts on P2, there are also a couple of 'reviews' of the cab from the SouthWest Bass Bash here Bass Bash Starts at the bottom of P30

Hi Phil,

That's very kind thank you.

I'm not in a position to start building yet, but I'll send you a PM in due course 😎

On 20/02/2021 at 10:53, Phil Starr said:

Looks better this way up, there's only a tiny overhang. I think this might become my go- to set up for working with acoustic acts. I need to try it in a bigger space of course but it has a really satisfying sound and is more than loud enough with a bigger amp. This was just meant to be a fun project but this is quite a usable speaker. I'm going to try it with a PA amp as the Peavey might be adding a little gilding to the sound.  John @Chienmortbb and I are looking at a potential amp for this but it might be quite interesting to try it with something like the TC BAM with a view to building that into a permanent combo. It'd be about 6kg and whilst it wouldn't work with a drum kit it could be a very straightforward, lightweight, family friendly solution for home practice and just making you heard without having to carry a double bass everywhere. £33 for the speaker £125 for the amp and maybe £25 for the wood/finishing touches. Anyone interested?

 

This is absolutely superb!!!

3 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

And sell the cab for £100 and even better…

 

 

I didn't even think of that 🤣😂🤣

On 06/10/2021 at 08:11, Phil Starr said:

 

...

I want this for a specific reason, I've built a 1x6 cab for open mic and working with acoustic acts and I want to turn it into a teeny-tiny combo. The 1x6 handles 100W so this will be ideal. I had intended building an amp from scratch (OK from ready built modules) but factoring in the costs of a case and connectors this works out at a similar cost. I'll put up the design for people to copy when it's done.

 

...

Phil I'd be really, really interested in your 1x6 design and thoughts, especially with the partnered gnome.

Will you make a dedicated thread?

My uses are very specific and I've often considered a 1x6, but don't know where to start.

Cheers,

Thomas

31 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

ABSOLUTELY FUMING! would’ve done £500 for this amp 😩

With the extra auction fees that probably wasn't far off 500quid all in.

Regardless, someone got an absolute bargain!

5 hours ago, E sharp said:

The early USA Eden WT amps were great. I’m still rolling with a WT400 (the micro amp of its day), and bar the Aguilar DB751 I had, it has royally pi**ed over everything I’ve tested out. 

I would love a wt400 or wt550.

Love the minimal look, the parametric EQ etc.

Would often turn up at the bass centre in wapping just to refresh my memory about how they sounded and would go off to count my pennies.

3 hours ago, Staggering on said:

... no idea when regular concerts and shows will resume in Ontario. 

Sigh...🙁

I feel for you.

Coming from an originals context, rather than function or covers, although gigs are happening it is very, very difficult to build up sequences of dates.

Too many things can get cancelled last minute.

I'm using this lull to work up a new set specifically for less, but more select shows next year.

I've seen things are happening in certain cities in Canada, but it seems a similar situation to here - treat shows as one offs

Dust is settling from my show on Friday the 1st.

First public performance in just under 2 years. It was wonderful to play again. Capacity crowd at Kings Place Hall 2. Superb venue!

Dealing with the slight anticlimax now as my diary is still basically empty.

Thanks for posting these