northstreet

I've got a 15" speaker out of a Hartke VX115 cabinet. Rated at 300W at 8 ohms. Was working OK when I last used around Christmas time. Only trouble is that I work in Milton Keynes so it's going to be a a bit of a trek to meet up. What do you think?

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I've had a LH500 for about 6 months and it's exactly the same. Maybe it's the valve in the preamp warming up?

Did anyone catch The Noisettes gig being shown on the TV earlier today? Shingai was playing a stunning acoustic bass that looked (and sounded) nearly as big as her. Any ideas what it was? A serious GAS attack is brewing!

One of the bands I play in has just given up using backing tracks, for a number of reasons. First, you have no flexibility at all - you just play to the track. If the song's going well you can't extend it (and conversely can't cut it short if it's bombing). And that leads on the next point which is you can't cover up mistakes - get out of step with the track and it's game over. And this will happen unless you always guarantee a decent sound - if you can't hear the track because the monitors aren't working one night.......... It's OK for a solo artist because you can work round these problems but if it's a couple of you, you will need to be almost telepathic.

In my experience the drawbacks heavily outweigh the advantages. And then there's the point that playing bass against a drum machine is pretty soul destroying as all you do all night is count bars to make sure you know where you are. So that's why we've just recruited a drummer. Less money, more hassle maybe, but much more fun.

[quote name='jakesbass' post='507046' date='Jun 6 2009, 03:49 PM']PM'd[/quote]

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I've got this USB thingie that lets you copy the contents of your phone's SIM card to your PC. Useful if your phone gets lost or stolen, or you replace it, as you can just copy all your numbers back to your new phone - saves re-entering them all. Used it a couple of times for my daughters (always losing there phones) and it works fine.

Trouble is, it don't work on my new Vista machine. If you've got an XP machine and you want it, let me know and I'll send it to you. Brand new it only costs £10 - if you find it useful put a couple of quid in the next charity collection box you see.

[quote name='budget bassist' post='505645' date='Jun 4 2009, 05:56 PM']That's gorgeous!!! Good luck with the sale matey, only wish i could afford it![/quote]

+many!

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='502498' date='May 31 2009, 07:29 PM']Read the OP again... TGE is talking about running a [u]pair[/u] of [size=4]2x15[/size]'s NOT a pair of 1x15's! [/quote]

I am so sorry - I should have made it very clear I was talking 'in principle', and offering a general agreement to the OP's idea without having direct experience of what he/she is wanting to do. That's why I asked him/her to let me know how they got on. I must remember the audience I am talking to in any future posts.

I've been thinking about doing the same. I run a Hartke LH500 into a Hartke VX115 (having replaced the driver with an Eminence Kappa Pro) which gives me 350 watts at 8 ohms. That's enough for most gigs but occasionally it would be useful to have a bit more volume, so adding another 8 ohm cab would give me the full 500 watts, and the extra power and more speakers should do the job nicely. Warwickhunt is right about the PA, but only if you run the bass through it - we don't. Having read a number of threads about mixing cabs with different drive units, the way I understand it is that it's not always a good idea, so another 1x15 would seem to tick all the boxes - it's a (relatively) cheap way of getting more volume and there shouldn't be any unwelcome issues with your sound. Let us know how you get on.

My set up is to get the action as low as possible, which suits my style of play. My sound typically is biased towards the low end, and I don't play too hard, but at points in some songs you do want to dig in, and imo being able to easily get a clank of the frets helps emphasise that.

I prefer the american naming convention. The last time I talked about quavers the singer went and bought some crisps.

I have used these as well [url="http://www.macksearplugs.com/hear-plugs-hi-fidelity-earplugs.htm"]http://www.macksearplugs.com/hear-plugs-hi...ty-earplugs.htm[/url]. They are very effective but can muffle the sound a bit too much - but our drummer swears by them. I prefer ER20s as they don't cut the high notes quite as much.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='420952' date='Feb 27 2009, 02:42 PM']Your observations are correct, but not the conclusions drawn. If you were to stack a pair of 4x10s and a pair of 1x15s, or a pair of anything for that matter, similar results would always ensue.

Unplug the bottom cab and the bass response will fall. Two reasons. First. the raised impedance and reduced cone area reduces output by at least 5dB. When output drops you don't hear bass as well, see: Fletcher-Munson equal loudness curves. Second, when run alone the height of the top cab above the floor is sufficient to de-couple the system from the boundary reinforcement offered by the floor, and it does so in the midbass where bass impact is perceived to originate from. With both cabs plugged in the cones in the top and bottom cabs operate as one in the low frequencies and there's no coupling loss.

Unplug the top cab and the midrange and high-frequencies will fall. Again, two reasons. The first is that same cone area and impedance situation as before. The second is that mids and highs are very directional. and if the source is on the floor they simply pass you by unheard.

The notion that adding a 15 will fill in the bottom with a 4x10, or vis-versa, gains credence when one performs the same exercise as you did. But assuming you don't happen to have a pair of 1x15s and a pair of 4x10s lying about to perform the same experiment with different combinations of cabs you simply have no way of knowing that you'll get similar results no matter which combination you may use, including putting a 1x15 atop a 4x10.[/quote]

So..........call me Mr Stupid, but if I understand this correctly, the best sound will be obtained by stacking two cabinets, largely regardless of what's in them? The bottom cab will give the bass, the top cab will give the mid-range, and the combined cone area gives volume and perceived bass response.

The bass solo in Hot Legs - I know, I know, but it's for a wedding and that's what the bride wants us to play.

I've just bought a second hand VX115 and want to disconnect the built-in horn. Seems straight forward enough to disconnect the wires, but my question is do I leave it open circuit or should I join the wires together? I'll be powering the cab through a Hartke LH500.

First one I bought didn't work from the off, but the replacement has been OK. Seems to be as effective as the equivalent Boss pedal, although there's a bit more hiss. And as I only use it for about 5 minutes in an entire set, £15 against £60 seems good value.

A EB3 copy in a faded cherry colour way back in 1974. Can't remember the make. I'd being messing around with various different instruments trying to find something that inspired me. I'd just bought my first album - Quadraphenia, by The Who. One listen to John Entwhistle on The Real Me and that was it - I wanted a bass. The EB3 was quickly moved on but 35 years later I'm still playing.

PM sent (I think - I'm new to this site)

8 ohms?

Carrying on with this thread, anyone know of any places in east London - preferably somewhere accessible by car? Cheers

Played at a tennis club Christmas party on Saturday. Only a small place but a good crowd - up and dancing from the second number. My wife and some of her friends were there and we dragged them up on stage to do backing 'vocals' on Mustang Sally. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I'm still not Mr Popular! The bad news was that my amp packed up mid-way through (good job I'd borrowed a back-up), the good news is that I now have an excuse to buy the Hartke LH500 that's been well reviewed in another thread. Tonight I'm playing for some (God have mercy on my soul) estate agents, in between two sets from a line dance band. Also seemed like a good idea at the time. I must be getting old.

Going off thread, I've only recently found this site, and it's been really helpful to me as I dip my toes back into playing. Have a great Christmas.

Did my first gig for nearly 30 years last night. No nerves at all until about 2 minutes to go - all of a sudden I couldn't remember which way to hold the bass, let alone the opening chords for the first song. Got up on stage, the drummer counts us in, and thankfully the automatic pilot took over and I was OK. Wouldn't have it any other way though - if I can't get excited/nervous before a gig then it's probably not worth doing.

Thanks for all the advise. I'll be keeping the Ibanez. Re the amp, I've decided on a Behringer 1x15" cab (I know the quality may not be the best but there's not too much to go wrong with a cab) and a Peavey Tour 450. That will give me 300W and should be loud enough. I need more volume I can throw a cheap 2x10" cab into the mix and get the full 450W.

Cheers

Hi. I'm after some words of wisdom about what gear I should buy, rather than what the guy in the shop needs to sell this week.

I've recently started playing again after a gap of about 25 years. I bought an Ibanex GSR200 and a Crate BT100 - both of which are fine for auditions/rehearsals/small rooms. I've got in with a couple of bands that gig occasionally and for live work they are using 300W+ stuff and some expensive guitars. I don't want to spend a fortune but I reckon I need to trade up in order to get some gigs. What do people think would be some good gear to move on to?

With my existing gear, I really like the neck and light weight of the Ibanez, and was looking at something else from the range, but is a £750 Ibanez good value - or should I follow the crowd and get a P-bass? Or is OK to stick with a cheap guitar for now?

I will definitely need some louder gear. I like the depth of sound from the 15" speaker in the Crate, so I was looking at some of the Behringer stuff, which seems reasonable value - but again, what's the general opinion on mid-price gear?

Thanks for any help or advise you guys can give.