Johannes

54 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

I reckon it’s to make the B string seem bassier than it is - take some of the ‘boom’ out of the next lowest strings so that the B sounds half decent by comparison… 😄

Yes! Very sharp observation, Paul👍 Really, I didn’t think about it, they can take a bit more money by thinning 3 strings one nod!

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Sandberg and Warwick do 45-135 with the heavier A and E.

 

You can buy a single 135 and add it to a stock set (e.g. Roto 66)

Thanks for Your response! Ok, but I have noticed that it is problematic to mix different brands. Like the EB cobalt flats I mentioned have much higher volume output than for example rotosound monel jazz flats.

Reasons to use a 15” bass cab these days are rather rare. Possibly ok if You play in a pub with unmiked drums, couple of  unmiked guitars and a vocals amplified trough couple of small speakers on a pole.  Add decent small subs to this setup and a 15” isn`t necessary in a pub. In a club-sized venue there’s usually bigger P.A. (making Your 15” or even 8x10 unnecessary) and a pro sound engineer for FOH mixing and if You are lucky another for monitors. In most of the cases they make Your band sound better to the (paying) audience quieter Your stage volume is. If You get booked to some artist`s tour You must discuss these things with the artist and her/his soundcrew. To my experience You can manage most gigs with rather modest setup. Of course it must be decent quality gear. Best solution for great sound for the audience is in-ears for the whole band. I know all of us can’t get used to it (including me). So mostly I use my 12” MB wedge, even raised closer to my ears. Can`t complain, very ok for me.

To my experience mass of a bridge doesn’t matter much, actually a heavy slab of metal can make Your beloved vintage bass sound and feel strange. I think most important feature in bass bridge is its rigidity. Meaning that bridge saddles must hold their position in every axis, front-back for intonation, height for proper action. Sometimes there`s a problem with bad bridges when saddles are slightly sliding sideways. That’s where strings are loosing their vibrational energy.

I wonder why so many string manufacturers offer 45-65-85-105 sets for 4-stringers but only 45-65-80-100-130(or 125) for fivers?
To my taste .80 A and .100 E feel little wimpy and sound too soft. In many cases I need to buy a 5-string set plus a 4-string set to get optimal set since single strings are not available. For example my favourite EB cobalt flats I must purchase like this. What do You think is the manufacturers idea, do they believe that bass necks will bow or is the reason to sell more strings?

I didn’t quite understand  Your message exactly… perhaps because I’m not native englih speaker. Anyway I agree about half-rounds, to my experience, they are absolutely garbage.

3 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said:

My La Bella flatwounds were secondhand when I got them about six years ago, so I don’t know their age. They still sound good to me though. 

If they sounds good to You they are good! 

2 minutes ago, snorkie635 said:

I'd say flats should be good for at least five years gigging 2-3 nights per week if cleaned after each.

That is my estimation too. 

8 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Ed Friedland famously has La Bella’s that are over 20 years old.

 

 

I am not sure if Ed played that bass 3 hours/day 20 years. There’s couple of basses in my warehouse too I haven’t touched for 20 years.

I have not encountered increasing tuning stability problem with aging strings You mention. Anyway it should be logical as metal weakens under stress.Yes, loving Your strings is a bit of a problem if You break a string.😉

You’re exactly right😀

Over the half century I’ve been playing the bass my preference of strings have changed from rondwounds to flatwounds. Reason for it is not the subject about my post but I prefer more fundamental sound flatwonds offer. I have enjoyed Ernie Ball cobalt flats 45-130 set on my main instrument, Sadowsky Metro modern for little over 7 years now. I am always very strict to clean my hands before playing and fortunately my hands doesn’t sweat at all. I also clean my strings daily with microfiber cloth and about once in a month with isopropynol alcohol.

However, last months I’ve noticed especially B, E, A - strings getting duller sounding. 
I know stories about Duck Dunn’s ancient strings but I wonder how long they last without breaking. My father tought me how to to break a nail by twisting it back and worth. I guess that same phenomenon is happening when a string is vibrating. Your toughts?

What is the problem? Simple and proven solution is a 5-string bass. If You want to stick with a 4-stringer, just play E flats an octave higher and try to imagine how much easier life could be with a 5-string bass. No pun intented, it’s just how I see it.

I can’t think of any disadvantage using a lined fretless bass until You’re blind, in that case You could possibly save few bucks by buying unlined…

I have owned several fretlesses, always lined. I’ve played them hundreds of live, theatre and studio gigs so I pretty well know sometimes those lines can be real life savers. I`ve never ponytailed my hair but it was very long indeed something like 40 years ago and didn`t always wear a suit. Here is the fretless I use these days, lovely Sadowsky N.Y.C. modern 5 wich I ordered lined, of course. I wish very Happy New Year to all of You basschatters!

Yes, that is true. There isn`t an amp designed for live gigs that sounds ”true” to Your instrument like a pair of high quality studio speakers in a pro studio. A system like that wouldn`t be even practical for live gigs. I am just wondering why the eq of this warwick gnome is so much different to all the other amps, warwicks included, not just mb`s.

Ok, thanks for Your tip! I’ll try it next time. Noctua really does its job whitout bells and whistles😀 

Sometimes I hear and read fellow bassists complaining about the fan noise these amps tend to have. My experiense is similar.
I have the smallest model Warwick Gnome for practising at home. It’s driving a markbass 12-inch wedge, 8 ohms so there is 130 W on tap, plenty for my practicing needs. Usually I use very modest volume but after a while playng its fan started to make really annoying and loud high-pitched whining noise. It is rather cheap amp so I didn’t care about voiding the warranty and decided to mod it. Original fan is a 12-Volt Crown-branded 30 mm fan. So I got the smallest high quality fan I could find, Noctua NF-A4x10 FLX, it is 40 mm and cost about 15€. First I removed the stock fan and drilled the holes on the top plate a bit larger. Then I removed the welded screw closer to the middle of the amp, it gives up easily by twisting it back and forth with pliers. Fixing it to the top needs some creativity, I managed it with the remaining screw and bolt, some heat-resistant glue, a twistable scrap metal piece and self-made silicone washers. 
When started, Gnome gives only couple of volts to the fan. Voltage raises according the temperature. Noctua kicks in at about 6 volts. It moves much more air than the stock one. After this mod it has been really quiet, even after playing long session I must take my ear few inches to the exhaust to hear it is spinning.

One thing puzzles me is the eq of this amp. For live gigs I use Markbass amp, . To get somehow similar sound like eq set flat  with mb You need  to set Warwick’s bass at 3 a clock and mid+ hi at 8 am. 
My biggest wish is the ability to choose d.i. to be pre or post. By the way, gnome doesn’t need those (airflow obstructing) aluminium add-ons. Actually looks better without.

Sometimes I hear and read fellow bassists complaining about the fan noise these amps tend to have. My experiense is similar.
I have the smallest model Warwick Gnome for practising at home. It’s driving a markbass 12-inch wedge, 8 ohms so there is 130 W on tap, plenty for my practicing needs. Usually I use very modest volume but after a while playng its fan started to make really annoying and loud high-pitched whining noise. It is rather cheap amp so I didn’t care about voiding the warranty and decided to mod it. Original fan is a 12-Volt Crown-branded 30 mm fan. So I got the smallest high quality fan I could find, Noctua NF-A4x10 FLX, it is 40 mm and cost about 15€. First I removed the stock fan and drilled the holes on the top plate a bit larger. Then I removed the welded screw closer to the middle of the amp, it gives up easily by twisting it back and forth with pliers. Fixing it to the top needs some creativity, I managed it with the remaining screw and bolt, some heat-resistant glue, a twistable scrap metal piece and self-made silicone washers. 
When started, Gnome gives only couple of volts to the fan. Voltage raises according the temperature. Noctua kicks in at about 6 volts. It moves much more air than the stock one. After this mod it has been really quiet, even after playing long session I must take my ear few inches to the exhaust to hear it is spinning.

One thing puzzles me is the eq of this amp. For live gigs I use Markbass amp, . To get somehow similar sound like eq set flat  with mb You need  to set Warwick’s bass at 3 a clock and mid+ hi at 8 am. 
My biggest wish is the ability to choose d.i. to be pre or post. By the way, gnome doesn’t need those (airflow obstructing) aluminium add-ons. Actuallylooks better without.

Only 5 strings for me. For what reason would a 4- stringer be better?

My ”home setup” is same as my ”gig setup” exept at home I D.I. my amp Pre-EQ to my audio interface and at a gig to P.A. I use a Markbass mini CMD 121 extended with a Standard 121 HR cabinet, placed vertically. That rig gives me more than enough power to any gig. If not, I don’t want to be on that stage. At home I try to match the EQ of the rig to the sound of my studio monitors, I prefer to record my bass listening other tracks trough my monitors and the bass trough the rig. In the photo are my settings to match the sound to my monitors. Of course these settings are completly different at gigs.

Don’t try to force it (if Your familys survival doesn’t require it). Often a good break and distance from it can work wonders.

After my first intense 10 pro years and very busy gigging schedule I just got enough and changed to another profession. I didn’t touch a bass or any other instrument for next 10 years. Then I got the ”sparkle” back and started to play again. It took couple of weeks about 1-2 hours practice per day to get my technique and cordination back. I think my playing got also more matured and disciplined. Weird thing is that my sight-reading got almost immediately better. I guess the reason for it is more relaxed mindset.

Endless variation possibility for bass players:

”Sweet Home Alabama”

”Knock Knock on the Heavens Door”

For most of the students music lessons are just wasted time. Anyway I was very lucky to have a great music teacher in our school who was very good musician himself. He noticed about 10 talents among us and got us playing together, at the begining under his supervision. Many of us became later pro musicians.

For stage use I think any common brand like Drawmer or Dbx will do. Anyway many pedal bass compressors are very good these days and are often much cheaper. Either You choose, be sure to connect it to a point in the signal chain where it does NOT affect the signal sent to the house mixer. As a FOH engineer I’ve had some terrible experiences with overcompressed basses, there is nothing You can do about it behind the mixer. It just sounds continuous mush or roar.

As a bass player myself I have done lot of work to perform without one, I feel it sounds clearer and punchier that way.

It seems to be some kind of consensus among the bass players that You should use only index and middle fingers for fingerstyle. I don`t agree. You use whatever suits for You. I have been using my ring finger as much as index and middle for my entire career (next year  I`ll celebrate my half century playing the bass). I use my thumb a lot too (I’m not talking about slap-style here). I cut my nails short exept my pinky, I use it for some special effects like twangy sounds or artifical harmonics. I claim that I can execute exactly as steady 16:th pulse using figers 1 and 2 or 1 and 3 or 2 and 3. Sometimes I roll it 123123123123 even it’s 4/4 meter. How about You, interested to hear.