Count Bassy

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1327525765' post='1513005'] If I specifically go out to watch a band then I expect to be entertained. If I wanted to hear an exact copy of an original then I'd have stayed at home and listened to the CD. I find it interesting to hear 'new takes' on familiar tunes, sometimes they work a treat, and sometimes they don't, but isn't learning how to recognise that difference what makes us better musicians..? [/quote] Exactly! Even if it is the original band - I saw 10cc a couple of years ago - brilliant - my on;y complain was that it was too much like the CD!

[quote name='skampino' timestamp='1327111706' post='1506692'] I've looked at youtube vids but can't seem to get the slapping technique. Most don't tell you where you should rest your arm and whether the hand should hover or rest on the body. It seems everyone plays slightly different with some teaching you to directly hit the string and others saying you should hit the bottom part of the string and end up with thumb on next string down. then there's those who say your thumb should be pointing upwards and others saying it should be perpendicular. It confused me as whatever method I tried either my fingers hit the body or my palm touched the strings. I decided to have lessons so a tutor could tell me what I'm missing or doing wrong. Last thing I want is to develop bad habits. It's harder to unlearn something than learn from scratch. I doubt I will play slap much but I'd like to have the option of doing so and welcome a new challenge. [/quote] U-tube is a great resource, but it's no substitute for a real teacher who can see what you're doing wrong, and can answer specific questions. A real teacher (for me at least) also gives more incentive to practise what you've learn't before the next lesson!

+1 on Andy Turner. Feel bad for having forgot him. The bass solo at the start of 'Handy' is Beatiful.

Some of you have read and even contributed to my previous thread re my 'Clicking' Promethean, so I thought I'd give you an update. Rockem Music heard from the distributor today, and it is definitely faulty, which is a relief. You start to question your own ears and stuff when a brand new piece of kit doesn't perform as you'd expect. This is Good news I suppose, however the bad news is that there has apparently been a bad batch of boards from China and there loads being returned faulty, so they (the distributor) can't offer me replacement, and have no good boards in stock to replace just that. New boards are supposedly coming from China, but they can't say when that will be. We bass chatters know that this product is about to be replaced (the guy who rang from Rockem didn't know this), so it makes you wonder if they will bother to replace them. As Rockem Man said, I'm probably lucky that mine failed straight away. There are probably lots out there which are due to fail at sometime.Fair do's to Rockem, he said that they will be contacting any of their customers who may have faulty ones to advise them of the (potential) problem. Rockem have offered me my money back, or they will replace it with one of the 5115K combos (they have been offered a deal by the distributors due to the problem (or is it because its about to be dropped)) but I'd still have to pay an extra £50. The 15" is 4 Ohm and will give the full 500W and in other circumstances might be worth considering but... Surely the amp in this combo is exactly the same as the one in 10" combo, so it's as likely to have the fault as the 10" one. Of course Rockem could just be bullshitting, or the bloke didn't know much about them (Did not know that they were end of life, or that its the same amp in both combos. I suspect I'll go for the refund, but just in case - Has anyone used the 15" combo, if so what do they think of it (personally I think its cheeky to call it a combo - its just a cab with an amp bolted on top. Hardly integrated - I wouldn't want to stick that in a car with the amp still attached! Cheers, The count

Boz Burrell - Perhaps not the best technician, but loved him all the same, a real Groover. RIP Gary Twigg. Edit to add Andy Fraser - no explanation necessary

[quote name='kennyrodg' timestamp='1326701460' post='1500535'] I like it, thanks for posting as I've not heard it in a while. It let's you think about the ones you love that ain't here any more to tell them. [/quote] And this.

What gets me, and I love about 'sweet lovin boy JT', is that it's 40 years since I first 'Got Into Him', his hair has gone from down his back to almost nothing, but when he opens his mouth its like going back those 40 years.

Must be careful what we mean by tension and stiffness here. You could replace an E string with a 0.1" solid steel rod with a zero tension, but it wouldn't half be stiff!

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1326629163' post='1499616'] Yes, that one is a bit of a collection of bits and pieces. The reeds and reed pans are Wheatstone, the number has been dated by Steve Dickinson. The ends are Lachenal with glass keys, and probably date to the 1920's. The bellows are 7-fold by Harry Crabb, my mum had them put on in the 1960's. But it's a real ol' original axe ;-) . [/quote] Wow, a bit of a mongrel , but if it sound good and plays well who cares? Do you go on 'Concertina.net' at all?

[quote name='Gwilym' timestamp='1326633568' post='1499699'] exactly. (EDIT: if you wanted to be pedantic, the frequency of vibration is related to the length and mass of the string so not necessarily related to string gauge at all) [/quote] .. and the elasticity of the core material If you want to pedantic then I actually used the word heavier, which suggests a relationship to mass rather than gauge!!

I think you're right[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1326589753' post='1499353'] TIme to get a refund and spend elsewhere. [/quote] I think you're right.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1326023184' post='1491067'] The reeds and reed pans from one of my concertinas dates from 1864, but I don't have any pictures and I'm not going to take it to bits just for that! [/quote] My anglo concertina dates from somewhere in the 1890s. It's a Crabb built Jeffries, so exact dates are a little vague. I guess that yours will be a Wheatstone given the age and the fact that you know the exact year.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1326582311' post='1499256'] To be fair, that's not the norm. You were just unlucky. [/quote] Yes, I'm probably being a bit unfair, just my frustration showing through. I paid my £515 mid December and have so far had the combo for three days, during which it was faulty (based on your and others comments). I'm being told, by the retailer, that the combo is at the distributors and that the distributors have not got back to them yet. The retailer is telling me that this is a common problem with that distributor (but they could just be blaming someone else). Either way the first impression of this this new range is that it cheapens the image. I know that the originals weren't 'Boutique level', whatever that means, but these look more 'entry' level. Time will tell I guess.

I've had problems with/am not totally impressed by my Promethean combo (I've owned it for a month, had it to use for 3 days), but even so this looks like backward step. Having said that if the speaker in the 15" combo can actually take the power of the in-built amp without 'clicking', than that's something. (and I'd have to stick a label saying 'Fat' over the 'Phat' legend!)

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1326555831' post='1498800'] It can be done but once you do it you will be faced with another issue, gauge wise, you need to appreciate that the heavier the string the flappier, [/quote] Surely, all other things being equal, the heavier the string string the higher the tension required to achieve the same note?

I have the same dilemma re 4 or 5 strings. I know that a 5 string can do everything that a 4 string can, and I need the B string for some stuff in the current band, and plying it all on 5 strings saves swapping instruments mid set etc etc. BUT I still love my 4 stringers. Perhaps I need to get a better 5 stringg!!

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1326283082' post='1494829'] [i]Apropos [/i]of nothing at all, if you search Google Images for "furry strings", and as a direct result of this topic, one of the first things to pop up is Count Bassy's avatar photo, followed fairly quickly by that for Deep Thought. Presumably to be joined shortly by a Dancing Spiderman ... [/quote] Fame at last!

Classically sound proofing comes down to mass (I could have proved this mathematically 35 years ago), but I think techniques have moved on since then, so dampening materials, air gaps etc. all have a part to play. You can get high density plaster board which will help some (mass again), but you can also get double skin plaster board with a 'guey' layer between, which is supposedly very effective., One of the bands I play with practice in the back of a prefab garage which has had the studding and heavy weight Rockwool treatment, and it is very effective. Remember to seal all the gaps however, and around doors. If there's a gap the sound will find it. Then remember to open the doors every now and then to refresh the oxygen supply!

I think some here said in another thread, some time ago, that had Neo not been available then ceramic magnets would have been developed to meet almost the same performance by now anyway. An far as I'm aware the biggest application of Neodymium is in electric servo motors, and with electric cars bound to happen the demand is not going to drop, unless superseded by something else.

I had some problems with Hipshot a few years ago. First it was incredibly slow delivery (it was a catalogue item, but not a stock item), and when it came the screws in the saddles did not line up with the grooves in the base plate. Got resolved eventually: They sent a complete replacement bridge and threw in a custom spacer to raise it for my particular bass. So they did stick with it and resolve it but it was about 4 months between ordering the bridge and having one I could use.

Just remembered that I lent this to a pick player on a few occasions. Would that be why the coating had peeled off?

New set of D'addario Nickel round wounds fitted and the instrument is transformed! Hard to be sure (its me age you know), but I think it sounds better than it ever has. So what exactly is the point of coated strings then? Seems to me that you have an inherently tough string of stainless or nickel, and then decide to cover it with a thin layer of weak 'plastic'. Is it meant to preserve the zing longer or something? (not a sound I like - hence the nickels) The count.

Just found this review and totally agree. MY gigging rig is one of these into an old musicman HD212 ( 1x12" + 6") this is an 8 ohm cab but the volume is still staggering, and this amp could run four of these. And of course you've got the 4000 watt peak power (most 400 watt amps would peak at 800 watts) One correction if I may: it is not class D amp (ie switching mode). What it does is have two power supplies. Normally one power supply does all the work, but if it detects a big peak it switches in the auxiliary power supply briefly. Hence its 10:1 Peak to RMS ratio. I believe this is called a class H. Superb bit of kit though!

Started playing melodeon (Button accordion) when I was about 20 , then took up Anglo concertina as well when I could afford one. Only seriously started bass about 5 years ago (and still crap). Oh - and I took (and passed) trumpet grade 3 when I was about 47, but have barely picked it up since.

Contrary to all the negative comments this is something that I've actively considered myself (but not done yet due to time limitations). My only caveat would be that I'd probably start with a a £150 bass rather than a an £800 one (for the first one at least). As per the OP, subject to detailed measurement, my idea would be to buy a 4 string headless 34" and lop off one or two frets, retaining the 1st/2nd fret as the zero fret of the new configuration. I would then re-string it as a narrow spacing 5 string (obviously the bridge and string anchor would need changing). However having played fanned fret recently I have modified the idea to start with a 34" fretless and convert it to a fan fretted one with a 34" B and a 32 ish G string, using individual bridge tuners like the status. The only problem with this idea is that I'd end up with several hundreds of pounds of new hardware strapped to cheap bits of wood. Problems with truss rods etc can be overcome. Pickups can are only ever at a sweet spot for a one particular fret position anyway, so unless you absolutely hate the sound of your bass when fretting at the second fret this will not be problem. At the end of the day it's engineering, not some sort of voodoo black art, despite what people would have you believe. Give it a go and let us know how it goes. The count