Boodang

EQ; unless you've got big folded bins your bass cab, no matter what it's loaded with, will start to roll off significantly below 100hz. Consequently perceived bass out in the audience is more defined around eq'ing the 80/100hz area and definition of your notes eq'ing the mid range area.

I had an SWR Silverado combo once, the 4 x 8 version. Dreadful sound on its own but cut through in the live situation really well and in the band context had a great sound.

In contrast had a Trace Elliot 300 watt 1 x 15 combo which was plenty loud and sounded great on its own but was always fighting boominess in small venues. 

In terms of being heard and controlling tone, have had the best success with 4 x 10 cabs. But it's different for every player of course.

... or natural if the wood is good enough.

Sunburst with tortoiseshell. Got a tort control plate for my fretless as I like it so much.

11 minutes ago, Cliff Edge said:

I came here expecting a discussion on alternative energy. 
So disappointing. 

Yeah, Billy Cobham, Chick Corea, Tribal Tech etc... how disappointing can it get!!!!!!

2 hours ago, Fishfacefour said:

Ooh yes. More groove stuff please.

I'm certainly not up to Paul Jackson standard yet, but do love headhunters etc.

On the groove front:

Victor Bailey - Sweet tooth

Lenny White - Wolfbane

Pleasure - Joyous

Not forgetting anything by Medeski Martin & Wood, plus the entire Billy Cobham backlog.

On the groove side of fusion... Bennie Maupin. 'It remains to be seen' from the Slow Traffic to Right album. Very 70s but always ripe for a modern interpretation. 

15 minutes ago, Bobo_08 said:

Out of interest does it have a preset for Harp do you know?

Has presets for bagpipes, sitar and even a Rameau temperament amongst other things.... but no harp!

Peterson strobo clip. Works on everything, double bass, eub, bass guitar, guitar and low Bs. Also has 'presets' that are optimised for different instruments, upshot of which it works perfectly.

16 hours ago, MartinB said:

Great - thanks! It's good to have confirmation that it was a problem at one point. All I can find more recently is that they've been using loudness normalisation based on LUFS (like all the other streaming services) since around 2015, so videos may have their overall playback level statically adjusted to sound similarly loud, but there shouldn't be any alteration to the dynamic range of an individual video. Apparently peak limiting _is_ possible if you really push the boundaries, but I couldn't find any examples or anything to suggest this is something people run into under normal circumstances.

... I don't think the ins and out of YouTube compression has ever influenced my decision on a compressor pedal for my bass!

Sorry for the shameless plug but.... there's a Source Audio Bass Envelope Filter pro in the 'effects for sale' section for £100. A sort of early and basic version of the Spectrum (only does envelope sounds) but with lots of knobs for manual twiddling rather than being computer programmable. 

13 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

Unless you are playing very aggressively you won't notice a compressor. That is until it's flattening your dynamics, which you most likely wouldn't like with your melodic playing.

There's a good YouTube video from Andertons where they compare various compressors, they get to the most expensive one and can't hear much difference commenting 'is it a good thing or bad thing that it's so transparent'! 

Having said all that, a decent compressor is the one pedal I wouldn't be without on my board.

3 hours ago, Hellzero said:

I've been buying my first headless 34 years ago and since then have been owning and playing hundreds, really, of headless basses.

 

I never had a problem with the clamping system as long as you cut the strings after clamping them with the needed pressure of the hex screw.

 

I've put some White Nylon's on my Leduc U-Basse 4 fretless and simply noticed that the G string needed more screw pressure when clamped.

 

After that it was staying in tune perfectly and I could detune it and retune it without any problem.

 

Before that, some headless fretless basses have had Black Nylon's without any issue at all, even my sixers.

 

Check your clamping screw, the clamping side must be slightly flat rounded (slightly flat ball shaped to match the pressing point) without any asperity that could cut the string.

 

If you have this kind of hex screws, you are in big problem, so round them much flatter and it will be fine :

 

 

 

Thanks, I'll check out the profile of my hex screws. This could be the issue as so far any string I clamp the windings break open when I apply tension, which probably means they are are getting crushed by the screw when clamping. I'll experiment and get back.

I mostly play fretless and EUB and have been experimenting with compressor options myself recently. It depends on whether you want something that you're going to change settings on during a set or if it's a 'set it & forget it' type, but this recommendation is for the latter; a TC Electronic Spectracomp.

I was surprised by how well it sounded and now it's always on. The main reason for this is the toneprint presets you can download. Tried them all and found the Nathan East settings to be spot on. The Spectracomp is a 3 band compressor and what I love about the toneprints is that someone who knows what they are doing has effectively programmed it for you and there's enough to find one to suit.... provided it's a set and forget thing you're after. And the bonus is it's not expensive. 

13 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Being at risk doesn't mean that RSI WILL happen. Maybe the real issue is how hard the right hand plucking technique is. There are some players, like Stanley Clarke, with a very bent wrist who don't appear to have problems.

 

IMO digging in seems to be a more risky technique with a bent wrist. Maybe guys with a lighter feel are not in the danger zone.

Good point. How light, or hard, you play must be a factor, and as you say there are plenty of players out there with bent wrist technique. 

However, as far as what could be called 'good technique', if I'm teaching a beginner, I certainly would be showing them to play with a straight wrist. 

Also to consider; the more windings on a pickup the narrower it's frequency response. Hence the idea behind active pickups is to have fewer windings but this makes for a very low voltage output. To make up for this a preamp is built in to add gain (hence the need for batteries). This has three effects, the output will be buffered (so you can't for instance put 2 active p/u's in series), it will have a low impedance output (normally 600 ohms) courtesy of the opamp used and because they need magnets that are not as strong as passive p/u's they have less pull on the strings.

Passive pickups normally have an impedence of 10k ohms, will have a narrower frequency response (but this will normally be a tailored response so not necessarily a bad thing) and because it's basically just wire wrapped around magnets is not buffered.

A lot of people do not like the bright, clinical response of active p/u's but in my experience they just need a lot of eq'ing, whereas passive p/u's have a more 'organic' tone mostly because of their tailored response. 

So, how to make a headless bass take normal strings?

I had a Sei bass made back in the 90s and it seemed a good idea at the time for it to be headless... all the rage then. But, as quick as string changes can be, it really only takes double ball end strings which rather limits choice... to such an extent that I can't put on my now favourite nylon strings. 

Aha you say, just use the clamping system at the nut to use any string you like. Except most strings, especially nylon, unravel if you try to put tuning tension on them before the silk windings (I have an extensive list of strings that can't be clamped and cut before the wrap). 

Apparently the bass can't be made headed (I've asked Sei and various luthiers), and yes I could and have bought another bass that's not headless, but I love this bass, it plays like nothing else, and I want a way to put on normal strings without clamping/cutting them, but so far haven't figured out how.

What's needed is some hardware to replace the tuners at the body end that can take the entirety of a normal string... but so far can't see anything out there. Anybody have any suggestions?!

PS the hardware is from the German company ABM and 5 string.

8 minutes ago, gjones said:

I had to have an operation on my left hand due to carpal tunnel. I also had the same problem with my right hand but it wasn't as severe as my left and therefore my neurologist didn't feel it merited an operation.

 

Since the onset of carpal tunnel, I've always worn a weightlifters wrist brace on my right wrist and kept my wrist straight when gigging. When I see the sharp angle some bass players hold their wrists at, when they play, I'm pretty sure they're at risk of ending up with wrist issues in years to come.

 

 

Some of the sharp angles you see! And yes, asking for RSI. To a certain extent you can understand it when you haven't been taught otherwise as resting your forearm on the body of the bass is comfortable but ultimately leads to this issue. Worse, is when someone is teaching bass (think particularly YouTube) and plays with a bent wrist. As you say, it'll be further down the line that problems occur which can be quite severe. 

Pick something up with your wrist bent, now do the same with your wrist straight.... my first lesson with Joe Hubbard many years ago.

Starting with the basics of posture, Hubbard, quite rightly, had a thing about keeping the wrist of your right hand (plucking/picking/slapping hand) straight. This means not resting your arm on the body of your bass, so does look a bit strange but ultimately gives you more strength, less fatigue on those long gigs and stops repetitive strain injury. 

My latest discovery, Gwizdala, is very much into correct postures, as is Scott Devine (great lessons!), Jeff Berlin and of course Hubbard but else where, particularly out in YouTube land, it seems to vary a lot. When people talk about the right hand they focus on finger technique (important) but not so much wrist posture (also just as important).

The result of being taught this way is that when I play sitting down I put my bass on my left leg, more classical guitar style, which feels more natural to keeping the wrist straight. 

Short(ish) story about the bass player from The Hamsters, a band famous for the prodigious amount of gigs they did each year, as a result developed RSI, and went from fingers to pick to eventually having to stop playing for a while, then relearnt with a special thumb pick. Although brought on by the relentless gig schedule I'm sure, not helped by the right hand technique (I'm sure he mentions this in an interview but happy to hear more if he's out there!)

Squier basses really are great! My fav bass at the moment is a vintage modified I picked up recently. And I'm a big fan of replacing hardware and getting a luthier to do a setup... has turned a great bass into an awesome one and for way less cost than a US model.

Source Audio's spectrum is great, will do just about anything envelope filter wise (check out the 'bass the world' YouTube video). However if you want a pedal with more manual control there's always their older pedals, the Manta or Soundblox Pro, where the filter options are selected with knobs. And all these pedal are bass orientated.

If your using the octave or are expecting to hear the sub octave tones from the overdrive, it could be that, as good as barefaced cabs are, the sound from your rig at volume doesn't sound as deep as they do through headphones. In this respect, eq'ing and control over the gain structures in the overdrives are an important part of the live sound.

Also, and this is a personal opinion, overdrive has a certain amount of compression, as does the sansamp preamp, but the biggest difference I've had on the control of my tone is a compressor with full control over ratio, attack & release.

Your bass sound at low volume or through headphones will be diiferent from that at higher volume levels especially once you add other musicians. Many factors at play here and as mentioned, you'll need to spend time working through it at rehearsals, specifically;

• as 'krispn' mentioned, mids are very important in a band setting to cut through the mix. 400 & 800hz areas are particularly worth tweaking.
• speaker cabinet bass response; unlike headphones, speakers do not have a flat response especially at volume. Unless you're playing through massive PA speakers the -3db points on a typical bass rig are usually reached around 80hz and at 41hz (your low E) it will be nearer -12db. Due to the laws of physics, no amount of eq will bring it back up. Boosting 80 / 100hz is more effective but can sound boomy (short of hiring roadies and having massive bass bins there's still no miracle solution to this one unfortunately).
• speaker cabinet treble response; a lot of cabinets have piezo tweeters (they're cheap) and as a consequence can sound harsh, so tweeter choice is important. Boost at 3.6khz can add presence, using a shelving type treble boost can add 'air' to your sound higher up but also add to noise levels, and again the quality of the boost will depend on the quality of the tweeter.
• Compressor; I find a good quality compressor helps with dynamics in a live situation and helps the speakers in my bass rig cope much better and give a punchier sound.
• and finally.... active or passive pickups, and by that I mean pickups not onboard preamp. Active pickups have less windings and therfore a greater frequency range, passive pickups have greater windings and a much reduced range. No point in boosting above 4 or 5 khz with passive basses as you'll just be boosting noise.

Good luck!

Sei Flamboyant in wenge and ebony... who needs a paint job when wood looks this good!

It's Jaydee Supernatural model with Kent Armstrong pickups... amazing basses.

Was looking on their site the other day as as I fancy one of the Roadie basses as they're v good value but they are not accepting new orders until April 2022. 

JEDSON TELE.... the worlds worse bass, short scale or otherwise, and I love it!

Barely a bass at a 24" scale! Jedson took it's tele guitar and just slapped on some bass hardware. The body is plywood and the neck looks like oak but I'm sure it can't be. 

Swapped a cheap Ibanez I wasn't getting on with for this just for a laugh as it was so different. It's such a bonkers thing to play that I find myself inventing new lines on it everytime I pick it up, it's quite the inspiration machine.

However, looking at it critically for it's craftsmanship, it is truly appalling! I'm not sure what strings were supposed to be on this but the only way to make it work is to use either short scale nylon or baritone bass six strings, then run the strings through the body or there's too much to go on the tuning peg (the original string anchor was a hideous piece of bent tin). And because of the scale length it has a solo tuning of F# or there's not enough tension.

The pickups were knackered but I had a EMG MM pickup lying around. The resultant tone actually massive! 

And having said all this it's great fun to play!