TheRev

Afternoon.

I've just bought a new set of strings for my Aria EUB and they're about 1" too long. Is it a terribly bad thing to wrap part of the (unsilked) string around the tuning post?

Cheers

Dave

[quote name='steviedee' post='255421' date='Aug 5 2008, 02:42 PM']Hi guys been watching this thread closely as I'm thinking of taken the plunge into the world of double basses anyhoo tried my first one today and I was really sh*te however it was great to try one.... I reckon it'll take a lot of practice.

The bass in question was Chinese, which I've heard the odd bad thing about chinese basses but it seemed great to me admittedly I know nothing and it was a good price second hand, and the shop in question has a very good reputation so I don't think they would sell me a pup. Obviously its not gonna be the best bass in the world for under 500 but they will have professionally set the bass up.

Are there any good no name chinese basses out there?[/quote]


I read somewhere (probably on TB) that the Christopher brand basses on Thomann's web site are Chinese made. Dunno if they're any good but they look nice

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/christopher_db_304_kontrabass_34.htm"]Christopher DB[/url]

They were really, really cr@p guitars that used to sell through the back page of Kerrang and other music magazines in the late 80s.

Only buy it if
1) They're selling it for 50p
and
2) you're only buying it so you can smash it up on stage.

Avoid, avoid, avoid - they're not even worth trying to mod, real turd polishing territory.

Picture the scene - a small pub in Stroud, Gloucestershire. In the corner are a couple of Nick Drake obsessed musos trying to impart their particular blend of English folk fused with American grunge.

Fat Chavette: 'Ere mate, can you play any Boyzone?'
Us: 'F*#K off'

There's no point trying to reason with people like that.

Yep, the footswitches are total bo**ocks. I sent my pedal back to Aphex, who replaced the switch, which then broke about two months later. I couldn't be bothered sending it back again so I bought a decent quality switch from Maplin and got and electronics engineer mate to solder it in for me. Been fine ever since!

Definitely recommend you get an expert to do the soldering for you, it's a tricky job.

You could get a Hartke HA3500 and a 4x10 cab for £600 - perfect for your style requirements!

Great topic guys!

What strings are people using on their EUBs?

The ones that came with my Aria have a bit too much sustain for my liking so I'd like to replace them with something a bit more thumpy and damped.

I'm thinking Helicore Hybrids at the moment but people's comment about Corellis are interesting. Has anyone had experience with both?

Girl from Ipanema.

Someone did Summertime at an open mic last night, we almost started throwing things.

Mickey Quinn from Supergrass is another example - he's been playing the same Ibanez Blazer (or is it a Roadster?) for his whole career.

[quote name='jmccabe' post='234980' date='Jul 8 2008, 02:22 PM']You're probably right, but every cab I've got round to looking at on the For Sale forum is miles away; the advantage of a new one is it'll be delivered.

I guess i could put a wanted ad on![/quote]

Whereabouts are you? I have a spare Hartke 1x15 that's right up your thoroughfare....

[quote name='sgt-pluck' post='234800' date='Jul 8 2008, 10:39 AM']Funny you should talk about Danny Thompson - I've got Solid Air on the pod as I type. Fabulous bass work.

Pluck[/quote]


[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohmSPv-rtSQ"]Solid Air[/url]

I've posted this link before but I love Danny's playing on this version sooooo much that I'm going to post it again.....

I've got a Fender BG32 which is lovely, but finding decent strings (the Fender acoustic strings are sh1te) for the short scale length is a major pain.

If you're busking, you'll need as much volume as you can get in order to be heard over an acoustic six string, so I'd go for whichever one has the biggest body. Even then you'll probably still struggle....

The Epi looks nice though, doesn't it?

Crazy m****f*****

Have you got a myspace? I gotta hear a band that has a rig like that.

I went lightweight simply because I got thoroughly sick of lugging a 1x15 cab down 4 flights of stairs and then doing two more trips to load up the car with basses/amp/cable bag. Then there'd be another 2/3 trips at the gig or rehearsal room. Then I'd have to do the whole thing all over again in reverse at the end of the night - it nearly put me off playing for good!

My main reasoning, apart from the stairs/trips issue, was that as most of my gigs are small clubs/pubs with a PA, I really didn't need an enormous rig. I now use a Markbass amp and BFM cabs and I can carry bass, amp, cable bag and cab all at once. Sweet. Admittedly, I think I prefer the sound of my Hartke head to the Markbass....but not enough to warrant the extra weight!

If I was playing the Enormodome on a regular basis and had a team of hulking roadies then my cabs would make Stonehenge feel a bit pathetic and my amp would have more valves than a plumbing wharehouse but I don't, so they aren't.

The Spirocores seem to the the string of choice for jazzers wanting a bit more sustain from their proper double basses but I think they may be a bit bright for EUB.

I'm thinking about D'addario Helicore Hybrids or maybe something synthetic/gut simulating type string like Obligatos. I'm basically trying to get a more thumpy DB type sound with a fairly quick decay but given the price of DB strings I'm reluctant to just 'have a go'.

I did hear a EUB with Velvet strings (Garbos, I think) which are synthetic gut and it sounded amazing but at about £150 a set it's an expensive risk.

[quote name='jcater' post='215507' date='Jun 9 2008, 03:49 PM']I know it's not as cheap as it could be but i use an aria swb lite which i bought second hand for £600. Using this through an EBS microbass 11 has given a remarkable mellow tone, the treble on the bass needs to be set quite low, but it works like a dream regardless of which amp / cabs i use - Hatrke, Mark bass or EBS.

I previously used a jazz bass for the trio i'm playing with but doubt that i'll ever go back to it apart from recording - & that's only because my intonation is not yet as good as it should be.

PS anyone aware if there was ever a user manual with the aria?

[url="http://www.jazbak.co.uk/"]http://www.jazbak.co.uk/[/url][/quote]

I use a SWB lite one as well - as far as I know there's no manual.

Are you using the stock strings? I'm thinking of changing to Hybrids or orchestrals to lose some of the sustain.

[quote name='lukeward2004' post='214859' date='Jun 8 2008, 01:18 PM']Also, anyone know what size Allen key is needed for the bridge to adjust the string height? None of my allen keys fit it and I want to lower the action a shade.[/quote]

I think it's an Imperial rather than metric hex bolt... I'll dig mine out tonight and let you know what size it is.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

More space, less notes.

With DB, people seem more impressed the less you play and with a bit of vibrato you can fill a lot of space with one note.

Why not try one of the Stagg uprights? Lots of people on here have recently picked them up and all seem happy with them. They sell for around the £350 mark so they're well under your £500.

I've slapped my Aria EUB (in the privacy of my own home, of course) a few times to get a handle on the technique and I thought it sounded OK and the Stagg is pretty much a copy of the Aria.

The peizo picks up enough fingerboard noise for the percussive sounds though you need to be careful with the preamp volume on the pulls.

With a set of nylon strings on, I don't think it would sound an awful lot different to a slapped acoustic - especially to a room full of pi$$ed up psycobillies.

I think a jazz hat is the way to go. I've not got a hat friendly head though.

Also, does the material the hat is made of affect your tone in any way? If I buy say, a felt fodera, would I also need to boost my upper mids to compensate?

I think I need to gat a hat - I'm just not looking cool enough on stage.



What would hat afficiandos recommend?

I played a gig a few weeks ago with my Aria EUB and got talking to a bloke who had an Eminence and he reckoned it was the only EUB in that price range that was worth having. He bought his unseen and wasn't dissapointed at all.

If you have a look at the EUB forum on Talkbass.com, I think there the Eminence is generally considered to be the best you can get for the money. They are designed from the ground up to sound like an amplified double bass for live work, wheras the Aria (and Yamaha) EUBs started out designed as a silent practice bass so their sound is always going to be a compromise.

Unfortunatley, the EUB market and in fact, the electric bass market at the £1500 mark is pretty small, so finding one to try is going to be hard. If you talk to any of the guys on here who've bought high end instruments I reckon a fair few will have bought on reputation or recomendation and probably unseen.

I think Thomann have a very good returns policy - even if you have to pay £30 to ship it back to them, you could spend the same on petrol travelling the length of the country to find one to try. When I've got the cash (and the ability to justify it!) I'll upgrade my Aria to an Eminence, probably from Thomann and (unless I can track down that bloke in the pub) I'll buy it unseen.
Sometimes you've just got to take a chance.

Cheers

Dave

[quote name='samej' post='199533' date='May 15 2008, 01:09 PM']Also can anyone reccommend me anywhere in Bristol (preferably central) to try and buy amps?

Thanks in advance[/quote]

Sound Control On Rupert Street (there might be some deals on offer as they're going out of business....)
Rickaxxe, just up from House of Fraser
Mickleburghs on Stokes Croft

All within 5 min walk of each other.

How does the magnetic pup on the Aria sound?

I've got one of the SWB-1 models with just the piezo and I'm wondering about adding a magnetic pickup.