markdavid

Hi All I have a Hofner contemporary bass, the bass is great apart from the tuners, they are the Wilkinson tuners that Hofner used to use on the contemporary basses and they are pretty awful, was wondering if anyone knew of some tuners I could use to replace these that would be direct replacements (no drilling or widening of the holes on the headstock required) Thanks

[quote name='Monkey Steve' timestamp='1497949105' post='3321474'] back to the OP, have you tried playing around with the amp positioning? Including the guitarist, not just you? From experience, most of the volume problems I've had come from guitarists standing right next to their amps, with the speakers pointing towards their knees, complaining that they can't hear themselves (what with then not having ears in their knees) and that everybody else is too loud, and turning up...cue everybody else doing exactly the same because they can hear the guitar amp blasting out but not themselves because they are standing next to their amp which is pointing at their knees...and an hour of petty squabbles about who's fault it is that it's far too loud. If you have two guitarists then this can go on for weeks... Personal preference is to set everybody according to the level of the drums, with the speakers/cabs elevated or tilted up so that they are pointed at ears rather than knees, and the musician standing at least six feet away, ideally more. Other instruments should be loud enough to be able to hear themselves above the drums and provide the relevant cues to everybody else but no louder. Singer gets final say on everything because they need to be able to hear themselves properly and if the instruments are drowning out the PA then everybody loses. [/quote] Hi I did try this but the amp was just not loud enough to compete with the drums and guitar, the 2nd rehearsal went much much better though as I brought my DI box and just went through the DI straight into the PA system, I even had volume to spare

[quote name='Danuman' timestamp='1497304442' post='3317233'] Cheers for the suggestions, guys. Earlier tonight I swapped out all of the electronics, which helped smooth things out a bit, but there's still way too much low mid going on. I also tried raising and lowering the pick-up, but that only made matters worse. I guess it must just be the pick-up. I'm definitely interested in the Chromes, as I find D'Addario strings both dependable and reasonably priced, though I'm probably going to spring for a set of La Bella's first. It feels almost sacriligious not to. I suppose I'll start looking for a more polite sounding pick-up soon. Down the rabbit hole I go... [/quote] You can usually cut mids but if they are not there it is diffcult to eq them in I have a Seymour Duncan SPB-1 in one of my basses, really need to get round to removing it, I used to have loads of mids, put the SPB-1 in and they practically completely dissapeared, that being said you wont find definition from the SPB-1, maybe its the wrong pickup for that particular bass but I find with this pickup there is a lot of bass, zero mids and not much treble, that bass is saved by the bridge pickup but the SPB-1 on its own sounds like poo

If you like it and you can afford it then go for it, more power to you for finding a bass you love. Personally for me though they are too expensive for me to consider buying, most Rics I have seen have been upward of 2k which is not that far off of custom territory

[quote name='mr zed' timestamp='1496163331' post='3309268'] Started a song at a gig last weekend in the wrong key. This is a song we've been playing for ages and it starts on an F sharp. Started it in F. What a knob! [/quote] Your'e not alone , I play sometimes at Jam nights and not knowing the songs there have been some occasions where I have played what I thought was the right notes only to realise half way through a song that i'm playing the wrong thing, is usually the brief notes played to transition from one chord to the next rather than the main parts of the songs but still. There was one occasion were I went to a jam night with a guitarist friend and he wanted to play Crossroads, we went up and we had this other guy join on vocals. My friend started playing, I started playing and due to the awful racket of two musicians completely out of tune with each other it became clear very quickly we not playing in the same key, I glanced a look at him to say what the hell , I realised he was playing it in E not A and started playing in the key of E as well. Afterwards I was told that the singer had told him (obviously very quietly) that he could not sing it in A and asked him to play it in E, I laugh about this now but at the time it wasn't that funny

Something just occurred to me, everybody (apart from me)in the band sings at least one song so everyone has a microphone near them, this means that the drums and guitar are likely being further boosted in volume from the close proximity of the microphones , after all if you put a microphone near the drummer so that he can sing the chances are his drumming is also being picked up the microphone. This may go some way to explaining my bass being drowned out , I think a 60w 1x12" combo plus mics everywhere except the bass is a recipe for being buried in the mix.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1497325437' post='3317282'] go DI into the PA. That's what we all do, even the drummer ! yes, electric kit for ease of practice,real drums live. [/quote] Thats exactly what I plan to do with our next rehearsal, I will bring my DI box and go into the pa, wasn't prepared for it this time as I have used loads of rehearsal studios before and the bass amps have always been plenty powerful so wasn't expecting a 60w amp [quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1497343983' post='3317373'] We rehearse at gig volumes, as our gig volume is that the amps match the volume of the drums, and the vocals are able to be heard above the backline. If we need to be louder then FOH handles that [/quote] And this is part of the issue, drums are a loud instrument by their nature and any band needs to play loud enough to match the drums so they do not overpower everything else

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1497282536' post='3317007'] IMHO - a 60 watt amp should be OK for rehearsals. It's not a gig, and shouldn't be done at gig volumes. YMMV! [/quote] [quote name='T-Bay' timestamp='1497283138' post='3317019'] +1 I have done a few rehearsals with a 15w practice amp (to be fair it wasn't great), we never crank the volume too high. No point. [/quote] I suppose this is an example of ymmv , I had the amp cranked to full blast , could barely hear a thing,the rare moments when I could hear the bass was distorted to hell, I think if we an accoustic trio a 60 watt amp would be fine but once the drums and everything kicked in the volume just dissapeared

Hi Had a rehearsal with a newly joined band at the weekend, the rehearsal studio is one that they use as its very cheap, hadn't been there before and walked in there expecting to plug into maybe a 200w bass amp, or at least 150w........ There was a Fender Rumble 60 there!!!! It actually held up admirably considering the low wattage but I spent a lot of time stood right next to the amp and a fair bit of time fiddling with the eq in an attempt to hear my bass properly, also when I played high up the neck it had some degree of overdrive from being cranked to the max. The guitar amp was a Marshall 100watt !!! Anyone had any similar experiences to this?

[quote name='SpikeBass' timestamp='1497174427' post='3316251'] The action on my Hofner violin bass is quite high but that gives it that sound IMO I'd leave it as it is if I were you. Mine sounds like an upright (kind of) which I believe was the whole original idea... [/quote] Yes that did occur to me,my action is not high but kind of medium and even accoustically it sounds much thumpier than my other basses which i think is partly due to the semi hollow design and partly due to the slightly higher action which lets the note breathe a little more than on my super low action basses

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1497017918' post='3315348'] I was just about to say the very same thing. Did you pay your luthier for a full set-up? How well do you know him? Could you maybe give him a call, and ask if he could tweak the action for you? just say you're struggling with it, as it's too high (or low) for you. If you paid for a set-up a luthier should normally check how you like the action set Also, what strings have you got on the bass? Have you changed them? A decent set of strings really can make all the difference to the playability and sound of a bass - BUT if you intend to do this, be sure to replace them before you take to the luthier - as a different gauge of string may need another intonation/ action adjustment.... Best of luck with it [/quote] Hi Yes new Labella Flatwound strings on the bass , the bass is very playable due to the super slim neck and the light weight despite the action being a little higher than my other basses so I might just leave the action where it is and just do the tiniest bit of sanding on the bridge just so the bridge has better contact with the body. That being said if I did get the action adjusted i would not be looking to get it as low as my other basses and would only be looking to get it lower by about .2 of a mm so the intonation might not be affected.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1497015638' post='3315331'] A violin bass is also an archtop, so it is critical that the base of the bridge is in full contact across the radius. It's a tricky job without being particularly difficult. Usually you remove the bridge, place a piece of sandpaper facing UP on the archtop under the bridge position, and then sand down the base by leaving the sandpaper in place while moving the bridge - do you follow? That should create a curved base to the bridge which exactly matches the shape of the bass. Before you decide whether or not to do it, have a really close look at the base of the bridge as it is now. If it has already been contoured in this way then you might be best advised to leave well alone. If on the other hand the base of the bridge is completely flat and therefore only really touching the bass at the inner edges, then it's almost certainly worth doing the contouring because of the improvement you'll get in tone and (maybe) volume. If you want to use the top Hofner luthier in London, drop me a PM. [/quote] Thanks, the bridge is curved but it is not perfect, there is a very slight gap between bridge and body, maybe only a quarter of a mm or less but none the less a gap is a gap so I may give this a try just to improve the contact between the bridge and body

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1497007148' post='3315242'] Bear in mind that if you lower the action you may need to tweak your intonation again! Ideally you should have got your luthier to set the action at the same time he did the intonation. [/quote] Ahh in that case I may just leave the action where it is as it is very playable just slightly higher than my other basses

Thanks for the replies, I have had the intonation sorted and it is now pretty much spot on. The next thing I want to get sorted is the action, it is not high by any means and actually very playable due to the slim neck but being used to 1.5mm action on my other basses it is a little bit higher than I would like, I have adjusted the wheels to bring the action down but would like it a little lower, I am guessing I will need to sand the bottom of the bridge down? If so what is the easiest and least likely to go wrong method of doing this ? thanks

Thanks i will have a look

Hi As per thread title I need to learn some theory , have been playing a while now and have played in live situations and did well but it has occurred to me that my music theory is pretty non existent so I need a book on theory that will help me to learn but is not too advanced, any book recommendations? thanks

I used to have a Fender Musicmaster bass,the nut broke on mine fairly quickly and needed replacing,the el cheapo pickguard snapped by the jack,it had basically one tone and the tone control made so little difference it was almost completely useless, the bass itself despite being short scale could have been used as a boat anchor, it was really, really heavy. Strangely despite all this i would love to have the bass back,maybe rewire it with 500k pots and find a decent vintage pickup to replace the stock pickup, that being said for the prices i have seen them go for recently you would be better getting a used mij mustang which is a far superior bass

Thanks for the replies,i have taken my bass to an excellent luthier who has done great work for me in the past to sort out the intonation

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1495708301' post='3305992'] Hmmmmm. I begin to wonder about your bass ... You mention that it is "a lovely violin bass copy" in your OP. Who is it actually by? There are some very well-made, high-class Hofner clones out there. Sad to relate, there's also some complete dogs. [/quote] Hi , is made by Vintage

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1495706084' post='3305965'] ??? I've had any number of old shortscale Hofners (actually ... ahem ... over 25 of them) and I've never experienced intonation issues down by the nut! Normally the problems get progressively worse as you move up the neck. Is the G issue in any way worse or more noticeable than the F# or G#? [/quote] Hi , the G# is ok , not perfect but close enough that it does not bother me, the G is showing as 20 cents flat on my Boss TU2 and the F is also showing as 20 cents flat, on the A string the A# and B are also showing about 20 cents flat, the C is not perfect but close enough , on the D and G string curiously the first few frets are fine, not perfect but close enough, this is why I thought it might be an incorrectly cut nut as the D and G are better intonated than the E and A. intonation on the D and G gets a little spotty further up the neck but I would expect that

wondering if it is my boss tu2 being funny with me, the reason I mention this is that I played a gig with my bass the other day, my guitarist who usually has pretty sharp ears did not pick up on dodgy the intonation and we played a tune that featured a lot of the low G which is one of the more problematic notes. Not ruling out the possibility of my intonation being less than perfect just saying that maybe the boss pedal is showing it incorrectly, I have always found it to be a fussy pedal and with my other basses a note can show as being perfectly in tune on the tu2 and then a split second later show as very slightly sharp. I have another tuner pedal that I will use to check the intonation with and see if the results are the same.

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1495621989' post='3305330'] Unlikely as your model has a zero fret, but make sure that the nut is cut low enough for the strings to be resting securely on the zero fret. [/quote] The newer versions seem to have a zero fret but mine definitely does not have one

Something has just occured to me that I hadnt thought of before, perhaps the intonation issue is caused by an incorrectly cut nut, the reason I say this is that all strings are a little flat fretted but the E and the A string are particularly flat at the 1st fret

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1495611651' post='3305196'] With a very small screwdriver or spike of some sort. Very gently prise them out. They're just little strips of fretwire pressed into a slot. [/quote] Thanks, will give this a try