LITTLEWING

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1484393290' post='3215134']


Yes a crap drummer will do that for you.
[/quote]
Gotta agree with that. I had a drummer which made me think my timing and feel was out. Got home and sounded like Paladino indoors playing to a drums app on the iPad. Relief!!

Cheers Bill, that article is most informative. Think I'll just leave the wire off. Lol !!!


I hate HF units with even more passion now......

Thanks chaps, just emailed Bluearan. Catch a reply after the weekend I guess. I looked at a few things that Google threw up and so many scary things emerged like overheating L pads and in-line caps not doing much due to mind-numbing science involving high ohmages and stuff...got frightened and went to bed.

Also doesn't appear to have a crossover, the pos. and neg. come straight off the speaker terminals to the tweeter/horn.

Totally a pain when temperature changes. My Ibanez goes sharp where the neck bends so slightly backwards in cold weather (bringing on the odd fret buzz) and I have to tune down and then relaxes back to normal as it warms up when I start playing and I have to retune back up a smidge and eventually all is right with the world again.
A good reason to open up your guitar case as soon as you get to a gig or rehearsal and let the bass adjust to room temperature also relieving possible condensation while you're setting up the rest of the gear.

I've never been a massive HF unit in a bass cab fan and my old style Ampeg BA-115 100 watt combo's one seems way too over the top in relation to the 15" speaker. I like to have the treble up to give my bass a full range of sound and then use the guitar's tone control to suit each song as required but it sounds like a wasp nest with a football match going on inside. Right now I've taken the positive wire off and disabled it so I can have the treble up full to get the voice I want without the nasty crisp packet in a cinema scenario.
Any ideas what I can do to either turn the unit up or down via a control or maybe fit a switch with say three settings to suit?

We're ditching our dinosaur size music stands and going for iPads. Yes, I know we should have all our shiz memorised by now but they're simply handy for set lists and various prompts for those songs that a bunch of lyrics always seem to run away when you come to sing. Doesn't help with age either.....(sigh)

Anyway, these babies that attach to mic stands start from under ten quid to nearly forty so what one is the most usable??

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1482609646' post='3201925']
We just put the Commodores "easy" into the set, simple bassline but such a nice feel and touch.
[/quote]
So have we. Gorgeous warm sexy bass lines. Love playing it.

I must admit, for some reason I've never been attracted to them being a long time Precision chap but after acquiring the cheap end of the range GSR200B in walnut (just cos it was there in Bumflea for silly pound notes) and tweaking the set up etc, I've got the action down to 6/64 E to 5/64 D with NOT ONE buzzing fret and I'm really digging the incredible neck and the sound of the reverse split pickups. If I didn't know any better, if someone put a £300 plus label on it I'd be happy as pig in the proverbial. DAMN fine guitar.

And as Mr Swift is playing one these days, I'm proud to wear one.

Bill M is so true, it WAS that frequency gap with the combo which made it so annoying. Maybe if there was a control to adjust to taste, that would have made it for me.
I'm all for a full range speaker system to make a bass sound great but my Ampeg combo was a bit like when you go round someone's house and the colour telly is so full of colour everyone looks orange.

[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1480328165' post='3183319']
Have you turned the Tweeter control on the back all the way up? Also try angling it up a bit towards you. I had one and it was fine - mine was on casters so I took the back wheels off to add a little bit of tilt to the cab. You do need to be a little bit away from the cab to appreciate the full sound though. Close up it does sounds a bit muffled.

The grill is on a wooden frame and is held on with pretty tough Velcro - it just pulls off the front but needs a bit of oomph!
[/quote]
I oomphed quite a lot using a larger screw to replace one hole used to secure the badge. It doesn't want to play the game. Good news though. (see my latest entry)

Okay, most satisfying update!! Removed one of the bass ports on the rear, shimmied one of my fortunate small hands into the cab section and slipped the positive wire off the tweeter/horn annoying device. NOW I can turn the treble up and get that sweet edge without it sounding like a wasp's nest every time I move a finger up or down a string.
I know I'm going to sound old fashioned, but unless your entire set consists of every slap and pop tune in the world, there is no bleedin' point putting an HF horn of any description in a bass, yes BASS, cabinet. It's meant to reproduce low notes and low notes only.

Rant over. Merry Xmas dudes!!

Can't beat any RBX's for a cheap back up or a 'go-to' bass for the odd inspirational moment to grab off the wall or wherever. I've had a few in the past but they do tend to look like something off a Japanese cartoon. Lol!

My recently acquired Ampeg BA-115 combo (100 watt 1 X 15") seems to sound a little 'lifeless' in the top end department although the tweeter is really crisp with the treble on full and the bottom end is awesome. I played thru one years ago regularly at a local studio and don't quite remember it sounding that way. Is there a crossover in there that may have failed that I can bypass or is it something amplifier-wise? It's not unplayable by any means and sounds okay with a bit of middle in a full band situation but just seems lacking in top end presence.
If there is a crossover in there, how does the front baffle come off to remove the speaker to access the inside?

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1480196419' post='3182502']
Where has the bass been? In car overnight, colder room, warmer room etc, anywhere different to usual? Climate changes can cause issues especially if your bass is adjusted to a super low action. I just use 3.5mm (or more) action at 12th fret, cures 99% of issues dead
[/quote]

3.5mm ??? You could get an iPhone in there. Each to their own I guess.

My recently acquired Ampeg BA-115 combo (100 watt 1 X 15") seems to sound a little 'lifeless' in the top end department although the tweeter is really crisp with the treble on full and the bottom end is awesome. I played thru one years ago regularly at a local studio and don't quite remember it sounding that way. Is there a crossover in there that may have failed that I can bypass or is it something amplifier-wise? It's not unplayable by any means and sounds okay with a bit of middle in a full band situation but just seems lacking in top end presence.
If there is a crossover in there, how does the front baffle come off to remove the speaker to access the inside?

Well, so far only a handful do it, and most just install them and by the sounds of it have no problems. Maybe modern manufacturing processes and materials are miles better than yesteryear and simply don't require the old experienced guy's methods anymore?

I've just been reading on Talkbass five pages on stretching or not stretching new strings. There's a bit about not doing it as it can detach the windings from the core and instantly 'kill' the string, some people just go ahead and fit them and tune up all evening during a gig and some completely laugh at the idea. Personally I give them a few little tugs about a couple of inches off the fretboard while tuning to pitch then quickly check the intonation and lastly apply a little pressure just after each saddle to create the 'witness' point and to date have never broken a string and have had a great tone for ages. What do other good people here on BC in the UK think and apply?

[quote name='SH73' timestamp='1479622830' post='3177858']
Don't know what the complaint is. Free rehearsal room.
[/quote]Yep, this.

It's a paid rehearsal plus you get that valuable chance to make sure all the gear's working and you're all in that live line-up with everything spread out behind you and not half volume in a random circle in a rehearsal space. Any gig is worth a hundred praccies.

I just picked up a used Ibanez with PJ configuration where the P pups are reversed and have to say how absolutely 'right' they sound. The E and A have more authority and the D and G sound fuller and more mellow. Maybe the Fender sound is becoming (dare I say) boring, predictable and dated?

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1479144882' post='3174309']
Playing along to drum loops is great. There are lots of free apps that you can get on your mobile that you can play along to.
[/quote]

Sorry to have to tell you, but that seems typical of Ashdown stuff. I had a 300 watt evo head and everything I played it through had that fizzing decay sound. I thought there was something wrong with it and had an MOT by a top tech guy and it was pronounced 100% healthy otherwise. Out of the blue I spotted an Ashdown After 8 combo on the brilliant Gumtree to use indoors and soon sold it on again when it did exactly what you're describing even through an extension cab. Shame, must be cheaper components somewhere along the financial climate track....

I'm going to have to say amplifier, then cab. I suffered with an Arsedown for ages and was never really happy in any venue until I bought a Hartke 3500. Holey flipping' Moley, different world even through the original Armsdown cabs.
As for basses, in my experience, (after throwing time and money at different Yamahas, LTD's, Westones and top end Squiers to find my tone) it's not always the actual bass you need to change to get a cool sound.
Amplifier-wise as a personal example, I picked up a 40watt Stagg combo for 20 squids simply to throw in the car for quiet rehearsals, chucked a couple of bass ports in the back and hand on heart it sounds better than most other combos I've ever had in the past and even using my old project Westfield P bass modded with decent pickups and a Wilkinson bridge, a little bit of tone knob usage for particular songs and I'm grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

Ashdown Mag evo 2 300 watt which I suffered for three years. Every venue I played I tried every different combination on the dials. Possibly once I had a decent sound thru my 15 and 2 x 10 and that was in the open air in a marquee. Awful piece of toneless junk even thru an 8 x 10, just a slightly louder sound of a bus in a tunnel. Nearly as bad as my Fender Rumble 100 1 x 15 now also moved on, badly designed box, could have been really nice if it was built deeper.

We live and learn, huh?

Same for me trying to get the downbeat on the start of bloody Sex On Fire. Unless a drummer counts it in on the hi hat, my old brain just won't grab the proper beat.

And don't get me started on Andrew Gold's bleedin' Lonely Boy...........

Just out of curiosity (sitting here bored while she's watching every soap possible) what are the merits and/or downsides of wiring bass pup's hot wire to horseshoe and out from sweeper against hot to sweeper and out from horseshoe? Precisions seem to be the first and jazzes seem to be the latter.