WinterMute

[quote name='escholl' post='517002' date='Jun 17 2009, 10:54 PM']I think the idea was that they were accurate in the time domain with minimal bass overhang, and had a fairly smooth frequency response in practical application, which peaked around 2kHz or so and let the detail on instruments such as guitars and vocals come out more clearly. The frequency response also has a bit of an inverted V shape to it, which is often cited as one of the reasons they tended to sound harsh but translated well to other systems. Interesting fact, most people mounted them incorrectly. I've used them a few times and I liked them as a tool (hence my desire to get the AE version), but then for some reason I like listening to music through (most) studio monitors and wouldn't mind a set of [url="http://www.in2guitar.com/stereo/ureiad39p.jpg"]these[/url] in my living room (simply because they look awesome -- that's right, buying speakers on [i]looks[/i] ), so I suppose there's no accounting for (my own) taste ^_^[/quote] They cut off at 300hz, they have no tunable porting, they didn't have aligned elements, and the originals were designed to stand upright as you note, the "Studio" version had filtered tweeters and were designed to sit on their sides, but that buggered up the imaging. They all honk like a constipated goose at 2K, which is where the presence in a bass is (well, between 1K and 2.5K) and that really hurts your vocals and guitars too. No offence but these are really average speakers that have been excellently marketed. Oddly if you power them with a Yamaha GC 2520 (I think) amp, they sound pretty good, this was the amp they used when they designed them. Having said all that, I have used them on many occasions and have gotten good results out of them, I just find them much harder to mix on that good (and obviously more expensive) speakers. The KRK range is very good, the Rockets aren't all that expensive, the Tannoy Reveals are very nice, the dual concentric design give excellent imaging and time alignment. If you can find a pair of PMC TB2's on evilBay they are very good but need a decent amp. In the end, understanding what a speaker is telling you is more important than having great speakers, good engineers will get good results from almost anything.

[quote name='escholl' post='515728' date='Jun 16 2009, 08:43 PM'][i]Supposedly[/i], the woofer makes a good kick mic as well, if you reverse wire the speaker up as a dynamic mic. I've heard a few different studio types mention it, but I've never tried it, so it could be complete bollox.[/quote] This is entirely correct, I have one mounted into an 8" tom shell, it's excellent for recording the real low end woof of a kick drum, but you need to ally it with a good kick drum mic, my choice is the EV RE20 or a Beyer M88. A dynamic mic is, in essence, a speaker operating in reverse. On the question of monitors, true monitors are not good for actually listening to music, they are tools. Hifi speakers are coloured to make all music sound good. I've never bought the NS-10 argument, they are simply crap, why should I have to suffer listening to crap speakers during a mix. I use Dynaudio M1's or BM5a's, my mixes sound good on them and good on anything else, a good mix has little to do with the speakers provided you know what they are telling you. If yo want some real monitors, get these, if the career bombs out, you can always live in them...! [url="http://www.dynaudioacoustics.com/Default.asp?Id=284"]Dynaudio Acoustic M4+[/url]

I stuck a Gotoh 201 on my Squire VMJ fretless, and while it didn't alter the tone a great deal (a little more zing maybe) it did bring the sustain out a treat, the damn thing goes on forever (holds unplugged bass up to ear....). I have a badass 2 on the Geddy Lee but as it's a standard fitting, I can't comment on the effectiveness, but that bass sustains like a b*stard, and has tone to spare. The Badass is a much heavier beast that the Gotoh, which has a hollow back, but both are infinitely better than the bent piece of tin that comes as standard. Obviously the Gotoh is at least half the price of a Badass.

Lovely work mate, well worth the effort. My Squire VMJ has had a few mods, it's got a Gotoh 201 bridge and I shimmed the neck (thanks t the great "Shim Your neck" thread). I grabbed some Wizard 84's from obbm here on BC, but have yet to get them installed, that's next on the list. I might throw an East into it at some point, although with the earthing and shielding done its not noisy and the Wizards are going to make a big difference. I'm really liking the passive thing atm. I'm also planning some seriously radical mods for my Geddy Lee... a black pickguard1

I got mine a few weeks ago, it's a great bass. I understand it's the best selling Fender Signature model, and not without good reason. They can be had for under £500 off ebay, Peter Cooks are still advertising them for £610 (but never have stock... ). They sound great, and have one of the truly great Jazz necks, it's a joy to play. Mine is a little grubby, a few dings here and there, but it exudes solidity and feels like a bass that will just go on getting better. There was some talk of early models having hardware problems, but this one (a 1996 I think) has no problems at all. I confess to always wanting one because Geddy Lee was responsible for me picking up a bass in the first place (not to mention some truly awful caterwauling), but after playing a Warwick Thumb 5 for 20 years and currently owning an NS Stick and a Squire VMJ Fretless, I really can't see where the extra bucks went in the Warwick or the Chapman. Buy one, don't even think about it.

I've got the Squire, it's a very good beast for the money, sets up well with a Gotoh 201. It's immensely playable and sounds pretty damn good straight out of the box, I bought a Geddy Lee just after I got the VMJ, it's a better built instrument, but it;s obviously much more expensive. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the VMJ as a starter fretless, and I think it's going to last a good deal longer than I initially thought, it may even simply stay on as primary fretless.

When I went to uni in 1982, I had a Sound City 200w valve amp, a Custom Sound 1x15 bin and an Aria Pro 2 Precision copy, in a room a little bit wider than a single bed and twice as long... That sucker was LOUD, so I had to buy a hi-fi that was just as loud to play along with... I had a blast in uni, I'm teetotal cos I'm allergic to alcohol, and this in a time when safe sex was a padded headboard.

The Line 6 Studio 110 combo is excellent for your needs i think, I got one for £100 off evilBay, it's got a headphone output that cuts the speaker, it's got good DI output with speaker emulation, and if you should need an amp for a bit of impromptu 3am jamming with your mate, your good to go. It's even got an iPod input for jamming along with your faves, all in a 1 foot cube that actually doesn't sound bad at all.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='502163' date='May 31 2009, 11:43 AM']I remember when we bought our first colour telly, about 1974, after a couple of years it started to go on the blink and every time this happened, my Dad would slap it and it came back on. This went on for a good few years and I naturally assumed, as a young boy, that if something didn't work properly, then a good old slap would sort it out. This has served me well throughout life. How much did you pay? Three years is a good innings for one of these, maybe time to retire it if the repair is going to be costly.[/quote] "Impact maintenance" as my dad used to call it! Works better on old stuff than on your new Apple laptop, trust me....

[quote name='jakesbass' post='499513' date='May 28 2009, 12:21 AM']I sold an 87 warwick thumb 5 thru to buy an Alembic MK5 deluxe. Best move I ever made. I am a much better player because I now sound like I want to... result: I never put the Alembic down [/quote] My Warwick was a 87 Thumb 5 thru as well, not many of those about, mine had EMG's and gold hardware. I didn't go for an Alembic though..! [attachment=26336:DSC_0012.jpg]

I moved a Warwick Thumb 5 string off to the US last year, and was sort of thinking about giving up bass in favour of the NS Stick, but then played a mate's Jazz and thought "I'd like one of those to noodle around on". Bought a VMJ fretless off a basschatter, modified it a bit, then picked up a Geddy Lee. The answer is that neither is remotely like the Thumb in character, but the Geddy Lee is one of the best basses I've ever played, and the VMJ is a cracking bass for the money. I'm not sure I'd go back to the Warwick now if I had the choice.

As ever it depends if you know what you're doing with the pre/power amp balance and the tonal/dynamic controls. I've heard guys with killer SVT + 8x10 rigs get some weak-arsed sounds, and some guys with cheapo copy basses and old HH amps knocking out great tone. I picked up the Studio 110 amp a month or so ago, simply because at £100 off Evilbay it did everything I needed in a 1 foot cube. The presets suck, and of the 4 modelled "states" only the SVT and the clean (fender I think) blues models are worth a damn (the grunge MESA model is awful). However, with a little tweaking and a definite idea of what I'm after soundwise, it soon turned up with some very pleasing and useable sounds. Then the kicker: the DI uses speaker simulation and sounds great going into my Protools/PCM studio rig, very punchy indeed. In absence of the GK mini combo, it's a keeper... plus the wife loves the fact there isn't a sweaty great bass amp and cab cluttering up the room anymore. I'd love an SWR Redhead 2 x 10, but as I'm only just back at the noodling around stage it'll have to wait.

That's a serious bit of wood right there...! I love natural finishes when the wood looks that good. Congrats mate, use a coaster eh?

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='495286' date='May 22 2009, 03:53 PM']The single ply black pickguard works so well with the black body, black binding, and black blocks. Proper cool [/quote] Definitely considering that for my new Geddy, looks reet grand.

[quote name='jezzaboy' post='495457' date='May 22 2009, 06:26 PM']Need help quick! Buying ramorraw! Just sold a mex jazz but am missing it already. Every home should have one so am looking for one. Now here is the tricky bit. I like the white Classic 60`s bass in white with the old style headstock and tunning pegs, but it`s £635. Has anyone got one/had one? Is it worth the cash to have fender on the head or should I get the white squire cv bass at £279 which seems to be the dogs dangalies? Jez[/quote] I can't comment on those particular models, but having recently bought a Squire VM fretless and a Geddy Lee Jazz, I can comment on the quality. The Squire is a perfectly acceptable bass, well finished with decent hardware and a good range of sounds. It plays comfortably and, for the money, is a very good buy indeed. The Geddy Lee feels more solid and sounds incredible, it plays like a dream. The finish is about the same, but the hardware and pickups are much, much better. The Fender is heavier with a slightly higher output. If you intend to get a lot of use out of this bass, buy the Fender.

We have a Nexo rig at the Uni for the big stuff, 4 bins and a bunch of the small units for mid/hf FoH and monitors, got Allen and Grief desks. We have a stack of the self powered JBL full range cabs and some subs with Mackie desks for the smaller gigs. I have my eye on a flown Turbosound Flex array for the new theatre, but I need someone to give me £40K first!

I had an Aria precision copy for a long time as a kid, it wasn't a bad bass, and during the rehearsals and gigs it got beaten up a bit, the point was, every ding and scratch and mark were there because of something that happened and a lot of the time it was something i remembered. I can't understand what memories a sanding disc and a blowtorch impart.

If in doubt, search!! You know I looked at that thread earlier, but I didn;t make the connection.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Squier-reliced-Fretless-Vintage-60s_W0QQitemZ280345425992QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item280345425992&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1309%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50"]Ebay link[/url]

The original AKG D12 is excellent, but the newer "egg" D112 is nowhere near as good. EV RE20 is excellent. Beyer M88 maybe. Got very good results out of a Neumann TLM170, but it;s an expensive vocal mic. Standard set for me at the moment is an M88 in the drum, an RE20 on the sound hole and a Yamaha NS10 driver in a 10" tom-tom case as a sub bass mic. You shouldn't need a DI for any of these mics, as they are already mic level, just go to the mic input and adjust the level at the mic amp.

I've been using the Etymotic ER4p's without the in-ear moulds, they sound great and provide 70-80db of attenuation. The moulds are supposed to provide a better seal. The ER's push right into the ear canal, there's no way they are going to fall out. Pricey, but very good.

I recorded a band called Aftershock in the 90's, in fact my wife gave birth in one of their t-shirts!! Not the same band I'll warrant.

Just to add, the Geddy Lee turned up this morning, and the difference between it and the Squire is a lot more than I expected in terms of playability. The Geddy is the most comfortable bass I have ever played, hands down, and fast like you wouldn't believe...! The VMJ is still a very comfortable bass to play, and with it's new Wizard pups it sounds great, but it's not a patch on the Fender. Bugger, I gotta find me a Jaco signature now haven't I?

That white Ricky is bloody lovely mate! Very nice work.