alexclaber

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='47439' date='Aug 19 2007, 04:54 PM']It does indeed have the early predominantly Wenge neck. I could be proved wrong when I hopefully see the bass stripped of it's paint tomorrow, however going off the weight I think it will be Maple; I had an early Cherry model once and that was a featherweight bass. The route for the original bridge will be blended in with some sympathetic sanding/forming so that it doesn't look too obvious.[/quote]

Groovy! There's nothing featherweight about my cherry bodied example though...

Alex

Hmmm, I wonder in that case if it's a cherry body and wenge neck then, like my '87 model. Now I look more closely I can see where it was routed for the Schaller bridge.

Alex

Looking good Robbie! Did you get my email about the 12th fret markers?

Alex

Definitely a tweeter protection lightbulb. JBL pioneered this and many bass cabs have it. I believe the bulbs are usually in series with the tweeter, after the L-pad and crossover. If you put too much treble through your cab then the bulb will light, absorb the power and eventually blow. If you turn the L-pad down then less power will hit the bulb and it will not light - however the L-pad will have to dissipate that power and it may blow - quite a common problem. If you don't use the tweeter, disconnect it completely to avoid this.

An interesting thing about Acme cabs is that the protection circuitry (which used to be a bulb but is now a polyswitch which self-resets and doesn't blow permanently) protects the tweeter, midrange and L-pads. I gather that the increased resistance from the bulb in basic protection circuitry can lower the crossover point and cause more power to hit the bulb/tweeter and cause premature blowing of either - this was a problem with the earliest Acmes (Series I - replaced in '99) but the Series II cabs have impedance compensation which prevents this. I doubt many other cabs have this impedance compensation to prevent the crossover point shifting so although the bulb should protect your tweeter, it may not always.

[quote name='NJW' post='47359' date='Aug 19 2007, 01:23 PM']I suspect the reason it was happening was that the guy was using one of those Ashdown heads with the sub-bass (octave down) feature and he was pushing loads of unneccesary low end rubbish through the cab.[/quote]

Aha! What happens when you try to push too much bottom through a rig? Your amp clips! And what happens when your amp clips? The amount of treble energy increases substantially - and there's the problem. When I first had my Acmes I had a less powerful amp and was still in the habit of boosting my lows (so unnecessary, there's a ton of bottom with the EQ flat) thus causing my amp to clip. I used to blow bulbs quite frequently at the end of gigs when we were rocking out really loud, often using distortion too. The light effects were cool, seeing bright rings of light round each woofer surround. I now have tons of power, and haven't blown a bulb in years.

All that guff we hear about 'underpowering' being dangerous for cabs and clipping being dangerous for woofers is such rubbish. The only risk is having too little power for your given situation, thus clipping your amp and blowing not your woofers but your tweeter!

Alex

I paid £200 for mine back in '97. Ten years on and you can get more bass for your money, so if you like it I'd aim to haggle towards £150. Since taking the paint and frets off mine and sticking in a Bartolini pickup it sounds really good.

Alex

That's interesting to note that a long extension lead solved the problem for one user. I bet if you use a high gauge (i.e. skinny) lead a good few yards long you'll get a similar affect in terms of voltage and current choking to using a power conditioner without giving Furman any money!

What is particularly bizarre is that this amp is noted for its comprehensive diagnostic testing at switch on causing power up to take quite a while. Did it not dawn on Aguilar that there is a world beyond the Eastern Seaboard and some of us even play bass?

Have you hassled Dave B on talkbass?

Alex

The Ampeg 8x10" doesn't actually have all that much bottom:



Here's a high-end 4x10" in comparison (the blue line):



Alex

Well this took me by surprise! Everyone, this is a very nice preamp - someone buy it! I bought it ex-demo from The Bass Centre in 1999 and it's lived in my rack since then.

By the way I'm pretty sure both those valves are NOS 5751 not 12AX7 or 12AT7. Good valves though, specially selected by Jack Read, designer of the legendary (and very rare) Read Custom preamp. The original valve is a generic 12AX7.

Alex

P.S. The VBA400 should rock!

So did Timface get terminally electrocuted by an unreliable amp shortly after starting this thread or is he not responding as he hasn't been given the answer he wants?

Alex

I have to say that this need for a power conditioner REALLY bothers me! Do you realise why the power conditioner 'fixes' the problem? Because it doesn't have enough current capacity for the amp, so the current flow is choked at the power conditioner. I agree with Ken, Aguilar should really get some stick for this.

This way that power conditioners choke the mains supply is exactly why they should never be used for high power amps!

I think too often it is forgotten that we in Europe, particularly in the UK where we run on 240V rather than 220V (the claim that we're all now on 230V is simply achieved through changing the tolerances) have much better power for running high wattage amps than in the USA. This is particularly notable with lightweight high power amps where less power is buffered in the power supply capacitors.

Alex

Very curious to see the results! That bass is a year younger than mine so one of the first with the separate bridge and tailpiece and MEC pickups. Possibly one of the first SS1, in which case it's likely to be mostly maple. Not sure if the original Streamer ever had the separate tailpiece.

Alex

[quote name='ste_m3' post='43553' date='Aug 9 2007, 11:30 PM']What im getting at is that this weighs the same as a warwick Neo810... When its not neo and has a 400watt amp too... Little bit bemused.[/quote]

Most of the weight of a speaker cab is the cab itself, not the speakers. Nemesis cabs are made from compressed recycled cardboard which weighs less than the 3/4" ply that most cabs are made from, whilst remaining sufficiently stiff. I presume the downside is that the impact strength is lower so they might not withstand repeated heavy handling on tour but that doesn't matter if you don't have roadies. If you self-build you can use 1/2" ply with extra bracing for the best of both worlds.

Also 10" woofers can be made with stamped frames and work just as well as cast frames and moderately sized magnets will often produce better lows than big magnets at the expense of midrange output, both saving more weight over the cast frame heavy magnet approach that the marketing department like.

Are the wheels good? If not, retrofit some big edgemount casters. Likewise if you haven't got skid rails on the back.

Alex

Bassist/songwriter/vocalist/bandleader/producer with delusions of grandeur and self-importance. Chief Groove Guru and VP i/c Funk for many moons. Smugly using the same gear for a long time (though a huge pedalboard developed and then vanished) but recently succumbed and bought a new preamp, ordered a RIM Custom bass and planning a DIY cab. Doesn't look good in hats.

Alex

[quote name='Lorne' post='42085' date='Aug 6 2007, 06:02 PM'][/quote]

Bagpuss looks rather bothered.

Alex

[quote name='TheRinser' post='43145' date='Aug 9 2007, 03:28 AM']hey, any of you guys tried a behringer rack tuner? i'm tempted by it's cheapo price, can't afford a proper korg one, just can't justify it... so... any experiences?[/quote]

I have NEVER seen such spectacularly bad reviews and personal experiences:

[url="http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/product/Behringer/BTR2000/10/1"]http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews...er/BTR2000/10/1[/url]

I'm sure you can get a used Korg for similar money if you're patient.

Alex

Firstly, unplug your bass and experiment with different plucking position and pick attack/angle until you get as close to the sound as you can in an acoustic manner. Also consider your string and pick choice. Once you've got the vibe happening, plug in, turn our tweeter off and then try slightly overdriving your preamp, and boosting the low treble (~1.2kHz) and cutting the low mids (~250Hz) by a few dB. Add a little extra bottom if need be - but not a lot!

Alex

Nice work! I'm hoping to build an Omni 15TB when circumstances allow, which will allow me to leave one Acme at the rehearsal space and one in our recording space (drummer's loft!) and just take the one big cab to gigs.

Alex

[quote name='DrGonzo' post='42586' date='Aug 7 2007, 07:04 PM']The thing that a lot of people don't get, and what I think Alex is referring to, is that your technical ability comes a long way second to your feel and understanding of the music that you're playing, no matter what instrument you're playing.[/quote]

Yes, that's part of it. But the most important parts of technique and those which are often overlooked are matters like dynamic and tonal control and of course all aspects of timing. I see plenty of new players with amazing fancy technique that can slap at a million miles an hour but how in tune are they to their tone, volume and position in the pocket?

Alex

^ awesome!

Alex

It's just the way of the musical world, the misguided many believing that it's some kind of competitive event. Even if you can quantify someone's abilities it takes a much deeper understanding than most have to really make an accurate judgement.

For instance I'm in a band with three musicians I hugely respect and none of them come out with this kind of rubbish - yet the saxophonist and guitarist still believed the "Ringo isn't even the best drummer in The Beatles" quip, when he's actually a fantastic drummer with great taste and incredibly good time, on a par with the very best session drummers. But does the layman realise that? No. Why? Because he isn't all crash, bang, wallop, big fills, fast and crazy, like Keith Moon (another great drummer though!)

Unfortunately that flash that so easily impresses is usually the wrong way to play the bass. Just try persuading anyone of the brilliance of Bob Moore...

Alex

Monsters use oversized plugs to get a tighter fit in the sockets. Unfortunately this means that other leads will no longer fit securely as the plug contacts are strained and sometimes it'll even break the plug. The only problem I ever had with my SWR Grand Prix was a broken jack due to someone else's Monster cable - The Bass Centre kindly fixed it free of charge.

I had some armoured leads from Studiospares but they seem to be too popular with light fingered musicians at gigs...

OBBM is The Man.

Alex

1987 Warwick Streamer with EMG pickups and Aguilar OBP-3 on 18V:





Alex

Very nice! Glad to see my old Korg keeping such excellent company.

Alex

Some BP approved 'excellent advice'!

Alex

The Schallers do eventually become less reliable - the 20 year old examples on my Warwick sometimes come undone when I'm playing seated.

Alex