alexclaber

[quote name='Aussiephoenix' post='14190' date='Jun 8 2007, 01:49 PM']Thats my point though... POWER CONDITIONERS DON'T do that. VOLTAGE REGULATORS do. Its a Quick Lok SR-1500 (its hard to find info on the web about it.) I tell ya, I was amazed when I started using it, cause its not until then that you realize how much the voltage actually shifts and changes in places you thought "safe". I constantly see the leds change between 220 - 240 and in some places its been as low as 180 and as high as 250v. Even though the amps etc may be ready for that, having a CONSTANT 230v (in my case) feeding the amp has got to be a lot healthier than having too little to too much voltage circling through the components right?[/quote] Ah, I see. However although it may be useful in Portugal, I really doubt that it would be that beneficial in the UK, where the mains supply is more stable and also centred around 240V, not 220V (although we're all alledgedly on 230V all that changed is the european standard, not the actual voltages). I'm still curious though - how much does it weigh and how much current can it supply? Alex

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='14158' date='Jun 8 2007, 01:04 PM']Agreed. I supposed we no choice but to pay it if we want the gear.[/quote] Thus you have to question why you want the gear and if you can get similar performance from either DIY or less heavily marked up gear (Carvin, Avatar and Acme for instance, as they all sell direct)? Alex

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='10243' date='May 31 2007, 10:42 PM']By the way, i have been told the driver is worth about 100 euro's. make me wonder why the cab costs so much.[/quote] Because people are willing to pay that much! There is a hell of a lot of mark-up on this kind of gear, somewhere in the order of 100% by the manufacturer and then another 100% by the retailer. Divide the selling price by four and that's what it would cost to self build (assuming their ability to bulk buy negates the lack of labour costs for DIY). Alex

[quote name='Aussiephoenix' post='13517' date='Jun 7 2007, 11:47 AM']1 - It does both. a little light goes on saying what the incoming voltage is, but the output voltage is regulated to the machine's standards, in my case, living in Europe, 230V.[/quote] Interesting - few power conditioners do that. Which model is it? Alex

I've decided to build my own active crossover, following these plans: [url="http://sound.westhost.com/project09.htm"]http://sound.westhost.com/project09.htm[/url] But there's tons of cheap and active rackmount ones - Rane make some fine examples - that you could use between preamp and power amp. Alex

Get the job but see if you can do 5 rather than 6 days a week. Don't blow all the cash on designer label bass gear, stick some of it in a savings account and spend some of it on upgrading bits of your rig that you really need to but only once you truly know what you want. You could even invest in some bass lessons! It's all too easy to see what the pros use and think "I need to have that to be a proper bassist". Remember that many of them only use that gear because they get given it free or heavily discounted. Keep learning about gear and you'll make better choices, spend less money and sound better - especially once you understand that wattage is one of the least important of all the specs on speaker cabs! Alex

[quote name='pete.young' post='13183' date='Jun 6 2007, 06:05 PM']I have an old HH Bass Baby 15" cab, which is very well made, nice and compact if I didn't want to carry bigger and heavier cabs, but only rated at 100W. It goes against the grain to accidently damage the driver by shoving too much power through it, and I was thinking about putting a more highly rated driver into it.[/quote] I'd leave it as it is - no 15" I've modelled in that size is any good and although it may only be rated at 100W it'll handle much larger amps. Listen and you'll hear when it isn't happy. If you simply have to do something, try a DeltaLite 2510-II - that's not a bad volume for a 10" and add a port to tune it to 45Hz. I do wonder though how much this HH cab weighs - my experience of them is that if it's well made it's also heavy which makes neo drivers a bit pointless. Alex

[quote name='parker_muse' post='13126' date='Jun 6 2007, 04:42 PM']Alex, that sounds great, how can i do that? Can you get me a materials list for that somewhere?[/quote] Would you like me to build it for you whilst I'm at it? Ah, the joys of delegating coursework. I haven't found local sources for any of the parts yet but here's a brief summary: 3mm (1/8") plywood. Baltic birch would be nice but whatever you can get. Make sure it's flat and knot/void free on inspection - try a local timber yard or cabinet maker. 12mm expanded polystyrene. This is used in the building trade for insulation in houses. Places like Wickes or Travis Perkins should have it, hopefully. Fibreglass roll and 2-pack epoxy resin. This is used by DIY boat builders so that's the kind of thing to google. Aluminium edges and stacking corners. Places that supply flightcase parts or similar should have this. Speaker grill. That's another challenge - I found a place that does s/s wire mesh. Grills add a lot of weight. Handles, connectors, speaker etc - Maplins, Blue Aran, Speakerstore.eu, Adam Hall, etc. It takes quite a bit of searching to find the best prices. Don't forget to download WinISDpro and model the response of the speakers you're considering in different cab volumes and tunings until you get the response you want. If you dig into the t/s specs more deeply and/or include a crossover maybe you can get some physics or electronics coursework points whilst you're at it! On an aside, if you're looking to build two different cabs and want to know how they'll respond when played simultaneously, you have to treat the magnitude and phase as a complex number, add the two and then convert back to real numbers. Ask your maths teacher about that, it should keep them talking for hours... Alex

[quote name='tayste_2000' post='13133' date='Jun 6 2007, 04:48 PM']I agree with all these points but it was the only way I could justify more lights in my rack [/quote] I got a tuner for that! There's nothing truly wrong with using a power conditioner UNLESS you have a powerful amp. Few power conditioners can supply enough current to feed 1000W+ amps, and once you get into rackmount power amps that's most of them. If you already own a power conditioner and have a high power amp, do not connect the power amp through it. Alex

[quote name='Aussiephoenix' post='9214' date='May 30 2007, 02:12 PM']the Voltage Regulator, is a really important part of my setup. I REALLY recomend people with expensive equipment to go and buy one. Basically, it does 3 things... 1) it regulates the voltage that it supplies to the head, tuner and anything else I want to connect to it to an EXACT 230v. no fluctuations, so my equipment can run at the perfect conditions it was meant for. 2) It protects my equipment from surges 3) regarding point 1, this means less or no static noise. sometimes the only clue that the amp is turned on is hearing the fan/seeing the lights[/quote] Regarding the three points: 1. Does it actually regulate the voltage or does it just tell you if the voltage is not optimal? If it does regulate the voltage how much current can it deliver? 2. A simple surge protected power strip can do this at far less cost and weight. 3. Any half-decent rack gear should not need A/C filtering. Alex

[quote name='parker_muse' post='13101' date='Jun 6 2007, 04:07 PM']Im going to use ply or pine... something strong and light. The idea is to have 1x12' speaker set-up in a very strong case, just big enough for it, its bulk really where im cutting down on weight.[/quote] Bear in mind that most bass cabs are made from decent quality ply and still weigh a lot. If you go down to 1/2" from 3/4" you can save 30% of the weight (but remember to add bracing). Using a neo driver like a DeltaLite II 2512 will save you some more. For my lightweight design I'll be making the cab from a ply/foam/ply composite, using 3mm ply and 12mm expanded polystyrene. I may even epoxy a layer of glassfibre in between the ply and foam. Something worth considering if you have the time as you can expect to more than halve the weight of the cab compared to a 3/4" ply ferrite magnet design. Alex

I'm currently in the midst of a personal biamping debate. Do I use an active crossover (24dB @ ~1kHz) and get 550W into one 15" (or 900W into two) on the lows and 300W into the mid/high horn on the highs, or do I build a passive crossover and then bridge my amp for 2000W shared between single 15" and mid/high horn (or 3000W into two 15"s and mid/high horn)? Hmmm... I would not recommend biamping with standard bass cabs, they simply aren't designed right for it. Fullrange on one cab and lows only on another could work well though. Alex

So how are you going to make it light? I'm doing the same myself, though not for GSCE... Alex

I have an Avalon U5 enroute at the moment. It'll be here in about 10 days, will update once I've given it a whirl. Alex

It's all too exciting!!! Headstock is looking good. Regarding switching, on my current bass I just use a 3-way neck/both/bridge switch. However based on listening to various Dingwall clips and knowing how running pickups in series gives a gain boost, reduced highs and thicker mids, having a series option is a nice fourth basic tonal colour. I also have a strong suspicion that it'll be most useful when I'm having reggae moments, due to the gain allowing a lighter touch and the tonal shift suiting the vibe. Alex

[quote name='pete.young' post='12164' date='Jun 4 2007, 11:10 PM']So in order to get the optimum bass response, you need a cabinet volume equivalent to the VAS ? It can't be that simple, surely.[/quote] I'm still getting my head around the inner workings of speakers but that's certainly the gist of it. I haven't dealt with any sealed cab designs because they don't work well for bass unless they're huge or for very low volume use (Ampeg 810 and AI Contra respectively). What size cab are we specifically dealing with, is it ported or not, how much power do you have to play with and do you need it to be a standalone or just to add bottom? Alex

I think one of the best things about music as a pasttime it isn't competitive and furthermore competiveness rarely benefits it - it's all about working in 'harmony' with other musicians. The strange thing about bass technique is it isn't at all obvious to the average listener which bassists have excellent technique and which don't. You may say, "pah, it's obvious that so-and-so who can two handed tap and slap like a maniac has better technique than that bloke in AC/DC" but actually the converse is often true. Yes there are 'advanced' (read: flash) techniques that can be used on the bass (and sometimes they're even used well!) but they are rarely as effective as techniques like excellent muting, control of note length, ability to play around the beat. That's not to say that those with all the flash (Mr Wooten for one) can't do that other subtler 'deeper' stuff because many of them can. But you do get the bedroom bassists that miss the point because they haven't got sufficiently involved in an ensemble. Then there's stuff like your ear - how quickly you can pick things up, how you can identify harmony, how you can decipher intricate grooves, etc. I know I'm not good enough at some of that to play jazz well (if at all!) but in genres in which I'm more comfortable I'm not bad - but I've still a long way to go. Returning to the technique thing, I have an excess of technique for most of the stuff I want to play yet I still don't have enough 'technique headroom' to always be within my abilities once the chaos of the live environment is thrown in. I can't tap and my slapping is pretty rudimentary but my fingers are fairly fast and I do have a whole pile of chordal strumming, thumb plucking and other esoteric techniques which are an important part of my playing, my writing and thus the sound of my band. I don't actually practise in a remotely organised manner - instead I spend my time writing new material or going through current material, some of which is quite stretching especially that which requires running bass and chords simultaneously and playing independant rhythms with them and then singing on top. I suppose "when is good, good enough" for me will be when my music earns me a living - and that requires me to become a great songwriter and I have a very long way to go to get there, if I ever do! The bass playing is subservient to that but as I write on bass my technique has to be good enough to not get in the way even when I'm doing relatively weird things. Alex

Having tried both extensively, I'd recommend avoiding compression live except as a specific effect. It's all too easy to end up beating your bass to death because it isn't getting louder like it ought to. Conversely if you're in a very guitar-centric band then it may help the overall mix because guitar, especially when distorted, has much more limited dynamic range than other instruments so it keeps the two instruments more in step. My band is very dynamic and thus the guitarist is having to work on opening up his dynamic range by judicious effects choices and minimising the use of compressed multi-FX patches, in the hope of keeping up with the rest of us when we're playing loud without being too loud when we're playing quietly. I wish I could go without compression for recordings but it's impossible to make a radio-friendly mix without a lot of compression on the band, and that's best achieved by multiple stages of slight compression rather than squishing the final mix heavily. I won't be tracking with compression though, it'll be applied in the mix and then I expect to use multiband compression on the master. Alex

[quote name='pete.young' post='11903' date='Jun 4 2007, 04:08 PM']I'd like to ask what the significance of the Vas is, but I'm not sure I'd understand the answer![/quote] Vas represents the equivalent volume of air to have the same spring compliance as the woofer. Basically the higher the Vas, the larger the cab needs to be to get full bass response (i.e. resonant frequency of speaker in cabinet equal to resonant frequency of speaker in free air). The reason that few bass cabs have the lows they claim is that the speakers have too high Vas for the cab they're in. To get a lower Vas without giving up sensitivity is difficult, hence the "loud, low, small, pick any two" law of speaker design. Alex

4/4 with kick on 3 and skank on 2 and 4. Counting it in half time with kick on 2 and 4 makes it much harder to feel the bubbling forward motion. It sounds like your musical director is treating it too much like a polka! Alex

Donny Hathaway - Live and on bass "the baddest bass player in the country - Willie Weeks y'all!" Alex