LawrenceH

[quote name='paul_5' post='1054995' date='Dec 11 2010, 02:33 PM']and of course - "tha one" [/quote] In the mids and on tha one, yeah

[quote name='crez5150' post='1054934' date='Dec 11 2010, 01:24 PM']I really don't see the benefit of scooping the EQ for slap.... you lose too much of the 'whump' from the tone. I think this is a mistake a lot of people make, they scoop the f*** out of the eq section and then wonder why it gets lost in FOH mix[/quote] Definitely. The funk is in the mids.

Larry Graham used a jazz (though later a Moon), his tone was ace. I don't think you need an active - and light guage strings may give that Mark King clanging metallic slap sound but honestly, I've yet to meet anyone who wasn't a slap fiend who actually liked his tone! Regarding 'Get on the floor'. I'd guess the closest approximation of his tone with your set-up would be the VMJ with the bridge on full, neck rolled off a fair bit. That gets my jazz 95% of the way there with that particular song, and you can always add a bass boost at the amp (I assume it's a 'ray on the original?). I do struggle to slap really cleanly on a jazz and I often wonder if a 'ray would be easier in this regard but then youtube proves it's just my technique that's letting me down! Check out 'Glide' by Pleasure, pretty sure that's a jazz.

Whilst you can get cheaper systems as separates, I think actives are pretty reasonably priced nowadays and are definitely my preference for small/medium gigs up to 150 or so people. They're great for confined spaces and versatile - for big gigs they can normally be used as stage monitors and a single cab using the built-in mic/instrument inputs is a great all-in-one solution for jams and really titchy gigs. Another thing I've found with half-decent actives is that they tend to get quite loud whilst still giving a fairly clean sound, I think the bi-amping probably helps here since you can be pushing the bottom end pretty hard but still have clean upper-mids/treble (where distortion is typically most objectionable).

Hmm, I just checked on my pretty well-set-up bass and it does the same (for a split second) - so I played around for a while and realised that with certain fret profiles it's pretty inevitable but that I'm automatically controlling it with my muting technique. If it doesn't buzz when the note's played then I can't see that altering the action or truss will get you any further than a certain point, but in the 'real world' for my playing at least it's a non-issue. EDIT: If it lasts more than a very short time though, it is set-up related.

[quote name='JMT3781' post='1050266' date='Dec 7 2010, 10:18 AM']yeah, i said i thought it was naughty, but a great idea nonetheless.. most business ideas are aren't they? someone always has to loose out i guess..[/quote] The ones who lose out are the manufacturers who don't offer courtesy amps - I'm sure a few of them will follow suit if this is successful for MB.

I have massive respect for anyone who can sing and play bass at the same time - I really struggle with it, I've managed on about two songs ever I think, though I have much less of a problem if I'm playing keys. It's the rhythm that does me, though I've not tried much on 'straighter' pop stuff. I really don't know how Larry and Bootsy do it!

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='1050117' date='Dec 7 2010, 01:26 AM']What would be the best way to bed the driver in? I would like to use this at practice on Thursday and don't want to push it until i'm sure it's ok to do so[/quote] Just feed some signal through it at medium volume with plenty of LF content. I used recorded music for a few hours on a Deltalite-loaded cab and it made a noticeable difference to the response, though it probably varies driver to driver. If you want to do it without making lots of noise, take the driver out of the cab first and wire it direct, just remember that you've got about 8mm peak-peak excursion to play with and you'll reach it at much lower power with the speaker out of the cab. Keep an eye on the cone as you turn it up though, and you'll be fine. I expect if you don't bother doing this, then as long as you don't force the cab too hard the worst thing that would happen would be slightly crappy sound for the practice.

[quote name='icastle' post='1050039' date='Dec 6 2010, 11:22 PM']Ye gods!!! Last time I saw anything that looked like that it had two electrodes and a man shouting "CLEAR"... [/quote] Am I wrong for liking that way more than the standard LMIII fascia?

[quote name='bobbytodd' post='1050002' date='Dec 6 2010, 11:00 PM']his reply the guitarist isnt as good as me[/quote] If he's too loud then he's no f***** good at music at all, no matter how fast he can run along the fretboard. Does he want to be in a band or perform as a solo act? I've done sound for players like this before, normally I find it's more a matter of psychology than knowing what's technically correct, get him onside and thinking that your idea is his idea and you'll be laughing. First the egomaniacal idiot needs to be reassured that a well-balanced sound will still let him be heard comfortably above the other instruments because he'll have frequencies where he is dominant. Second, he needs to realise that people hearing a band like this will now think 'what a great guitarist' rather than 'what a loud guitarist'. It'll really help if, when you do get it sorted with an engineer, people compliment him on his playing in the context of the band's overall sound. Especially if they are fit ladies and compare it favourably with a previous gig where he was 'so loud they couldn't hear properly'. You also have to make sure that your own sound is spot on, filling out the bottom end with a solid tone but not treading on anyone else's toes. Regarding the 'order' of loudness of instruments, this makes absolutely no sense to a sound engineer whether you're talking about live or recorded. You're not all producing the loudest part of your signal at the same time - live, the drums will always be way louder than anything else at their peak but that lasts a fraction of a second each beat, in between is when you hear the guitar etc. Plus you can have multiple sounds all loudest at different frequencies - the ability of ears to separate out different frequency sounds is why we can enjoy polyphonic music! It does sound like your guitarist is a few more tuning pegs short of a headstock even than is typical.

[quote name='fatback' post='1048477' date='Dec 5 2010, 05:49 PM']Anyone actually had an RCD trip? I've never used one, but i'm starting to think I should.[/quote] Yep, as a sound engineer loads of times. Amazing the number of hotels, pubs, clubs etc where you get dodgy sockets. Be warned though, I've also had faulty RCDs where the RCD trips on 'healthy' scokets so get a decent one. You can buy multiway extension reels with an RCD built in, very useful.

[quote name='bassatnight' post='1048227' date='Dec 5 2010, 02:03 PM']Folks, For the first time since playing Bass I have managed to break the bridge. After putting on some new strings I noticed a crack in the slot for the E string. I literally touched the crack line and it came away in my hands. I now require a new Bridge, the Bass is a Fender Jazz Fretless can anyone advise of a high quality replacement, I have seen plastic ones, Brass ones and even chrome I just don't know where to start also what size would I require? Cheers, Steve.[/quote] Stupid question maybe, but do you mean bridge or do you mean nut? I've never seen a plastic bridge for electric bass, and even the Fender bent-bit-of-tin bridge would be pretty hard to break by cracking the saddles!

2 too

[quote name='4 Strings' post='1047018' date='Dec 4 2010, 01:28 AM']Thanks all, been a great ride, I hope to continue it if I need more power and dig holes in my little Ampeg cab, and I'm really grateful for the advice.[/quote] Glad to hear it's sounding better - if you do decide you need to get the most out of this driver at the low end then I /think/ everyone would agree that, as BFM and others have said, the best way would be a slightly bigger box. The advantages are twofold - first you get extended bass response anyway from the volume increase, second you don't need such a long port to tune it. You're probably at the performance limit of a box that big at the moment and won't gain anything by changing it around further.

I am very impressed with both your basses. Well done sir!

I think it's worth listening to the original bass part on the recording of that Free number. It's very 'solid' without having a very deep bass - more low-mid punch and a bit of upper-mid clank. You can probably get a 'tighter' tone that'll fill out the sound and please the rest of the band without adding in the excessive treble you're worried about, by sorting out the mids and rolling the deep bass off a bit. It'll still be there providing nice reinforcement, but it shouldn't be the main component of a mix unless you're playing very specific genres. It might take a while to get used to as a player but it will give the band a fuller sound.

[quote name='oldslapper' post='1045664' date='Dec 2 2010, 09:14 PM']Hi Laurence. I'm probably being a blouse about the weight, but the combo is a UK made ABM EVO 300 with a 1x10 driver. It's basically the same size as the "mini" cab range and I use it with a mini 1x15 to get the full 325 watt at 4ohm. As I said, a 1x10 blue swap for a neo may not make a lot of difference to the weight, but may affect the sound adversely? I don't know, but thought I'd ask for some opinions. Thanks, John[/quote] If you can work out the rough internal volume, and the port(s) diameter and length, then you'll be able to work out which drivers would be a good match. I'm very roughly guessing a net internal volume of about 60 litres based on online dimensions and trying to take account of the room taken up by the head, which makes it a candidate for something like the Eminence Deltalite II - obviously that's without knowing what the cabinet's tuned to. This speaker'd probably change the sound, giving you more bite in the mids, but that may be a good thing. I'd certainly prefer it! The drawback with the Eminence will be that high power, high bass use will probably kill it due to excessive cone excursion, though I doubt the current speaker is much (if any) better in that regard. There are other, costlier options depending on how much you push your cab. What do you want from a new speaker?

From what I dimly recall of the specs for the 12" Sica/Jensen driver (which the blueline was based on) in my old Ashdown Electric Blue combo, it actually performed ok for a small box when I modelled it - obviously I don't know how much Ashdown tweak the spec but I suspected it was largely a matter of making the cone blue (!) since the model tallied with my impressions from playing through it. Excursion was certainly adequate, though not spectacular. From a bass point of view it wasn't worth swapping for any neo that I modelled, where it suffered a bit was the mid-range extension, and of course the weight. Chuffing was apparent when I REALLY hammered it, but in practice it was rarely an issue Obviously the limitations would have been more apparent with more watts, where excursion and port size would matter more. The older EB pumps out about 120w into 8 ohms IIRC, the similar Mag combos probably have a bit more in them. Also the 15" driver may well have more issues in a small box than the 12. Can I ask what combo you've got and how old it is? Can I also ask what you hope to get out of swapping speakers?

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1045081' date='Dec 2 2010, 01:51 PM']We've gotten a fair bit along since 1990. The very notion of different alignments (second order Bessel, second order Butterworth assorted Chebychev, QB3, BB4 etc) has been rendered obsolete. They date to the days of hand calculation; with modern software an infinite number of 'alignments' are easily realized, including vented which virtually duplicate sealed within a desired passband.[/quote] The design methodology has changed with the advent of modelling software but the underlying electromechanical principles haven't. Plus the benefit of things like LEAP, winISD, hornresp and the like are that anyone can have a play with the various parameters in fairly clueless fashion and quickly see how these characteristics will vary, so get a feel for what is and isn't possible. With your favoured Eminence drivers I've never seen a single vented box model that gives both frequency and time-dependent characteristics that match a sealed cabinet based on the same drivers (much less heard one). It's pretty clear from both looking at the maths and playing with the model that with essentially only two parameters to play with it's not going to happen. Unless you think TS-based model is drastically wrong (which it isn't). Obviously for many real-world applications the vented box will outperform the sealed, but for some people volume isn't everything.

[quote name='Clarky' post='1044522' date='Dec 2 2010, 12:11 AM']Yep, I always loosen the strings before adjusting the truss rod. What I meant about string tension is that higher tension strings exert more pull on the neck so the truss rod needs more tightening clockwise to compensate.[/quote] By the way, symptom of a maxed out truss rod for me was that it got very stiff to turn, like you're finding. That's probably not the case with yours but to be safe, I'd put some penetrating oil in to try and loosen it just so you know you're not at that limit. Or it could suddenly shear off given how much force you're having to use.

[quote name='lettsguitars' post='1042325' date='Nov 30 2010, 01:27 PM']as for max'ing out a rod, i can't imagine that ever happening. if somethings 'rattling' and the rod is in tension, you've got problems.[/quote] I've got a Fender with a maxed out truss rod, luckily it's a bullet-type with the truss at the neck end, so it was dead easy to slip some washers in and problem solved.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1044482' date='Dec 1 2010, 11:26 PM']A cap alone won't work, you need at least cap and coil, and the price would be far more than a Thumpinator.[/quote] Agreed, you'd be far better sorting this at line level in the FX loop or similar. But I'd suggest you beg, steal or borrow something like an active crossover unit to play with first and seeing if you've actually got a problem with these frequencies before you spend actual money on something you then have to cart around everywhere. I'm still very intrigued to know which amazing vented box PA cabs will give equivalent bass roll-off and group delay characteristics to a simple sealed box based around the same driver, whilst retaining the excursion benefits of the vented design...