dincz

A couple of mine have broken although I'm always very gentle with my basses. Why does this happen? Are they a standard size? Thomann lists them but no size or brand info - 15 Euro postage makes it not worthwhile anyway. Another long shot question for the few Czech BC members. What are they called in Czech and where can I get some? [url="http://s1070.photobucket.com/user/dincz/media/tuner_zpscb48145c.jpg.html"][/url]

If only the music could speak for itself. Or would that be boring?

Cort Action Junior? Haven't tried one but the long scale version plays well and is very good value for money. http://www.cortguitars.com/en/product/action-junior

[quote name='Absolute Beginner' timestamp='1388080991' post='2318381'] please bare with me[/quote]

Yamaha B100-115 like this one: [URL=http://s1070.photobucket.com/user/dincz/media/yamaha_zpsbe5788c3.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u493/dincz/yamaha_zpsbe5788c3.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Not terrible but a rather woolly bottom end and big and heavy for its 100W. I added a single band parametric to it which improved matters a bit.

With the same scale and strings, rigidity (particularly of the neck) makes sense. If that is the case, I'd expect a difference in sustain between your basses. Any difference?

[quote name='lemmywinks' timestamp='1387497375' post='2312805'] just the right amount of features for me.[/quote] It's missing one important feature - an instrument input. The mic inputs on the mixer have an input impedance of only 2Kohms. That will seriously mess with the pickups on a passive bass. Instrument inputs are typically 0.5 to 1 megohms. Still far from ideal, but it might be worth trying the 2-track inputs (with a suitable adapter) which are 20Kohm. You could find yourself short of level but worth a try. EDIT: Or plug the bass into an effects pedal and from there to the mixer.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1387485759' post='2312665'] Did the words CROWN XLS1000 on the box not give it away? [/quote] No, I bought that because I had accidentally bought a preamp

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1387392585' post='2311523'] Surely if you need an external pre-amp you bought the wrong amp in the first place? [/quote] Or you accidentally bought a power amp?

Pickups are inductive so their impedance increases with frequency. An amp's input impedance is more-or-less constant and should ideally be much higher than the impedance of the pickup. The two together form a frequency-dependent voltage divider. If the amp's impedance is low you'll get serious drop-off in level as frequency increases. You can hear this clearly if you plug a passive bass into e.g. a mixer's line input (typically only 20Kohm or so).

If you're getting the dirt elsewhere, you don't have to restrict yourself to bass preamps. It might be worth looking at mic preamps/channel strips as well. They often include very flexible parametric eq, compressor, noise reduction.

http://www.glguitars.com/contact/index2.asp

I've used various power amps in bridge mode and none of them required both volume controls full on. Usually only one volume control is active in bridge mode and it can be set anywhere you like. No offence meant, but are you sure you read the manual correctly? Using both volume controls would be more applicable to dual-channel mono operation.

You could always take a normal one apart and scrape off a bit of the carbon track at one end.

It's new to me as well, but apparently a "no load" pot is open circuit at its fully clockwise position. Using this as a tone pot actually completely disconnects the cap when fully clockwise giving all the top end the pickup is capable of. I wouldn't have thought a conventional 250K pot would significantly load a pup but I've never tried one of these so who knows.

A compressor in reverse. Not sure what's available in a pedal format. I use a channel strip that has this feature. Description from the manual: Noise Reduction: A downward expander operates exactly opposite to a compressor. Signals falling below the set Threshold are progressively attenuated rather than abruptly switched off as with a noise gate. Also with a gate if the signal is a constant level and just below threshold the gate will stay closed (no signal passes). With the Expander there will be an output but at a reduced level. The further the input level falls the more the gain is reduced. Expander response is soft knee around the onset of attenuation which combined with a low ratio (2:1) and slow decay (similar to 'release' on a gate) time ensures transparent operation.

It's a rare amp that actually doubles its maximum power at 4 ohms compared to 8. What is it? Even if it does double, you'll gain only 3dB, which is not much. The Compact is a fairly efficient cab. You could end up with a less efficient 4 ohm cab that will draw the maximum power from your amp without any increase in volume.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1385338341' post='2287253'] What's wrong with running in bridge mode? [/quote] Exactly my question. Bridge mode gives you added flexibility in powering cabs, e.g. a single 8 ohm. The GX5 can't be bridged anyway.

You shouldn't be getting shocks even if there's an earthing problem on your bass. Better get the amp looked at.

Perfection is going to be different for every pair of ears. It really depends on how much of the top end you want to roll off, and by how much. The most accurate method would be to try a range of capacitance values and see how they sound.

If you knew the inductance of the pickup winding, you could calculate a suitable value for the tone cap, but it's probably easier just to use the bass/pickup manufacturer's recommended value.

The pickup and pot also form a voltage divider. The pot is purely resistive so its value is the same at any frequency. The pickup also has a fixed resistance but it's also inductive, so you have to add in its impedance (or AC resistance), which increases with frequency. If you use a low value pot, e.g. 50K, it may be fine for low frequencies but at high frequencies the pot's resistance is low relative to the impedance of the pickup and only a small proportion of the pickup's voltage will appear across the pot. It's effectively a frequency-dependent voltage divider so the pot's resistance must be high compared to the pickup impedance so as to maintain consistent level across the frequency range.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1384602016' post='2278542'] dincz, I would be more than happy to order it from Slovakia. Sadly, my language skills do not extend beyond Welsh and English. I have emailed him in English (guessing that his Welsh might not be great!) and hope that he will be cool with that. Thanks for the tip [/quote] Good luck. If necessary, I could e-mail or phone him with my elementary Czech - a lot closer than Welsh

If you're really stuck, you could order it from Slovakia http://www.electrosonic.szm.com/html/mm.htm

[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1384447233' post='2276850'] I shot a band last month who didn't have a bass player[/quote] Sounds fair to me