Revolutionary designs?

[icastle]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='1033891' date='Nov 23 2010, 01:59 PM']You could have your Grolsh rings chromed![/quote]

...now there's an offer you don't get every day...

[LukeFRC]

cases like hiscox. super hard, super lightweight.

and who ever went and built the first proper bass amp, not a guitar amp with more bass let through, but something designed and tuned for a bass guitar.

i don't play them by 5 strings rather than 4 is pretty neat.

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='umph' post='1033890' date='Nov 23 2010, 01:59 PM']Class D amplifiers,[/quote]

Noooo!!

Not until someone designs an amp tech who can fix my Yamaha

[Maverick]

[quote name='Doctor J' post='1033877' date='Nov 23 2010, 01:50 PM']The Variax concept is quite the revolution, I reckon. They've overhauled the guitar to largely positive press, should they do the same to the bass it could be quite interesting.[/quote]

Erm, they did.

[url="http://line6.com/variaxbass/"]http://line6.com/variaxbass/[/url]

[AndyTravis]

[quote name='Maverick' post='1034572' date='Nov 23 2010, 11:16 PM']Erm, they did.

[url="http://line6.com/variaxbass/"]http://line6.com/variaxbass/[/url][/quote]


'overhaul' - Thats the same 700/705 they've done for a few years. Nice Instrument in many ways.

The guitars have just been redisigned with James Tyler, now being the James Tyler Variax.

Funily enough, JT has started producing basses again in his own line...So maybe it's on the cards?

[ThomBassmonkey]

Bi-amping. On two levels, mainly the control of the tweeters being put on the front of the amp, but also the separate amp for the tweeters having it's own small advantages (such as the tweeters not sapping power from the woofers).

Micro heads, I don't own one myself, but I can definitely see the advantage of them.

[icastle]

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1034654' date='Nov 24 2010, 01:07 AM']Micro heads, I don't own one myself, but I can definitely see the advantage of them.[/quote]

Saving money on bobble hats?


...I'll get me mini coat...

[Musicman20]

[quote name='Maverick' post='1034572' date='Nov 23 2010, 11:16 PM']Erm, they did.

[url="http://line6.com/variaxbass/"]http://line6.com/variaxbass/[/url][/quote]

Thats surprisingly nice!

[Maverick]

[quote name='AndyTravis' post='1034617' date='Nov 24 2010, 12:08 AM']'overhaul' - Thats the same 700/705 they've done for a few years. Nice Instrument in many ways.

The guitars have just been redisigned with James Tyler, now being the James Tyler Variax.

Funily enough, JT has started producing basses again in his own line...So maybe it's on the cards?[/quote]


Ooooooh I see.

[Doctor J]

Aye, the Tyler designed Variax guitars are quite tasty. If the first series of Variax instruments suffered from anything, it was that they looked cheap. If they do a similar job to the basses, they might be on to something special.

[alanbass1]

The Fender Precision bass probably the most revolutionary design I can think of.......

[Bassassin]

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1033603' date='Nov 23 2010, 10:07 AM']Musicman truss rod wheel of fortune.[/quote]
You'll find this on any number of bum-end cheapo Jap & Korean guitars going back to the 60s

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1034154' date='Nov 23 2010, 05:49 PM']When thinking of this I usually think of Kubicki first, I'll elaborate on a few points:

The neck is 34 laminates of maple, chosen by Phil because he wanted a super stiff neck but without the high cost of graphite. It's ultra stiff and stable and doesn't suffer from dead spots![/quote]
You'll also find this on oriental cheapos from the 60s onward - known to JapCrapologists as strip ply or strip mahogany, realistically they probably used it for its cheapness rather than stiffness - but they don't tend to twist & warp.

Anyway - I'll suggest CNC machines for guitar manufacture - that'll be Matsumoku, 1974, iirc.

Jon.

[umph]

[quote name='Mykesbass' post='1034555' date='Nov 23 2010, 10:48 PM']Noooo!!

Not until someone designs an amp tech who can fix my Yamaha [/quote]

whats wrong with it?

[TommyK]

[quote name='zero9' post='1033870' date='Nov 23 2010, 01:43 PM']The double bass. Can be used anywhere (doesn't need an amp). Burns longer than an electric bass guitar.[/quote]

Very good....

[RhysP]

Apart from the original Steinberger basses I can't think of anything I would class as revolutionary.
Lots of great ideas & tweaks to make things better yes, but revolutionary no.

[tauzero]

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='1034258' date='Nov 23 2010, 07:21 PM']I've always thought the cascading dot pattern on my NS-Design CR5M is innovative[/quote]
I find it confusing. Nice to look at, not so much fun to play with.

Pretty much everything I could think of has already been mentioned - I will, however, throw stacked pots into the ring. When you've got something with a tiny body like a Thumb, the controls are kept compact but not too close together, so you can have either more things you can control or less knobs.

[Chris2112]

I must agree with you there Tauzero. Not only do stacked controls look clean and keep a bass uncluttered, they're also extremely useful for remembering which control does what.

See my ACG bass:



It looks like a relatively traditional control layout, although in reality you're looking at a volume/balance control, a neck pickup frequency filter stacked with a boost control, a bridge pickup frequency filter stacked with a boost control and a dual band treble control (closest to the bridge). Having them stacked allows you to get to grips with the system fairly quickly, as it makes you immediately aware in a visual sense where you're tweaking the tone, which is integral to learning how to make the bass do what you want!

[stingrayPete1977]

I actually find stacked nobs on stuff a bit of a fiddle to be honest although some basses would need 10 indivdual knobs nowadays I suppose.

[Chris2112]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1038012' date='Nov 26 2010, 05:22 PM']I actually find stacked nobs on stuff a bit of a fiddle to be honest although some basses would need 10 indivdual knobs nowadays I suppose.[/quote]


Like I say, my ACG would have 8 seperate tone knobs and two flip switches if it wasn't for stacked controls. That could surely be a classed as a bewildering array for some!

[paul_5]

[quote name='icastle' post='1033648' date='Nov 23 2010, 10:42 AM']The MOSFET[/quote]
Yes. The Mosfet. Lovely little thing.

Also Compressors - properly useful and arguably they revolutionised popular music production forever.

Edited November 27, 2010 by paul_5

[Chris2112]

I really need a good compressor pedal as I find them very, very useful in the studio. They iron out those little bumps and can really get the funk flowing!