Leaderboard

Wow, that´s along story. Here we go: Passive pickups can be seen as a mixed circuit which consists of resistance, inductance and capacity, hence creating a resonant peak at a certain frequency above which the frequency response is going downwards. This resonant peak is highly important for the sound of the instrument because it sits in the presence area of our hearing range. Now if you plug such a PU into an amp then the amp´s input impedance will interfere with this resonant point, usually lowering and eventually broadening the peak as well as lowering the frequency. We´re used to that and we want to hear our passive instrument like that to a certain degree. To make things worse the cable has it´s impact, too, as it sits between amp and PU. That´s why some people like cables of a certain length. Now there comes the DI with it´s own input impedance, typically 50kOhm for a passive DI and 1MOhm for an active DI. This again will interfere with the PU resonance and alter the sound. And things get more difficult if you go through the DI unbuffered into an amp because that will increase the load on the pickup and the resonance point will go lower again. Technically spoken both input impedances are parallel to the pickup giving an even lower impedance than each single one of DI and amp. For historical reason most bassamps have an input impedance of 220kOhm (many exceptions, though) while guitar amps typically have 1MOhm. To have a proper matching between output impedance of a PU and input impedance of an amp/DI the later one should be x10 of the source impedance. Pickups of passive basses have worst-case output impedances of 17kOhm, hence there should be a load of at least 170kOhm. Passive DIs cannot deliver such high impedances. They are the wrong choice. You´re better off with an active DI. Active basses have worst case output impedances of a few hundred Ohms. Here both passive and active DIs are fine regarding impedance matching. The PU resonances are already buffered by the active electronic inside the bass in a way that both DI and amp cannot have an influence on that. For the studio nerd there´s more to check out: if we have micpres with variable input impedance then this will be the next parameter to look for in a chain of passive bass, passive DI + amp. A lower input impedance setting of the micpre (e.g. certain vintage Neve preamps have this possibility) will be reflected through the transformer of the DI. That means the DI seems to have a lower input impedance than it´s nominal value (wrt 1,2-1,5kOhm input impedance of the micpre) and will load the pickup even more down, eating the treble range even more. Historically this problem has been recognized in times when there were no active basses around. The solution were active DIs, back then made with tubes. All that is theory. You will not destroy either bass, amp or DI with the technically wrong choice. It does influence sound, but if you like it then all is good. If not, then see above.

New music by Coltrane, sounds great too. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/arts/music/john-coltrane-lost-album-both-directions-at-once.html

Well I was able to try the Revelation Bass VI at Hotrox today. The neck is definitely more comfortable for me than the Squier but still not really wide enough for me. What was interesting were the tonal options. Three pickups that look like P90s with what looks like Strat-type switching. The really interesting bit was the 5-position “Varitone” switch, giving a total of 25 different sounds nearly all of which could be useful. The only minus mark is that the Varitone switch isn’t easily manipulated mid-song. Aparently Hotrox also have a Burns Barracuda in their off-site stock, so I’ve arranged for them to get it in the shop for me to try next week...

Beauty is clearly in the eye of the beholder, because that does nothing for me visually. Sounds good though, which I guess is what really matters.

(Note to self: Next time I am offered a meat pie 'round at Andy's claim recent conversion to Veganism.)

Or maybe a glass of pee no?

My ‘baby’ is 36, I go as an ex-member of staff/governor volunteer, these days. Glutton for punishment, that’s me. Sorry for the derail, Andy 😊

"Knowing how and when to keep my mouth shut." It just means I don't want to be the guy that's always complaining about stuff and bringing a negative vibe to a band. Blue

Hi Andy, Cheers - it's getting there! As soon as I get a neck blank made I can cut the neck pocket and get the edges rounded which always makes it look like progress. All the routing on this is just with a basic Black and Decker router with 1/4" collet. I think I used a Trend template cutter about 25mm long and about 18mm diameter. I would have gone round in three passes I'd like to get one of those four flute cutters @Christine recently bought - they look really useful, but not cheap!! The control cavity and cover recesses were also cut using Trend cutters both 12mm diameter, one 25mm long the other 12mm long. I did try some cheap cutters from Amazon but they are a waste of money!! I recently found the Tewkesbury Saw Company - didn't realise I had a supplier of quality tools right on my doorstep. Only trouble is they have loads of good stuff, routers, planers, bandsaws for which I have neither the money or space!! Cheers Jez

Advertisement: Bass Player Needed Looking for a fun band? We rehearse on Tuesdays (except when we don't because of unexpected spousal emergencies, short-term amnesia or just because). We play the same two songs in different arrangements every time, the extent of the variations depending on whether the guitarist has taken his meds or not. The drummer can't keep time and hits his kit like an angry butcher hacking out pork chops. The keyboards occupy precisely the space where the bass would normally be so you'll have to play everything up beyond the 15th fret. The singer has his own music stand and a jokey hat bearing the embroidered motto: 'I'm The Star'. We might have another guitarist joining but no one's really sure because he's the drummer's mate and we haven't heard from the drummer for six months. We've been rehearsing for four years and have a charity gig possibly booked for July 2027 which will be great exposure. We don't play for money, just for sh!ts and giggles and artistic self-expression, so no bread-heads, ha ha! If you're interested, give us a call but only if you own a van, a PA, a lighting rig, have website building skills and are sufficiently incompetent that we can slag you off behind your back then fire you by email two weeks after you've joined. Ciao!

I've always had a soft spot for fretless, thin-line style mag/piezo instruments and I've owned quite a few over the years (Status, Manne, Veillette, Fender, Yamaha), and now I've gone and spotted this from Cort and I'm a bit smitten: http://www.cortguitars.com/en/product/product_view.asp?qCate=00003&qSeries=130&qProdTag=&qPack=&qNew=&qKey=all&qWord=&idx=1291 I need help. P

After many years of not even wanting one and somewhat disliking its sound, lately I have decied that I'm getting old enough to own a P bass (ok, I know, I know 🙂 ) So this FGN Neo Classic P came around and I bought it without hesitation. FGN is the house brand of the Japaneese Fujigen factory that produced many Fender MIJ /CIJ basses and also do the MIJ Prestige line for Ibanez amogst others. I've had 2 FGN jazzes before and they left a very good impression in terms of build quality and overall feel and this one did not disappoint either. FGN basses are of great value, if they had a decent European distribution they'd be a lot more known I think. I bought it used from Denmark and the courier company actually lost this within their system for a week. Fortunately it was found and delivered in the end. Shipping cost was paid back as a reimbursement though, so it was all good in the end 🙂 The bass: nothing extraordinary to write home about, 'just' a great P bass with great attention to detail, flawless finish, nice feel and in a very cool color (would love to have a white pearl pickguard though) Alder/rosewood, the sound is surprisingly strong and lively (D'Addario Chromes are on it) Neck is somewhere between a jazz and a P, very comfortable for me. The bass has a circle fret system with slightly curved frets (see last pic) Its not really noticeable but it's there FWIW. As I use exclusively 5 string Spector basses for the gigs I do I bought this bass primarily for having a good P for noodling on and the occasional need to play a P with flats on it 🙂 So this is covered now and I'm more than happy as this bass sounds a lot more than I've expected and handles really well. Now the pics:

Thank you this was reported and the user banned a few days ago.

Quality Sonic pest control , or at least R&D in to test the potential. Perfectly legit and all tax deductible capital expenditures , written off after 3 years and can be sold on for pennies 🤔 . You can take it home then 😂😂 A superb solution, respect 👍

I'd get the sound as near as I could firstly. More than likely the playing can then be a variant...

I've taken the offcuts from a couple of other builds and made the neck blanks for these basses. One is maple with dark and light veneer stripes, the other is birds eye maple with strips of Sapele and maple. Next task is to route these for truss rods.

Best learn all 11 songs; you'll probably have to show the other guys in the band which chords to play and the order they go in

cheap fuzz its hard to beat the chowny as its actually a very very good fuzz pedal!

Yeah that's the idea there's a little local charity to me that is very diserving it's called 'help for James's' it's basically a charity set up to help people called James try and finish some of their outstanding projects because they are skint because their missus and kids spend all their hard owned money 😜

Updated board, now with added whammy I've always hated using bigger pedaltrain boards, having to use pedals on the back row. But the PT booster really does the job, makes such a big difference:

Ah - OK. I'd remembered that your original spec was through neck but I think you're right to leave that to a bit further down the line - they bring a whole mountain range of new learning curves! I've double checked but, as I had suspected, all the necks I've got in my box of bits are 6-string electrics. While the thoughts to pass on the bass as-is is admirable, just a few musings: Many, if not most, modern low cost basses are perfectly playable and so there is always the opportunity for finding another one of equal value for the club You need a decent, playable neck to be happy with the extra time, cost and effort of building a custom body to fit it. If this feels good to play, use this one for your build and sell the body on ebay. If the neck is 'well, OK I suppose', then find another one and, if it's better, use that and donate the bass to the club. Well - that's what I'd do, anyway. I work on the basis that most budget bolt-on basses and guitars are essentially 'bitsa' builds using standard components anyway so the fact that that neck and that body happen to be assembled in this particular bass is just happen-chance. Which is why I've got a load of random necks and bodies hanging around

I've always suspected that all the slides and ping pong and table football and such at whizzy tech companies like Google are actually a trap. Anyone who gets caught playing with any of that stuff in work time gets instantly sacked for gross misconduct.

All my gear goes out at one time or another. Everything has a ding or two on it, even my Shuker. But it's a consequence of being used, and they're meant to be used not just hung on a wall. A jazz guitarist mate of mine has a vintage Gibson Super 400 worth in the region of 15 thousand quid... yup, it gets gigged. All his vintage gear does. Although his gigs are rather more sedate affairs than yours or mine

Get your own studio and store everything bulky there. Works for me! Although really not giving a rats about my mrs opinions on what does and does not constitute clutter and mess also helps. I was a musician before we met so she knew exactly what to expect. I find her 400 or however many pairs she actually has pairs of shoes rather annoying, but also accept it to be part of her “hobbies” so just accept it as part of the package.

Dan Dare Good idea because this week I just bought a Fusion Bag for my electic bass, and as you said, in this bag there is a very good neck brace, I will contact them to ask them to sell me one for my cello bag. Now, just for talk and if that can help others, I found that also: https://www.accessbagsandcases.com/product/dreadnoughtsmall-body-acoustic-guitar-neck-yoke/ https://www.rumc-ltd.com/padded-foam-neck-rest-block-2-velcro-fasteners-guitar-banjo-ukulele.html/

Yeah he’s definitely saying “At the piano with a glass of Pinot...” as in Pinot Grigio. White wine. Very cool bassline!

Sounds like you need a bigger house!

I have just completed a deal with Si for a 1965 Jazz Bass. Si was a pleasure to deal with and the man knows his stuff. Great chap. Thanks Si

I play bass fingerstyle. I always assumed that I can play bass with a pick because I play guitar with a pick. This thread inspired me to actually try playing bass with a pick for the first time in about a decade. Turns out I'm really bad at it.

Probably a warehouse picker thought they just had a new colour pack. it works the other way too - I ordered one cymbal stand online, but what arrived was one... box of six cymbal stands!

I never use 'em and would rather do without, but my OCD won't allow the screw holes...

Yeah, very impressed. I made 2 small shelves for my daughter’s desk last month from mdf. They almost fit perfectly; that’s my woodwork-fu used up this year!

I feel it's my duty to strongly encourage you to take this path.

Maybe one day Blue will leave his current band and we won't see these threads every 2 months and he'll be a regular poster in Jack's "auditions in hell" thread instead.

The big rig.... louder than hell itself.

Great thread and I rarely if ever read every post of any thread. This last audition whilst not hellish was I have to admit bloody nerve wracking . The practise room is a little annex off the BL open plan kitchen. Everything's setup, tiny muffled kit, keys, couple of amps all crammed into this very small space and I'm starting to think...blimey this is cosy. We sit down and are literally rubbing shoulders with each other, not an inch of room between us. BL asks me what I want to do and I say well lets go from the top of No 1 set list. ( their a 60's tribute outfit, and they do three sets of twenty each!) First tune is the Beatles "I'm A Looser" with that fab two part opening harmony. I haven't played for quite a while and was almost knocked off my stool by the power and tightness of that opening vocal.....christ these guys are good I think. Then the BL wife who's on keys starts warbling and the whole thing goes stratospheric. Not bad for a bunch of 70 yr olds. I'm 58.... To be sat in the middle of a four part harmony reaching for the sky in a room you couldn't swing a mouse in left me feeling emotionally drained....quite an experience. I've subsequently learned they've been doing this for 40 yrs and the front guy had a No1 record in South Africa.....no reason to doubt it really. Our first gig is this weekend ( a mini festival apparently)...can't wait if a little apprehensive. They give the bass loads of frequency space, its all very jangly and trebly as would be expected, so no room at all for any mistakes.....yikes!

Use it. That's what it was designed/built for. It's not an ornament.

I don't even get chance to eat. Can't believe people get paid for playing with nerf guns.

Just to confirm, user banned. It’s a Nigerian user who has done this a few times before so I’m talking to @charic about banning Nigerian IP. Thanks!

Just saw this going for a bargain and couldn't resist! https://www.thomann.de/gb/digitech_ventura_vibe.htm

Couple of weeks ago I received an email asking about a magic booking... This is it. I have not edited it. At all. "Ayo wagwan b holla at me with you bbm pin eint I looking for a sick magical party with the mandem like playing pin the shank on the donkey and real life pinata" I have no clue.

Thanks and that's helpful. But it's very unfair of us earlier in the thread to be giving Alex a hard time for 'less than complete' information about his cabs on the BF website. Need to be applying the same yardstick across the board, methinks?

I'll get no bonus points for cheapness, but for me the first stop would always be a Radial Bigshot unit (several flavours to choose from). In one band the setlist has me switching between DB and EB several times in each set, and my Bigshot is invaluable. It's passive so I have no cables or batteries to worry about. I've got two inputs with an adjustable gain on one of them so that I can balance up the signals as between the two instruments. There's a separate Tuner Out. Switches are Toggle between inputs, and Mute. There's also a Ground Lift / Phase switch. Like all Radial kit this thing would survive having a Chieftain tank driven over it. If you don't fancy paying the thick end of £100 for one, they're very safe pre-owned buys.

I asked Mark which kind of necks he can offer. In terms of Jazzbass there is only one he can apply. It is standard Jazzbass width of 1.5" (38.1mm) on the nut. The profile of mine is much closer to an oval C-Shape than tp an U- or a modern C-Shape. I really like thin and slim necks like the Geddy Lee or the Squier Classic Vibe 60s ones.