icastle

[quote name='porterpr' post='1058945' date='Dec 14 2010, 08:23 PM']Hi could anybody give me any ideas about strings I know rounds sound better (in my opinion) but do they damage your fingerboard?[/quote] That's the general held opinion of them. Makes sense when you think about it - roundwound strings are like a file (^^^^^) rubbing against the wood.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1058964' date='Dec 14 2010, 08:45 PM']Oh-oh Hovis moment imminent. [/quote] Aye lad, but don't think you're gettin' butter [b]and[/b] jam...

[quote name='owen' post='1059139' date='Dec 14 2010, 11:21 PM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwYoi9G67DU&feature=player_embedded"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwYoi9G67DU...player_embedded[/url] I know how foam and even an old sock change the attack of strings but I had never heard felt mutes in action. It is different and I like it.[/quote] They use felt inside pianos to do that

[quote name='Jathan' post='1058740' date='Dec 14 2010, 05:16 PM']Hi all, I am going to be wiring a jazz bass pretty soon but it will be the first time I have ever tried anything like this. I have all the pots etc and will be using either Fender SCN or Vint Noiseless pickups. I wondered though if anyone has any really good pics of exactly how a US jazz bass is wired? I have the wiring diagrams but as I havent done it before, I think it would really help to see a good picture of the actual wiring on a guitar. I have searched on the net and had some luck with pics but even these are not very clear and so I thought I would ask here just in case! Thanks.[/quote] This is probably about as clear as you can hope for... [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=std_jazz_bass"]http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wirin...c=std_jazz_bass[/url]

[quote name='tauzero' post='1058464' date='Dec 14 2010, 12:55 PM']Not getting many gigs at the moment (basically because both covers bands are in the process of taking off, and barn dance enquiries are at a trickle). I do enjoy the vast majority - with the old club band, there were some places where I really just wanted to finish and get the money, and others where I really got quite a buzz (even playing music I wasn't that keen on). Both covers bands now consist of enthusiastic members, which helps a lot.[/quote] Out of interest - do you find the demand for barndances is still pretty seasonal or is it pretty much spread over the year now?

[quote name='rjb' post='1058205' date='Dec 14 2010, 09:16 AM']Also, do you folks think that the rosewood board would stand up to Thomastic flats? My instinct is that it should be fine for years.[/quote] It'll be totally fine. It's roundwound strings that cause the biggest problem.

[quote name='Musky' post='1057144' date='Dec 13 2010, 12:19 PM']I should imagine it's just a piece of black plastic piping that's been cut flush with the headstock during manufacture rather than something that's just installed afterwards as is. So maybe hit up your local hardware store for something of the appropriate diameter and thickness? Shaping it might prove a bit tricky though.[/quote] +1 It's not on the Fender spare parts list. I suspect that, if the bass didn't have one fitted in the first place, there probably won't be room for a piece of plastic piping.

[quote name='tauzero' post='1057959' date='Dec 13 2010, 10:30 PM']Dammit, I did mean to add some sort of constructive comment too. As someone who has every now and again had a half-hearted stab at learning standard notation but never managed it, it strikes me that the subject matter is obviously orientated towards notation as that's the way to explain how the chord tones fit together, but that pragmatism also says that tab would be of use. The biggest weakness of tab is the poor facility to express rhythmic content and a book on chord tones is presumably going to have little rhythmic content, the significant part is the structure of the chords.[/quote] Yes. Bass tabs generally seem to rely on the fact that you 'know' what the tune that you are trying to play is supposed to sound like, whereas standard notation allows a musician to see and play it without ever having heard the tune before.

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='1057930' date='Dec 13 2010, 10:11 PM']Having just taken off the rear jack panel the 2 sockets are wired together tip to tip, sleeve to sleeve, so there is no other circuitry involved - no horn so no crossover, etc. The wires from the 2 jack sockets go straight to the speaker terminals. This is the 1x15 cab I'm talking about - the 4 x 10 is trapped in the boot of my car but again no horn so should have no crossover circuit in it. It will make no difference whatsoever whichever socket you plug into, unless one of your wires has come unsoldered creating a bad joint. This would make sense otherwise surely Hartke would stipulate in the tech brochure that you must plug into the primary input socket, or something to that effect. Back to square one. My Tour 450 head doesn't seem to be very loud for a 450 watt into 4 ohm amp.[/quote] Ah. My 4x10 has a horn in it so not a like for like comparison anyway. I'd give Peavey Tech Support a call - really helpfull bunch of chaps (I have no connection with them by the way - just giving them credit where credit is due!).

[quote name='tauzero' post='1057943' date='Dec 13 2010, 10:19 PM']Isn't that how Stockhausen composed?[/quote] What? Him out of Stockhausen, Aitken and Waterman? That explains the late 1980s then

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='1057917' date='Dec 13 2010, 10:03 PM']On both cabs its true, one jack socket is labelled 8 ohm, the other is labelled 'Extension'. I've never tested to see if there's any difference between them, my logic again would say there should not be, but I'm intrigued now and there's a screwdriver in the drawer.....[/quote] You're a man after me own toolkit! I'm guessing some sort of filter or a crude crossover is sat in there somewhere - the cab I have over at the rehearsal studio is a Hartke VX410.

[quote name='dan670844' post='1057906' date='Dec 13 2010, 09:57 PM']Yep Trace to do that! Dude turn it up to 3.5 4! she doesn't go any louder![/quote] Seems quite common. From the Line6 Support Site: Q: My master volume has almost no change past 6? A: This is due to the volume pot installed on all Line 6 amplifiers. A solution to this would be to replace it with an "audio" pot, but this modification wouldn't make it louder - just smoother. Line 6 originally installed audio pots on the AXSYS, but players didn't like them because they made the amp feel "wimpy". Players also did not like the fact that they had to turn the amp up to about 4-5 before it would start "happening" and 7-8 on the gig. Even though there was still a good amount of headroom, player feedback was that they preferred the amplifier with the traditional volume pot, so that is the style used with Line 6 amplifiers.

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='1057881' date='Dec 13 2010, 09:44 PM']I was thinking of splitting the output from the line out, is this not a good idea? The power amp is not bridgable, so I would want to use both channels as well as the MAG. I suppose I could use the DI output for one channel and the line out for the other?[/quote] Problem is that you're trying to get amps that were designed for two different purposes to do the same job. Something like this [url="http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/DI20.aspx"]http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/DI20.aspx[/url] would do the job though (was the first one I found and there are posher ones on the market!)

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='1057848' date='Dec 13 2010, 09:19 PM']Ok, I've decided to retire my old Acoustic head from gigging, its 30 years old, after all. I used my Ashdown mag 300w head into my Acoustic 2x15 cab for saturdays gig and got some nice comments about my sound. Problem is, I had to run it almost flat out to compete with our 2 power mad geetards and a powerful drummer. So, I also own a stereo power amp, 200w a side and am thinking about using the Ashdown and this power amp together. The Ashdown into the 2x15 and the power amp into two 1x15 cabs I have. My question is this: Whats the best way of getting a signal into the power amp? Using the line/tuner out for one channel and the fx out for the other? Or is it ok to split the signal from the line out using a little jack plug into 2 jack socket adapter? If I decide to do this, has anyone removed an Ashdown head from its case and rack mounted it? If so, how easy/hard is it? Cheers![/quote] I wouldn't go down the jack splitter route - although it would split the input signal and send it off to the two amps it'll also work in reverse and link the two amp inputs directly to each other. I'd be more tempted to try the line out socket as a safer option. As for rack mounting the amp, looking at the pics Ashdown do a 300R version which just has an elongated front plate over the 300 version - a couple of 2U rack ears and some sympathetic metalwork should do the trick!

Took me a few weeks before I felt confident enough to gig with it. I decided to play it safe and bought a JB with markers which was really a complete waste of time because I never look at the damn things anyway! If I knew then what I know now then I'd have had a wider range of instruments to choose from. One of the big benefits I got from playing fb was that I found the transition to an EUB was a lot easier than it could have otherwise been.

[quote name='Chopthebass' post='1057739' date='Dec 13 2010, 07:58 PM']It shouldn't make any difference. The speaker sockets on the amp are wired in parallel just like the ones on the cabs, so the end impedance is the same whichever way you go.[/quote] The speaker socket on my old Hartke 4x10 disagrees If I run the cable from the amp into the Speaker socket then it's just fine. If I run the cable into the "Extension Speaker" socket then it really sounds horrid. Have meant to take it apart and see why but haven't got round to it as it's only a rehearsal cab.

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='1057704' date='Dec 13 2010, 07:31 PM']Running it without the 1 x 15 takes away quite a lot of the 'Oomph'. Was playing it last night with just the 4 x 10 and it only just held it's own, whereas I feel I should be easily able to keep up with the 2 guitarists - one has Mesa dual rec head and 2 x 12 cab which is very potent, the other has a 100w marshall head and 4 x 12 cab. I've tried running the cabs in a chain as well as individually fed from the amps 2 outputs but my logic says it should make no difference. Are you saying the vol/power is greater with separate leads out to each cab?[/quote] I've been trawling the internet trying to find a schematic to get rid of the brain itch I've got about this. Now - before everyone screams that I'm totally wrong, this is working from a vague memory and may or may not be right (I am a man who can't remember what he had for dinner last night after all!). I seem to recall seeing somewhere a report that reckoned that the amp was setup in such a way that it would only deliver the full 450W into a 4Ω load if both sockets were utilised. I certainly seemed to have a much better result using both sockets instead of daisy chaining. If you want to know for certain then I can thoroughly recommend calling their UK Service Centre in Corby - 01536 461234 - what those guys don't know about their equipment is not worth knowing!

[quote name='Johnston' post='1057701' date='Dec 13 2010, 07:31 PM']that is actually a good way to describe it!!![/quote]

[quote name='Bassassin' post='1057689' date='Dec 13 2010, 07:23 PM']Don't think so. C.H.I.N.E.S.E, probably.[/quote] Yeah almost certainly - but I couldn't get 'J Arthur Palmer' to spell C.H.I.N.E.S.E...

[quote name='ironside1966' post='1057612' date='Dec 13 2010, 06:23 PM']Some manufactures ramp all the volume at the front of the pot so people think it’s louder.[/quote] Yes. Line6 do that but my Peavey seems pretty linear...

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='1057505' date='Dec 13 2010, 04:57 PM']Having played with a little Trace elliot stack at our local practice rooms I have to conclude my Peavel Tour 450 head is not [i]that[/i] loud. I'm driving 2 8 ohm hartke cabs - one is a 4 x 10, the other is a 1 x 15. the Tour 450 is 450W into 4 ohms. Now I have input gain on 3/4 (thats 75%, not 3-4) and master vol on about 75% and thats as loud as it goes to get the red limiter light starting to come ini when I hit the E string hard. I'm keeping up with the rest of the band, an energetic punk/rock bunch but there's little if any headroom left. I can't help feeling there should be more. When I'm playing the Trace its only on 3 and there's loads of headroom, it makes your guts shake. Is it the amp head or is it the cabs? (or a bit of both)[/quote] Are you running a lead from the amp to the 4x10 and then looping out of that to the 1x15 or are you running two leads from the amp to the individual cabs? I use a Tour 750 with a 1x15 and a 2x10 and I noticed a marked difference when I sat down and made two seperate leads instead of 'looping'.

[quote name='lojo' post='1057454' date='Dec 13 2010, 04:11 PM']Some strange things we have done include, a pulley system that stores daily used push bikes against the ceiling in a stairwell to parts of staircases that lift up to reveal storage space underneath[/quote] I love the staircase idea - very smart solution!

[quote name='Rich' post='1057180' date='Dec 13 2010, 12:41 PM']What is the best ever bass guitar? 12,029 members... 12,029 different answers [/quote] Wouldn't be too sure about that, 12,029 bass players can easily come up with 36,087 correct answers!

[quote name='Johnston' post='1056577' date='Dec 12 2010, 09:17 PM']One problem I have with reading music and I guess other people would have the same is whilst I am looking at it the notes seem to float about, it's hard to pick out whether it's on the line between them , blink and it looks like it's jumped up or down the stave.[/quote] That is [b]so[/b] mean. Right you b*ggers - who's been putting ants on Johnston's sheet music?