Roland Rock

Very cool - it's a shame that the headstock and tuners aren't a bit less pointy, it looks a bit too modern for the body imo

Full of festive spirit, and the whole family (me, wife and kids 1 and 4) dancing to The Specials after breakfast. Great.

Welcome to Basschat :-)

Last night was a really good test for the '69er, with no bass going through the PA. two bands playing through it, one had me with the Ergon, and the other had Lee (Lee-Man) with a souped-up MM Stirling. I quickly found a lovely tone by backing off the bass to flat on my bass. So the settings were: Ergon - bass flat, treble cut Amp - bass eq at 12 o'clock, mid at 3 o'clock and treble at 9 o'clock. It sounded smooth, full and even, but with the character of the Ergon shining through. Lee very politely left the amp settings as they were, and I was able to stand back and enjoy. Again, a lovely fullness and clarity, but this time with a distinctive MM voice. It sounded gorgeous (which is in no small part due to the expert playing by Lee, and he was depping!) [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1356056831' post='1906384'] Be aware of room effects though. The shinier the walls the higher the room is going to effect. [/quote] Yeah, cheers. I noticed differences in rehearsals, where it became boomier when I went under a low ceiling. It sounded pretty consistent when I moved around the room at last night's gig, so big tick for Alex there.

After six years of nothing in or out, 2012 was very eventful: In: Wood & Tronics Ergon 5 Barefaced '69er Out: EarCandy 2x10

Played at the excellent live venue The Donkey in Leicester, supporting the Pressure Tenants. It was sold out, and we had a good gig, with the modest response and dancing befitting a support band. The Pressure Tenants had guest trombone and trumpet players who also play with The Specials! Really nice guys and great band.

[quote name='jahfish' timestamp='1353770593' post='1878323'] Great! Hope to make the Leicester gig! [/quote] Looks like it's sold out! If you still want to come and don't have a ticket, PM me ASAP and I'll put you on the 'reduced price band mates' list.

Hi, It's got a pretty cool bassline already - were you just trying to work it out? Have a look at these chords in the pic. Assuming you know your scales / chord tones you should be able to pick out the notes in the song from whichever chord you're looking at. For example, the opening line is based on Am7, so play that scale and see how that compares to what you hear in the track. My ears tell me that it has root, 4, 7 and octave, (but chucking in a 3 just before going back to the root might sound nice). There may be deviations from the original score, but for now just use your ears and the chords to try to get the gist/feel. Then keep working through the different chords till you have it more or less nailed. If in doubt, just play root/5 :-) Hope this helps

[quote name='jbwaddy' timestamp='1356012594' post='1905687'] now im very surprised that no one has mentioned lots of the beatles tracks... [/quote] The OP mentions that they are already aware of the Beatles' walking basslines :-) How about some ska? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CXaqEY3gPc

Way to resurrect a thread - nice one! Some current favourites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udW4aR5K5J4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH-OekzmVFs And this one is so simple, but has a great bounce, and fits so nicely with the guitar skank http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZZj7q4k6_c Don't ask me about the weird video for that! re. UB40 - the majority of the Signing Of album is great music with superb basslines IMO

I once made an amp cover out of an old oak bureau, a fireguard and some veneer offcuts, and it turned out quite nicely. You're right to ensure easy access to the gubbins (I wish I had :-D). Note that many cases have the face and knobs recessed to provide protection - something I decided not to do and it's never been an issue, but you may want to consider it. If it's being covered in orange tolex, I don't see any reason that it couldn't be made from ply. This can be light, strong, and less prone to movement, as long as you get your jointing right. let us know how you get on

On one of my gigs this weekend, I'll get a chance to hear it as an audience member, as we're sharing gear with the other band (The other bass player is BC's Lee-man). I'll be moving round the room to test Alex's theory on dispersion.

Cheers for the vote of confidence folks - looks like I have nothing to worry about in terms of strength. Something I forgot to mention, these are NOT neo magnets! Unbelievable how it can be so light. Here's a response from Alex re. The handles: "Although it looks like a square handle, it's actually cylindrical, so you have a big cylinder sticking into the cab and then a cylindrical bar piercing that (the bit you hold) and then the square flange where the bolts are (but the main cylinder is tight in the hole in the side of the cab). Obviously we don't know ultimately how tough it is but based on everything we know it appears to live up to the strong and light criteria that we prefer. We can't use it in the cabs with the port up the side of the cab because it would restrict the airflow, hence its first appearance on the '69er. Do tell us if it makes any unwanted noises when playing or falls apart when carrying, but I'll be surprised if it does!"

Welcome to Basschat Matt :-)

[quote name='WinterMute' timestamp='1354733525' post='1889820'] Very interested to hear your comments, hope it's as good as everyone expects it to be...! [/quote] [quote name='funky8884' timestamp='1349517305' post='1827217'] Wicked, keeps us all posted please !!! [/quote] [quote name='PlungerModerno' timestamp='1354862848' post='1891297'] Wow . . . Looks like a killer cab. Hows the sealed 'vibe'? [/quote] Review done.. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/194544-barefaced-69er/

[center][b]Barefaced '69er 6x10 sealed cab, 4Ω[/b][/center] The concept behind the Barefaced '69er is to make a cab that emulates the tone of the classic original sealed 1969 8x10, but is smaller, lighter, has greater power handling and better sound dispersion. I'd love to compare this with the 1969 8x10 and the Berg NV610, and provide concise data based on various specific frequencies etc., but unfortunately I'm not technical in that way at all, I'm just a bass player who knows what tone he likes, so apologies in advance for the meaningless, intangible tone descriptions. [b]The Gear:[/b] [list] [*]1978 Fender Precision, with Rotosound Trubass strings. [*]Wood & Tronics Ergon 5. Chambered mahogany body, three-piece maple neck and kingwood board.Brass nut. Häussel jazzbucker & jazz single coil pickups. East S2 preamp. Controls are volume/pickup pan, humbucker/single coil switch, bass and treble (with internal frequency dials). EB Cobalt strings. [*]Red Iron amp (with some modifications done by John Chambers of Champ Electronics). 100w all valve. 2 x 6SL7s (Tung Sol) in the pre and 2 x KT88s (JJ) in the power. Self-made case. Controls are gain, bass, mid, treble and master. [/list] [b]The Style:[/b] I mostly play reggae. I also play 60s & 70s rock and funk. My reggae band has a simple setup with bass, drums, clean guitar and single vox, so there's not much competition for the bass frequencies. [b]The Testing Environment:[/b] I've played with it a fair bit at home, at band practices in rehearsal studios and two gigs in medium sized venues. [b]Build Quality:[/b] I'm not used to the thin ply construction of Barefaced Cabs, so it doesn't seem as solid as a cab with more old school construction. However, these are strengthened with some very clever bracing, and I'm sure there will be no issues. It has recessed side handles, which are plastic, presumably to save weight. These don't feel mega strong, and creak a bit when you lift the cab. Again, I'll assume that these are up to the job until events prove otherwise. The finish is that rough paint, which seems pretty tough and knock-resistant. Apparently if this does get chipped, you can just touch it up with similar paint. The speakon sockets sit proud on the back. I'd prefer these to be recessed for protection, especially as I slide it on its back into the car. I've just ordered a cover to protect it, but overall I'm quite sure it's a very strong and well built cab. [b]Practicality:[/b] It's a 6x10 measuring 3ft x 2ft x 13", so obviously doesn't compare to modern compact cabs in terms of practicality. I can't imagine a cab this size being lighter or as easy to move around. It's 55lb/25kg with the cloth grille option. It can be lifted by one person for short distances/lifts easily enough, and between two people it's barely noticeable. As if that's not easy enough, it also has tilt-back castors and a top rear strap handle for wheeling across reasonably smooth surfaces. It fits in the cupboard under my stairs, it fits in the (admittedly large) boot of my car without putting the seats down. In short, as long as you don't need to lug it up lots of stairs on your own, it's very practical. [b]Sound:[/b] My previous cab was a 2x10 ported Ear Candy, which I replaced because I wanted more volume. It certainly has that, with broadband sensitivity at 102db, it's a sensitive cab and I have no volume issues when paired with my amp, which puts out 96W rms With the Ergon, I had to play around with the eq a fair bit at first, as I was used to boosting the bass eq on my amp and instrument to get that fat reggae tone, but this setting was sounding a bit muddy at higher volumes with the '69er. The solution was to back the bass off on the amp, and I had instant clarity. Alex reckons this is because my amp eq is voiced more highly than that of my Ergon, so those boomy mid/upper bass frequencies got eliminated. My best description would be clear and even, with a lovely rich woody/hollow tone. With the Precision, it was a bit more instant. With the amp eq pretty much flat, and the instrument tone backed off just a bit, I had that lovely plummy punchy sound which is also rich and even. I also experimented with overdriving the amp, and again, I had the distortion I love from that amp, but clearer and a lovely rich timbre. As you can guess, the main themes are evenness, clarity and richness. I was maybe expecting something more naturally aggressive, and an emphasis on the mids, and it wouldn't be hard to get this if required, but it has a natural evenness across the range. I'm able to very clearly hear the characteristics of the different basses - I've had this clarity before with my old EA rig, but this has an extra fullness that I love. I wasn't expecting this, but if I ever played with a bright tone, that would be achievable, and I certainly can't imagine needing more low end, and I play reggae! [b]Customer Service:[/b] Well, I wouldn't judge Alex from this experience alone, as this is the very first production example of the '69er, so has taken quite a bit longer than the average cab. It was actually [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/115789-vintage-with-a-100w-valve-head/page__hl__100w%20valve%20vintage"]a thread on Basschat two years ago[/url] where I asked advice on the best cab for my needs, and decided on the '69er. I finally had the money ready in April 2012 so contacted Alex to let him know. We exchanged a few emails to make sure that this was the correct cab for me, and the deposit went down on 22nd June with an estimated 6-8 week delivery. I won't go into details, but will just say that I had to do the chasing up to get any kind of progress report. I recieved it on 7th December! In short, I'm a very patient person, but was quite frustrated, not by the delays so much, as I'm sure that these were unavoidable, but by the lack of communication. On the plus side, Alex is friendly, helpful and knowlegable when it comes to giving advice. [b]Overall:[/b] As soon as my brain gets used to the fact that something so lightweight can be super strong, I'll relax a bit more. It's easy to lug about, and has impressed me with its evenness, richness of tone and versatility. Barefaced offer a 30 day return policy if you're not 100% happy with their cab, well he's not getting this one back!

We must be lucky. Our originals band are getting enough gigs. At the moment, one in three carefully targeted emails is getting a positive response from venues. We're even starting to get paid half decent money :-)

Yup, while the stars tumble, we'll be playing in Leicester: Ujahm - reggae/ska The Donkey, Leicester, supporting The Pressure Tennants See you on the other side ...... Maybe!

BOOM!

I'm not in for the win either, I don't use rounds on my 4 string

Good on you :-)

Is there a rule that people who post two or more consecutive posts are disqualified? :-)

Lozz just bought my Markbass Super Booster Pedal. Nice chap, no messing, easy as pie and fast as lightning. Highly recommended.

Please don't distribute this around the workplace

Nice one Matt :-)