BOD2

+1 to peted I have a similar problem. A cloth in the guitar case and just before I put my guitar back in the case a quick wipe down the strings (and also under the strings). 10 seconds is all it takes. With non-coated strings (i.e. not Elixirs) I would sparingly used a string cleaner occasionally which also helped.

[quote name='jakesbass' post='219729' date='Jun 16 2008, 11:26 AM']It's not that I think more of my own position or value it more than yours, more that I have such a great time playing I feel like sharing that enjoyment with a slightly over enthusiastic child like effervescence. Get everyone to join in kind of feeling. Idealistic I know, but no harm in it I feel.[/quote] This was where I was with my last band. I actually enjoyed and looked forward to rehearsals because I enjoyed the experience of playing, both with an audience or without. Reherasal day was the highlight of the week. Sadly, none of the others in the band shared this view ! I understand where you're coming from jakesbass and hope I can get back to that position (band split of more than a year ago now).

[quote name='Paul Cooke' post='218357' date='Jun 13 2008, 02:46 PM']damn... I knew I should have applied for a patent on the thumb rest I knocked up from some old bits of coat hanger... The reason no-one else has bothered patenting such a thumb rest is because it's so damn fugly (pardon my french) and stupidly obvious to one versed in the art...[/quote] I didn't say it looked good....I just said it would be useful !

That thumb rest would be really useful for a "floating thumb" technique - it would just feel the same as resting your thumb on one of the strings - and you can have your hand anywhere along the length of the body. Also, with the pickups - I wonder if these are 4 separate pickups ? If so there would be the potential to set the volume on each individually to get a perfect balance between the strings.

Sorry - didn't read that correctly. I'm not aware of any "pro" equipment that has a CD player and an amp/speaker built-in. The only sort of thing that has that combination would be one of these "karaoke machines" but then you're getting back into domestic equipment and possible long term reliability problems. You could get a combined Pro DJ CD/MP3 player and a separate powered monitor. I'm guessing you wouldn't need a huge monitor. Check the Wharfedale powered range. One thing to be aware of is that the output of the CD is likely to be stereo and the input of the monitor mono. You'd need to make a a "stereo-to-mono" lead or buy a monitor with 2 input channels. You'd also need a line out from the monitor to take the signal to your PA (but most powered monitors have this anyway). I'm afraid it all adds up !

You can get professional CD players from DJ stores. These should have more robust connectors and are also likely to be easier to use in a gigging environment. Citronic and Numark are two names I've seen a lot, bit do check the specification to make sure it is real PRO kit and not aimed at bedroom DJs in which case it might nit be much better than a domestic hi-fi.

[quote name='mike257' post='218069' date='Jun 13 2008, 02:59 AM']Just out of interest, because the thought of building fancy switchy lighty boxes often occurs to me when I'm mucking about with my rig.... how simple is it to build one of these to sit in your rack, but make it footswitched, so it can be controlled from my board?[/quote] +1 to cheddatom's suggestion. You would need to use a powered relay (sounds more complex than it actually is). You would house a switch in a box on the pedal board which connects to the rack unit via a jack cable. Inside the rack unit is a powered relay switch. When you press the footswitch it flips the relay. The good thing about relays is that they can have lots of contacts (or you can daisy chain several together). This means your one simple footswitch can actually switch loads of things simulataneously. It needs a bit more planning but technically it's no more complex than a normal footswitch. Although you will need a power supply for the relay (probably 12 V dc) but that can also power any LEDs in the unit.

[quote name='clauster' post='217829' date='Jun 12 2008, 06:20 PM']I was aware wrongly and stand corrected (in my defense it's now 21 years since I completed my electronics A level). Apologies for the confusion John.[/quote] I doubt very much you'd have looked at valves in any electronics course 21 years ago ! However, if you look at the power specs for a valve amp you'll see they only quote one power output e.g. [url="http://marshallamps.com/product.asp?productCode=JCM800&pageType=SPECS"]Marshall JCM800[/url] or the same power into different impedances e.g. [url="http://www.ampeg.com/products/classic/svtvr/index.html"]Ampeg SVT[/url]

+1 to what clauster says Valves amps are different to solid state amps. If you are using a valve amp you must connect the correct speaker load. This is either done with separate speaker outputs or an impedance selector. You can damage the amp if the wrong speaker impedance is used. As I understand it (correct me somebody if I'm wrong) a valve amp gives the same power output regardless of the speakers used, provided these are correctly matched. So a 100W valve amp will give a maximum of 100W into 4, 8 or 16 ohms. A solid state amp, on the other hand, will behave as you suggest adjusting its maximum power output automatically depending on the load connected. With a solid state amp you will NOT have speaker connectors marked with different impedances. You will only have a "minimum impedance" warning somewhere.

[quote name='Galilee' post='217558' date='Jun 12 2008, 01:02 PM']And a sparkly thong to wear on stage.[/quote] I think it'll be best to keep the thongs for the thinger....

[quote name='danfergie123' post='216432' date='Jun 10 2008, 09:04 PM']My main question is this : Do higher quality cables make a significant difference to the sound? I've tried many different cables, but never any 'top notch' ones. Basically because I've not known if it's worth spending that much more to use them. I [i]think[/i] that the difference is that there's less noise like buzzing or any slight hiss. Again this is just me presuming what the difference is; could anyone 'enlighten' me in this area? Thanks alot! Dan[/quote] There's a difference between crap cables and decent ones but beyond that you're in the hands of the marketing men. Google "cable myths" for some interesting debunking of marketing claims.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='217483' date='Jun 12 2008, 10:57 AM']£30?!?!?! FS I would buy a couple of baking trays and bend them.[/quote] And that's just for an empty box ! Don't forget the "sticky backed plastic" to hold it all together....

01. COMPRESSOR - evens out your levels, prevents peaks 02. LIMITER - like a compressor but more "severe" 03. AUTO WAH - creates a wah-wah effect automatically, often triggered by how hard you play 04. AUTO RESONANCE FILTER 05. OCTAVE - creates a note one octave lower than the one you play 06. TREMOLO - creates a fast "vibrating" effect (sort of off/on) 07. PHASER - swooshy, swirly thing 08. RING MODULATOR - wierd noises - defies description ! 09. DEFRET - attempts to make your fretted bass sound a bit like a fretless 10. PEDAL WAH - foot operated wah wah 11 to 19 are "amp simulators" that change your sound to make it sound like you're playing through a specific amp. 11. AMPEG 12. SUPER BASS 13. SWR 14. ACOUSTIC 15. BASSMAN 16. HARTKE 17. TRACE ELLIOT 18. TUBE PRE 19. SANSAMP 20. TS9 - simulates a Tube Screamer distortion pedal 21. ODB-3 - simulates another distortion pedal 22. MXR BASS D.I. - simulates a bass distortion pedal 23. FUZZ FACE - simulates yet another distortion/fuzz pedal 24 - 26 are synthesizer patches. These are of limited use for creating wierd noises. You need to be very precise when playing as you can only hit one note at a time (no duff notes, flurries, or clicks) or the whole sound breaks down. 24. STANDARD SYNTH 25. SYNTH TALK 26. MONO SYNTH 27. ZNR - noise gate (reduces hiss when you are NOT playing) 28. LOW EQ - simple low eq with 3 "knobs" preset at 3 low frequencies 29. LOW PARAMETRIC EQ - EQ with a variable frequency - you choose which frequency to cut/boost 30. HIGH EQ- simple high eq with 3 "knobs" preset at 3 low frequencies 31. HIGH PARAMETRIC EQ - EQ with a variable frequency - you choose which frequency to cut/boost 32. CHORUS - more subtle swooshy, swirly sounds, can also "thicken" a sound a little 33. STEREO CHORUS - chorus but sent to two outputs - you need two amps to use this ! 34. FLANGER - less subtle swooshy, swirly sounds 35. PEDAL PITCH - changes the pitch of the note when you move the pedal (foot operated whammy bar) 36. VIBRATO - automatically changes the pitch of a note up and down (wobbly note sounds) 37. STEP - don't know this one ! 38. DELAY - yep, a delay ! 39. TAPE ECHO - another echo but with added noise to make it sound like an old analog tape echo machine 40. PITCH SHIFTER - adjusts the pitch of notes that you play 41. HARMONIZED PITCH SHIFTER - adjusts pitch but attempts to do so in tune like two guitars playing harmony parts 42. DELAY - short delay 43. PING PONG DELAY - stereo delay (need two amps for this) 44. ECHO - long delay 45. HALL REVERB - deep reverb 46. ROOM REVERB - short reverb 47. SPRING REVERB - attempts to reproduce reverb of an amp Note that a lot of these FX have been lifted from the guitar version of the pedal and are of VERY LIMITED use for bass (harmonized pitch shifting on a bass ?).

[quote name='cheddatom' post='217433' date='Jun 12 2008, 10:01 AM']When you're saying "rackmount hardware" isn't cheap, you're just talking about a metal box the right size and some rack ears right?[/quote] Yes. You'd need a front panel (that includes the reack ears) and the metal box behind to hold everything. If you buy a 1U enclosed empty rack box it costs about £30 ! There is a kit system that allows you to build you own rack bits that might be cheaper. Better still, look for something second hand.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='217406' date='Jun 12 2008, 09:36 AM']You could surely build it for less than £70? 3 jacks, 2 pots, 1 switch, some leds resistors, wires and a battery clip - £25 at the most? And a case wouldn't cost more than £20 surely? To be fair, I haven't bought any of these things in a long time so I wouldn't really know.[/quote] You could probably build a footswitch-type of box for about that. To make a rack-mount version would cost a bit more as the actual rack-mount hardware isn't cheap (unless you can get something second hand and modify it). It wouldn't have as many knobs and LEDs though.....

I have to confess when I saw the title of this thread I thought maybe Silvester had finally caught his prey... [attachment=9546:TWP.jpg]

There are two ways you can equalise the volumes - 1. Reduce the volume of the louder bass 2. Increase the volume of the quieter bass (yeh - stating the obvious, I know !) If you choose (1) then you could do this passively, simply by putting the bass signal through a "volume pot" and adjusting this pot to reduce the output. If you choose (2) then you need a powered active circuit (effectively a simple preamp) to boost the volume. Building a rackmount version could get pricey - the rack box components themselves tend to add up. Another option would be to use a small mixer. Plug both basses into the mixer, use the mixer to equalise the volume levels, then use the "Mute" switches on each mixer channel to select or deselect each bass. Behringer do a cheap rackmount mixer [url="http://behringer.com/RX1602/index.cfm?lang=ENG"]Behringer RX1602[/url] for about £70 new. On the plus side it has lots of knobs and LEDS !! It's worth examining all the options first.

Have you got the user manual ? If not you can download it here [url="http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1856"]Samsontech.com[/url] There's a Low EQ (LE) and High EQ (HE) setting on it. The Limiter (LM) has got a "Level" adjustment. This adjusts the overall volume AFTER the limiter. If this is set high then this would increase the overall volume when playing through the Zoom. The limiter has three settings - Threshold, Ratio, and Level, all go from 0 - 10. To set it up I'd initally set Threshold to 10, Ratio to 10 then adjust the Level until the volume is the same as the bypassed volume. Now bring the Threshold down and play hard. As the Threshold is lowered you should start to hear the volume being limited as you play hard - playing harder doesn't result in an increase in volume. Set the Threshold so that this only happens when you play hard and nothing happens when you play softly. Experiment with the Ratio so to see how this affects the limiting. Lower values should let some peaks through to a degree. Once you're happy, adjust the Level to maintan the overall volume. Unless you're actually wanting to use a Zoom patch as a volume boost, I would recommend keeping the overall level similar to that when the Zoom is bypassed. Too much gain introduces extra noise (this might be the finger and pick noise you're getting). So, when editing patches you'll find that some FX use the "knob number 3" as a "level" or "gain" setting. Try to adjust this to avoid massive jumps in volume. This also means if you choose to bypass the Zoom while playing you won't get a sudden drop in volume. You'll find that all multi-FX units are a bit fiddly to program at first but once you get into the way they work they're usually fairly intuitive.

[quote name='Jobiebass' post='216962' date='Jun 11 2008, 03:33 PM']Yes, plugged straight into my amp I hardly get any finger noise. I put my amp loud enough for the soft parts, but if then it kicks in for a bit of slap I have to turn it down with the foot pedal. Looks like I definatly need a limiter then. [/quote] EQ or compression on the Zoom would amplify finger noise. For the limiter you probably need to REDUCE the control on the limiter. That will adjust the threshold level for when the limiter triggers and limits your sound. Experiment at your normal slap volume and turn the limiter control down until you can hear it starting to effect your sound. (a limiter is just like having a very fast sound engineer riding the volume control, turning it down when things get to loud then bringing back up when things get back to normal)

Are you saying that with the Zoom in between your bass and amp you find that finger noise and fret click is louder than with your bass plugged straight into the amp ? If so then it can only be a setting on the Zoom that's doing that. "Compression" could do that, depending on how it has been configured. I'm not familiar with the Zoom so i don't know if it's likely that this would be switched on. I'd be inclined to go back to basics with the Zoom and do as cheddatom suggests - create a good basic sound through the Zoom that has the minimum of FX switched on. Aim to keep all settings for this sound fairly flat - nothing too extreme. This would then become the basis for your "clean" sound. Get that right first then store this. Once you have it stored, copy it to another patch. Now edit this new patch, adding the FX you want to the basic clean sound. Once you have something good save this. Go back to the "clean" patch. Copy it to another (unused) patch. Now edit this new patch, adding the FX you want to the basic clean sound. Once you have something good save this. And so on.... A "limiter" is used to prevent your signal from exceeding a preset level (loudness) If you play softly you might never reach that level, therefore the limiter will never trigger.

Good results ! How exactly did you clean the metal parts ? Presumably in cleaning the metal parts, some of the plating will have been removed. Does this mean these parts will corrode and discolour quickly again ? As an aside... I recall from school chemistry that the chrome plating often applied to steel parts (especially on cars) prevented corrosion only until the chrome became scratched, at which point is actually accelerated the corrosion of the steel due to a process called "sacrificial protection". The steel (based on iron) would actually corrode to give protection to the chrome due to their relative postions in the table of elements.

Are you looking for an "authoritave" answer or an educated guess ? If it's the latter then I would say yes it could, although it might depend on the amp design.

Could you cover it with tin foil ? If you can find a thicker foil it might work ok and not be as messy as paint (also much easier to remove). It shouldn't make much (if any) difference to the sound. Guitar humbuckers used to come with a nickel metal cover on them. People removed them and it was supposed to add a little brightness to the sound but these claims have been questioned (i.e. it probably doesn't make any difference at all).

Start here [url="http://www.rolandus.com/products/subcategories.aspx?ParentId=13"]Roland Boss FX[/url] Have a look through their "Compact Pedal" range. You'll get an idea of what's out there and a clue as to what they do. Then have a look here [url="http://behringer.com/02_products/group_index.cfm?mid=2&ID=600&lang=ENG#STOMP%20BOXES"]Behringer.com[/url] Have a look through their "Stomp Box" range (and note the similarities, lol) Don't believe everything you read at either site, but use that information to ask some more specific questions or investigate further. Behringer stomp boxes are very cheap to buy. Some question their longevity but they do offer a cheap way to try things out. Finally - remember there are loads of other brands out there e.g. [url="http://www.digitech.com/bass.php"]Digitech[/url] [url="http://www.ehx.com/2008/"]Electroharmonix[/url]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='216188' date='Jun 10 2008, 02:16 PM']When I gig, I get the soundman to take a DI. If he doesn't have his own box, I get him to take it pre-EQ from the amp. I also get him to mic my guitar amp (using this for the top end, but could be your tweeter/horn). Then I ask him to roll the top off the DI and the bottom off the mic, and this tends to work. Sometimes they'll think i'm telling them how to do their job, sometimes they'll appreciate that i'm helping them out. I generally just smile at them and be nice 'cos soundmen can be easily agitated.[/quote] And that's a perfect approach because you KNOW exactly what you want and are able to help set it up. I don't think any reasonable soundman would object to that given that you're telling him precisely what you want. What a soundman doesn't want is someone with a vague idea about what they want and who wants him to try out loads of different options while you listen and say "...hmmmm that's not quite right can we try xyz now..." (and that applies to anyone, not just the bass). If you're new to this I would advise you initially go along with what the soundman suggests while asking him about how it works and learning what he's doing. Then as you do it more you can then make useful suggestions and occasionally try things out in an informed way. As experience comes you'll get to know what works and what doesn't.