tauzero

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='146972' date='Feb 25 2008, 10:53 PM']I've come to the point where anything I buy has to make me money and so therefore has to have a specific job to do. But then I am picking up my second new Status bass in three months within a week or so![/quote] I have the same mindset. The Hohner Jack Custom I've just bought is entirely consistent with that, as I wanted a headless 5-string for the microstage venues we sometimes play. Next gig is at one of these venues, last gig was too (which started me getting more earnest about my quest), and we've got at least another two this year. Mind you, it would be nice if I had a headless 5-string with a neck with a profile like the Tsai. Trouble is, they don't come off the peg that way. Come to think of it, it would be convenient if it was a double-neck too...

[quote name='martthebass' post='145328' date='Feb 22 2008, 09:10 PM']Yup. I had a guy spit out his dummy at a jam night when I asked him to remove his belt when he asked to borrow my (then) brand new Sterling. I don't like dingage but I prefer it if it's my fault.[/quote] I remember many years ago when a mate of mine asked to have a play on someone's very nice Martin. Chap wanted him to take his belt off (fair enough). So Norman took his belt off, and the chap then said he still couldn't have a go as he was wearing a shirt with hard buttons on. A couple of mine have suffered mysterious scrapes to the rear of the heel when they've been sat on stage at the local open mic night. Not sure how they've happened, may even have been stand-inflicted (using A-frame stands). I now use a tripod stand with a sticky-up bit at the back and there's been no further damage. When I first got the Palatino, I took it up to the open mic night. Left it lying at the side of the drum riser. At the end of the evening, I noticed a cymbal lying on it. The drummer never used to put nuts on his cymbals and one had flown off and dropped onto the Palatino, chipping the lacquer. This all reminds me of why I like oil-finished and natural basses. They show the dings a lot less than painted or lacquered instruments.

[quote name='paul, the' post='145159' date='Feb 22 2008, 04:19 PM']I have a BDI21, does anyone know if I can plug straight into a PA without a bass amp using this, if needed? Is that safe, would certain PA speakers have to be used to handle the frequencies?[/quote] I have used an ADI21 (near as dammit the same thing) with a Palatino VE-500 and a NS WAV-4 direct into a Peavey powered mixer, and also run the WAV-4 straight into the powered mixer. The PA speakers are reasonable full-range ones and handle it OK, but we don't have the volume anywhere near 11. And as I'm the only non-acoustic instrument on stage, I can't hear myself properly, so I will be using the GK 200MB in future (which has a handy DI).

I was just looking for an appropriate place to post a heads-up about that very same Maplin iron what I bought this lunchtime (I only went in for contact cleaner). I can't justify a hugely expensive soldering station with the amount I do these days, so just wanted something that meant I had sufficient thermal inertia to do pots and jack sockets, but could be kept cool enough not to fry tracks off PCBs. Should be doing some playing with it soon...

[quote name='99ster' post='143896' date='Feb 20 2008, 06:34 PM']Been looking for a big bag/holdall to put about 10 microphone stands in (7 of them are the small/short ones you use for mics for amps & snare drums). Any ideas / suggestions would be most appreciated![/quote] Search for "speaker stand bag" on ebay.

[url="http://www.flightcasewarehouse.co.uk/music/typeproducts2.asp?id=3948-3980"]£40 delivered from Flightcase Warehouse.[/url] Or, if you're fairly close to Tamworth, save a tenner per case and collect from them.

[quote name='Jamesemt' post='144278' date='Feb 21 2008, 11:32 AM']I'm, looking to alter the EQ on my Superfly head, which I know can be done with the software, but can't see the link to the software on their site anymore...anyone got it?[/quote] Have a look on [url="http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/detail.asp?ID=199"]this page[/url] or get it direct from [url="http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/software/SuperFly1.40.zip"]http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/software/SuperFly1.40.zip[/url] and the USB driver from [url="http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/software/SuperflyUSBWindows.zip"]http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/software/...yUSBWindows.zip[/url] BTW, you need to connect the Superfly direct to your PC - going through a USB hub or switch doesn't seem to work. I think it doesn't actually work as a USB device but as a peripheral which happens to use the USB port for communication (not exactly a clear explanation but there you go).

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='143403' date='Feb 19 2008, 09:36 PM']You're lucky the one to Italy turned up... I've sent 6 items to Italy with a loss rate of 4. 66% of items lost ain't great and buyers didn't pay for International Insured postage so unfortunately the UK postal service washed their hands of the whole thing![/quote] I'm not sure what the situation is with international posting but under UK consumer law, you're responsible for the item getting to the buyer. That includes them ticking the "uninsured" box. See [url="http://upce.toffee.net/#FAQ8.11"]the upce FAQ.[/url] So all my shipping costs include adequate insurance for the value of the item being sent.

I fancy this: because we need a new ironing board. Um, because it would be a rather spectacular instrument to take down to the open mic night and play "Mighty Quinn" on.

ebay? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200200961959"]Like this one?[/url] If you're doing a 4-string, these are the cheapest I've seen.

[quote name='gilmour' post='143119' date='Feb 19 2008, 03:32 PM']hmm interesting point, I was wondering why cabs are wooden, does it have sound benfits, surely you could make moulded fibre glass cabs (many cars have them) at a fraction of the weight and as Tauzero points out could well reduce manufacture costs in the long run.[/quote] I was actually thinking of the ABS cabs that Mackie and Peavey (two name just two off the top of my head) use for PA gear. Possibly more resilient than wood and lighter weight.

[quote name='EskimoBassist' post='143104' date='Feb 19 2008, 03:13 PM']Yeah! The AX3000B is fantastic! A prime choice if i do say so myself . It is frustrating is some ways not have a DI out, but i love the pedal anyway so im not bothered![/quote] I'm quite tempted by one, especially as there's a few places doing them for £125 at the moment (just google for it). But I have other priorities and not quite enough money for everything...

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='143058' date='Feb 19 2008, 02:00 PM']The labor cost for a horn loaded cab is three to ten times that of a direct radiator. BTW, horn loaded cabs aren't necessarily any larger than direct radiators with equal capabilities, and in many cases are actually smaller. A horn loaded 1x10 can equal or better the performance of a direct radiating 4x10 of similar size. But the horn loaded ten might entail $500 labor cost to build, while that of the direct radiator is only $50. With the cost to the manufacturer of ten inch OEM drivers about $40 each the far more profitable route is the direct radiator.[/quote] Wouldn't that become less of an issue if moulded cabs were used rather than wooden ones? Are there any implications of the horn-loaded design that would preclude using moulded cabs?

[quote name='lwtait' post='142725' date='Feb 18 2008, 08:41 PM']damn! i was really looking forward to seeing a singing chicken...[/quote] Ah, perhaps you should try [url="http://www.subservientchicken.com/"]http://www.subservientchicken.com/[/url] instead then. See if he'll sing...

Not on ebay but [url="http://www.gumtree.com/london/32/18167432.html"]a Gumtree listing[/url]. Spotted on my quest to try and find a headless 5-string that won't break the bank. Sadly, that would be a Northern Rock-like bank breakage for me.

Played the E57 club in Brum yesterday - we were booked to play 3 till 6, and at 5.40 the gaffer asked us how much for another hour, so we negotiated briefly on a pro rata basis and got it... The stage in the lounge is rather small - drumkit fits on it and the singer and guitarist balanced on the edge. I elected to stay on the floor as that meant I could fit on my stool, and I could keep the occasional keyboardist company too. We were our normal selves, coping with the singer's alcohol-fuelled cockups on a regular basis. What really annoyed me a great amount was that during our last gig, after he'd got a "guest singer" (ie. elderly pisshead) up to sing a couple of songs that none of us knew, I'd said not to have any more guest singers, so what does he do? Gets bloody three up. One of the songs was one that's in our set, the others we didn't know, so we fumbled through them. I think I'll be telling him that in future, if he wants a guest singer, he can get a sodding guest bassist too. Incidentally, it's not just me that doesn't want the guest singers, it's the whole band, but I'm the only one to have spoken up. At the end of the gig, he pissed off when we'd just about finished knocking down so he didn't have to do any of the loading. Lazy bastard. Still, swings and roundabouts, one of the audience turned out to be the chap who runs Crack Converters (all of them, that is) and he was so impressed that he offered us discounts on gear. Heh, "Endorsed by Crack Converters" - excellent.

[quote name='DylanB' post='141780' date='Feb 17 2008, 03:35 AM']My numerous gear-related google searches have brought me a number of times to www.singingchicken.co.uk, where the prices seem too good to be true.[/quote] Over £600 (with yerdreadedVAT) for an obsolete sequencer/sound module that doesn't fetch £300 on ebay?

[quote name='mhuk' post='140809' date='Feb 15 2008, 08:56 AM']How can you tell which way a cable is drawn? My scanning electron microscope is at the menders this week... [/quote] Oh, that's easy. As long as you've got a vertical tube a little longer than the cable (it's preferable to be able to evacuate the tube but not absolutely essential). Hang the cable up in the tube, making sure you've marked one end (if you mark both ends, make sure you mark them differently). Hold the bottom of the cable until the cable is showing no signs of motion, then release. After around 5 minutes, you will see the cable bottom moving in a circle. Make note of the direction of rotation. If the cable end is rotating clockwise (as observed from above it), the end from which it was drawn is at the bottom, if anticlockwise, the end from which it was drawn is at the top. If the tube doesn't contain a vacuum, repeat the experiment at least three times to confirm the result. This should be reversed if you are in the southern hemisphere. The reason is that the special audio electrons (or auditrons) in the wire are a little more densely spread at the end from which the wire was drawn, and consequently there's a slight but significant density difference in the material from one end to the other. The Coriolis force from the Earth's rotation causes differential movement in the cable, which translates into circular motion. Obviously this effect is reversed in the southern hemisphere. Anybody at one of the Poles who wishes to check the direction in which their cable was drawn has such severely compromised ability at assessing priorities that we may ignore them, as they will be hypothermic within a couple of days anyway. Auditrons are very special electrons because they behave unlike the more conventional ones that you encounter carrying electricity to bulbs and irons [1] as, instead of carrying a negative charge all the time, the polarity of the charge they carry varies. This means that they can all go in the same direction when carrying alternating current, unlike conventional electrons, which have to rush backwards and forwards like rowers on a galley. You would think that as a consequence of this, they'd all get stuck at the amplifier end of the cable, but in fact there is something called the surface effect or skin effect, where the auditrons travel back to the instrument end of the cable along the surface of the copper strands (rather than inside them, as they travel when they are carrying a signal). No snakes were oiled in the making of this post. [1] Why did I just think of a 9-string when I mentioned irons?

[quote name='BigAlonBass' post='139887' date='Feb 13 2008, 09:48 PM']Good God, no! It looks like it's been badly sprayed with something that reacted to what was already there, and then "reliced" to within an inch of its life, (with the roughest sandpaper possible) to hide the bodge job. [/quote] Hmmm. Who might do that with a poorly refinished CAR Precision (that he'd been told was an original finish) to try and sell it then?

I was doing a little calculating yesterday (no fag packet to hand, dammit) and concluded that it would be worth sorting out a short cable and buffer pre-amp for the WAV-4, because it needs an input impedance of 1M+, and with cable of 100pF/m (seems to be about the right ballpark), 1m of cable presents an impedance of 17M at 100Hz - so a 5m cable would start noticeably (I would think) bleeding off highs. Still, I have a project in hand to deal with that... I'm not convinced that there would be a huge difference with instruments feeding into an amp with a typical 50k input impedance.

[quote name='paul, the' post='139237' date='Feb 13 2008, 02:44 AM']There's a recurring theme for Wals being keepers. Any other ye olde faithful brands?[/quote] Personally, Warwick. But it would have been another brand had that other brand included an instrument that I really had to have and had for 20 years. And most Warwicks I wouldn't give the time of day to because of those great big thick necks. What you should do is have a look at the "first bass" thread, wherever it is, and see how many times you see "...and I've still got it". Tends to be stuff you wouldn't expect, like Ibanezeseseses and Washburns and Hondos (this isn't intended as a criticism of the instruments). Some people even keep Fenders for more than two years.

Looks like there wouldn't be any problem in getting it [url="http://www.bassisbodacious.com"]here[/url] (although the [url="http://www.duckdunn.com/what_duck_done.html"]official website[/url] seems to be sold out of them).

I thought I might as well check whether my reasoning was correct, so I emailed those nice people at Ashdown, and this is what they said: "If you've just got two 8 Ohm cabs, you'd be better off running one from each channel as you would obtain 2/3rds of the available power from each 250 watt amp (roughly about 160 Watts from each cab) as opposed to running the cabs in parallel on just one output when you would get 250Watts split equally between the two...." So I was a little optimistic in what I thought I'd get per channel but the reasoning is sound.

[quote name='BOD2' post='138675' date='Feb 12 2008, 09:19 AM']I reckon it's only a matter of time before some company sticks magnets around the outside of the lead at each end and claims that the magnets "align the electrons in the signal path, reducing loss of energy through random scatter thus increasing the top end, reducing muddiness in the middle range and allowing the bass frequencies more headroom"[/quote] They're already doing it [url="http://www.fuel-optimiser.co.uk/how.html"]for petrol[/url] and obviously have managed to make a profit on it...