KingBollock

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1339783722' post='1694413'] Seen this one done. Possibly because I used to work on trucks think it's excellent [/quote] That would certainly appeal to me. I have a bit of a collection of stuff with that design on it, including a tattoo.

When I was a kid I was given a pair of 1x12s, each in it's own ported cab, and each one was huge being about 36x18x18 inches. Anyway, I installed a 12v bulb into each of them so that the ports glowed when playing Bass through them. It didn't make any difference to the sound and nothing died. I didn't really know what I was doing, I just liked pretty lights and messing about with electronics.

I have two main Basses. One is a 4 string tuned half a step down and the second is a 5 string tuned to standard. This set-up currently covers most of what I need and is fairly versatile. I think if it were to be something I would use a lot I could fit a detuner to the 5 string on the E string for drop D tunings and maybe one on the B string to drop to C. I'd get masses of versatility out of just the two Basses then.

[quote name='Protium' timestamp='1344026748' post='1759012'] If you tip a 4x10 45 degrees the speakers will be even further apart horizontally [/quote] I was imagining that the two that would be beside each other would be further away from each other, as you say, so would that mean you get slightly more dispersion before they start to interfere with each other, and would it be enough of a difference to be noticed? But, more importantly, how much more freedom do the top and bottom speakers get, from interference, now that they aren't directly next to another speaker? I have no idea about any of this kind of stuff and I don't pretend to. It was just a thought that popped into my head that I thought would be fun to explore. If it turns out to be a crap idea then so be it.

I wish I was in a position to try the diamond configuration idea. Unfortunately there's a wall about 7 feet infront of my speakers, so I don't think it's going to matter much to me, I don't get to take them out of the house. Someone should try it and let us know, it could be a cheap way to make a slight improvement.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1343871309' post='1756744'] It would be better. Horizontal dispersion is inversely proportional to the width of the source. By making it narrower dispersion is widened. Of course this makes the head placement a bit of a task. BTW, the entire reason why drivers were placed horizontally in the first place was to accomodate a wide amp, first in combos, then in separates. No consideration was ever given to the dispersion issue because the amp designers weren't aware of it. [/quote] Excellent, thank you for that. I don't have my rack on top of my cabs anyway, however I do have two cabs stacked one on top of the other. But the bottom cab is a 1x15 so I can keep it flat and use whatever method I would have used to angle the top cab.

Would tipping the cab up, so that it was in a more diamond style configuration, so one speaker above another and then one either side at middle height, help? I imagine that if it's front ported you'd have to have the cab upside down. Hopefully that description makes sense. Even if the idea doesn't.

I have the Digitech Bass Driver, which I got from VoodooSnake on here. I had been searching desperately for just the right overdrive pedal and failing, until someone on here (sorry, the name has completely escaped me) did a review of the Digitech and completely slated it. Out of interest I did a Youtube search for it and liked what I heard. It has several really cool sounds, but you have to be careful because everything inbetween sounds a bit nasty, and not in a good way. My biggest problem with it is that I daren't touch the Tone knob, turning it up more than a touch makes it sound really digital and artificial, but I like the sound of it turned all the way down, so it's not a [i]really[/i] a problem for me. Oddly it sounds ace with a Guitar through it with the Tone knob turned up. I also like the demos of the Lomenzo Hyperdrive, but the sounds I like from it, in the demos, I can get from the Digitech. I'd say it's well worth checking out if you can get a decent amount of time to try it out before you buy it.

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1343760698' post='1754856'] Do apologise, for some reason, only known to the hidden recesses of my brain, I read "nothing amiss" as something amiss. I am an arse. I'll freely admit I must make an appointment with the opticians, a reminder letter turned up the other day. [/quote] That was a Gas bill...

[quote name='jonsebass' timestamp='1343680068' post='1753677'] In our covers band we do everything in Eb just to help the singer out. I think most bands just do it to sound a bit heavier. Some bands (IE Queen) have done the majority of recordings just a touch out of key - they are all in tune, but its not a standard tuning - try playing along with Hammer to Fall for instance [/quote] Sepultura's Arise album and Megadeth's Peace Sells are like that. Pain in the bum.

I think it's supposed to sound a bit heavier, a bit more depressing. Some bands detune to help the singer too. Metallica use a lot of different tunings though. Most bands that do it do it just to be annoying. I keep my main 4 string tuned to Eb and my main 5 string tuned to standard, to try to cover most stuff.

[quote name='noelk27' timestamp='1343598880' post='1752646'] But, it's sheer dumb luck that he's turned up at the right ballpark. Some of his descriptions of the guitars in the state he acquired them suggest clearance of 3 or 4 mm at the first fret. The first fret! Leaving aside that he calls a nut a zero fret, I find those measurements hard to believe. I'd actually like to know what it is he's measuring, and where it is he's measuring it! Guitar f*ck*r-upper aside, I understand what you're saying about the manufacturing and fitting tolerances of locking nuts. With modern manufacturing equipment and techniques the neck blanks, touchboard depths, and nuts themselves are being produced, and assembled/fitted, with incredible precision and consistency. But, in those situations where a nut is out, then removing excess material from the base of the nut or shimming the nut up, I'm sure, would be standard practice during initial setup and testing. Back to our guitar b*gg*r-upper, is it possible that every guitar he works on needs it's nut filed down? He's never had one where the opposite has been required? Or where it's simply the width of the slot that needs to be increased? It's stretching credibility, surely? [/quote] I have absolutely no idea what goes through his mind. I suffer with nightmares enough as it is, so I don't want to got thinking too deeply about it. It's like he's developed one idea about how a Guitar should be setup and he's come up with one way of doing it, so he does it the same way everytime, regardless. And this thing he has for changing pickups. It's like he thinks that changing a pickup makes it look like he's done a lot of work and so makes it worth more. So when he's got two Guitars in he automatically changes a couple of the pickups over, ignoring the instances where he's stuck a bridge pickup in a neck slot and vice versa, because he doesn't know the difference. Oddly I've just been put in mind of a mate of mine. He went to do a course on fixing Washing Machines and Fridge Freezers. The bloke teaching the course had a very strong Yorkshire accent and pronounced Ohms as Orms. It took me a little while to understand what my mate was going on about and, despite me having done electronics in college for 2 years, he wouldn't believe me that he was pronouncing it incorrectly. And since he's never spoken to anyone else since who would know, as far as he's concerned they're called Orms and always will be. This bloke has the idea that a low action is good and he doesn't care if he leaves it looking like it's been run over by a train to get it, it's in his head and that's it.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1343598315' post='1752638'] Try your local pet store! [/quote] I kept asking my wife to pop into a Butcher shop for a Cow leg, but in the end she went to a pet shop and came back with a little bone covered in some kind of crust. No bloomin' good to me. I did explain why I wanted such a big bone and what it was for, but I made the mistake of saying that the Dog could have the rest of it, and that's all she heard, she thinks it's just for the Dog, who is a little thing, so a big bone is no good. For such a clever woman she can't 'alf be a bit thick sometimes.

[quote name='noelk27' timestamp='1343596124' post='1752599'] He filed down the inner surfaces on a locking nut. Huh? What you're saying may well be right, but it's not the logic or science this guy is applying. Seriously, with this guy it's more like an obsession with grinders and files. [/quote] Oh! Nononono! Don't get me wrong. That man is a monster, the way he tortures those poor instruments, it's just wrong. Though, knowing that for an optimum setup you may have to alter the nut, I have questioned the wisdom of metal locking nuts. Surely they're made in the same way as any other mass produced nut? They're cast from a standard mould and expected to fit every Guitar they're put on, that can't be quite right, can it?

[quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1343595401' post='1752579'] makes me wonder if every bass or guitar ive ever owned needed the nut filing ? [/quote] It's possible... For optimum setup I believe there's an optimum string height from the first fret to the strings. [i]He's[/i] not going about it quite the right way, but he's on the right track. [media]http://youtu.be/cI9Y9MsmnEc[/media] I keep meaning to getting around to doing mine. Though I am waiting until I can get hold of some bone to make my nuts from scratch. If you're going for the perfect setup then I think it's worth doing.

I always used to have the same sound, no matter what I did. It used to frustrate the tits off me! From a Laney Klipp with a 60's Marshal 4x12, to a Carlsboro Stingray with a 1x15, to a Peavey Combo with a 12" speaker. Satellite P Bass copy, Westone Raider I, Wesfield Small Body and an Aria Pro II Mab 20/5. They all sounded the same! How the hell can that be? Even now with a Peavey T-Max with a 4x10 I have to be careful. Going Active has helped, but the thing that has helped the most is my Behringer V-Amp Pro, it just adds some colour where before there was none. It is most odd, I have felt cursed.

I don't aim for a particular sound really, certainly not one from a favourite Bass player. I tend to just go with what sounds nice at the time. Unfortunately this changes a lot depending on my mood, which is a pain in the bum.

I'm very naughty and don't have a set technique. I tend to find it differs depending on what I'm playing. If I'm playing something slow I tend to be more B or even C, if I'm doing something technical and/or fast I go A. I always thought that A was supposed to be bad technique on Bass and believed I was doing it wrong.

I posted this stuff in the Bad Jokes thread earlier. http://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-K2-terminated-speaker-cable/dp/B000J36XR2 (The comments are ace!)

I play mostly Rock and Metal and love my flats. Give 'em a go I say! Oh, I use Chromes by the way. I've never actually tried any other flats. It took me over 20 years to get around to trying flats and I wish I had done it sooner. Try them and if you don't like them at least you'll know.

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1343324001' post='1749021'] Yep! One of these bad boys. [/quote] Blimey, that is old fashioned, it puts mine to shame! Mine is like the one in the pic I posted.

I already had a Black Metal setting dialled into my Boss GX-700 I called NastyB*stard. I have now changed it to ValnØt!

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1343321992' post='1748981'] My old guitarist had a 4 channel amp, one of which was set to 'Valnut':- maximum treble, maximum gain, bass and mid on zero. I even did him a label for it on my [b]Dymo label maker.[/b] [/quote] The proper old fashioned punch type? Nice to know I'm not the only one that still uses one! I used it today infact, to put a label on the stereo in the bedroom with the frequency of a new radio station that my wife has found. My Laney Linebacker is labelled with it too after my wife wiped all the printed labels off it with nail polish remover.

Why does he think that only people who play Heavy Metal use Whammy bars? And that to play anything other than Heavy Metal on a Guitar that has one, it has to be disabled?

It's easy to think that he's just naive, but he's been doing this for a while, so he's either to lazy to learn what he's doing properly and to correctly identify components and materials, or he's dishonest and taking advantage of people. If it's the former then perhaps he should read this thread and set about learning properly, to better serve his customers.