stevebasshead

[i]Given the useful nature of the info in this thread and the longer term implications can I suggest this is made into a Sticky?[/i]

Hi, you don't say what bass you have but another possibility is that your pickup(s) is/are too high and you're strings are hitting the polepieces. Of course if your pickup doesn't have raised polepieces you can discount that immediately, but worth checking otherwise if only to eliminate the possibility. Also, are you playing fingerstyle or with a pick? It could be your plucking technique - if it's too hard and in a more downward direction (i.e. down towards the bass, as opposed to the floor) you could be driving the strings towards the frets on the initial pluck, whereas plucking more across the strings will avoid that initial (and therefore most severe part of) motion. Regards, Steve.

I think Thumbo's probably right, it sounds like the coating is flaking off - happened all the time when I used Elixirs and never seemed to affect the tone. I'd double check that it's only flaking, rather than a build up of an external substance, before boiling/cleaning the strings. I'm not 100% sure what effect boiling/cleaning would have on the coating (which is just goretex, apparently). Regards, Steve.

Hmmm...tough one. Obviously if I was saving up for a Ric (and hadn't already placed a pre-order at the old prices) I'd be pretty upset, it is quite a hike up from the price I'd have been saving towards. But there seems to be more to it, particularly the amount of time that's passed since they last raised prices (they being Rickenbacker as opposed to whatever the distributors and dealers independantly decide to do.) I'm not informed enough on RIC's business plan nor the other factors that affect them so I'm not taking sides here, but there's a couple of interesting points in the following posting that I've lifted, just for information, from a similar thread on the Rick Resource forum. This was a posting by John Hall himself (RIC's CEO) and may balance and/or answer some of the points raised above. (Full thread [url="http://www.rickresource.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=378475&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=60"]here[/url].) "[color="#0000FF"]I need to jump in here, if only briefly, before I return to my "no post" policy. We don't raise the price on guitars that are already on order, in fact we still have many on the books awaiting production that will still be shipped at the 2001 prices. However, you can argue both ways about the dealers raising prices now. On the one hand, there's an argument that instruments currently in stock (or on order at protected old prices) should be sold at prices reflective of their actual cost. But you can also argue that the cost to replace that item in inventory is the proper cost to base pricing on. Obviously, as a consumer I would prefer the first option but if I operated a shop I'd tend to favor the second. It's a tough call either way, but it's a call the stores make, not us. This might be a good time to point out a couple of other things that have been overlooked or misstated, especially on one other forum in particular. This last price increase was, on average, just under 20%, plus or minus a bit due to rounding. Including this most recent price change, the total average increase is about 34% as compared to 2001. I don't hear anyone remembering now all those years that we didn't increase prices. (There were a couple of model-specific exceptions where there were extraordinary cost increases or a need to reposition certain models in the line.) Another point totally overlooked is the fact that it will probably be at least a year before the first instrument goes out the door at the new prices, so in effect this is really a late 2009 or early 2010 price increase. Similarly, as I said earlier, a large percentage of our current backlog will be shipped at the same prices we charged for these items in 2001. North American customers probably think they don't care about this but we have a large export business; these clients are currently enjoying a huge windfall due to the weak dollar exchange rate. (None have lowered their dealer prices in response to this.) We're trying to recapture some of that and use it to offset our increased costs for parts, especially imported ones, for example, Gotoh and Schaller keys. That indirectly benefits the domestic consumer. Speaking of costs, consider these facts: Solder increased 116% in the last 15 months alone. Case costs have risen 20% in the last 12 months. Copper has almost doubled since 2005, affecting brass components as well. The price of zinc is up about 59% this year although large quantities of Chinese zinc is helping to keep the price down. I don't have to tell anyone what's happened with oil, which directly affects cost of the coatings and plastic we use. The good news is that quality Maple has held very solid, although charactered premium Maple has become overly expensive, mainly through the manipulation of specialty wood brokers.[/color]" Interesting point about the export clients - our prices should have been more or less stable since 2001, bar currency/shipping/tax variations, so anything over and above the shop price now and the shop price in 2001 would be outside of RIC's control. I bought my 1st RIC in 2002 when (IIRC) they listed at £1200 but you can find them on the net now for £1400. If the £200 increase is solely down to shipping and tax I'll eat my hat. Can't be the exchange rate as that would favour a decrease in price. Rip Off Britain springs to mind... Steve.

I'll be the first to admit I've no idea how sound this theory is...but...if you do go with rounds you could try the Elixir coated strings. Whilst you'd still be putting the same pressure per square inch through the smaller contact surface, the slippery coating might help reduce the grinding into the fretboard produced by small movements of the string as you fret and release. Just seems to me that raw steel would grind in more than a coated string. I'm probably talking out of my @rse, and the difference, if any, would be minute. Good strings though, and the slipperiness is great for fretless slides! Steve.

[quote name='Joshbasscana' post='106591' date='Dec 19 2007, 05:25 PM']Steve, Thanks for that input man. I didn't realise the fx loop was post EQ - this is very handy to know and will have a little demo sesh and see what sounds i can come up - a gem of an idea if I do say so myself. Im going to put your idea to the test, but also get my guitarist fender deville, split the signal and see what sounds i can get. Yo the man, JBC[/quote] Hope it works for you Even if the FX loop turned out to be pre-EQ you'd be able to compensate on your FX line with an EQ pedal. Guitar combo's can also be great for recording with when you're not having to drive them too hard to get stage filling volume. Have fun!

I'm not sure you actually need a 2nd amp to do what (I think) you're wanting to do. Would you not get the same result by splitting the signal, one going into your Warwick's main input and the other going directly into your effects, and then plug the last effect directly into the Warwick's "FX Loop return" socket? I don't know the Tubepath specifically but often the FX loop return circuit is post-EQ. So you'd be able to EQ your clean sound on the Tubepath and if your last effect was a preamp pedal (Sansamp BDDI?) or graphic EQ pedal for instance, EQ your effected signal seperately. Both signals would be recombined in your Tubepath before it's main poweramp stage. You'd have exactly the same end result as two separate amps but without the expense/transportation and stage footprint problems. Also it can sound odd having two different bass sounds coming from two locations on stage. I know, I ran my Rickenbacker in stereo that way for a while. I had the effects on one signal path (top cab) and a clean sound on the other (bottom cab) but because my head was nearer the top cab so I heard a very different balance to what was heard out front. Now I use a minimixer to blend the two signals back together before sending to the poweramp. Not saying don't buy a 2nd amp, I just think you might want to consider an alternative before spending lots of hard-earned Steve.

I'd also add to the good advice above - make sure you breathe. I'm not the fastest or most articulate player by any means, but I used to find when I did anything a bit fast or complex I'd tense up and my forearms would ache too. I found making sure I breathed regularly helped relax me, reducing the tension and that helped reduce the amount of pain I used to get in my arms. I reckon once you're comfortable with these new songs you'll relax more anyway, but you may need to watch out in the heat of a performance, especially if you're throwing yourself into it. Steve.

What Dood said! But I'd add it depends on whether you want to use your main amp's EQ or whether you want to use the EQ and amp modelling in the Line6 (which would bypass the amp's preamp & EQ so no quick tweaking at gigs!). If it's the former you've no choice but to run a cable to the front of your amp so that the signal goes through it's preamp/EQ section. I did something similar in my rack set up, I had to bend the corner of my rack so that a cable would fit through to plug into the front. I used a right angle jack for neatness so it sat flush with the front of the amp. See the pic where I've ringed the bit I bent (although the cable isn't in the photo you'll see what I mean). Apologies for the poor quality of the image. If you go with using the Line6 for all your tone shaping I'd start with the Eff.Mix at minimum and turn it up until either it distorts or it's at max, whichever occurs first just to be safe. Bear in mind that the patch levels you set in the Line6 may need to be pretty constant. If you set one up that's much louder than others it might overload the effect return level you just set above. Steve.

[quote name='BeLow' post='104220' date='Dec 14 2007, 10:28 AM']finally a strange shot looking in the garden [/quote] F*** me, your garden goes on forever

GreeneKing is spot on, it'll be a 4001. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Hipshot-RICKENBACKER-BASS-HB5-Upgrade-TUNER-SET_W0QQitemZ150194188163QQihZ005QQcategoryZ41434QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem"]These[/url] would seem to be ideal - don't know what budget you have but worth putting a good quality set on. If they're wavy Grovers I'm sure I saw a posting on either the [url="http://www.rickresource.com"]RickResource Forum[/url] or [url="http://www.rickenbacker.com/forum_view.asp?forum=Just_Basses"]Corporate Ric bass forum[/url] about a fix for this. Might be worth poking about a bit? Regards, Steve.

I guess because it's both a unique one-off (both colour and binding) and it's an official Ric product rather than a 3rd party refinish, that's enough to bump it's price over and above an off the shelf 4003. I love it and can understand (ah, if only I could afford...) the price it'll go for in that sense. More bemusing to me is the 'beaten-up-fresh-from-the-factory" artist endorsed models that Fender and Gibson charge hu-u-u-ge sums for. The one's I've seen up close looked fake (in particular, Rory Gallaghers Strat) in terms of the wear and tear. My capitalist right-brain says somethings only worth what someone's prepared to pay for it. My socialist left-brain says that skews things towards people with too much wealth. Both halves then have a whirling-dervish catfight about it. Explains why I get dizzy when I think too much. :wacko:

[quote name='Merton' post='103151' date='Dec 12 2007, 11:35 AM']My old Trace head and current Nemesis head are both 300W (well, the Nemesis is 320W) but to get the same perceived volume, the Trace would be set on ~2-3 and the Nemesis on 5.[/quote] That's more to do with the taper on the volume pot, they're not always linear all the way from min to max. Most of the output volume from a Trace is available in appoximately the first half a turn, thereafter it makes less and less difference. I'm not familiar with the Eden but at least some of the volume difference you hear at what look to be the same positions could be explained by that.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='102993' date='Dec 11 2007, 11:32 PM']Mine isn't a Rik, its a P bass with an extra pickup at the neck (like Sheehans wife) and two outputs, I was looking about trying to find out how the Rik trick was done, now I found out it isn't done how I thought it was, can somone figure the electrickery to do that? Otherwise I'll just have to put a switch in to make it switchable to single mono output (stereo seems kinda wrong, dual mono seems more accurate).[/quote] Ah, I get you, neat. And I agree completely, dual mono makes much more sense otherwise people think they have to put cabs either side of stage! There's circuit diagrams (and a whole lot of other great Ric and non-Ric info) [url="http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/Joeys%20frameset.htm"]click here[/url] For the circuit diagrams: Click the Bass Guitar Maintenance link on the left Click the photo of the Ric Click the "Rickenbacker Bass Wiring Diagrams" link at the bottom of the list Click on the "4003 Wiring Diagram (from '86 to late '05) PDF" (best to use this one, the other's include either the capacitor on the bridge pickup circuit or the new Vintage Tone Circuit pot.)

Quite some time back I did the same to my old cheapy. I buggered it up so bad that even the proper allen key had no effect. I thought it was a gonner but I managed to tightly wedge a flat bladed screwdriver into what was left of the two best corners and off it came. I think the reason that worked when the correct sized allen key didn't was because of the taper on the screwdriver blade, I was able to truly wedge it into the corners whereas the allen key had just enough slack to slip out and onto the rounded parts. On mine it was simply a replacement of the allen fitting rather than the entire rod. It was just a small barrel affair that pressed against the end of the neck pulling the rod which was secured at the opposite end of the neck, if you see what I mean. You should be able to get spares from Allparts or Stewmac, but ask your local luthier if he's got any spares. You might just get given one free gratis if you're lucky! Hope this helps, Steve.

2 basses in cases Power amp in 2u rack Preamps/wireless recv'rs/Aphex bass exciter ready-hooked up in 4u rack 2 * cabs Spare amp Multi FX 2 stands 2 bags of assorted cables Smoke machine (coming soon) Takes about 5 mins to carry in and 5 mins to set up and is the only exercise I get The spare amp and 1 of the bags of assorted cables are the only things I'd consider OTT but the bag in particular helps wedge things in the back of the car and stops them sliding about so I don't mind it! And it's occasionally been useful when our usual PA guy hasn't been available and we've had an unprepared numpty instead

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='101376' date='Dec 8 2007, 03:00 PM']I thouth they had cunning jiggery pokey with one lead give both pickups to that, and if you plug in two, it splits them, kinda like actives switch off when you unplug.[/quote] Not unless a previous owner has rewired it The Ric-o-Sound socket is wired at the factory with the bridge pickup going to the tip and the neck pickup going to the ring on a stereo 6.3mm plug. [quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='101376' date='Dec 8 2007, 03:00 PM']I run two outputs on my bass, one through fx and one clean, and use the fx in and blend on my juggernaut pedal to combine them.[/quote] Interesting, do you run mono cables in both sockets? I'm thinking that if you do then only the bridge pickup will be coming out of the Ric-o-Sound socket. I'm not an electronics expert but I suspect that, when you have the pickup selector switch either in the middle position or bridge-only selected then you'd be sharing the bridge pickup over two outputs - wouldn't that send a weaker signal down both cables? Not sure, anyone know? Either way, if you're happy with the results - enjoy

+1 for the multiFX route, at least initially. They're great for learning about FX in general, as people have already said. Their other big advantage is that you don't have to drop to your knees and fiddle between songs, you just program another patch if you need a different variation of phaser/flanger/whatever for the next song. You might find you never feel the need to upgrade (either to pedals or better multiFX) depending on how you get on with FX in general. Don't rely on the preset patches as a guide to how to use FX in a song context though, most of the presets are manufacters show-off settings and are (usually) way too whacky! Regards, Steve.

I run my Rick in stereo and it's pretty straightforward. All you need to get up and running is a Y adaptor lead (Maplin?) which has a stereo plug on one end and two mono plugs on the other. Be sure to get a true stereo splitter where only the "left" channel goes to one of the mono plugs and the "right" channel goes to the other, as opposed to sending a combined left+right to both mono plugs, if you see what I mean. The two output jacks are wired differently and aren't designed to have leads plugged into both sockets simultaneously. The one nearest the strapmount uses a mono jack socket and has both pickups routed to it, just like any other bass. The other one (labelled Ric-O-Sound) uses a stereo socket where the neck pickup goes down one lead and the bridge pickup goes down the other so you can send each pickup to it's own amp and/or FX. The majority of people run their Ricks in mono though 'cos carting two amps and speakers around is expensive and heavy! But the benefits of running in stereo are that you can add effects to only one of the pickups and leave the other clean. In that way you'll never lose your bottom end when running distortion or heavy phasing/flanging/chorus etc. And you can EQ each amp/pickup appropriately too. If you want to run stereo but only use a single amp you can recombine the output again post-FX by using a small mixer and send the output from that into your amp. That's the way I have my setup at the moment, my neck pickup goes into my DHA for valve OD and my bridge pickup goes through my FX processor for everything else although I tend to use mild OD as my main tone. Then both DHA and FX outputs are recombined via a minimixer. Works a treat and means I hear all my sound coming from one single source at gigs rather than half from one amp and half from another. Hope this helps, Steve.

I often wonder what state FoH engineers ears are in - surely anyone who regularly does the sound for bands is exposed to loud music on such a regular basis that their hearing would be less than perfect to start with. I've never really noticed any of them using ear protection - has anyone?

I think it's a case of whether we're impressed by technique or moved by a piece of music. Subjectivity being what it is that will differ for person to person. Technique though doesn't just include what's generally viewed as the flashy stuff, even simple grooving takes technique to really get it flowing IMHO (e.g. a slight string bend in the right place to flow from one note to another.) At the end of the day it's easy to overplay any instrument for the sake of it, after all as a certain Mr Entwistle once said, "it's not a bass, it's a bass [b]guitar[/b]"...and we all know guitarists who don't know when to stop too! But there I go getting all subjective again

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='94573' date='Nov 26 2007, 02:53 PM']cool cheers how does it sound/how effective is it? I like ashdown stuff and that's got a valve in it - a fair few people on here think it's a load of crap[/quote] CrazyKiwi did a pretty comprehensive review of a DHA Compressor in the Reviews forum here on BC - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6002"]here[/url]

Would make a canny travel-bass with a small headphone amp or Tascam bass trainer...

In rehearsals always play whatever you want BUT [b]record it and listen back to it later[/b]. You'll soon hear which bits don't fit the song, or if you've played simple you'll hear where there's room for fills or something that fits better. Sometimes a busy bassline makes a song (Hit Me With Your Rhythn Stick), sometimes a simple underpinning line creates a great mood/feel (Walking on the Moon), sometimes it's a bass fill that becomes a stand out part (and here my rubbish memory lets me down, but you get my drift...) Steve.

[quote name='bigjohn' post='92823' date='Nov 22 2007, 04:01 PM']I'm strangely attracted to the DHA, It looks like it's been put together in a potting shed and painted by someone who's peaking on LSD. Anyone got one? I'm finding it harder make my mind up than I usually do - most of the reviews I've read seem to make a point of making compressors' transparency sound like a good thing.[/quote] CK did a review of one here [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6002"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6002[/url]