BassTractor

Thanks for responding, guys. I guess the auction can't be reached from abroad, or it depends on the browser. The link is faulty (it's truncated), but does work for me in Chrome. But can you guys see the picture?

I just realised I've often reacted to sounds on the loose by exclamating: "Wow, that's a musical sound! I want to do something with it!" Granted, my ears might be broken, but if we instead speak of one with good ears exclamating something of the same, then suddenly a musical sound is a sound that the experienced ear thinks has [b]promise[/b]. This concept is not very far fetched for me, as it is very similar to a usual concept for composers and players: that of reacting similarly to a tone or a few tones, to a timbre or to one single chord. Edit: Colgraff in essence beat me to it. Beautifully worded, as usual.

The yearly national TV fundraising in Norway this year is for the benefit of the preservation of the rain forest. Sting is going to perform in the tv programme, and he has donated "one of his basses" as they state it for an auction. (Highest bid right now is roughly £2,500.) Me, I feel there's something fishy going on, and guess it's just some sort of generic, new Fender Precision Sting signature. Does anyone recognise it? Here's the auction: https://www.blomqvist.no/nettauksjon/nettobjekt/%C3%98L//211691/(pathOverride)/search-sting And this is the bass as shown in the auction. [URL=http://s1170.photobucket.com/user/basstractor1/media/Stings%20bass%20NRK%20tv-aksjon_zpsbzoceaoz.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r525/basstractor1/Stings%20bass%20NRK%20tv-aksjon_zpsbzoceaoz.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

A teacher of mine would walk into a corn field with a tape deck and a microphone, and record the sounds that were around. Back in the studio, he'd essentially take the cool bits and release the final result as a work. I deeply loved his music, so I can't answer the question without taking context into the equation.

[quote name='phil.c60' timestamp='1445168307' post='2889215'] Is this Wonderwal? [/quote] Close! It's the Wonderful Land Wal. (actually the Journey to the Centre Wal, but that's a mere detail)

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1445086839' post='2888712'] At the risk of repeating myself, the Ancient Greeks didn't do scales the way we do scales. [...] When the text talks about a 12-note musical scale the reference is almost certainly to the sequence of intervals created by a method called Pythagorean tuning (hint: Wikipedia is your friend here). [/quote] I've removed a lengthy reply to this because it was... er... long, and people can't be expected to read and understand it all, much because of my limited English. However: The Greeks, when layering fifths either had no notion of an octave, and did not wrap the row of fifths so it became a circle (thusly dividing an octave in 12 steps), or they did. If they did not, then your allowing the wolf fifth and the Pythagorean comma into this thread adds to the confusion. Both have strong, direct relations to latter day scales - both with 12 steps per octave. If they did, then what you wrote is fair game, but then you should accept the notion that they did build a scale roughly like we do, though for different purposes. Dunno who was the addressee of the Wikipedia hint, but in case it's me, allow me to clarify that I taught this stuff in music college, so I'm not a complete beginner. Not trying to use that as a crowbar, but trying to be clear and to avoid misunderstandings. Also, it's roughly 35 years ago for me, so I do not claim to know this stuff by heart now. Whatever the case may be, the article still was unclear about the row of notes and what it was (what order for example) and what that twelfth note was that the other notes were compared to. I still believe the article's author failed to understand the subject matter. Dincz' use of the fifth as our fifth interval probably is a misunderstanding. But if it is indeed our fifth, then the rest of the article's sentence around that becomes quite absurd. I think it's more probably that it's the fifth tone in the row and its frequency relationship to the twelfth tone in the row. We have not been told which tones these are, and I'm not gonna use time to check different alternative explanations for validity.

[quote name='dincz' timestamp='1445080553' post='2888643'] "dissonant fifth". I guess we're talking about a very different scale then? [/quote] In a 12 note scale (one that goes from root note to root note over one octave), the fifth note within the scale would not constitute what we call a "fifth", which is in interval. If the root note is the first note, then the 5th note would be what we call a major third. However, note that in the article, the different notes of the scale are being compared with what they call the 12th - - not with the first. I do not know which is the 12th note. For all I know, it might be the root note, and they start counting with what we would consider the minor second. I'm convinced though that the article is lacking in explaining the link between a musical 12 note scale (which is exponential), and the (different?) sizes of chunks of text. I think it's likely the author of the article did not understand the research.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1444981957' post='2887761'] I'm in... where can I buy some? [/quote] Great! I'll put down your name. Gimme some time and I'll take care of everything. It will be a BC-only Marital BassCase. [quote] The rule is going to be that she can only have more shoes if there is space in the marital bass case for them... If there isn't then a new case must be purchased and I may fill my half with another bass... [/quote] Ah. So my English is worse than I thought. I thought I'd written exactly that. [quote] You sir are a genius. [/quote] Yeah, that started to dawn on me too. Until yesterday, I was too smart to understand how smart I was - - the famous Dunning-Inverse-Kruger Effect, a quite normal capacity of Dutchmen.

Oh my gawd. I just invented the marital bass case: it's double layer, and in one half you store 1 (one) bass, whilst in the detachable half, you store 5 (five) pairs of her pumps. The crux of course is in the rules: if she wants more shoes, this will only go if there's space left in a readily bassed marital bass case. Of course, amateurs or people on a budget might opt for the cupboard solution: one cupboard for shoes means two cupboards for basses. They're larger, innit.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1444912424' post='2887240'] You guys with loads of basses (of which I am most jelous) do you have cases for them all? If so, where are the cases? [/quote] Yup, with the exception of maybe one that will get a case later. They're all in cupboards, where normal people keep lots of clothes hanging on coat hangers. Normally sized basses stand, and on top of those cases, the Steinberger, Daisy Rock and Ashbory types are lying.

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1444702183' post='2885193'] Yep, some people collect stamps some people collect blow lamps [/quote] Maybe I worded poorly. It's not about collecting for me at all, but about learning and experiencing that what I read about.

Sorry, there is no cure. This is normal.

Words from the wise!

[quote name='Shonks' timestamp='1444382250' post='2882689'] Switching it on, it read .083 kw [...] Switching on the Markbass (at low volume) and it went up to .116 kw. turning the volume up .119 kw. I think my reading is per hour. [/quote] It's not per hour though. It's the Wattage (a level) at that very moment. If you use 1,000 W for 1 hour, then you'll have used 1 kWh. The meter tells you that the MarkBass uses 116 - 83 W, which is 33 W. When you then turn up the volume, this goes up to 36 W. This is as predicted. The 25 W amp would use slightly less electricity for the same volume of sound.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1444351006' post='2882558'] "Different Strokes For Different Strokes". I agree, I don't clearly understand it, but I agree. [/quote] I think an explanation of British culture is called for here. "Different strokes for different strokes" is a live thing. If someone's wood needs to be "shed" (now I've heard that one too), then they prefer to do it in front of an audience. In the bedroom, however, it's "Different folks for different folks". No stroking going on there. Thought you might like to know.

[quote name='Shonks' timestamp='1444342462' post='2882511'] so where does that leave me regarding the original inquiry? . . . i feel like I'm back to square one. [/quote] Sorry. I've been wording less than carefully, forgetting your OP and going into a more general approach. Nothing has changed. You have a regular solid state amp with output transistors, and it will use power as stated earlier - meaning it will use hardly any electricity in bedroom conditions. As indicated earlier, MarkBass do strive with the English language. Edit to add that I've written wrongly too - - the curse of editing without reading through the result before posting. I've corrected that bit in my previous post.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1444342216' post='2882510'] Stuff that doesn't happen in the bedroom. [/quote] I always liked gigging, but now I'm starting to doubt. Maybe there are good reasons to be in the bedroom. Stuff that happens in the bedroom happens there!

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1444336710' post='2882448'] Instrument rigs normally use Class B or Class AB IIRC. As I said though I'm very rusty on this stuff as I haven't practised it in 25 years or more. [/quote] I'm rusty too, but: Yup! Class B or AB, with output transistors rather than output transformators. If there are output transformators in a solid state amp (but that is rare and possibly always was rare), then my rustiness is too large for me to say anything about the power consumption.

[quote name='Shonks' timestamp='1444323459' post='2882274'] the 'tightarse app'? [/quote] Thanks! I'll visit my nearest electric device shop tomorrow, and just ask for a hardware tightarse app. [quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1444324037' post='2882279'] You can get a free 'energy meter' from some suppliers, it didn't take long for the novelty to wear off but they are good [/quote] Thanks! I used one to monitor the waterbed's energy use, and it did eventually manage to calm down the then wife. Now though, I need one to monitor my heat pump, as, for technical reasons, it's on the mains of my ex's part of the house. She's afraid I might underpay her. Ha! Talk about one who needs a tightarse app!

[quote name='Shonks' timestamp='1444322400' post='2882264'] If I get a huge energy bill because of any misinformation here, you'll be hearing from me.....!! [/quote] You grossly underestimate the power of me deleting my post the very morning your energy bill comes in. BTW, allow me to abuse this thread for a question together with a hint: there exist gadgets that you plug in the mains, and in which you can plug the kettle lead for your amp. These gadgets will be able to tell you how many kWh or Wh have been consumed by the amp since the last reset. They will also be able to tell the Wattage at any given moment. That was the hint. The question is: what is such a gadget called in English?

Yup. There must be something that was lost in translation, because it was nonsense - also what your techie said. These are solid state amps with transistors, yes? In case, 600W is just the maximum it can use for some time (disregarding certain spikes). Some of the energy goes to warmth, and some goes to light and other losses. 500W is the musical output. Normally such an amp is considerably hotter when blasting than when being idle, so when you take out only 25W, chances are the amp uses no more than 30 to 50 W, though probably slightly more than the 25W amp would (I've seen both 30W and 35W on the stickers on the back panel on those). Such an amp can not deliver 500W music output and use only 300W to do it. A heat pump could do it though, but it tends to sound worse.

I love gigging, and for me it's always been about communicating with an audience. BUT since I'm a classical organist at heart, despite having gigged a lot more with jazz and rock music, it's about communicating something about the music that might be new to the audience. I have no interest whatsoever to play something and they'll know beforehand exactly how it's gonna be played. Not that I disrespect an audience that wants to listen to perfect covers of well-known stuff. They're just no my audience. I'm there for new musical experiences. It may come as no surprise then, that for me it's about the music itself, and about conveying my respect for the composer of the material. ...and since it's about the music itself, I do not [b]need[/b] to gig, but could always just play the music in my head, or make up music in my head. I just [b]prefer[/b] to gig. If others prefer to sit in the bedroom and play what they want to hear themselves, that's cool too, and it certainly does not deserve any form of disrespect.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1444283119' post='2881785'] gigging is why I`m in a band: Yes. I love rehearsing and recording, but gigging is the main thing for me. [/quote] Fixed. Hate to be a forum nazi, but you do need to take more care with your punctuation. I'm glad I was there to rescue you. Congrats, BTW.

Sickeningly large number, and really don't need them at all. I need one bass. Why this number then? Because of huge curiosity combined with the wish to learn about basses - the feel, the sound, the this, the that... When I'm done learning (insert shrewd smiley here), then I'll bring back the number to one or a few at most.

Sheesh! A whole lousy thread just because I photoshopped my avatar a bit? C'mon! My blue Daisy Rock just didn't fit with the rest of me nor with the colours in the pic. Pink is betterer!