Lfalex v1.1

IIRC the fundamental of Low E is about 41Hz. Low B is around 32. The first harmonic of each (in terms of pitch rather than position on the fretboard) is the same pitch - if your intonation's on- as the fretted note at the 12th fret. This is at TWICE the frequency- 82 and 64 Hz respectively. Trouble is, the harmonic content of any "note" on a bass is not restricted to just the first harmonic. There's a second, third, fourth etc. The sky's the limit. realistically, EQ does little that most of us mortals with ageing (if not damaged) ears can detect above about 8kHz, and there's probably not much content up there anyway. Be aware that over-application of EQ in the higher reaches of the audio spectrum can induce unwanted noise, just as too much low end can cause distortion and possibly clipping if your amp starts to run out of puff.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='590661' date='Sep 5 2009, 02:20 PM']All joking aside, Wayne, but had you considered getting a 5-string bass (or retrieving Wesley maybe) and turning it into a 3-string. Put the E where the B should be, the A can be left alone, and the D goes up to the G position. Then you'd have a bass where you could pick SO hard on all three strings, and be able to do at least simple arpegio-type riffs in I / IV / V songs. Just saying ...[/quote] I have done this to a Hohner B2a 5string. I'm using E,A & D on alternate saddles at the bridge. Only problem was, with the strings in every other nut slot it seemed odd. So I put them in the 3 centre slots. God knows I had trouble getting the intonation right, but the end result is hilarious. It's actually really good fun to play- plectrum, fingers, slap, whatever. And it has the guitarists running for cover. Theoretically nothing there that you couldn't play on a 4, but no G to reach over for big fat chords, plus you can really lay into it with utterly naff technique and get away with it. Kind of like the bass equivalent of Banger Racing!

[quote name='The Burpster' post='587957' date='Sep 2 2009, 08:54 PM']...For me tho' it would have to be the original XL-2 or a Status Streamline 4 which is an up-to-date evolution of the original idea using todays tech for the construction...[/quote] I bought the Streamline. I have played an original XL-2 and own a Hohner B2A (V). The Streamline lacks the weight of the Steinberger, and sounds (accordingly) different. Still very robust, though, and has a voice all of its own. The Hohner's never given me any trouble. The neck's thicker than the 4-stringer and seems to stay put. The E,A,D and G sound fine, but it's lacking in response below Low "D", which I attribute to the [i]very[/i] light weight.

[quote name='witterth' post='586182' date='Aug 31 2009, 11:56 PM']Iv'e been offered a 4 ohm Trace elliot cab 2x10 and so,was thinking of looking for 4 ohm 4x10 or 1x15 to go with it, then have these powered by my (old) stereo mk v AH500 gp11 head (with a crossover setting/switch thing on the back) therefore running both cabs "full range" rather than hi-pass/low-pass is this possible? is this a bolix idea? do 4ohm 4x10/1x15 cabs-300w exist? and with a AH500 gp11 (made around 83/84 I think) will they deliver the good poke (matron) that the 8 ohm 4x10/1x15 cabs did? I'm not sure of the ohm/impedance maths on all this,I know my old (broken I think)cabs were 8ohm untill all this rarity of 4 ohm cabs and ohmage thing came to light I thought I was getting somewhere..now.. any Trace elliot gurus out there to help? I understand that most cabs up for sale are 8ohm,is that right? I want to get on with doing some playing ATB Witterth[/quote] Most are 8 Ohm, including 1048, 2103, 1153, 1818, 1518 etc. Only exceptions that I can think of (excluding the bright boxes!) are; 1524 (2x15") 1084 (8x10") The cab numbers run like this (generally speaking) [b] Driver diameter, Number of Drivers, Impedance [/b] Hence 1524 is [b]15[/b]" (x)[b]2[/b] [b]4[/b] Ohm I really can't recall what the V-type cabs were called, or what their impedance was! I think they did a 2x15, 4x12 and 4x8 at the very least. They may be worthy of investigation...

I own (and still like) albums by; The Thompson Twins Nik Kershaw Howard Jones Tears for Fears All of 'em had [i]some[/i] good tunes! Er, can we chuck The Smiths in, too?

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='585687' date='Aug 31 2009, 11:51 AM']Worth bearing in mind that the guy who plays on your actual recording is unlikely to play exactly the same version live - all the bands I've seen in recent times seem to have a 'live' arrangement of the numbers they made popular and no-one carps about it 'not being right'.[/quote] And also to stave off the boredom of playing it all the time on tour! [quote name='RhysP' post='585700' date='Aug 31 2009, 12:05 PM']Totally. I've been playing for 30 years & I feel like I know less now than I did when I started.[/quote] I know exactly what you mean after 15 years! Odd how greater experience breeds more uncertainty. When you're first starting out, you just go at it in a triumph of energy & enthusiasm over technique and analysis. Worse still, in a musical "Zen" kind of way, neither approach is more valid.

I believe that stringsdirect do, too. Naturally, same applies for the Elixir "B" string as above

[quote name='NickH' post='583527' date='Aug 28 2009, 01:30 PM']I believe Ibanez' EDB / ECD range of basses, plus a few others, are made of a composite they call Luthite in their blurb. No idea what materials go into making it though. I used to own an ECD705 back in the day. I got the feeling they wanted a pretty body and put in some rather <ahem> flavoursome pickups to compensate for the resulting sound. It didn't have a great natural resonance, and sounded pretty dull. I guess caveat emptor - you could spend a lot of time and money crafting a synthetic body only to get a lacklustre result.[/quote] I had an EDB600 in Luthite. It was an excellent instrument (aided by the fact that I paid £80 for it!) Sounded really neutral and even to my ears, but one man's neutral is another man's dull... Downsides? They chip and flake rather than ding. Mine bit the dust when I dropped it - the whole body cracked irreparably.

Probably: "The Chain" - Fleetwood Mac (though for fingering only) "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana (lots miss the odd F# on the build into the chorus and is there an Ab in there somewhere?)

Here's mine; The prototype. Used in some of Mike's earlier advertising. 2-piece maple top over 3-piece Ash body. I [i]think[/i] the stripe's Walnut. [b] Edit- No it isn't. It's Purpleheart. Just remembered![/b] 18v power feeds East E-Pro Eq and a passive tone. 3 pots are Bass/Treble/Bright (I believe) SD Basslines MM Pick-up with series/parallel switching on volume pot pull-up. The switch does active/passive. Sounds fine on its own. Sounds weird if you play along to other basses. Excellent in the mix or live/rehearsing.

If it balanced well, felt nice and sounded good, offering a good variety of useable tones, I would not care in the slightest what it looked like. And less still what colour/finish it was.

And to counterpoint the previous post (which is entirely valid, BTW); I've got my Fretless 'Ray 5 tuned E-A-D-G-C, as I find I have a greater use for the higher registers on a fretless instrument. It also offers better sounding (but not "more") chordal sounds, assuming I can get the intonation right!! I have the good fortune to have another 5 and a 6 which are tuned B-E-A-D-G and B-E-A-D-G-C respectively for the deep stuff. Buy what you like, and tune it in the way that suits you/ the music you play with that instrument best. There are no hard and fast rules!

[quote name='Alun' post='581699' date='Aug 26 2009, 06:28 PM']....I'm guessing Billy may have something similar ( previously his double neck was an EADG neck and a BEAD one) Cheers Alun[/quote] That's what I'd guessed.

The Streamline has just done what few other basses could do. I've put it in the boot of my (small family) car with 3 suitcases and a baby buggy and driven 600 miles across France. It's got hot, cold, dry, humid, the lot. Took it out. Still in tune! No buzzes, rattles or squeaks. Nothing. Have also brought an MP3 player, Korg Pandora PX4-D and a pair of Sennheiser HD215. Practice heaven, and it all fits in the Streamline's bag apart from the headphones. This is partly what I bought it for, and it has delivered in spades.

I've yet to play a duff one, either J or P. Some have been better than "proper" MIA equivalents.

[quote name='henry norton' post='580399' date='Aug 25 2009, 04:37 PM']Slightly off topic but on the odd occasion I've looked at on board pre amp bits all the very best quality, lowest noise ICs tend to draw a huge current. As most people don't want to change their batteries every other week most pre's use ICs chosen for their low energy use rather than performance. Maybe more use should be made of pedalboard mounted power supplies - Alembic is the only bass I can think of that uses them.[/quote] And (perversely) Variax basses are also powered from their pedal PSU/DI unit. Admittedly, the greater current requirement is for a different reason. I guess you could use 48v phantom one way up an XLR whilst the signal went the other (as with many phantom powered DI boxes) That could do the trick, irrespetive of what devices were being used in the EQ.

[quote name='JBassist' post='576598' date='Aug 21 2009, 12:16 PM']...but i also like deep fingerstyle sounds ie jamerson, John p jones and im not sure if you can get that sound on a fretless[/quote] Changing your plucking hand position can help a lot with this; Resting on/around the bridge pickup of a Jazz will help give you the Nasal "Jaco" sound Move right up to the tail-end of the neck, and you can begin to sound like an upright. And everything in between...

Wouldn't mind; Vigier Passion or Arpege S2 (4 string) A Ken Smith 5 or 6 of some sort A BassLab L-Bow Amps? Dunno. All the solder would run out of them when they saw me coming, so it wouldn't matter. Cabs? Another Trace 1048h (Circa 1999) will do nicely. Can't seem to break those. Edit for; EBMM Bongo V with coil switching and a matching headstock, Born2Rock JAZZ (which AFAIK doesn't exist, but it will!), Chapman stick (10 or the Graphite8) a NS EUB, a Spalt Hybrid.etc. etc.etc.

Just out of interest / morbid curiousity, what's the most costly (fiscally or in terms of sentimental value) breakage that you've suffered? Don't be shy! It's not the object of the exercise to mock the afflicted! Has anyone bust anything seriously boutique or with a good reputation for reliability? Anyone managed to break/bend a Status/Vigier/Modulus/Kramer neck? Please include amps/cabs/pedals and any amazing escapes that your gear has had. I dropped my Ibanez EDB600 (Luthite) on the floor at home. It made an explosive "crack" and sheared the bottom bout and control cavity clean off! That was it for that one, I'm afraid. I stuck the headstock of my Yamaha Attitude through a ceiling above a stage, and it survived without a scratch! Shame about the ceiling- big hole, not helped by the tuners snagging on the edge of the hole as I pulled it out - still playing, of course. A guitarist in an old band was leaping around and smacked the headstock of his Ibanez on my Iceni Zoot. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for him, he hit the briddge. Result; Bass:Nothing Guitar: Last two tuners (6 inline) and associated area of headstock broke off! Off you go!

I've not tried the new Jazzes. Next time I'm near a music shop, I'll try one out. It'll have to be good to better my '04 Ash bodied, Rosewood 'boarded S1 Jazz. It "only" has the old-style bridge, but [i]is[/i] strung thru-body. Perhaps it's the DR Sunbeams? Still, I bought it because I thought it felt good and sounded good (in 2005) I still think that now, so I guess all's well. It was as least as nice to play as a 'Ray and better than the Warwick Corvette (Ash), plus it mullered the Variax I was [i]thinking[/i] of buying on all counts... The moral of the story? Try before you buy, and buy the one you tried whenever possible!

From the two that are out at the moment... (I look forward to measuring the Vigier and Status!) Warwick Infinity SN4 45,65,80,100 Elixirs tuned EADG 2.5mm @3rd 3mm @12th 3.25mm @17th I'd consider this relatively high. Looks like I ought to stick an Allen key in that Just-a-nut! Ibanez SRX700 (neck-through) 45,65,80,100 DR FatBeams tuned EADG 1.25mm @3rd 1.75mm @12th 2 mm @17th This is as low as it'll go. There's some fret noise and a good deal of clatter, but this particular bass sounds good that way- Fast, Raw and Aggressive. I'd class it as low. Certainly low for such a slender neck!!

[quote name='Alun' post='570354' date='Aug 16 2009, 12:45 AM']This should be interesting. I always found the U necks too thick on the 4 strings, although they didn't feel so bad on the sixes where the dimensions seemed to work better. Cheers Alun[/quote] And the fives, too. I don't mind the (old!) 4 profile, but I'd hardly call it my favourite. [i]Edit for afterthought[/i]- it might also make the necks a little lighter, helping to stop the (mild) neck-dive that some models suffer from

And a few more thoughts, six months in... My only "complaint" (if it is one!) is that I should've got the 5 string! Otherwise, it's still superb. I might try tailoring the tone and balance by getting a piece of brass (or the alloy that's used for tonearm counterweights (tungsten/lead?)) machined to fit the string retainer clamp and screw it in using the threaded holes. This may; i) Stop the neck bobbing around when I get "stuck in" (yes, I know I play [i]too[/i] aggressively!) ii) May give a bit more depth to the tone in the way a FatFinger does - I like the way they work on most headed basses...

[quote name='The Burpster' post='567291' date='Aug 12 2009, 08:48 PM']Alex, I can see where you're coming from, but I'm not sure I can agree with you there..... As always it depends upon what you start with and how much you spend...... No one on here denied my H1 P bass wasn't worth doing, and it lit Voxpop's fuse when he initially liberated it from me. Even something as simple and inexpensive as a Squier or Mex Fender can be made into a quality playing instrument IF the wood bits are really good to start with and some of them are that good![/quote] Perhaps I should've added a caveat regarding making aesthetic changes at the same time! If, as a result of "upgrades", you end up with a better looking instrument, or (better yet) a genuinely new look, then it's a win-win scenario.