Chienmortbb

For cables, as Bill says low resistance, low capacitance is best and both increase with increasing length. The brsnds Bill mentions are great but add Sommer and Klotz to those in Europe. Connectors? In my opinion Neutrik and some Switchcraft Jack plugs. You will set Rean advertised as Neutrik but they are not the same quality. Your rig is part of your instrument, without it you don't have a sound. However like your bass, it is a personal choice. I know some people say your rig is only an onstage monitor and your sound is through the FOH but that FOH is not always there and your rig is.

Two of those would be a target for Al Queda.

I don't belirve that Passive EQ can boost. With controls set flat it cuts everything by a certain amount but mimics boost by cutting some frequencies less than others. You need a lot of gain before or after passive eq to make up for the loss of signal. Passinwnd is the best guy to ask though as he designed the preamp that we are using with active bass and mid but a passive treble control. The real answer though is to use your ears.

Phil you are right about speker size. It is one of the of the parameters that detemines the sound. However you are wrong in that I don't think Bill was criticising you but someone else.

What is the difference between Overdrive and Fuzz?

Those buttons are the destroyer of speakers, they are evil.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1443092156' post='2872099'] I have an MTD Kingston which supposedly uses the Buzz Feiten system; but it doesn't have a shelf nut (it has a zero fret) and since the bridge has now been adjusted as part of a string change and setup, it seems to me that its remaining benefits are spurious at best! [/quote]My first evet 6 string was a Hofner with zero fret and I dont understand why they are not used more often. The nut then is just a string guide and all the problems that nuts cause are eliminated. I believe Mosrite also used zero frets.

Of course it is different stroke for different foks and I would love to be in Jule's position of making a living from the thing I love but it seems harsh to criticise anyone for their manufacturing decisions especially when almost everyone (of any size) does it. I also have to agree with Passinwind that PCB mounted components are not the problem, it is the impementation by some companies that cause the problem. Solder joints are electrical contacts not mechanical joints. So called value engineering often lowers the value of a product over time.

On a seriuos note I have degenerative problems with C2-C5 vertebrae in my neck (mine ,not the bass) all on the left hand side so even with a well balanced bass, all the weight is on that side. My old Westone Thunder 1A had to go as it weghed a ton. My Aerodyne is great. Not too heavy and well balanced. I also have a well paddded and wide leather strap. All the fancy ones don't work. My other bass is an old Peavey Milestone 4 and it sounds and plays great. It is too heavy though so I thought maybe I could fit basswood or paulownia body? Took it apart to find it is a laminated (plywood) body yet is sounds great and the neck is superb. So if you see a cheap P Bass, basswood or paulownia body, let me know.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1443025160' post='2871610'] I`ve a bad back and playing a 10lb+ bass isn`t good for it. However I`ve also found that basses under 8.5lbs don`t feel "right" to me, so prefer them around the 9lb mark. [/quote]None of that smut on here please.

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1442995011' post='2871167'] With Darkglass and Demeter (the only "boutique" brands I've ever bought), they do use very high quality components. When the Darkglass B3K was being assembled in the US there was a very informative YouTube video that pointed out where particularly good components had been used, notably the footswitch, and how the design favoured durability over speed of assembly with nosockets soldered direct to the PCB for example. Could these be assembled in the he Far East with the same components? Yes. Would the end result be cheaper? Doubtful, as the volume they are made and sold at would mean that economies of scale wouldn't kick in. [/quote]Good points although why would sockets being soldered to the PCB make them more unreliable?

Yes if you put it on a chair you will ruin the mutual coupling effect that the floor gives and loose a lot of the bottom end. THe stagg stand works but oumight need some velcro on the head.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1442964149' post='2871051'] Just not keen on the sound of their grind/tube grit. It's well made kit but extremely expensive for a drive/DI, and I'm not one to stay away from things just because they are expensive. [/quote]This was sort of my point. I have just finished playing with an Alesis 3632 compressor (rack mount) and I have to say it is the best compressor I have heard. Clearly not boutique but not as mass market as Behringer. Of course now I suppose aa an electronics engineer. I should get of my backside and design something good and cheap or should I say inexpensive, myself.

I expected to be flamed for this and of course you have all thankfully denied me that "pleasure" by writing sensible and thoughful points. As someone that grew up through the valve era, I have no nostalgia for them and design my own (hobby) products totally solid state. However I can understand the need to own the best. Of the three products I mentioned, I have to admit the Darkglass Compressor looks gorgeous but the £200 price tag is only just resistable. chris_b, If I had never seen the length of the Barefaced Handle Caper I would agree.

There was a guy om EBAY that used to sell paulownia bodies. They are very light and I need a lightweight body for a project. Does anyone know of a supplier of lightweight bodies as Willie sees to have stopped selliing.

[quote name='Alec' timestamp='1442911403' post='2870359'] I shall ignore this very kind offer (possibly...) You'd be surprised. When I take my small rig out for practice, the bass goes in a gigbag on my back, the RH450 head in a laptop bag, and I carry the cab with the other hand. Counter to any previous experience with bass rigs, the bass is the heaviest item, followed by the head, followed by the cab - how often has this ever been the case... [/quote]You have hit on a serious note here. I have a neck problem and a heavy bass is a real problem. My Aerodyne is quite light, having a basswood body, my Peavey can only be played sitting down.

Brands like Behringer get a lit of stick for their lack of innovation and reletively inept marketing but frankly looking at some Boutique products. I am wondering whether some of the boutique manifacturers just use better smoke and shinier mirrors? I am not suggesting that the products are not great products but: Is a Glockengang Blue Sky twice as good (or is it evan as good as) an Ashdown Rootmaster 800? Why do Jule Amp copy a vintage Roberts radio then charge a lot of money for a preamp? Yes I know it has valves. So did the first computers and car radios, I don't see many of those about now. Compressor looks gorgeous but £200 for a stompbox compressor? I thought the Finns had no sense of humour. At least Darkglass is a cool name. As I said I am not having a pop specifically at those manufacturers, others are just as guilty (if there is any guilt).

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1442849164' post='2869976'] Your nearest One10 demo unit is in Bishops Stortford... sorry, this isn't helpful is it? [/quote]It may be small and light but carrying it all of 10 miles could be a problem,

I should add that the reason I heard the Sontronics was I was in Absolute Music. However at te time I did not know their HQ was less than a mile from my house. Incidenty the have a great live sound stage to try things on. All the is missing is the audience.

The SM series are a blast from the past and although still good mics there are many better mics available. In fact there is an Utban Myth that some BBC sound techs prefer Behringer Mics to Shure, I must ask my friend Uli who told him that story. I love AKG Headphones but never found their mics that good for live work. A femial singer got rid of hers about 10 years ago as she was never happy with it. I must confess it was not a D5. To be serious the best vocal mic I have heard recently is the Sontronics ST-C80. it is almost as good as the firm's condenser mics. It is available for under £80 from Absolute Music. For value actually the Behringer XM8500 with a foam windshield/screen takes some beating.

The Line 6 mics use 2.4GHz so should not be affectd by 4G phones. The Sennheiser system work on so called Channel 70 and is right next to some 4G transmission.

Has anyone had any problems with 4G moblie phones interfering with wireless mics? It was flagged up by Ofcom as a possible problem but I thing we may have had is a coupe of times recently. Is anyone still using VHF mics? I was wondering whether the move to UHF has improved VHF.

Of course I forgot Duke Le Jeune of Audio Kinetics, some really innovative designs coming from him. Passinwind knows more about Duke's new designs.

I doubt whether a 100W amp will blow a 1000W Speaker. On the Gain issue. It s simple. Gain is the control of the amount of gain a circuit has and has nothing to do with Overdive (WTF is that). Volume is more woolly but in general is an attenuator at the end of a stage or pre-amp. A gain control is part of the circuit and a volume control is after a circuit. The trouble is that these are semantics for the people and for marketing department, just the job for fooling the punters.

It is interesting that we have supporters of both Barefaced and TKS on here. Sometimes it is like Everton and Liverpool supporters arguing the toss,. However They both make great products from Europe and we don't have to rely on aiir shipped form North America and the Far East. I worked for Panasonic (Technics and Ramsa) for many years and there was one golden rule about manufacturing. You don't ship air. That means speaker cabinets as freight is cosed on both weight and volume (size not loudness). So your boutique cab from the good ole USA or your MDF cab from China will be expensive because the shipping costs are high, attracting both VAT and DUTY. Then they are then marked uo several times before your long suffering renditions of Mustang Sally have paid for them. So we should salute both TKS and Barefaced and give credit to both Bill F and Greenboy for pushing the boundaries of what Bass cabinet design can be. Keep them on their toes, if something goes wrong, tell themso they can get a handle* on it (sorry Alex). Then come back here and tell us of your experience. While I am in temporary (I hope) retirement I will dream of owning either or both and hope that the [url="http://dansette.com/#for-sale"]"Dansette*[/url] look dissappears and a new Logo* appears that is not designed by Lego. *Jokes so don't flame me.