richrips

Hi All, A few years ago I built 2 BFM Jack 12 cabs. I've been pretty happy with them, but as I live in a small house and am constantly having to pack them away and load them in the car, their weight is becoming a bit of an issue. It also seems that the horn-like design loses some clarity/detail/immediacy from the sound, but trades this off with good sensitivity and dispersion. Seeing as I don't really need the sensitivity or dispersion whilst playing small cornish pubs at medium volume, I'm drawn to the idea of more traditional reflex boxes that can be made of lightweight, low/dual density ply. I have looked at the fearless designs and they seem pretty good. I have 2 Eminence Kappalite 3012HO drivers in the Jacks which I intend to re-use. Here's my ideal bass cab description: -Uses 3012HO drivers -Simple reflex design -Tall and thin to get the sound up off the deck to where I can here something similar to the audience -Useable with piezo tweeters to avoid the need for crossovers. Are there any plans (preferably free) out there that tick all these boxes? I appreciate that the 3012HO has relatively strong mids relative to lows, so a cab design that may level this issue somewhat would be cool, if possible. I run a Mac so WinISD is not playing ball. ...Then I'm going to stain the finished cabs in translucent blue, maybe with glitter clear-cote. Any suggested plans much appreciated. Many thanks, Rich

Thanks for the replies. Michael, that looks like an amazing bit of kit. It is rather more expensive than I we can afford at the moment, but the principle is right. Something similar but less sophisticated would be ideal. My cameras output is pretty basic: [url="http://www.handykam.com/Wired-camera-kits/Colour-CMOS-standard-resolution-camera-kit-with-20m-of-cable/flypage.tpl.html"]http://www.handykam.com/Wired-camera-kits/Colour-CMOS-standard-resolution-camera-kit-with-20m-of-cable/flypage.tpl.html[/url] Gjones, the zoom stuff is great, my friend uses the sound recorder for pretty much every type of sound and even the built in mics are crystal clear and deal with it when things get loud or deep. Unfortunately I need something that can connect to a cable, rather than use anything with a built in camera because the mics and camera have to be left permanently in the nestboxes to reduce disturbance to the birds being studied. Any more suggestions are welcome. Basically it has to have external inputs for both sound and video, record in a lossless/HQ sound format or a video format which doesn't compress the sound. Just starting the fun part, where I play sounds back to the jackdaws to present normal and abnormal scenarios in order to determine what information is actually contained within their vocalisations. This is the basic premise for anyone interested: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expectancy_violations_theory"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expectancy_violations_theory[/url] Cheers again, I'm off to violate the preconceptions of some birds. rich

Hi All, When I'm not playing bass to crowds of millions, I moonlight as a biologist. I'm currently a researcher studying Communication and Cognition in Jackdaws in Falmouth, Cornwall. We have a bit of a technical issue that someone on here may be able to solve. I have 100 nest boxes, spread over 3 local field sites, each with a condenser microphone and HD video camera installed. The cables for each of these go down the tree in which the nestbox is fitted, and the ends are weather-proofed and hidden at the base of the tree. I currently record sound on an Olympus LS-100: [url="http://www.olympus.co.uk/site/en/a/audio_systems/audio_recording/sound_music_recorders/ls_100/index.html"]http://www.olympus.co.uk/site/en/a/audio_systems/audio_recording/sound_music_recorders/ls_100/index.html[/url] which is of excellent quality. Video is of lesser, but acceptable quality and is recorded by a mini HDVR [url="http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/mini_dvr_h720.htm"]http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/mini_dvr_h720.htm[/url] The trouble is that I process and analyse a LOT of this stuff and having sound and video recorded on separate devices is a pain in the A%%%. So... Does anyone know of a portable recorder that has external inputs for audio (XLR) and video (Phono/jack/similar) inputs? I can't be the only person to need this, but searching google is proving fruitless at the moment so I thought I'd tap in to the collective basschat brain. Any takers? Help very much appreciated! Rich [url="http://www.wildcognitionresearch.com/people/richard-woods"]http://www.wildcognitionresearch.com/people/richard-woods[/url]

I sold Dave an Aphex Compressor and he was flexible on payment and great at communicating throughout the transaction. Trade with absolute confidence! Nice one, Rich

Any recommendations on a clean onboard boost with low battery consumption? I don't want to be unscrewing the scratchplate more than necessary... Thanks, R

Any help on this would be great, I don't really want to see it go in the bin if possible! Cheers, r

I think the only corrosion is in the battery bay, which I wouldn't use in future anyway. I think a flake of this corrosion however has got in to the circuitry elsewhere. It would be good to find someone who can fix it if they exist?

Hi, My RE-20 stopped working recently. I opened it and discovered batteries that i never knew were in there and they had corroded and presumably a bit of corrosion has drifted around the inside and caused a short. Can anyone fix this or recommend someone who can do so? I looked up Boss/Roland's official repair team and it seemed pointlessly expensive. Looking for a workable solution before i chuck it. Any suggestions? Many thanks, Rich

I can solder alright. In my mind I have a highly efficient onboard buffer with enough gain to bring the output up to within tweaking distance of my stingray. The cavity is huge and the scratchplate is non-original so I'm not precious about that either. Read a little about the redeemer onboard buffer, but not sure if that's what is needed precisely. What do you suggest?

Hi, I have been playing my Ovation Magnum for a couple of years now and it sounds great when dialed in nicely. My biggest problem is output. My amp is the Ashdown Little Giant 1000w, which has a rather weak preamp as discussed elsewhere. The amp is pretty good apart from that with a good EQ, and as I payed very little for it I am more than happy. The big problem is swapping basses. My other bass is a 3EQ Stingray which is great because between them I can make most sounds that I need. Trouble is, whilst the Stingray has a super high output, the Magnum is a whisper at the same settings. I find it really hard to swap between them as the compression (Aphex Punch factory) and preamplification totally change when I do so. Ideally I would like to be able to plug the magnum in and have the same output level from it as the Stingray. The magnum has stereo output which I don't use currently but did sound totally badassed on my previous rig with a stereo valve preamp/compressor/poweramp/speaker setup. I am not totally keen to lose the stereo feature, but is there an onboard preamp with a stereo signal path that would slot in to the current wiring setup in the magnum (2 vol, 2 tone, stereo and mono output)? So far I have tried turning up the individual volume pots on the magnum and raising the pickups as high as is practical to play on. I don't want to spent loads on a tone-shaping beast of a preamp as the tone is fine as is (although fairly large volume change as tone is rolled off...). I don't particularly want to have to carry around another pedal if it can be helped. Any suggestions? Magnum 1 schematic:[url="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c29/chino555/Magnum_I_schematicrevised_zps60eb9a7e.jpg"]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c29/chino555/Magnum_I_schematicrevised_zps60eb9a7e.jpg[/url] Many thanks, Rich

Nobody sticking up for the LG1000? I've had mine for nearly 2 years and no problems! sounds great particularly with active basses and the money i saved by not getting a markbass etc paid for more fun than you can have with a hyperactive midget! gets my vote even though they aren't made any more. second hand could be a massive deal though! could even afford 2 midgets.... rich

And use Peavey Gear! The guy i got my 115BX Black widow from said he was selling because their rehearsal space got robbed and the only thing the thieves left was the Peavey! Good advice from the OP that many learn the hard way. Rich

My first amp from Wants in Plymouth was a Peavey Mark 3 combo. Think it was dated 78, cost £80 and came with 3 months guarantee on everything except the speaker. Needless to say the speaker died pretty soon but on a tip off i took the magnet off and varnished the voice coil... hey presto it worked! Frickin heavy, not loud enough for most of the gigs it played, and the parametric eq was harder than the GCSE's i was doing at the time, but hell it was the biggest bass amp at school and i liked the spikey logo!!! Not a bad word to say about peavey really. That amp will probably out live me and make quite a few people happy along the way! Rich

Sounds hopeful! Anyone done (or had done) a refret on an ebony board? any special techniques/precautions that i should know about? cheers, Rich

Hey guys, My bass could do with a refret. the frets look to have been stoned rather crudely at some point and most are a bit on the low and flat side. the bass is still playable and sounds wickid with flats, but i'm quite keen on putting some roundwounds on soon and would like tidy neat looking round frets to get the most out of it. Has anyone had an old ebony board refretted? if so, how much did it cost, and where? i've defretted a rosewood bass before and don't want to chip the ebony so badly hence not so keen to do it myself. if it can be done in a more perfect manner, i'd be keen. any help much appreciated! Rich

good point. for the auction i'd say: good: finish to body finish to hardware frets in good condition looks all original bad: weird yellow bubbles in carbon strip. not present on mine bad looking knock to carbon/wood just near headstock on back of neck action- looks very badly set up. it is quite a difficult bass to set up due to the unorthodox bridge but it can be made a lot lower than pictured!maybe check the truss rod works... looks like some of the screws have been damaged a bit and the allen key bolt on the back of the body looks to be rounded (although should be kept done up fully anyway i have found) non original case. so not bad but not perfect, i would want to look before buying to check rod, pickups, bridge adjusters etc and probably worth 5-700 quid realistically. rich

£550 is a deal. i started looking for one about this time last year when i saw one go on ebay for £420. One seems to pop up every few months and the next went for about £550 then about £600. most recent ebay magnum went for over £800 around easter. Interestingly the magnum 3 on ebay around easter went for just over £300 and the only difference to a magnum 1 is the body shape, so if you are more about the sound than the shape, that could be a cheaper option if you are on a tight budget. I paid £500 for my magnum 1 last november. natural finish, case, passive etc like the one on the moon site. i don't know where they got the date 1973 from as the magnum was only made from around 76 as far as i know. flateric is right that the sound is more flexible than it is made out to be. people seem to look at the huge neck pickup and think DUB straight away. Being long scale and having that pickup does provide the lowest deepest bass sound known to man, that is just one of many. i like messing with playing position and pickup selection/tone and can get a great timmy commerford palying near the bridge pickup. the bass sounds great for slap thanks to the ebony board but this will depend on whether your technique fits around the various chunks of metal that adorn the traditional right hand slap territory. i've managed to work around it and can get a cool larry graham vibe, but would doubt that wooten fans would rave about it! here's the one i ended up getting. absolutely love it! [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=65845"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=65845[/url] 1400 is way tooooo much. £550 is a good deal hope that helps, rich

Do it! get the squier vmj. we a/b tested it with th 75 reissue mia jazz and for the sake of £500 there was no contest. it could be said they sound different, but which is better is purely subjective and as mentioned, a pickup swap makes up 99% of the difference anyway. That way you can have an awesome holiday or get a killer amp with your change. If you aren't particular about buying second hand, a used VMJ nowadays goes for less than £200 and many are mint or upgraded. all this makes the MIA jazz hard to justify to someone like me on a budget! get a gotoh 201 instead of a badass bridge and you've saved another £50. Buy my Dimarzio ultra jazz pickups for not much and you have a classy bass, possibly for less than £180. r