rmorris

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='576720' date='Aug 21 2009, 02:47 PM']I saw some aurora stuff at the LIMS a couple of years ago, although they didn't seem to be there for the last one. Not sure how they differ from the SIMS ones, but the looked blummin' good up close. btw - the 'britain's got talent 'link on the aurora site has an amusing youtube video of some poor bloke with a pushy mother-in-law. He plays an LED-equipped ibanez geetar & gets totaly slagged off by Simon Cowell. Perhaps he's intimidated by anyone that can play an instrument .[/quote] I haven't done the LED thing but I went to shop associated with Aurora Project in Orpington to get a replacement scratchplate sorted for an Ibanez Strat copy ( it had 'gone static' ) and the guy definitely seemed to know his stuff and the work on display looked good to me.

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='589618' date='Sep 4 2009, 01:11 PM']I recently bought a daisy chain dc power from them, thought prices were fine, but even though I looked on their site I did not come across the PP3 battery adapters. Now obbm has been a great chap and posted me out a couple, for which i am very grateful [/quote] good marks to obbm for that - but in the long run it's really worth teaching yourself ( I mean anyone of course ) how to put stuff like this together yourself. For one thing it means you can get what you want at short notice.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290343727489&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:GB:1123"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...E:B:WNA:GB:1123[/url] looks good if you are within striking distance of Hitchin.

[quote name='Phantom Power' post='576671' date='Aug 21 2009, 02:03 PM']Stanley Clarke, surely one of the most respected of all bass player, regularly plays a piccolo bass.[/quote] yes - and I believe he usualy has a 'bass' player in the band !

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='559679' date='Aug 3 2009, 09:30 PM']It claimed to allow switching from 8 to 4 ohm impedance. It consisted of a capacitor, switched in and out of series with one woofer of a parallel pair. When in circuit a DCR measurement would be twice that of when it was bypassed, since the capacitor wouldn't pass DC to the second driver. When an actual impedance sweep was done there was no difference, of course. There are only two possibilities for the origin of the circuit. The first is that the A-G engineering staff did not know the difference between DC resistance and AC impedance. The second is that they knew and tried to pull a fast one. Neither explanation is excusable. A-G never came up with a plausible explanation, the switch unceremoniously disappeared from their cabs and literature. They continue to make SPL claims that defy the laws of physics in this universe and at least two more that we know of. [/quote] thanks for the comprehensive background.

I'm obviously late to hear about the 'AccuSwitch Debacle" (sp?) Would anybody be so kind as to post a link or whatever so I can catch up on that. Sounds like marketing hype over technical reality ? (surely not :-)

[quote name='KASH' post='552872' date='Jul 27 2009, 04:53 PM']Hey I've found a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone in my moms house from my old guitar days, first thought - sell it! but now I'm wondering...would it work well with bass? or will it cut the bass freq? Anyone use it? I haven't tried on my rig yet as it's in the studio, just looking for any users who can recommend any settings to try, etc... cheers![/quote] I reckon the thing to do, if you can, is rig it up in parallel (via mixer / blender ) with your straight bass sound so you get the bottom end from the bass and the distortion from the MT-2.

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' post='532984' date='Jul 5 2009, 01:38 PM']I use Overwaters on my 7 string which I tune BEADGBE.[/quote] that's just too many strings ( only half joking :-)

[quote name='iamapirate' post='545924' date='Jul 21 2009, 12:51 AM']I know that at £60-£80 it aint exactly 'budget' but as bad a review the boss ODB-3 gets, I think it's a pretty versatile pedal. I've managed to get some killer sounds out of it from light clipping to full on square-waved goodness. Having said that i am getting a woolly pretty son, so it's not that amazing. But it definitely makes for some intresting sounds when you have it running into another pedal (especially a guitar wah - sounds awesome! Morley guitar wah - £20 - get one!)[/quote] Morley Wah £20 ? where ?

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='543693' date='Jul 18 2009, 12:18 AM']So I'm at a gig and we're about to start the second set when guitarist discovers that he needs a new battery. I am playing only passive basses and my compressor, mixer/preamp, and tuner are all running from a mains power supply. Guess who is the only one carrying spare batteries.[/quote] maybe time to 'discover that you need a new guitarist'

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='542480' date='Jul 16 2009, 06:21 PM']From what I've heard, you can recharge some alkalines, but they self-discharge very quickly, and there's a risk of the battery leaking and wrecking your charger. I'd be interested to know more about your experiences (what type of battery you use, what charger, what kind of success rate you've had, whether you've found any major issues). Thanks. S.P.[/quote] it was a while ago and I was looking at it from an electronics engineering point of view. I can't recall self discharge rate being an issue. However the capacity did decrease with each charge and realistically a maximum of about ten recharges was useable. But remember that the initial capacity / life is longer. I was looking at this before NiMH batteries become generally available so the rechargeable alternative was NiCad which have more problems. The charger was one we built 'on the bench' but important to note that you can't use a normal NiCad / NiMH charger. I don't have the technical details to hand but I guess there'll be plenty on the interweb. Leaking wasn't found to be an issue although it's always a possibility if charge rate / time is faulty or just through bad battery manufacture. Interestingly I recall that in the UK most 'ordinary' batteries are marked along the lines of "Do Not Recharge" etc. but that is not allowed in some countries as it isn't true. The common idea that the batteries will 'explode' shouldn't be an issue as all batteries should incorporate a sort of valve to release pressure if things go wrong. To be clear for rechargeables I use NiMH myself and mention the recharging of alkalines for info' here. On an associated note - please note that there are loads of fake 'Duracells' ( + possibly other brands ) out there. Look at Duracell on the website for more info' - then look at suspiciously bargain Duracell marked batteries in dodgy packaging and a bit rough round the edges ( or especially the bottom ).

[quote name='fusionbassist1' post='531950' date='Jul 3 2009, 07:51 PM']Evenin' all, (Edit-I realise now that in my tired state i'm certainly more after a valve DI box than a pre amp as I'm relaly not after any kind of EQ features, I'm loving the look and no frills of the A-Designs REDDI Box but it seems fairly unique from what i can find in terms of 'relative products'....any ideas?) It's been a while since my last post but I'm soon going to be doing a live studio session with some hilariously good musicians for which I would like to be on my game which, along with being vastly impressed by being shown the best dry bass sound I've ever gotten or could imagine getting out of my latest bass by having it going DI through a valve pre then out into the desk has lead me to posting this topic. I'm looking to buy a nice, small, no frills, no EQ, valve DI/preamp that's easily patched into a mixer for numerous applications at around the £300 mark second hand. Reason for this is the ease of using a DI type setup in the studio, not having to piss off other musicians during live studio sessions/preformances i.e. pit work at musicals and also the way i was impressed yesterday by the punchy but un-altered tone i was able to get in a studio going from my passive jazz bass (Wizard 84s) straight into the producer's rack-mounted TL Audio 5001 preamp. Obviously buying a 4input, rackmounted, 3U unit is not convinient so I'd like a nice warm equivalent that doesn't change the sound but adds character to it. I understand that seeing as what i'm talking about is a type of piece equipemtn where the character added to the sound will be fairly different from machine to machine but if someone could please point me in the general right directiont that owuld be fantastic. In terms of basses/sounds I'd like to get out of this piece of equipment I'd like to be able to geeeeet..... A nice gritty, both p'ups flat out, tone rolled to dirt sound from my jazz for a kind of pbass tone for electric country/folk stuff with a live vibe A nice warm sound with bot pups flat out but tone rolled off for similar but more rocky stuff that DOESNT' boost any ugly muddy frequencies, something i've found prominent in low-end or non-bass designed valve equipment. Nice bridge-heavy, barky sound. (I'm hoping to get my hands on a pbass soon and if i do invest in one of these valve DIs i'd like to hope that it'd compliment a pbass with either a sub-heavy, fat sound or gritty, driving sound pretty damn well for the money). I can't see how seeing as I'm focusing my efforts towards the gigging/session/studio side of things that having a valve DI i'm happy with would be a waste of money or bad thing to have ready to be used. I haven't put this in teh 'items wanted' section as I think it would be great for anyone who has had good or bad experiences with equipment for this application to share good uses they found with them or warnings of what really not to buy as a general guide for people looking to invest. Dissclaimer: I searched for valve DI topics and searched generally in this section for preamp information but didn't find anything specific to this cause at all. Products suggested/found on t'web: UNIVERSAL AUDIO Solo 110 Groove Tubes The Brick A-Designs Reddi DI Thanx guys, Ben.[/quote] Sorry to be pedantic but "[i]a nice warm equivalent that doesn't change the sound but adds character to it[/i]." is a contradiction in terms. If you add 'character ' then you are, by definition, altering the sound. From what I understand you to want I'd recommend looking at Alembic kit or maybe Avalon U5 DI ( above your budget I think if new but worth a listen anyway ). From what I remember though the TLA kit is competitively priced so maybe something else in their product range would do the job ?

[quote name='JPAC' post='532261' date='Jul 4 2009, 09:20 AM']I bought the "Uniross 9v Charger + 1 x PP3 / 9v Multi Usage Long Life Battery" from Amazon £8.99. Don't use it - keeps its charge / use it - 1000 recharge cycles.[/quote] Is that one of the newish NiMH batteries which doesn't have a high self discharge rate as 'ordinary' ones do ? btw if you feel the need to use Alkaline batteries don't neglect tthe fact that they can be recharged with suitable chargers regardless of what the manufacturer might state.

[quote name='odub' post='531904' date='Jul 3 2009, 06:35 PM']Hi guys, Right I'm "in the studio" next week, and am debating putting new strings on my bass. I use flatwounds, I play erm indie folk I guess and what a nice smooth warm sound, so im thinking i stick. I've had these on now for about 7 months.[/quote] so how did it go ? did you put new strings on ?

[quote name='lonestar' post='536381' date='Jul 9 2009, 12:50 PM']He made this point after setting up a problematic Strat with a fairly high but perfectly playable action which ultimately suited the type of material that I was playing in a blues band at the time. It was just right for this guitar and the style of bendy stuff that I was playing once I got used to it.[/quote] right. I get it. But that seems to me like the setup was right for what / how you were playing anyway as you say. I'm thinking that you probably do need a higher action for the bendy stuff - taking into account neck radius etc. Along similar lines I read that Clapton preferred a highish nut.

[quote name='lonestar' post='532863' date='Jul 5 2009, 11:25 AM']One other viewpoint that I picked up from my old g**tar teacher who was also a top notch luthier was that rather than spend hour fiddling to get the " perfect" set up for you is to adapt your technique and playing to suit the instrument's action and characteristics.[/quote] I've heard of people doing that for practice / strengthening purposes. But it seems wrong as a playing solution to make life more difficult for yourself and limit your options. And also it sounds odd coming from a 'top notch' luthier who could, presumably, set up the instrument as required.

QUOTE (rmorris @ Jul 4 2009, 08:00 PM) But you can't avoid the fact that, all other things being equal, a lower action allows less string excursion before fret buzz sets in and so the dynamic range of 'clean' playing is reduced. Not really. Play with a softer touch, turn your amp up, and adjust your right hand technique (if you are right handed of course). [i]No real argument with the technique advice if that's what you like. I tend to favour not hitting the strings too hard and biasing toward playing near the bridge myself. But I did state " all other things being equal " - in which case what I say holds true. If you accept there's a minimum string excursion ( whatever it is ) that you're going to have for a note then the lower the maximum excursion the smaller the difference between the quietest and loudest notes. And that gives you a smaller 'dynamic range'. I'm not saying it's a problem - but it is a fact and simple mechanical common sense / engineering. [/i] QUOTE And a certain level of excursion is generally required to get a balanced tone from the note / attack although that's very sound dependent. The sound produced from the "attack" is not down to the amount of force applied. If you can play in a semi-staccato manner by having a good enough technique between your fretting and plucking hand, you can get a very effective tone. Watch the players who have a pronounced tone - they all play near the bridge to get the punchy sound that cuts through the rest of the band. The string excursion is reduced the closer you play to the bridge - you also get more control and less "noise". [i]well it's down to ( amongst other bass variables ) the plucking ( or whatever ) position and the excursion. I'm not simply saying that the bigger the strike the better the attack - but there can be a problem with players who just don't hit the string hard enough to get a well defined attack / note. Like I said - I tend to bias toward plucking toward the bridge for the reasons you outline. But sometimes the sound you want can be better obtained by adjusting that toward the neck. I'd add that I tend to see more players hitting / striking too hard imho when it'd be better to be controlled at the playing end rather than making a mess of the sound or relying on the sound processing. [/i] QUOTE I believe Jamerson had a high action and flatwounds and wanted no fret click / buzz noise. Jamerson was an ex double bass jazz player, and really didn't care about his bass setup. Most basses at the time had poor setups, I know, I played a few. And most bass guitarists also doubled on double bass, so a high action on a guitar did not trouble them. Indeed, a lot of the players I knew at the time actually set their bass guitars up with as high an action as possible so that the switch over from double bass was not so dramatic. And in the last 40 years since he was binned by most of the studios because he wouldn't modernize his sound and style, and started his fall into obscurity, bass guitars and amplification have improved dramatically. So why not take advantage of the improvements? [i]yeah. I didn't expand on that. I suppose my point was just to point that out as it seems relevant given the esteem in which he is held. I wasn't advocating his approach particularly. But I think his setup possibly had more to do with getting a clean sound rather than just not being bothered. But it's certainly unfortunate that he appeared, as I understand it, to become beligerent wrt sound / style. I'm happy to be corrected here, but I believe part of the issue was a reluctance to change strings. Regardless of tone, at some point they just aren't going to tune / intonate properly which is going to lose you favour especially as bass lines become more upfront as with the 'Philadelphia' sound etc. You can't argue with the improvement ( and availability ) of bass gear. Totally in favour of using that. [/i] If anyone would care to watch the Sadowsky video that was kindly introduced in the earlier thread, the problems that are encountered and the solutions to those problems are well covered (if you have an hour to spare). [i]I'll try and catch up with that when I can. But it reminded me of an interesting 'round table' discussion in Bass Player mag some years ago with various makers. I think Sadowsky nmay have been one, plus Pedulla + Tobias + others. If I stuck a PostIt note on it I may be able to find it ( too many magazines :-)[/i] As I suggested, all of the renowned players with good technique and specialist basses seem to have very low actions on their instruments. [i]I take the point although 'renowned players' is something of a value judgement. It's also a bit of a 'chicken and egg' situation since having a low action requires a certain technique.[/i] The Fender players seem to have a higher action - and perhaps it is necessary for an instrument that has not (in the case of a precision or a jazz) been fundamentally changed for 50 years and is needed because of a steep radius on the neck, an average scale length and low break angle at the nut and bridge. [i]Well - yeah. It's all down to the mechanics / geometry at the end of the day. I prefer a flatter radius myself although a steeper radius just 'feels right' sometimes. I do think, however, that you have to accept that 34" scale is a good compromise between tension etc and ergonomics. I'm assuming a 'proper' 4 string bass of course ;-)[/i] Anyway, does it really matter? [i]Well it's good if people are able to make an informed choice - which I hope is rather the point of forums like this[/i]

[quote name='fede162162' post='531620' date='Jul 3 2009, 12:59 PM']higher action = better tone, once it was my idea too, but now I've radically changed my mind. It's all about touch. My mind was changed by a great italian jazz performer whom I told the same thing: "when I want to give a strong dynamic to the sound or just being crazy at y gig my bass play worse with a lower action". He told me: Federico, I know you teach martial arts. When you do that, do you teach your pupils to hit strong? or to hit fast and precise in order to get the most effective result? I said, exactly the second one. He said: when you got expert it's kind of automatic to give fists and kicks fast,precise and bloody effective even in the worst situations. Thus you forget how to be brutal. I said: you've got the point chief. I spent days doing just one silly but effective exercise: left hand laid on the fingerboard in rest, muting the strings. Right hand. Put your fingers on a string. Prepare yourself to hit the strings. Focus on being as much fast as possible. You won't have strenght on your fingers because they'll be already laid on the strings. Focus focus focus and then hit! repeat,repeat,repeat. Have you seen Kill Bill when Uma tries to escape from her cuffin? =D well same idea.[/quote] that sounds like good advice / attitude in terms of not 'wasting' energy/movement unnecessarily. But you can't avoid the fact that, all other things being equal, a lower action allows less string excursion before fret buzz sets in and so the dynamic range of 'clean' playing is reduced. Of course this may not be a bad thing in the case that you may otherwise require a compressor to get the sound wanted. And a certain level of excursion is generally required to get a balanced tone from the note / attack although that's very sound dependent. I believe Jamerson had a high action and flatwounds and wanted no fret click / buzz noise. Horses for courses.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='515215' date='Jun 16 2009, 12:41 PM']I find the BDDI really useful. I once went straight into the board to record, and they just tweaked it a bit ...[/quote] +1 yeah - they are very good at what they do. It isn't, I think, good for 'effect' distortion/overdrive - after a certain point the Drive control just breaks up the sound in a fairly non euphonic way. But for getting an 'amp tone' down it's a real good tool - see players who mention the usefulness ( and not necessarily endorsees ). ParaDriver has dedicated mid control I know - do the drive / presence work the same as BDDI. I'm thinking freq ranges might differ ?

[quote name='hubrad' post='520774' date='Jun 22 2009, 02:29 PM']It did seem so, but after a free trial on a gig - get a gig at The Cricketers' Arms in Keighley and talk to Neil of The Den.. [url="http://www.thedenkeighley.co.uk/"]http://www.thedenkeighley.co.uk/[/url] - the effect on the sound of the whole band was [u]very[/u] surprising! That line-up, Euclid Avenue, is now fully kitted out with Cream, as is Crosscut Saw [url="http://www.crosscutsaw.co.uk"]http://www.crosscutsaw.co.uk[/url] Now the only time I don't carry them is when I'm really not going to be in any control. Can't have any T,D and H trampling them. Nice colour too![attachment=27516:Edinburgh280308.jpg] We can spend a couple of grand on a bass, then hundreds (or more) on an amp...[/quote] what cables/connectors were you using previously ?

[quote name='farmer61' post='509220' date='Jun 9 2009, 04:43 PM']Thanks, although I panicked on Saturday and it's already with him........[/quote] Any update on this - as I wrote above I have a similar issue wthe an old TE 7 band AH head .

I think it would be useful to say why you need the rig - backline / on stage monitoring ; running the whole bass sound from the rig ; mic'd recording etc. What size stages you playing if applicable ?

[quote name='farmer61' post='508100' date='Jun 8 2009, 11:41 AM']My TE 500 AH has been cutting out on me when gigging. On Sat, lost volume on Song#2, came back and played for another 2.25 hrs withoug problem then failed on the final track. I've been putting this down to the MM Stingray as I thought the Jack Socket was playing up (Again, new batteries btw). Went to my local store and explained the problem to the guy who has done may of my set-ups and repairs in the past. He felt that it could be the send / receive effects loop (never used) that was cutting in and out. Anyone come across this before, for the first time I noticed that the Input Gain Led's were flashing although there was little / no volume which suggested something was getting through to the amp. I having the thing serviced but am interested in anyone elses experiences with TE problems of this nature. Thanks[/quote] That's such an annoying problem. Does it cut out completely or is it a loss of power with still some signal level and possibly very distorted ? I have the latter problem with an old AH150 (?) head. Had it serviced by GM audio a few years back but it came back. It could be the send/return jack(s) where the contacts have lost their spring and tarnished / oxidised enough to cause the problem. I had a similar problem on the insert point of a mixer. Loud notes might 'break through' the barrier and things might be fine for a while before it fails again. Anyway - get some Caig DeOxit cleaner and give them a good clean as per the directions - also other jacks etc while you're about it. Good Luck

[quote name='stoatsbrother' post='460862' date='Apr 12 2009, 11:12 PM']Anyway I guess that sort of answers my question anyway - and it is off to London I will need to go... [b]6stringbassist[/b] thanks - might be the one I need - although 60 miles away[/quote] have you had the work done yet ?

[quote name='Mikey R' post='506648' date='Jun 5 2009, 09:34 PM']Al, when I finally get round to prototyping something I might have to give you a call! do you know of any free software for laying out circuit boards? In the past, Ive always done it the analogue way using OHP film, a permanant marker and some transfers for the IC pins, but maybe its time to go a bit more digital. [/quote] I don't know about totally free or low cost packages although Easy PC is probably worth checking out. But ORCAD ( Cadence ) is still available as a fully functioning program as long as you have a maximum of ( I think ) 30 components. You'd need to check that info' but I think it's right. btw for anyone looking to get on board with a full pro level system Altium Designer have cut the price to about £3K in response to the current market conditions I think according to my latest email from the UK vendor. ( I've used it in my last 3 jobs but not currently ) Lots of £s I know but useful info' if anyone is looking at investing a middle level product. Last time I bought it ( not with my own money ! ) in 2007 it cost £5K - £6K and it's been updated a few times since.