Dan Dare

A few slightly geeky questions that I've been wondering about. Does port shape make any difference - slot/rectangle, circular, triangular (at the corners of the baffle board), etc? Also location - is distance from cabinet walls/drivers relevant. Are several smaller ones better than one large one? Or is it purely down to length and area?

Like the little girl in the nursery rhyme, when it was good, it was very, very good, but when it was bad, it was horrid.

[quote name='Earbrass' timestamp='1506761548' post='3380909'] Please tell me I'm not the only one to have misread this thread title! [/quote] Deliberately or not?

Two pints of IPA. No more, no less. Enough to feel relaxed, but not enough to destroy coordination. Job done

Adjust to suit, using your ears, not your eyes. Every amp reflects its designer's preference (and many are engineered to sound good at low/showroom levels to encourage you to buy). There is no universal "flat" setting, whatever the position of the knobs says.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1506696630' post='3380515'] You use phantom power with mics that need it, typically condenser mics. SM58s aren't condenser mics. Most DIs aren't bothered being hooked up to phantom power anyway, since it's assumed that will be the case in many instances. The DI owners manual will say. BTW, I can't imagine using a DI on a guitar amp, and I don't recommend them for bass either. DIs don't capture the sound of the speaker. [/quote] Bill's right about DI for bass not capturing the tone of your rig. However, I find it can be handy to add a little bass to the PA via the DI. It fattens the sound out front and gives a bit more weight to the sound from your rig on the stage. In larger venues and with a bigger PA, just mic up the cab.

Aguilar AG700 plus PJB C4 is my mini rig. Add more C4s and it gets less mini.

As the first ding is the painful one, you should give your new bass to the kids to play with. They'll give it a bit of minor distressing and you won't care after that

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1506027894' post='3376056'] It's Internet forums. Mumsnet is just as bad. [/quote] I'll take your word for it. Not being a mum, I've never looked at it. Is it really filled with "She asked for it. She was wearing a short skirt" type comments?

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1505824615' post='3374561'] Indeed. Female bassists are just queuing up to join BassChat... not. [/quote] Yeah. A lot of bassists do seem to be somewhere along the spectrum.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1505659632' post='3373390'] those dancers could've worn long skirts or pants if they didn't want people ogling them, seriously. they show their ass cheeks and dance sexy, how could they possibly complain. If you're gonna show me, I'm gonna look. If you don't want me looking, don't show me. all dancers now dance like strippers. [/quote] Stone me, mate. You're up to date, aren't you?

Saw an interview with Billy Sheehan once. He just uses a large washer on each screw - bigger than the hole in the strap - to hold it in place. It means you can't take the strap off the instrument quickly, but is very secure.

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1505671541' post='3373477'] The other thing is that if you design a solid state power amp with "character" your deviating from well tried and tested designs that have been refined over decades and withstood countless millions of hours of abuse. It makes much more sense in every way to have a highly linear power stage and do all the funky stuff in the preamp. [/quote] Dead right. Commercially, a manufacturer would not be wise to make a power amp too niche or "characterful". It would likely severely restrict the number of people who would buy it.

Thanks Bill.

Bill. Could you recommend an easy to use calculator for port sizes, please? Thanks.

Oh and talking of records being out of tune, have a listen to the flute solo on 'California Dreaming'. Toe curling.

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1505511574' post='3372574'] Well that would be 99.99% of people - apparently only one in ten thousand people have "perfect pitch" i.e. can recognise notes being in or out of tune without a reference pitch. So your one of the lucky ones. [/quote] Wasn't quite what I meant. As it happens, I can tell you what note you are playing when I hear it (and I realise that's my good fortune), but that wasn't what I was talking about. I was referring to the fact that so many people are unable to hear the difference between two different notes that are close in pitch but not quite the same. So there is a reference - because you can compare each to the other.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1505133437' post='3369668'] Alfasuds were built in a new state subsidised factory using cheap steel from Russia obtained in a deal with the Italian Government: the last ones were built in the late 80's. (note: 37 years ago)! There is still a market for current and older Alfas in Australia judging from the owners who contribute to some of the Alfa forums I lurk in. Next you'll be saying all Fords are dull because they are only available in Black...... [/quote] A garage-owning pal of mine told me the reason Italian cars had a rust problem (they are better now, thanks to improved finishing, although you shouldn't delay in getting scratches and paint chips fixed), was because Italy has no steel reserves and has to import it all. As a result, they use a lot of recycled steel. When you re-smelt steel, the sulphur content goes up and makes it more susceptible to rusting.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1505458204' post='3371988'] Same here. & it sounded good. [/quote] It's in the player's hands/brain. That's why we are wasting our money buying instruments and kit trying to get 'that' sound.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1505429429' post='3371933'] Records can vary from standard pitch because after recording someone has listened to the final mix - the band, producer, engineer, management, tea lady - and decided that it sounded better slightly faster or slower. On several occasions I've heard guys say, "This is dragging, can we make it more lively?" The way they do that is to speed up the song. [/quote] Yep. You'd be surprised how many people, including those you would think would know, can't hear subtle pitch differences. Some years back, I was working at the old Virgin studios on the Goldhawk Road. A cutting engineer asked for my help. He had a master (this was back in vinyl days) which the band had rejected because it "didn't sound right". They and he couldn't say why. The band had given him a cassette tape of their album, which was how they wanted it. I asked him to play me the master tape and the cassette and set them up so I could A/B them. It was immediately obvious that the cassette was running fast and was playing a little sharp as a result (cassette machines were a bit notorious for not being pitch accurate). I pointed this out and the others in the room said they couldn't hear any difference. So I raised the varispeed on the master tape machine until they were in tune with each other and he cut the master from that. He later told me the band was happy with the result.

AER Amp One?

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1505299976' post='3370811'] Apparently at sessions he used to put up a sign saying, "You done hired the hit maker". Not sure I could talk to the guy for more than 2 secs but I can listen to him all day. [/quote] Yep. I suspect we wouldn't want to talk with a lot of musicians whose abilities we admire. As dear old Frank Zappa put it, "Shut up and play yer guitar"...