Frank Blank

That must have taken an age asking every one of them!

You have pre-empted my next question, I'm quite interested in the concept of FRFR thanks to your excellent Interesting FRFR Story post. So could I plug into the preamp, DI to the desk and have my sound onstage via my own FRFR monitor? Forgive me if this is explicitly answered in you thread. It is a trek I am very happy to do, I can get some train spotting in as well!

Just this ^ use is going to be my live situation for the foreseeable, the AER, although small is heavy so a decent preamp in my bag is, I think, going to be vital if I want to control tone live. Thanks @Jack.

^ This is, essentially, a kind of nightmare for me. I get a man in.

Yes to those things but also my ignorance of technical stuff often finds me sonically frustrated and then someone will say something like Where's your preamp? or You need a gankel damper on that son. So I find it easier to deal with that kind of embarrassment on here rather than f2f. Useful, and I think in the live situations I'm likely to to be in soon very useful by the sounds of it. You may, thank you, I shall investigate.

You just became my Piezo / Preamp wingman.

^ This. Jeez, I just spent ages posting something very similar to this only you've put it a lot better...

The thing is we are trying to isolate 'tone' or a 'sound' when the contributing factors are so myriad any variation to any of them makes a difference. It's like a Venn intersection of loads of factors, obviously at the coarse end of these are things like which bass, which amp, plectrum or fingers, fretted or fretless but then there are factors like the shape and acoustics of the room, age of the strings, then you get into real subjectivity land, your mood, are you on a ley line, etc. Obviously most people on here are experts, the best sort of experts imho, genuine enthusiasts, but I genuinely don't think there is an answer, which is fine, unless we are seeking some sort of definitive method of categorising 'tone', 'sound' or 'feel'. At the Bass Bash I stayed away from the amp test and the blind bass test because, frankly, I didn't think I would have had a clue but it didn't surprise me that most people couldn't tell the basses apart nor the amps, I think most of the variation is in us rather than the equipment. I buy basses purely on their sound and feel acoustically, even electric basses. I don't know if this is 'right' or 'correct' but they have to feel right to me. I was then always disappointed when I amplified them because nothing ever seemed to get near to a) the sound I liked acoustically or b) reflected the feel I wanted from an amplified bass. This is because (unknown consciously) I had a a priori bass sound/feel template in my head and nothing matched it so I spent years trying out basses, other instruments, amps, all sorts of stuff but because I was a gear/tech novice I followed other people's ideas and recommendations, which, ultimately, is fruitless. Had I just sat back for a minute and analysed certain things, my small hands, how much I dug Mick Karn perhaps I would have tried out a short scale acoustic fretless years ago but, slavishly, I ignored my own heart and bought great big fenders and played them through great big TC Electronic rigs and wondered why throwing money about made no difference. Rob Allen Fretless Mouse / AER Basic Performer, five years ago if you said that was going to be my dream setup I'd have laughed.

Cool, thanks @Bridgehouse, this is precisely the kind of info I'm after. I kind of thought this to be the case but had I written the above asking if it were correct someone would have said Don't be stupid, the Piezo is for washing the carpet and a preamp/DI is a disco move from the 70s. There is something about the Fishman Platinum Pro that is drawing me in though, caught in tractor beam!

Monitor spat over, cheers.

+1 for the Focusrite interfaces, I have a Scarlett 18i20 and it's excellent, I just plug basses directly into the interface.

From the Rob Allen Website... Mouse 30, Mb-2 and Deep4/5 models have a piezo pickup under the saddle in the bridge.

Feel free to be sarcastic, my musical background and history originated in punk so it was a case of borrow an amp, plug in, turn up, even the most basic technical stuff is all very new to me! I suppose I am surprised the RA Mouse has a preamp on board simply because it has so few controls, only a volume pot on the front and a 'passive high trim control' that you adjust with a screwdriver. Given that lack of on board tone shaping and also potentially going into a lot of gig situations where there is no backline (acoustic duo, acoustic clubs) I suppose I'm going to be more in control with my own preamp/D.I.

Ok my ignorance is beginning to glow like Sirius now. Having consulted the Rob Allen site my bass has a Fishman preamp on board, what (if any) is the difference between an on board preamp and an external one? I know I'm stupid but I can set fire to farts on order and chew gum whilst playing Peaches...

I'm not sure gender really matters here, she's just the best...

Thanks for this, I didn’t realise that AER made a preamp so taking a look right now.

Thanks for this @Bridgehouse, this is exactly the kind of information I’m looking for.

I’m using an AER Basic Performer which (as I found out thanks to @BigRedX) has a preamp onboard. The more I ignorantly stumble around this subject the more I think it’s a good di box Ineed because a lot of the venues that we are likely to play will usually di the bass without backline.

I have no idea what a mini board is?

Thanks, I didn't know that. I am perfectly happy with the sound from the amp, in fact it's perfect. The more I discuss this the less it seems I need one. Still wondering about live though when most of the places we play just DI the instruments without any backline.

1) I have quite small hands and a 30” scale is just right for me. 2) agreed. 3) just don’t wait thirty five years to try a short scale like I did and then find out it’s right for you.

I know nothing about preamps. The duo I currently play in is just about to start gigging regularly and most, if not all, the gigs will DI the bass straight into the desk, I’ll be using my fretless Rob Allen Mouse, so... a) do I need a pre amp for gigs? b) do I need one generally just sitting atop my amp looking swish? c) really, in lay person lingo, what do they do? d) if I do need one, which? e) ...or can I just have a Grace Felix please?

Amen...

Well I tried out the metal disk theory by simply placing a 2p piece underneath the E string (as suggested by my luthier as a test) and it did indeed rectify the problem, I’m just surprised that this appears to be the only option.