jensenmann

Unseen which one you use, make sure that it get´s fed from a tuner out and is not between your bass and amp. I have two different Korg rack tuners and both create clicking noises when they are in the audio signal path.

Being a microphone nerd and having app 150 microphones at my disposal it really hurts to read people seriously recommending cheaparse mics. There´s a german saying: if you buy cheap you´ll buy twice. Anyway, your shop is right to not recommend the PG series. These have nothing common with all the attributes of a SM58 except the brand name. Get another used 58 or a SM57 which gives you another sound option if necessary. In case you want to go more versatile then have a look at a Beyerdynamic M88. These are the very best bang for the buck most versatile dynamic microphones ever. Besides being a great vocal mike it´s fantastic for drums (yes, kick, too), bass guitars, guitar, brass, etc. That mic would be my desert island dynamic microphone.

Recapping is a good idea. I did that with my Mk2 5er, too. IIRC I used 10uF or 22uF. Increasing coupling caps lowers distortion and phaseshift.

I´m using Rockinger strings for my fretted Wals and Pyramid Nickels for my fretless.

After a second look at the Kreutzer pre I´d strongly vote for a chip with better output drive capability than a TL072. The first amp sees a load <2k which is the minimum rated load for a TL072. It will distort depending on the setting of the pots. Besides that I´d lower R12+R13 to reduce thermal noise and then use a BJT input chip for better noise performance. Inside an EQ circuit it will make a difference. Thanks for the LT1169 info. I´ll give it a try. Some parameters do look promising.

I just stumbled across this DIY project which has similarities with what I built a few month ago. It´s basically a Bassman 135 converted to FET transistors. My version had the original tonestack - EQ with switchable frequencies for every filterband. The sonic quality of my build reminded me on my Bassman. Success! That´s what I was looking for. The EQ behaved similar, only the fequency switching mod didn´t turn out as exiting as I expected. It seems that Mr Kreuzer was on the right track with buffering the EQ, though he used a different topology. I think I´ll go the same route. My DIY background is studio gear, that´s where I´m coming from. I´d say +1 to passinwind´s comments about TL072s and OPA2134s from that point of view. But in my expierience with MI gear I´d propose to use TL072s because their artefacts make a certain sound which might help a signal to cut through on stage. HiFi sounds are not the easiest to handle thing for me on stage.

A friend showed showed me his AER combo some time ago and it was stunning. Definitely something to check out if your looking for small and loud.

Unfortunately that´s not an old valve amp but some cheap crap pretending to be something which it is not. There´s a german saying: if you buy cheap you´ll be buying twice.... If you want an valve amp which is capable of gigging then get something with 100W or more. Fender Bassman 100, 135 or studio bass are fantastic as well as Boogie d180 or 400, Ampeg V4B or SVT or Hiwatt Custom 100. Get one of these and don´t look back. Anything transistor or - even worse - digital will never ever come close.

At least there´s a picture of that bass on page 2 of this thread. When I picked it up Pete told me that it was one of the very first fretless sixers he ever made.

I traded it for a Wal Midibass with our member Spiritchaser. IIRC Oliver sold it later on. If you want to know more you need to contact him. He´s a nice bloke anyway.

That picture has been taken at Pete´s old place in High Wycombe, isn´t it? Looks familiar to me. I´ve been there in mid 90s to pick up my ex-sixer fretless.

I´m using a KMT DC5 with 2x500W. It´s not lightweight since it runs from a linear PSU but it has punch and lowend for ages, not like a switchmode-PSU amp which craps out after a few seconds of loud LF massage.

Since I have tons of hardware I´m not very interested in plugins. But from time to time I check what´s going on in softwareland and there are a few pearls which I consider as good tools. I like the softube CL1B plugin a lot. From my UAD card I´m only using the 33609 compressor. I might be using more of the other plugins but I have many of the hardware originals, so I simply don´t need these, even didn´t check them all out (sorry, this sounds a bit snobbish...). Another great tool is the Lawo plugin collection.

That´s an interesting use for the U5. Honestly, as a DI I think it´s totally overpriced compared to other products in the same sonic league. I have one in the studio just to impress clients but I don´t use it since I prefer other DIs. The use as a basspre shines a new light on it, though. I have to check that out. Great idea...

The ones I liked most of all Trace Elliots was the SMX series. But I´m not sure if these will fit in your budget.

I have recently replaced the PUs of my Fenix Jazz with a Rockinger set, see here: http://www.rockinger.com/index.php?lang=ENG&list=WG101 These are modeled after 60s J PUs and sound fantastic. The improvement was way more than I expected. Esp. the Hot Jott bridge type is killer.

...but they have an Avalon It´s a Soundtracs Topaz, btw.

I have a Fenix maple neck Jazz from late 80s. It sounds incredible. The stock PUs are the weak point, though. As mentioned before very low output, microphonic, not very detailed. I swapped mine to Rockinger PUs which turned out to be a huge improvement. Couldn´t be happier with a 180€ bass + 110€ PUs.

Huge tapedelay fan here. One of my 1/4" machines is always used for tapedelay. On top of that I´m using a space echo and currently I´m refurbishing three Dynacord Echocord tapedelays for future use. Back in the days when we had to use tapedelay everybody thought it´s crap to use and sounds useless. Like Dylan said: times are achanging :-)

From todays view 456 is crap. When it came out 456 was the tape with highest headroom and lowest noise. Everybody was jumping on it. Additionally it was relatively cheap. It was my multitrack tape for that reason back then.

Absolutely 456 is crap I´m recording on PER528, a tape formulation which has been developed for german broadcasters with main focus on longterm reliability for archiving purpose.

If you need ONE mike which is good on bass cab AND on vocals then check out Beyerdynamic M88 and EV RE20.

I´m still printing my mixes on 1/4" tape besides digital. First for sonic reason because mostly tape sounds better to me. Second is that I have an immediate safety copy if I print both. On top of that the longterm reliability of tape is higher than any digital format. Of course IT-guys and manufacturer of digital gear will tell you something else. But in the meantime I have lost enough of my digital-only masters and tracks but none on tape to no more believe them. (ok, DAT excluded). Taking care of all the digital data and maintain them will turn out as a nightmare in the long run.