Beer of the Bass

They should be a decent quality string, but might or might not be to your taste as I think they're supposed to be a dark sounding string aimed at classical students. They'll probably bow easily but might be quite thumpy sounding pizzicato.

Where is the next Sea Bass Kid gig, out of interest? The place that starts with W?

Unless it's sold as being fitted with a particular brand of string, the strings on cheaper new basses are pretty much placeholders, and it's normal to fit some proper strings before you do any serious playing on it. The stock strings often have solid metal cores which are particularly prone to breakage on a double bass - quality steel core strings will have a braided core.

If you do decide to go for it, there are a couple of ways to improve your chances; if you've got an adjustable bridge, drop it down low and play lightly - you'll lose acoustic projection but you'll be amplified anyway. Secondly, don't be afraid to put dots on the side of your fingerboard - use something removable. Neither of these will do you many favours in the long run, but they'll help you get through the gig.

My band Jen and the Gents, recording in the kitchen. It's live except for the backing vocal and harmonica overdubs. We should really have put those dishes away before setting up the camera. Enjoy! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hNkobUxx3g&feature=youtu.be[/media] We also have a new album on the way, which will be on our Bandcamp page...

Memphis precisiony thing in Fife. Cheap fixer-upper for somebody at £45. [url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/memphis-bass-guitar/107825869#gallery-item-full-5"]http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/memphis-bass-guitar/107825869#gallery-item-full-5[/url]

Good call on the twisted wires - I'd already wired up the socket to the board with straight parallel wires but might go back and redo them. The power supply board actually has a second screw, hidden from view by the caps. On the smaller board I left myself too little space to get another screw in (I probably should've planned that better!), but it seems firm enough when assembled with locking washers and threadlock. Unfortunately I'm down at the inlaws in sunny Barnsley for most of next week, so I'll have to carry on with it when I get back...

We had this problem last night at a pub gig. The singer booked the gig, then we found out last week that they wanted 3x 45minute sets. We have just enough material for maybe 2 sets. Fortunately, as it was a pub rather than a ticketed gig, there was enough turnover of punters that by the third set, the barman was the only person in the room who'd heard the first set. The landlord seemed happy enough and actually paid us slightly more that we'd agreed (always welcome!). We had a big group of Norwegian army lads (in town for the Tattoo) dancing to the second set, so he was probably pleased with the takings. We might start doing a select few covers to bulk out our pub gig set in future though.

A little more progress in the past couple of days; the tag boards are populated and it's all test-fitted into the case, with the exception of the 3PDT bypass switch, which is in the post. It all seems to fit OK, but I've slipped up slightly as one of the jacks gets in the way when putting on or taking off the valve shield - not a major issue though. It's a tight layout, which may or may not cause problems, but the Real Mctube build from Nachbaur's article was similarly crowded and apparently worked OK. I'm going to used screened cable for most of the audio wiring to be on the safe side. Next will be the hard-wiring and testing...

I really liked TI jazz flats on the last fretless I had. Obviously, they don't have the bright treble of roundwounds, but they're not traditional sounding flatwounds either as they're open sounding and lively in the mids and have good sustain. They felt and sounded sort of like a miniature version of the TI Spirocores I have on my double bass, which is a good thing IMO. They're fairly low tension, but I like that on fretless.

There is some truth in this, but there are also people who just like the sound a tele makes. Probably best not to pre-judge!

IIRC there were transistor amps under the same name, which will be less desirable than a valve Simms-Watts. It might be worth checking which this is.

Has anyone watched Les & Mary's 50's TV series, sponsored by Listerine? The episodes are up on youtube, and they're fantastically kitschy. In retrospect, the air of domestic bliss is somewhat ironic, but the songs (and the Listerine adverts) are entertaining. I always get Mary Ford confused with Betty Ford though, which would have made things interesting. Anyway, I digress...

If it had to be one of these four, I'd pick the tele, though I'd stick a Bigsby on it. I'm not a huge fan of them visually, but I really like the brightness and texture of the sound - I blame Zoot Horn Rollo!

No pictures today, but my package arrived from Ampmaker and I've started putting the tag boards together. The next few days are a bit busy, but I anticipate I'll have it together and be testing it some time next week. Keeping the wiring neat in this small a box will be a bit of a challenge!

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1343086890' post='1745204'] Lot of energy in their live show, I imagine. [/quote] It's George Duke! He's one of the last guys you could accuse of lacking energy in his performances, especially during his keytar phase, or playing the plexiglass clavinet with a whammy bar in the 70s. Look up some of his old stuff on youtube... I do wonder what this software will sound like when programmed by some mediocre producer, rather than when played by an accomplished musician who has worked with many of the great bassists. I suspect it won't be nearly as impressive.

I'm going with the DC heater supply partly because it's in the design I'm basing the power supply on, and partly because it may reduce my chance of hum, especially in a fairly tight layout like this one. It'll be handy for the status LED also, as otherwise I'd have to run AC through one pole of my bypass switch to power the LED, and I'm pretty certain that would hum.

Give LawrenceH on here a poke - he's recently done a nice job of Plastic Coating on his fretless and might have some pointers...

After playing around with overdriving the preamp of my valve head using a booster, I thought it might be handy to build a pedal to get that kind of sound when I'm using other amps. It will also be used in my guitar setup if I like it. I'm basing the power supply and general concept on Fred Nachbaur's Real McTube design, [url="http://www.dogstar.dantimax.dk/tubestuf/mctube.htm"]http://www.dogstar.dantimax.dk/tubestuf/mctube.htm [/url]but I'm adjusting the plate and cathode resistor values so that it behaves more like a conventional amp front-end. I'm also adding switchable cathode capacitors (to cut the low end, Marshall style) and a single knob tone control. The power supply is unusual in that it uses inexpensive low voltage transformers rather than a purpose built valve amp transformer. It uses one transformer to step the mains voltage down to 12v, which is then stepped up with a 230:24v transformer used in reverse to give a B+ voltage which should be somewhere around 140v after rectification. The 12V supply is also rectified to power the heater filament. Here is the schematic I've drawn up, but I may change things after I've put it together depending on the results. I've left the bypass switch out of the drawing, but it will have one. I have the transformers, ECC83 and box, but I'm waiting for the other parts to arrive before I can put it together. It's going into a diecast box which is about 180 x 120 x 55 mm. The power supply and audio circuitry are going to go on two small tagboards, with the valve mounted on standoffs inside the box. In the meantime, I have prepared the enclosure and painted it with Hammerite. If anyone is wondering, this is not my first valve project, as I have a couple of small amps under my belt (the last one was copied from a Fender Princeton Reverb). More to follow when I've got my parts...

That Hofner looks like a fun guitar. I'd be tempted to put some sort of really old-school magnetic pickup on it if it were mine, maybe one of the chrome Schallers or similar.

Here are a couple of photos of mine: Pete Beer Parlour guitar This was built by my brother, nowadays he's building excellent classical guitars but this one is from his college days nine years ago before he went professional. It's made from Cedar and Indian Rosewood and is very, very small! The size and proportions are based on some of the older Martin and Washburn models before larger guitars became fashionable. It's really sweet sounding though quite light in the bass and responds well to classical style right hand technique despite being a steel string. Kalamazoo KG-21 archtop: This is the one I play most. These were a budget line made by Gibson alongside their standard models, and this one is a small bodied Spruce and Mahogany archtop. The woods are solid but the arching is acheived by pressing the top over domed braces rather than by carving, so it's a kind of archtop/flat-top hybrid rather than a true archtop. The Order Number inside dates it to around 1936, and it's held up surprisingly well. It could probably do with a re-fret in the near future however. The pickup is a later addition, and since it mounts to the pickguard by a bracket at the side, there is no permanent modification to the guitar. The sound is midrangey and strident, and good and loud when played with a pick. It's great for old style bluesy things and for slide, even if that's not my main style.

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' timestamp='1342965762' post='1743205'] The early observation about more electrics than acoustics is understandable, since few acoustics are desirable or impressive, most being a limited tool to accomplish the task of backing a vocal. I've only ever played a couple of acoustics that made me want to own them, but they are an useful item, like a cross head screwdriver, in the toolbag of a master carpenter. [/quote] I'm not trying to be contrary, but my feelings about acoustic guitars are almost opposite to this! I guess it will depend where you're coming from musically. A cheap electric guitar can get most of the way towards sounding like an expensive one, if the setup and pickups are decent and it is played through a good amp, but a good handmade acoustic has something about its sound that a cheap one can almost never replicate. Consequently I have a couple of very nice acoustic guitars but my electric (which I gig with) is a cheapy AXL. I'll try to take some photos of my acoustics in the next couple of days and put them up here - they're a 1936 Kalamazoo (built by Gibson) archtop and a parlour guitar by my brother Pete Beer [url="http://www.petebeerguitars.com/"]http://www.petebeerguitars.com/[/url]

Good question. There was an eBay seller who used to have it, but they seem to have disappeared. Hot Rox in the UK have it, but a bit pricey. Antique Electronics in the States have it a bit cheaper, and they've been very quick and efficient when I've dealt with them in the past. [url="http://www.tubesandmore.com/products/S-G420"]http://www.tubesandmore.com/products/S-G420[/url]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1342955736' post='1743070'] Ampeg cabs weren't used in the UK in the 60's. If you want to be authentic you'll have to get some Vox gear. [/quote] Or just choose your favourite modern cab then install some Vox grille cloth! Most genuine 1960s bass cabs (excluding special cases like the SVT 8x10 or some of the JBL loaded american cabs, neither of which is very British Invasion) aren't something many bassists would really want to use now.

And the mudbucker style pickups on the Ibanez basses were usually a skinny single coil under the huge cover (at least on the one I owned), so the sound is closer to a stock ric than to a Gibson anyway.