Beer of the Bass

I tried this a few weeks ago with a BSS AR116 on the output of a 100 watt valve amp, running off the spare speaker output. Since the input impedance of the DI box is 50K ohms or more in parallel with an 8 ohm speaker, it makes no significant difference to the impedance the amp sees, and very little power goes to the DI box. I found that it needed heavy EQ to be usable though, as an amp that sounds good through a tweeterless cab can be painfully bright when run direct. Even the 4KHz lowpass setting on the BSS isn't enough on its own.

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1334682029' post='1619712'] What is the actual, physical difference between a cheap and expensive pick-up, that are the same type and impedance? And how do the various materials effects the sound? [/quote] I've been pondering this lately, as I'm gigging a £99 guitar on which I can't find any reason to change the pickups! It strikes me that while you get less choice, mass produced pickups that copy an established recipe closely can't go too far wrong. The very cheapest far eastern pickups are made to be as cheap as possible while still looking like the originals, but the better ones are copying established designs more closely. The differences between two pickups using the same magnet material, gauge of wire, standard bobbin shape and wound with the same number of turns are going to be vanishingly subtle, to the point of insignificance in most playing situations. OTOH some premium brands do have their own unique designs going on, but for basic Fender style stuff the cheapies have it pretty well covered.

Chequered binding doesn't seem to crop up in the usual luthiers binding/purfling sources, so perhaps Ric do have some kind of "trade dress" protection going on, like Dimarzio do with cream coloured humbuckers. It could be a tough one to protect though, as I'm sure some of the older Martin guitars had something similar. EDIT: I did a quick google search, and there are open online sources of very similar checkered purfling, so maybe not.

Mind you, Formby was actually quite a principled chap, who made a statement by refusing to play segregated venues when touring pre-apartheid South Africa. My respect for him was increased greatly by reading about that!

Going to gigs as a punter, there are times where I get a kick out of seeing performers playing the hell out of unwieldy, impractical but "real" kit against all practical considerations of that choice. It's not so much amps that I get this with, but if I hear a great keyboard player and they've dragged along a proper Hammond and Leslie because that's what they love playing, the performance feels like something special. I recognise that this is not particularly logical, and if you blindfolded me they could be playing a Nord and I wouldn't know. With music being an art form, how the performer and audience feel about the tools and process used in the performance can be as important as the empirical properties of those tools. Having said that, there will be performers who find all the modelling technology inspiring and enabling, who will turn in their best performances using said technology.

I've not seen Mr F's band, but I get the impression that the stacks of mismatched and obscure old valve gear favoured by the Doom lot are kind of like an art installation in themselves. So their presence is part of the performance, even if it might be possible to create that sound by other means. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just a different approach from many other performances. Myself, I enjoy using simple valve amps, especially for guitar, because there isn't as much to dial in while I'm using them. Once I've got a sound I like, I can more or less forget about the gear and play some music. I haven't messed with modelling gear for bass, but I've played guitar through some of the Line 6 amps in rehearsal spaces. I find that the presets can sound like an exaggerated version of the amp they're trying to model, presumably so they sound recognisable, but I guess any serious user will take the time to tweak the presets to their taste. I don't see the need for modelling gear to exactly recreate the sound of older amps, it just needs to sound musical and be enjoyable to use and listen to.

I've got an Ernie Ball 4 string set, with a D'addario Chrome B. Chromes and EBs are similar enough that this does not feel, sound or even look mismatched. There was an eBay seller recently who had Chrome B strings for about a fiver, so it was cheaper for me to add a B to a four string set than to buy a set of five. The B-string is great down low, a much more enjoyable sound than a roundwound B to my ears, but can get a little thumpy above the 8th fret or so. This is not terrible, but it does affect what position I choose to play some lines in.

I think I can proudly present this as the shonkiest example of an eight string on Basschat! [attachment=104601:8 string 2 001.JPG] It's a cheap p-bass copy modified with four guitar tuners, an alnico pickup of unknown origin and naff stick-on inlays. Surprisingly the neck has held up OK, but I do have light strings on (a 40-100 set plus .017, .025, .035 and .045" octave strings). The courses are reversed, Rickenbacker style, and it sounds unexpectedly good, though it would benefit from an eight saddle bridge.

I used to use mine with a guitar amp - if you want to sound "electric" it's the way to go. Double-coursed strings sound manky with distortion though!

In the photo, it looks like the shield from your pickup wire is going to the end of the pot track (i.e output) and the central conductor is going to the pot shell (i.e. ground). Reverse those connections, and I reckon it'll be fine. On a Fender pickup, you wouldn't notice any difference as the poles aren't grounded, but the Delano must be made with the poles connected to the shield. So the poles which are normally grounded are now connected to the hot wire, causing a short when the string touches it.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1333372507' post='1600680'] Shuguang. What plate voltage is the amp running? [/quote] Shuguang are one I hadn't thought of trying, but I guess if they withstand Doom they'll be fine for my usage. The plate voltage is at 500v, so it's on the high side but not outrageous. Space is a bit tight with the fat bottle 6CA7s, so possibly they're getting hotter than is ideal - though they've never red-plated.

I've got a late 60's Carlsbro CS100/8 PA head which I use for bass; it's a 100 watter using EL34s. I've been running Electro Harmonix 6CA7 valves as they were on special offer at the time I got the amp. I don't run the amp particularly hard, as the power stage stays clean, and I've always set the bias fairly conservatively. Everything in the amp is healthy, it's been re-capped and thoroughly checked over. I've just had a valve develop noise issues, for the second time in only about 12 gigs - the first one developed random crackling and sizzling noises and got replaced, now one has started producing microphonic jangle through the speakers. I have a spare to replace the offending valve, but the next time I re-valve, what's out there that might be more reliable? NOS are out of my price range, so I'm wondering which currently-made valves have been more reliable for people.

I'd second the idea of keeping the valve amp but changing to a lightweight modern cab. I'm happy with a 100 watter into a modern neodymium 2x12", but maybe in a really loud band more speaker area could be useful.

It'd be a great DIY project, if that's something you're into. Most of the old Fender layouts and schematics are widely available, so it would be quite feasible to closely copy a Bassman 100.

I'm quite impressed with the AXL Badwater tele-ish guitar that I'm using with the band I play guitar in. It was all of £99, and the only thing that really needed changing was the nut. The neck and frets are decent and the pickups are proper alnico magnet jobs which I can't find a reason to upgrade. It's miles ahead of the Korean Squier I started on in the 90s. It'd be interesting to see if the basses are similarly good for the money.

I guess the power stage could be working to spec but the pre-amp clipping early due to peculiar gain-staging. It may have been tweaked from a guitarists POV perhaps. Is that a PCB based build? Quite surprising for a DIY job - I wonder if the boards came in kit form at the time.

Is the output up to scratch now? I reckon you should try it with your band before putting it up for sale. A healthy 100 watt valve head makes for a pretty good pub gig amp and ought to pair up nicely with your two 1x12" cabs if the impedance is right.

I rather liked the newer model Laney LC15-110 when I tried one. That's worth adding to your list IMO. Though I went with the option of building my own instead, as I really wanted a Fender Princeton Reverb but couldn't afford the reissue.

I always thought the Sex Pistols were an interesting one regarding authenticity, since they appear to have been a manufactured band under the guidance of Malcolm Mclaren and at least one of them couldn't actually play in any meaningful sense of the word. Yet they are seen to epitomise Punk authenticity by many. What's going on there? [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1332231442' post='1585011'] so when the lead guy from Mumford was playing his songs up in edinburgh before he was famous, same songs, same style but just acoustic... was that authentic or non authentic? at which point did it switch? [/quote] I remember seeing him around too. I think it's the media presentation of them as being the new Folk which gets peoples goat, particularly among folkies who see them as yet more acoustic singer songwriter types with added waistcoats and banjos. Personally it doesn't bother me, as I'm free to not buy their albums if it's not my thing. Considered as a singer songwriter he's probably no more or less authentic than any number of other blokes with acoustic guitars.

I suspect a lot of live sound guys are lazy and stick to the same EQ each time rather than listening. I've played in a few venues where all the highs and most of the mids are rolled off the bass in the FOH. If the sound man has his EQ set up to do this to a typical roundwound bass sound, it's going to be even worse with flats!

[quote name='LawrenceH' timestamp='1332166639' post='1584131'] I think, contrary to what's been said on here so far, Ernie Ball do make their own...that unpleasant man in charge has certainly said as much on the EB forum anyway (kind of puts me off buying them as I find him so rude and annoying). If someone has any evidence otherwise then I'd happily stand corrected though! [/quote] I do wonder whether the flatwounds are contracted out though, as they seem identical in all respects to D'addario. This is purely conjecture, but with flatwounds selling smaller numbers and needing specialised processes and equipment, not all makers of roundwounds will be set up to do them. Does anyone fancy asking that on the EB forum? I don't feel the urge to, but their response might be entertaining.

I'm not sure about the roundwounds, but Ernie Ball flatwounds and D'addario Chromes seem uncannily similar. The only difference I can see, feel or hear is that Ernie Balls have slightly more length between the silks (presumably to allow for a Stingray bridge) and plain brass ball ends. That would fit with the idea of them being made by D'addario, but to Ernie Ball's specifications.

I borrowed a friend's green muff for a while - I couldn't really hear any magic that the new ones don't have. Victor Morris were quite interesting characters - one half of the shop was music gear and the other half supplied knives, replica firearms and other weaponry to the local ne'er-do-wells! I think they've dropped that side of the business nowadays...

I've been entertaining the notion of building one for a while - one day I may actually get around to it. I'm looking at valve-based designs, not for any particularly sensible reasons, but because I like working with valve stuff.