Beer of the Bass

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1491339689' post='3272320'] We're a bit nerdy on here, but I don't think we're *that* nerdy. [/quote] Co-incidentally, I was reading about winding DIY inductors for the midrange EQ in an Ampeg style preamp earlier, so I'm not entirely sure about that...

14Kg seems very good for the two-way cab. The cabs I built last year came out at 14Kg each, and that was with the lighter Beta 12s, no tweeter and 12mm birch ply. [quote name='Gottastopbuyinggear' timestamp='1491309555' post='3272002'] I'm still relatively inexperienced with all this (from a user point of view) so I'm quite keen to do a bit of experimentation to see how a different speaker would sound in the real world. I need to revisit the modelling to check but I did look at putting a Beta 12 in the Mk1 cab (partly to free up a Beyma for a Mk 2 build, and partly just for curiosity) which I think predicted a similar bump of 2 or 3dB around 110 Hz or so. Of course the Beta 12 does have a pretty big hump in the high mids, so overall I guess the sound would be substantially different. [/quote] After using them for a while, I like what the voicing of the Beta 12 does for my bass guitar sound, though they are almost certainly less versatile than the cab developed in this thread. What they are very good at is getting an instantly pleasing tone and and a satisfying amount of volume from my 80-watt valve amp that has only bass and treble EQ (an application which may be a bit of a niche interest). If I take one out with the double bass where I'm aiming for a more natural tone I find that I'm fighting that upper mid response a bit, and I suspect the Beyma two-way design would fare a lot better there.

Since you've already got the MB200, why not keep that and pick up a small, light cab? I have done this with a GK MB200 and a 1x10" cab (I had an EA Wizzy 10 for a few years, and currently have a home built 1x10" for that job). It sounds a lot better than most cheap small combos and the head and cab together fit in a padded cajon bag with a shoulder strap.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1491250436' post='3271625'] Does anyone know where to get it? [/quote] I've had it from Solsound on eBay - I think they refer to it as Marshall piping. You might find your grille frame is a tight fit with piping though - I made mine a few mm undersized to leave some clearance for it. The other thing that might look good is a thin metal angle trim around the edge of the grille. HH used to do that with a very similar grille material to yours.

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1491231499' post='3271392'] I think carpet is easier to fit and also more forgiving than tolex, BoB. The lesson here is that you really have to finish off your screw holes properly or else they show through the paint. It looks like they managed to do without the inductor. [/quote] I think the hair and dirt attracting properties of carpet have always put me off. Too many memories of the drummer using my old Peavey as a rolling mat, or picking off hairs and thinking "Well, I [i]hope[/i] that's just a beard hair"!

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1491228308' post='3271352'] The grille works well but I think it needs some piping to finish it off. Perhaps carpet would be an easier finish than paint for the occasional builder. I wonder. [/quote] Speaking as an occasional builder, I did a pair of bass cabs in Tuff Cab and a guitar combo in tolex last year and found the Tuff Cab to be a lot less work. Though my bass cabs were in birch ply which should be harder and denser than the poplar used here - maybe that makes it easier to achieve a good surface? [quote name='stevie' timestamp='1491228824' post='3271359'] That's interesting, Shrek, thanks. I have to agree with Bill Fitz on this: manufacturers tend to be more interested in how a cab looks than how it performs. Love the crossover! [/quote] I can see a cap and resistor but no inductor - what's going on with that? Is that a piezo tweeter?

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1490951829' post='3269289'] I'd say Flats are good for a Blues/Rock trio.That's what I use on my PJ5. I have 4 Jazz basses, 2 are strung with DR's and the other 2 are strung with Dunlop Super Brights. IME DR's are the best for tone and longevity. The initial outlay might be more but they sound better for longer so, in use, they aren't as expensive as at first glance. I used to make a set last for about 10 months. [/quote] I'd been using flatwounds (first Sadowsky and then Fender) - it's a good sound but since we started playing with a new drummer and the guitarist has been leaning in a more rockish direction, I've been thinking about changing things up a bit. An old bandmate (in the other band that I play guitar with) used to use DR Black Beauties and I quite liked the sound of those. Chris Wood from Medeski, Martin & Wood has a sound I like too, and he's also using Black Beauties. If they weren't so expensive, they'd be high up my list to check out. I guess that does mean that other coated nickel wounds could be worth checking out too. [quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1490949993' post='3269258'] For me Rotosound Steel Rounds are king, I just can`t get the sound they have from any other make. That said the most comfortable rounds I`ve played have been D`Addario Pro Steels. They have a nice even tone tone to them as well. As you`ve mentioned Nickel the Roto Nickel Rounds are nice, and have a good balance between warm and punchy. [/quote] When I used to use roundwounds a few years ago they were usually steel Rotosounds - I was playing in a noisy band and I liked the clank I could get from them. I wouldn't mind something a touch less raspy feeling and clangy though, hence the desire to try some nickel wounds. I've got a pub gig tomorrow which I'll do with the steel Red Labels, and that should help me figure out whether I can get on with steels or not.

I enjoy him when I've heard him on 6 music, though does anyone else find there is quite a retro feel about his stuff? The performance above almost reminds me of something from one of the solo Stanley Clarke records like [i]Journey to Love, [/i]perhaps with a touch of Return to Forever about the keyboard solo. This is no bad thing of course, and he's taking that aesthetic to new places, it's just interesting to hear something new which draws on those particular sources.

Whether it's worthwhile depends on how cheap your bow is, since the cost of a rehair is about the same as the price of some of the cheaper bows out there.

Another Michael Henderson moment that gets me every time; at about 10:35 when things drop down after the guitar solo, it seems like time for a bass solo. But instead of noodling around in a flashy manner, Henderson plays with the groove in a taut, almost methodical way. Having a bassist from a soul and funk background rather than from the jazz scene really made an interesting change to how the band worked. Though being a sprawling jam with a somewhat dated narration tacked on, this is one that you have to be in the mood for! [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzM4_Lf_dSc"]http://youtu.be/GzM4_Lf_dSc[/url]

I have more or less settled on D'Addario XL nickels on my guitar; they keep their brightness well and seem pretty consistent and dependable. So the bass version might well be worth a look.

I've used various flats for the last few years, but in the band I'm playing with at the moment I feel like rounds might be the thing. It's a kind of blues/rockish trio and I just want a bit more grunt and more upfront tone, though not all that "hi-fi" modern sounding. I'm about 80/20 fingerstyle/pick, no slap in our set. The last time I regularly used rounds must be a bit over ten years ago, when I used to just buy whatever stainless steel rounds were cheapest in a local music shop (sometimes Rotos, sometimes Elites or various other brands), so I haven't given a lot of thought to the differences between brands and types. I've got a set of .045" to .130" Warwick Red Label stainless steel on at the moment. They're not bad, I like the B, E and A but the G is maybe a bit thinner and zingier than I want and they're kind of abrasive feeling. I'm thinking perhaps nickel could be worth a look. Any particular recommendations? Premium brands like DR are a bit more expensive than I'm up for, especially since I'm looking at 5-string sets...

I like it. There's a slightly wider palette of sounds going on compared to "One Did", but still very recognisably yourselves.

A lot of the weight of those old cabs is in the wood (I think at least some of them were MDF), so it may be only a little lighter with neodymium drivers.

It's got the same Radiospares knobs as were used on a lot of 60s-early 70s British amps. They could have been changed at any time, or it might point towards it being cobbled together in the UK around that time.

I think it's Michael Henderson - sounds like him anyway. I love the moment just before the trumpet comes in where McLaughlin changes chord, Henderson doesn't follow him, then instead of fumbling it they hold what they're doing and let the tension build for a few bars before they hit it together. It must take some confidence to keep pedalling away in E under a B flat chord! The nasty distorted organ that comes in later is great too. Can you tell I'm a fan?

I can't figure out, under what set of circumstances would someone end up with three identical basses of a model that's not all that common, with the headstock broken in the same way on all three? There are some strange people out there...

That's fair enough, and as I'd posted in the other thread, a lot of small luthiery businesses will contract out their nitro spraying as doing it safely is no trivial matter. The liability issue of build diary threads is an interesting one, and something I've wondered about myself as I sometimes post about building and modifying valve amps. I take a lot of care to do things safely, but I would not like to be somebody's source on how to do this stuff.

The Ampeg website lists all the current PF cabs as 8 ohms, hence the assumption.

For the cheap string aficionados, how do the Legacy cheapies from Strings Direct compare to the Red Labels? I've been using Fender flats, but as what was a bluesy sounding trio steadily drifts towards rock I'm thinking I could maybe dabble with some nickel rounds.

Part of the usual reason for not using a 4x10 and 1x15 together is that the 4x10 typically handles more power and is more sensitive (louder for a given amount of power). So with a high-powered head you can be feeding too much power to the 15" and not even hear it distort because the 4x10 is louder, and the 15" often ends up blown. With the PF50 this will be a non issue. If you've already got the two cabs and they sound good together there is a case to be made for not overthinking things!

Be warned if you're considering ordering from Banzai, their order handling and communications are awful. I tried to order from them a while back, never got an order confirmation, they ignored multiple emails and I only managed to get a refund after both opening a paypal dispute and commenting publicly on their facebook page. I'm not sure that I was just unlucky either, as their facebook page shows a number of similar posts from customers. Personally, I would buy from elsewhere if at all possible, even if the price is higher.

I've tried them; they're bright, clanky, slightly rough feeling, which is more or less what I expected from Stainless Steel rounds. They did remind me a lot of Rotosounds, but I've not had a set of those in years.

Phil's suggestions seem spot-on regarding which speakers would work in that cab volume. You would want to double check the port tuning if you did change speakers - anywhere from 40-50Hz is viable for the Beta 12 or the SM212. Another possibility; I've noticed that Full Compass in the US carry some GK spares. Is your speaker there? www.fullcompass.com/brand/GKR_Gallien-Krueger/Replacement-Service-Parts.html Shipping from the US might be costly, but you would only have to replace one speaker and the cab would retain its value better if you ever sell it.

If you can measure the internal dimensions of the cabinet and the diameter and length of any ports, people might feel better equipped to make recommendations.