itu

On 24/03/2024 at 16:33, chris_b said:

My unsung heroes are not band members but the session guys who worked in the studios pumping out the songs that influenced the rest of the bass playing world: Tommy Cogbill, David Hood, Mike Leech, Bob Babbitt, Jerry Jemmott, Jesse Boyce, Junior Lowe, Olsie Robinson and Vernie Robins etc etc.

Outside this forum there are just a few who know these mentioned above. Or any bassist. "I know Pistorius is that runner from..."

I might suggest Tony Joe White, and Danny Whitten. If we take any band from the 80's, who knows about them except the name of the band, and maybe the singer? Sure, we do know a few, but we are the rare exception to the rule.

Church?

Dexy's midnight runners?

Classix Nouveax?

Have to mention, that the ball-end is not the best to turn tight screws. Full length hex has more surface.

@ped did so good work, I'll add my 2 cents.

EHX - Qtron+

Something I did not like at all. Not technically, not soundwise, just wasn't for me. A big one.

Subdecay - Proteus

I have this, and it works... pretty well. Simple and functional, but its behaviour depends on the bass.

IE - Xerograph DeLuxe

This is it! Very complicated, too. The width of the settings is wiiiide. Turn a bit and the sound changes drastically. I love this one, although it requires quite a lot of time to master. No use in month, and I have to get back to the basics. But I just love this unit.

OnKart Gromt - Funky Fellow

Very good sounding unit. Lots of options, powerful, but well behaving. The tiny display tells, what's going on. Amazingly useful feature. Bought one, when these came out.

Audiospektri - PGV

This is a peculiar effect. It is a vocoder, and quite some more. I accept that I need time with this one. But it seems it has powers I have not been able to release, yet.

DOD - FX25

Bought a used one few days ago. Want to hear this, when it arrives.

It is fine to put that preamp outside your bass, if the space is limited. Recommendation is to put the preamp as close as possible to the ceramic but I haven't have any issues if the buffer has been 3 m away.

It is very common belief that piezos sound brittle. The reason is that the ceramic and the first electronic stage form a high pass filter, if the input impedance of the first stage is not high enough.

To get the best out of the piezo, a buffer really helps to tame any brittle sounds. It widens the low end just like the size of the ceramic. A cap will cut highs, but I would rather use a good buffer, and eq the sound later in the amp or an fx board.

A buffer has to be with hi-Z input (Mohn to Gohm area). Try a few and find your favourite one. Some amps can eat piezos easily, some fx are also effective. Still the buffer is the thing here.

If you have a friend that understands any electronics, a modern opamp, or FET can make wonders and does not cost a lot. Usually the box and the connectors are the most expensive parts. Net is full of examples.

https://www.instructables.com/Hi-Z-Opamp-Piezo-Buffer/

http://www.scotthelmke.com/Mint-box-buffer.html

2 hours ago, ped said:

Yeah everything affects everything else so it can be quite complicated! Also the knobs move quite easily so I'm tempted to get locking ones...

Check this one: http://stompshield.com/

According to Wikipedia:

Ek has studied in Sweden, where education is practically free (funded via taxation). He has raised $2.5 billion via venture funding, i.e. he is creating his nonsense content with other people's money. And his own input seems to be under zero.

Is this one producing pink noise?

Coat...

Envelope loves full frequency response. Mine didn't work so well in the X-over loop. Now I keep it as the first unit in chain. Maybe you could try it after a comp where you can control the amount of signal the envelope receives?

Octaver on the other hand does not like a signal that is changing a lot.

And fuzz, some of them behave in a different way from bass to bass, and whether they are the first in line (crunching bass' signal) or after some other fx (eating lo-Z signal).

Your question is the same that I have tried to tame for some time. My solution has been that envelope is the first, fuzz the second in a X-over loop (flanger, too), and then the rest. Octaver (or SY-1) has been travelling here and there. I can only suggest brave trials to find what works best for your setup and preferred sound.

First of all the tool you use has to be a quality one. If it does not fit, don't even try.

Put quite some more that oil there. Keep the bass up so that the oil can get to the thread.

Start to turn a bit. Any direction is good. Then back. And forth and back. Even a fraction of degree helps the oil to penetrate between the nut and the rod and a possible washer. Do this as long as the thread starts to turn bit by bit.

Keep the tool in one place. Then you can keep the tension constant. When the thread is working, adjust the rod in 1/8 or 1/4 of a turn at a time. Let the neck stabilize for an hour and check the action.

As I wrote elsewhere, write down everything you do. This way you can reverse your attempts. Keep the bass in tune before and after adjustments. You may have to fine tune the bridge.

Ooh, the lovely Anita Baker!

And from the pen of our incredibly productive @ChrisDev, thank you.

There's a small and lightweight Axstar for sale in the classifieds...

One Schaller strap lock, or a Neutrik jack. No, wait... my colleague gave me a hint... it has to be a football or the air to one.

Some tips:

- paper and pen to write down everything you do: easier to come back

- good, accurate tools

- good light

- plenty of time

When you touch action, it is done after changing fresh strings.

Adjust the truss rod only a little, like 1/8 or 1/4 of a turn. Write now down what and how you did this. Tune the bass and wait for an hour or two. If the direction was right, but the result was not enough, turn 1/8 more. Leave it there for another hour after tuning the bass.

Check bridge and fine tuning by using an electronic tuner. Adjust height, if needed. Tune. Play.

If the truss rod nut is stuck, drop some oil to the thread/nut. By using the tool, move the screw back and forth little by little. If the fine oil lubricates that thread, the nut should start to turn. No excessive force needed.

If this sounds complicated, do as @Dad3353 said: visit someone that has the experience needed.

Toby sure is one nice instrument. GLW...

"Fast 24 fret neck, nice low action..."

I am wondering that first word. I am not a flashy player so should I find a slow neck? Where from?

51 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

They say it does not work with active basses.

I don't get it. Why wouldn't it work? Lo-Z signal it cannot be, levels are practically the same as with hi-Z. Sounds strange.

A X-over is the way to really tweak the high end (*) while keeping low end clear and functional. After trying many OD/fuzz/dist pedals, X-over made many of them functional if the full band sound was miserable (like they so often tended to be). Flanger/chorus is the same, you can adjust all parametres freely, and the low end stays intact.

(*) To me high end here means frequencies over 400 Hz. Your cross over f may vary.

Sorry, @SamIAm, I am late just like @cdog. Have posted this elsewhere, too. These chords are played with three strings only (it's easy to move or expand these across the fretboard). Play and listen to the chord voices. May help you to find some interesting sounds and possibilities. Sorry for funny coding of the four first triads: v = diminished, m = minor, d = major, y = augmented; I did this with a matrix printer maybe +30 years ago. Cross on a dot means the root note. To compare these, start the pattern from the same root note, like E (played from the seventh fret of the string A). You need to move your hand every now and then to keep the one-finger-per-fret idea through the chords.

Concentrate first to the minor and major triads, then study 6, m7, 7, mMaj7, and Maj7. The rest is jazz. Where's my coat?

One easy approach in playing is not to go to the next note from the direction you are coming from: say from A string third fret C to D string third fret F via D string first fret Eb. Then play that same C and approach the F from D string's 5th fret G.

In other words starting from the beginning of the Smoke on the water:

C - Eb - F or C - Eb - E - F (or C - Eb - Gb - F, or the now funny sounding major version C - E - F, and C - E - G - F, and so on)

How about this, then:

C - G - F or C - G - Gb - F (and C - Gb - Eb - F, or C - Gb - E - F etc.)

You end up to the same place but they all sound very different. If you use four notes instead of three, you need to rethink the phrasing, the rhythm.

Something Scandinavian:

- Bass Buddha (Denmark)

- These go to eleven (Sweden)

- Kitarapaja (Finland)

I think there was some shop in Estonia, too, but I've forgotten the name.

One list should include links to local forums, like zikinf (France), bassic (Germany), etc.

Consider scaling the body to 95 % or so a bit like Rhonda Smith. You can't see it, but it's there. If there are any ergonomic issues, this is the place to act.

Have to say that although the text is a rough simplification (all details are not too accurate), it gives an idea of what's going on.

That plastic printing is probably the easiest to misunderstand: first the plastic of the printed parts is removed. There you have a mesh. Then that mesh is put to a sintering oven. Not your Whirlpool: that requires special atmosphere, and high temp among others. The end result is far more smaller than the printed part. How to get a good, usable part depends on the parametres of design, printing, shapes, and sintering.

A note: last time I checked: a set of 600 units was cheaper that a mold, but if more units were needed the mold became cheaper. Here the volume of the part was smaller than a hand.

Machining is still a very good choice, if the part is doable with traditional techniques.

5 hours ago, rwillett said:

I have no experience in metal printing and there are some tiny but vital dovetails that hold each semi circular component in place and allow it to rotate.

AM (additive manufacturing) requires lots of money or a visit to a shop that has a printer.

Last time I made calculations of a machine (250 x 250 x 250 mm printing volume), and the system cost was something like £500 000. This included all premises and a storage as well as other tools needed.

[Smallest machines were meant for jewelery, or dentistry (printing area Ø 90 mm), and were under £80 000. Machines I studied were from EOS, SLM, Matsuura and alike.]

The big issue with printers few years back was not the price of the printer, but the quality of the result. Every part needed quite a lot of post processing. I suppose this hasn't changed that much in six years.

If you can use any other method than AM, like machining, use that. Plastic printing is really different beast compared to AM in terms of a system price, the need for post processing, and cost of materials.

For me it's the neck: thickness, width, scale length... and definitely not with a maple fretboard! Then the playability (ergonomics) of the whole instrument. If there are nice details but the instrument itself sounds dull (with my preferred strings, of course), I cannot go with one. To buy without test drive... complicated. But I have succeeded twice.

Just now, admiralchew said:

Which pedal is it you're trying to identify?

That black one with a rat and five cheese balls. Second row from the bottom, beside the Heliotropic.

Even a small monitor may be your friend (it doesn't have to be bass specific). Put it to a mic stand close to you, and you'll hear a lot at low volume.