Count Bassy

No, but was considering buying a second power supply for my Tascam GT- R1 from them, so also interested in peoples comments.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1381695614' post='2242571'] You've heard of summat called marketing and public relations, right? [/quote] Off course, and it may be that. Certainly the fact that it has been videoed and put on the net is a marketing exercise and not some altruistic gesture to share the knowledge. He may even be an actor playing the bumbling craftsman to sucker us all in, but I don't see how that affects my comments. To repeat/clarify the core of my point: It may be a "load of bollocks", but I don't have enough knowledge to pass comment either way. However, it's not a great leap to see how the resonance of a piece of wood when hit with a hammer might give an indication of how it will sound on a guitar, so I am reluctant to slag the bloke off as talking a load of bollocks based on that video. Other people seem not to share that reluctance.[size=4] If some experienced builders came on this site and contradicted what he says from a position of knowledge then I'd pay them far more heed.[/size] [size=4]If, say, John Shuker put a video up saying that same thing would be be slagging that off as marketing hype? I suspect not. It would be "Oooh its John Shuker, it must be true", when in reality the bloke in the video has probably built (all right - assembled) more guitars than John Shuker will in his life time.[/size] [size=4]Hasten to add that I have nothing against John Shuker, its just a name of a builder who gets mentioned a lot round here.[/size] [size=4]In the past I've seen threads about health and safety, and seen how keen you are to defend your professional position and knowledge. I just think that, in the absence of knowledge to the contrary, we should give this [/size][size=4]the bloke benefit of the doubt regarding his professional opinion.[/size]

It seems odd to me that we have a forum of mostly amateurs (when it comes to bass building) slagging off someone who has been doing it as a career for quite a few years. i.e. "I can't understand how tapping a piece of wood with a hammer can help predict its tone in a guitar, so therefore it must be wrong". Are these the same armchair experts that shout their valued advice to the professional players while watching Man. U. V. Chelsea on the telly? It may well be a load of old bollocks, but I personally would not venture to slag someone else off when I don't know any better myself. Also I agree that he gets a bit muddled in places, but so might I if my boss said "explain your job on video". I also agree that with an electric guitar tone can be manipulated in many ways, which can reduce the effect of woods, but as a general principal in life (IMHO) its best to get the fundamentals right and build on that. I.e. build on rock rather than sand. And on the technical side of hitting it with a hammer. This is a common and accepted technique when determining resonances in machine tool structures (though monitored by accelerometers rather than by ear).

[quote name='stu_g' timestamp='1381499582' post='2239928'] i gotta say i just dont like bass solo's ,in my youth i was all for a drum or bass solo i just dont understand some of these bass players with say 6 string plus basses doing all this solo shenanighans they should get a guitar it would sound nicer i wouldnt go busking with a bass if i wanted to get any money [/quote] Very few bass solos that I like, and the ones I do tend to be slower melodic ones; Slap and tap fests leave me pretty cold. My favourite bass solo has to be Martin Turner's at the start of Wishbone Ash's Handy (on the "Wishbone Ash" album). Edited to add a link: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EcT_I8kxZ4[/media] Edited again to say. I really hope that this is a solo and not multi-tracked.

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1381353898' post='2238132'] I'm self employed, my time has a cost. It is cheaper in the long run for me to take a bass to someone who knows what they're doing than spend the time learning how to do it (possibly badly) myself. It's the same logic by which I employ an accountant, an insurance broker and a lawyer. Steve [/quote] So how do you justify practising your bass? You'd surely be better off not doing that yourself, but pay to go and watch someone else doing it? [size=4] [/size] I used to be self employed, but used to allow myself some time off without thinking how much I could be earning.

[quote name='4000' timestamp='1381336679' post='2237839'] I have a friend who's an electrician. If I asked him to set his guitar up he'd cry.;-) Again, what you define as a setup may be simple, but I would include things in a setup, at least potentially, that you wouldn't. Unless your frets etc are perfect, assuming you like low action, you simply can't do a decent basic setup. [/quote] Comes down to what you mean by "perfect" and "decent" and "low action". Also depends very much on what the action is when you start and what you want to achieve. In principle I agree with the OP. At the end of the day it's engineering, not some sort of black art. Some people might feel more comfortable with it than others, and some might prefer to pay someone to do it for them (totally up to to them and I have no problem with that). I've always done my own. I've never done any fret dressing or nut cutting, but have always been happy enough with the results. If I felt that the frets needed dressing then I'd probably give it to someone else to do, but relief, action, and intonation I'd always do it myself. After all if you paid someone for a set up and then decided to change make or gauge of string then it would need re-doing again anyway, which gets expensive. I guess a significant dividing line in what people feel comfortable with is whether the action is reversible. Relief, neck shimming, Bridge height and intonation are all reversibly. Nut cutting and fret dressing aren't.

Your post is being privatised!

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1381131669' post='2234580'] You are Neil Murray and I claim my five pounds. [/quote] I'd be happy to sound like Neil Murray.

Get a two pole "Make before Break" double throw switch Use one pole to short the output on the jack socket to earth, and use the other pair to open the battery connection. Then the output is shorted/Muted fractional before the battery is disconnected. and when turning on the battery is connected and the output un-muted a fraction later. However, if the power up time of the pre-amp is longer than the both on time of the switch you might still have a problem.

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1380697915' post='2228945'] And here's me thinking I'm just a grumbly male menopausal grumpy old git! [/quote] Just because the rest of us are as well doesn't mean that you're not!!

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1380660548' post='2228715'] You can filter items by proximity to your post code in eBay. [/quote] Yes I do that, but then you don't see the ones that are outside the radius and willing to ship. Would be nice if there was a filter to eliminate collection only items.

I'm trying to buy some speakers to put in our practice room and have exactly the same problem. Looking on E-bay 90% of all offerings are collection only which is really frustrating. Sellers perogative of course, but as you say, they are reducing their market place drastically. It would be really great if E-bay would let you filter items so that you only saw items that offered delivery, or were within a certain radius.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1380056160' post='2220346'] Mel Collins! Yes, yes, yes! [/quote] Note a King Crimson fan (Don't dislike them either), but three more yes's to Mel Collins. One of my favourite saxophonists ever.

By having two coil slightly apart in the classic humbucker there will be certain high order harmonics that will be out of phase in thetwo coils and thus cancl out, which I imaging would affect the tone to some extent. I.e the fundamental will be in phase in both coils. Rather like having both pickups on in a Jazz (but much less of course).

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1379958561' post='2218774'] He did say small/medium venues though. I think band tend to scimp on P.A's ... and for the few pubs we do, we will just put the tops up... but there are tops and TOPS. You can count the band round here with GOOD P.A's on one hand, tbh...and the vox sounding as good as poss is something to aim for. If I was doing it on the cheap... I'd go for a decent Soundcraft mixer into Martin cabs...with decent power amps, That will cost you about £1500 min if you are very lucky to find them..and isn't likely to be the lightest... Be careful with SH gear that will have had a pasting but can't really take it. If I've heard one band with a blown P.A ..then I heard a fair few. Sorry, soapbox here... but I really don't understanhd bands rehearsing to get it right, and then sound poor ..and it isn't the playing. It is core sounds being poor..... and if you get these right, the sound checks are so much easierf..AND faster. [/quote] I'm not really arguing with you. In principle go for the best PA you can afford (up to a point), but for some bands £5K is out of the question, especially if your just starting up, and you can get away with a lot less if you're careful (as you illustrate yourself). I'm not quite sure what constitutes a 'small' venue, or when that becomes 'medium', but I would say that most pubs (round here at least) would count as small if you're playing in the main bar areas.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1379863338' post='2217506'] Having said that a band is a communial expense, a good P.A can set a band back £5k easily enough ...and various band member can have that tied up in their own kit...so it is not so much who owns it, but who sets it up and who carries it [/quote] Although if you take your time and buy second hand you can get a very reasonable PA for a lot less than that. Depends on what type of gigs you're doing. You don't need a £5K PA for the average pub gig! IMO of course!. And a useful hint I was given was to always set up the mix before you start adding any effects, reverb and stuff (hate reverb myself).

But, as mentioned, a nut problem will put all the bottom end frets out (getting less as you move away from the nut), and the OP only mentions the 3rd fret.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1379091602' post='2208642'] It still annoys me that the bass player didn't get a solo at the end of the film, whereas everyone else did. [/quote] She was probably too busy chewing gum, by the looks of this video!

Screw a lot of lead weights on to it?

I had this with an acoustic guitar and is was a duff string, so I'd suggest changing strings first., and think again if its still the same. Is the tuning at all the other frets OK?

[quote name='Junkyard Rocket' timestamp='1378502779' post='2201352'] Martin Petersen once told me that its best not to and you shouldn't need to cut strings to length. But what does he know! I bet he's not tried string an ashbory recently. [/quote] I always do, because if you don't then on a 2 + 2 (or similar) head layout you get a stupid amount of string round your G string spigot, which pushes the string to the top or bottom of the spigot, and it just looks horrible. Also, I've read here that if you have too much round the spigot then it won't hold tune so well. I seem to remember reading on a manufacturer's web site somewhere (Fender I think), that you should cut the strings so that they go beyond the spigot by about 3 inches. I'v always done that and it works for me. Of course if you one of these who leaves 6 inches of string flailing in the air then it's not a problem. One problem with cutting them in advance is, of course, that if you have 2+2 and in-line style basses (or string through/not string through bridges) then you can't change your mind as to which bass to put them on.

[quote name='Mr Bassman' timestamp='1378506668' post='2201395'] Just tell her to mind her own business and get back in the kitchen! Ouch!!!!! [/quote] If you hadn't left the chain so long she'd never have got out in the first place.

A serious one: Cut your spare set of strings to length before you put them in the case/gig bag. Saves a lot of time and hassle on the night if an unscheduled string change is required.

AFAICR I've only played one Mexican Fender which is my MIM Urge Mk1. It's a great instrument. Sounds good an plays well. I also have a USA built one. It is a better instrument, but mainly in terms of features (E.g. smaller head stock, enclosed (Better IMO) tuners, extra pick up, passive/active, micro tilt neck etc) rather than fundamental build quality. Neck and fret board on the Mex are great. It cost me half what the US one cost and was worth every penny. Sadly moved onto 5 strings these days so neither gets played much.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1378334370' post='2198969'] Its analogue because the pulses can be any width. And a filter isn't a digital to analogue converter. [/quote] Any width that's a multiple of the controlling DSP clock (might be thinking more in terms of servo amplifiers here), and the filter takes a digital signal (all right, one bit resolution) and generates a true analogue value. Sound like an D to A process to me, if not in the conventional sense. So is a bit in my PC memory, that can be set to 0 or 1 for any length of time, an analogue device? According some definitions here the only thing that's digital on my computer is the sound card, because it has A/D and D/A converters.! Please don't think I'm taking this too seriously by the way. It's just a bit of banter you know. Irrespective of what we call them here's a link to an interesting, not too technical, article on how they work, including some of their short-comings. [url="http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1274757"]http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1274757[/url]