Count Bassy

I've got one of the Fender floor pedal type units and its great. Seems very tough , with a big bright unambiguous display, which I can even read when stood up, even without my glasses. Mutes the output while tuning, or not, according to which socket you use. Seems to tune down to a B with no problem. Only problems: You actually have to stamp on it quite hard to turn it on/off. If you leave it on and with the input connected it sits and eats batteries, buts thats really down to operator error. Also have a Korg AT-12 analogue unit with a real moving needle. Also excellent, and probably a better tuner, will generate a pitch and allows none concert pitch tuning etc, but not really up to stage use.

IIRC: If you have a valve amplifier with an output transformer then you get the most efficient power transfer from the transformer to the speaker when the output impedance of the transformer is the same as the impedance of the speaker. So although lowering speaker impedance increases the internal power of the amp more of rtaht power is lost in the amp output stages, so you don't get double the power at the speaker. Mind you its about 30 years since I studied this.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='223680' date='Jun 21 2008, 04:57 PM']Were it not so we could use 0.4 ohm speakers. That would be a very good thing as far as the efficiency of the speakers is concerned, but would require an entire retool of the amp/speaker relationship from low voltage high current to high voltage low current.[/quote] The other way round surely?

Out of interest, do you notice, in the first pic, how far he's pulled that A string over in the act of plucking it! He must be one hard player. No letting the amp to the work for him!

Well yes, the wood is lovely, but I don't like the shape at all. However it does lead me to ask what exactly, of practical use, do you get in a 16K bass that you would not get in a 1K (or even less) bass?

[quote name='Jase' post='226354' date='Jun 24 2008, 11:56 PM']I've used one on a Jazz, no trouble with the clips, apart from when I put it in the case, tuck it in before you close the lid Oh! and they're very smooth too...so smooth you can do this.. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqh6_QPhTvE&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqh6_QPhTvE...feature=related[/url][/quote] Now try that with the cable plugged in!

A shameless bump to try and get some more opinions. The reviews on the web are so diverse that it makes me wonder if the cases went through a spec change at some point. For example one person describes the lining as thin and scratchy 'Like it was sprayed on', and another describes it as 'soft and plush'. In the meantime, thanks for your comments Mothra.

Well, I'm amazed. I was expecting a good slapping for my heretic tendencies! I can't believe that my thoughts we're that compelling that there was nothing to add, so I guess thay must have been really really stoopid (sic). Come on, someone either put me right or argue with me. Clive

Mustang Sally, Pickup the Peices, Can't get enough, et al are popular for a reason. They are good songs/tunes. They may not be overly clever or complicated, but people enjoy hearing them, which at the end of the day is (IMHO) what music is about ! To bring in another food (well, drink) analogy. You sometimes come across these beer festivals that specialise in wierd and obscure (and often stupidly strong) beers. When you try these beers it's all to clear why they remain obscure!. Mustang Sally is a GreeneKing IPA or London Pride type tune. Many original tunes fall into the old Peculiar/Santas Knob class of tune. Very interesting, but not actually drunk that much. Having said that more power to those people creating originals, that's where tomorrow's classics will come from. If an original song writer is very lucky he might even come up with something as popular as Mustang Sally himself! (although they might then slag it off for being too popular)!!

I am a fan of 32" scale basses, although the general consensus seems that they don't have the same tone as a 34" scale, and that 35" is better again. Anyway: I've just bought a second hand Ibanez GWB35 - a 34" scale 5 string (I would have gone for 32" again except 5 string lined fretless 32" scale basses don't seem to exist within my budget). Anyway this is my first 5 string and I've found myself playing it up around the 5th fret, i.e. if I want to play in E I'm 'basing' it around the B string at the 5th fret rather than the open E string, dropping down the B string for the low notes as required (bear in mind that this is my first 5 string experience and I'm still finding my way) Anyway, what this is leading up to is that I find the E produced at the 5th fret of the B string is perfectly acceptable, a slightly different tone to the open E, but acceptable. So, if I were to use the same gauge strings shouldn't I be able to build a 26.5" scale bass (i.e. 3/4 of 34") tuned E to C, with perfectly acceptable results? String tensions would be exactly the same as in the 5 string (wouldn't they?), and the tone on the E string would be similar to a B string fretted at the 5th (i.e. acceptable). I suppose that what I'm really getting around to that if a 34" scale 4 string bass, drop tuned to a D on the Estring, still produces an acceptable E tone at the second fret, then why shouldn't a 32" scale bass, using the same string gauge produce an equally acceptable E on the open string? This seems logical to me, but is contrary to what most people here seem to say. Just my thoughts, interested in yours.

I've just bought a second hand Ibanez GWB35 (which I'll expand on in a different thread), and I'm thinking of buying a hard case for it. (It came with a gig bag which is great for carrying around, but I prefer a hard case when its stacked in the back of a van with the PA & stuff) Anyway, Ibanez do a suitable case, the MB100C, internally tailored to the Ibanez shape ( I hate sloppy fitting cases), and they don't seem too expensive (£60 - 65 - less than a tank of diesel). I've looked at a a few user reveiws on the net, and they vary from brilliant to complete crap, although there does seem to be a consensus that they don't have must space for extras. Anyway, I'd have far more confidence in any bass chatter's comments, so if you've got one let me know what you think. Thanks in advance chaps (& Chappesses)

Rather late in the day, but Dell notebooks are known for this. There is a problem in the power adaptors that only have the live and neutral connections, ie no earth. With a multimter I can measure 100Vac on the metal parts of the laptop relative to earth! Thankfully its a high resistance so not actually dangerous (so dell Say), but its bloody irritating. Try Googling 'Dell notebook shock' and you'll get pages of hits. Of course Dell insist that is not a problem and that all notebooks have this 'feature'. Strangley no other makes seem to have pages on the web dedicated to it. Of course it might be something else. Run your laptop on batteries and see if the problem goes. If it is the laptop, and its a dell, then give them a call and bollock them!

Tell me about it. Grrrrr. We only do the occasional gig, so when we get one we need plenty of practise to knock everything into shape. We were due to be playing the 5th July in the local pub, and consequently were due to be rehearsing last night and this afternoon (this would have been the last practise before the gig). Last night rang the drummer and the singer up at about 7.30 asking where they were. Apparently they were in the local pub (1/2 mile away, but 'Didn't feel in the mood'. Guitarist tried to ring the drummer this morning about todays practise to be told that he'd gone out and it wasn't known when he'd back! Tis complicated by the fact that the drummer is the guitarists brother, but even the guitarist has had enough of it. This isn't the first time he's messed us about, but I'm determined that it will be the last. Anyway I'm hoping that myself the keys/sax and the guitarists can find another drummer (we have someone in mind), and another singer from somewhere, and get a new band together. It rather hinges on whether the guitarist is up for it, obviously a more difficult decision for him as it's his brother. The sad thing is that I quite like both the drummer and the singer, and they are both very good at what they do, but as band members they are just a pain. So, my thoughts for you would be knock it on the head and move on! However I'm very pissed off at the moment, so I wouldn't take any notice of me. I jus wanted to vent my speen a bit and this thread seemed a good place to do it.

[quote name='Mr Randall' post='221238' date='Jun 18 2008, 11:11 AM']71 fretted Precision[/quote] Hey man, that's almost like 6 octaves!

Sorry I should have put several winking/grinning things with that 'high fallutin' comment. No offence meant in anyway Bilbo!

Agreed! But to take the analogy further, if your used to eating in Michelin 5 start restaurants (i.e. high 'fallutin' creative jazz music) then Macdonalds and Burger King (i.e. cover bands) must be about the same, and both a bitter disspointment. If your used to eating in MacDonalds then discovering Burger King is a small step in the right direction!

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='221110' date='Jun 18 2008, 09:02 AM']VERSION's BANDS??? to suggest that this merits a higher level of creativitiy is like saying Burger King is a classier repost than MacDonald's.[/quote] But it is !!!

[quote name='Jase' post='220849' date='Jun 17 2008, 07:03 PM']Cor, we're starting to split hairs here....cover bands, version bands????? same thing aren't they? [/quote] Well yes, in that they both do songs that have been written/made famous by other people, but no in that one tries to sound like the original and the other doesn't. Broadly speaking its all covers but, in the context of this thread, one means that you learn to copy a bass line exactly (possibly to the exclusion of creativity), and the other doesn't (possibly to of exclusion of accuracy, but with room for some creativity). I'm not making any judgement as to their relative merits here. I'd quite happily play in either, or indeed in an originals band (if only I had the talent). Clive

[quote name='gilmour' post='220779' date='Jun 17 2008, 05:35 PM']I'm surprised that people feel iplaying cover limits or inhibits their creativity. By learning more and more songs you'll increase your 'lick library' and give yourself more chops/styles/ideas to draw on when creating your own. In fact I find the exact opposite, when I'm only playing original stuff I settle into a style and everything sounds the same[/quote] Same here to some extent. As you say playing a cover forces you into doing something that you might not otherwise have thought of. If trying to make things up I too have a (bad) habit of falling back on tried and tested stuff. Having said that the 'covers' band that I am in tends to do 'versions' rather than 'covers'. (My definition of the difference being a cover band tries to sound like the original, reproducing the same bass lines and guitar solos etc, whereas a 'versions' band takes the song and does its own thing with it.) So, to some extent you get the best of both worlds. With our band some songs come out slightly different to the original (eg alright now), others quite quite different (eg superstition) I suppose you could argue that doing versions instead of straight covers is a good excuse when you can't actually play the original correctly!

I guess it depend on your motivation. If you enjoy tinkering and upgrading, and enjoy the results, and learn something in the process, then why not spend a bit of money doing it?. After all most people spend money on their 'hobbies' without any thought of getting their money back. Again, if you've got a bass you're particularly fond of, but want to tweak it rather than trade it in, then why not? If you can't afford the bass you want at the moment, but can afford a different bridge etc, then why not. BUT, ultimatel, as others have said, this will not be a cheap way to get a good bass, and (assuming you've paid the going rate for the various bits) you're not going to get your money back. As long as you realise this befor you start then OK.

The volume control?

[quote name='BigRedX' post='216477' date='Jun 10 2008, 10:46 PM']Um... Did you say the fretted note is sharp? You need to move the saddle back to get the 12th fret note in tune with the harmonic.[/quote] definitley +1

If the power supply was rated for 500mA at 12V then, if it was unregulated, the 'no load' voltage would likely be higher than 12V, as someone has already said. Also, if you put a dead short on it then the voltage would drop below 12V, but the current would go well above the 500mA. If the excess voltage caused one of the solid-state devices to go short, then the resulting current could easily cause a track to burn out. ie the track burning out is probably a symptom rather than the cause. Even if the supply was regulated then 12v is still 33% above 9V! What would you expect your telly to do if you connected it to 320Vac? Behringer stuff is cheap, so it's a bit unfair to expect it to be as tolerant as a Boss or something which costs a lot more, and we don't know how a boss would respond to a 33% overvoltage (dont try it!!). Regards Herr Behringer

Part of me wants to say that at £90 and £100 respectively can't you really go wrong with either of the first two (it costs me over £90 for a tank of diesel these days). The other part of me wants to say that at these prices they've just got be crap, but what with far eastern manufacturing that doesn't always hold true anymore! Just read this and realise that it doesn't actually help much, so I'd also say that at least with the Warwick you're getting a known quantity, and something you could sell on if required, even if it does cost 3 times as much!

I just thought I'd pass this on as most of the threads on the Bass Centre see to be negative. You may have read my thread a week or so ago about dead spots/strings, which turned out to be a duff string. Anyway, I e-mailed the bass centre (it was one of their Elite strings) asking if I could buy a single E string from them, as on the web site they only seem to do sets. They e-mailed back saying they'd send me one for free. The new string arrived this morning and works fine. This may seem just like normal customer service, but I did make it clear to them that I had actually bought the set over six months ago, and not directly from themselves, and that I did not have any receipt or anything, so I think that deserves a big thumbs up to them. Clive