Jolltax

HI Fats, you are rehearsing for gigs after one year of playing, blimey I have also been playing for a year and freak out playing in front of my teacher, lol I also recently started watching Joe Dart and am now a fan ..... 👍

Hi Paul,welcome and a nice looking bass! I am a beginner also, so no authority, but if Mr Google is correct you got a bargain!

Hi Chazzy, we have a lot in common, I recently started playing (February), am more 'mature' than you 👴! I also decided to build my first ever cabinet using a guide from here and support of members instead of buying one ( I did the lockdown build 10"one) Only tip I would give you is don't wait too long to find a teacher, I learnt for the first 7 months on my own from video courses online and have got into some bad habits out of ignorance. Stay funky bro!

Hi @Biscuit_Bass I recently took up bass also, I am 55 yo - I have a bit of arthritis in one elbow (and my knees), playing bass hasn't really made anything worse (I always play sat down) and the soreness / aching I get in fingers after a big practice session is really just the result of me training my fingers / muscles to stretch so I think you can probably expect a bit of that! I found slap a bit uncomfortable so I just play finger style currently (probably because I have zero technique) Only tip I would give you it try not to accidentally buy a very heavy bass, I have one (a Harley Benton) and it makes surprising difference from a comfort perspective. J

Not that another example is needed, but I also have a Harley Benton JB-75MN and much as I enjoy playing it, I have to agree that it is ridiculously heavy, mine is completely stock, I just weighed it at 5.5 kg (12 lbs). My Sire MM M2 is 3.5 kg ( under 8 lbs) by comparison.

@BassassinI am very happy with it, thanks for the info and I have saved the catalogue. I am also kind of puzzled why it is in such good and apparently original condition, the only thing I can think is that the original owners didn't use it / travel with it. The description of the pickup is really interesting and explains why the output is high for a passive bass, it certainly surprised me when I played it for the first time! J

I went to look at a Peavey Zodiac bass advertised in a local shop window for £99 and the guy showed me this Ibanez Roadstar II as well, according to Dr Google its a RB620NT from around 1983 (but open to advice on this). I am a beginner player and don't know much about gear but whatever it is, it spoke to me, and so I went home to find the cash, google it and went back today and got it, very grateful to the seller. I paid £180 It seems in strangely good condition for its age, better than I was at 38 years old, maybe it has been worked on? One of those situations where I don't really know what I bought ... but I like it 🤨. It seems pretty genuine, but again, I have no idea ... I took the photos straight away when I got home before the light left, still undusted, as I wanted to post this and see whether people think I made a wise choice. I practiced with it this evening and it surprised me how lively the output is, for a passive bass it seems to have quite a kick compared to my (one) other passive bass, I love the feel of the neck - it is a P-bass type? No idea, lol. I think it needs a setup and some strings and the neck looks a tiny bit torqued / twisted, is that usual for an old instrument? Plays ok to me, though. I get the impression it has been stored and unplayed for a while 5-10 years, any advice on what I should do with it to restore to full health? Anyway, I am very happy with it, I feel like I need to get some flares to wear while I am playing it to properly do it justice, here are some pics : Groovy! J

I bought the Ibanez, very happy. I will post some pictures in a NBD thread The guy is still selling the Peavey (which looks in fantastic condition) and the guy is also selling an Ashdown head unit (Evo ii 600W he says) and cab, both look like really good deals to me, if anyone is interested in getting his contact details then PM me and I will pass them on and you can contact him

Starting to panic that you might live near me ... I am sure the other Shetlanders would have noticed 🐑

@kodiakblairI'm going to get back in touch tomorrow and if I decide not to buy the Peavey and get the Ibanez I'll ask the guy if he minds me passing on his phone number. It does looks hardly used and in great condition, as you mentioned I don't think its a DE Scorpio signature model, I think he mis-googled.

Hi guys, I went to look at the Peavey bass and its in fantastic condition and looks like a great deal, the only reason I didn't buy it is that the guy showed me an old Ibanez Roadstar II in very nice condition especially considering its age, it looks a bit like a P-bass and is more expensive but I really liked it so I had to go away and sleep on whether to spend the extra cash on it instead. It looks like this one, was thinking about selling my Harley Benton Jazz bass to offset the cost difference. Aargh

OK cool, if its still for sale I think I'll go check it out. It's a poor photo of a photo but checking online I see what you mean about the scratchplate

Saw this is my local shop window and was wondering whether it is a decent instrument, had no idea who Dave Ellefson is but according to Google is / was a Megadeth bass player, seems like a pretty low price - are they usually this cheap? I don't know hardly anything about Peavey and never seen one in a shop, is it just a cheapy or worth having a look and making an offer ?

Wow, I completely missed those, thank you - its a lot to go through, fantastic. I will make a donation Is there an easy way to download them ?

I am a beginner and trying to wean myself off TAB and use 'proper' music notation. Based on my teachers recommendation I have been working my way through the Hal Leonard Bass Method which I have found useful (especially the accompanied pieces). My sight reading is making decent progress. I mainly like contemporary music (soul, rock, some blues). When I practice after working on my latest page of Hal Leonard I like to chill out by trying to play along with my favourites on Youtube (e.g. currently trying to learn 'Its my life' by Talk Talk which so far I can only play at 75% speed and 'Aint no love in the Heart of the City' Black Pumas version 🙃). The issue is that its amazing how many songs I can find in TAB format but I am finding it challenging trying to find contemporary stuff in sheet music format. I don't necessarily expect it to be free, and don't mind paying for it. I wonder if there is a music publisher online selling sheet music for stuff like this? My question is : Could anyone recommend a good source of sheet music or good compilation books for Bass beginners who want to play contemporary music? J

I also used to use direct monitoring for the same reason (horrible latency) but (on my PC) I eventually worked out how to solve the latency issue by ensuring I was using the right ASIO driver and adjusting the buffer settings in the software. The main advantage really is that you can then use all the software pedals, emulators and effects in your DAW which is kind of cool, and of course you can record directly into the DAW if you are composing (not something I do) I'm sorry I wouldn't know where to start on an Apple computer but my guess is its probably solvable in the software if you know how. Anyway, hopefully my pre-amp / Zoom thing will hopefully give my JB a bit more juice plus a few cool options J

Not silly at all. I can use direct monitoring but my current Focusrite interface doesn't have a blend knob it just has a switch i.e. 100% raw signal. Using it means I also can't apply any effects in my DAW - unless I use 'Direct' when the audio comes via USB to the PC it is already mixed I do also however have another audio interface (a Behringer) which does have a blend knob - it still means I can't apply any effects. I was thinking the same thing and almost pushed the button on this as I know its a bargain, after a lot of thought (and googling) I decided to instead buy a Zoom B1 four and try that, its a bit more expensive but for a first pedal it has a few other very cool features (tuner, looper, drum samples). Something like this look right? I really appreciate all the helpful replies, thanks so much! I'll let you know how it goes if the DPD guy ever finds my house (this is a bit of a lottery) J

Love it, no issues in Vivaldi here, so much better on the eyes Thank you!

I am looking for a bit of advice on solving a problem with the output of my Harley Benton Jazz Bass when playing via my Focusrite audio interface into my computer. Been learning for a few months now, I have two basses - A Sire Marcus Miller M2 and a Harley Benton JB-75, I tend to alternate between them on a daily basis when practicing and enjoy them both. I practice almost exclusively wearing headphones and using my audio interface as it minimises the disturbance to others in the house. I cable straight from the bass into the audio interface input. I find that my Sire, which has is active and presumably has plenty of output has no issue playing this way and I can boost the volume relative to my other sources on my PC without distortion using the gain on my Audio Interface. My HB jazz bass is a different story, what ever my Focusrite audio interface has under the bonnet seems unable to boost the signal enough and starts to distort in a horrible way when I turn up the gain and with the volume on the bass at max. My 'out-loud' setup with a Warwick Gnome i Pro amp and homemade speaker has no issues with either, the amp doesn't appear to have a pre-amp out unfortunately. The Jazz bass also seem noisy compared to my Sire, but I have read this is not unexpected with a passive bass. Would I be correct in assuming that the Audio Interface just doesn't have enough juice to lift the signal from the passive bass without distortion? As a potential solution I have been looking at bass pre-amps like the Aguilar Tone Hammer and wondering whether they would be a good potential solution, although very cool it seems expensive (for someone at my stage anyway!)- maybe something second hand would be an option? Has anyone else encountered this issue and what would people recommend as solutions? I got the input switched to 'Inst' and I usually use a DAW on the PC (to add effects or whatever) and listen via the headphones, it works out really well for playing along with YouTube etc Cheers! J

Just for completeness I thought I would post a picture of mine finished ... ish. I have never actually been able to play out loud since I started learning in February and have always used headphones and my audio interface, I completed most of the build a while ago but wasn't able to try it out until my amplifier arrived a few days ago (I ordered a Warwick head unit which took 4 weeks to arrive). The build quality / finish of my cabinet is not that fantastic as I am not really a 'detail' guy but its certainly sturdy, e.g. I just bought a can of black paint and went mental on it and there's a few sharp bits. Obviously I don't have any reference for comparison but for my small room it is very loud and I had to turn everything down a lot (I think I am on the lowest volume the amp will turn down to) , my left ear is still recovering from the test, lol. Its also interesting, playing through a speaker seems a lot more forgiving, I sound better out loud than I do through headphones! Overall I am pretty happy, I don't know how it would compare with an off-the-shelf unit but I enjoyed the build process and learnt some stuff. Thank you to the peeps in this thread who provided the design and the guidance, much appreciated. 😎 J

PLease could I just clarify a couple of things on wiring the crossover and the speaker internals : Is it correct to wire the speakers in parallel from the input connector with the crossover just to to the HF speaker, as they are both 8 Ohms in parallel will the speaker then be 4 Ohms? The connector thing I got for the back panel has two sets of connectors 1+ 1- and 2+ 2-, does it matter which ones I connect to or does the amp drive both? Thanks in advance J

More dumb questions! Went to my carpet place to get underfelt and they say they don't really use felt any more but have this stuff they use when they are installing underfloor insulation? Do I need to extend the length of my tubey port thing, what does a baffle brace look like? Its sunny today so I'm off outside to start cutting holes and stuff! J

The sun came out for long enough for me to get a bit done, so I built a boxy type thing, still need to put in the braces which are cut but not yet installed, I am just letting it dry overnight with the front and back bits in. Its not as straight as I would like because some of the plywood I bought was a bit warped but it will work OK, I ploughed on regardless, I also didn't use quite the right baton, mine is slightly bigger and I couldn't wait for it to be in stock.. I am planning to line it with some carpet I got left over unless I can find some underlay. Did I mention I am somewhat of a bodger? I also got an order of bits and pieces to fit to it from Aran, I am such a dumbass I didn't realise that the ME10 thing wasn't actually the tweeter (although it did seem quite cheap), Celestion CDX1-1070 added to the parts list I haven't bought the drivers yet because I will need to wait for next month, especially now I know I need 2. I also won't be able to actually hear it until I buy a head amp, I like the look of Warwick gnome. Enjoying myself, if it works it will be a bonus .... 😎

OK, I got the wood, I am working on a parts list for the other stuff so I can place orders, looking back in the thread I wasn't exactly clear on the tweeter is it right? : Celestion PULSE 10 10" 200 watt 8ohm Bass Guitar Speaker B&C ME10 1inch Throat Horn 90 x 60 Dispersion Monacor MBR-100 100mm Bass Reflex Tuning Port Tube Case/Speaker Cabinet Feet 38mm x 15mm Connector Dish with 2 x NL4MP Speakons and Terminal Block Plastic case/speaker/cabinet stacking corner Convair Air Cored Inductor 0.13mH 38mm OD 0.9mm wire Crossover Capacitor Metallised Polypropylene 2.2uF 250V (Narrow) Cement Resistor SQZ 10W 4.7 Ohm (PCB Mount) Some questions : Electrical components : couldn't find an exact inductor so got one close - will this be OK? I've got some chocolate block I can use for the 'solderless' version or I might solder it onto a board, haven't decided yet Could someone explain in a little bit more detail how each speaker is connected to the crossover, it looks like the 10" is directly connected to the amplifier and the crossover circuit is connected only to the tweeter is that right? Also the wiring diagram show a 1W (2.8V rms) power amp, which I was a bit confused about - do I need to worry about this? Could I use carpet instead to muffle the enclosure? I already have some I could use, I could line the enclosure with it As long as its sturdy I am not really worried about the cosmetics so I might not paint it but will try and find a speaker grill to protect the driver at some point. Cheers! J

Thanks so much for your reply @Phil Starr, I have a load more questions about the build but first I think I will bang together the box before asking about the speakery stuff. I'm gonna head down to my local wood store and get some stuff cut. I will have loads more dumb questions once its done and before I order the bits. I don't have anywhere to build / wood work inside so in my case progress is at least somewhat dependant on having some better weather! J