Boodang

Dearie me, standard tuning is so last century! Tuning in flatten fifths of the pythagorean system by a quarter of a syntonic comma is all the rage these days.

It gets worse! 5, 4, miss out 3, then 2 gets a mention!!! I'm currently a 3 string bass player but that's mainly due to having broken a string.

The fact that 3 string basses have been totally ignored in all of this is a tragedy. All 3 string bassists should be mortally offended.

After damaging my hearing when young in stupidly loud bands, it's now too painful for me to have excessive volume on stage. I used to wear decent earplugs but recently I bought an XR18 and now the band have gone in ears, with the exception of our new singer who's not used to them and uses a monitor. However, a second band I've just started up are still in the old 'valve amps' stage and while it's not that loud, the overall volume is out of my control. So what I'm doing is running a signal to the XR18, even if it's not going from there to FoH, and then creating my own monitor mix to my in ears and thus can now control the volume to a certain extent. Overall benefit though, apart from reducing volume, is the quality of the monitor mix I hear which is totally under my control and makes a huge difference live.

If I wanted to play a 5 string I could pretty much buy anything I wanted but I haven't found one that can do the job. Imho 31hz is just too low and the tension on the string, no matter the scale length, makes it feel wrong (bearing in mind my upright is 41" scale and just about right I reckon for low E, although the full scale 44" is better!). Actually my 5 string high C is a custom Sei bass and originally I strung it low B... for all of a week! After which I discovered the joys of the high C, Gwizdala style but without the talent. Which all reminds me of a bass Overwater made ages ago which was a 4 string 36" scale where it was tuned low C, which felt good but not if you tuned it down to B (actually quite fancy that bass now as it would be different). Also, as @Dan Dare says, how are you going to reproduce 31hz?! Do you take folded double 18 bins with you to gigs? Most bass cabs, or at least ones you can carry and fit into a car, start going -3db at 80hz and -9db at 41hz let along 31hz, so you're struggling with low E let alone B. So for me that's another issue. Even if you're happy with the way the bass plays, you still can't really reproduce the bottom end properly. Bag End used to do a system with a dedicated processor and speaker which they reckoned could do it but obviously not cheap, and outside of a big PA system I'd say you're struggling to get a speaker to do anything but fart at those frequencies.

I play a 5 string but it's high C. For me low B doesn't play like the other strings, undefined and basically just a giant fart sound. The rest the time I play a 4 string fretless or an EuB. I certainly don't feel the need for that lower string. Part of the reason for this, I believe, is that I centre myself on C of the E string (8th fret), which I put down to mostly working with piano players rather than guitarists. As a result I naturally feel like I have a lot of lower notes to choose from rather than starting at the lowest note on the bass and the only way is up! So basically I think you'll be fine going standard 4 string, you just need to rethink your tonal centre.

I reached a similar position recently. To cure this, I took up drumming and now we've started all over again!

What's the specific set?

Ah, but many hours of practice mean that drummers hit things with more style!

Actually, as a side note to this (and as a drummer myself), the drum forums that are out there are not very active compared to the bass ones. I put this down to the fact that drummers are too busy practicing and improving their art rather than talking about it. Which reminds me, I should go and practice!

Ooh, a 3 leaf Enabler, you don't see one of those often.

It's a really nice 1176 style comp and preamp. Range control is the mid range and it has lows and high eq.

For Status to make a graphite bass!

Age isn't relevant, it's whether you have something musically interesting to say. Not particularly a Stones fan but had a listen to Angry and was pleasantly surprised.

Drybell Unit 67 might fit the bill except it's not cheap and you lose the DI.

BGs have it easy, try strings for DB.... currently I'm using Obligato's which are about £250 a set. Admittedly you don't have to change them very often but you do need a spare set as well. For BG I use TI flats and Galli Synthesis, about £45 a set. For me strings are an essential part of my sound and feel, so price really isn't the issue. Cheap or expensive, so long as they sound and feel good, although it seems to be the not cheap ones that fit the bill.

The mxr has gain and volume attenuation so could work to tame the signal level. I like using a small mixer as you have meters to show what the signal is actual doing. The small behringer I use cost about £30 and is so useful.

You could always put the pedal through a small mixer before the 212 to control the signal output. For my pedal board I control the signal levels using an EHX trimixer as some pedals need taming and others need boosting.

When you say too loud do you mean too aggressive? I quite fancy getting this pedal as it has the funkulator and line driver circuit as well the rest of the preamp driver. Might make for a good live pedal.

I don't think 8 is too young but you definitely want a teacher who can tailor lessons for that age. Recently I took on a 10 year old student for drumming and previous to this the youngest I've taught was 16. What a difference! Took me by surprise a bit but we've soon adapted and it's going well. The kid is very keen, definitely a natural born drummer (wants to hit and destroy everything), but short attention span, and surprisingly considering I'm not young and he is, not much stamina. I guess every kid will be different but also it seems very different from teaching an adult. PS I was looking to give inspiration to the youngster by suggesting drummers from the past to listen to. I was thinking about drummers that you could learn from technically like Steve Gadd. The drummer that inspired him the most to practice... Keith Moon playing an acrylic kit with gold fish in it. I'm not sure what kind of drumming monster I might have unleashed!

Warwick make an arch top acoustic Helborg signature bass. In an interview with Helborg he said the only reason for the deep acoustic body was ergonomic and that it had no impact on the sound which he believes comes from the strings and pickup.

When I first got the combo, the sound from the cabinet was totally underwhelming. The preamp sounded like the 'studio grade' amp it was advertised as but the speakers most definitely didn't. When Bag End stopped making the speakers used in the first iteration of the combo, SWR installed the cheapest Celestions (BG8) drivers for the BBII. When I put the Peerless speakers in, the amp came to life.... especially with the fretless and the 'aural enhancer' control. Always surprises me when companies with supposedly high end products, use cheap speakers.

Actually the drivers are from the Danish company Peerless and they are the HDS series... cast aluminium frame, polypropylene cones. As opposed to the original Celestions which were pressed steel and paper!

I've got the schematic, so I'm just going to have to go through the amp meticulously with the multimeter. It's a discrete component amp, so if the output transistors are gone, hopefully I can find replacements. If I don't get very far with fixing it, I am back in the uk in nov so that might be an option. Quite attached to the little combo, so I definitely want it working. Bought it 20 years ago and I've worked it hard since with no issues until now. The preamp has a great sound and once i changed the cheap celestions for some decent speakers it was good for gigs as well.

Unfortunately there's no decent repair technician in Islamabad... and I'm not exaggerating. So it's just me (I am an electronics technician but not a specialist in audio amps), and the schematic I'm afraid.