Kongo

[quote name='erisu' post='517619' date='Jun 18 2009, 05:30 PM']Yup I remember changing the strings on this bass and didn't feel any magnetic force pulling the strings I just thought the top end of the bridge holds the strings down when the string goes over the saddle to be strung... You just slide the ball end into the bridge and it holds... that's at least how i did it lol[/quote] Try holding one next time, my 6-string sucks them in!

[quote name='chilisfan16' post='517612' date='Jun 18 2009, 05:26 PM']imo, ibanez's have a really fat, grungy sound, very useful for punk and funk etc, though ive never heard of one used in metal. give us a soundbite if you get one![/quote] When we finish recording the EP I'll direct you. Be some time yet but my 6-string will be on there. By "Ibanez" as a whole though, they do not all sound that way. SR sounds similar to the BTB but I can't explain in text. Obviously the bigger body on the BTB makes is sound more resonant but overall I felt they sounded similar. The SRX has a REAL metal sound, if you beleive there is one that could be called metal. Lots of low-mid growl with pronounced highs. The ATK is called "The Stingray Killer"...need I say why? The RD (2nd gen, after the ATK originally got discontinued) has an MM / J config so can sound like a Stingray, Jazz bass etc. Again, very cutting! I may soon get an RD. These are just some of the main, nowerdays 'Nez's. Only the SR and BTB sound pure natural...BTB even more so as the pickups are built to work with dynamics, not a specific tone.

[quote name='bartelby' post='517604' date='Jun 18 2009, 05:20 PM'][b]erisu[/b] was the previous owner of my BTB. I was actually sat here wonder how the bridges worked. I'd never have thought of a magnet... :blush: cheers. [/quote] I could be wrong but the ball end don't half get pulled in when you hold it so it must be. And as the ball ends are metal, magnet is must. Unless...I dunno...some Jap voodoo is in there?

[quote name='alexclaber' post='517306' date='Jun 18 2009, 12:25 PM']Exactly! However the upside of overdriven/distorted sounds is that they usually cut through the mix better due to having more midrange, which means you don't need as much power to get heard. Exceptions might be if the distorted sound you're using is too similar to your guitarist's sound, in which case it's quite easy for his sound to mask yours, hence you turn up more and more and release the magic smoke. Also if you're going for dirtier sounds then you're less likely to hear the complaints from your speakers as they run into mechanical (over-excursion) problems. The only time I've managed to damage any bass guitar speakers was when running lots of effects through a single Acme Low-B2 - impossible to discern the over-excursion moans amongst all the synth and fuzz and octaver noises. I used to regularly damage my old hi-fi speakers at Uni when turning them up too much at parties - I think the surrounds/spiders got pulled a bit out of shape due to over-excursion but I always found they recovered after being used more gently afterwards. Sadly high performance pro sound drivers are produced to much tighter tolerances than old hi-fi speakers (these were early 70s EMI ones) and so damage is more likely to be permanent. Alex[/quote] Not a distortion fan really, I love clean tone..."Liquid Steel" as I call it. As clear and bell like as a piano. That's why until I found your cabs I avoided 15" cabs like the plague! Compression is an interesting issue. As you bring the lower levels up and the higher levels down I guess you do increase volume without noticing. But...if you have a compression output level does this still increase if you turned it down to the level where it's the same as if it was turned off?

[quote name='alexclaber' post='517127' date='Jun 18 2009, 08:19 AM']Just picked it up over the years! I did do a mechanical engineering degree so I like to know how stuff works. But one of my first questions on The Bottom Line (email thing for bassists, before forums existed) was what can I do to get my 30W combo heard in a metal band... Alex[/quote] Proof we all do start somewhere...so there is hope after all haha! I'd just like to know more about the tech sides to amps so I can judge one pre-played by looking at more than just watts and ohms and speaker size / number of speakers etc etc.

[quote name='erisu' post='517588' date='Jun 18 2009, 05:09 PM']I heard these fit: [url="http://www.warmoth.com/Single-String-Bridge-C719.aspx"]http://www.warmoth.com/Single-String-Bridge-C719.aspx[/url] and [url="http://www.bestbassgear.com/single-string-bass-bridges.htm"]http://www.bestbassgear.com/single-string-bass-bridges.htm[/url] I think you would need to cut off the string holes on the first link if they don't come off with force =/[/quote] Ibanez BTB isn't string thru body so that ferule would get in the way. They are mono-rail bridges, I have some in my Peavey 6-string. The MR-2 has you hook the ball-end into the bridge and then a magnet pulls it and it hooks in place so it's in the body and under the brig=dge but not a string thru.

[quote name='bartelby' post='517512' date='Jun 18 2009, 04:13 PM'][b]Kongo[/b] I think I've tracked some black hardware down. A dealer has got back to me saying the MR-2s in Cosmic Black are £15 each and there's a 10 week lead time. He's coming back to me for the price on tuners...[/quote]

Ah shoot! the bass centre mail me today saying "We are sold out of the Peavey Tour 700 and cannot get any til mid July"... Ok, so even though they said they were in stock...Makes me question... So I guess I'll go elsewhere...Geez this always happens and I need a new head ASAP...

[quote name='JTUK' post='516840' date='Jun 17 2009, 08:15 PM']500 watts is a decent power wattage in anyones money IMV.... I'd say the guitarist is deaf[/quote] This is my new head that should arrive soon. My old head was 300 watts @ 4 ohms so about 150 - 180 watts 8 ohms...maybe less considering it's a cheap head. [quote name='alexclaber' post='516909' date='Jun 17 2009, 09:14 PM']It's complicated. Basically your speakers have two completely independent limitations. The first is the thermal limit which is the ability of the voice coil to dissipate heat. Bear in mind that a typical loudspeaker is only about 2% efficient, so if you put 500W into a voice coil then 490W of heat will come out of it. The second is the mechanical limit, or how far a speaker can move without damage. Brief bursts of energy above your thermal limit will not cause a problem because it takes a small amount of time for the voice coil to heat up. So what matters is your average power, taking into account the varying power coming from your amp as you play (anything between zero watts when you're playing a rest and roughly twice the rated power when you hit a really loud note and take the amp right to its limits). If you're playing with little EQ, no compression and no distortion then you're unlikely to ever reach a cab's thermal limits, even with an amp rated at far more power output than a cab's power handling. The more compression or distortion you use, the greater the average power and the greater the risk of thermal damage. It's still rarely a problem though. What can be more of a killer is if you're also adding lots of bass boost, to get more bottom from a cab that doesn't naturally have much down there. This not only raises the the total power output (doubling it for every 3dB of bass boost) but it also raises the ratio of average to peak power (just as compression and distortion do). The more common failure method for bass guitar drivers and direct radiating subwoofers is mechanical failure. There are a few reasons for this: Firstly it only takes one really loud low frequency peak to kill your speaker. Secondly, too many players assume that because it's a bass cab you can crank up the lows, turn up the volume and everything will be fine because their cab is rated at more than their head. And thirdly, too many players think they can now turn up to a gig with a smaller rig than their guitarist and it'll be fine. It might be, but only if you appreciate that it has limits! Alex[/quote] Just the man I was waiting to reply. it's too late right now to take this in so I'll read again tomorrow. Oh and +1 on the bass boost thing. LOL when I used whatever amps are at rehearsal it was always funny as they'd leave i set how it was and you'd see the volume cranked up WAY more than need be and the bass boosted to 11!!! TBH I often leave the bass centre...More volume seems to produce more bass anyways and as a tutor once said to be "It's a bass guitar, it's already bassey enough!". I'm alwasy concious of what my cab is doing. Most of the time the speakers are only just moving so I don't get a read on how hard they are being pushed...That's through that SD800 again too!!! But using 4x10's it;s never a good idea to boost the pure sub anyways, I treat the 40hz or 32hz slider as a cut option, not boost, it's just too low. They deliver a lot of low end but are a smaller speaker...they ain't gonna like that low frequency so when I see it pushed at rehearsals it makes me laugh!

[quote name='gamester4520503' post='516942' date='Jun 17 2009, 09:54 PM']I've played with a Firebass (very similar to the Tour 700) and they're brilliant amps. Built like tanks, they have loadsa features and go ridiculously loud. I will agree that it did sound a bit weak with just one 8 ohm cab, unsure as to why... but it will go CRAZY loud with 2. And to be honest, if you have a nice enough bass, the very "pure" sound you get from the head will be good enough anyways. You can see what sorta stuff I play through in my sig, and it sounds wicked! Oh, and I got it for £250 off the bay. Big thumbs up to them! Shame they arent rack mountable... been toying with a compressor / tuner / HUGE EQ combo. Ah well![/quote] That's one of the Tour pluses, Rack mountable so i can put it in a 3u case and dosh the compressor up top!

I'm looking to add a 2x10 on top of my 4x10 Trace Elliot cab but here's to problem I've found with many 2x10's...The power handling! I am soon to be running 700 watts @ 4 ohms...Jacking the 4x10 and 2x10 to the back of the head, both being 8 ohms, will create 4 ohms and thus releasing the entire lot. Now...every 2x10 I've seen has a power handling rating of 400 watts, regardless of how powerful the head is of that make you can buy. So, 700 watts is 300 over the limit...Even Trace Elliot themselfs only go down to 600 watts with the new heads that drive this cab so I'm basically asking, how much can they REALLY take? Obviously, the output and input WON'T be on max, more near half way (less with 2 cabs most prob) so the head won't be at max anyways. It's still a question of whether I should or not and will be for gigs, not practise if I do. I'd rather my head run at 500 watts and run slightly cooler but used for gigging it'll be fine. I'm sure someone here can help.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='479083' date='May 4 2009, 04:22 PM']If I were you I'd go for the larger design as it gives a reasonably low F3 and is tuned low enough to not unload excessively with bass guitar. The higher tunings will indeed take more power above the tuning frequency but they'll also unload higher up so where you win on the one hand you lose on the other - fine for acoustic guitar where the lowest harmonic hitting the cab is likely to be 82Hz but with electric bass there will be some content down to 41 or even 31Hz unless you have a highpass filter in the signal chain. Larger vents work better because they suffer less friction, couple better with the air outside and cause less distortion - but as this 8" woofer doesn't move much air the recommended port only hits 5% Mach at 55W (which is where the woofer hits Xmax). Should be a very nice practice cab! Alex[/quote] OMG seriously...I must brush up on this information! I give my bandmates a headache as it is...Imagine if you were the bassist! How did you learn all of this?

[quote name='justgone' post='516726' date='Jun 17 2009, 06:38 PM']Honestly i was a bit disappointed when using this Tour 700 with just 1 cab! I deffo thought the 500w at 8ohms a little of a exaggeration? It could have been me tho? So if you can, either try the rig you want out first, or maybe try and acquire 1 x 4ohm cab? But like i said in my previous post, the FULL rig i now have is the dogs danglers! No question at all! regards Db (your humble but LOUD bass player - )[/quote] Remember, wattage doesn't 100% equal volume, more headroom than anything. I've used a VERY loud 300 watt amp before. Cabs can let you down. When I changed my laney 4x10 to my Trace Elliot 4x10 even the stock Laney head sounds better and as the band members say, they can hear me better now. The head is no good for me for my uses now though and I need a better one...I have little choice at the moment with a gig soon and I've heard players use these live before. So what you've got there is 2 cabs with more speakers = more volume anyways, plus one of them is no doubt better than the other and thus, the head is replicated properly. What I find it, there are LOADS of good heads out there...but even the "Paired up" cabs can't handle them. Trace Elliot are my #1 choice for cabs as this one took a Markbass SD800 all the way when paired up with another 4x10 cab but said cab was a Markbass of same power handling and yet it could not take the 800 watts that the now 4 ohm load was allowing. The Trace wanted more! Our bodies didn't though...I've NEVER felt so much volume and bass at once! Due to that ULTRA loud and VERY well built, pro sounding and VERY expensive may I add head driving my cab a few times I can attest I trust my cab. So this will allow any head around it's power level to do it's thing unhindered. So as you can understand, if your sound is better because you have more cabs...That IS 700 watts we talking about now, the one on it's own let you down. Maybe the head did who knows but usually I'm let down by cabs...Not no more though. Forgot to say it's on order actually, £330. When it gets here I'll let ya know. And hell, if it really is dire, which compared to what I've used if it is dire then that means it's no good at all, it didn't cost the earth. It'll sound much better than my Laney 300 watt I tell ya. Anyways, I may at some stage look back into Barefaced cabs...The Big One is a 6 ohm cab so that's a happy medium for power...and that cab will NOT let you down! Oh and I may be adding a 2x10 soon...must check if it can take the power though.

Finding parts for Ibanez are hard! And Ibanez themself are very scetchy about selling to you. Cause of all these Chibanez's I guess. I wanted black hardware on my BTB556 because it's maple and very bright...the crhome wants to be black. But good luck finding a black Ibanez MR-2 bridge! Lemmie know if you do! The rest is all standard stuff. Expect the Vari-mid to go at some point, they all do. But you only need to replace it with a better pot and voila, it'll never fault again! My 6-string vari-mid crackles and my 5-string vari-mid is actually bent! No I didn't do it, my friends brother did and I still havn't got round to replacing it.

[quote name='bartelby' post='515488' date='Jun 16 2009, 05:10 PM']I'm getting there! I notice you have a 6 string BTB. What's the string spacing on that?[/quote] 17mm spacing. Slightly less than the 5-string but DO NOT rely on numbers on paper like I used to, it's hardly a noticable difference. The neck is UBER wide but as it tapers out it gets thinner. So near the headstock the neck is thin enough but at the last fret it becomes thinner and almost flat! So under your hands the neck plays the same all along. It's actually one of my easiers basses to play...I'd use it in my band still but the tone doesn't work for me in this style...But I play it alot at home for Primus and Piano style tapping. The Ibanez BTB556MP is the 6-string of the generation after your BTB405 which I also have, but just like this it is discontinued so good luck! It's one of my best built basses too! I took it completely appart once to have a nose around and when I took the neck off I was shocked! I expected to catch and maybe sand down some of the rubish that gets caught and compressed over time when they drill the holes etc...NOPE it was COMPLETELY CLEAN! Not ONE fault with this bass, even the frets are perfect as you can get and unlike my BTB405QM, it's almost completely free of deadspots too so will sustain like no other. Obviously I LOVE it I will never sell this one, and my 5-string is one to my collection. I must get a picture up here to ya.

[quote name='justgone' post='516232' date='Jun 17 2009, 10:48 AM']Well, going back sort of to my previous post here. I now have a rig consisting of !. Peavey tour 700 Head. 2. My (very old) trusty Peavey 410tx cab. 3. New addition! Ashdown ABM410T cab. I was gonna ditch the old peavey cab, BUT! after now gigging them on a largish club stage, WOW! The sound was fan-bloody-tastic! So i'm gonna keep this rig exactly how it is, it's gr8! The sad thing is i suppose is that the Peavey tour 700 (to my ears anyway., and my band m8`s) doesn't quite dish out the guts etc, with any one cab? BUT, together like i say, WOW! So IMHO The peavey tour 700 is best served with a 4ohm load? Or at least 2 x 8ohm cabs like these babies anyways! I would deffo recommend this head now after trying the rig out properly! (I also use an old Zoom 708 fx an i've had to turn down the gain to less than half!, Plus, i've just added a AKG WMS40-Pro Flexx wireless system - that rocks too, no loss of bottom end etc..) regards Db[/quote] It'll be 8 ohm load for me as I have to accept the fact I cannot take 2 cabs with me. But pumping out 500 watts @ 8 ohms compared to the SD800's 450 watts @ 8 ohms means it should be loud enough. Peavey heads, and this one even more so, are always said to be a bit TOO loud so if this ain't loud enough I dunno what is.

I'd like to trey Fret Groove in a my band...That'd cut like mad! But fretless itself can cut through easily...UNless you like the fret click boom sound I do.

[quote name='bartelby' post='514742' date='Jun 15 2009, 09:04 PM']I acquired a BTB405 on Saturday. I love it. Once I get used to the wide neck I'll really love it...[/quote] Same spacing as the 4-string (19mm) so yes, it takes some getting used to. If you slap you'll have unlimited room!