alexclaber

[quote name='cd_david' post='450296' date='Mar 31 2009, 09:35 AM']"this article is continued in 43 pages, please find 1/2 a column inbetween the b&w adverts."[/quote] That's one of those curious things about American magazines, it's the same with their car mags. I wonder if it's so they can fit in more text that goes over the word count / space allocation in the main body of the mag? For a masterclass in how to produce a magazine, check out this month's issue of CAR. Near faultless - tons of wide ranging content, intelligent writing and commentary, technical and industry analysis, numerous reviews and fantastic photography and graphic design. Obviously a slightly higher budget affair than our bass niche though! Alex

[quote name='mcgraham' post='450300' date='Mar 31 2009, 09:42 AM']Does adding four cabs together like the above picture increase the overall sensitivity of the setup?[/quote] Yes, absolutely! What happens is that at all wavelengths greater than the centre to centre distance of the speakers the speakers perfectly couple acoustically. At higher frequencies the coupling diminishes but as most of the energy in music is in the lower frequencies (for typical program material energy drops by 3dB for every octave above 100Hz) and for bass guitar even more so the loss of coupling as you go higher is not significant. The sensitivity of one Compact is about 100dB @ 1W1m. The sensitivity of four is about 106dB @ 1W1m. 50W will thus get you cleanly to 122dB. For comparison absolute full volume on your Berg IP112 will be about 120dB. Alex

For instance a 50W valve head into this would reach serious SPL (like upsetting many guitarists) before you started getting dirt: Whilst if you only used one cab you'd need 200W to reach the same SPL before overdrive. Alex

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='450258' date='Mar 31 2009, 08:32 AM']Seeing as April starts tomorrow Alex, how's it looking? [/quote] Like this: Alex

The amount of power needed is hugely dependant on your choice of cabs and the context you're in. Basically the bigger your cabs and the more overdriven you like your tone, the less power you need. Alex

Just getting this lot finished off - here's four of them looking ready to take on any gig! Alex

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='448113' date='Mar 28 2009, 02:49 PM']Made me angry. Heard most of it before but the bit I got annoyed at was the fact that we had a long interview with Charlie Haden, stories about Eugene Wright (who?) and the usual 'wasn't Mingus angry' anecdotes but, again, no memtion of Paul Chambers.[/quote] You're quite right. That's the second documentary I've seen about Kind Of Blue, which features the most recognisable bass riff in all jazz, that doesn't mention Paul Chambers! What is going on? Alex

[quote name='Currrls' post='448138' date='Mar 28 2009, 03:18 PM']well that was written by socrates approx 2,000 years ago. times just change, kids dont really get 'worse'[/quote] Spot on. I would say that whilst modern times are easier in the sense you're less likely to die, they're harder in the sense that they are shifting further and further from the environments we evolved in. Alex

This left me puzzling. Have investigated my technique and it appears that when I'm doing what looks like a rest stroke my plucking fingers are coming to rest against my thumb, not against the string below. Anyone else like this? Alex

[quote name='escholl' post='447978' date='Mar 28 2009, 11:27 AM']That's not really true, each string "harmonic" is not solely a fundamental, it has it's own series of harmonics. For instance, when taking the harmonic at the 12th fret, all you are doing it eliminating the harmonics to which L/2 is not a nodal point -- and keeping the ones where it is, such as 2f, 4f, 6f, 8f, etc.[/quote] Doh! Posting whilst brain going to sleep. Good point! Alex

Shame on you for abusing such a lovely little cab! Hopefully EA have some spare drivers otherwise it's an usual driver so not sure what to suggest - it is a true woofer, hence the big heavy dustcap and long travel suspension. I initially thought that maybe a BP102 would work but I think the Fs and sensitivity are too low and Vas is too high. If you can find something with Vas ~ 50 litres, Fs ~ 45Hz, Qts ~ 0.35, sensitivity ~ 92dB and midrange good to about 700Hz it should work. Alex

[quote name='escholl' post='447852' date='Mar 28 2009, 01:00 AM']It's not the string harmonic, it's the harmonic series of the note itself -- the intensity, proportion, and envelope of each of these harmonics, for each note, is what defines the tone.[/quote] But by isolating each harmonic within the note through playing natural harmonics of the open string you can hear how the overtone series stacks up. Of particular interest is how densely the overtones start stacking as you go higher in the series. Alex

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='447832' date='Mar 28 2009, 12:22 AM']To make this easier to picture, can you fill in the gaps, or correct this? The 1st harmonic is the one you'll hear when you play an artificial harmonic over the 12th fret, its the nodal point at the center of the string. The second harmonic is the one from palying an artificial harmonic over the 5th and 24th frets. The 3rd harmonic is over the 7th fret, 1/3 of the length of the string. got some gaps to fill for the rest there.[/quote] The first harmonic is actually the fundamental. The first overtone is the second harmonic. Semantics but quite important nevertheless! So the 2nd harmonic is the 12 fret natural harmonic. The 3rd harmonic is the 7th fret natural harmonic. The 4th is the 5th fret harmonic. The 5th is just in front of the 4th fret (3.8). I think the 6th is just beyond the 3rd fret, the 7th in front of the 3rd and the 8th just beyond the 2nd. Just checking that on my bass, sounds about right. The 7th is rather out of tune compared to tempered pitch. Alex

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='447813' date='Mar 27 2009, 11:57 PM']Which is the next strongest of them then? And I guess the tremelo effect you get sometimes is when they about the same and its switching between the two?[/quote] There's a lot of uber-geekery happening over on talkbass regarding this. However some of those involved in that thread just don't seem to get that the balance of the harmonic series defines your tone, and as such when you change your tone through technique or EQ or picking a different instrument or putting different strings on it, etc etc, thus you change the balance of the harmonic series. No point showing a waterfall plot of a note unless you also have that recording to reference to. This is quite informative: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_(music)"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_(music)[/url] So you're ok if the octaver finds the first, second, fourth or eighth overtone but the third is a fifth, the the fifth is a major third, the sixth is a fifth and the seventh is a minor seventh. I suspect that's the warble territory. Previously I'd been thinking that the problem analog octavers have with lower notes was similar to those MIDI systems have where it takes too long to hear enough of a wave period to determine the pitch but I'm now certain that it's all about the harmonics. Alex

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='447793' date='Mar 27 2009, 11:38 PM']Dammit Claber, you are supposed to know all this.[/quote] I'm working on omniscience but I'm concerned I'll die before I get there. I have another thought - it's not the fundamental that is critical to tracking, it's the fundamental OR the second harmonic (octave). Where it all goes wrong is when the octaver locks onto the third harmonic (octave plus fifth). Alex

Damn, Mingus plays that upright like it's a shortscale toy! Alex

BBC4, jazz 1959. Nice. One day I shall learn to play jazz properly. Right now the only jazz I can authentically pull off is "On The Corner"! Alex

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='447770' date='Mar 27 2009, 11:00 PM']I was thinking about the 2 ohm amps I had seen, and the common factor is huge heatsinks, is being capable of 2 ohm mostly a case of being able to control some fairly serious heat?[/quote] I think that's the main factor. There's also the issue of not being able to deliver enough current but I don't know whether that's likely to cause damage anywhere within the amp. But it's the increased current flow and the reduced amp efficiency that causes more heat output from the power transistors and thus overheating issues. This is why the AccuSwitch survived so long - if you're using a pair of dual woofer (i.e. big!) AccuGroove cabs you're unlikely to be pushing an amp hard enough to get failure due to excessively low impedance. I know one bassist whose amp died on a outdoor gig though. It's soundmen like that that taint the good ones' names! Honestly... Alex

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='447775' date='Mar 27 2009, 11:12 PM']About where the harmonics become stronger than the fundamental? Unless you have a 36" scale? I found octavers tracked better with my neck pickup, the one right against the neck.[/quote] That's very interesting theory! I was going to comment on how much better my past octavers (EBS Octabass and Akai Deep Impact) tracked the neck pickup when plucking up over the neck compared to bridge pickup or more bridgewards plucking, which I always thought was due to them having a strong fundamental to lock onto. So I wonder if the lower frequency tracking limit is actually just where the fundamental ceases to be sufficiently present as you suggest? Alex

[quote name='alexclaber' post='446770' date='Mar 27 2009, 12:05 AM']The start (and its reprise later on) is where I'm particularly channelling one of my favourite bassists and his band.[/quote] Geezer & Sabbath! And basswise the rest of it skips between Larry Graham-isms and Family Man-isms. I suppose that sums up a lot of my playing - throw Jaco and Jamerson in there too and that's much of me covered. Alex

[quote name='jw54' post='447709' date='Mar 27 2009, 08:29 PM']I'll do that if my Frankenstein experiments don't work [/quote] Whatever you do don't give anyone any money for Behringer drivers! Sensitivity, frequency response and power handling are very poor and failure rate (particularly their aluminium cone models) appears very high. Alex

I haven't used an Ashdown amp in ages but doesn't the analog octaver stop tracking at about open A? Alex

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='447392' date='Mar 27 2009, 03:34 PM']But that looks really pikey.[/quote] I don't play the gig with it on there! I use it to tune up before going on stage, then it sits on top of the amp in the unlikely event of something strange happening. In most cases my bass never needs tuning between the start and end of the set. [quote name='EBS_freak' post='447392' date='Mar 27 2009, 03:34 PM']It's a pet hate of mine... people spend all this money on fantastic intruments...[/quote] and then run it through some low voltage high distortion electronics... Why?! Alex

I use a chromatic clip-on headstock tuner. Turn your onboard volume knob right down and silent tuning sorted! Alex

What is with this obsession with mute switches?!! Alex