alexclaber

Good news, we've come across a female vocalist that's interested in having a jam and seeing how it works. Alex

[quote name='Musky' post='584405' date='Aug 29 2009, 12:12 PM']Oh well. I'm getting there - slowly. [/quote] [quote name='Musky' post='584405' date='Aug 29 2009, 12:12 PM']Alex, does that mean that if you had say a 2x10 and a 4x10 loaded with the same drivers and similar cab designs the 4x10 wouldn't be louder for a given wattage? Obviously the 4x10 would have a higher max SPL, but I thought it would be louder at any given power level. I'm getting confused now![/quote] Yes, you are! If you have a premium 10" bass guitar driver, like a DeltaLite 2510-II, which has a LF sensitivity of 94dB, then a 1x10" will have a sensitivity of 94dB, a 2x10" 97dB and a 4x10" 100dB. Furthermore the displacement limited power handling will be about 75W, 150W and 300W respectively, so the max clean SPL in the lows will be about 112dB, 118dB and 124dB respectively. Sensitivity and max output in the mids is higher but it gets more complicated when you increase the number of drivers because of how they couple so it's not quite so straightforward to predict. Alex

[quote name='BigAlonBass' post='584063' date='Aug 28 2009, 09:42 PM']Sorry me old mate, I'm still not convinced. Farty mids don't 'do it' for me, and (I'll probably get shot by most of the people on the Board for saying this) IMHO he's trying to be too clever, and playing far too many notes for the genre. Coat on - leaving now. [/quote] Too many notes for the genre? But disco is full of 16th notes and Bernard's playing practically definied the genre anyway! And if that bassline is too clever, why did it get sampled so successfully? One of the biggest hooks ever laid down by a bass - you can't build a track like Rappers' Delight on a bassline that isn't damned catchy. You're perfectly entitled not to like it though, even if your critical analysis is full of holes! Alex

The standard RAT is rather righteous on bass. Alex

[quote name='acidbass' post='583991' date='Aug 28 2009, 08:12 PM']If you're not comfortable being the frontman...[/quote] Well I've certainly enjoyed being the centre of attention but I guess I've just realised I don't have the 'X-factor'! Alex

[url="http://personalpages.tds.net/~fdeck/bass/#projects"]http://personalpages.tds.net/~fdeck/bass/#projects[/url] Scroll down to the pdf review at the bottom. Alex

A while back I ended up singing as well as playing bass because I got sick of failing to find a decent vocalist to work with, however I've come to the conclusion of late that it would really take our band to a better place if we had someone with vocal talents and more frontpersonness fronting us, allowing me to step back a bit and be the slightly eccentric bassist/backing vocalist and also be much happier hustling for gigs as they won't be so me-centric. I'm the main writer in the band but I'm more than happy to share the writing - likewise I'm kind of the bandleader but I've got plenty of other stuff to keep me busy (cabs cabs cabs cabs cabs cabs cabs aarghhh!) so I'd be glad to divest some of that responsibility. So how to find one of these singists? Even if they're big into the writing as long as they're happy sharing the material evenly and there's a synergy between the styles we'd be more than happy to practically be a quasi-backing band which grooves hard, has tons of dynamics and can sing too. Conversely if they just want to sing and not write then I'm happy with that, though I'd appreciate some melodic input - am a better lyricist than tunesmith. Has anyone else done this kind of thing, having an established band that's been gigging a few years, has done some decent recordings and then not actually had anyone leave but has taken on a new lead vocalist to replace a singing instrumentalist? We had our first practice after I make the decision to not be the lead vocalist anymore on Wednesday and it was a really cool experience to go back to just playing bass - I even took a fuzz pedal along! I think we might start recording the first full-length album that we'd been meaning to do, can certainly get the bass/drums/guitar down live and then start overdubbing sax and backing vocals, whilst we wait to find the right person. Would also like to expand the line-up a bit more in other direction - another horn of some sort, maybe a percussionist. Any ideas? Alex

The first bass sound I ever noticed, on a live recording of this, I guess I was about eight years old at the time: Nastiness is underrated. Slightly more recent nastiness: Alex

Oh yes, and as someone that does a lot of non-standard bass playing (yes, up past the 12th fret playing chords like a giant guitar etc) it does take a while to get used to the idea that you don't always need a bassline, you can do other stuff (including nothing) and the music sound better than if you 'just' played real bass. Alex

One thing I've learnt is that your bass playing gets noticed a lot more when you drop out and then come back in. Now I'm not saying that you should do this for egocentric reasons but it's a nice side effect of tasteful space! Alex

[quote name='Delberthot' post='583935' date='Aug 28 2009, 07:21 PM']you've o idea how long it took me to find the correct size allen screws for the Shuttle - 10/32" if I remember corectly[/quote] Well it shouldn't be that hard for me to do. All I need is some aluminium stock, bolts, something to thread the bolts through, and something to cushion the amp when it's being gripped. Then I can offer them them as an optional extra, in various sizes to fit the different thickness micro-amps. It's an idea I've been kicking around for a while... Alex

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='583816' date='Aug 28 2009, 05:31 PM']This is an old school jazz-funk tune. The sound is unusual and in-your-face. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdsnbkg2bmM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdsnbkg2bmM[/url][/quote] Sounds like very new roundwounds on a P-bass, like Forget-Me-Nots. I love how hard hitting a sound that is - you play a note, you better really mean it! The total opposite of the uber slinky sound on Son Of A Preacher Man. Alex

Now that I've got one of these little micro-amps I can see the appeal of a couple bent bits of aluminium and some bolts to clamp it onto a cab, Genz Benz combo-stylee, especially if you're one for tilting your rig. I shall investigate the possibilities... Alex

[quote name='Musky' post='583730' date='Aug 28 2009, 04:41 PM']Hah, I knew I ought to be leaving this to the experts! [/quote] No no, let the expertise proliferate! [quote name='Musky' post='583730' date='Aug 28 2009, 04:41 PM']If cab sensitivity was the same yes, but if [i]driver[/i] sensitivity was the same wouldn't you get more volume from the greater overall displacement capability? Please tell me I've at least got that bit right. Edit: Aha! I knew I'd got that 3db figure from somewhere on here! Or am I just being thick again? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtopic=10740&view=findpost&p=113399"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&sho...st&p=113399[/url][/quote] You're right about the 3dB sensitivity increase. But you also need to figure in either the increased power output of the amp due to the lower impedance (~2dB) or the increased power handling (particularly the displacement limited power handling) - doubled power handling equals 3dB gain. So you get either 3+2 or 3+3 ish, depending on whether the amp runs out of power first or whether the speakers run out of excursion first. If the sensitivity of the 15" and 4x10" was the same then whichever handle the most power in the lows will go loudest - assuming that at least one of the cabs reaches its limits before the amp does. That ability to handle power in the lows is a key part of displacement capability. Bear in mind that displacement depends on cone area AND cone excursion - you need both to move air. Alex

How long before the Compact on the Northern tour reaches you? Couple of big strips of velcro and any amp you like, done! Alex

[quote name='Musky' post='583632' date='Aug 28 2009, 03:23 PM']If you got another matching 1x15 8 ohm cab you'd get a small but noticeable increase in volume. Doubling the number of woofers will give you a 3db increase in volume (assuming the cabs have the same sensitivity) - that's the same increase you'd get by doubling the power of your amp. Add to that you'd be upping your available power by roughly 50% (going from 130W into 8 ohm to 200W into 4 ohms). That will also give you a small - though barely noticeable - increase in volume.[/quote] Adding a second matching cab will give you more like a 6dB increase in SPL, which will perceived as even more due to the way our ears work. It's a big difference! [quote name='Musky' post='583632' date='Aug 28 2009, 03:23 PM']If you are looking at replacing your 8 ohm 1x15 with an 8 ohm 4x10 with similar sensitivity drivers you would get more volume, simply because the 4x10 is capable of physically moving more air (think about the surface area of the speakers to start with). The wattage of the cab doesn't actually come into the equation - that just tells you the thermal power handling of the cab before you can expect the voice coils to melt.[/quote] If you replace your 1x15" with an equal sensitivity 4x10" then you'll get no increase in SPL unless the 1x15" is incapable of handling all the power of your amp (which with so little power is unlikely to be much of a problem). [quote name='Musky' post='583632' date='Aug 28 2009, 03:23 PM']Wattage is a pretty poor way of trying to work out the volume. The efficiency of the cab is far more important - a cab with a sensitivity of 99db driven by 200W will sound as loud as a cab with only 96bd driven by 400w.[/quote] Exactly! But unless everyone rates sensitivity the same way then that doesn't help much, unfortunately. Alex

[quote name='Silent Fly' post='583666' date='Aug 28 2009, 03:51 PM']I am not sure I understand why. Can you elaborate?[/quote] Quite a lot of distortion pedals appear to be finicky about the impedance match between input stage on the pedal and output stage on the instrument, to the point that some work far better with passive basses than active basses. Therefore unless all your pedals before the distortion have true bypass (which in itself could add extra treble loss due to cable capacitance if you have a large FX board) then the distortion pedal will be presented with the low impedance output of a typical buffered pedal which will affect the response of the distortion. I think a big part of this is whether or not the distortion pedal has a nice buffer stage before the distortion circuitry. Alex

[quote name='Protium' post='583636' date='Aug 28 2009, 03:27 PM']I don't see how else an "output volume" could be achieved - sticking a potentiometer AFTER the power amp would need seriously heavy duty parts, would mess with the amplifier load and would generate a lot of heat.[/quote] I've yet to dig into the details of amplifer design but I presume you could design an amp which is variable gain by taking stages in and out of the signal path or by changing the rail voltage like Class G/H amps do. Definitely easier though to have fixed gain stages and then passive attenuators in front! My TFPro P3 preamp has an unusual gain knob that actually controls four stages of amplification allowing it to handle mic levels from -70dB to 0dB and line levels from -30dB to +24dB. I have no idea how it works, especially as it's a strange transformerless current sensing (v low input impedance) stage that claims to be immune to cable capacitance issues! Alex

[quote name='jonthebass' post='551659' date='Jul 26 2009, 11:15 AM']Alex, I found this page on Roqsolid's site: [url="http://www.roqsolid.co.uk/page.html?id=7&zenid=vi57o0ap3gnmatc1hodal14991"]Barefaced Compact cover link[/url] Is this something you set up? If so is there a hole for the handle do you know?[/quote] That was done by another customer - it's probably spot on though! Apart from the first few cabs everything since has been to pretty tight tolerances, just a mm or two either way. Alex

[quote name='Roob' post='583379' date='Aug 28 2009, 11:19 AM']Oh one more thing...does the way I have my pedals setup have any effect on the sound I will get?[/quote] I'd generally put distortion pedals closest to the instrument because the impedances match up better that way. New battery required in bass or Phathead? Alex

[quote name='d-basser' post='583300' date='Aug 28 2009, 10:26 AM']Any midgets going to be ready soon Alex? Really interested in getting one.[/quote] Hope to get them sorted v soon - am meeting up with that builder in the next few days to get the details finalised. Alex

[quote name='umcoo' post='583320' date='Aug 28 2009, 10:45 AM']As I say, I'd wait for one of those. Or get a Sovtek if you're rich [/quote] Or find a Black Russian like mine which benefits from loose tolerances! Alex

Loudness of band equals your height. Maximum loudness of your bass rig equals height of doorway. My little brother is the same height as you and seems to have a built in look-ahead-limiter (as used on professional mastering equipment) to minimise 'clipping'. Alex

[quote name='chris_b' post='583039' date='Aug 27 2009, 11:01 PM']They used one on the records though, so we're not that disposable![/quote] Led Zeppelin on quite a lot of live tracks! Alex

[quote name='Finbar' post='583107' date='Aug 28 2009, 12:27 AM']It got to the point where it would make a very unpleasant brief sound if I played something particularly loud, so I backed off the amount of bass I was putting through it, and also the volume. I didn't want to repeat that - it has a long way to go![/quote] I know that sound - that's what you get when you push a PLX so hard that it goes beyond what the limiter can control and actually clips properly. Kind of a SHRNARRRKKKK! sound - not pretty. With that kind of power there's no way you were reaching the Compact's limits. [quote name='Finbar' post='583107' date='Aug 28 2009, 12:27 AM']What do you suggest Alex? I'd happily swap out my second 'sub' Schroeder for the right solution from you, based on this little experiment. I know it is hard to get what I want in a small cab, but I'd be prepared to go a weeny bit larger (I do have some space issues forced upon me though). I also feel that with me only pushing 200W into the cab, I'm not really getting all that much from it. Would a poweramp upgrade make a lot of sense, or am I actually just pushing the limit of what I can achieve with the Compact in this rig setup? I fancy the look of the PLX2402, but they don't pop up often. Interested to hear what you think, and thanks for the opportunity to try it out/test it to destruction![/quote] Ok, so the Compact is probably loud enough but needs more power. The woofer from the Big One could go in the Compact but there's very little difference in performance until you've got more than 400W to play with. The Double Midget has an edge because of its 4 ohm impedance. Or the woofer from the Big Baby into the Double Midget but that only shows an advantage if you have more than 700W. My inclination would be to go for the Double Midget with the standard drivers - that will beat your 1212L for voltage sensitivity and thus perform better right now, but if you can afford more power in the future then you'll gain substantial headroom. If you then wanted to make the rig smaller you could replace the top 1212L with a Midget (if you like the tone of the Double Midget for your fullrange/dirty sound), which would have plenty of power handling and sensitivity to deal with all your 300Hz+ demands. Alex