alexclaber

[quote name='casapete' post='576742' date='Aug 21 2009, 02:59 PM']MOTOWN! - My brothers Motown Chartbusters Vol.3 album (the one with the silver cover) was the main reason I became aware of the power of bass and it's effect on the songs.[/quote] A fine example of what I just mentioned re. Willie Weeks! Alex

[quote name='JTUK' post='576666' date='Aug 21 2009, 01:58 PM']The thread was about what/who and I made the additional point about influences.... [/quote] Yes but you never answered the original question! Who made you pick up a bass? Or was it just wanting to be in a band and play music and bass was needed? (I remember thinking that there were a lot more guitarists than bassists, so I wouldn't need to be as good to get in a band - plus the fewer strings and lack of chords made it look easier!) One of my biggest influences nowadays is Willie Weeks, particularly what he did on Donny Hathaway - Live. I'd love to know of anyone who heard this album and noticed the bass playing before they were a bassist and thus took up the instrument. I think most of the 'unsung' heroes are revered by bassists but non-bassists don't notice they exist (which is arguably a good thing, they just enjoy the music that results). Alex

The other option, as you're already using pedals, is to get hold of a cheap power amp that'll bridge into 8 ohms, and then use a suitably hot pedal at the end of your FX chain to drive that. Which pedals will do it depends on the power amps - more expensive power amps tend to be more demanding as they're designed for pro level signal chains, not consumer or instrument level. Alex

[quote name='JTUK' post='576706' date='Aug 21 2009, 02:37 PM']You gotta stop making cab questions a vehicle for pimping your cabs ...[/quote] In this thread the only mention of my own cabs has been: "You can have tons of bottom and tons of clarity - that's what the Big One does, that's what my Acmes did (less midrange punch but a bit more air on top) and that's what any good PA system does." The reason I stuck my oar in is that I regularly rehearse through an old TE 4x10" combo and I know what it sounds like and what it can do. And I like what it does - possibly the best old school 16th note fingerfunk sound I've had - but to claim it has big bottom is deluded (and probably an honest mistake because people simply do not listen - like they perceive a lack of highs as more bottom - you can't trust your ears until you understand your ears). I was just googling to see if I could find an old TE catalogue I'd seen recently, which illustrated their various suggested rigs, including things like the 18"+10"+tweeter cab, and monster stadium rigs like 2x15"s+4x10"s, dual 18"s plus 10"s and the 4x5" bright box, etc. To wrap any brand up as "sounding like X" is inaccurate when it runs the full gamut from punchy but bottomless monsters like the sealed 4x10" combo, through honky but amazingly loud bandpass 10" combos, through enormously thick and deep valve powered 2x15" rigs to the hi-fi rigs of the day like their biamped stadium gear or even their BFC swansong. What TE did do is advance the art of the bass AMP. They never really dug into the cab designs, lots of bright ideas but not the soundest acoustic thinking behind them, but still much better than most other bass gear in their prime era. Comments like this are just ill informed: "even though my Little Mark 3 has got serious low end....you cannot beat the sound of those full weight amps/cabs. Sometimes, they are just NECESSARY!" If that is implying that this old gear has something special about it in producing deep weighty lows, then it's plain wrong. I know it's not easy describing tone in words - most bassists couldn't even tell the difference between a 40Hz and 80Hz tone, so once you get into talking about fat bottom, punchy mids, etc, what hope is there? Alex

[quote name='Musicman20' post='576630' date='Aug 21 2009, 12:55 PM']I agree we all want bottom end, but I really don't want a muffled reggae/dub type low end. Some players love it, and it 'feels' great when you hear it live, but I love that sound of a cutting bass.[/quote] Hang on, you're assuming that big bottom equals muffled reggae/dub. That's not the case at all! You can have tons of bottom and tons of clarity - that's what the Big One does, that's what my Acmes did (less midrange punch but a bit more air on top) and that's what any good PA system does. The reggae sound relies just as much on having less mids and highs as it does on having big bottom - that's why with the right bass and rig you can switch from funk to reggae vibe just by adding some palm-muting when thumb-plucking. The reason that cranking up the lows without rolling off the mids or highs can cause many cabs to sound muffled is because they can't handle that much bottom and the THD increases which makes the sound boomy and messes with the frequency response higher up. But get a nice sounding cab and then add a suitable subwoofer and you can have immense bottom with tons of clarity, nothing like the sound you'd get if you tried to force those lows from the single cab. Alex

I'm way down in sunny Brighton! If you're happy with the weight of the Peavey then for a similar price you could go for the LH500 which has a nicer preamp (Fender Dual Showman / Alembic etc clone) and a smidgeon more power. The Big One's a great cab for using lots of effects with - it's so transparent that you really hear the effect, plus the woofer can handle any big lows from synths and filters. Alex

[quote name='JTUK' post='576441' date='Aug 21 2009, 10:27 AM']Good thread...but it is interesting on the influences listed here.[/quote] But isn't this about what/who made you take up bass playing, not who influenced you after you'd started? Two very different lists I suspect! Alex

Having grown up on old rock it was then the likes of GnR, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Metallica that made me want to play music. But it was Jack Bruce's performance on Crossroads that made me want to play bass. And it was my old dorm-mate, whose constant excuse for not practising being 'I can't find a pick', that made me start out fingerstyle! Alex

[quote name='Musicman20' post='576058' date='Aug 20 2009, 08:47 PM']I think it makes me realise that as much as I do like some fat low end, I also like to concentrate on having a nice cut through crisp sound.....sometimes anyway...not always.[/quote] It's important to bear in mind that you will almost never come across a bass player that doesn't like fat low end! However, the amount of bottom, and particularly the extension in the lows which that equates to, varies hugely from player to player. Alex

If your budget is heading up to that region I know quite a few bassists on here sing the praises of the LH500 with a certain lightweight 15" cab... Alex P.S. See signature below!

They'll be fine. Strangely although voltage has been harmonised all they've done is tweak the tolerances, so nominal 220 and 240 can now be described as nominal 230 plus or minus a bit. There's enough variation in actual voltage at the socket that 20V just doesn't matter. Alex

[quote name='johnnylager' post='575612' date='Aug 20 2009, 02:56 PM'] [/quote] I thought your missus banned you from being a slapper? Alex

[quote name='alexharvay' post='575335' date='Aug 20 2009, 11:49 AM']I've never played through a Trace 4x10" combo but the '91 4x10" cab I have has enough bottom for me.[/quote] Those TE 4x10" combos have enough bottom for me when playing growly bridge pickup funk. However they're very different designs to the fullsize cabs - the enclosures are only about 12" deep and if I remember correctly they're sealed, not ported. I'd expect your 4x10" to have far more bottom. Alex

[quote name='pete.young' post='574883' date='Aug 19 2009, 10:59 PM']Take my advice - don't Google images for this.[/quote] What can I say, I had to know - first image: Phew... Alex

Hi Neil, I have a few Big Ones at the moment - just waiting for crossovers to be fitted so I can have them done in a couple of days. Regarding power requirement, it totally depends on how loud your band is and your tonal preference. The quieter the band, obviously the less the power needed. But also the smoother your playing (better control of dynamics) or the greater your tolerance of the aggressive grind that clipping will give, the less power you'll need. So 200W could be fine if either you're not too loud, or you like getting angry or you're a really smooth controlled player. But if you're in a loud metal band and you like a super clean slap sound then you might need 1000W. Whereabouts do you lie? Alex

[quote name='Mr.T' post='575284' date='Aug 20 2009, 11:06 AM']3). Alex assures me that the horn in the BigOne will resovle this issue... ...Any thoughts?[/quote] Yes, it's not a horn! It's a high output 6.5" midrange driver. Have you tried playing CDs/MP3s through it? One of my tests is to plug an iPod and see how it sounds - "If You Have To Ask" was the test track this morning - am amazed how much cymbal sparkle that midrange driver can produce. [quote name='JTUK' post='575360' date='Aug 20 2009, 12:04 PM']I like to hear how the sound develops over distance to get more of an idea of how it sounds to people 20-30 plus feet away... If it sounds bassy at source...it might be booming mush in the audience.. just a thought...[/quote] There is good logic behind this, but it's not due to the sound 'developing' with distance (this usually is said in reference to the lows). What's actually happening is up close you mostly hear the direct sound whilst at a large distance (indoors) you mostly hear the reflected (reverberant) sound. With a typical bass cab the reverberant sound will have much more bottom and much less midrange and top, because the dispersion narrows with increasing frequency so there are less mids and highs to reverberate. The Big One is specifically designed to address this issue so the direct and reflected sounds are much more similar to each other, hence more consistent response regardless of polar position or distance. You will notice that if you play a gig outdoors without PA support that your sound will be much more consistent close up and at a distance due to the lack of reflecting surfaces - however without boundary reinforcement from walls you'll also notice that you need tons more speakerage to cope. Alex

Yep, BL-4. I have two BL-5s in my bass. But bear in mind that thump is very location dependent - neck pickup, not bridge or blended. Alex

To get zing you need a high resonant peak so something that's 'underwound' and low inductance is the key. Q-Tuners will get you that due to the air coils but they're the wrong shape. By the way, a Jazz has deeper lows than a Precision, it's just not as thick in the thumpy area. Alex

By the way, I'm not really planning to talk much about speaker cabs, I'm planning to talk about tone - from the acoustic instrument, through the pickups and their positioning, through amplification to the speakers. How each stage has an effect, how they interact and what that means to a player. Alex

[quote name='chris_pokkuri' post='574634' date='Aug 19 2009, 07:48 PM']If you're after Peavey hows about my TNT combo I have for sale here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=27227"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=27227[/url][/quote] That's just the job. Amazingly loud for the wattage as well. And depreciation already done! Alex

I've used those old TE 4x10" combos a lot. They're very punchy, thick midrange, nice highs. However they don't have much bottom at all - try and stick some reggae through them and they just get grindier/growlier as they overdrive. If you like that sound they're great but they're very much a one trick pony - great rock sound due to the growly midrange, shy lows and sweet but not shiny highs, plus quite a lot of natural compression. Alex

[quote name='Roob' post='574521' date='Aug 19 2009, 06:01 PM']Oh one more thing. When i tried the Ashdown ABM400 115, with the ABM 400 head and the Behringer, at higher volumes, i.e. 3/4 or more on the input and output dials, I noticed I was starting to lose the clean bass sound I got with less volume. Which cab do you think was giving out first? The Ashdown because it's rated to 400w (same as head) or the Behringer because...well it's not a fantastic cab (but it is rated to 600w). Either that or it was just the sound of the shop shaking that made it hard to hear .[/quote] Could be either but probably both - neither of those cabs can stay clean in the lows at anywhere near their rated power. Alex

[quote name='mikek' post='558938' date='Aug 3 2009, 05:22 AM']Thanks for the Midget photo Alex! Looks cute but I'm wondering how you're going to deal with fixing the grille securely. I imagined that the cab would be a bit wider so that you had room to mimic the Compact's very neat arrangement.[/quote] Life keeps getting in the way of the Midget completion, v annoying. However the way the grill is fixed on the Compact would make the Midget wider than necessary - bear in mind that many bass cabs just have the grill mounted a few rubber spacers, so this method should work just fine. It'll also allow a fabric grill to be fitted or a coaxial tweeter. Alex

[quote name='The Funk' post='574223' date='Aug 19 2009, 02:31 PM']a vintage Matamp head to go with my Barefaced Compact.[/quote] I presume you'd want the Compact to match cosmetically as well - custom colour and grill! Alex

I believe the lower tension strings you use, the less the D-tuner has to move to drop the note by a given amount - I was using a .110 E back then so to drop to B was quite demanding. I know Matt Garrison has a D-tuner on his bass for E->B but he's playing 33" scale and probably using a .100 E. Alex