alexclaber

A car battery, a trickle charger and a power inverter. You can probably sort that out for about £100 and then use your existing bass amp. Alex

I'd like to get some hard data on driver failures. I know the vast majority of Acme failures are not voice coil related despite the huge power often being used to drive them and I've heard from other talkbassers in the pro-sound world that >90% of failures are mechanical failure, not voice coil overheating. If more bassists used highpass filters then that would skew damage away from over-excursion but with all these low B strings around and high thermal ratings I can't see the predominant failure mode on bass guitar cabs (not pro-sound tops or horn subs) being thermal. Alex

You do realise you've used the wrong spelling of butt in the thread title don't you? I wouldn't have said anything but as you're a secondary school ENGLISH teacher... Alex

I would have thought the most important skills are in networking, general people skills, self-motivation, etc. Basically all the truly professional stuff that makes musical directors and bandleaders want to have you around and recommend you to others. (I say this as someone who is a professional and a musician but never simultaneously! ) Also on the musical front I'd have thought the ability to help with arrangements is very valuable - being able to write string and horn parts, being able to communicate effectively with percussionists regarding the intricacies of groove. Plus being able to sing decent backing harmonies. Alex

[quote name='chris_b' post='521587' date='Jun 23 2009, 11:49 AM']Towards the end he was so complicated that the road bass players begged Berry Gordy to get him to tone his playing down, because they couldn't play what he was recording![/quote] If every pop bassline was as hard as 'What's Going On' I think you'd see a lot fewer covers bands! Way too much like really hard work... Alex

[quote name='dabootsy' post='520971' date='Jun 22 2009, 06:22 PM']...into maybe a one by 12 and a 1 by 15 and a horn when the sound we may like is coming from a 4 by 10 and it never sounds the same out front of the pa as it does coming out of the amp...[/quote] Unless you seriously rely on cab colouration for your tone a good (NB: GOOD) PA will completely spank most bass rigs on producing a nice big fat clear bass sound. And when I say good I don't mean some of those plastic active speakers, I mean proper PA with decent tops and real subwoofers. I think it's a good move to consider what you're going to be using your cabs for - if you generally have PA support then it makes sense to have a cab that produces a similar tone to that of the PA, unless you plan to always mic your cab. Just as you should never only consider the tone of your bass and amp in isolation but should consider how it will work in your musical context you should also always consider how your gear will work on your typical gigs. I would also bear in mind that many PAs are too weedy to handle bass guitar, in which case it's best to bring a bigger bass rig and just stick the rest of the band through the PA (knock out the deeper lows on the kick and rely on the 80Hz thump to get it heard). Demand too much bottom from any speaker and you mess up the midrange and treble through increased distortion - although some bassists like this colouration from their cab I guarantee that no-one likes it from a PA speaker. Alex

[quote name='jonthebass' post='521443' date='Jun 23 2009, 09:21 AM']Any pictures available of them Alex?[/quote] Not yet! Sit on the floor really close to one of your vintageised Compacts and imagine the badge looking half as big. Alex

[quote name='Golchen' post='521465' date='Jun 23 2009, 09:46 AM']I'm not sure I agree with that. Within the context of live music, and most certainly with Church-related worship bands (seen a LOT!) - one thing that REALLY lifts the music to another level is when the bass player is really good - I don't mean flashy, and I don't mean playing too many notes (!), but players who play around the changes intelligently and give the impression that they have gone a long way beyond the bare essentials.[/quote] But bear in mind that some basslines lift a song to a new level but you'd barely even notice how amazing the line is because it's so subliminal in how it works the groove and harmony. And sometimes the most obvious and simplistic bassline is the right one and it takes taste (and often maturity) to realise that. Endlessly pumping out 8th note roots is exactly the right thing to do if you're in AC/DC - the music would sound worse if you did anything else. But placing those notes in exactly the right place and giving them the right pulse through how you attack and damp them requires exactly the right feel - easy if that's what you do naturally, but damned hard if you have to consciously tweak yourself in. That's why so many cover bands never nail the feel of the likes of the Rolling Stones. None of their material is hard to play if you're them but they created that sound and feel through how they naturally gelled. Synthesising that feel when you're a different group of individuals requires scarily amazing feel. Alex

They need to have a good feel and sound and general appreciation of what is needed for the track. Timing, tone and taste. Technique-wise all you need is enough technique to ensure that your ideas are executed as you intend, no more and definitely no less! Alex

Looks like we'll have some more Compacts sorted by the end of the week so that'll finally get us caught up with the waiting list and leave a few remaining in stock! The near mythical Vintages will be ready next week, what a wait... Alex

[quote name='phsycoandy' post='519916' date='Jun 21 2009, 01:00 PM']9.6mm is a hell of a distance of travel and keep all things parralel and true, i think my old MB 15s must have travelled that much from memory I remember thinking it was scary to watch sometimes, I think they are BC drivers.[/quote] Yes it's a hell of a lot of travel but that woofer can move that far with <10% distortion so it does indeed stay aligned and accurate. It can actually move up to 17mm in either direction without damage. The drivers in your old MB 15s would have had roughly half that much undistorted excursion, possibly less. The woofer in the Compact also probably has more clean excursion than your MBs, yet is likely to be more similar in performance - and unless you boost the lows tons it really doesn't move a huge amount, it's very tightly damped. The woofer in the Big One does move a lot but it can handle it and still sound great. Alex

[quote name='josh3184' post='516534' date='Jun 17 2009, 03:48 PM']got any compacts going? Considering an investment...[/quote] Am hoping to finally catch up with demand in the next month or so. Will let you know as and when! Alex

The middle finger?!! I can understand not using the ring finger if you're a 1-2-4 person or not using the little finger if you got into that habit from early on and have never played any genres that demand octaves (or have HUGE hands) but the middle finger? That's almost as useful as the index finger! Alex

[quote name='henry norton' post='519120' date='Jun 20 2009, 10:19 AM']If you like a bit more tension on your B string you could always ask for it to be strung through the body. The extra inch or so of tensioned string will firm it up a bit if you're worried it would be too floppy(!).[/quote] Doesn't make any difference to the tension. The steeper break angle can stop the string moving over the witness points on the bridge saddles and give a slightly tighter feel though, as can a more tiltback headstock. The extra string length of thru-body stringing has no effect at all on the feel or tension. A 33" will sound a little rounder and sweeter than a longer scale but it's not going to be a huge tonal difference compared to a 34". The strings will inevitably feel looser but some people prefer that. I prefer the higher tension and more aggressive sound on a 36" scale but I can certainly understand going the other way. Alex

Saw him at Glastonbury in 1997 (I think) and was blown away! Then saw him with Nitin Sawhney, once in 2000 in Bristol and then happened upon them by accident in Regent's Park in 2002. His slapped fretless bass vs tabla moments are quite incredible. Alex

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='519007' date='Jun 20 2009, 12:43 AM']But only if you were using square speakers. For some reason, the number 3.1416 keeps flashing across my brain ...[/quote] Is that because you're feeling like a midnight snack? Mmm, Pi... Fortunately in all these examples Pi cancels out! Alex

[quote name='Golchen' post='518910' date='Jun 19 2009, 10:18 PM']My big regret is that I have never played music with other people. I lack confidence in my abilities now and can't see me ever doing it.[/quote] We need an action plan to get you to a jam night or into a band! Just watched one of your youtube videos and you have plenty of ability, and that's coming from quite a harsh critic. Alex

[quote name='Protium' post='518959' date='Jun 19 2009, 11:19 PM']But only in terms of excursion [/quote] And displacement. Alex

Exactly! And what swings it even more in the 15"s favour is that the diameter of the speaker that moves is almost two inches smaller than the nominal diameter, so it isn't so much 15x15=225 vs 4x(10x10)=400, but 13x13=169 vs 4x(8x8)= 256. So if the 15" can move (256/169)=1.5 times as far at the four 10"s then it will move as much air. The fifteen I use in the Compact can move about 40% further without distortion than the best neo 10"s whilst the fifteen I use in the Big One can move more than twice as far. Years ago I read a review of what sounded like the most amazing speaker cab ever and only recently rediscovered it - I should have realised it would be something by the geniuses (geneii?) at Meyer Sound. If you've seen the huge main studio monitors they have the in the very biggest recording studios, this is one of them - yet it features a single 15" woofer in each cab that can move more air than the dual 18"s normally found in competing cabs. And by using a single high-excursion woofer rather than multiple lower excursion woofers it exhibits more consistent response wherever you stand, much like my cabs. [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may00/articles/meyersound.htm"]http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may00/arti.../meyersound.htm[/url] Alex

[quote name='riff raff' post='518772' date='Jun 19 2009, 07:20 PM']what about if they were positioned either side of the drummer.he loves it.plus would give my rhythm guitarist a great monitor.he loves it too.in rehearsal he's always hanging around my cab.[/quote] That'll cause yet more sonic problems, with big lows where they combine and no lows where they don't, so your sound will vary even more around the venue. So unless you specifically want more sound right in front of your rig but less sound getting to your bandmates (which is why the likes of Steve Harris uses four 4x12"s) then stick with one cab. If you want the look then do what the touring bands do and use one working cab and a load of dummy cabs. Alex

Tapewounds should be ok with thru-body stringing as they're roundwounds with nylon tape on top, not flatwounds. Likewise the Thomastik unflats would be fine because the gaps in the winding allows them to bend. I do love the sound of the unflats on Meshell's first album, they have a certain something happening in the midrange that suits her natural grease and behind the beat groove. They ain't no Motown sound tho. Alex

I'd like a double bass, I used to mess around on my sister-in-law's school double bass many moons ago. First I need to get my double bass specific speaker cab finished though! (I also have some thoughts about building an electric upright that has a much more authentic note envelope but that'll have to go on the backburner for now...) I have a strange desire to front a big band playing double bass whilst singing, would be an interesting combination. Alex

For the speakers in your 400W cab to total a 400W thermal rating that means they were powered by a 1600W amp for a number of hours, putting out a signal whose peak level was 1600W and average level was 400W. This is called a 6dB crest factor because 1600W is 6dB louder than 400W, and crest factor is the difference between peak and average level. For a speaker to be given a thermal rating of 100W it has to handle peaks of 400W and average power of 100W for a good few hours without overheating - that is the agreed standard. You would have to be heavily compressing bass guitar (through compression or overdrive) to reduce the crest factor to as low as 6dB so your 500W amp is very very unlikely to overheat a 400W cab. If you crank up the lows stupidly you can still kill it through overexcursion but that requires pretty mindless folly. I run a 2000W amp into my Big One, whose woofer is 'only' thermally rated at 450W. But I know it's near impossible to damage through over-excursion and I'm confident that even with an amp that can peak at well over 2000W the crest factor is never going to be low enough that the average power will sustain over 450W. If I was using it as a PA subwoofer and playing recorded music through it I would not use such a powerful amp - the heavy compression on recorded music means the crest factor is much lower and thus its much easier to overheat a speaker, though conversely it does mean you're much less likely to cause over-excursion. Alex

I would never consider Thomastik 'flats' a replacement for normal flats. Because they're wound with a gap between the square section wire coils on the outside they don't behave like flats in how they vibrate and thus how they sound - they're far too flexible and have much more midrange and much less boom. They really shouldn't even be called flats, maybe squarewounds or something! They're very nice strings if you don't mind the low tension but they're not proper flats. Alex

I would definitely talk to the guitar teacher personally, not his/her boss nor the students. The scale length on an electric bass is ~50% more than that of a guitar whilst a double bass is about three times as long as a violin's, whilst the string tension on either bass instrument is much higher. You can't expect the left hand technique to stay the same, and with the smaller hands of children/teenagers there are so many potential technique problems which will affect their playing ability and could even cause serious physical problems such as tendonitis. Alex