bremen

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='147681' date='Feb 27 2008, 10:43 AM']I was passing a charity shop, and there was an old valve radio in there. Had a look in the back and it had what looked roughly like a 12AX7 with Mullard written on it. What are the chances of that being a useable valve for my DHA pedal? Will the fact its been used in a radio for ages mean it probably won't be very good, or is the low power use in there going to mean its a good score? Being a charity shop the whole thing was cheaper than a NOS Mullard. Oh, and might it not have actually been an ECC85/12AX7?[/quote] Low power valves last forever(ish)...though I've never heard of Mullard calling it a 12AX7, they used the name ECC83.

[quote name='nash' post='147491' date='Feb 26 2008, 10:55 PM']right my final specs i think. have i missed anything ... musicman style battery box ...[/quote] 18V supply? My EMG works ok at 9V but they recommend using two PP3s for greater headroom.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='146336' date='Feb 25 2008, 08:14 AM']That is a fabulous piece of work. Thanks Alex. Just to confirm, do the descriptions 'guitar' and 'bass' in that chart apply equally to acoustic and to electric?[/quote] I'd have thought electric guitar harmonics go higher than an acoustic...but then again the 12" speakers that most guitarists use would limit anything above 5-6kHz.

[quote name='Dillsfretless' post='145903' date='Feb 24 2008, 10:53 AM']Hmmmn, I can't view the video right now but I'm pretty sure that I know what it will be. For me the jury is still out on this stuff, they can be funny but ultimately it's a laugh purely at someone else's expense, which I guess is a fairly low brand of comedy. Having seen a few now I don't feel the need to keep revisiting the same old joke. Having said that, I saw a brilliant Santana one once, every little nuance of the different musicians movements were timed into the thing and it was VERY funny. Some idiots who left comments seemed to think that it was real![/quote] The Santana one is probably the best. I played it to at least two people who thought it was for real. There's a much cleverer Steely Dan 'remix' somewhere, starts well and gradually deteriorates til the bassist is playing 'smoke on the water' while the band collapses around him.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='145071' date='Feb 22 2008, 02:20 PM']I had one keep coming loose on my Jazz. One gig i got a splinter from my drummers broken stick, forced it in the hole (the bass, not the drummers ;-) put the screw back in and its been perfect ever since. At last, a use for a drummer.[/quote] And that's why they like to play so loud - they are only thinking of how best to serve their bass brothers!

[quote name='dood' post='144950' date='Feb 22 2008, 12:17 PM']Knowing that you have a good knowledge of winisd (and I dont have a copy nearby to check) are the dimensions set in stone for best response / least distortion etc? for example, would it hurt lopping off height and adding it to depth instead?[/quote] Cabinet shape (within reasonable limits) makes no difference to bass response or distortion. For high mid frequencies you do have to consider ratios so you don't end up with one big fat standing wave (eg a cube), but using bracing as Alex intends will help break these up anyway.

[quote name='Mr Cougar' post='143847' date='Feb 20 2008, 05:09 PM']cheers guys I'm starting to get the idea here, is a similar option available on the Musicman HH configurations or do they just have one setting??[/quote] You can wire MM pickups single/parallel/series. I've seen a diagram somewhere online, can't remember whether it's the Seymour Duncan or Musicman site.

[quote name='Mr Cougar' post='143709' date='Feb 20 2008, 02:37 PM']Hi chaps, can someone please explain in terms I can understand the difference between Single Coil, Parallel and Series? What is the difference in sound? Can you wire up a bass so that you can flick a switch between the settings. For example if I had two humbuckers (like MMs) what would the options be regarding wiring them up, putting in switches and what would the effect be on the sound or hum? I'm researching getting a bass made and my preffered config would be a pair of MMs (I'm thinking two Delano MC4 HEs) but I'm unsure how to approach the wiring/configuration side to get the most versatile set up.[/quote] I have a Seymour Duncan MM and have wired it for parallel/one coil only. In parallel it's amazingly quiet (as in doesn't buzz near the amp) but I prefer the single-coil sound. It's hard to describe, it's just a bit more 'musical' somehow. I haven't tried series wiring but I'd expect it to give a huge boost to the low end at the expense of treble. I could draw you a diagram for a switch to select single/parallel/series - it needs a 2 pole 3 way switch (do these exist in any shape other than rotary?)

[quote name='Bernmeister' post='141052' date='Feb 15 2008, 02:02 PM']I've been lucky enough to have done a few deals & met with daf in the past & not only has he done me great deals, i have gained a great friend too. Cheers Daf I think its my turn for the drinks when we next meet. [/quote] I'll get the second round.

[quote name='mboursnell' post='139922' date='Feb 13 2008, 10:34 PM']Hi everyone, Does anyone know of a good lightweight bass guitar, with weight info. I have been recommended several, such as the Cort GB74, Aerodyne Jazz Bass, Ibanez SR500, but I don't have the weight of any of these. Does anyone have one of these that they can weigh for me? Thanks, Mike[/quote] My Warmoth Dinky PJ is 3.4kg; big fat Precision neck, swamp ash body.

[quote name='BossHog' post='140408' date='Feb 14 2008, 03:58 PM']They offer a ten year warranty on this amp[/quote] I'm impressed.

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='140283' date='Feb 14 2008, 01:33 PM']My 54P body in Korina and birdseye maple neck arrived today, 1 day late after 3 crossings of the Atlantic. Now to find the tung oil [/quote] Do you have the patience to do plenty coats and leave four hours between each application? I was sorely tempted to slap on a couple and bolt it together the same day. Worth it in the end though. Beautiful instruments.

[quote name='David Nimrod' post='140196' date='Feb 14 2008, 12:03 PM']I've got a Bass Pod XT Live, the floor one, and although I've spent a fair amount of time with it, I just can't get to grips with it. Now, me and manuals don't get on too well, fair enough, but I just can't see how all this is necessary somehow... I realise that the possibilities must be pretty much limitless, but I'm happy with my tone - what more is there to achieve? I guess what I'm saying is that 'I give up' - I'm just not that geeky (i.e. clever) and I don't think it's gonna work for me. Or am I missing something obvious?[/quote] If you're happy with your tone you don't need the Pod! I like the tone I get out of mine. Took a lot of tweaking mind.

[quote name='stewblack' post='137837' date='Feb 10 2008, 10:02 PM']I use it back stage, I use it wandering naked around the house if the fancy takes me. It's wonderful.Never fallen out[/quote] Fnarr! Fnarr!

[quote name='alexclaber' post='138833' date='Feb 12 2008, 01:30 PM']Finally bitten the bullet and ordered the parts for this cab. Basically it's an Eminence 3015LF woofer in a ~110 litre ported box tuned to 46Hz with a sealed sub-enclosure containing an Eighteen Sound 6ND410 midrange. Am still hunting down some suitable plywood - looking for high quality 9mm baltic birch with equal thickness plies throughout. Will be doing all manner of strange bracing to get sufficient stiffness from such thin ply. External dimensions will be ~ 32" high x 20" wide x 16.5" deep - a neat fit in the boot of my car along with my 4U shallow rack. Estimated weight <50lbs. Alex[/quote] I braced my cabinets with 'shelves' of 9mm ply full of 2" holes; one of these 'shelves' connects the back of the magnet (via blu-tak) to the rear of the cabinet. I nicked that idea from Tannoy. What else will you do? 9mm is pretty bold, but for sure a well-braced 9mm cabinet will be better than an 18mm poorly braced one. Hope it goes well! by the way, top tip for ports: Screwfix sell 100mm diameter poly pipe in 200mm (iirc) lengths, designed for tumble dryer outlets. It's a good interference fit in a hole drilled with a Screwfix 2" holesaw.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='138864' date='Feb 12 2008, 02:09 PM']I've done a diagram to show the when to shim and when to adjust the truss-rod. You should check the relief of the neck first, but in my experience when I've run out of bridge adjustment the it's been the neck/body angle that needs adjusting not the relief of the neck (except once when both needed adjusting!). The tilt the neck back to lower the action the shim needs to got at the body end of the pocket. Hopefully the diagram makes all this clear.[/quote] pictures worth 1000+ words. Gold star!

[quote name='BigRedX' post='138824' date='Feb 12 2008, 01:13 PM']You need to shim the neck. Take the neck off and cut a piece of thin plastic (I used the plastic from the blister pack from a set a of TI strings - it doesn't need to be very thick) the width of the neck pocket and about one third to half the depth (the smaller the shim depth the greater the angle). Fit this at the body end of the neck pocket and re-attach the neck. It may take a couple of tries to get the right combination of length and thickness and you'll be surprised just how much difference such a small amount of "padding" makes. The truss rod should be used to set the relief of the neck only.[/quote] Is my advice wrong then? I'm not suggesting that adjusting the truss rod is necessarily the solution, but surely if it's too loose then the relief should be adjusted first, then when that's right get onto shimming if necessary.

[quote name='markdavid' post='138815' date='Feb 12 2008, 01:01 PM']Hi , was wondering if anyone would be able to help , I have aquired a new p bass , have lowered the bridge saddles as low as they will go but action is still quite high. Do I need to tighten or loosen truss rod to correct this ?[/quote] It sounds like you have to tighten it, to counterbalance the strings. Be careful though, it could just be that the neck is perfectly straight but is too low in the pocket. I've seen this a few times. If this is the case you'll need to shim the neck (or mutilate the bridge saddles). There should be a sticky somewhere here on setup and truss rod adjustment. Basically if you fret (simultaneously) at the 1st and 21st frets, is the gap between the string and the 10th fret excessive? If it's less than the thickness of a business card don't try and tighten the truss any further.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='138779' date='Feb 12 2008, 12:16 PM']Guys, I'm crap at electrics and such, but pretty good at numbers. I thought the amount of air a speaker could move was driven essentially by the area of the speaker, using the classic PI x r-squared formula. Since PI is a constant, the relative air-moving capability of different speakers should be: 10" = 5.0x5.0 = 25 12" = 6.0x6.0 = 36 15" = 7.5x7.5 = 56 18" = 9.0x9.0 = 81 Crudely, therefore, a 210 will move nearly as much air as a 115. I was perfectly happy with this analysis, it all made sense to me, and it seemed to chime with my own experience. Then I read this on the Ampeg site with reference to the SVT-410HLF: [i]The SVT-410HLF actually moves 10% more air than two 18-inch speakers, and 25% more than three 15-inch speakers![/i] What am I missing here? [/quote] The area of a typical 10" driver is 350cm2, 15" = 856cm2. Therefore four tens =1400cm2 and three 15s = 2568cm2, nearly twice the area of the 4x10. I seem to be missing something too... Reminds me of how suspicious I was of Ampeg's claimed frequency response stats. edit: of course, yes, it does depend also on Vmax but it's a bit sneaky of Ampeg to compare their 10" with a good Vmax with that of a Brand X 18" that just happens to have a tiddly Vmax

I love these stories, hearing that not all megastars are vain and affected. I guess if I was a 'celeb' I'd be happy to meet people who didn't know who I was. I read somewhere about a chance meeting - been trying to find the original article but it's long gone so here's what I remember: Matey lives on a houseboat and is cruising on River X...night is falling and he needs to moor. There are big houses with lawns down to the river. A scruffy bloke greets him, they exchange pleasantries and Matey says: -I know this is a bit cheeky but could I moor here for the night? -Sure, no problem, come and get a cup of tea. Anyway, they become friends (I'm starting to feel like Simon Bates here) and Matey often passes by on the river. One time they go down the pub and Matey notices that there's a bit of a buzz, everyone seems to know Scruffy though few talk to him. Scruffy seems unaware of this. Eventually after his fifth pint Matey goes to the bog and the bloke pissing beside him says: - So how long you known Jimmy Page then?

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='138506' date='Feb 11 2008, 10:07 PM']Just cos I told him what it meant does not mean it makes sense.[/quote] understood, I wasn't assuming you were supporting the bullsh*tt*rs! [quote]I reckon it's only a matter of time before some company sticks magnets around the outside of the lead at each end and claims that the magnets "align the electrons in the signal path, reducing loss of energy through random scatter thus increasing the top end, reducing muddiness in the middle range and allowing the bass frequencies more headroom"[/quote] I'd be surprised if someone hadn't already done that.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='138456' date='Feb 11 2008, 08:31 PM']It usually means connect in the direction of the arrow, e.g. bass ---> amp ---> send ---> return ---> cab etc. Sometimes in hifi world it is indicated by the writing on the cable.[/quote] Stop me if this is heading in the direction of audiophile shouting and posturing, but directional cable is a nonsense which can be explained by marketing departments but not by the laws of physics. Whether it's bass>>>amp or amp>>>cab, the current is AC which means it goes both ways down the cable. Fortunately we don't seem to have as much bullshit aimed at us as audiophiles do - some of the stuff they will buy is jaw-dropping. CD demagnetiser, anyone? [url="http://sound.westhost.com/cables.htm"]http://sound.westhost.com/cables.htm[/url]

[quote name='BassBod' post='138403' date='Feb 11 2008, 07:00 PM']Its got mysterious plastic boxes near each plug and its labelled "guitar/amp" at either end because its supposed to sound better if used in the right direction. Or they think we're stupid and will forget where to put the other end. It does sound slightly "fuller" and "brighter" at home, with nothing else but amp hiss to listen to...but in any real world environment I couldn't tell the difference.....and its going to get stepped on and covered in beer just like every other cable. Anyone want it? BB[/quote] Nah, got enough snake oil and antigravity devices ;-)

[quote name='BOD2' post='137188' date='Feb 9 2008, 05:54 PM']You can't run two amp channels into one cab [i][b]unless[/i][/b] there are two or more speakers in the cab that have been wired up independently of each other (so you're effictively connecting to separate speakers that happen to be in the same enclosure). Don't be misled into thinking there's a direct relationship between amp power and loudness - it's really not as simple as that. An efficient speaker with a high Sound Pressure Level (SPL) will be louder than one with a lower SPL even if you put more power into the less efficient one. As a general guide, you need approximately 10 times (yes TEN) the amplifier power to get twice the volume. So, for example, changing from a 250 W amp to a 350 W amp is not going to make a huge difference.[/quote] All that is true; it is also true that an amp designed to give full power into 4 ohms will nearly always give much more than half its rated power into 8 ohms.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='138053' date='Feb 11 2008, 11:18 AM']I can accept this in principle but my question is this: can a cable effect tone in a manner that impacts significantly on the perceived tonal results in the context of the other environmental variables in play? Or, in English, is the effect significant enough to be heard against the other things that effect it such as the shape of a room, the amp's/bass's eq, flat surfaces, carpets/tileds floors etc. My perspective is that it probably doesn't so, whilst it is worth noting, it ain't worth lying awake over. I am open to challenge.[/quote] A cable can certainly and measurably affect the top end, more so with passive instruments that have high impedance pickups (but even active giutars with pots on the outputs will be affected if the pots are set at less than full on). It's down to the capacitance of the cable, which should be as low as possible. The resistance is irrelevant, so beware of claims like 'oxygen free copper for maximum conductivity' which are just hype. Van Damme cables are good, not all manufacturers publish capacitance. I have swallowed the Little Book Of Calm.