flyfisher

[quote name='Lynottfan' timestamp='1366995977' post='2060143'] Always had it, not that expensive and [b]well worth the cover[/b]. [/quote] Has anyone here ever claimed on a PLI policy? What were the circumstances and the outcome? Has anyone here ever wished they had a PLI policy? What were the circumstances and the outcome?

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1366670572' post='2055883'] BTW, does it actually look slow motion to you? We did a double speed version of the song in the same pitch to film to, and then slowed the film to half speed for the final edit. I was expecting it to look more dramatic, but it seems quite subtle, maybe I've watched it too often [/quote] Yep, it looked slo-mo to me and I liked the effect. Though I thought Kit's lip-syncing looked somehow 'not quite right' in places, but your explanation of the double-speed recording probably explains that. But that's a really minor thing that I wouldn't have brought up if you hadn't asked. Congrats on a seriously good piece of work.

[quote name='danthevan' timestamp='1366576336' post='2054435'] As for vat, you can register now if you like, [b]it's just compulsory after £5x,000[/b]. [/quote] £79,000 http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/start/register/when-to-register.htm

I'm surprised about the number of people suggesting it's OK to stop mid-song. During rehearsals, yes, but during a gig I used to think it was a no-brainer to carry on and recover as best you can. Seems I was wrong.

I can't see any particular problem if that's what you want to do. Avoid the DI output though because that's usually balanced and amp inputs are usually not. I'd take the line out of one combo into the active input of the other. Turn all the gain/volume controls right down at first and gradually adjust them to see how it sounds.

[quote name='AngelLaHash' timestamp='1366213086' post='2049701'] To get the Most out of some thing, with little work. Is good Engineering [/quote] Agreed. But putting a primitive single-pole passive filter in a bass and then connecting it to a multi-band active tone-shaping wonder pedal is not particularly little work or good engineering. But hey, we're in the domain of subjectivity so I guess anything goes. http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/56775/paper-in-oil-pio-capacitors-what-is-special

I played my first bass-playing gig before I even had a bass. it was a band of school mates and we played a summer fete at an old folks home with me playing bass on an old acoustic guitar. I was about 16, so early 70s. I can only remember three of the songs - House of the Rising Sun, Love Like A Man (RIP Alvin Lee) and an original. I dread to think what it sounded like but fortunately there are no recordings as evidence.

[quote name='iiipopes' timestamp='1366130806' post='2048762'] That looks like a great box, but is it worth it, when most folks have just a couple of instruments? [/quote] Fair point. I only mentioned it as an example of what's available to the hard-core experimenter. I sometimes wonder why we bother with primitive passive instrument tone controls at all in these days of multi-effect pedals and multi-band tone controls on our amps.

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1366064491' post='2048050'] Next question would be what is 'optimum value' or is it the iiipopes 0.033 value (somewhere in the middle of most basses). [/quote] 'Optimum' capacitor value is going to depend on personal preference. An easy way to experiment is to use a substitution box (which is pretty much what Ou7shined built) and have a play until it all sounds good to your own ears. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-K38-Capacitor-Substitution-Box/dp/B0002BBQMI

[quote name='iiipopes' timestamp='1366039763' post='2047599'] [size=3][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][color=#000000]Sorry, I misunderstood the question![/color] [color=#000000]"Quality" in this context means the same as in any other quality control context: unit-to-unit consistency. In other words, when you purchase a .047, are you getting a .047, or actually just a, say, .40 or as much as a .60? Since the treble roll-off needs to be at least a half-octave difference to be audible, even these extremes are acceptable. I even use a .033 as my tone capacitor because I like more mids in the mix.[/color] [color=#000000]Likewise, "Linearity" means consistency of performance throughout the audible range and throughout its voltage and temperature rated range. For audio reproduction applications, these have more meaning with the entire audio range at issue than it does for bass guitar applications, where the most it will see in a frequency range is only @ 30 Hz (low or 40 Hz (low E) to @ 7500 Hz (highest overtones usually produced), and a few millivolts, maybe as much as one volt for hot actives. And since there are no components to cause heat in an electric bass, then temperature is not a concern, either, as it used to be with large filter capacitors next to large, hot power tubes and transformers.[/color] [b][color=#000000]In other words, it really doesn't matter. [/color][/b][/font][/size] [/quote] Indeed. The concept of capacitor linearity being important in a passive bass application makes me smile, especially when considering paper-in-oil capacitors that are typically used in high voltage, high power applications. Ou7shined's test example is probably the only way to really decide about these things but, as pointed out, the circuit is only a single pole low pass filter and the scope for tone shaping is pretty much limited to selecting the low-pass frequency (or 'shelf' point). The actual roll off characteristics of such a simple filter cannot be significantly affected by changing capacitor types or values.

[quote name='iiipopes' timestamp='1365747828' post='2043734'] A capacitor is two films of metal, called the "plates," with a thin insulator sandwiched between them, and leads soldered internally to each film of metal. The insulator is also called the "dielectric." What the poster is referring to is on some capacitors the dielectric is a thin film of polyester plastic only a few mils thick, and on some traditional old-style capacitors the dielectric is exactly that: a strip of thin paper actually soaked in an oil. Here's how they work: the thicker the dielectric, the more voltage that the capacitor can handle, but this separates the plates. The farther apart the plates, the less electricity they can interact with, so the lower the capacitance, and therefore the plates have to be larger to have the same capacitance. This is why capacitors with a larger voltage rating are usually also larger in physical size. the plates and dielectric are usually flexible and wound around together so the capacitor can be made more compact, like a Sprague "orange drop" or "bumble bee," two very popular lines of capacitors for electric guitar and bass applications. [/quote] Thanks for the explanation, but I knew all that. What I asked was, what does "[i]polyester and paper in oil are the best quality and most linear caps,[/i]" actually mean? Specifically, what does 'quality' and 'most linear' mean when applied to a capacitor?

The original question was about whether 'cheap pots' affect the tone but the answers have meandered around different values and different configurations, so things have become a bit confusing. I'd say that a 'cheap' pot of the same value in the same circuit configuration will make no difference when compared with an expensive one. I'd expect the expensive one to last longer and the cheaper one might even be a little bit noisy when being turned but tone wise I can't see how there can be any difference because the defining circuit characteristic will be ohms. That's all. Change the ohms, connect things in a different way and then there might be some differences. You might even be able to hear them. but it doesnt make much sense for a straight like-for-like ohms substitution to make any difference to the circuit operation.

[quote name='umph' timestamp='1364651562' post='2029234'] polyester and paper in oil are the best quality and most linear caps, [/quote] What does that actually mean?

Your turntable speed is likely to be dependent on the mains frequency rather than the voltage. Frequency is controlled to a much higher tolerance than voltage. But your smiley suggests you knew that.

In their FAQ, they recommend a Boss PSA-120 adapter, which is a 9V PSU. It makes sense for pedal manufacturers to make their gear able to work with a wide variety of PSU, and this Empress one seems to be so flexible in that regard that it doesn't even ship with a PSU on the assumption you'll already have one. The usual method is to have an internal voltage regulator that brings the input voltage down the requirements of the internal electronics. I'd be very suprised if it works any differently when powered by 24V than the 'recommended' 9V.

[quote name='danthevan' timestamp='1365589837' post='2041376'] Last venue we played was a pub with 3 double sockets on the wall.............. later traced back to being some 1.5mm flex joining them all together via a junction box tucked behind a radiator, with a 13a plug on the end going into a single socket! Wonder if this is his problem too? [/quote] Long cables and thin wiring will increase resistance and will result in a volts drop to the equipment end of things. Probably not a big deal for things like lights but could certainly upset amps and other equipment, depending on their design. In general, if the equipment has a 'universal mains input (usually something like 100V - 260V) then it won't be affected, but if it is a fixed 230/240V input then it could be. However, even if the equipment is not affected, thin/long cables are not a good idea because that volts drop means wasted power within the cables, which means heat. This is why cable reels whould always be fully unwound. Also, beware that not all extension reels are rated for 13A operation. A 6A extension cable "fixed" with a 13A fuse and not fully unwound is a good recipe for a mass of molten plastic and a blown fuse in the consumer unit!!

I reckon this bass playing lark follows the universal 80:20 rule - it's 80% playing skill and only 20% gear related. You see, I've got one of those Mag300 heads but GP makes it sound so much better than I can!

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1365514858' post='2040547'] I spoke to the printing company (the guy I had been dealing with in the past to sort quotes etc was away the past few days but was back today)... and it turns out what we need is license AP2 and that it should be free if it's our music (which it is)... now that's starting to sound reasonable... [/quote] This is all new to me but I'm astonished that musicicans need a licence (even if it is free!!) to produce CDs of their own work! It's bad enough when the "music business" tries to control how we can listen to stuff we buy, never mind imposing conditions on music we make up ourselves. Unbelievable.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1365423452' post='2039274'] If you want to take short cuts to learning a song (by having someone else do all the hard work of working out the notes and their timings) then I don't see why you shouldn't have to pay for that privilege. [/quote] That's a fair point but, equally, if some people out there are happy to do all that hard work themselves and then give it away for free on a website then that's also their choice isn't it? There's nothing to stop music publishers putting up a pay site containing their music is there?

Yes, except that the UK mains voltage is still nominally 240V. When the EU standardised the mains voltage to 230 +/- 10% (as dincz rightly pointed out), it meant that 240V +10% would be outside the EU specification, i.e 262V. But the UK had to implement the EU directive to harmonise mains voltages so it changed the specification to 240V -10% +6%. So, a bit like the metrication of 19-inch racks to 482.6mm. The bottom line, as dincz pointed out, is that any equipment having trouble operating between mainland Europe and UK mains supplies hasn't been designed properly.

It's an interesting question, but frankly I can't see how such things can be stopped. You can't allow people to listen to music without giving away the notes. It would be like publishing a book but not allowing people to know the alphabet. Chordify is just a tool to enable less musically-literate people to understand the details of the music. More musically-literate people - including those with perfect pitch - would be able to recognise notes and chords simply by ear anyway. As long as the ownership of the music is not affected, I can't see how anyone can stop the structure of the music being dissected in all sorts of ways.

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1365322496' post='2037899'] And I've arrived at several in my Narrowboat - how rock and roll is that ? !! [/quote] I'd say that was pretty rock 'n' roll if there was no river or canal nearby.

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1365257659' post='2037307'] I'm fed up of people coming to the house (delivery men, boiler engineers etc), seeing the basses and asking "Does your husband play the bass" no he bleeding well doesn't.... I'm the bassist and damn proud of it! [/quote] We have some old photos on the wall of Mrs FF in her showjumping days. Visitors are never confused by them because it's a typical girlie sport right? So they assume that the hydroplane powerboat racing photos must me. Er, no, that'll be Mrs FF as well.

No mention of Grace Slick yet? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EdLasOrG6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2yQLXTuctA

I'm sure it's a given that we'd all like to play in our favourite band but, for me, the ultimate fantasy would be to have played at some of the milestone gigs. So, off the top of my head: Woodstock - playing with Santana, The Band, The Who or Jefferson Airplane IOW - playing with Jimi Hendrix The Beatles at Shea - just to have been there Queen at Live Aid Playing to 1m+ people with the Stones in Rio The Wall - with Roger Waters in Berlin (er, OK, we'd have to fight over the bass parts ) I think that would be enough for a decent memoir.