Phil Starr

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1493031843' post='3284917'] I completely disagree with this. It's like saying that 80% of cars are fine with a 1 litre engine. It totally depends on the specifics of that engine. Give it direct injection, sequential turbocharging and hybrid assistance and properly optimise it and yes, you can get hundreds of horsepower and a good working torque curve. Get it straight out of an old Austin Metro and watch most of the 80% drive it to the scrap yard instead of their gig. Paul/Nancy - aren't you just using a single 15"? [/quote] That's a surprise Alex, since the cab he mentioned as 'how the hell do you cope' was one of yours! I was really addressing the OP's post and by saying 'decent single 12' I thought I'd made it clear I was talking about the Barefaced mentioned and a lot of others that utilise the best of modern driver design to enable us to go out with much reduced kit in terms of weight and speaker acreage. I was specifically referring to your single 12's because the OP referred to them and saying that the claims made for your speakers are perfectly reasonable in terms of the technology. There's no magic just good use of technology. In saying you 'completely disagree' I assume you are telling everyone that a single Barefaced 12 isn't enough to keep up with the band for 80% of bassists. Is that what you are saying?

I'm not going to recommend that particular box only because it isn't something I recognise as a brand but it has a link out and a 30dB pad (the pad reduces the signal by 30dB, so it's there to reduce the signal from a speaker down to a few thousandths of a volt) It is designed so you can insert it into the speaker chain reconnect your speaker and take the reduced output to the mixing desk. Most DI boxes do just this with either a 30dB or a 40dB pad which someone else mentioned. Loads of passive and active DI's to choose from. You should be able to use this with confidence, just read the instructions. If not then your alternative is to go the Sansamp/V amp route, loads of choices there too.

[quote name='SisterAbdullahX' timestamp='1492986043' post='3284689'] Simply that. Does anyone on here play pubs but not play the same old tired Classic Rock covers? Been finding that my usual staple of function gigs has steadily dwindled over the last few years to the point where I'm getting fewer than ten a year and could quite fancy packing them in altogether and just finding a nice local pub band to play for the enjoyment of it rather than having to entertain drunken wedding guests. However, the prospect of having to go and play all the standard rock tunes makes me think I'd probably just rather sell all my gear and pack in altogether! Does anyone play covers that aren't well known at all and still get a favourable response from the audience and get rebooked? Seems to me that, even if you don't play the rock stuff you still have to play well known songs, whatever the style of music you play, and that just bores me. Also, all the other bands that play that style of music play the same tunes! [/quote] I think you've summed up the situation really well and herein lies the problem. Too many music pubs are run by people who can't see beyond the genre of their own youth. they only book classic rock so that's what aspiring musicians see gets the bookings. The only thing on offer is Classic Rock so only those people who like Classic Rock go to pub gigs and others avoid those pubs, their turnover suffers so eventually they close. The truth is that only a small fraction of the public want live music in their pubs and only a small fraction of those want Rock as their only diet. The only way to grow the market as a whole is to offer more variety, the alternative is to let Pub Rock wither. All the audience want is to be entertained, to see a bit of a show. I don't think they are that bothered about what the music is in the main. They want to sing along, dance, maybe interact with the band a little, have as drink and a good time with a bit of atmosphere. People who really go for the music will be more likely to go to the bigger venues to see bands they know or to the few brave places that still put on bands doing original music. If you want people to dance and sing then you need to play stuff the majority know. That's tens of thousands of songs over my lifetime with hundreds being added every year. If you want them to dance then your music just needs to have a predictable rhythm the audience are comfortable with. To give them a good feeling you just need to show you enjoy what you do and reach out to them in some way. There's no real excuse for us all playing the same songs over and over again. To get bookings you need a recognisable identity be that genre or era (60's, 00's, whatever). The better pubs have realised that and are trying to serve up a variety. As well as playing the pubs I love live bands, I'm a 60something old bloke that grew up with all the classic rock bands. If there's a weekend when I'm not playing then I try to catch a band if I can but why would I see a classic rock band? I've heard every song they play a hundred times before, they are great songs but constant repetition has killed them for me. So so long as you can make it make sense to the audience, give them a little of what they want and sell the rest to them so they have a good evening out I don't think you'll have trouble getting repeat bookings whatever you do.Pub bands are in the entertainment business not the creative one but there are a hell of a lot of great songs rarely played and any number of ways of playing them. Your days of playing pubs are only over if you want them to be.

It's pretty hard to generalise mainly because we all eq differently and go for different tones. All the power is concentrated in the bottom octave or two but most of the sound comes from the higher frequencies. But, if you go for a fairly flat eq this is how I reckon it works. A decent single 12" speaker will handle around 300W over most of it's frequency range and probably have an efficiency of around 96dB/W so from around 100Hz upwards it'll produce 120dB or thereabouts. That's pretty much going to match the output from the drums. It's also going to produce peaks of around 100dB at the vocal mics so they are going to pick up quite a lot of bass and make all sorts of problems for the vocals. There's no point in being louder than this with backline and most bands will improve their overall sound by reigning back from that point and putting stuff through the PA at the bigger venues. That's kind of marginal though, a particularly monstrous drummer with heavy sticks and a big kit combined with a band where the vocals take second place might push past this point and any bass boost is going to challenge the speaker at the bottom end. My guess is that for 80% of us a single 12 will just about do everything you need form backline. Boost the bass at all though and that speaker is going to struggle. Just a small bass boost is going to double the power demand so the few people who find these tiny speakers are not enough aren't wrong, they are just doing things differently. For the rest of us why carry more than you need?

Why not just buy a PA power amp. You might find one with a sensitivity high enough to drive direct or you could add a simple pre amp just to boost output an active DI might well give you enough. I have to say my best sound ever was using a simple PA amp with no tone controls, but that had mic level inputs.

I was going to suggest a Peavey 1x15 but again I suspect they are too big. How about a 2x10, most old Peavey stuff is more or less valueless but is reliable and sounds good at the expense of great weight. My 1x15 has done sterling service as a sit and forget occupant of just such a man cave.

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1492717969' post='3282720'] Looking at some new dots today (see http://basslessons.be/transcriptions.php?i=94 for a current example) and it started me wondering how long it took people to learn a new track in readiness for performance? I realise this depends on the complexity of the track but in the case of Doobie Brothers "Long Train Runnin'" what do you reckon? 2 hours of effort, 8? 16? Is this a 'how long is a piece of string?' question? [/quote]this feels like taking my clothes off in public but if like me you are an 'intermediate' player you'll be very depressed by some of these answers, it takes me longer than this and from some of the conversations I have with other bassists and gigging bands I'm not totally alone in this. To give some context I've been involved in three start up bands and I'd reckon to learn three or four songs a week depending upon complexity spending about two or three hours most evenings working on them. They'll be all I listen to in the car whilst I'm learning them and I'll use every cheat I can (You Tube, tab,etc.) to get there. Like all the pro's here I won't gig unless I'm 100%. In all I've found it takes about twelve weeks to get a two hour set together from scratch. The other thing no one has mentioned is genre. So far I've played modern pop, indie, 70's Rock, glam rock, 80's rock, each tends to have its own little tricks and it can take a while to get your head round new stylistic things. That slows you down, or maybe it's just me Apart from that the pattern is pretty much what other people describe, breaking it down into parts, concentrating on structure and listen listen listen. No song has beaten me yet but I've taken a month to learn the more stretching ones and as soon as you get quicker at learning you inevitably end up being given something even more challenging to learn.

Good to hear, I've been planning to design and build a filter like this myself for years but I'm thinking of accepting how slow/lazy I am and biting the bullet on buying one. Technically they just make so much sense.

[quote name='redbandit599' timestamp='1492808926' post='3283465'] Well, I'm 49 you know... [/quote]Haha your kids must be around the same age as mine. It's already a set I'd go to see. Run. Snow Patrol Bang Bang Dirty Pretty Things Monster The Automatic

I feel the Brigs pain. I split with a band just over a year ago over just this, well for me. They got fed up with my nagging, probably with good reason. The down side was that it was a regularly gigging band and a lot of fun. My conclusion is that it wasn't laziness per se, just acomplete lack of self awareness. At rehearsals they were always really enthusiastic but glossed over mistakes, didn't want to discuss anything in detail, like how many bars there were in a line. what the actual chord was or on some occasions what the time signature was, tricky with the drums I thought. At the end of rehearsal and in the two days after they would get hyper enthusiastic and come up with four new songs for next week. Dozens of suggestions would be thrown out in the next couple of days. Somehow they would never find the time to learn the new songs. If you were lucky each would have had time to learn one but wih no communication they would turn up having learned different songs. We'd end up playing the originals in the rehearsal room or just running through our set yet again. The enthusiasm reigned supreme, 'sixty new songs by the end of the year' but we got to August and had only gigged one new song not on our NYE set list. I could go on but all the things in everything thebrig has talked about happened to us. In the end the guitarist who did learn his stuff at home and I tried to put some order in it but they could not change and in the end I was the villain of the piece and was pushed out after a big row. My point, if there is one is you have to balance being in a band with good people against the possibility you won't find better. They won't change because their world view and self image is different from yours. You have to decide to chill and go with it or leave. Apparently I'm not a chilled person. So yes, they should learn their stuff at home and practice before rehearsing, but they never will. You just have to decide if you can live with that.

I've had the chance to play with this a couple of times, as did a few people at the South West Bash. Never played a fretless before so I'm not the best judge but it feels just right in your hands, the neck is a lovely thing and the photo's really don't do it justice.

Honestly it's not a thing to worry about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td6m_ukCu0A

If you are looking at the Mk 1 on here then I've deliberately designed it to need as few tools as possible. You only really need a screwdriver, an electric drill, something to cut out the speaker hole (jigsaw or router). A hand saw might be useful if you don't get everything cut to size exactly. The only specialist thing you need is a 70mm holesaw for the ports http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-bi-metal-holesaw-70mm/80934?kpid=80934&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product%2520Listing%2520Ads-_-Sales%2520Tracking-_-sales%2520tracking%2520url&gclid=CMHK3cWCn9MCFcYp0wodJnoJsg&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CKeYoceCn9MCFaIx0wodNTwPDg which you can drive using your drill. We've only recommended the Beyma SM212 and the Eminence Beta12A2 for the design and the Kappalite 3012HO if you want a lightweight driver. Other drivers are suitable of course but we haven't tried them and haven't found anything cheaper so far. We're happy to advise anyone if they do come up with an alternative.

6V6 is right, you can't really 'service' an amp. Servicing is really about changing lubrication and filters and examining moving parts, none of which really applies to an amp. You could argue a valve change as a 'service' as they do wear over time and sometimes the bias on a valve amp will need to be tweaked but for a solid state amp save your money.

There are good technical reasons why valve amps are popular, it's to do with the way they distort when overloaded mainly. It's a much nicer sound than that of an overloaded solid state amp. In turn that is to do with the nature of the whole output stage including the transformer you have to have with a valve output stage. The effects of valves in the pre amp stages are much less pronounced but I wouldn't deny they are there, just not a way of emulating a valved output stage. Essentially you'd expect a solid state pre amp to be better behaved than a valve one, less distorted. I suspect though the essential differences in a valve pre amp are down to a mixture of luck and careful design, a good design is a good design IMO independently of whether it is solid state, digital or valve. FWIW my two amps both have valve and solid state pre amps. I've a Hartke 3500 and a MB Tube 500. I use the Hartke mainly on solid state and the MB with all valve and no solid state. I just set up the tone I like best. I honestly don't think just because you like one valve pre amp you are going to like every amp with one, you've still got to listen and choose with your ears.

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1491665561' post='3274663'] My car radio, car stereo speakers, all the car electrics are fitted in my car year round - why would bass amps/electrics/cabs be any different? [/quote] I know that the cones of car speakers are designed to be water resistant, I'd suspect the electronics are too. Many PA speakers nowadays are also water resistant to an extent but I've no idea which, if any, bass gear is. For example a lot of old Trace gear was made of MDF which will absorb moisture and swell. The trouble for all of us answering a question like this is that the real answer is 'it depends'. We none of us know what the garage/shed is really like or what gear is being stored. There's also the problem of knowing what level of risk is acceptable. Most of the gear in most garages will be OK, but how do we feel about a 25%chance of it being damaged? In the end the OP has to decide .

Congratulations Stevie, that's impressive. You have to try it with vocals

It has to depend upon the garage, the biggest enemies are moisture and rodents. Cold itself will cause no harm but temperature changes will cause condensation which is not good for anything that may corrode or for electronic circuit boards or many loudspeaker cones. You'd probably be better off running a de-humidifier than heating as such. I picked one up for £100 at Aldi of all places and you can set the humidity at which it cuts in and it all runs automatically, a lot cheaper than heating. You'd need to arrange a pipe to drain the extracted water or expect to empty the tank every few days. I've had mice inside my speaker cabs. Little buggers got out at a gig! I'd heard scratching as I unloaded them. Plug up any open reflex ports is the solution.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1491304138' post='3271927'] not entirely sure about this, Trace drivers are bloody heavy, as I said earlier I shaved 5Kg off a 1 x 15 T E cab by installing a non neo eminance driver I had around, reduced the weight from 25Kg to 20, did alter the sound though [/quote] You are probably right. Poplar ply is about 60% less dense than MDF and you could swap for thinner board with some decent bracing. I reckon you could save half the weight of the cab this way, possibly that is about 10kg? You'd certainly notice that when shifting the cab, I know when I'm at the gym 5kg is enough to move something from lift-able to feeling like it's nailed to the floor. As a complete cab it would still be pretty heavy of course. Whether it is worth all the effort I don't know. Four neo drivers wouldn't be cheap, I wonder how much it would cost to have a custom made cab?

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1491474273' post='3273282'] Mr Bill, he correct. Large cones simply cannot move swiftly or accurately enough to produce high frequencies. Without a tweeter, few if any 15" cabs are going to produce appreciable output over 1.5kHz. Even the smaller (typically around 6") bass drivers in your hi-fi need tweeters to cover anything much over 3kHz (try covering your hi fi tweeters and listening to your speakers and you'll see what I mean). [/quote] I'm fairly confident the OP didn't want this much detail but basically this is right, just not the whole story. Above certain frequencies the output from a speaker starts to fall at 6db/octave due to the mass elements. This is compensated for sometimes by a 6dB/octave rise in output due to the beaming Bill mentions, so both are important. This all assumes the cone acts as a perfect piston, it doesn't in real life of course. In reality all cones flex a little and some quite a lot. It may be that most of the output of a speaker at higher frequencies is actually being radiated from a relatively small central area of the cone. This may happen according to Colloms at around the frequency at which beaming starts. Above these frequencies you've pretty much got to measure each driver as the theory begins to break down.

There you go Firefox works, thanks guys

As Bill said it is down to the driver. the 38-2000Hz isn't a cut off either. It is probably just where the speaker's response is down 10dB. They've probably simply made a driver with better excursion and a heavier cone which has emphasised the bass but inevitably cut the top end as a consequence. I assume you chose it because of the sound so don't worry

The problem may just be down to inexperience and the monitoring issues already mentioned. A lot of people at jam/open mic sessions aren't regular performers and to be fair it isn't ideal doing just three songs with no chance to set up and sound check. It's often pretty difficult for an experienced musician to pick themselves out of the mix, for an irregular it can be tough. There's also the tendency to believe that if we can't hear the audience can't hear either. If there is a next time then point the speakers at his ears, he'll hear himself and be happy and your amp will be safe. He may even turn himself down

Don't do online banking. I prefer spending that hurts Thanks I was thinking of Firefox, I need to ditch Chrome.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1491380414' post='3272501'] The think is there is no right or wrong, it is a personal thing. Phil's idea of a smaller cab creating a low mid peak is as valid as the "HiFi" cab. The choice is yours. [/quote] There's no disagreement between us all about this, before the Mk1 I had the Beyma's in a couple of PA cabs with some really meaty horns crossed over at 1600Hz. They gave me the best sound I've ever had with a bass and that's what inspired me to try them with the horns disconnected, and ultimately led to the design of the Mk1. The reason for wanting to do a small cab is really only because I can't stop fiddling with designs to see where they can be pushed. If it is successful we'll have the basis for a lightweight version giving home builders another option, if it isn't successful then you'll know not to go there.