Phil Starr

those basslites look ok [url="http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Basslite_S2010.pdf"]http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Basslite_S2010.pdf[/url] there's quite a hump in the midrange which should give them a bit of punch and you'll be putting them into too small a box which will give them a bass peak too. Xmax (excursion) is ok at 4mm. They'll be a lot better than what you have probably and you'll lose a noticeable amount of weight.

Everyone is changing to switching(digital) amps with switch mode supplies including Behringer. They've had a poor reputation for reliability for some of their gear but their old PA, EP Series amps have proven to be very reliable. Some of their early digital stuff less so, though some forums put this down to poor connectors rather than the circuitry. Has anyone any direct experience with any of their new amps? The iNuke, EPQ and EPX series amps?

Try out your combo with extension speakers. If you find some you like the sound of then look inside to see what they use. One of the problems with this sort of upgrade is that you don't know what you are going to get until after you have spent your money. though i notice the DIY 15 in your gear so you already know this. I'll warn you now some people will come on and tell you speaker design is impossibly complex and speakers have to be matched to cabs. That's only partly true, Speakers have to be matched to cabs to get the best out of them but a lot of speakers are close enough in design to allow a bit of leeway and the software available makes design changes easier. A speaker giving less than its best can also sound OK. Speakers from Fane,Celestion and Eminence can all be good (or poor if you choose the wrong ones) and the Eminence beta has been redisigned recently and looks interesting, make sure you get the updated one though. People here are very generous with their time and if you measure the inside dimensions of your cab someone will tell you if a speaker you suggest will work in your cab and if you need to change the ports.

First of all the relationship between watts and sound level is slightly complex. Our ears pick up quiet sounds really well but have to cope with sounds a million times louder so they work on doubling the sound level only giving a small increase in the volume we hear. (actually 3dB) So, increasing the amps output from 500W to 1000W only gives you a small but noticeable increase in sound. To go from 750W to 950W is just about going to be a noticeable 1dB increase. Run one speaker a side. You did want stereo anyway, right? The amps power is limited by two things. The voltage swing it can provide and the power of the power supply inside the amp. Let's imagine your amp can swing 32Volts, the voltage squared divided by the resistance gives the power so that is 1024/8 or 128W for 8ohm speakers and 1024/4 or 256 for 4ohm speakers. You get double the power into half the ohms theoretically. So why doesn't your Yamaha give 1500 into 4ohms? The other limit is the amount of current your power supply can give. Twice the power demands twice the current and sooner or later the transformer inside your amp reaches its limit. in your case this is when the impedance drops below 8ohms. In fact the current limiting tends to be slow, the power supply might be able to provide a high current for a fraction of a second so your amp may give peaks well in excess of the 950W into 4ohms. In truth your 750W a side amp is probably going to be more than loud enough for any gig you play and you have bought something you can plug in and let run without worrying.

I think the S115V's used the eminence 2" bolt on driver for most of their life, Whatever it is they give a great vocal sound [url="http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=EMIPSD3006&browsemode=manufacturer"]http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=EMIPSD3006&browsemode=manufacturer[/url] you should be able to buy a new diaphragm for them if it is blown which is a lot cheaper than replacing the whole unit.

If it is quoting that sensitivity then it probably has a short voice coil and correspondingly short excursion, not really designed for bass. Because they are moving components and therefore wear out old speakers are not a good bet for longevity, especially if you push them hard. Don't spend a fortune on this speaker, the best use for it is in restoring vintage gear probably, it might be fun to see how it sounds but it isn't going to make a gigging bass speaker.

Hi Chris, you shouldn't damage your speakers. The usual thing with PA is to buy plenty of power with your amps because the idea is to have no distortion coming from these. Since the distortion mainly comes at the peaks then make sure the amps can more than go above the speaker handling. Amps and speakers are rated differently anyway, even though they are both RMS watts. The speaker rating is for how much heat it can disperse if the power is applied continuously, and the amp for how much undistorted power it can produce. Because all music has peaks and troughs the amps average power is likely to be 100th of its peak output, in practice your 1000W amp may only be averaging 10W into the speaker so it is unlikely to overheat. If you run into distortion however then this puts a lot of power into the horns and these are the bits that blow. This is the only case where a low powered amp is more likely to blow your speaker than a high power one by the way. Fortunately your S115's have a built in protection for the horns so you won't blow these either. If you want to be completely safe then you can by a compressor/limiter which can be set to prevent any damaging peaks reaching the speakers, but I don't think this will be a problem unless you start playing really big venues. You are far more likely to blow peoples eardrums than your speakers with this set up! Yamaha is a good choice by the way.

I've had five of these so far, three straight and one angled. I've had two failures, both the straight ones and both failed to reconnect though the ring still moved freely in both cases. I've never had so much as a pop out of them though, totally silent in my experience. I really like them so I've just replaced them and i carry plenty of spare leads so no problem. Neutrik really ought to have a look though if 30%ish are failing in fairly short time spans

It's one of those irregular verbs possibly: bassists think it is expressing yourself within the rhythm Guitarists think it is expressing yourself without any rhythm Drummers think phrasing is for cissies

[quote name='julietgreen' timestamp='1363445704' post='2012836'] Play with other musicians. [/quote] This is the best advice here and it's all good advice. I couldn't play that well and people pay me to play bass and there's even the odd musician who asks me to join their band. There's nothing much wrong with your playing, You are easily good enough to get behind a band, it's a different skill to the one you have developed but you'll be great. You'll have so much fun.

Great question particularly as I argued with my drummist about not giving me space to phrase properly a couple of days ago. Sudden panic that I didn't know what it meant. For me it is about the emphasis you place on certain notes and the slight pauses and early entries you make when playing. The bits that you can't quite write down in music notation. Nervously I looked it up... [b]Phrasing[/b][color=#000000][font=sans-serif][size=3] refers to an expressive shaping of music, and relates to the shaping of notes in time. Phrasing relates to the manner of playing the individual notes of a particular group of [/size][/font][/color][i]consecutive[/i][color=#000000][font=sans-serif][size=3] notes; and the way they are weighted and shaped relative to one another. It does not refer to the idealised [/size][/font][/color][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Note_value"]note values/durations[/url][color=#000000][font=sans-serif][size=3] as represented in sheet music; but to the multitude of deviations that the performer needs to make from sheet music, if a performance is to be expressive, in a particular style and culturally aware. An example may be an acceleration of a group of notes, but there are many more. This shaping of notes is creatively performed by the musician with the aim of expressing (feelings), and can be distinguished by the listener - not only factually, but in music, as emotional expression.[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=sans-serif][size=3] :)Phew[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=sans-serif][size=3] [/size][/font][/color]

You are talking about wrist angle and i think your plucking hand. I play a Jazz but just bought a Thunderbird, just about as different as you can get but it made me realise different instruments sit differently on your body. The T'bird sits well to the right and twists away from your body, since noticing this I've noticed it to a lesser degree with all basses, which means your hands are at different angles bass to bass. Try adjusting the strap length to get your wrists back into a comfortable, familiar position. As to timing issues, they may not be as bad as you think. The envelope of the note is so different between a pick and fingers, with the attack of the pick at the front edge of the beat followed by a rapid decay. Picked notes have a rounder envelope so you inevitably lose some of the ability to match your front edge with the front edges of kick and snare. You may be hearing the difference between the styles rather than an actual timing issue. Try and record yourself at a gig and listen back when you have some distance from the gig and can be more objective. The other problem with picking is damping the notes, you can't palm mute and you have to deliberately damp with a mixture of both hands. It works the other way too, I always feel really clumsy on the few songs I play with a pick and it never sounds right to me. No-one else notices.

No specific recommendations from me but his is the advice I'd have given myself 6 years ago. Buy a practice amp of 15-30W for its size and convenience or go for a decent second hand combo of 100W+ which you can just stretch to at your budget. So long as you buy a decent brand and check there are no nasty sounds before you buy used bass gear is pretty reliable. There is no point buying a bigger practice amp in the 50-75W range they never sound as good as a 'proper' combo and they won't be loud enough to play along with a drummer. You can turn any amp down to practice levels IMO there is no place for something far too loud for a bedroom and nowhere near enough for proper rehearsal if you are playing with a drummer. The only exception is if you only intend on playing with acoustic acts. Used Trace sounds good and look for used Peavey, reliable and cheap usually. I picked up a Hartke kickback for £125 in mint condition a couple of years back, there are bargains out there.

There are a number of problems outdoors but the biggest is that there are no walls etc so sound isn't reinforced by reflections and fades away much more quickly. For bass especially the sound is radiated equally all around the speakers and so half of it is lost uselessly behind the stage. I'd look to double your normal power for the tops and quadruple for the bass for the same sized audience, or just accept the bass will be reduced. You'll also find that unless the space is restricted people spread out more so there is a bigger area to cover. On the plus side without reflections feedback is less of a problem. the other thing to look out for is wind noise which can be a real problem if you don't have a sheltered stage area. You really need something to cover your mics to reduce this, usually a foam filter. We've also done outdoor gigs with our usual PA, we worked it harder and we weren't as loud as usual but we could be heard clearly hundreds of yards away so if you can accept less than ideal sound at lower than indoor levels you can still entertain a crowd and people seem to be willing to accept a compromise outdoors. Talking to a hire firm is the best first step then you can give an idea of cost to the people who are paying.

It's going well. If you decide to have the baffle removable, which helps if you decide you need to fiddle around with anything (bracing, stuffing?) after the initial build, then you need a batten to screw it to. Then you run draught proofing foam right round the batten so it is squashed as you screw the baffle down and forms a seal. Now I just want to know how it sounds.

I run S112's with S118 subs unfortunately they are the old Mk IV 118's which are a bit big, though surprisingly not that heavy. I bought them cheap on ebay though I've used the s112V's for years. the newer S118's are smaller. You could certainly get away with a single sub for what you want, and it would sound as good. I don't think you need to worry about sticking to Yamaha either. You haven't mentioned amps but I think active subs make a lot of sense, if i was buying new I'd look in that direction. You could always run with one sub and see if it made sense to add a second matching sub later, however the unexpected advantage I discovered when we started using subs was that they make a lot more stable a stand than a speaker stand is and take up less floor space so surprisingly they are good for small venues even if they aren't good for small cars.

I've gone down the road of using a little combo as monitor and going through the PA. It's very liberating, I'm the first to set up, one trip to the car and no trouble hearing myself. The band sounds better because the whole on-stage volume has fallen and the sound is fully mixed. I use a Hartke Kickback with the bass rolled off a little and then fill out the sound with the tone settings on the PA. Kick back is important as you'll need to have your mon itor pointing at your ears, you could use a stand though. If you really want to keep your insides moving and your trousers flapping you could always go for something like the barefaced Compact to replace your speakers. The ultimate small combo is the AER amp one, Supernaturally loud due to clever electronics. Doubt if you'll find one much under £900 though and people don't often sell them so used is unusual to find.

I use a Hartke Kickback for this sort of gig. It's plenty loud enough and setting the filter knob right gives a mildly successful string bass tone which seems right for what we play.

[quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1364562600' post='2028195'] Agree to a point bit the advantage of polyurethane isn't really about being waterproof or stronger . It will give an airtight seal without the need for additional sealant. PVA glue rarely gives a true airtight seal even with cnc cut ply as it actually contracts a little as it cures. Even with ported cabs, the smallest air leaks can affect performance. There's nothing wrong with PVA at all but it will need a sealant bead as well. [/quote] I don't suppose 6V6 want's a big debate about glue but I've designed and built cabs, including professionally for years and I'm also a joiner. Make the joint good and put in enough glue to ooze out when you clamp it and it will form a seal. You won't see polyurethane glue in any commercial cabs, some of the American manufacturers may use Aliphatic glues but everyone else uses PVA. Polyurethane fills gaps because it foams, This means it is no more likely to seal air gaps than PVA as the foamed bits will leak so you should still run a sealant bead. My experience is that the foam is weak and will break easily when stressed, though the glue is perfectly strong when compressed in a well made joint. I really strongly doubt that the choice of glue will adversely affect the eventual build but PVA will do a marginally better job, is cheaper and a lot less messy to work with.

PVA should be perfectly adequate for your cab. I've been using it since 1970 with no problems. It is probably used in 99% of commecial cabs. Polyurethane glues are great if you want a waterproof glue but even with handsaw cut butt joints PVA is perfectly good unless you really are ham fisted. Any wood glue is going to be stronger than the wood if properly applied.

[quote name='deepbass5' timestamp='1364147047' post='2022487'] [url="http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=ALTSXM112A"]http://www.bluearan....p?id=ALTSXM112A[/url] [/quote] Have you actually used these? The previous Tourmax with the separate horns were good. I tried these out very quickly at PMT in Bristol just by plugging my iPod in but wasn't impressed with the sound. Without trying a mic through them it was hard to assess how they would perform in a live situation to be fair.

this all looks fine to me. Hope it sounds good to you, I can't wait to hear what you think of the result.

If it looks like a capacitor and smells like a capacitor...

I'm a bit of a techie, I've designed and small scale manufactured gear and still repair stuff. First my actual experience with behringer. I've had two EP series PA amps and they have been utterly reliable and are well made, also a Xenyx mixer, which is utterly reliable also. I used XM8500 mic's, the SM58 look alike which sounds slightly better than the SM58 but with slightly worse feedback control and much more handling noise. The mic had to be rewired and I can't tell you how bad the original soldering was. I think to understand Behringer you only have to think what they are trying to do. To make stuff cheap you have to look at costs across the board. Labour costs and electronics are cheap so the boards are often OK. Materials costs are similar if you make them in the UK or China so shaving materials costs is worth doing, slightly flimsier mouldings, cases and crucially connectors can cut costs. Quality control is expensive as you need skilled workers to do this. After sales care is also expensive. Anything with cheap connectors is going to be less reliable and rushing me-too products onto the market can lead to problems. Having said this behringer won't actually want anything unreliable to come out of their factories they will just engineer a compromise which keeps costs down. Components like speakers which have a significant materials cost can't have the costs shaved without affecting the quality, so the speakers are designed to a price. Most of the dissatisfaction seems to be about the products with speakers in. Ultimately the reason I am wary of Behringer because of their after sales. Some of the retailers I talked to have said that the new distributors in the UK don't provide the support out of the guarantee period that other companies do. Because of the method of construction (shared by most electronic stuff these days) repairs are difficult without new boards being available. No worse than say, Apple but something you factor into what you are prepared to pay. Personally I'd rather pay 10-20% more and get a better product but this gap isn't filled by many manufacturers. Behringer represent great value and the reliability isn't as bad as their reputation but you will find the odd bit of horsemeat if you dine at this end of the market.

There should be no problem plugging even a passive bass into the PA. The only problem with going through the PA is that there is usually only a tiny performance space and you often get tucked behind the speakers where it is difficult to hear. I bought a Hartke Kickback 10 (no longer made) for just this job. The notch filter lets you dial in an acoustic like sound and I found little practice amps just don't sound good in most venues. The trick is to be physically unobtrusive so if you do this regularly it is worth looking out for a cheapish small combo. I've never had any negative comments about taking a bass along, generally you find most of the guitarists end up asking you to play along with them.