LawrenceH

[quote name='tombomb' timestamp='1327958442' post='1519595'] from the bit of research I've done the celestion's xmax of 2.5mm is pretty lacking compared to the 6.5mm of the 18sound, but I appreciate that this isn't the only factor. [/quote] Bear in mind that if Celestion reported Xmax the same way that 18sound did, they'd quote a figure of 4.5mm. However the 18 Sound is a much higher spec driver

[quote name='tombomb' timestamp='1327996729' post='1519925'] New to all of this but is it standard to tune to the lowest frequency you'll use, so in my case 41Hz? [/quote] No, a lot of cabs are tuned a fair bit higher than this - even Alex's stuff I'd imagine will be a few Hz above. There are three major considerations - one, what a bass guitar actually outputs at various frequencies, two, what these frequencies contribute to the overall sound you perceive, three, how a reflex ported speaker behaves either side of cabinet resonance. The first is very dependent on the instrument but without a lot of equalisation (think active pre with bass boosted) most basses playing an open E (or open B on a five string) will output less fundamental than octave harmonic. On the other hand though, string 'thump' rather than a note itself means a bass can easily generate substantial output well below 40Hz. The output curve of a bass guitar note relates to the second issue, that harmonic series is what tells your brain what bass note you're listening to more than the root itself and also that a lot of the 'power' you perceive from those low notes is actually from the harmonic of the octave above, around 60 to 120Hz. That's not to say you can't hear/feel the real lows, but most people playing without subs do well enough without them. So don't worry if your cab starts to roll off above 40Hz (nearly all do, they'd have to be ridiculously large in size not to). Room modes in the bass frequencies are also a complicating factor, too much bass can be a bad thing in a lot of situations. The third point about speakers is perhaps the most important - either side of cab resonance is where cone excursion rises, and if you tune too low then you get a region of high excursion right in the 'power' band around 60-80Hz. On the other hand tune too high and your cone excursion, which rises very rapidly as frequency falls below resonance, becomes a real problem. So it's a balancing act. An awful lot of cabs are tuned between 50 and 65Hz, and that is a range that seems to work well in practice though the higher tunings do tend to mean low notes, especially with bass boosted by EQ, will cause speaker 'fart out' if you're pushing things hard.

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1328032158' post='1520640'] Also, would it be worth trying out a neo speaker? The combo currently weighs an absolute ton. I'm conscious they're pretty expensive atm and don't want to spend a lot as it's not my amp at the end of the day. [/quote] The Peaveys cabs are so heavy that it hardly seems worth it, you'd only save 3 or 4 kilos out of about 9000

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1327944103' post='1519203'] (except the Fender fluted type which I don't want). [/quote] Can I ask where you found these, and if they cost the earth?

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1327956888' post='1519558'] Definitely, they advertise it going down to 30Hz before the standard rolloff etc etc... [/quote] It doesn't even go down that low before it starts rolling off, I'd be amazed if they are tuned much below 45Hz. 30Hz is most likely -10dB at most. Oh I should edit my post for the typo, obv meant hi-pass filter!

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1327955551' post='1519509'] My Markbass cab enjoys low A.... [/quote] Then it definitely isn't seeing, and you're not hearing, a huge amount of fundamental (unsurprisingly). Though I think the MB are good cabs, there is no way one of their 410s can produce much down there at angry volume. I think the F1 preamp already has a modest amount of subsonic roll-off, but an additional, steeper low-pass filter wouldn't hurt at all.

[quote name='fluffo' timestamp='1327945148' post='1519223'] There all up there, but it's all down to tone, what is the perfect slap sound, I'm with bubinga as far as a universal good all round sound going from finger style to slap Miller is the man [/quote] I really, really prefer Larry Graham's tone from about 'Stand!' to 'My Radio Sure Sounds Good to Me', great heft to it for Soul Train-style booty shaking. Miller's sound is just so anodyne in comparison.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1327606298' post='1514209'] if a string vibrating sounds different because of the bass I can't see how that is neglibal [/quote] This is the point that people seem to completely fail to understand. I feel like a broken record, but dead spots. They exist, they are due to the materials/construction and prove conclusively (not that it's needed since Newton already did that job several hundred years ago, but he didn't apply the physics of mass-spring-damper systems to electric bass!) that wood contributes to tone. Whether it's 'negligible' or not depends on what you're comparing, of course.

Larry Graham's tone and feel kicks MM's a**e for me, way more guts to the sound. I like the MM Fender sig though, and the man himself comes across as pretty cool. I also like his playing with Herbie Hancock on the live vids on youtube.

This is coming along really nicely.

Ha this made me chuckle as over the last couple of days I have been pondering exactly the same thing in relation to series/parallel switching. Useful post, cheers!

Always available under £200, made in Japan, gotoh hardware, P/J, superbly balanced and well under 10lb...SGC Nanyo Bass Collection FTW! I think the wood on the translucent finishes is sen rather than swamp ash but this is true of a lot of Jap instruments (looks identical). Not sure about the solid bodies but at least some were alder.

Hmm, sometimes I do think 'taste' is used as a euphemism for 'lacking sense of fun'. Personally, I have impeccable taste. I just don't bother using it very often

I'd still much rather hear the live band than the sequenced studio recordings... but, from the clips I honestly don't hear much interesting from the rhythm section, the arrangements are quite boring from a groove perspective (though, nice vocal parts as I said before). Beyonce's influences supposedly include some of the most awesome acts,but I don't think these arrangements are a patch on the live bands of MJ, Fela, Diana Ross, Prince etc. In comparison it just sounds generic, albeit well-produced and executed.

I think it's great to really nail a part, getting the fine detail of a good line teaches me so much about another player's style and improves my own playing. BUT having done that, on a gig I'd do my own thing! I can't ever see myself playing slavish covers, may as well just put the record on.

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1327500040' post='1512365'] A customer of mine has a Mex Fender Jazz fitted with an East Retro preamp. He played someone's 1970s Jazz and was blown away by the sound. He's thinking of replacing the pickups on his Jazz to get a similar sound and has narrowed choices to Bare Knuckle PE series or Seymour Duncan Antiquity. [/quote] Afraid I haven't tried these, but my first port of call would be the Fender 75 Reissue pickups. They are available as a replacement part and are quite cheap, but more importantly they are a very good pickup with that aggressive top-end bite characteristic of 70s jazzes. It is different from the 60s repros that have a more mellow sound.

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1327432918' post='1511183'] Just inserting an inline resistor won't have the same effect. Although what effect it will have I'm not sure! [/quote] A pair of inline resistors are used in the stack pot circuit to isolate the effects of each capacitor to one pickup, so even with the volume on full the signal is still going through the resistors.

I may well be misunderstanding the switch, but shouldn't one side of the resistor go to earth? And then to make the cap work separately for each pickup you need an extra resistor on the output of each pickup before it connects to each other/to the jack.

You get more bass and low mids from multiple large speakers as opposed to a single, but with a more complex comb filtering in the treble mixing addition and subtraction dependent on angle. Net result is 'bigger' sound as it's weighted more towards the bottom.

Great! I forgot to say, I haven't figured out how it works in your set-up but if you go with the low-pass capacitor then you need to wire it in such a way that it doesn't act as a master tone but is isolated for each . I think the Fender schematic for the 62 reissue is not correct compared to the original setup because it lacks the resistors that isolate each tone control.

Hmm, it's not something I've played with myself and corner frequency will depend on the particular pickup inductance, but I'd guess a 0.1uF or even 0.2ish would be a good starting point (I'm assuming you meant 0.047uF?) You'd probably still want to try the VR due to resonance making the neck pickup low-mids louder. Depends on the pickup and corner frequency really

If you just want a bit more bottom end without colouring the tone of the bridge pickup too much, how about wiring a relatively high-value cap in as well to roll off the neck pickup top end separately from the bridge (ie fixed-position but mimicking the stack knob setup)?

Are you after the thing just for the sounds, or do you plan to play the piano voice via its keyboard? (ie not sequencing or using a separate controller). I ask because I've come to the same conclusion a pro piano player once told me, that if you're concerned with actually playing it then more important than the piano sound per se is the quality of the action on the keyboard. Playing piano parts on semi- or unweighted keys is rubbish and feels unmusical IMO. Even with weighted boards, a truly decent hammer action mimic is hard to find and a personal thing. Synth bass is fine for me on a cheap sprung board tho!