LawrenceH

That scratchplate is really elegant. I'd be seriously tempted to reuse that. Those crazy-looking oval Delano pickups that Ou7shined flagged up somewhere recently might match the aesthetic nicely.

IMO, just a theory re the looks Fender P, J and MMSR shapes all utilise curves with constant or smoothly altering radii. The more radical designs like the BC Richs, ACGs, have irregular progressions and more abrupt transitions to their shape. I'm not saying that's bad, but it probably gives them less universal appeal that is less resistant to changing fashions. Humans tend to like smooth curves and certain types of symmetry. It's not the only thing we like, but it tends to be quite ergonomic in a guitar/bass - I prefer not accidentally stabbing myself with my bass so a Fender-esque shape is good. As for the sound, a lot of visually unusual custom instruments nonetheless sound to me like a generic custom instrument...smooth, even output with a broad and well-balanced frequency range...but for those same (useful) reasons, lacking in a bit of character compared to a Fender or MM.

One word: [size=6][color=#800080]D[/color][color=#ff0000]I[/color][color=#0000cd]S[/color][color=#00ff00]C[/color][color=#ffa500]O[/color][color=#ee82ee]![/color][color=#ffff00]![/color][color=#008000]![/color][/size]

Dude...what's wrong with dropping an aftermarket pickup in one of these?! They've got good QC, high mass bridges, but are ultimately built to a budget and it's pretty well accepted that the pickups are one area of compromise, and fortunately one that's easily recitifiable. The world is your oyster when it comes to aftermarket pickups, and the changeover would take all of ten minutes. Statutory warranty...hmm yes perhaps but actually if installed competently even that shouldn't be an issue.

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1320692498' post='1430147'] Here's my other miniature P [/quote] Cool! Can you get a micro-miniature P to replace the thumbrest on the miniature P?

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1320686262' post='1430012'] The Rodes do a better job IME than the C1000s. AKG are a great brand but that particular mic just sounds so harsh to me [/quote] I had/have an NT3 which I used to try as well, and it worked well for some stuff but I found the bottom end was a little uncontrollable compared to the C1000s. Neither mic sounded so harsh up top to me as a typical dynamic, though I did used to roll them off but it seemed to retain detail better...but all this is a bit OT. I only mentioned the C1000s because they're the only gen purpose electret/condenser that I'd encounter with any regularity in house kit (usually in those AKG drum mic sets) and I found they did a job when the typical dynamics didn't!

[quote name='holio.cornolio' timestamp='1320665291' post='1429502'] I had always put it down to 'magic wood' combinations, but let's face it, that's just the kind of bollocks we talk when what we actually mean is 'i don't know and haven't given it much thought'! [/quote] Yeah I think it's often attributed to pickups and/or wood but actually I've got that side of things fairly sorted - the growl I'm talking about is more that mechanical thing you can get from almost any bass if you play hard enough, a bit like fret buzz except it's not exactly! I just want it to happen at much gentler playing levels. If it were the frets then logically bridge saddle profiles would play an equal role, but they're probably much less variable (at least for a jazz with stock bridge).

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1320679481' post='1429835'] Fantastic post above, really not a fan of the C1000 on anything though [/quote] Hah well maybe relegating it to kick isn't such a bad thing! I have to say though, those budget electrets became more and more my 'go to' option in situations where a 57/58 or the Sennheiser dynamics weren't doing it, particularly through cheap PAs (funny how 58s in particular can sound so nasty through a cheap PA but really very good into more expensive systems). I'm sure if I'd had some 414s, SM81s or whatever else kit you get at the higher end of the live market the C1000s and similar mics would have been quickly supplanted - they were far from perfect.

I think anyone who's played more than a little will have experienced good and bad engineers, and if they've got a good musical ear will also have a fair idea of roughly where any deficiency in the sound lies, though knowing how to fix it is another matter. A pro engineer will undoubtedly make best use of the available equipment and have a workable approach so I don't see the point in pistols at dawn here - no-one's career was ruined by an internet forum. Plus, most bands in toilet venues aren't really paid much either and a fair chunk of the industry at that level is essentially amateur/semi pro. There are also plenty of engineers at the lower end of the market who're essentially mini one- or two-man production companies, and as a student playing in and booking bands, and organising gigs, I learnt the hard way that a lot of these guys really aren't very interested in the musical/engineering side of things...I won't name names but there are some companies who relied on the fact that student organising committee member turnover is faster than their reputations can spread. Thinking more about Monckeyman and Simon's differing ideas about the kick drum/bass mic - my ears tend to agree with Simon BUT there is an argument that (say) a D112 on both cab and kick, which has a pronounced EQ curve, has two beneficial effects. First, it'll help the sounds blend ie deliberately NOT giving each instrument it's own sonic space, and you get that nice rock effect where the kick becomes part of the attack phase of the bass note. Second, it makes the sound of both predictable which sorts out a lot of badly-tuned/badly voiced/badly played drums and basses. What you lose there and I'd think is important is flexibility. Setting up in a hurry for rock-type music and functions bands it's probably a great one-size-fits-all approach (and as a lowly student doing sound whilst playing in bands D112 on kick made life a lot easier in that respect, same as a 58 on male vox - always sounds the same!). But when I used to do sound for other bands who were playing jazz or more world-type music where you do want that separation, I'd fight against that inherent mic coloration. I wish I'd thought to use a 57 or even a padded C1000. I sitll think based on my experiences as a punter and a player that there are a fair number of working engineers, even doing festivals etc, where they don't listen to enough examples of the genres they end up mixing to be sympathetic to how it's 'supposed' to sound. Overall it's probably a useful reminder that standard practices evolve for a reason and it's good to know what that reason is, to avoid falling foul of it! It's pretty clear that everyone here knows what they're doing and it's more about preferred methodology to get to a similar end-point.

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1320667237' post='1429544'] You want something a bit different, have you considered [url="http://www.delano.de/products.html?&cHash=5126720d85&tx_smtdelano_pi1%5Bcat%5D=1&tx_smtdelano_pi1%5Bseries%5D=14&tx_smtdelano_pi1%5Bstrings%5D=5&tx_smtdelano_pi1%5Bsystem%5D=74"]Delano's Xtenders[/url]? [/quote] I have no idea what they'd sound like, but they'd look the absolute nuts in a 'ray!

[quote name='ironside1966' timestamp='1320627319' post='1429227'] Cut the frequencies you don’t want rather then boost the one you do. Cut the frequencies you don’t want rather then boost the one you do. Our ears are far less responsive to frequencies cuts has they are to boosts. [/quote] Aye, this was kind of what I was getting at if you consider every single step in a bass guitar signal chain potentially introducing a mid cut! [quote name='charic' timestamp='1320622358' post='1429189'] Don't knock mackie! Great kit!! [/quote] Tbf to Mackie I haven't used their newer stuff and I know they made a big thing about the redesigned EQ a few years ago...but the older stuff did not sound pretty, we battled against a CFX desk for years. Upgrading to an A&H GL series desk was a revelation and that's not exactly high end in the grand scheme of things. The Mackie pre-amps were nice and quiet though which I think is why they were popular particularly with home recording. Live, I preferred almost anything else.

I have to wonder with bass guitar, where a 2-pickup set up gives a natural mid-scoop, a lot of onboard active pre-amps AND amplifier pre-amps are voiced with a mid-scoop and then run into a cab with a natural scoop (eg typical mid-bass hump and another sensitivity peak coming up to the cone break-up freqs). How much more mid-scooping does it actually need? Also, all that is obviously much less of an issue live with a high-end desk with sweet-sounding full-parametric EQ across 4 or 5 bands. You can probably make it sound like anything you want. It's a bit more annoying at my lowly playing level where FoH is at most semi-para on 1 or 2 mid-bands (mmm old Behringer/Mackie EQ...not so pleasant when you whack it up!).

Hi all, long-winded post so sorry in advance... I've been chopping and changing various Fender jazz basses for a while, enjoying exploring the different tonal possibilities. All my basses have quite small, narrow frets. Funnily enough the Aerodyne, which according to the Fender website has medium jumbo frets, has the smallest and narrowest of the lot. More so than an 80s Jap, a Jap 75RI and a MIM Classic 70s (this actually has the broadest flattest-topped frets though quite low in height), and definitely a lot more than a friend's US Jazz which for me has that 'holy grail' sound. Anyway, I was wondering if any experienced luthiers here have experimented with different fret profiles, and would care to comment on the effects, if any at all, on tone/how that interacts with feel? Having experimented with different pickups, setups and pickup heights, all my basses have quite a growly sound but to get them to really bite I have to dig in hard. Whereas on my friend's 'magic' bass, that transition you get, where you dig in and it 'clanks' almost like when you pop it, happens when I play only a little harder than normal, is very abrupt and sounds somehow quite compressed which makes it very musically useful. I remember it being evident both when the bass had an almost unplayably high action and after it was set-up to be low and easy. I am wondering if the fret profile could contribute significantly to this, perhaps due to the string rattling against a broad-profiled fret top as opposed to a small, steeply profiled narrow fret. I'm getting close to happy with the basic sounds of my basses but I'd like to be able to replicate this aspect of my friend's bass and would consider the expense of a refret or even a new neck to get there. As I tried to say earlier, it's not really the tone or the feel per se but the response curve of the tone to touch. Thanks all!

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1320594607' post='1428710'] Muddy sound at festivals being attributed to the wrong mic choice on bass cabs by ill-informed/lazy/deaf sound technicians is an interesting theory. I just can`t understand why it still goes on what with all this excellent advice on the tintanet.. Nice to know the profession is respected. [/quote] I certainly didn't say the overall sound was muddy - just that I happen not to like the bass end, in particular the interaction with kick and bass, and often find that the bass drum doesn't sit in the mix well with folk-y/jazzy bands, being far too dominant. It's just an opinion, but then if I'm there are as a punter my opinion is just as valid as anyone else's including that of the engineer as to whether the sound is any good.

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1320535117' post='1428225'] so I suppose all the worlds working engineers must be wrong. I`ll let them know. Ta. [/quote] Yes. They are... At least at festivals I've been to. Inappropriate 'rock' style scooped kick and bass mic-ing, with overly dominant kick drum and poorly defined bass seems to be the 'festival sound', regardless of genre. Oh look, it's an acoustic guitar, a violin and some ethereal, gentle female vox. Right, better whack up the bass drum, drown all that boring rubbish out

[quote name='squire5' timestamp='1320345562' post='1425717'] Heads up on this guys.My German friend has just been in touch.He's checked the p/up and has declared it dead.I now have to find a replacement.Any ideas? [/quote] EMG soapbars are 1.5" high...a quick check reveals that the 6-string 45 series are 4.5" wide as well (not the 40P but the others). You can get active and passive variants, there's probably something in there that'd give the right sound for you! http://www.emgpickups.com/products/index/124/29/2 http://www.emgpickups.com/products/index/239/253/2

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1320240735' post='1424153'] How about the Eminence Basslite s2012 for a pair of smallish 1x12s? I've seen them at decent prices, they have lower Fs and Eminence have designs on their website for sealed or ported 1x12s. [/quote] Blimey! I wouldn't be worried about the bass response for the BN12-300s as a pair would still outdo a single deltalite down low but with more mid/top as a bonus (I had a quick play in winisd), but at that price ouch! No way. I think the 4ohm variants would be too problematic for use with your other (SS) head. Alex's options are all good, just be sure with the basslites that the whopping 9dB sensitivity peak around 2.5k versus average is something you can live with! I'd personally find it a bit harsh. Given the availability issues, for the DIY route if it were me I'd go for the single deltalite in a 60-odd litre cab. Use Alex's construction method with light ply and you'll literally be able to throw it in the air - we built a pair of BFM Jack 10s, one normal cheap ply and one poplar. They're about 75 litres external volume and fair more heavily braced than a simple ported box, and they are stupid light especially the poplar one (not so keen on the sound but that's another story).

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1320221748' post='1423811'] DIY is not entirely out of the question, but needs an empty house for a couple of days so that I can get my workmate out and take over the kitchen! For some reason, I'm happy to to do things with instruments and valve amps, but wary of cab design as I feel like there's a lot I don't understand thoroughly. I also considered selling the Wizzy 10 and the big ol' 1x15" and going for a pair of 1x12" cabs, so that I could use one or two with either my Clarus head or the Carlsbro depending on the situation. [/quote] I might get slated for saying this, but the good thing about bass cabs is that they are generally pretty rubbish from a hi-fi perspective and it doesn't really matter...as long as you choose a ball-park size and tuning that suits a driver you're ok. All of the hi-tech is really in the driver design. You'd easily have the skills to make a cab that was stiff enough and airtight. A pair of 112s is similar to my thinking with the 10s, flexibility at the price of increased cost and a small increase in overall weight. Apart from the cost I'd hesitate to use the deltalite for this if you wanted to make them tiny, but 60l+ internal volume and you'd have a monstrous set-up. For a pair of 112s I'd maybe look at some cheaper, pressed-steel frame woofers. As a rule they don't sound as controlled with power in the bass as the cast chassis, but they're generally lighter and at your power levels it wouldn't matter too much. If you can find them at the old, cheaper price or secondhand you might consider the celestion orange label neos, not many people here rate them on spec because everyone's focused on xmax but they extend nice and high and with good sensitivity again, I think they'd be voiced to your liking http://professional.celestion.com/bass/pdf/BN12-300S8.pdf There's a 4-ohm version as well. I have to say I haven't modelled the bass response but I've heard a cab loaded with orange series drivers and they sound articulate. Btw even xmax figures are presented differently by different manufacturers so I wouldn't be too put off even for higher-power SS applications - esp on double bass. I'd also agree with BassBod, if you're not DIYing secondhand is definitely the way to go - in some ways the lightweight end of the market is less advanced than it was a few years ago because raw material prices went up so much.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1320085072' post='1422135'] I got this response from TC, having asked them if they had a 1w/1m sensitivity figure for the BC212; "I'm sorry, but we don't have further details on this available at this point." Poor show, IMO. [/quote] Hi dude. Sensitivity specs can be fairly meaningless anyway because they don't tell you where the volume is distributed, you get a better idea of how it'll sound/perform in that respect (LF notwithstanding) from the freq response chart of a driver. This has a big influence on perceived volume depending on how it relates/interacts with your bass' output frequencies. The Eminence Kappa 15 has several variants, have a look at Eminence to see the charts, matching it up with what you hear'll give you an idea of what you're getting/lacking and can compare to other drivers. You won't find many single 15s and definitely not 12s that are louder than them at the lower end, but there're plenty of 12s that extend further up top. Working out which frequency range you count as 'upper mid' helps! Coming from PA I tend to think of about 4k and up, but I think for a lot of bassists it's anything above 1.5kHz! I suspect you're looking for some extension between 2.5 and 4k-ish, but correct me if I'm wrong. The other aspect of the 15" drivers is the dispersion, it's generally pretty rubbish so if you're off-axis to the woofer it sounds a lot duller than right in front. Smaller drivers will help this, and is one reason I've gone for 10" drivers in my miniature rig I'm building! Stacking them to get them higher up helps lots too. The trouble there is that multiple chassis/magnets add weight and cost compared to a single larger driver. One thing in your favour is that with 100 watts you really don't need the power handling of the kappa 15s, which helps keep the weight down and sensitivity up. 2- or 300 watts total handling should be ample, a single reasonably decent and high sensitivity 12" in a decent-sized box would probably get you close enough to where you are currently, or a pair of cheaper/lighter/lower sensitivity ones. 2x10, you may struggle without sacrificing low end. I know you've said the space is a problem but I'd be really tempted to DIY with an Eminence Deltalite II 2512. http://www.eminence.com/speakers/speaker-detail/?model=DeltaliteII_2512 For your purposes this is pretty much the ideal driver - high sensitivity, rising midrange response extending nice and high for a 12, and the reduced power handling compared to the more expensive kappalite 3012HO (used in the barefaced midget I think) is irrelevant. Build it into a bigger box than the Midget and it would have more natural bottom end. In fact, playing around with WinISD, it's excursion limited at 100 watts in 80 litres tuned to 50Hz so given the other specs 60-80 litres would probably suit this driver very well. Unfortunately, 112s built around this driver are quite expensive. I do have some spare poplar ply down in Devon that would be perfect for this...

[quote name='Batfastard' timestamp='1320068403' post='1421804'] Thats true, but there is the fact that the rod is a long thin piece of metal and it can be depresssingly easy to deform something like that. [/quote] Surely that'd only be if it was forced beyond its elastic limit? Given that it's safely encased in wood and a truss rod curve is pretty gentle, I'd be surprised if you could do it. Besides, for a single action rod it wouldn't matter anyway - the leverage against the neck channel with the anchor points at either end would still force it towards straightening. Dual action...they often tighten the other way to normal right? You might have to go through a bit of slack where not much appears to happen before it starts to push the other way.

I had an Aulos descant when I was at school, easy to lug around and did the job, bit shrill though... ...(dons coat)

[quote name='orys' timestamp='1319984367' post='1420804'] <tongue-in-cheek> I listen to plenty of music from all over the world in all sorts of languages, but very little from Britain, because it has an aestethic I don't find particularly appealing. Though I really enjoyed this celtic music I heard once in Scottish pub on Outer Hebrides. But apart of that - it's all the same. I heard this, how they were called, Travis, and the other day, when I was on holiday in Bulgaria, there was this English guy who was listening so something called Coldgame, or Hotplay maybe, it was something along these lines, and I have all this British songs are so similar to each other... Nothing really interesting, if you heard some, you heard it all, so I lost my interest about them completely. Ah, and there is this guy John Porter: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8y8MXFtkrk[/media] , he's all right, but he lives in Poland, that's why ;-) </tongue-in-cheek> [/quote] First up, I wouldn't listen to Travis, Coldplay or to be honest most modern UK mainstream indie because they are boring as f**k . Second up and more relevantly, there's a difference between music that happens to be made in a country but comes from another cultural tradition, and music that reflects an aesthetic developed in that culture. If I listen to jazz, it's jazz and often where it comes from is irrelevant unless it reflects something of the local culture that isn't just a clone of america - which is fine but then it's just 'anglo-american music' that happens to be made somewhere else, a bit like a made-in-China Fender. If I hear it and like it, makes no difference where it's from. But, if I'm going to actively seek out Polish music then I will look for something that sounds musically Polish. Why would I search for a specifically EE (or whatever) clone aping a musical tradition developed elsewhere unless it added something of a local flavour to make it unique? It's like going on holiday to Turkey and eating fish and chips As for the more indie/punk stuff it sounds equally crap to me whatever language it's in, but

I think often they just go by the amp module rating with an underspecced power supply so it can't sustain it. Plenty of cheap amps struggle with bass for this reason

Problems with Peavey: Their stuff never fully dies, so the cheap crap ones don't disappear although semi-knackering a black widow seems quite easy judging by the sound of a lot of them. Said cheap crap ones fill rehearsal rooms/house amp spots the length and breadth of the country, trashing their reputation. Weight They have strange, inconsistent controls that do crazy stuff to your tone unrelated to the name of the control and as a bonus are like stealth controls that you can't easily see are turned on or not. Played through a house Peavey the other day into a 1x15 and 2x10, and the amp there had 'punch' and 'bright' buttons, on (very) close inspection both were engaged. Band before me the bass sound was awful. This appeared to be the 'punch' button which on experimentation revealed that turning it on was designed to remove all punch, and upper mids from your playing. The bright button was a decoy button that did pretty much nothing. There was a crossover control as well but no indication of what it fed. Tone after disengaging all the mystery controls and putting a reverse-smiley face* on the graphic was semi-decent, until hitting actual playing volume and then the amp power stage clipped. Into a 1x15+2x10. In a jazz bar. I don't really like Peavey stuff. *ie a frown

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1319920133' post='1420204'] can you measure the thickness in the centre please cause Sheldon asked for it but I didn't have a clue. Thanks [/quote] It's actually quite tricky to do without a large enough caliper because of the tapering...but at the neck joint lower cutaway where it's easiest to get a ruler in, it measures between 41 and 42mm. This is within a mm or 2 of my MIJ 75. The back profile is flat either side of the centreline for a total width of between 11 and 12 cm, before falling off quite sharply on the wings. The front has a more gradual contour that appears to start closer to the centre, maybe 6-7 cm around the centreline is flat at the bridge end. I can't tell if the radius is compound along the length the body but looks like it might be a bit. The body contours at their furthest (thinnest) edges from the centreline are just ~17mm thick, the horns at their furthest are ~27mm. It's a very comfy body shape to play except it could still do with the forearm contouring of a standard jazz. Hope that helps!