LawrenceH

[quote name='dc2009' post='1291550' date='Jul 3 2011, 10:23 PM']All of course IMO but: mindless - because I didn't think much of it sounded good together, or that the riffs/lines/runs/sections were particularly appealing/catchy/something I'd want to listen to again. The one guy was saying how he thought a three piece meant it didn't sound muddled and rubbish, I disagree no direction - because I didn't think it flowed particularly well either (and I don't just mean intro verse chorus bridge), and didn't really grow or swell or decline in any kind of atmospheric sense, was just there[/quote] I respectfully disagree with pretty much all of this - catchy, with an evolving groove that I could get heavily into, and follow on a journey. That Moog line is wicked in particular. I do think it's the kind of music that's best experienced live, I wouldn't be so interested in a studio recording, but that's no bad thing in my book. I also like the Jaguar bass, didn't realise he used those! Great link, thanks

I'd agree that a secondhand SGC Nanyo would be a good choice. They are very light indeed, and the small headstock with gotoh tuners means they balance nicely. Depending on the model they typically have a PJ or dual soapbar configuration so offer good tonal versatility.

[quote name='Johngh' post='1287668' date='Jun 30 2011, 01:26 PM']I've just bought a Marcus Miller Jazz body and I'm putting a Status Graphite neck on it. The body came with no neck plate or screws. I know it's 3 bolt neck, but the ones I've seen for sale all say tilt on the description. Is it just a case of screwing the new neck on with the new plate or is there something I'm missing. Excuse the numptyness of the question but I've never removed or changed the necks on my basses before. Thanks[/quote] Look up 'micro tilt adjustment' if you want to know about this - basically an alternative for neck shimming. But unless the neck is not angled properly when you make the attachment, then it's not something to worry about, just screw it on.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1288203' date='Jun 30 2011, 09:01 PM']Interesting ... sounds almost suspiciously easy. So I don't need to compensate for the relatively low output from a J pickup?[/quote] The S1 series wiring will be louder...but it won't sound quite like a P. It loses that hollow honk (you know the one, most evident when playing hard up on the G string!). If you just want a generic bassier sound then it's great, and will sit nicely under the rest of the band. But the harmonics can never be the same as what you get with a P pickup alone, you'd get closer with a solo J neck pickup and a good parametric EQ to compensate for the difference in pickup frequency response. S1 is a cheap, reversible mod though so worth a go.

If the OP is right about which frequencies are problematic, then they're a bit high to be typical reflex port-related phase shifts combining badly. It's probably just a volume thing. However, adding a filter will introduce its own phase shift - I just don't think it'll be that much of a problem in practice. Best solution is proper bi-amping with an active 2-way crossover. Next up, passive, but it'll be expensive to do properly.

IMV the jazz position is close enough to the P, if you work out where harmonic peaks and nulls will be for the first few frets it's not very different at all. So any difference is likely mostly due to the pickup itself. I'd look for split-coil pickups that let you choose to wire series and go from there. I don't know how close a DiMarzio Model J wired series gets? A more old-school voiced pickup with the same option might be better though. I'd take a pre-amp with split series-wired single J pickup over s1 switching though...that bridge pickup is too radically different.

Hi, I suggest using a high pass filter on the top cab would be better - you can then get away with setting it at the high end of the frequency range so keeping the cost/weight of large passive components down, also it will protect your top cab from overexcursion. In all probability it's not contributing much useful to the real lows anyway. By the way I would expect phase to be a non-issue, in rough'n'ready bass guitar terms, given that the frequencies we're talking about are a bit too high to be affected by correctly tuned reflex ports. It'll be an issue in the 40-150-ish region which you don't seem to find problematic anyway, but if you use an HPF then that issue will disappear as well.

Spacing the speakers further apart lowers the maximum frequency at which they will couple coherently, which is in theory a Bad Thing. But if it means you hear yourself better and as a result play better, that benefit will probably more than outweigh the costs.

I have Fender Vintage 75s in my Classic 70s. They've got tons of treble bite and mid-range grind. For the same reason they're not the bassiest pickups though, so it depends if you want proper 'vintage' clank or that overwound-type of heavy bass/low mids. For the former I've not heard better, they transformed a nice but slightly polite bass into a vicious growling monster. You have to order them from the States, but the price when I did that was suprisingly reasonable (under £100 all in). Btw if the pickups in your Jap bass are anything like the (supposedly US I think) ones in my Jap 75RI, then most things will be a very worthwhile upgrade - they really weren't up to much. The ones in my aerodyne or my dad's 80s Jap jazz are much better though.

Listen to Ou7shined and use a metal/multi-purpose bit. I've used wood drills and found it hard to avoid cracking lacquer! They rip it up.

Here's a link to the 'proper stuff'. I'm not sure about using duvets - I think the size of the individual fibres is supposed to determine their effectiveness. You could get lucky but when I tried some generic polyester wadding it did absolutely b****r all [url="http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/31357-dampening-pads-mdm-3.html"]http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/31357-dampening-pads-mdm-3.html[/url]

Just got a cheap j-type neck from John to practice defretting, well packed and not bad at all for £5 all in! Very kind, thanks a lot.

Carol Colman from Kid Creole and the Coconuts has some great mutant disco grooves going on - she's in many a DJ's secret stash!

Aerodyne will do the job nicely, or a Jap 75 Reissue with the PJ config.

I'd be surprised if it worked out selling to PA/hire companies in the UK tbh regardless of the quality of the product. For better or worse, these companies tend to want/need the sound systems that are specced on riders and that will be your turbosound, meyer, nexo etc and at the low/small end Mackie, RCF, JBL which are more known quantities. Also warranties come into play. Maybe better with bass cabs but the market doesn't seem too buoyant at the moment.

[quote name='kevbucket' post='1269119' date='Jun 14 2011, 07:59 PM']hey Daddios , iv'e blown the speaker in my markbass 12" combo , has anyone ever had to replace a speaker in one and with which one , heres hoping someone can help , Later Daddios Kev[/quote] Markbass use custom B&C drivers, if you want the correct driver or a suitable recone you'll likely have to go through their service people (Proel in the UK maybe?)- I'm guessing it won't be cheap unfortunately.

If you have to play 'Chameleon', insist on going into the proper B and C sections regardless of what anyone else does. Especially if it's a jazz-type night and people are using real books, where those sections aren't even on the leadsheet. Loved doing that whether I was on bass or keys at my old jam!

[quote name='JPJ' post='1267273' date='Jun 13 2011, 01:36 PM']and another useful tip is to warm the rattle can before spraying by standing it in warm water, it helps the lacquer to fully atomise in the nozzle meaning less droplets hitting the body. Just remember to fully dry the rattle can with a cloth before spraying as wet lacquer and water dont mix [/quote] Oh yes, I did that as well - only thing is it makes the stuff flow a LOT faster so you have to adjust or you very quickly build up too thick for one coat. Gently warming the body itself also drives off residual moisture and means the lacquer flows on neatly and hardens quicker too. Helps with the dust. Wayne, from what I understand the nitro clear coat they supply will be easier to work with than the Halfords stuff - plus I think the nozzles are better on those cans making it simpler to get coats thin and even. If not you can get replacement nozzles that angle the spray flatter and wider which is useful.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1266519' date='Jun 12 2011, 07:55 PM']Just out of curiosity what do you use to polish?[/quote] On a couple of mine I took it up to 2000 grit and then use Halfords rubbing compound in the yellow tube, and then T cut. How easy it was to get a good shine differed between a polyurethane finish (quite easy) and rattlecan lacquer (slow, and easy to cut too far as Delberthot says!). My father is a mechanic who used to do a lot of bodywork with lacquers back in the day - he reckons the 3M stuff would do it quicker and go very fine indeed. Edit: Oh yeah, and the key to getting a decent finish with the rattlecans from my experience is in putting down a decent amount of clearcoat, in really thin layers, with plenty of waiting between each, which is a nightmare if you get picky about dust etc. That Halfords stuff takes an age to harden if you put it down too thick. That was my mistake and after a month it was still soft enough that firm pressure would leave an imprint. I think now after about 6 months it's sufficiently hard for me to use in rehearsals etc without having to worry about dents!

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1266089' date='Jun 12 2011, 02:14 PM']Point of order, but acoustical engineers don't refer to accepted acoustical engineering practice as 'old wives tales', so clearly Phil does not earn his living designing loudspeakers. Not good speakers, anyway. And being named Phil I doubt that he is himself an old wife either. If she is her parents owe her an apology for giving her a gender inappropriate name.[/quote] To match your point of order, accepted acoustic engineering practice for musical instrument cabinets has different design goals and acceptable compromises to hi-fi style cabinets designed for accurate reproduction. In the context of a budget alteration to a bass cabinet Phil's comment was a fair enough reality check, from his other posts it's clear he understands why there are limitations to mixing drivers - the physics behind it is something a child could understand (and yes, I have demo'd wave cancellation/reinforcement at a science festival for children). But from a practical perspective I've certainly never had serious problems mixing different bass cabs that were caused purely by phase compatibility, that weren't dwarfed by the usual limitations of playing in enclosed spaces or the inherent voicings of the speakers themselves. It's typically not nearly as a big a problem as having crap drivers or a poorly tuned cabinet and certainly not the deal-breaker it's sometimes made out to be when considering straightforward upgrades. In fact, mixing drivers often has the subjective effect of smoothing out the mid-range which can be beneficial. I don't understand the need to be so combative about these things. Your own cab designs contain many compromises from the point of view of convenience/cost some of which go directly against 'accepted acoustic engineering practice'. Not least arrayed tweeters spaced greater than 1/2 wavelength for much of their operating range. Yet you count yourself an acoustic engineer, understand the compromises and for you and the majority of your builders they're acceptable. Oh btw Phil was saying he is both 'old' and 'an acoustic engineer'. Hence 'both' in response to your 'neither'

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1263395' date='Jun 9 2011, 10:43 PM']And old acoustical engineers. From your response I gather you're neither. [/quote] Manner, please! This isn't talkbass

A lot of the problem with that finish is because it has been oversprayed without cutting back. I'd be tempted to try working up through the grades of finishing paper to get rid of the orange peel, then either polishing it to a shine directly or clearcoating it. You'd keep the colour that way. I'd do it on the back first though in case it didn't work as well as I hoped!

[quote name='henry norton' post='1261187' date='Jun 8 2011, 01:49 PM']People think you're more of a pro with a maple fretless [/quote] I think that's what I meant! It looks way harder to play than an ebony neck and I can think of absolutely no reason why. Am looking forward to the epoxy 'how to' thread should you ever get round to it. Got a neck on the way to me that I'm going to try it out on.

His funk stuff is great of course! But for the more tuneful tunes, Superwoman, Bird of Beauty, Smile Please, Big Brother, Golden Lady are all beautiful. Special mention to A Seed's a Star and Send One Your Love since they're awesome tracks hidden on a relatively unpopular album.

[quote name='chris_b' post='1264948' date='Jun 11 2011, 02:30 PM']That's why you wouldn't choose a replacement pickup which made you sound "modern and crisp" if you wanted to sound "full, deep and warm". From Wizard to Bartolini there are replacement pickups for every need.[/quote] But without the sound in the bass, the 'vintage' voiced pickups don't quite give you the sound - a pickup can only reproduce what's there. The reason I said 'modern and crisp' is because in my experience that sound is more independent of the acoustic tone of the instrument so you can get it with almost anything. But the classic middy Fender growl is much harder to get just right - the reason I say this is because I have tried all this swapping about.