LawrenceH

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='1234540' date='May 17 2011, 04:42 PM']Just wondering, could anyone recommend a good 10" speaker that is better voiced for electric upright bass? I'm thinking of redoing [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=134712&st=0&p=1221776&#entry1221776"]this[/url] project cabinet as bought off Lemmywinks (which in turn came from another BC-er). Any thoughts at all?[/quote] I'll see if I can beat the rush...I can't see a picture, so is the cab ported, if so do you know the tuning frequency and approximate internal dimensions? Without that info its hard/impossible to make reliable suggestions. And what driver is in there already, and what's wrong with the current voicing?

I found this interview quite interesting actually [url="http://www.scena.org/lsm/sm12-8/sm12-8_marsalis_en.html"]http://www.scena.org/lsm/sm12-8/sm12-8_marsalis_en.html[/url] My personal favourite quote 'Nowadays, you see, you have guys who have been playing jazz since they were 12 years old and, all of a sudden, around 30, they start to try and play funk. They think that because there are far fewer notes, and the harmony is much simpler, it will be a walk in the park. But it turns out to be a disaster and only gets worse, a really pathetic slide.'

None of this actually matters that much when we're talking about music though, career success in music doesn't come from degree qualifications. If people learn something when studying you hear it in their playing, not on a piece of paper.

[quote name='henry norton' post='1230486' date='May 13 2011, 09:57 PM']Here's a picture of the big slab of maple it started out as plus a pic of the neck with 2 way rod installed and fingerboard machined and matched ready to glue up. I've done a bit more but haven't taken any more pictures so watch out for the next episode.[/quote] Are you making a Sue Ryder-style headstock there?

Talking about compensating for any difference using treble controls is missing the point that resonance alters sound in a [b]time-dependent[/b] fashion. Pickup position, type and equalisation settings are all constants that don't vary with note decay. That's why we can't use fixed filters to make a bass guitar sound just like a trumpet, the envelope characteristics are totally different. And this is where strings, their fixings (nut, frets, bridge) and the wood employed must all have an impact. My subjective impression playing (and having done a lot of messing around on synthesisers in the past), is that the decay characteristics of a maple fretboard tend to be a bit different to rosewood, with an extended early sustain in the upper-mids. I'd guess that we perceive them as brighter because that period lasts longer, rather than being louder per se.

In every generation there's always someone who goes on about how much harder it was in their day, then uses selective evidence to show it whilst conveniently forgetting how much they learned later on in their professional lives, rather than when they were actually students. Of course there're plenty of people who coast through, but he's completely ignoring the ones who do work hard and will be the next generation of stars in their chosen field. What I've learned from this video is that Branford Marsalis has a bit of an attitude problem to teaching. Incidentally, it reminds me of the unequivocal generalisations made by (I think) Wynton Marsalis about what music did and didn't constitute jazz. By his definition, pretty much anything that moved beyond Kind of Blue wasn't jazz, as far as I could tell.

A lot of the difference between different ss amps, is just because different manufacturers will set the clip light to come on at different points. Some amps it comes on well before actual clipping, others it runs very close. Obviously with a valve pre it's a bit different. In this case, if the amp and cab are loud enough with the 'ray then it's almost certainly a case of getting the gain structure sorted rather than needing to replace either of them. Use your ears, crank it up and if it sounds clean then it's all good.

Hey Rob! Another Edinburgh resident here (lovely city, though my heart will be forever Devonian!). I'd love to know where there's some good jams happening.

[quote name='Doddy' post='1225145' date='May 9 2011, 02:37 PM']But,on a 34" scale instrument a string has to be a specific tension over that distance to produce the desired pitch. If the tension is increased,the pitch will change. Going from your example,yes you have to press the string down further if you use a higher action,but the tension of the string(assuming you keep the string gauge the same) will have to be the same.[/quote] But the pitch DOES change when you fret the string, we just adjust the intonation to compensate. Doh! Forgot to press reply for a bit, by the time I had 4 Strings had beaten me to it, but much better. So +1 to all that

Well, gigged the aerodyne for the first time last night at a funk jam and WOW! It's the 'jazz' bass sound I've lusted after for all these years (and the P one too!). Basswood and ceramic PJ pups FTW. Now, how do I go about getting the neck bound so it looks as funky as it sounds?

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='1223967' date='May 8 2011, 10:59 AM']A lot of bodies have sloppy neck pup routs, Squier just rout a big rectangle nowadays and i've seen USA Fenders that are even worse. Once the pickup is in it's not as noticeable i don't think, my old Jaco copy was like that.[/quote] Wooden pickguard? That could be pretty sweet. Lovely neck wood there, if it plays ok that's a bargain!

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1222996' date='May 7 2011, 11:19 AM']This could of course be down to the Aerodyne guy using the Jazz pickup as well however.[/quote] That'd make a pretty effing huge difference yes!

Functions band I worked with used multiple agents who used to provide the bulk of their bookings - you need to be on the books with several really they are all phenomenally lazy at least in the south west of England. More recently though they picked up a lot of work through the website, it needs to be run well though which doesn't mean tedious vanity pics and profiles and does mean targeting the google rankings with well-chosen RELEVANT (can't emphasise that enough) key words and good copy. Word of mouth still played an important role, so business cards with the website/email on for gigs were handy. Adverts in specialist wedding magazines do work, I don't know if there is a corporate equivalent. Pub gigs I think it's mainly word of mouth really and it does take a bit of time. I don't know if those chain pubs that put music on work any differently though, or even if any of those are still going actually!

I was never convinced by the wood on cheaper basses and unlike some I find the Squier Classic Vibe basses to be pretty weak tonally - how much is the wood I don't know, but I find if I like a bass acoustically then I normally like it plugged in. However...I recently picked up a Jap Aerodyne that is basswood, and it has become my go-to instrument! It's by far the most acoustically resonant instrument I have (compared to two alder and one ash jazz) with a lovely warm characterful midrange, given that I'm talking unplugged. Add to that the plugged in sound is immense. Deep, detailed, warm, grindy - it's all there, the old 'jazz bass on steroids' cliche despite the P neck pickup. It uses ceramic pickups and together with the basswood body this is really giving me food for thought about what components can make a good bass. I've no idea how consistent basswood is from one instrument to another but this one is evidence that it definitely can be awesome! I wasn't going to keep it originally but it's going nowhere. Re the Squier CVs, if they sound acoustically as good as my Aerodyne they must be some utter pish pickups to make them sound that average plugged in.

[quote name='mcnach' post='1217642' date='May 2 2011, 03:25 PM']That black p-bass was Back to body stripping... I haven't done much lately. But I tried the hairdryer trick. And it does work!!! Unfortunately my hairdryer is not very good and it overheats quickly, cutting out until it cools down again. I tried to borrow a good one but I was denied its use once it transpired what I wanted it for It does take a little bit of practice to get it right, to know when it's warm enough etc. Here's my first attempt on the front of the body (on an area that will be covered by a pickguard). The bottom area was where I started. I scratched a bit the wood... but on the top area I got the hang of it and was able to remove nice chunks without damaging the wood underneath. It'll all be sanded afterwards, but the less damage, the better, eh? This is going to take some time, but it's not hard and the result is clean. Although the curved bits are going to be tough...[/quote] Good stuff! Looking at your pics I think the fact I used the hairdryer straight onto the poly without stripping that layer off probably helped me - the thick black poly would get nice and hot and totally f*** the sealer layer underneath melting it off nicely, looks to be a bit tougher when you've only got the sealer left. Actually, thinking back, the few areas that the sealer was left on with mine did prove somewhat annoying. Look forward to seeing how this progresses.

[quote name='JTUK' post='1218733' date='May 3 2011, 03:51 PM']Some of the tricks above might help but sustain defines a bass so should be one of the first things you look for when buying... A 10 sec note shouldn't be hard to obtain on a decent resonant bass, IMO, at all..[/quote] 10 seconds?! I'm not sure I've ever let a note sustain for 10 whole seconds (on bass at least - keys, oh yes)

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='1218287' date='May 3 2011, 07:49 AM']A load of epoxy would certainly help but you still have the 'visuals' to contend with and side dots not being in the ideal place.[/quote] That bothers me not at all! My current lined fretless has side centre dots/fretboard dots, never found it to be an issue. Thanks for answering my question

I bet it sounded a lot better in the room. A desk mix always sounds a bit crappy on this type of music IMO - like listening to punk as gentle background!

When doing sound I used to persuade bands using small guitar combos to use my amp stand to tilt the amps at their ears wherever possible. This normally meant they'd drop the amp volume right down AND be happier with the stage sound, giving a much better balance out front - it always went down well with those that could be cajoled into trying it. The midrange frequencies which give clarity to a sound are very directional from a 12". I do the same thing with my own small bass combo and it really helps.

There are some fretless block/bound jazzes kicking around among talkbass users. I thought this'd be pretty cool, it hadn't occurred to me that blocks would present more of a problem than dots for a fretless. Perhaps less of an issue if the neck was epoxied? Be interested to know the Bass Doc's opinion on that, since it's something I'd like to do one day!

[quote name='Doddy' post='1215047' date='Apr 29 2011, 04:10 PM']Interesting reason. I use active basses often and I hit the strings pretty hard.[/quote] You need the headroom throughout the signal chain to do this without overloading things. With the right gain structure and decent kit, it's fine, otherwise it can cause issues.

In terms of usage/value for money, my Sennheiser HD280 'phones. Had 'em for years now and they've served me very well. Or, my crap Behringer mini mixing desk, despite one channel dying ages ago! They have outlasted all my basses. My old UK-built Ashdown Electric Blue was a great piece of kit for the cash too, gigged tons of times and utterly reliable. Having said that, I wouldn't replace them with the same thing if stolen now, because my needs have changed. I'd get Sennheiser headphones of some kind though.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1214656' date='Apr 29 2011, 10:19 AM']Do you make your customers pay for your mistakes though?[/quote] Any decent professional repairer in most businesses would try and rectify their mistakes, and in a lot of cases carry insurance to cover for them as well.

[quote name='RobJF' post='1213596' date='Apr 28 2011, 10:16 AM']Got the bass back from the local guitar tech yesterday, and he'd stripped the threads, unfortunately.[/quote] This guy sounds like a f****** idiot, total amateur. I would be pretty angry here and pushing for him to compensate you - looking at trading standards if necessary, because they clearly are not competent at what they're doing. A skilled tech or just a decent carpenter would likely have been able to sort this, and definitely wouldn't have stripped the threads. I'm sorry to hear that this has happened to you! Name and shame? I certainly want to avoid this person.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1213239' date='Apr 27 2011, 10:10 PM']cuts everything, boosts nothing..[/quote] Not quite...the added capacitance lowers the resonant peak of the pickup which gives a little boost just before the rolloff frequency. So for example (and where I find this most useful) there is a bit more low-mid output from a bridge pickup solo'ed with the tone off than with it full on. It's not very obvious on some basses but it's a very clear difference on my aerodyne. See here [url="http://terrydownsmusic.com/technotes/guitarcables/guitarcables.htm"]http://terrydownsmusic.com/technotes/guita...uitarcables.htm[/url] scroll down to the 'tone control' heading for a graph showing this.