LawrenceH

Going back to tonewoods, apologies if this has been posted before but I was bored and found the patent for the Yamaha ARE technology which according to their marketing mimics wood ageing and improves the acoustic properties. I thought it might be of relevance to this topic: [url="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6667429.PN.&OS=PN/6667429&RS=PN/6667429"]http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?...p;RS=PN/6667429[/url] Basically a high-pressure steam treatment.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='966064' date='Sep 23 2010, 08:41 PM']"just think, when do you ever solo the neck pickup on a jazz bass?".[/quote] Funnily enough, that's one of my favourite tones but only on more 'substantial'-feeling jazzes. The neck pup on a chunky jazz bass like my ash CIJ 75 is firkin' lush!

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='965485' date='Sep 23 2010, 12:26 PM']Yeah I known but you've shielded earthing wires. Nice touch but pointless unless you were experiencing specific problems. I like the old [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle"]KISS principal[/url]. It's worth a pop but LawrenceH does have a point. I think you've just installed a new wiring kit. Try the cap from your old setup. Everything needs to be earthed.[/quote] If the orange drop is 0.047pF then I think I see where the issue is...but I'm guessing you mean microfarads? In any case try the old cap first as suggested

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='965438' date='Sep 23 2010, 11:40 AM']That's a very interesting link. Cheers. What the link is saying is that in an overly cautious shielding job (which the you have carried out on the advice of someone here) you add approximately 90 pF of capacitance. To compensate for this you need to put in a cap with a value 90 pF less than that of the one installed. Yes earth that wire.[/quote] Hmm, that sounds like a rather piddling amount compared to a 47000 pF cap.

I have wondered this same thing. A quick google brings up this from Audere, see about a third of the way down: [url="http://www.audereaudio.com/FAQ_PUNoise.htm"]http://www.audereaudio.com/FAQ_PUNoise.htm[/url] Although they're talking about their pre-amp, in HiZ mode as far as I understand it's mimicking the loading of passive pups straight into an amp, so the same would apply. They refer to compensating, I don't know how they'd achieve this though - any ideas anyone?

I suspect white spirit won't do anything except as a lubricant for sanding. It depends what the paint is, but it does b***er all to rattlecan acrylics from Halfords in my experience. Acetone is a more likely solvent and it'll evaporate fully with no residue.

[quote name='Machines' post='964738' date='Sep 22 2010, 06:11 PM']Ok nice one - will one grade be enough or do I need to work through a few ?[/quote] Depends how bad the peel is. I'm just using 1200. If it's bad then an 800 or even 600 might be worthwhile. But if you can get a (decent) 1500 and 2000 then that'll save you a bit of effort with the compound. 3M make good stuff I believe, but have had trouble finding it locally and can't be arsed buying sandpaper on t'internet!

Hi all, I have a j-retro acquired in trade that I'll be fitting once my bass is painted and ready for rebuild. Assuming I get on with it tonally, I'd like to do something about making the control plate look a bit more like a 'proper' jazz again. Anyone know where I can get the plastic skirted-style knobs in dual-concentric form, as used on the deluxe basses, and whether they'll fit the j-retro? I've seen lots of metal knurled knobs but that's not what I'm after. The only places I've found seem to sell them for about a tenner each which seems ridiculous! I don't mind aftermarket replicas. I can import them from buzzard in the states but with shipping it still comes in at over £30. Thanks for any suggestions! Lawrence

[quote name='Machines' post='960927' date='Sep 19 2010, 08:57 AM']First gloss coat done, looks good - managed to get it in yesterday before it hammered it down. Anyone got any suggestions on how to finish it better to try and get rid of the 'orange peel' ?[/quote] Just sand it out using a good quality wet'n'dry from an auto shop, preferably not Halfords since anything 800 and up from there seems a bit sh**. I'm currently using 1200 for this purpose. Use it wet and with a block on any flat bits. You can bring back the shine later by using rubbing compound and T cut original.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='962345' date='Sep 20 2010, 04:17 PM']Anyone got any ideas on how to sort that?[/quote] Just flooding the offending areas with nitromors doesn't help then? Possibly 'watered' down with whatever solvent would be appropriate (something like acetone?!) to help it penetrate? I realise you'd have to be pretty careful in how you contain this to avoid damaging the binding. I'd be surprised if the undercoat at least was a catalysed paint, much more likely it'll dissolve out if you find the right solvent. Perhaps if you do this though you should feed the wood a little oil after to avoid over-drying and cracking it.

It usually makes more sense to measure from the neck end, since you get variation in bridge types etc and probably precise placement of Fender bridges since they don't have to be as careful if it'll be intonated anyway. A hopefully more useful contribution...I've just taken a ruler to the body of my 70s Classic which is currently dismantled (this bass has 70s bridge pup position). From the end (middle) of the neck pocket it measures 206.5mm to the centre of the bridge pickup route. From the centre of the middle screwhole on the (5 screw) BBOT bridge to the centre of the bridge pickup route it measures 79mm. If that doesn't match up with your bass when you mark it out from each end, then go with the neck measurement as I don't know if the bridge position on these basses is out as the Bass Doc says it 'should' be. I hope that helps! Btw I'm starting to realise how important pickup position is for the tonal characteristics of a particular instrument. I think a chart showing the centre-positions of various pickup positions as measured from the nut of a 34"-scale bass would be dead handy for a lot of reasons. Anyone know of one or fancy putting one together? I've only got jazzes but I'd be very interested to see where a P or a Stingray pickup would sit. Or the various models of Yamaha BB. Or Warwicks.

[quote name='Lozz196' post='960440' date='Sep 18 2010, 02:53 PM']Another easy thing to consider, but may be difficult to put into operation, either by discussion or when the guitarists aren`t looking (you`ll know which is more likely to work), drop the bass on their amps by 1, eg if they were on 7 before, drop `em to 6. Too often, you can find that the bass can`t be heard cos the guitars are doing the bass as well, and yr competing with their distorted, compressed many strings and speakers, with your one string/speaker. Another cab will help, but adjustment of eq from all of you could have a major impact on this issue.[/quote] This is an excellent thinking-like-a-sound-man type point. I often used to find when doing gigs that if I could persuade the guitarists to drop the bass on their amps it would really help, too many of them would get a sound that was chunky and full in isolation forgetting that a band achieves that sound (but better) as an ensemble. Too many bedroom tweakers! (The same people often really overdo distortion, where less really is more)

Personally I think tone makes an enormous difference to perceived playability - think about how much harder work it seems playing a passive bass straight through a line input versus DI, even when you adjust the levels to compensate, just because of the difference in how the pickup reacts with one versus the other. So I'd think nine times out of ten tone and playability to an extent go hand in hand. And if a bass sounds great and plays lousy then I'd usually look to a decent set-up to sort it out. Beyond that, and any really gross ergonomic issues like massive chunky necks with heavy dive, I'd expect to be able to adapt to the smaller differences given time. I found jazzes strange having moved over from Yamaha/Ibanez but now I'm able to do what I could before on my jazzes. Not sure I could replicate it on anyone else's though!

[quote name='King Tut' post='962715' date='Sep 20 2010, 08:50 PM']OK Laurence thanks - I checked for resistance and there's nothing. That's the second blooming driver that's gone in this pair - not sure if it's the same actual one - could something be wrong with the crossover or have I just hammered them too much? The speakers are pretty much redundant to be honest so guess it'll make a nice big paperweight!! Now - what to do with the other driver? Are these speakers good for bass cabs?[/quote] If you're getting repeated problems with blowing drivers you may be pushing them with too much bass. I re-read your original post and see that you say you put the Kappas in there yourself. If the reflex tuning is suited to a speaker with different specs then you may well have a complete mismatch which first means the bass response will be screwed (perhaps forcing you to turn up too much and burn out the voice coil) and second means that probably the speaker isn't being protected from overexcursion at the correct frequencies when you do drive it hard. You can't just mix and match speakers and cabs without tweaking the cabs to suit the drivers, by changing the size/length of the reflex ports. I think the kappa pros are probably quite good for bass cabs - get something like WinISD and have a play around, or have a look online for reflex cab designs built around them. Eminence may publish some designs themselves. Apologies if this is a grandma-sucking-eggs type post!

[quote name='charic' post='963124' date='Sep 21 2010, 11:14 AM']In the acg for a while I actually quite liked the distortion I got from a dying battery... Is that weird?[/quote] Yes. Pervert!

[quote name='King Tut' post='962611' date='Sep 20 2010, 07:30 PM']Not strictly backline but . . . . I got a pair of Peavey PA speakers that I've loaded with Kappa 15 pro's. One of them is putting sound out of the tweeter but not the woofer. I've put a multimeter across the terminals - can't find any voltage but there seems to amps there (sorry I'm not much of electricity buff!). However - whichever way I put the probes on the terminals - the amps are popping the needle against the stop. I'm assuming that as I'm reading 'something' at the speaker terminals, then it must be the speaker that's gone kaputt? Would that be the considered opinion of the experts out there? And I'm assuming that if the speaker is shot, there's nothing I can do about it except replace it? Any thoughts? Cheers![/quote] You need to check for resistance across the speaker terminals, not voltage! Should read about 5 or 6 ohms. If nothing, then most likely the speaker is toast, unless you can see a break where the wires join the terminals which might be repairable. If it's fried, you could probably get a recone, depends how much the kappas are versus the cost of reconing. EDIT: Oh, and do it when the speaker's not plugged into an amp.

[Hijack] I'd be very interested to know the pickups fitted to various Fender basses, and how they relate to the ones available for sale separately. Is there anywhere giving definitive info, or does anyone here know? [/Hijack]

I really have no idea about who the best or most collectible are, but those Yamaha BB basses with the voodoo (marketing?) wood treatment sound as good as any I've heard ever. And I'll bet they play pretty nicely too!

[quote name='basskit_case' post='958051' date='Sep 16 2010, 09:50 AM']Hello Pete, I am in Ipswich, just off Cauldwell Hall Road. Thanks for the offer, very much appreciated, but took the bass into work yesterday and managed to get the repair done at lunchtime. Knowledge of electronics and using a soldering iron is definately something I need to work on.[/quote] Hurrah! What do you think of it now? I must say that on both mine I found that the treble control mainly just added hiss. But I still love these basses.

[quote name='basskit_case' post='955724' date='Sep 14 2010, 09:13 AM']I recently purchased the above bass, but have found the active’ness’ to be a bit ‘meh’. I am sure this is a Noddy question , but Is there a good way to check the state of the electrics on an active bass?[/quote] I think the active'ness' is the weakest part of these otherwise great basses. If there's a fresh battery, you can hear the EQ working and it's not distorted, then it's probably working fine. It's just not very good! May be worth checking for adjustable pots inside the electronics cavity (one of mine had that) which you could note the position of then try tweaking, see what they do.

[quote name='cameltoe' post='953208' date='Sep 11 2010, 10:10 PM']I wanted to solve neck dive on my Road Worn P bass, so I ordered some hipshot ultralites from the US. Obviously there are a couple different sizes made, the biggest size hipshot make are 1/2", with 3/8 being the next size down. I knew that one of these sizes was a direct fender replacement, so I checked my tuners and the peg looked to be around 1/2". I ended up ordering some that were advertised as a direct replacement for Fender J/P basses. They're too small! Exactly 1/2" peg, whereas on reflection mine are a bit wider. just a slight touch bigger, like 11.5mm to 13mm. Being a Road Worn, and hence using vintage-style hardware, would the tuners be a vintage size, which (possibly) were slightly bigger than modern P bass tuner sizes? The standard ones on my bass are reverse tuners. Or have Fender basses always used them same size tuners? If so, I can give them a hard time about it and try and get my money back. If not, does anybody want to buy some 1/2" Ultralites? [/quote] As far as I understand it, Fender bass tuning peg holes are 11/16" but nonetheless the 1/2" ultralites are the ones that're supposed to be used...and no, why they don't make them the right size makes no sense to me either :S Out of interest how much were they?

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='936853' date='Aug 26 2010, 10:14 AM']yeah they look good.... one question, is the pup in the 70's possition as it seems to stick out the top of the cover?[/quote] No it's not. I have seen one single MIJ 75RI with the 70s pup position, and all the rest I've seen in real life or online have been conventional placement. I must say I was seriously impressed with the tone of my MIM Classic 70s j-bass (which does have 70s placement) - before I took it apart to refinish it! Hopefully I'll get it finished in the next few weeks and it'll look as good as it sounds (crosses fingers and prays to the god of paint runs to be merciful).

[quote name='ironside1966' post='949360' date='Sep 8 2010, 12:51 PM']From my experience The older experienced pros have a sound of their instruments that work well in the context of the band and often this is mirrored in their arrangement of the song so all the sound man has to do is lift the sound. Younger’s less experienced players have a sound that sounds good on its own so then you have to try and correct that and make it work in a band context.[/quote] I concur. I often preferred to use a DI because it was much easier to get a serviceable sound from it than a mic - since every loudspeaker is to some extent a compromise especially at the bass end, it's better to have one lot of compromising going on than two (PA alone rather than cab then PA)! Add to that the mic roll-off, non-ideal cab placement in many venues, the tone being set on stage with a background of very high treble from drums/upper mids from guitars and nine times out of ten you're better off DI-ing. The tenth time out of ten is a good venue, with good kit, and a good band who REALLY know their tone AND how perception of tone varies at different volume levels and against each others' instruments. A half decent PA rig will have far more sophisticated tone-shaping capabilities than your average bass amp anyway. You just have to hope the sound engineer 'gets' your tone (and that your tone is actually one that works in the context of your band as ironside says!). But if they don't they'll stuff it up from the mic or from the DI so it makes no difference.

[quote name='gafbass02' post='949319' date='Sep 8 2010, 12:11 PM']Cheers. That's the pics I saw but diagrams scare me!! So I just pull the plastic plug out and stick em in the next hole over as it were? ;-) Cheers dude[/quote] Yup, that'll do it. Have fun!