sandy_r

...

[not needed on journey]

[not needed on journey]

As my wee Granny used to say: "Speakers are OK ...but you can't beat a healthy dose of E/M radiation"

Thanks Rich, it does sound good! I'll be travelling from one side or t'other of the Hants-Dorset border depending on my carer duties for the day

hi, noob (to BC) here; will make every effort to join you folks at the SWBB (sheesh, everything's an effort at my age!) - i'm sole carer for senior family now, so definite arrangements a thing of the past, at the mo' Transport is an issue, too, so i'm likely to be a lightweight on the gear front, but hoping to bring at least fretless Sinsonido & Ubass, Palmer Pocket Bass Preamp- and, if logistics allow, i might manage my venerable '60s electro-acoustic Hagstrom Concord Bass, and a Behringer MPA40TB, too hope to be able to join the Bash and look forward to meeting you folks

sorry to hear about the size issue with the Tangband, Bill - hope the Peerless pans out. Another approach for the ammo can might be to use 2 smaller drivers? the Faital drivers look useful, David, i like the way that Faital provide a decent amount of spec, to help with the cab design

Ok, will do - will have to be an 'intention, tbc nearer the date'. Yes, was thinking either the Sinsonido, or Ubass i realise that folks will be limited as to which one(s) they can attend, so i'll just say hope to meet you at one downstream

...i think that the safety glasses are only there to catch her eyeballs when they pop out 😨

hi Richard & Snorkie Thanks for the warm welcome from folks here! Thanks also for the invite to the SWBB - actually i was wondering if i could join the feast ...oops, i mean fest. For some reason the concept of a rail network serving the SW was beyond Mr Kipling, Mr Beeching ...whoever, so now it's a fantastic service if you live in Bristol and want to visit Bath (Excuse me slipping into "One Foot in the er, Mouth" mode) 😞 I checked the plans for SEBB and that seems more feasible - my muso galavanting is somewhat curtailed these days as i make daily visits to an ailing parent to ensure regular intake of meds (and i'm the only family member available to do so). Nae problem, though, my old pal Baldrick and I are never short of a cunning plan, or two! cheers sandy

[not needed on journey]

From a quick look at the specs, the driver appears to have a more or less flat response up to 1 or 2kHz, so you may be ok with top end, depending on your preferred bass sound. The drivers are presumably optimised for quality over efficiency, so it looks like you'll need plenty of drive. The IC has a low THD up at 20W output but it increases somewhat rapidly at higher levels, so hopefully 20W will be sufficient Neat - a meaty project to head into Autumn with!

Ooh, i hope you don't lose too much of it's natural acoustics with the damping - me, i'd start with the obviously clangy bits and work outwards from there sounds like it's all under control, though - those Tangband drivers look unusual, will be interesting to see/hear how this all pans out (PS. if you were able to keep the supply to 20V ish, you may be able to use a replacement mains adaptor for laptop)

Wow - i don't think my setup is as cool as a 50 cal. ammo can!! If you could make the controls look like a WWII Radio or Tx as well that would be something! Looks like plenty room for a small Class D module, preamp & speaker in there - you could leave room for a battery later and power initially from an external mains adaptor, maybe? Those cans might need some serious attention to rattles and vibrations Thanks for the heads up on those sonotubes (from a weightlifting point of view, cardboard=good, concrete=bad - from a home hifi PoV, its t'other way round, i think!) All the best with your mini combo project - looking forward to seeing the results sandy

hi David actually small speakers + bigger amp can make sense when main power available, too, for smaller or acoustic-led events. I guess you can get some good-quality low-end sound with your rig. Batteries ok for this, but presumably could get heavy? Perhaps LiPo is good here? My tone stage just a simple wiper between Bass cut and Treble Cut to compensate somewhat for room/location acoustics - i sometimes use tube placement to create a natural bass-reflex horn with the ground or corner reflection Loose Change Buskers looks good - fun & entertainment for worthwhile cause - good man! sandy

Details of my 'BassBusker' posted here, if of any interest… Preamp High-impedance, single JFET gain/buffer stage with trim pot gain control (accessible through front-plate), feeding into Bass/Treble control (centred on bass mid-range); input jack switches-on power Amps PAM8610 (now superceded with improved part) module, single-channel (incl Volume control) operating up to approx 4W max; TDA2822 stereo headphone amp mixing centre-panned instrument with stereo CD/mp3 input; balanced feed for low-impedance DI connection; switch-select for power to main or headphone amp (Schematic shows generic op-amps for main & phone modules) DC Power Internal 10x AA rechargeable NiMH cells configured as 12V battery, recharge circuit supplies 0.1C charge (ie 10 hours) from 18V 300mA mains adaptor; optional external power: 12V 300mA (i use switchable 12/18V adaptor). Fully charged battery lasts 6-8 hours at 3-4W, or approx 100 hours on headphones The amp is compact and light enough to carry in a small backpack with my folded guitar stand; i can lift the cab+speaker easily with my little finger (wouldn't want to carry it far like that, though!)

hi all, just going to share a long-term DIY amp project for the archives… As we all know, playing the bass usually involves a number of compromises on the gear:- better bass/projection => bulkier, heavier gear easier carrying => poorer bass Also, there are are some events where more power is required (eg. bands including drum kit), but also many where a small amp is quite sufficient I've tried, over the years, to DIY smaller setups which i can use for practices, busking, acoustic-oriented events, and personal practising In the past there wasn't a great choice of components to optimise power, quality and battery life - but when Class D ICs became more readily available i felt it was time to get on board with that tech So, trying to distill as many useful features as i could, based on my decades (ouch!) of bass wizardry (hah!), i drew up a wishlist for a custom small amp:- 3-5 Watts internal 12V rechargeable battery several hours battery capacity external 12V power adapter input stereo headphone output CD/mp3 stereo input DI output internal charging circuit for battery compact case reasonable cost for going DIY After consulting my pal Google, and doing a bit of headscratching, i found i could buy or make all of that and have a decent amount of change from £50 (batteries not included!) I bought:- 10+10W Class D Amp module (pre-built); TDA2822 headphone amp kit; components for DIY preamp & charger; connectors & controls 6x4x2" extruded aluminium case (already had 12/18V 300mA mains adaptor) Since i only wanted 3-5W ouput, i only used one channel of the amp module (grounded the other input) When i started getting involved in busking, in Brighton in the '80s, i trialled a range of bass cab types made from layers of cardboard - all bulky, still too heavy, and poor output. Eventually i realised that a tube would be perfect from a weight, strength and performance point of view i made two speakers: 'Tube' and 'Son of Tube' - one with an unbranded 10" driver in a telescopic cardboard tube, approx 4' long extended; the other is a 12" Fane driver in a plastic 'cardboard-type' board, rolled into a tube, approx 2' long (still going strong after 40+ years) The tubes have been really great - each only slightly heavier than the driver on its own, easy to carry, good bass response, and surprisingly sturdy (the 12" tube has even been fine with a 30W amp at some practices including drums) (had to laugh: one time, mid 80s, a tech student interrupted our busking to tell me my bass cab was a useless shape and it would never get anywhere ...not many years later, bass tubes were on sale in Maplins, and popping up in the car-boots of boy-racers everywhere!)

Sounds like a good setup - it's good to know about other options if/when the mics fail The Fishman range seems to have some great options for acoustic-oriented audio - well-featured and good quality. A nice match for Sinsonido support I hope your awaited delivery meets expectations 👍

hi, yes i kept the original mics in place, and used them as input to the preamp On the schematic (mics on the left), there's a 10k resistor from the positive rail to each mic. This acts as both a load resistor and a power source to its mic The 2 mics are then each isolated DC-wise from the circuit, by a 0.1uF capacitor. This resistor/capacitor arrangement, with a DC voltage source, is common practice for connecting this sort of mic insert to a regular preamp input There's a 500k trim pot in series with the output of 1 mic, and 47k with the 2nd. This allows the outputs from the 2 mics to be balanced for relative level, as their signals mix at the JFET The 5k trim pot acts as the gain control for this stage (set and forget) The Volume and Tone controls need to be physically small to fit in the preamp cavity (the original controls were tiny IIRC) - I seem to remember having to increase the mounting hole diameters somewhat Hope this helps - feel free to ask away PS I recently tried to mount a piezo strip under the bridge of my DIY bass build and was very disappointed to find almost no audible signal output - I presumed this was due to the very intense compression of the bridge onto the body, and almost total lack of body vibration (1.5" solid mahogany!). I live and learn! 😞

hi KB (and fellow Sinsonido owner?) I wonder if you're still looking for assistance with that Sinsonido preamp - if so, i might be able to help... It appears that their original (at least) preamps were a load of Carp (instead of Bass?): i've seen many reports now, of people looking for replacement/repairs; i bought my Sinsonido second-hand, and i'm guessing that it was being sold due to the Tone & Volume controls emitting rather fetching electronic fart noises over most of the control range The preamp circuit was problematical from 2 additional points of view:- a) it used a (possibly bespoke) IC; b) it acted as both a preamp and headphone amp; c) it chewed through batteries like a Gremlin (10-20mA current drain) ...er, so that's 3 additional points of view... There didn't seem to be any help coming from the Aria direction, other than, for some, replacing the board (...and who wants to have one flaky-design board replaced with similar?) Soooo - i decided to scrap their board and build my own (blind faith, or what?!?) Anyway, i've managed to come up with a handy single-JFET arrangement which can power and balance the 2 bridge-mics, preset the gain, and add volume and tone, centred around the range of the bass. It sounds good - and the battery drain has dropped to a few mA (i use rechargeables). Goodbye to funky farting noises (well, ok, goodbye just from the preamp) i should point out that this is just a preamp, it doesn't drive headphones (i use a separate small battery headphone-amp to mix the bass with an MP3/CD i/p) Hoping i can attach the schematic & photos here - i'm a (wrinkly) noob here, so be gentle with me ...er, yes, well...

Thanks folks, good to meet you Yes, the (pre-loved) Sinsonido was a great find a few years back, whilst my pub band was still gigging - the light weight was great (for the person with the heaviest gear, and the PA, to lug around!). It was fretted then and I loved the sound for that band. I had it converted to fretless a little while back, to start using it as an EUB with an acoustic-oriented band, and it seems to have come into its own all over again ...haven't touched the Yamaha for years! s.

Bassbones? well, as i see it, if our percussion buddies provide a band's heartbeat, then we Bassists hold it all together! 😉 Greetings from the (occasionally) Sunny South, Dorset-Hants border Given that i started playing bass over 50yrs ago, i should be some kind of maestro now, but sadly not! i have, however, been fortunate to join some very talented musicians over the years and have some great recordings to remind me of what it's all about. on a break from gigs at the moment whilst supporting an ailing parent not really into the gear side of things - i have some trusty instruments, prefer unadulterated bass sounds usually (play more fretless now), so really only need sound re-inforcement sympathetic to that, and at a level suitable to the event (i have a range of gear from DIY battery busking amp to 200+200W generic amp into 2x12 cab) fretless basses include: Yamaha (BB4?), Aria Sinsonido (used as EUB), Ubass, & DIY project; fretted: a venerable 60s Hagstrom electro-acoustic rescue cheers sandy