Merton

Well, MiniMert was due to arrive yesterday... ...he didn't. So today I did all the stuff I said I was gonna do last month, except the fabric weave grille, coz I did it twice and it looked sh*t both times. So here it is, without the front grille but I'm quite liking the utilitarian look. It needs some cleaning up mind.... The stuff used to glue the vinyl tot he wooden cab is f**king nasty! [attachment=24023:DSC01681.JPG]

Lovely lovely lovely. I suspect it would show off far too much of my bad technique but I'd love to give one a go sometime.

[quote name='coasterbass' post='464869' date='Apr 17 2009, 12:02 PM']To the best of my knowledge Trace didn't make a 12-band EQ amp with valve frontend so I think thats a misnomer.[/quote] Trace did do a valvey range with the 7- and 12-band Series 6 preamp as the basis - this is wher ethe Twin Valve, Quatravalve and hexavalve come into play. They also did them as 2x10 and 1x15 conbos hence why we think it might be a very rare 12-band one of those (I've only ever seen 7-band 1x15 combos).

I think the 1215V is likely to be either a Series V (i.e. mid/late 1980's) or a 1215 with 12-band valve preamp instead of the usual solid state jobbie, from the early 1990's. In either case it'll be a lovely combo, but if it really is a valve combo it will be lush (though I really don't know if they ever did a 1x15 version as well as the 2x10).

[quote name='johnnylager' post='462485' date='Apr 14 2009, 09:02 PM']I'll be A/Bing a Compact and a Peavey 4x10 on Sunday. I'll let you know what happens.[/quote] The Compact will win EDIT: and I don't even know what they're fighting (tone/volume/portability/low frequency extension...)

Yes, my basses are better than I am

Alex, these are looking great My initial plan of having two Compacts this year seems a little far-fetched now I'm actually being realistic about miniMert costs, but give it a year or two and i can look like I've jumped onto the bandwagon

More shamelessly pinched fromMikey's TB thread: [quote]Pickup cavities routed! That was the part that was worrying me so Im glad its over. I didnt have the camera this weekend so I didnt take any in progess shots, but heres where we are at the end of the weekend: Heres the pickup routing template. These were cheap ebay pickups, so they are both the same size, so I only need the one template. I routed the pickups in two stages. So that I could get the tight corners on the pickups, I used a 17mm template collar and a small 4.7mm spiral bit rather than a bigger bit with a bearing. But, removing that much waste with such a small bit would take forever. The solution is to start with a 27mm collar and a 12.7mm bit, which takes us 1mm up to the line and works very quickly, then finnish with the smaller bit and collar. It took some fiddling to get the maths right, calculate the correct collar diameters then calculate how much larger the rectangular template would have to be. I then routed the ears. The two holes on the template are 18mm diameter, so allow the 17mm collar to fit with a little play. My local tool shop didnt have any 17mm bits, otherwise I would have made it exact. I just positioned the cross hairs over the correct spot and routed. The results arent perfect. I could have made the template so that theres less space between the pickup and the edge of the cavity, and I could have positioned the ear template a little more accurately, but its good enough for the job. I finnished up the weekend with some carving the back under the top horn. The bad photo doesnt really show it, theres a bevel up to the edge of the birch strip which then curves around the lower horn. I used a spokeshave, chisel, rasp and sandpaper wrapped around a tin of beans for this. Still needs some tidying up but its nice to end the week on a high: Those cheap nickel screws are only temporary. Once I get this one nearly done I'll change to black screws with ferrules. EDIT: forgot to say, I also planed some wood off the back of the neck to allow me the take the action up a little, the bridge pieces were up as high as they could go, so now Ive got a little more room to play with. I had to put the strings back on, so I can play it during the week. Next weekend, routing the control cavity. Im just waiting for the components for the passive electronics to arrive so I can measure out and make a template.[/quote]

The Dual Band compressor went through 3 stages: the early (and best) version with the SMX series, then a revised version with the GP12 series (late 90s), then this new one with the Peavey-era bits. IMO the late 90s middle-era one was pretty sh*t in comparison to the other two. As for the 7-band compressor, it has always been sh*t since they introduced it on the SMC range in the md/late 90s. Always hated it and always will

Mikey got the protoptye strung up at the weeked, and it looks cracking! This shamelessly pinched from Mikey's Talkbass thread: "Fitted the bridge pieces today. I spent a long time trying to figure out a jig to get them all properly spaced, in the end I got bored and just measured for the screw holes relative to the center line and 12th fret. (The other pencil lines on that pic are the layout for the pickup routes. I really should use a sharper pencil.) I then strung her up. Because Ive still got to route the pickup cavities, it was only a temporary job so I used some plastic I had lying around to make saddles for the edge strings, the other strings just went over the zero fret for now. I'll do a proper nut some time later on. I found that a standard 5 string set of Rotosounds just about fits the 35 1/2" scale length. It actually plays quite well, considdering its my first fret job and I dont think the fingerboard is totally level. Up to the 12th fret the intonation is fairly good, up to the 24th fret it gets progressively sharp. I believe this is due to cutting the fret slots in slightly the wrong place - I'll be more careful next time. As this bass has non parallel frets, getting them all in the right place is much more important than with parallel frets. If they are all out even by the same amount, the thing still wont intonate correctly. It might also be partly due to accumulated errors with my measuring and placing of the bridge pieces. Ive still got to carve the outline... "

[quote name='Mikey R' post='429345' date='Mar 9 2009, 01:37 PM']Hey Mert, I think it looks pretty cool uncovered and grungy! Does it really need to be airtight? If its well braced, and any gaps are less than the wavelength then surely you'll be alright? I think, but dont quote me on this, the maximum wavelength of an audible sound is around 10mm or so? Hmm, not sure about this now...[/quote] Cheers dude! Liking the 5er by the way - will get the pics over here later This cab is now definitely airtight, this weekend coming I hope to finish radiusing the corners in preparation for the covering, and make the frame for the vinyl weave grille. Wadding will be the last thing to go in, probably in around 3 years after I've recovered from the birth of miniMert (4 1/2 weeks and counting )

[quote name='Rich' post='431431' date='Mar 11 2009, 12:50 PM']I reckon the AH600-12 head and the 1015H (1x15+2x10) cab would make a good pairing. The amp and cab seem to be well matched.[/quote] That's what I'd choose too

[quote name='new2bass' post='422271' date='Mar 1 2009, 11:16 AM']Hi All, Not sure how many of you are aware of the Open mic nights on Wednesdays from 8.30pm onwards @ the Vibe in Epsom, Surrey. Great evening to break up the week. Some, from what I can tell some talented people go up there and do their thing. I go every wednesday so would be good to meet some people from here there if you'd be up for that. Bring your bass if your any good, sure they would love it. Some excellent guitarists have been up in the last 2 weeks, getting ever more popular from what I can see. Reece[/quote] Hmm, might come along to this one week Reece, so you can see a not very talented guy do his thing Not this week mind, bit busy. Will call re. "lessons" too, promise!!

This looks amazing, really nice work you've done there. May you have many hours of fun and laughter (and music making) in there

I'm a prune. 126dB isn't 1W @ 1m, it's with 350W input power @ 1m. Which is silly and rather unlikely. The 1W @ 1m peak SPL is 102dB, that reads much more normal. (I was getting confused, hadn't looked at WinISD for a few weeks and was recalling the wrong figures..)

[quote name='stevie' post='418373' date='Feb 24 2009, 01:42 PM']I didn't mean to suggest that your cab was badly designed - far from it. It looks good to me. It's just that the Eminence Beta will sound boomy in virtually any box you put it in. But you've modelled it - you know that.[/quote] Sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like I thought you were criticising me either!! When I say "badly designed" I mean in terms of size/driver choices Yes, it's boomy, but in this box it's boomy in quite a musical way (IMO), hence why it can get so loud without too much trouble. If that makes sense..?

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='417881' date='Feb 23 2009, 09:25 PM']126dB? I said [size=7]126dB?[/size] Mad, ye're all mad, I tell ye. [/quote] I am. This isn't by any means a flat response of 126dB over a wide range, it's a single peak. It's a very un-flat frequency response, the very antithesis of BFM's and Alex's designs It's not a perfect solution to anything, it's a very compromised and badly designed cab (hence Stevie's comments), but to my ears it sounds good so that's all that really matters. Quite tempted to build a 2nd one to have a nice 2x15 matching rig. In fact, I have enough plywood left....

[quote name='stevie' post='418272' date='Feb 24 2009, 12:18 PM']Nice work. I'd just mention though that three-inch ports will normally make an awful lot of wind noise in that size of cab. You might consider increasing them to 4".[/quote] Not much that I can notice, but maybe I'm deaf [quote name='stevie' post='418276' date='Feb 24 2009, 12:21 PM']With the Eminence Beta in there it will doubtless be singing the One Note Samba. [/quote]

I've finally gotten somewhere with my 1x15 self-build cab. The cab is pretty tiny, but a bit bigger than an Ashdown Mini15. It's the same footprint as the Trace V-Type series combos and cabs, and is the same speaker config and tuning as the 1x15 comob I used to have (now residing with Tinman ). That is, Eminence Beta 15, tuned to about 48Hz in a 56x54x33cm (external) box. It's light, it's f-ing loud (126db at ~ 110Hz, 1W @ 1m), but it doesn't go massively low - Alex's cabs would eat this for breakfast. Fortunately it doesn't (theoretically) suffer any over-excursion due to the impedance curve below about 80Hz. To my ears it sounds mighty fine, but I built it coz I liked the combo's sound The LH500 makes it sing... [attachment=20981:DSC00256.JPG] So, first tests have proved it's going to sound good, now all I need to do is: 1) finish bracing the inside 2) re-check the airtightness of the box 3) line the interior walls with wadding 4) cover the cab 5) make the vinyl-weave grille frame (metal circle is added foot protection ) 6) add feet and corners ...then I can recheck its performance I reckon it'll weigh in at about 18kg, we'll see... Expect it to be finished in about 6 months....

Gorgeous bass Steve, love it!

Hi Reece! Photos needed, as has already been said Will sort out some "lessons" asap, gonna give you a bell tonight or tomorrow Mert

I want to try the Big Deep One. That may suit my tonal tastes better than the Big One. But in a band situation I can imagine the big One being the daddy Good points about the Midget and Big Twin... Hmmm....

2x15 rigs are the way forward, I tell ya. That's what I will be running very soon, once I've finished my 1x15 cab. Yes it won't match the 1x15 Trace but I don't care Later this year, or next, or the year after, depending on when I have the cash, I'll be getting two bareface[b]dB[/b]ass Compacts