Steff

To address your other point - yes you’re right, I should have put a few bars just playing along a click but I didn’t think of it, because for me the difference was still noticeable. I thought that it’s better to put it in a mix in order to have a volume point of reference, but you’re right - playing it on its own would have shown the frequency difference better. I’m having a bass built for me at the moment, which will have the Ray Ross on - when it’s ready I’ll record a video on its own, I’ll find a standard bridge to compare it to. Edit: sorry I just realised I’ve misunderstood your point. I would disagree here mate. The increase in the low mids to me is very important, also the one in the high mids - when playing live, I hear my bass very well and can tell the difference. For the same reason I have a love/hate relationship with Elixir strings - the trade off for the long life is something like a 10% decrease in the sound resolution across the frequency range and I personally hear that. So, you add 10% here, 10% there and things start racking up and making a difference.

Thanks for the comment mate. To address: 1. I think we’re talking about removing the “outside length” rather than isolating it. As far as I could understand, the difference comes from the strings not having a “dampening point” and a breaking point in the face of a saddle, where the contact wouldn’t be considered as a part of the string unlike with the RR where the string is held by its barrel only. Clamping the string at the saddle will still hold its outer wind and not the core as the barrel does. Apparently the bulge at the end of the string doesn’t worsen things - I’ll try to find the article by the guy who researched that and actually came up with strings that have a specific thickening right there at the base which he claimed brings other benefits too. The only reason I haven’t tried those yet is because I destroy anything but Elixir in 3-4 hours of playing, but I might contact them and do a video for the channel. 2. Again I’m not sure how the clamping by the outer winds at either end would affect the sound - this should be checked really. I think there was some basses with a clamp at the nut - if anybody has one it’ll be interesting to see what’s the difference with the clamp on and off. 3. Yes I did mate - this is how it went: Put the RR with the old strings on (Elixir with some life in them, although compromised as they had the bend at the bridge from the Smith saddles) - audible difference. Then I put a fresh set on, recorded the video bits with RR, removed it and put back the Smith stock bridge to record that - again audible difference. If I was using standard strings I would have been worried about string wear between the takes but with Elixir there’s no such issue for months.

Thank you mate, it’s been a while indeed! Right I understand - different designs appeal to us in a different way. The pins aren’t, at least to me, uncomfortable in any way. Stole the words from my mouth - that’s exactly what I’m hearing from this bridge. I was ready to sell my Smith mostly because I hated its slap sound, but with the added low mid focus I now love it and I’m keeping it! I also really like the improvement in the high mids, and whereas I usually cut them, in this case they just made the bass sound richer.

Of course we’d be ok with regular bridges mate, they’re industry standard and just work. However from my recent experience the Ray Ross just brings that extra sound resolution, I can hear more frequencies, just a richer tone and more volume from my Ken Smith with the RR on. Check out the video above - I haven’t changed anything between the two recordings, same path, volume and so on. I didn’t feel that any edges are sharp, or are you talking from a visual point of view? As far as palm muting goes I find the Ray Ross to be more comfortable. My hand falls right in front of the pins, whereas with standard bridges it’s always over the saddles and I’ve always felt a slight discomfort from the saddle screws.

Hey guys, I also managed to get hold of one - here’s my video on it - Steff

Hi guys - I was too interested in Ray Ross bridges, so I managed to get hold of one - here’s my video on it - Steff

Hi guys, please check out my channel’s new video on the Ray Ross saddle-less bridge, use HD + headphones and please let me know what you think

Plastic covers were definitely removable on my Sire - not sure if they’ve changed that in the second edition, I doubt it. In mark 1 it’s definitely not “all in one piece”, they come apart the minute you take them off lol...

Appreciated it man, will do my best to keep it different but interesting.

Thanks a lot man! Will try to keep the videos coming.

Hi guys, I've recently started my own bass related channel on youtube. Being a full time musician since '99, my life has significantly changed this year with covid, going from 5-6 gigs a week to zero since April... That gave me a lot of free time and I decided to try and share some of my experience on youtube. The channel is still in the works and only has a few videos, but I intend to keep them coming, especially if there is interest, so this post is as much advertising as it is asking you guys to give me a hand and spend a few minutes watching some of the videos on there - that will help me grow the channel and create more content. I am open to ideas and suggestions too. Before the whole pandemic thing I was playing for the UK based American band Odyssey, Eban Brown - former lead singer of the Stylistics, Kym Mazelle - former Soul 2 Soul, past credits include Ray Lewis (The Drifters), MD-ing for Coree Richards (Damage), I've played for Michelle John (long time Eric Clapton backing singer), The London Community Gospel Choir, Time 2 Shine (gospel TV show), to name but a few. I also was in 4-5 very active covers bands to fill up the weekly gig quota and done many studio sessions... I am a Bartolini artist, EICH artist, soon to be a Ray Ross saddles bridge artist, and by the end of the year on the artist list of a great UK bass guitar company too... To summarise I won't be showing scales, Scott's bass lessons does that pretty well already. My idea is to share whatever I might have (or haven't) learned all these years on the road and stages from 50 to 5000 (not counting festivals), in terms of playing, sound, preparation, attitude, gear, everything that is included in the playing for a living thing, from positive to negative experiences, my little wins and losses too. Monitoring my channel's statistics, I've noticed that most of my external traffic comes from BassChat, and that is only from 2-3 videos I've posted when selling basses to demonstrate the sound, so I thought it might be a good idea to put the channel on here too. After all, it is a bass channel and this is basschat :). So here it is, my appeal for a boost from you, to help me develop this channel, and maybe you'll find something interesting there too, or with your ideas or suggestions I'll be able to create more videos, hopefully useful for people out there and for myself. Please give it a like, subscribe if you feel like it, comment and so on... I'd really appreciate it Link to the channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/StefanMarinov Link to the channel introduction video - Link to the first video - Link to a slap bass comparison I made some time ago - Thank you, Steff