Owen Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 http://diy-fever.com/misc/diy-sustainer/ I am tech clueless. Would a beefy one of these work for bass? Have I just embarrassed myself? Quote
Woodinblack Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 No, the concept is the same for a guitar or a bass. You take a signal from a pickup, amplify it and feed it back to the string to create an infinite loop. Quote
Owen Posted June 9, 2015 Author Posted June 9, 2015 So would a bass just need a bigger amplifier? Quote
Woodinblack Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 I dont see necessarily it would, as you only need to get the string to keep moving, but i think it would just need experimentation! Quote
landwomble Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 I've tried an E Bow on a bass and it didn't have enough power to work so I do think you'd need to turn up the amplification. Quote
MoonBassAlpha Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 I made a lash-up for guitar using a small speaker attached to the head of the guitar running from the speaker out on the amp. It worked brilliantly, but the little speaker wasn't up to it power-wise, and eventually fizzled out. Great fun to play though! Quote
ahpook Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 (edited) [quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1433922979' post='2795021'] I made a lash-up for guitar using a small speaker attached to the head of the guitar running from the speaker out on the amp. It worked brilliantly, but the little speaker wasn't up to it power-wise, and eventually fizzled out. Great fun to play though! [/quote] I've done exactly that trick with some headphones taped around the headstock...great feedback at bedroom levels The circuit from diy fever should work, in theory. I think you'd need to tweak it a bit. Edited June 10, 2015 by ahpook Quote
Owen Posted June 10, 2015 Author Posted June 10, 2015 Thanks everyone for input so far. I will certainly not be doing this myself as I am tech clueless, but I have a friend who is more than up to the task. As it happens he is using the amp recommended in this project https://www.facebook.com/TheJAMJaramps?pnref=story Quote
Owen Posted August 23, 2015 Author Posted August 23, 2015 [quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1433940133' post='2795263'] I've done exactly that trick with some headphones taped around the headstock...great feedback at bedroom levels The circuit from diy fever should work, in theory. I think you'd need to tweak it a bit. [/quote] i what way tweak it? Ta Quote
ahpook Posted August 23, 2015 Posted August 23, 2015 [quote name='owen' timestamp='1440339447' post='2849912'] i what way tweak it? Ta [/quote] I'd imagine you'd need to fiddle with the gain of the amp to get it to work right Quote
ahpook Posted August 23, 2015 Posted August 23, 2015 [quote name='owen' timestamp='1440344582' post='2849957'] Aha! Even I can manage that! Thanks. [/quote] Do let me know how you get on - I'd love to see the results Quote
BigRedX Posted August 24, 2015 Posted August 24, 2015 It shouldn't need a very big amp to make it work. I have Fernandes Pie-zo bass which IIRC has a 2W amp driving a built-in speaker all powered by a PP3 battery. At full volume the speaker produces enough output to make the strings vibrate and go into infinite sustain. Quote
alyctes Posted August 27, 2015 Posted August 27, 2015 [quote name='landwomble' timestamp='1433920303' post='2795001'] I've tried an E Bow on a bass and it didn't have enough power to work so I do think you'd need to turn up the amplification. [/quote] When I knew where it was, I had a bass-eBow. That was useless on one setting but worked fine on the other. Quote
BigRedX Posted August 28, 2015 Posted August 28, 2015 IME the main reason why the standard eBow won't work on the bass is because of the wider string spacing you can't rest it on the adjacent strings like you can on a guitar and therefore it can't be held steadily enough to get the string vibrating. Quote
johnbassman Posted September 17, 2015 Posted September 17, 2015 After seeing some lovely demos of ebow on fretless basses i have been drawn to the idea. I reckon a variable speed dildo or vibrator in hardened plastic would do just as good job as an ebow. I reckon it would be better actually because of its shape you could play chords with it. I know if i sat down to google whats available on the market, somebody will come in and find me looking at sex toys and its not exactly convincing to be looking at rampant rabbits to help with a musical performance. "yeah john, sure you want a dildo for your bass playing".... Any thoughts? Quote
Owen Posted September 17, 2015 Author Posted September 17, 2015 You are certainly taking the concept in another direction John! Quote
BigRedX Posted September 18, 2015 Posted September 18, 2015 (edited) [quote name='johnbassman' timestamp='1442528061' post='2867655'] After seeing some lovely demos of ebow on fretless basses i have been drawn to the idea. I reckon a variable speed dildo or vibrator in hardened plastic would do just as good job as an ebow. I reckon it would be better actually because of its shape you could play chords with it. I know if i sat down to google whats available on the market, somebody will come in and find me looking at sex toys and its not exactly convincing to be looking at rampant rabbits to help with a musical performance. "yeah john, sure you want a dildo for your bass playing".... Any thoughts? [/quote] It certainly works on the guitar. I recall seeing one of the post-Robert Smith guitarists in Souxsie & The Banshees using one. However if you want infinite sustain and the ability to play chords you might be better off waiting to see if they manage to solve all the issues with the mark 2 version of the [url="http://www.gizmotron.com"]Gizmotron[/url]. Edited September 18, 2015 by BigRedX Quote
bartelby Posted September 18, 2015 Posted September 18, 2015 [quote name='johnbassman' timestamp='1442528061' post='2867655'] After seeing some lovely demos of ebow on fretless basses i have been drawn to the idea. I reckon a variable speed dildo or vibrator in hardened plastic would do just as good job as an ebow. I reckon it would be better actually because of its shape you could play chords with it. [/quote] Both Alexander Hacke (bass) and Jochen Arbeit (guitar), of Einsturzende Neubauten, use vibrators on their instruments. You'll find guitar pickups can pickup on the whine of the motors. I think this video has Alex using one: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0KF1FUFnCc[/media] Quote
johnbassman Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 Ah cheers for your input guys. Somebody told me since my comment that an ebow doesn't actually touch the strings, it somehow sends (i guess) a magnetic field which then causes the string to vibrate. Is this true? or are they cleverly proving that i am a gullable chap? Quote
tauzero Posted October 1, 2015 Posted October 1, 2015 It's true. The Gizmotron bows the strings, the EBow picks up the vibration, amplifies it, and drives the string from a second coil. [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBow"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBow[/url] Quote
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