The Big, Fat South-West Bass Bash 2024

[stevie]

@scrumpymike You buying?😁

[Rich]

[scrumpymike]

3 hours ago, stevie said:

@scrumpymike You buying?😁

The straws - maybe.

[Stub Mandrel]

By request, added Sire P10.

 

 @scrumpymike - everything he owns unless he sells it between now and then

@Rich- Shuker 5-string, something else (will toss a coin on the day), Genz Benz Shuttle 9.2, Barefaced Super 12T cab.

@Kateplaysbass - Ashdown CTM-100 and LB212, Pawn Shop Mustang, medium scale ACG Finn, and maybe also ACG Recurve and Bass Collection 5 string fretless, since I'm thinking about offloading both of those

@Woodinblack -  Bongo, because its lovely and uncommon, Acrylic bass, for shits and giggles, Chapman stick, Lava Me guitar

@Richard R - Brawley 5 string, as usual, HB 5 String thing with Roland hex pickup and V-bass COSM synth.

@BreadBin- something interesting

@chyc - Double bass, Ashbory Bass, GSS 06B400MKD combo, BC 112mk3 cabinet, and on the request any of Warwick Streamer fretless, Sandberg Custom 5 with Delano XTender, Sandberg TT Marcus Miller rip-off, BC 110T cabinet, , Acoustic Image Coda

@TRBboy - Frost Custom Basses PJ5 (my first build from scratch), Sandberg California TT5 Passive, possibly my customised Yamaha BBN5, Markbass Stu Amp 1000w, GR Bass GR 410+ (1200w, 4 ohm), a fairly unexciting pedal board 😅, & converted Trace 1x15" cab, if it's in a satisfactory state by then

@Stub Mandrel - Joyo BadASS & PJB C2, American Vintage II 1960 Precision & Squier 40th Anniversary Precision for side by side comparison. Teisco/Kay Tulip for sh*ts and giggles. Sire P10.

@obbm - '71 Jazz, '73 Precision, Sadowsky HPJ, Genzler Magellan 350, BF One10 x2, Pedals plus TBA plus raffle donation.

@Chienmortbb - Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass, Sire Marcus Miller M2, Bugera Veyron. LFSys Monza Cabinet, Zoom B2Four.

[Rich]

Brilliant, I'd be very interested to see that. I love my V7 but I often wish I had the P7 instead.

[Richard R]

Bugger!

I haven't played the bass with the hex pickup this year, so I thought I'd have a practice on that rather than the #1. Except one of the pickups isn't working, so the A string is silent. 😠

This is a real problem, there are a dozen very, very, fine wires in the pickup, so a repair will probably only make things worse. A straight replacement is nearly £200, and I would probably get a proper fitting kit instead if I had to spend that much. In which case I would also replace the truss rod, reshape the headstock and do a lot of things I have no time for.

 

Practical upshot is that it's  not going to be sorted by the bash. I can bring it along anyway, so people can hear the various emulations of they want to?

 

[Phil Starr]

OK I wanted to do the PA shootout anyway so I'm proposing to do that in the main hall after lunch. I'm going to bring my 15" tops to compare with my 10" tops used with a sub, @Woodinblack is bringing his Evox system, all these are RCF Active systems and roughly in the same price range so its a reasonable comparison of big tops, little tops plus sub and a stick system If I can fit everything in the car I'll bring my old Wharfedale PA so you can see what a cheap old system will do and I can demonstrate the power alleys you get when you have the subs placed under the tops.

 

I'll also attempt another cab build in the side room at some time in the morning demonstating the 'Easy Build' technique and showing off the new BC 8" cab design.

 

I'm happy to take suggestions about what we might add to the PA shootout to help anyone thinking of buying PA gear in the next couple of years. Any suggestions though are welcome.

Edited September 1 by Phil Starr

[Richard R]

Sounds fabulous,  though a hell of a lot of work for you so don't feel you have to do the cab build as well. You need browsing time too.

 

I could possibly bring the church portable PA, which is an older Yamaha analogue mixer with built in amps plus a couple of 12" tops. Nobody would ever buy that gear new now, but it's inexpensive on the 2nd hand market. 

 

Careful choice of reference tracks will be required for this... 😉

[Phil Starr]

1 hour ago, Richard R said:

 

Careful choice of reference tracks will be required for this... 😉

Yes, I use the same few bits of music to test speakers but a lot of it is classical music which is very demanding of any speaker but not familiar to everyone. I use Western Highway by Maura O'Connell as a test of the midrange, a lovely clean recording of two acoustic guitars and two female vocals that is really revealing of any crosover artefacts. @stevie  uses Smooth Operator: Sade which has some nice percussion up-front as his go to. I'm guessing though that a majority of us are playing some form of rock so something well known and well recorded might be better and I'll need CD quality. I've also got some Hi Fi Choice test recordings somewhere.

[stevie]

The Sade track is well recorded and I listen for a few, specific things. Is the voice deep enough or is it thin? Can you make out the separate pitches of the bongos or do they sound the same. Are the backing vocals clear or do they merge into the background? Does the bass sound like a Stingray or just any old bass? Does the kick drum have impact? And so on.

[Chienmortbb]

On 29/08/2024 at 15:25, scrumpymike said:

A half and 8 straws?

That must be pretty potent Scrumpy Mike.

[TRBboy]

59 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

Yes, I use the same few bits of music to test speakers but a lot of it is classical music which is very demanding of any speaker but not familiar to everyone. I use Western Highway by Maura O'Connell as a test of the midrange, a lovely clean recording of two acoustic guitars and two female vocals that is really revealing of any crosover artefacts. @stevie  uses Smooth Operator: Sade which has some nice percussion up-front as his go to. I'm guessing though that a majority of us are playing some form of rock so something well known and well recorded might be better and I'll need CD quality. I've also got some Hi Fi Choice test recordings somewhere.

I may get shot down here, and it's not one of my favourite songs, but I've often used Sting's 'Englishman in New York' to test stereos etc, as I feel it's really well produced and familiar to people.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 01/09/2024 at 07:49, Phil Starr said:

OK I wanted to do the PA shootout anyway so I'm proposing to do that in the main hall after lunch. I'm going to bring my 15" tops to compare with my 10" tops used with a sub, @Woodinblack is bringing his Evox system, all these are RCF Active systems and roughly in the same price range so its a reasonable comparison of big tops, little tops plus sub and a stick system If I can fit everything in the car I'll bring my old Wharfedale PA so you can see what a cheap old system will do and I can demonstrate the power alleys you get when you have the subs placed under the tops.

 

I'll also attempt another cab build in the side room at some time in the morning demonstating the 'Easy Build' technique and showing off the new BC 8" cab design.

 

I'm happy to take suggestions about what we might add to the PA shootout to help anyone thinking of buying PA gear in the next couple of years. Any suggestions though are welcome.

 

Good luck!

 

I could bring some 'Fun Generation' Thomann active speakers to represent the very bottom of the price spectrum. If only to put into perspective what you get with a better rig.

 

We use them as a vocals only rig for small venues.

 

(1) Is it worth doing and (2) people would have to promise not to laugh.

[scrumpymike]

18 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Good luck!

 

I could bring some 'Fun Generation' Thomann active speakers to represent the very bottom of the price spectrum. If only to put into perspective what you get with a better rig.

 

We use them as a vocals only rig for small venues.

 

(1) Is it worth doing and (2) people would have to promise not to laugh.

Not a good start - you've got 2 laughs already.

[Chienmortbb]

On 01/09/2024 at 10:42, Phil Starr said:

Yes, I use the same few bits of music to test speakers but a lot of it is classical music which is very demanding of any speaker but not familiar to everyone. I use Western Highway by Maura O'Connell as a test of the midrange, a lovely clean recording of two acoustic guitars and two female vocals that is really revealing of any crosover artefacts. @stevie  uses Smooth Operator: Sade which has some nice percussion up-front as his go to. I'm guessing though that a majority of us are playing some form of rock so something well known and well recorded might be better and I'll need CD quality. I've also got some Hi Fi Choice test recordings somewhere.

As a general rule, anything after 1990 in the Pop/rock genres will have the shizzle  compressed out of it. 
 

I am sure you and @steviewill take this for granted, however it is important to have material that tests the crossover.  When I was choosing HiFi speakers I tried two from a well known brand. The bigger, most expensive ones were such hat on some material you could hear where they had crossed the drivers over. Needless to say I bought the smaller, cheaper ones. 

 

 

[prowla]

Too far for me to go; shame it's in the South West! 🙂

[Phil Starr]

5 hours ago, prowla said:

Too far for me to go; shame it's in the South West! 🙂

Go on give the family a trip to the countryside

[Rich]

19 hours ago, prowla said:

Too far for me to go; shame it's in the South West! 🙂

We can't even tempt you with the food? 

Oh, the food.

[scrumpymike]

21 hours ago, prowla said:

Too far for me to go; shame it's in the South West! 🙂

You'd be in with a chance of winning the 'furthest travelled' award given that our Basher from Aberdeen can't make it this time due to gig commitments 😊

[scrumpymike]

That's neepheid posting from Aberdeen by the way - obviously still following the Bash topic! Hope you're keeping well pal and sorry that you're beyond the range of our home delivery service. We'll be thinking of you when we're tucking into Mrs. Scrumpy's legendary apple crumble and custard 😋

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, scrumpymike said:

That's neepheid posting from Aberdeen by the way - obviously still following the Bash topic! Hope you're keeping well pal and sorry that you're beyond the range of our home delivery service. We'll be thinking of you when we're tucking into Mrs. Scrumpy's legendary apple crumble and custard 😋

 

Rumbled!  Yeah, I'm still lurking around in here, in case of gig cancellation.  IIRC it was a cancellation that allowed me to attend last year.  They say lightning doesn't strike twice, but you tell that to the Empire State Building!

[JapanAxe]

OK, count me in on this one - I'll bring everything in my signature! In the mood to do a deal on the EBS head too...

[BreadBin]

On 01/09/2024 at 07:49, Phil Starr said:

I can demonstrate the power alleys you get when you have the subs placed under the tops.

Given my activity last night I would be interested in this...

 

 

My new stereo is a bit much!

[Stub Mandrel]

15 hours ago, BreadBin said:

Given my activity last night I would be interested in this...

 

 

My new stereo is a bit much!

 

Those tops are the same as mine!

 

A bit old school but sound good.

[BreadBin]

29 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Those tops are the same as mine!

 

A bit old school but sound good.

We got given those! I recently purchased the subs and they are a matching set 🙂