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R10FCB said:

Hi all,

Recently I have just installed a brand new set of Optima RB flats on my Rickenbacker 4001 and noticed the E string being particularly dull compared to the rest of the set.
I know on their website they state the E string is meant to sound darker and softer in comparison to the other strings but for those who have experience with these strings, is the difference meant to be this drastic?
I find the E string sounds very muted and almost lacks in volume and sustain to the rest and whilst they have more bite and attack to them. I was wandering if this is what they are meant to sound like or if the low string will sound better with time? Or by chance have I just received a dead E string?

All my other basses have Dunlop flats on them so maybe I'm just not used to this style of low muffled thud on my E string but I thought I would check with others experiences before I write these off.

Thanks

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I've had a set of RBs on my '73 4001 for a year now. They sound pretty consistent in my opinion. They are very old school thud and thump. more dead sounding than any flatwound i've tried, and i've tried a lot of them, but it took a few months. The RBs are really thunderous on a Ric, lots of low end but not muddy at all. It just takes some time.

We got lucky and found one just a few miles awsy.

coyote1 said:

Have any of you who use a separate head experienced issues with the head? If so, do you keep the head on the speaker or off?

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The only issue I had was a 1.5Y layoff because my band leaders were obsessed with Covid-19 and so the amp sat. The capacitors got a little "dry" I think, and it had some issues with being its normal self in power output. But, after being 'on' for a half hour or so it has been fine ever since, and that was a few years ago as you'd expect.

Meanwhile I had covid-19 five times in all, fully vaccinated. That's another story but I have regrets.

My book arrived earlier this week and I finally read through it. There is some good information in it, but the use cases are very specific to a traditional guitar-bass-drums-vocals recording. I would have preferred the info and tips were more general, but I get that they couldn't cover all of those bases. The EQ, compression and limiting sections are really well-explained, so I'll definitely use those.

All that said, some of what is in this book is stuff I figured out through trial and error on my own. Digital recording lends itself to being able to do that quickly. Take that how you want. And I didn't access the 30-day trial courses.

Huy Nguyen said:

wow. Hard to believe it's already a little over 2 years in 5ths tuning. No regrets. It's so much fun with other ideas and extended techniques yet to be explored. Solo transcription is of Red's playing but in 1958 when he still in 4ths tuning.

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Killin’ it, Huy!

If you are interested, I've repaired three this year and have been gearing up to.build them since used replacements are becoming hard to find. Located in the SW USA.

MofoStone said:

thanks for that in depth review, these are two of the main amps ive been considering. id rather go w/ as g&k but theyre a bit steep. & i believe you were talking about dave & rick of the great white north fame, they may have done a documentary called strange brew if im not mistaken too lol

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Bob and Doug McKenzie, yep. Bonus point for calling Strange Brew a "documentary," LOL.

Having had a number of devices damaged or ruined by alkaline batteries of various types, I don't use them anymore. I go strictly rechargeable with AA, AAA, and 9V with the exception of one brand- Durnegy 9V corrosion resistant steel, sealed alkaline batteries.

There are some other 9V alkaline batteries that are of heavy duty, leak-proof grade that I would trust, but I'll never put another standard 9V alkaline battery in any electronic equipment of mine, or any standard alkaline battery, not even in flashlights or remotes.

John Littler said:

Yes Ric, the Send and Return in EDB-2 H.E is mono, as standard. If it had been stereo, the two channels would have shorted together on a standard mono jack plug usually and on return the later channel specific routing features would not have worked as labelled. We have an expanded version appearing later this year, adding an Insert point for Ch.2 ( Y leads), a blendable valve section, channel specific XLR's and switching, pre-post EQ switch, control tuning Range (high pass filter) on each channel, Input Impedance Switches and lower noise. It comes in a PU leather Chest bag with Headway logo. All other features on EDB-2 HE are included. I estimate it will appear in Autumn (Fall) to be made in Poland. It gets rid of Piezo Quack and warms up the tone. The High Harmonics remains and complements it. John Littler, Headway Music Audio Ltd

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Hi John,

Could you please clarify one technical detail about the EDB-2 H.E.?

Is the FX Send taken after both the EQ and the notch filter, or is it taken after the EQ only?

Thank you very much!

Tibar said:

Anyone know the SPL rating of a stock Fender Rumble 100 with an 8 ohm speaker?

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I would guess about 113-115dB/100W/1M

Do not use WD-40. If you choose to use Deoxit D5, use it very sparingly.

The first thing to try is rotating the pot from one end of travel to the other - Many times. This will sometimes clear up the noise of a dirty or oxidized resistive trace in a pot.

If the capsule is replaced, it is no longer a Remic. Most of the price (before marketing rises the price) is in the capsule.

A lot of cheaper electrets are in the ‘not that bad’ category, but the sensitivity might differ.
If the sensitivity of the original Remic is known, it would be possible to find a capsule with a similar sensitivity. If not, but the sensitivity of the replacement capsule is known, find one (can be cheap for testing) with a higher one (which might even mean a lower number).
But check to have technical data, otherwise it is purely trial and error.

BTW, capsules with only two connections need a capacitor to hot and a resistor to power to make it a 3-connector capsule.

Very few (often better capsules) miss the JFET that is integrated in the cheaper capsules so the JFET and impedance defining resistor in front of it can be selected by the circuit designer. In that case a condenser preamp but without the membrane powering is needed. But I would stay away from these ones for your application.

I know, that is beyond your understanding, but your friend might know what I mean.

Swerve said:

There's a headstock only a mother could love. The rest looks though.

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I actually like the headstock the most. The finish looks too contrived, to me. lol. Good on them for the effort, though! I like the idea but, not in an artificially worn out look. One finish fading into another would be cool.

I just scuffed the finish lightly with some steel wool so the dye had something to hold on to. I thinned the dye with alcohol and went slowly multiple times until I got it where I wanted it. I sprayed gloss poly over the top to seal it all in .

cornwallis89 said:

Copy, in other words: if I ever get to the point of feeling like that the head and cabs aren't enough, you think it'd be best to simply start clean and sell it all?

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Yes.
If you like Markbass, there are ways to get a loud rig.
I have the 1-12 combo and 1-12 extension speaker. It’s plenty loud for my needs.
I used the 1-12 combo on top of a GK 2-12 cabinet when I was not sure if there’d be FOH support. I had volume to spare.

@mani1147
Yeah! I don't play it very often but it's nice. Comfortable and sounds good with the included pickups. Strung with whatever flatwounds the store sent it to me with. GHS maybe? It sounds "like bass" with flats. No acousticy twang.

Apparently the video has been taken down under pressure from big ukelele. Always knew those guys have no sense of humour.

If you like that era of Janapanese built basses, I would look for an old Ibanez Roadstar with a pickup configuration that meets your needs.
Many are passive with great stock pickups.
Or another Yamaha, or a MIJ Westone maybe... They are underrated because celebrity endorsements weren't a big part of their business plan.

Why compromise and spend money to extract value from a good bass when you get another for not a lot of dough.

Hey all! Scott here with some info. Strings on my shortbasses are D'Addario short scales, easy to find, with an "S" at the end of their product code. Nickel roundwounds and "Chromes" flats. Those are what I recommend. You can use standard length strings, these started off as Birdsong models (Sparrow, Companion, Sport) and all that time we did. You'll end up with a turn or two of main string winding around the tuner post, but we never had problems with that. All using the short scale strings does is minimize that, and that's how I string them now.

The double string through on the E was borrowed from what we do on the B of the Birdsong short scale (31") 5 strings. It helps!

I made a 31" scale bass for years with the Shortbass model name, more recently it became what I call these 25.5s. Pocket bass is the general term.

I'm around in here or through FB or my site for any questions, thanks so much OP for posting about it, your happiness and my work being inspiring and helping in some way are the most important things to me. Very grateful!

Best to everyone, get in touch for anything I can do for any of you, anytime. ~S.

andvari7 said:

Unfortunately, there’s one fewer person working in composites, with the very recent passing of Basslab founder/physicist Heiko Hoepfinger.

Interesting as the GViol is, do you build what can be considered traditional basses? I know Basslab’s designs were anything but traditional, it has pickups, frets, and 4-6 strings (mine has 6), so it falls in that traditional style. Your story intrigues me, as a fan of composite instruments. Knowing a bit about the Trabant, I knew other composites were around, but I am not a materials scientist, so anytime I read about some new material or technique, it immediately piques my interest.

I’m not in the immediate market for a fretless 6-string bass, or a 32” scale fretted 4-string - I have debts to pay, and I need to try to buy a house - but, since Basslab’s continued existence may be in doubt, and Aristides is dragging their feet on a headless bass, I would like more options.

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My backlog has been ridiculous for over 20+ years. At my peak in the 2010s, I was managing three different model fleets: solid body electric, ElectroCoustic (Electric with acoustic behavior) and full blown bent side acoustics. Building normal traditional guitars and bases never fit into my priority bandwidth as the GuitarViol by itself kept me beyond busy. But he got to the point where massive woodworking was beginning to hurt (allergies) and maintaining relative humidity became as practical as sweeping the ocean off the beach with a broom (The job is never done - exhausting). Wood can do terrible things when it comes to precision and fragility. That is what interested me in creating a uni-model with aspects of all the other ones that were successful. So about the time I joined BRUCE Johnson and others at the secret underground laboratory in the Fillmore I was spending half my time building instruments to ship with a small crew of independent professionals and spending the other hours evenings and weekends going down the rabbit hole of composite work and making tooling. The idea back then (2015-2019) was to create a few technician jobs that would otherwise exist in places like SpaceX and Tesla. It seemed like a great idea until California went for Bolshevik and the pandemic hollowing out the majority of my film and TV customer base.

Anyway the irony is that I am operating from a tiny home space after shuttering my post Fillmore (Secret underground laboratory) space. All of this happened when I was in the middle of deep engineering and R&D mid pandemic working solo (thanks California) juggling chainsaws and herding cats and finding out the hard way that carbon fiber was not the material I wanted to stay with. Eventually I started experimenting with flax combinations and eventually looked too industrial hemp as the substrate of choice. I think it is incredible material that was unfairly stigmatized because if it’s THC cousin, reefer madness (basically William Randolph Hearst was in the paper pulp forestry business and did not like competition). But prior to that in World War, rope and canvas were as strong as you can possibly get. I like its response as it acts like a “super-wood”, is less nasty to work with compared to carbon fiber in fiberglass, and is naturally an anti-inflammatory which means my allergies don’t go off as much. (BRUCE Johnson used to count my sneezes across the hall and Fillmore - ha ha).

But working with composites does he have some crazy learning curves. When innovating with a less common substrate like industrial hemp, there is a lot of R&D experimentation etc.. Through all the chaos of the pandemic era Valencia CA shop, I was just getting a hint of the progress and I’m still experimenting with various powders, hurds, and cloths.

The bottom line is those familiar with basic composite work in composite molds can’t easily adapt. Same molds, similar process, just alternative materials. Since industrial hemp has been getting momentum again since the 2018 Farm bill, there’s a lot of catching up and development to do with regard to application specific cloths like the
General carbon fiber and fiberglass industry has done so well. But I enjoy the pioneering part of it!

A bit of personal irony: my great uncle was a guy name Prescott Wilson who was an important sailmaker pre-World War II Rhode Island and New York. He designed the rig for the star class and also made the winning sales for the J class Americas cup. He was the first to use synthetic rayon Dupont for spinnakers and the couple from canvas and hemp. So we’re here I am coming back full circle making heretical stringed instruments out of industrial hemp….

Anyway, I have no doubt that these approaches would make some seriously great basses and guitars as well. It’s all in the engineering as Bruce Johnson would say.

Dean Evo XM, 30" scale with 24 frets and 2 humbuckers. Very hard to find though​

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nitrofix said:

Actually I have a GZR and have put one in a P bass I used to have but since this bass has a Jazz pickup and a 3 way switch wouldn't be a little more involved than just putting it in a single pickup P Bass ? btw I no nothing about hooking up pickups and I'm horrible at soldering lol

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Oh I see. I believe the GZR does come in a PJ configuration so if you like the tone you could replace everything with no soldering. But check on the fit first. Fender type bridge position jazz pickups are a little different size than the neck jazz pickups and I'd expect EMG to be the same. No idea on sizing for a Yamaha.

Monte said:

Yeah, I am standing off the side for my test so it should not be getting any vibration or much of one

My friend actually end up fixing my Remic Green and I’m getting better signal than the one I was borrowing

Not sure if it’s the cause or not but on mine, I compressed the styro from a little tighter to get it to sit better on the top. I didn’t want to do that with somebody else’s

Going to try using it on the gig tonight blended with the realist lifeline. The Drummer is a pretty good sound guy so I may have him play with the EQ and try to dial out a little bit of ring. I heard, but couldn’t isolate while playing.

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Posted on another thread but I was ready to give up on the Remic and decided this morning to try mounting under the bridge using another piece of foam to make it tall enough and WOW what a difference in usable output.

You want a little lift in the heel? Get some Capezios. I wish they still came in white. I loved my white ones.







Oh, ya... Is Fender closed yet? I hear a lot are saying they will not buy them anymore.

Steve Freides said:

here’s a version with correct aspect

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