Latest Posts

There is a song I particularly like in early 70s reggae called "You don't know" by Bob Andy. I learned the bassline by ear and find it very good, but I don't know who happened to be the bassist. Simple, full of space, interesting rhythm, and melodic sound that complements the recording well. Haven't seen any mentions of the song or Bob Andy in general here, so maybe it would be a nice contribution, both for the Rastafari lifestyle and social commentary, and the iconic bassline that always feels really nice to play. Hope you enjoy!

Login to view embedded media

So I just come back from a rehearsal where I A/B'ed the Elite against the SH1, and I'm sad to say the SH1 won! The elite simply couldn't come close. especially with distortion.

Is there any plans of introducing the SHI1 preamp or more importantly the bite button to the Elite or should I just sell this? In the end I am left pretty disappointed by the whole thing, especially when I have been promised multiple times by Tech21 in comments of the posts that this will be able to get the SH1 sound.

Not to mention other things i found:
-Change preamp, and the EQ resets, so it makes it extremely difficult to keep the same EQ and just compare the preamps
-In performance mode, if you hit the same channel twice by accident it bypasses the pedal, who wants to bypass their rig during a show, I wish there was a way you could toggle that off.
-The tuner doesn't show Bb or A#, so that makes it fun when you have a 5 string and need to tune half a step down

And what is most disappointing is that this is a product I want to like, I am a happy owner of the original bass fly-rig and the SH1 has be the center of my rig since the day I got it back in 2019, dreaming of a product which combines those two pedals. Really hope that a future firmware update makes that a reality.

Just wanted to add that the Heartfield DR5 remains one of my favorites, if not my all time favorite bass.

Wide flat neck, easy to get low action, many different tones with that filter preamp.

Family photo at the studio. Disregard the obvious interloper...

David Morison said:

You're absolutely right. You probably know this already but for anyone else wanting to read up a little more, what you've just described is known as Hofmann's Iron Law.
In practice, a 3cf cab with a genuine 100dB/2.83V/1m (for an 8Ω speaker) would have F3 somewhere around 60-65Hz as a result. (Eminence's Kappalite 3015 (not the LF version) gets close to this, for example.)
To get flat to 30Hz in that same box size would require finding a driver with around 89-90dB sensitivity and would likely resemble a car subwoofer more than a musical Instrument woofer.

Click to expand...

A grossly inaccurate generalization IMO. It’s. It an all or nothing proposition, and each driver design results in different performance in the same box.

As long as they throw in free windshield wipers, I'm okay with it.

The only gig where I'm playing 4 hrs of music is probably a wedding, and even then very unlikely to have to play that much.

Generally when I sub on a bar/club gig, it's ~3 hrs of music. I'll pull around $200 for that. For a country club/hotel, that's more of a corporate gig or private party. Usually 2-3 hrs of play, but I'll get $400-500.

I think I've met seven TB-ers in the real world. Four are active, two passed on and one became combative on the forum and was banned from the forum. I'm sure there are a few more that I'm forgetting over the years. I should look into hosting a GTG again. I was looking into it and then COVID hit.

Saetia said:

Any of the club have dimensions on the shipping box for the NV410T/ NV312T?

Pirate ship got an adjustment form UPS and it drastically changed the shipping price which they took out of my account without notice.

Thanks.

@Jim Bergantino

Click to expand...

Here are the FedEx shipping details from my pre-owned NV312T (sent in the original box with some extra protection inside).

I also own a PS1 and a PS100. I foolishly did not employ them into two recent gigs with a full band and a loud drummer. My '65 Fender Showman struggled to keep up and fell short. The difference in clean power from the PS100 compared to my Showman (4 x 6L6) was surprisingly significant. Maybe my showman is showing its age or needs to be rebiased. Either way, the power station solution for more volume without compromising the tone of the amp was right under my nose, as confirmed AFTER the gigs.

I need to do more testing in that environment to fully capture the difference in output, but even at home, I could tell a difference in terms of the clarity, and headroom of the power station.

H13 said:

The only bass amp I have is a 1970s Fender Bassman.

WHICH IS GLORIOUS.

But it also lives on my guitar cabinets because it's an amazing guitar amp as well. Which means to play the Bassman, I either have to lug that heavy bastard across the room or run speaker cables across the room (which is what I do).

It's brilliant and I love it, but this Fryette setup is meant to be more of a "plug in and jam" thing. Whereas my Bassman is a recording situation.

However, no FX Loop on the bassman unfortunately. Also, it wouldn't fix the inconvenience issue unfortunately!

In hindsight, it's why I'm starting to believe that Bass Amps are kinda more flat than I expected. Because there isn't a HUGE difference in terms of overall tone between the Fryette and the Bassman. Except for the "excessive frequencies" thing that I talk about

Click to expand...

If you haven't tried using your Bassman as your preamp, running into the Power Station, you are missing out, in my opinion. In the power station, you have clean, linear power, at any volume, plus an effects loop, and a direct out to FOH. You can set your Bassman up for maxium tone, and then run that exact sound at any volume level you desire.

I run a 1965 Fender Showman this way. The Showman typically has plenty of volume on tap, but for full band situations with loud drums, it struggles to keep up, and I end up with a sound that starts to fart out. Not so when adding the power station into the mix. You arguably have the ultimate preamp in your bassman, and you have a damn fine power amp to push those speakers very efficiently in the power station.

Impressions on the Joyo BantAmp bass:

1. The Bluetooth connection with my iPhone works flawlessly; you can just use the amp to play music in the house through whatever compatible speaker you may have.
2. The vacuum tube preamp is hot; you feel the bass’ tone becoming sort of grindy when the gain control goes at around 09:00; around 12:00 it is clearly overdriven but in a warm way (the cabinet I bought is not the best as in my opinion if tends to always compress the tone a bit; the amp may sound better with a better cab I believe).
3. I didn’t understand how it works but the volume of the Bluetooth source is only controlled by the source sending the Bluetooth signal to the amp which offers the user the possibility of adjusting the instrument’s volume independently (I think this is a positive feature).
4. The amp and the cab are well built without any defects and/or imperfections.
5. The compressor is brutal in my opinion; it should have been designed for being more gradual and less aggressive towards the other frequencies; however one can use an external one.

All-in-all I’m happy about having bought the combo.
I’ll try to combine it with a low-budget Valeton GP-50 soon.

I've experienced the opposite, in a huge way. While I was a mild fan of the Grateful Dead intermittently in my early years, I generally disliked them past about age 20. I respected their musicianship, but I thought most of the material was seriously weak, and I never listened to them.

Then I ended up in an original band with two Deadhead guitarists, and we occasionally warmed up with jams, which, unbeknownst to me, were often based on Grateful Dead songs. We eventually played a couple of GD tracks for select gigs, and I discovered I liked playing their stuff. That band dissolved in 2018.

Fast forward to 2023, and through a somewhat convoluted sequence of events, I ended up in a Grateful Dead cover band. It's been among the best musical experiences I've ever had, and I love playing their stuff. The freedom and improvisation are extremely rewarding, and audiences love it.

I've grown to like more of their material and now consider myself a fan, but I doubt I'll ever enjoy listening to them as much as The Who, Stones, Prince, Pearl Jam, etc.

A less extreme example is Billy Joel. Again, I respect the talent, but I never listen to him. About ten years ago, however, I was in a cover band that played a couple of his tracks, and they were a blast.

I've transported my Kay inside my F350...but it's a four door extra cab, so there's plenty of room.

I gotta bump this up. (it's only a couple months)
Leon Medica. i remember this super funky bassist for LaRoux. I didn't understand the pivotal man he was.
A comment by a bandmate: Totally unencumbered by the rules of music. Wow!
Login to view embedded media

Fun local find, German fleiger-kappmesser type 1 gravity knife (totally legal here). A bit beat but it's character and the price was right.

Dr. Cheese said:

You will believe what you want to, but if I were to buy something, it would be another Dingwall.

Click to expand...

variety is the spice of life.

January, 2001.... with a few long breaks between.

Bloomfield CT
Expert

OP here, with the conclusion.
This did the job. Thanks to everyone.

bucephylus said:

Rechargeables are a great idea in theory. At least presuming a reasonable charge / discharge cycling lifetime.

Big problem has been that most rechargeables have actual operating voltage of 8.4V. Those have issues in certain preamp circuits due to the lower voltage.

But, I see there are now 8 cell NiMH batteries with actual operating voltages of 9.6V. Those might be worth checking out.

Click to expand...

After a bit more investigation, it seems that the 8 cell rechargeable variants actually have initial ioperating voltages around 11.5 VDC, which as others have posted, may be problematic for some preamp circuits.

I’ll be sticking with my alkaline copper tops for a while it seems.

I've had several 700RBs and 1001RBs and when they did what you describe, it was dirty effects send and return jacks. Run a patch cable between the 2 jacks and see if that fixes it. If so, you can get some deoxit5 and spray a Qtip and use it to clean up the connections. If you don't use the effects loop, you can just leave the patch cable plugged in. It won't hurt anything. Good luck.

This was my 58R 104 Energy yesterday at the outdoor gig. I used maybe a bit more than 1/4 volume as I was standing in front of it, with the cab at roughly chest height. I could hear myself plainly without killing the monitor beside the Hammond B, with a LOT more available. You can see the Dingwall (green bass by post) and Spectra Pro (blue bass in front of drums) set up for the day. I used them both, they are both using bridge + neck pickup single coil pickups and have a very similar volume, so no adjustment was required.

IMHO this combo may be slightly overkill but it looks cool, it's not heavy (my 102HF is 29lbs, the 104E is 36lbs) and will last forever at that output. As for the Bergantino head, it may look like it could slide off, but it you could almost push it over before the amp would move. I might be more concerned if it was running 3/4 volume or something.

The lady with the red hair, Laura Richards, stepped in for the day and played saxophone. I wish I could pay her to play in all the time, but I'd have to start taking bigger venues and they are thin on the ground here.

Just though I would post this with a few pictures . Built this P bass a few years ago and was originally an experiment (successful) to see if I got on with a headless . And then after that , it became a fretless . And again it was the base for an experiment with changing the cap on the EMG solderless tone pot to one of 100nF . There is a thread on here somewhere about it . And then the poor thing was used as a test bed for BEAD tuning which is how it still is , strung with Labella DTFs . A great bass but you know how things go . It was time for another experiment with it . I have , and love the tone of , a Burns Bison . Despite all the array of switching options , I always come back to the neck pickup , sometimes with the middle pickup as well . So the hunt started for a pickup to add to the neck of the trusty P bass . To cut a long story short , I bought a Bartolini BB4CBC-B from the wonderful chaps at Bass direct . A weekend in the shed making sawdust and Its done . It is switched using a Les Paul toggle switch for neck , neck and P bass pickup , and P bass pickup only . Having had a play with the pickup before fitting , it turns out it would have been out of phase with the EMG GZR P bass pickup so some wires were swapped round on the Bart .
Very happy with the outcome . EMG on its own sounds the same as it ever was . Bartolini is an absolute beast on its own , and with both pickups on it seems to combine the best of both .
And just for information , this little bastardised P bass is no lightweight . Not measured it after latest additions , but it was the heavy side of 12lbs before . A solid piece of baseball bat ash for the body , with no contours at all . With an 8mm fretless board from some unknown hardwood that was given to me , the neck is not for those with small hands . Its not for everybody , but I love it .
This the bass originally

New Pickup

Body marked up and template made

Test fitting to lump of 4x2

Template mounted and pickup routed

Phase reversed on Bartolini

PIckups and controls fitted . Pickguard painted

All finished for now .

Chicken Wing said:

My non-professional take:

To me it seems the “kick” is the focal low end element in a lot of rock mixes. The bass is sitting in sub territory and then some highs you can’t even hear. Guitarists have a lot of lows too.

Has anyone asked their guitarist to cut lows?

Click to expand...

Haven't read through the rest here yet, but to answer your question - yes...

...and that guy isn't in the band anymore