Latest Posts

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

Signatures are hidden for mobile users.

These are outstanding

The R & D continues on my EUB project, and I'm now experimenting with a different configuration of the Percussive Pickup. It's a different combination and position of the coils, but I'm using the same type of construction as I used above. A simple walnut block, cut on my Pin Router, with the two coils epoxied into the block.



Cutting out the walnut block on my Medium Green Pin Router. You've seen that technology over on my Pin Routers thread, I hope. A basic 2-D pickup block like this can also be made with a hand router and fixture, or a CNC router, or a 3-D printer.



The block is simple; a chunk of 3/4" thick walnut with two rectangular openings for the coils and a smooth straight perimeter. All cut with a straight 1/4" dia router bit. The block is held onto the fixture with two 1/8" steel dowel pins.



While it was in the fixture, I prettied it up by running a 1/16" Beading bit around the perimeter.



Adding shielding around the coils: I drill two small holes at an angle into the end walls of the openings for the coils......



I cut a short length of 20ga Buss Wire, bend it into a U-shape, and plug the ends into the two holes. Then bend it up against the end walls. Then I cut strips of 3/4" wide conductive copper shielding tape and stick it in all around the walls.



And there's the shielding. The tape makes good conductive contact with the Buss wire (I checked to make sure). Later, I'll wrap a wire around the Buss Wire and solder it.



I put two layers of Clear Packing Tape on the top side of the block, wrapping around onto the sides. Then flip it over and stick the coils down in, sticking them right to the Packing Tape. Those coils are same as I use on my AMB-2 Scroll Basses.



Then set it on some waxed paper, and pour in the West Systems epoxy, letting it fully fill in around the coils. The coils had previously been potted with Total Boat Clear Penetrating Epoxy, as I do on all my pickup coils.



After the epoxy cures, I pull off the tape and do a light block sanding on the top surface. I wiped on a coat of Osmo, and it's ready to install.

This is for a diaphragm-type percussive pickup. The diaphragm and bridge assembly mounts on top of this block. And the diaphragm wiggles over top of the coils to make that distinctive Diaphragm Pickup sound.

HX Stomp is right at that sweet spot of well-priced, well- documented, and ultra flexible.

Once you get a hang of it, you never get bad tone. It’s always useful in some capacity.

However, if I had nothing right now and I had more dollars to spare than the HX Stomp costs, I’d get the Anagram for five reasons:
- bluetooth
- XLR
- better UI
- better bass drive tones
- bass-centric, not guitar-centric

I don’t really think there’s a gaping chasm between them but to have my time again I’d buy HX Stomp second hand or anagram new. I probably wouldn’t buy an HX Stomp new.

It may have been an honest mistake. A common practice is to wind old strings up and put them in the package new strings came in. I do this for customers all the time in my shop, but I usually mark the package with a date and some info on a piece of masking tape.

Sorry, no help on the old ones. They're pretty random looking. Not especially good.

The Golden Boy said:

For now, my primary rig is the SM-900 through a Triad- I rarely take out the Goliath these days.

Click to expand...

I want one so bad. Have you faced any issues with? For how long have you used it?
Its funny you use the triad most of the time as I haven't heard great things about it. But only great things about the Goliath.

BassAdder27 said:

Anyone else dropped down to thinner picks ?

Click to expand...

After experimenting with thicker ones, I ended up using Dunlop .88mm Nylon picks (either standard or Max grip) most of the time...

BassAgent said:

Well that's just a blatant ripoff of the original Epiphone Newport.

Click to expand...

Yeah, as is 95% of basses on the market ("blatant ripoffs"), but that is actually not the point of my question

It's related to signal level, not necessarily the setting chosen. If you turn it up to where the light is turning red and then turn down your bass volume enough, it should stay green. Conversely, a hotter bass output (or maybe with a pedal with some gain boost) it should trigger in the red sooner. Depends on what your after, but the best sound is likely going to be when it's barely blinking on - in your case red.

Most excellent. These are the moments that makes the rest of it all worthwhile. A connection like that through music is priceless. For me it's always somewhat unexpected - you get asked to join a jam-session, you do another show.., even a standard rehearsal can result in magic. All the molecules in the air need to align - and I agree, playing with respected/talented friends for years develops an intuitive bond and you know how to be part of it w/o thinking. The only way to encourage that 'magic' is to be involved. The longer you are involved, the greater the chance of that magic happening. It doesn't happen on a regular basis - but when it does... you know it. Many more such magic moments for you!

LHbassist said:

I've been wiring basses for a very long time. As you can see, I'm also left handed. Is that assembly taken from a righty bass? With Fender basses, as with my then new left handed 1973 P-bass, the rotation is counter-clockwise on. My lefty '72 Jazz bass was the opposite- clockwise on. I prefer clockwise on rotation, and wire up all my own basses like that. If your bass is working, and you are o.k. with the direction of the pots, and there's no weird function, then you're good. As far as the halves go- I have not ever heard a difference between the halves, with any P-bass pickup installing in any bass. I just swapped a EMG Geezer for a DiMarzio Relentless, and both sound great, and no difference in the halves. I don't think I've ever heard of a manufacturer making a lefty pickup- although, there may be. I know that there are lefty pots available, but in my experience, righty pots have always worked fine in my basses. Nice bass, by the way!

Click to expand...

Thanks! Comparing it to the other bass of the same class, I dont feel/hear any difference. The difference in this one is that the pickups are from the righthanded, in practice they are with the head down and as I described, opposite to the strings. Thanks for the comment

Fernando Costa said:

Current Gotoh reverse tuning pegs, for comparison purposes only.
View attachment 7561543

Click to expand...

These are Res O Lite GB640, completely different beast, super lightweight, only half the weight of the stock Fender vintage tuners.

Beautiful bass… I am obsessed! How’s it playing, 6 years later? I reeeealy would love to find something like this. Thanks!

Reviving this thread. I’m looking for somewhat climate controlled storage boxes to store a pedal collection in a dry garage that gets pretty hot and cold with the seasons. Would this be Igloo Ice Chests? I kinda admire all of you who simply get rid of stuff they aren’t using at the moment but some of this stuff is sentimental, out of production and weird but not particularly valuable, or I’m just not done with it yet and I don’t want buy it again, like my SGFX Electroman 2 and Tech 21 Comptortion. I’m open to suggestions. Preferably legit but otherwise is ok too.

Passinwind said:

Give a local millwright a good build sheet, it’s not rocket surgery. Cost me like thirty bucks plus plywood cost for two flat pack kits when I did that a decade so ago.

Click to expand...

I built a few; it's not difficult to make a cab that is satisfactory, but it was never my goal to merely satisfy.

Before I built anything, the client had to provide detailed plans, including hardware, speaker specs, and crossover.

Most of the prospects who approached me had no clue.

Those who did, got exactly what they wanted, on time, at a reasonable price.

Ok, this is not on your list, and is at the other end of the spectrum, but have youe ever considered a BTB?

Wide across the nut, but shallow neck front to back with wide string spacing.

Mine is 20 years old with Bartolini pickups, very Fender-sounding.

I think the current ones have Nordstrands in them.

Very underrated basses.

I had to say it.

Here’s mine.

What a neck!

HolmeBass said:

Removing the high mass bridge may re-introduce some neck dive.

Click to expand...

Fortunately I just installed the "vintage style" bridge and it was still well balanced... when i held both bridges in my hand there was a massive difference.

So I looked:

Before swapping the hipshot bridge back to a classic bridge and installing res-o-lites, it was 9.4lbs

After swapping, 8.6lbs

So, nearly a solid pound difference! Much more comfortable with the traditional bridge and res-o-lites.

Gervais Cote said:

I’m a bass freak but that drum is niiiiiiiice !

Click to expand...

The dance band had various percussion as well