• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Modern flat neck basses require constant truss rod adjustments?

What's goin' on here, @Turnaround retires and EVERYONE forgets all about WITNESS POINTS; learn about them and dress them, most of your adjustment problems will disappear.

Most new strings don't want to make sharp bends, they want to arc around saddles, nuts and posts; as the strings age those arcs slowly conform to the needed bend and the string goes flat. You can force the arcs out of the string and they will be much, much more stable. As a genral rule of thumb, the thicker the string, the longer it takes for the string to conform to the desired shape. For string through you have an additionl bend where it emerges from the body that has to be taken into account. With the string tuned UP, start at the anchor point and force the string to comply with the needed bend. Each time you put a forced bend into the string retune UP. Once you have forced compliance at the post your tuning will be much more stable.

Does Neck Width/Thickness Impact the Sound of a Bass?

I'm not a luthier, of course, but my take is that there are number variables here in addition to the neck profile. The Yamaha has a 6-bolt mount, including the two that are angled; the JB has a 4-bolt mount. The Yamaha body is a sandwich of alder/maple/alder, the JB is one wood (alder, ash, or empress, whichever yours is). The bridges are different, the Yamaha having it's cool 45-degree angle design and the G&L having it's massive Saddle-Lock bridge. I don't doubt for a second that you can hear a difference between the two basses, but I'd say it'd be hard to pin the tone difference solely on the neck profile.

OTOH, I've read/heard more than one interview with Billy Sheehan describing his Attitude basses, and he always points out that they have big, baseball necks in part because he feels a bigger neck gives you a bigger/fatter tone. And I'm not gonna argue with Billy. Paul Gilbert says the same thing when comparing the necks on his Fireman guitar to the typical thinner Wizard shredder necks of his prior Ibanez guitars.
I played a beat up used attitude in a store about a month ago. The neck was indeed a baseball bat at the nut and the basic sound was fat and deep.

Bergantino Audio Systems Introduces the New HPN Series (High Power Neo) Bass Speaker Cabinets

The Reference II 112 is 36 lbs. The Reference II 115 is 46 lbs. That's light for ceramic cabinets. I'm getting older and want something light. But I also really want that 115. The HPN 212 is also looking pretty killer.

I don't think the Reference series is going anywhere. It's just a different flavor of awesome.

[sfx] Micro Thumpinator

I just switched to a 1 Spot, and the problem went away. Yay!

My CIOKS power supply has various voltage/current outputs. I had it on a 9/12V-300 mA outlet set to 9V. Maybe the variable voltage thing causes some shenanigans in the power-up waveform? Who knows? But at least I know it's not an issue with the mThump now.
My thumpi is also nursed by a cioks 9/12. Never experienced your issue. Faulty cable?
  • Like
Reactions: RocketMusic

Thinking about an Ampeg SVT 2 Pro

I've been using SVT's for fifty years and they are among the most reliable amps out there. If it's been sitting in a closet for ten years the tubes are probably fine. check it out, if it sounds good and is loud as hell and all 6 power tubes are glowing similarly, play the hell out of it, you'll probably never turn back. I don't bring any of mine to a shop unless they obviously have a problem which is not very often. 6550's last for years.
This

What’s the appeal of 33” scale basses?

If you look at scale lengths from a Fendercentric point of view, you have 30” on one end and 34” on the other.

30” are generally viewed as easier to play but don’t sound as defined.

34” are generally viewed as harder to play but sound more defined.

In the middle, you have the 32”, which I guess you could argue is in some ways a best of both worlds: easier to play than a 34” but sounds more defined than a 30”.

Lately, I’ve noticed a few bassists playing 33”, like Matt Garrison, Janek Gwizdala, Tony Grey and I think Scott Devine’s signature bass was also 33”.

I guess what I’m wondering is, what’s the appeal? Is it literally just an inch closer to sounding like a 34” but an inch easier to play?
Let's face it, 34" scale was something Leo Fender thought would be ok. And it was, but other lengths could also have been ok. 33 is easier on shorter fingers though.
  • Like
Reactions: Dabndug

Double Bass Helix HX Stomp as preamp?

For the previous iteration of this board I just used the tuner in the HXS (which is plenty accurate), but I wanted to be able to have a visible tuner that could be "always on" (mostly for peace of mind when playing arco passages when I can't hear myself well enough). It takes up an extra block, but I also add a mute block to tune silently.

I think your plan for the routing makes sense. Electric bass signal chain into the L input and upright into the R (and out to the Walrus DI/LI the same way).
I chose to run everything into the HXS and then use a block to add the Cali76 to electric patches to give some wet/dry mix flexibility (beyond the pedal itself). I made what's essentially just an insert cable to send two lines from the 'stereo send' on the right side of the HXS (I don't use any stereo effects so I tend to think of 'stereo' as 'dual mono'); into the INs on each external pedal and mono returns back to the HXS (in my case, I didn't bother running a return from the tuner).
It might be more cumbersome, but sometimes I like the challenge of finding a solution to a problem I created :)
Thx again! :)
  • Like
Reactions: MattyMcMattface

Question about dingwall pickups dimensions (FD3n vs Dingstrand Nordwall usage)

well damn, if only i had knew it before having put MECs in the bass :D

how is the sound? Does it sound dingwallish? Do you have any sound clips of DI?

I really hope that they will make 6 string illumina Bass one day, because the bass is awesome i just miss the high C string


Also thank you for being brave enough ordering them and trying it out
It sounds great honestly! Here's some quick soundcloud demos of how the bass sounds with the dingwall pickups + lusithand preamp.

GOC dingwall pickup demos

I'm gearing up to make a proper video of some sound demos as I've changed a decent amount of things on the bass since I got it

Underrated bassist: Mike Mills

Definitely underrated. He is a great vocalist, keyboard player and songwriter as well.

I had to learn 25 songs in about two weeks, helping out a REM cover band for one gig several months ago. Had a blast! (It didn't hurt that I was already a fan). Came to appreciate his parts all over again. Some can be tricky to get right. Driver 8 for example. Sounds relatively easy until you listen to the isolated bass track.

Login to view embedded media
I think he used his Guild Pilot bass on the studio recording.

Fretless Players: Does Switching to a Multiscale Bass affect your Intonation?

Fretless Multiscale with no lines….Hmmmm…

The Japanese have an outstanding response for this kind of thing. First, there is a sucking inhale through pursed lips, as when tasting wine. Second, they will say “Verrrry difficult.” Which I generally took to mean nearly impossible.

Of course, nothing which is not counter to the Laws of Science is truly impossible. I suppose that one could practice 12 hours a day for two years, as Edgar Meyer suggests as a starting point, and get sufficient proficiency. I would personally choose other effort directions; but, that’s me.

Fretless Multiscale with Lines. That should work just fine.

My fretless has a graphite neck; so, I don’t “need” multiscale with that instrument. YMMV
yeah itl deffo be a bit of a errr well itl be fun to learn to say the least
i am playing an unlined fretless already and i usualy play multiscale so i guess i have a head start sort of lol
partially lined is a good idea though

Playing live over the internet with low/no latency? Is it even possible?

My cousin is a guitarist and when we got together last summer we really enjoyed playing together. Here's the rub: he lives in Munich, DE, and I in Philadelphia, in the US, and so getting together to play is not a thing that we can do very often. Does anyone know of a way to play together over the internet? We both have reliable/stable connections via our respective ISPs, but given the latency and compression I experience every day with the likes of Zoom/Teams/Facetime, those solutions doesn't really sound practicable.

Thanks in advance.
We are working on helping with this frustrating problem. It is early still, but feel free to try Lyrekos and we would love feedback on if it works for you or what issues you run into. Thanks, Lance

Radial Products Are Coming To Rocket!

I had my first rehearsal last night using the Radial HDI and loved it!

My signal chain was:
Lull P4 w/ flats ->
SFX micro-Thumpinator -> Broughton Low + High Pass Filter -> Empress EQ ->
HDI ->
Bergantino Forte ULTRA -> Bergantino NV-412T

I didn't have a compressor in the path, other than what the HDI does: slight optical compression on the clean path and whatever flattening happens as a result of hitting the transformer just short of aggressively. It felt well compressed despite the lack of a dedicated compressor in the chain. That was really nice.

The sound was big and fat; I ended up with the HPF set around 80Hz by the end of the night. In a live setting with PA support, I don't think I'd want to do that much filtering upstream of the HDI. I'd like the sound guy to have more low-end if he wants it. So I'll probably move the filter pedal to post HDI, or I may may just ditch it and use the filtering on the Forte ULTRA.

I was boosting my upper mids pretty aggressively but still wanting more. I'm guessing the compression I was getting in the HDI was probably fighting my EQ moves. I'll try moving the EQ to post HDI, that might fix the issue.

All in all, I'm loving the HDI. The grit it adds is very tasty, the blending of clean and dirty signals leaves you with a hairy yet still solid and well-defined tone, and the overall compression doesn't sound over-compressed. It just sounds right. I keep coming back to the word natural. It all sounds very natural, whatever that means.

Fender Pure Vintage 66 Jazz Bass Pickups

Ok, I’ll play…
A/B’ed the AVRI re-ish against my Feb 66 Jazz..and I’ll speak only to the direct question…the AVRI’s were brighter and crisper than the originals, and not necessarily in a good way. If you want to head down Marcus Blvd with a slightly fatter bottom, here ya go. Looking for the JPJ / JoBo/ Noel Redding warmth, depth and controlled top end, nope. Too much emphasis upon the ping and zing. Antiquity’s are closer to that, and Reimer’s “Growl-O-Wind” J’s are damn close to the real deal.

Attachments

  • IMG_6289.jpeg
    IMG_6289.jpeg
    786.7 KB · Views: 8
  • Like
Reactions: rzero

Medium scale 5string

MTD

Latest Classifieds

Rare ones!
$214.00 to $699.00
Location
Richmond Virginia, United States
"This bass has all the "Low-end Lobster" upgrades! Hipshot bridge installed along with a WD black pearl 1 ply pickguard loaded with a Serek Lazen...
$1,200.00
Location
San Francisco California, United States
Bergantino Super Pre Excellent condition
$525.00
Location
Edinburg Texas, United States
includes grommets and screws
$275.00
Location
California, United States
Bridge is in great shape, works as it should. 250 shipped
$250.00
Location
Pennsylvania, United States

Filter

Staff online