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Renaissance/Turner Basses Club

#782
johnp352 said:
hey sports fans need some opinions (no really!) on a new amp for my Ren. Here's the background:

I have an RT one-off Ren 5, 30" Scale, dual mono output with a piezo and hand-wound by the Boss mag pickup and high C, and is fretless. I only use it to play art music, which is not how I make my money playing bass, for that stuff I use the usual rawk bass slab. About 90% of those gigs have a rawk bass amp in the backline, the other 10% I bring my TC RS 2x12 and a 500 watt TC head, which is fine for that. All big rawk pa's usually with sidefills. The TC cab weighs a lot ( at 55lbs which is twice as heavy than I would want). I can use the TC head, feeding my Raven stereo pre into it, but I am looking for a new cab.

the art music gigs are sometimes in other countries (I consider east and west coast usa "other countries") and the promoters usually have a sound system or PA or both, so no need to drag stuff. This new amp is mostly for the few times when i need a small cab in a small place here in Chicago.

hope that's clear ...ok, still awake? thanks! I am leaning to either a small medium-priced 1x10 or 12 or 2x8 thing. Doesn't need super low end or bat ears from hell high end, just, as Howlin Wolf used to say, "a good sound". I also can't feature spending a lot of money (that I don't have because..umm)so yea bareface etc are really nice, but too rich for my thin blood for the time I will use it.
of course, now that all my gigs and three count em three albums have been put off tll JA know when, this might be idle TB conjecture, but as yews guise are the best people to ask here, I thought why not.

Suggestions appreciated, ALSO suggestions about what NOT to get, which are just as important.

cheers, and hope you are all doing well, health-wise.
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Have you looked at the Acoustic Image stuff? I frequently use an older Clarus 2 head and any combination of cabinets for my Rens. They have a very nice DI out onboard, and you can hook a pair of cabinets down to 2 ohm load, safely for stage volume.
 
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#784
Ahh, i knew this was the right place to ask. Thanks..and now it's off to the things I have never played through, speaker division. I just dont want to go to the things I have never played through AND cant see spending my non-existent (especially now!) money on.

i also really appreciate everybody taking the time.
 
#786
I bought an Acoustic Image Coda R a number of years ago specifically to use with my five-string Renaissance bass and really like it for that purpose. One experiment I have not gotten around to is hooking the AI Coda up to my Barefaced SuperTwin but imagine that combo would sound great. I used to own a couple of four-ohm Eden cabinets so I was able to choose one of those to augment the AI for higher volume gigs. Now the only four ohm cabinet I have is the SuperTwin, to use an extension cab with the Coda it has to be four-ohms so I couldn't use my Big Baby II. I imagine any of the Acoustic Image heads would sound great with a Ren. I find the notch filter in my Coda R to be particularly helpful.

Unfortunately a lot of high end amplification is expensive and not needed for many players but if you have discerning ears, or are just really picky, there are a lot of great choices.
 
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#788
Hi Rick Turner friends! I played my Electroline PMM fretted today for the first time in a long while (the one in my avatar). Damn, what a treat. It's like I should do an NBD post. I forgot how much I love these Electrolines. That is all. Hope you're all staying safe, enjoying the music at home, and for those of you who gig, sending big wishes that you'll be back at it very soon.
 
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#789
It's been a while playing it, out but with all the shut downs, we did a Night Of Worship and Prayer Thursday night and pastor's wife was looking to do a more acoustic thing, so I brought my RB-5F. We played outside around the pool deck on a big lake with about 30 or so there and also we setup a Zoom meeting with links for folks to check in that way! Big screen on the side of us. Had a blast! We had a really nice session with KB, AG and a youth kid on Djembe/Cajon and a total of 5 singers. We weren't able to get our production team we use for streaming, so it didn't make it on YouTube or anything like that. Funny that it was supposed to be kinda short and sweet, so they picked out 3 songs to play and we ended up playing a tad over 3 hours. Lots of improvisation and freestyle playing. Lots of melodic noodling and whatnot! I could have played another 2 hours. The funny thing is it started pouring 5 minutes after we finished and brought my system inside. Love my Turner and it's Thomastik Acousticores!
 
#790
johnp352 said:
thanks mtb. I thought about doing this, and will keep the tc head, but I really do need to be mobile/lightweight. I know 52 lbs isnt considered heavy (it used to be LIGHTWEIGHT, back in the olden daze, but a funny thing happened..it is now a midweight I suppose, but for a senior citizen like me, it is too heavy). I am really spoiled by playing through backlines/having stage crews. I love reading about iem's but they are not for me and the ren, I need to hear my bass in the acoustic space. BTW, I have been playing Rens from day one, and had a bass similar to yours, but find a short scale much more to my liking, especially with a high C. But i do remember too the incredible LOW end of that 35" b string through a 100,000 watt PA.
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I'm 63! LOL. I've often thought about the high C and I do not think Rick ever made any 6 string Ren basses! The thought of one really excites me though!
 
#792
I’ve been thinking about converting my bass to a fretless. I’ve been looking for a fretless and I’m thinking with the piezo blend it would sound pretty nice as a fretless. Should I do it? Any thoughts on pros or cons?
 
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#794
RVBASS said:
I’ve been thinking about converting my bass to a fretless. I’ve been looking for a fretless and I’m thinking with the piezo blend it would sound pretty nice as a fretless. Should I do it? Any thoughts on pros or cons?
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my original bass was a REN deuce 5 string, strung a-f, and fretted. After a seriously botched local job, i sent it back to rick, where it was made into a more conventional e-c tuning, as well as a new fretless fingerboard. he also fixed the headstock overlay with a matching maple piece..Like a new bass. I play this guy every day.
 
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#795
Johnp352, thanks for the feedback. If I have it converted to fretless I think I would ask Rick if he would do the work in his shop in order to ensure the quality of the end result :) I think this bass would sound great as a fretless.
 
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#796
The other thing I was thinking about doing was sending it in to have the full electronics package installed. The website doesn’t really identify the function of each control though, just a brief overall statement. Does anyone here have a Model 1 bass with full electronics package that can explain the function of each control knob on the bass? Right now my bass has volume, mag/piezo blend, and “passive low pass filter with push-pull coil tap”. Thanks!
 
#797
RVBASS said:
The other thing I was thinking about doing was sending it in to have the full electronics package installed. The website doesn’t really identify the function of each control though, just a brief overall statement. Does anyone here have a Model 1 bass with full electronics package that can explain the function of each control knob on the bass? Right now my bass has volume, mag/piezo blend, and “passive low pass filter with push-pull coil tap”. Thanks!
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I'm actually curious about this too. Never have seen the Model One control layout on paper. Not sure there is a standard; it's this, answer.

Hmmm. I dunno about a fretless conversion RV. Doesn't that one have LED's? They'd be centered instead on 'on the fret', if that matters to you. Having done it though, I'd definitely have RT do it if I was bound and determined to do it. He did a fine job on converting #05-2129 to a lined slick.
 
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#798
Hey,EofH, yes still debating if I would want to go fretless. If I did, I would request RT to do a fretless fretboard with ebony strips filling the slots to try to make it all black. Then have maple side line indicators at the frets. That would put the LEDs in the center of the frets, and give me indicators of where the frets would be. I rarely look at the fretboard, I almost always rely on the side indicators for positioning. So, That's what I have in mind at the moment.

As for the electronics, what I would really like is just a master volume, mag/piezo blend, and an active low pass filter with CVQ or 3-position Q. I really like the combination of active low pass filter with Q switch. :)
 
#799
He not only made my ren fretless, but fretless with a new fingerboard, I have the little corner 'exclamation" inlays. I tend to use the mag pu as my tone control, blending it as needed to change the timbre. I have been doing this for 12 years, and I think I finally know how to use it the right way . (slow learner). and though I like efx on bass, or bass range or whatever I am doing with the mikro, I have stopped using them on The Duece as
I got to a point where it reminded me of the olde daze where people would plug a fuzz and phasor into a nice D-28 and make it sound like shite. So even for something as simple as tone controls..i love the sound of this as is.
 
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#800
RVBASS said:
Johnp352, thanks for the feedback. If I have it converted to fretless I think I would ask Rick if he would do the work in his shop in order to ensure the quality of the end result :) I think this bass would sound great as a fretless.
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I recommend sending it to him to do the work. I don't know who you have doing work like this locally, but here in Chicago, I still haven't found a guy who knows anywhere his level of expertise. There USED to be, especially a few guys I know who apprenticed (remember that idea?) for the great Hungarian luthier Bozio, but as these people aged they all either moved away or quit the biz. I have tried a few others but found they didn't know how to do what was required. I don't have any extra money for $$$$ repairs, but in this case, it was relatively inexpensive, including shipping to SC. It's the rare time where the cheapest way in the long run also costs a bit more, but REALLY worth it.
 
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