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scuz posted:I think after my self-inflicted amp drama, I'm sticking with my 800RB, because as soon as I sell it, I will want it back https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqancBS121M
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Oct 14, 2009 17:53
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And while on the subject of Ed Friedland, check out his demo of the Fender TV combos. Sound pretty sweet, a little pricey though... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMfDfVLpODw
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Oct 14, 2009 18:02
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Ed Friedland's channel sort of rules. I'm listening to him go through the Squier classic vibe basses vs. the Fender stuff and it's pretty awesome. Those Squier basses are pretty damned awesome. The Fender TV series DO sound really, really good. I didn't like the tone as much with the gain wide open, but that's just me. scuz fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Oct 14, 2009 |
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Oct 14, 2009 18:10
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Doomy posted:There's nothing to worry about if you put the four heaviest strings on. I used the heaviest four from a five string set of D'addario Chromes (132-100-80-65-45) on my P-bass to tune down to C-Standard. As far as tension goes, they feel somewhat looser than a set of 105-45s flats in E. Ok, I bought a light 5-string set and put them on, the nut is definitely made for a smaller set of strings. The smaller strings manage to squeeze in there but the low b string kind of sits on top of the string notch. Where would you even find a replacement nut in that size? Also do people actually drop-tune a bass guitar? What would be the advantage of that?
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Oct 14, 2009 20:20
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emonkey posted:Where would you even find a replacement nut in that size? What kind of bass is this? And yes, I use the d-tuner on one of my basses every so often.
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Oct 14, 2009 20:24
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Schatten posted:Use a file, carefully. Take off little bits at a time to make it fit. It's a crappy made-in-china p-bass copy, I am not too concerned about modifying it.
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Oct 14, 2009 20:41
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If it is a cheap neck, watch it closely over the next few weeks and months. The extra tension will cause intonation to be off (first symptom) and you might notice the fretboard to twist and warp. This isn't to say it will happen. It might not at all. Regarding the nut - go easy. Otherwise, a replacement can be found at stewmac, but you'll have to cut it yourself if there isn't a direct swap for it.
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Oct 14, 2009 20:57
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Hey scuz, the bassist in the band Cage the Elephant was using a SWR amp and 2x10 when I saw them opening for another band. He had a Fender P hooked directly up and had a really warm and punchy sound. Very nice sounding in that band's mix. Definitely wasn't the house monitors either because I was standing right in front of the stage.emonkey posted:Ok, I bought a light 5-string set and put them on, the nut is definitely made for a smaller set of strings. The smaller strings manage to squeeze in there but the low b string kind of sits on top of the string notch. Where would you even find a replacement nut in that size? Like Schatten said, you can carefully file with a small file, a metal file may be better than a wood file because nut material is usually denser than wood and the metal file will let you be more precise. I've never drop tuned, but it's easy to imagine it giving you some interesting intervals to play around with between the two strings. The bassist from Interpol plays in Drop D, don't really know anyone else who does.
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Oct 14, 2009 21:34
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Doomy posted:Hey scuz, the bassist in the band Cage the Elephant was using a SWR amp and 2x10 when I saw them opening for another band. He had a Fender P hooked directly up and had a really warm and punchy sound. Very nice sounding in that band's mix. Definitely wasn't the house monitors either because I was standing right in front of the stage.  I'm going to play bass for my dad's church on Sunday (groan) and there's a shop up by him that's an SWR dealer, so I may stop by on my way back home and see if they have any to try out.
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Oct 14, 2009 21:48
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I have been using SWR for a few years now. Of course, I have a pair of Goliath III's and not the new Golight stuff, but I have zero complaints. I have a Workingman's 300 from 1997 or so, and I have an SM-900 from sometime in the mid-90's. My SWR stuff makes any sound I have ever asked it to make, from clean and modern to detuned and dirty. The cabs, while very heavy, are rock solid. I haven't played any SWR stuff that has been made since Fender acquired them, though- but I love the older stuff! Weighing in on the current string gauge discussion, I have been running the bottom four strings from a pack of 5-string Slinkys on a Squier P/J and tuning to C standard, I didn't make any modifications to the nut at all. I could, I should, but it sounds good/the action is just fine/it stays in tune/the intonation is fine after some minor adjustments. Next time I restring it I will file the nut a little bit so the strings fit better, but until then it is just fine how it is.
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Oct 14, 2009 22:01
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Thanks for the feedback, black_mastermind. I'm definitely taking a look at SWR for my cabinets. A wiring problem has presented itself on my jazz bass. I was fiddling around with my volume knobs and it turns out that only my neck pickup is working properly, and my bridge pickup is not working at all. My first thought was "is this even possible" considering the wiring, and second was "are both of the pickups being lumped somehow on to one volume knob and being controlled as a single pickup?" I'm using a set of DiMarzio Ultra J pickups, which are humbuckers, and they only have written instructions on how to install it, and I really prefer diagrams. Is anyone here tech-savvy enough to perhaps draw one up for me? The setup that I have right now is supposed to be volume/volume/tone. I think that if I look at how it's supposed to be wired, I can pick out my problem and re-do my soldering job.
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Oct 15, 2009 15:00
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http://www.dimarzio.com//media/diagrams/UltraJazz.pdf My understanding is that the only difference between those and normal jazz pickups is that they have an extra pair of wires coming from them (those black and white ones) that need to be soldered together and isolated, those would be the link between the two coils. So what you need to do then is solder the green wire to the back of the volume pot, because it's the ground, and then the red wire to the middle leg of the pot. Looking at this diagram below, all you need to do is to reproduce that wiring. What is interesting to me is that you could possibly attach a switch to those white-black pairs and possibly coil tap the pickups so only one coil in them would be running. I have no idea how to do that though; the last guitar I wired like that was 2 years ago and I relied heavily on a diagram. Edit: By the way, the diagram below is looking at the volume pots from below, so you have to do the same to get the lugs in the same orientation.
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Oct 15, 2009 15:39
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Doomy posted:http://www.dimarzio.com//media/diagrams/UltraJazz.pdf  I'm sure I goofed up something somewhere considering this bass was my first soldering project and I'm certain something came loose somewhere. I took a look in it the other day and noticed that the capacitor had broken off of its ground point, which explains why that knob hasn't done anything for months.
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Oct 15, 2009 15:52
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Schatten posted:I don't want to jinx it until it is a solid done deal. =) I'm bumping this because... I have been offered the bass even though it sold to someone else on ebay, who doesn't have the funds. Deal being made tonight or tomorrow. Oh yes... oh yes!
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Oct 15, 2009 22:54
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I don't drop tune myself but I know folks who do, same reason you would for a guitar, to make quick and easy access to power chords and the like.
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Oct 15, 2009 22:54
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Alright, after accidently inhaling whole plumes of resin smoke (the solder kind, not the  kind), everything's wired up in the bass! It was way too late last night for me to try using it so I'll report back when everything's tested. Things that were wrong with it: bridge pickup ground broken off of pot solder point, capacitor broken off of pot ground solder point, bridge ground loose. Also the soldering job was awful and I cleaned everything up. I found that using sandpaper on the pots to scuff up the surfaces makes soldering to them very easy 
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Oct 16, 2009 14:14
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I find that there are few things that satisfy me more than clean and shiny solder joints. I was having a hell of a time with my puny soldering iron getting grounds to stick to the back of pots (as well as r/c car related soldering jobs) so I bought a really nice soldering station. If you do a lot of soldering, it is definitely worth the hundred bucks or so for a good tool that will last decades! Also I may be mildly brain damaged from resin smoke (of both varieties)
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Oct 16, 2009 14:24
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black_mastermind posted:I find that there are few things that satisfy me more than clean and shiny solder joints. I was having a hell of a time with my puny soldering iron getting grounds to stick to the back of pots (as well as r/c car related soldering jobs) so I bought a really nice soldering station. If you do a lot of soldering, it is definitely worth the hundred bucks or so for a good tool that will last decades!  .I am the VERY proud owner of a WES51 and it goddamn rules.
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Oct 16, 2009 14:29
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scuz posted:resin smoke (the solder kind, not the Liar.  vvvvvvvv I've been wondering if rewiring my Epiphone SG would make it better -- I know the pickups are sorta cheap to begin with, but the volume knobs have a drastic cutoff between 1 and 0. I'm thinking it might be made better with logarithmic pots, but my electrical circuits for engineers class is kinda far away now. Jan fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Oct 16, 2009 |
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Oct 16, 2009 14:37
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In the future, I suggest taking and posting pictures of musical instrument soldering jobs! We can't be the only two folks who appreciate it, can we? I have a Hakko 936 and it is just dreamy. The joy I get from using it is almost embarrassing.
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Oct 16, 2009 14:40
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Jan posted:Liar.  black_mastermind posted:In the future, I suggest taking and posting pictures of musical instrument soldering jobs! We can't be the only two folks who appreciate it, can we? I have a Hakko 936 and it is just dreamy. The joy I get from using it is almost embarrassing.  edit: Jan posted:I've been wondering if rewiring my Epiphone SG would make it better -- I know the pickups are sorta cheap to begin with, but the volume knobs have a drastic cutoff between 1 and 0. I'm thinking it might be made better with logarithmic pots, but my electrical circuits for engineers class is kinda far away now. scuz fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Oct 16, 2009 |
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Oct 16, 2009 14:50
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In the spirit of showing soldering jobs, here's a couple I've done recently. Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. I rewired my sx fretless jazz up with pickups from my jaguar, new pots, stuck a 47pfd orange drop on and put in a series switch. It's not the cleanest soldering, for sure, but it was satisfying putting that control plate together.  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. My jaguar taken to pieces to shield the cavities and put some new pickups in it, as well as a 22pfd cap.
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Oct 16, 2009 21:31
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Looks awesome, doomy! I didn't realize there was so much inside of those jaguars; looks like fun Here's my stuff. I re-used the pots that were in there when I tried this the first time, which explains the what-look-to-be solder globs on the pot legs.  Click here for the full 1200x900 image.  Click here for the full 1200x900 image.  Click here for the full 1200x900 image. I can't believe how much better this thing sounds with both pickups working. And apparently I bought non-audio taper pots because it seems like they only operate as on/off switches v  v. That would be pretty cool, actually, to have switches instead of volume knobs. How would I go about doing that?
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Oct 17, 2009 22:58
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I'm not really sure, but I think you'd need those DPDT kind of switches so you can have the pickup bypassed when its off. I know in my jaguar that's the kind of switches it uses.
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Oct 18, 2009 17:37
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Doomy posted:I'm not really sure, but I think you'd need those DPDT kind of switches so you can have the pickup bypassed when its off. I know in my jaguar that's the kind of switches it uses.
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Oct 18, 2009 19:02
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Yeah I bet that would really change the sound, because I've also heard that bypassing any volume and tone pots really brightens the sound up and gives more output. So you know, you may as well make a bypass for the tone!
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Oct 19, 2009 00:43
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Doomy posted:Yeah I bet that would really change the sound, because I've also heard that bypassing any volume and tone pots really brightens the sound up and gives more output. So you know, you may as well make a bypass for the tone!
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Oct 19, 2009 00:51
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scuz posted:Haha, why not, right? I never use my bass without the tone and volume knobs wide open, so I might as well do that. I know Fender makes no-load tone pots, where if you boost it all the way up the potentiometer is essentially taken out of the circuit and it's loud loud loud. Me. Want. Got a link to that or anything? Best I've heard of in that dept. is just a 1 meg ohm pot.
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Oct 19, 2009 14:20
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Does anyone use a wireless system with their rig? Anyone recommend a good one in the $200-300 range?
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Oct 19, 2009 14:26
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Scarf posted:Got a link to that or anything? Best I've heard of in that dept. is just a 1 meg ohm pot. I've never used a wireless system, but Shure is usually a good bet.
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Oct 19, 2009 14:40
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scuz posted:Here's one on Amazon. It's only 250k, but if it's going to be taken out of the circuit at "10" anyway, it doesn't really matter. $23 for one pot?!
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Oct 19, 2009 15:31
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Scarf posted:$23 for one pot?! lolol what a ditz I am. Here. $7.95.
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Oct 19, 2009 15:33
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scuz posted:lolol what a ditz I am. Here. $7.95. Hmmm, I may have to try those on my '78 P, "Nola"
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Oct 19, 2009 15:35
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I'm thinking of buying a new bass. My current one is an Ibanez piece of poo poo, cost something like 200€ new. My pricerange is 500-700€, depending when I'll buy it. I've got kind of small hands, I'm pretty fast but a small (j-bass?) neck would be better. My current band plays in drop C if that matters. I really dont know what I should be looking for so any hints and tips are appreciated. So whats a good brand/model in that pricerange? I'll naturally try the thing before I buy it.
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Oct 19, 2009 15:36
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Do you tune BEAD? Want a 5'er?
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Oct 19, 2009 15:39
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Scarf posted:Do you tune BEAD? Want a 5'er? Nah, I've used to 4. I'm so bad & we play so simple poo poo that 3 strings would be enough for me. No prog poo poo for me thanks
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Oct 19, 2009 15:46
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Usually my answer would be "look for a used MiM Jazz in the classifieds section of talkbass.com" but I'm guessin' you're outside of the US There may be people willing to ship over-seas on talkbass but I wouldn't bet on it and it wouldn't be worth it. Just go find yourself a MiM Jazz bass and have a luthier or someone set it up for BEAD, as it would be nice for the nut to be re-slotted, and the truss rod/action tweaked for maximum awesome.
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Oct 19, 2009 15:59
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So a kind soul at TalkBass.com was willing to draw me up a schematic for my switch mod on my jazz bass and I'm really, really excited  After we get our new puppy settled in tomorrow, I'm gonna get to it!
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Oct 20, 2009 15:44
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Right on! I haven't been hanging out over at TalkBass as much as I used to, but it can definitely be an awesome resource. I also need to take pictures of soldering, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Although I have some soldering coming right on up because yesterday I ordered this: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com...emart&Itemid=45 Should be a good time, I got it primarily for guitar but because I am going to be building it as well as modifying a few other pedals, I would like to figure out how to make it more like a brassmaster/B:assmaster. The learning process is kicking in to high gear!
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Oct 20, 2009 15:54
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Doomy posted:I've never drop tuned, but it's easy to imagine it giving you some interesting intervals to play around with between the two strings. The bassist from Interpol plays in Drop D, don't really know anyone else who does.
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Oct 21, 2009 18:15
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