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Topics - Happy Face

Pages: [1] 2
1
Rickenbacker Basses / Covid Impulse Purchase
« on: November 05, 2020, 03:51:51 PM »
No more live shows, some studio work but those two projects are wrapping up. So --- zero.zero need for a second, especially since my "Shooting Star" Tuxedo is so close to perfection.

But I couldn't resist buying another "orphan" Ric, this time the well-worn, nicotine stained CS bass. It came from Kevin at Kebo as advertised. I had figured I'd try some heavy-duty solvents to partially restore it. But once in hand, it's current condition is growing on me. A few tweaks to get to this weekend, but I'll mostly leave it be. Probably down at the recording studio along with the Versatone in the Tux photo.   

That said, I like the neck profile of the Tux better and, thanks to the refret & carbon fiber rod, the action is unbelievably flat and low without any fret buzz. 

2
Bass Amps & Effects / Metal Amp Enclosure
« on: July 25, 2020, 03:10:34 PM »
Hello all! I am thinking of reversing course.

A few years ago, there were one or more people making wooden cases with orange tolex to put your Bass Terror 500 into. Many people did not like the look of the metal "lunch box" case it came in. I almost bit on that.

But now, I am pondering whether it would be possible or make sense to do the opposite? 

After selling my 1968 Hiwatt mentioned in another thread, I was tempted by a Sound City Bass 150 which looked pretty cool. It was stored poorly for a long time so not yet working. But if it can be coaxed back to life as promised ....

I am thinking about doing a "reverse Terror case swap" and putting it into some kind of case like the Terrors come in. Or, for that matter, the old Bogen PAs from our youth.

Why?

Because then it would sit nicely on top of some of my smaller width cabs. Right now it only sits well on one of my sealed 4x12" cabs which are nice in a practice or recording room, they are a bear to haul around. except on special occasions, of course!

The original wooden head case is in nice condition, but has like two inches of wasted space on each side. So I wonder how easy it would be to find or have made a trimmer metal cage/enclosure which would both fit on 21" width cabs and have better ventilation.

A quick internet search directed me to "chassis cases" and some look like they might work, but the dimensions tend to be too small.

Do any of you amp builders or modders have any experience with this sort of nonsense?

Thanks!


3
Bass Amps & Effects / British Amp power switches
« on: March 30, 2019, 02:00:55 PM »
So, now & then I play at home through my 1968 Hiwatt amp through a sealed 4x12" cab. At our practice room, I often play my more recent hand-wired Orange head through a similar cab. Both loaded with 75 watt Celestions. None of which is pertinent to my highly technical question:

Why do the power switches on both set opposite to most amps? Meaning why is the amp off when the toggle switch is in the up position?

Never owned a Vox so dunno bout them. And I think I recall that my savage beast Marshall had rocker switches but that was an odd model, so not sure if Marshalls had reversed toggles ir not.

Any thoughts on this oh wise ones?

4
Bass Amps & Effects / Generation Gap
« on: July 12, 2018, 07:36:57 PM »
When I was an aspiring teen, all we had were tube amps. Since I had built shortwave radios and amps from Kits, I was usually the band tech. That meant I could handle walking over to the local hardware store and using the tube tester. But I was totally oblivious to the whole concept of biasing. Nor did brands particularly matter. GE, RCA or Sylvania seemed to be interchangeable.

Flash forward to today. A "youngster" (about 26 years old) joined our firm a little while ago. Among other things, he had played both upright and electric bass in high school and college.

So this morning I brought in a shot Winged C KT-88 to display as a work of art. The new boy asked me what it was and then what it did. "Does it, like, light up?" I guess he never played a real tube amp, though he probably used a hybrid without knowing it at some points. I gotta say I was more than a little surprised.

I wonder what happens to tube amp prices when we give up playing or die off?       

5
Rickenbacker Basses / A Fool & His Money are Soon Parted
« on: March 31, 2018, 04:09:10 PM »
A Fool & His Money are Soon Parted, but amazing, quality work. Thoroughly recommended.

http://kennebecinstrument.com/bringing-life-back-to-a-rickenbacker-tuxedo-bass/


It now has the best action I've enjoy enjoyed on a Rick, surpassing the brand-spanking new Blackstar I bought to take with me to Japan in 1989.  This bas is righteous! 

6
The Bass Zone / One lucky guy
« on: June 12, 2017, 07:24:26 PM »
So a Steinberger bass mysteriously arrived at my office today. I partially unwrapped it and carried it home. (I usually walk to and from work, about 20 minutes each way.)

My wife greeted me at the door and asked "what is that?" I answered, "a guitar", worried she'd be alarmed at my extravagance.

She was annoyed, but for a different reason.: "Why didn't you call me? I would have picked you up!"

How lucky am I ????
   

7
The Outpost Cafe / Shortwave radio kit builders
« on: April 22, 2017, 08:37:52 PM »
No doubt I'm not the only person here who built Heathkit and Lafayette amps and .... Shortwave radios.

Inspired tonight when the local college radio station sent out Radioland by Kraftwerk.

Man, like from fifth grade right up through graduation my short wave receiver got big use. Especially when guys were in altered states. It was early pre -synth electronic music! Just as Kraftwerk sang. A big reason I loved them and got into synths and technopop.

But beyond that ... I wonder if a few of you remember trying to hack the crystals and especially the crystal key thingies you only got if you passed some bogus FCC license if you wanted to turn your shortwave into a two way machine.

The FCC did monitor things back then so it  was a cat and mouse games sometimes, right?

8
Other Bass Brands / An Eastern European gamble
« on: January 07, 2017, 02:40:24 PM »
https://reverb.com/item/3506544-vintage-hollowbody-bass-orlik-1980-tobacco-brown

To go with my Polish-made Taurus Vandal amp.

We'll see....

9
The Bass Zone / Combining two recent threads
« on: July 12, 2015, 11:37:41 AM »
Yesterday was the live debut for my recently acquired Fender Performer bass, which I bought thanks to a recent thread here. Sounded good and, most important, it looked sharp.

It was also the debut of the little German bass cab I asked for some guidance on here in another thread. My bandmates were worried beforehand, but when I fired it up they were impressed. But, as you can see, I need a rubber pad under the amp head to keep it from walking off the cab.

10
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Speaker jacks
« on: June 10, 2015, 06:24:15 AM »
I'd like to keep using the old 2x12" cab I put modern speakers into. It only has a phono input.

But two of my amps only have speakon outputs. Some folks swear that you need 'em for high power amps but a couple sound guys I know say they are just an unnecessary PITA.

I have converter jacks but was pondering putting in a speakon input into the old cab.

Question for wiser folks: outside of the locking aspect, what's the difference between putting in a speakon input and using a converter jack? Is the wiring off of the backside of the speakon input jack any different than that on a phono jack?

Hope I'm being clear with my question.

Thanks!



11
Bass Amps & Effects / Speaker Cab Resonance
« on: May 02, 2015, 01:28:42 PM »
Hi. I have an old German 2x12" ported speaker cab about the size of the smaller Bassman cabs. It had guitar speakers in it and I went to sell it but no one offered anything reasonable. Then I saw a pair of neo 12" speakers offered on TB and decided to give 'em a whirl. Thiele Parameters be damned!

You know what? It sounds pretty good. Punchy. And it seems to handle loud volumes without a problem.

BUT - when I play a C C# or D on the A string (close to the nut) or on the E string I get a sound like you get when you have a microphonic tube. It's loudest on the C. Appears with any amp.

It's not like the rattles I've encountered when internal screws need to be tightened nor like a resonance buzz I suffered with on another cab. It's a little reminiscent of a slightly blown speaker, but I don't recall that those are so frequency-specific.

What do you guys think?  Loose something in the cab, a resonance, a bad speaker or something  else entirely?

It's not a deal-killer but I'd love to get rid of it.

Thanks.

   
 

12
The Bass Zone / Jack Bruce
« on: October 25, 2014, 06:23:21 PM »
We played an afternoon show today. I got to play and sing SWLABR and Sunshine. Bon Voyage to Jack.

13
The Bass Zone / Bass Lessons from 1968
« on: October 06, 2014, 06:43:19 PM »
Yeah, so I bid for the rights to host a local radio show which a few folks may listen to. The theme will be the Mike Bloomfield family tree.  Including Electric Flag, of course.

I'll have to cull down my happy list to a few songs so I was listening to "A Long Time Coming" again for maybe the 10,235th time since the album came out.

But tonight, I really paid careful attention to all of Harvey Brooks awesome bass playing on that album. Namely the use of pauses, or what you guys what call lag or something.

Only now do I realize how much that album colored my playing since then. As a ninth grader I learned the bass part to Killing Floor note for note, but I never realized old Harvey had injected me with a but of groove and jazz and whatever when I worked on learning the other songs.*

Thanks Harvey!

Seriously.

* Except that useless Wine song which is the only song someone videoed at Monterey. 
 

14
Bass Amps & Effects / Tube amp heat
« on: September 27, 2014, 02:43:29 PM »
This is a probably a pretty dumb question, and I've asked you guys a few already! But since I am among friends, here's another.

Last night we played a show at a local venue we like. I wanted to use my Orange AD 200 rather than my Terror.  But the stage is a little cramped and I was in a hurry so I figured I'd only bring one 1x15" cab rather than two.

At the end of the night, I noticed the amp felt hotter than usual. When I run two cabs, I've often marveled how cool the head is at the end of the night. I mean, way cooler than the tube amps I used when I was young and handsome.

Is there any chance that running a single 8 ohm load was heating things up versus running the normal 4 ohm load with two cabs?  (I had the single cab on an 8 ohm tap so it wasn't a mismatch issue.)

I'm wondering if something is amiss in the amp. Or was I just driving the head too hard on a hot night?  The volume was pretty low since we have a big PA but I did have the gain up and was digging in pretty good.

Thanks.

The Paranoid  Parent

 

15
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Belt clip monitor?
« on: August 09, 2014, 06:18:58 PM »
I would love to have the equivalent of the belt clip gizmo you use for a wireless mike or bass, but with a headphone out and a simple pass through. No wireless. Now, Rolls has those nice personal monitors, but they clip on your mike stand.  I get all tangled up in the cords.

I did a quick look and didn't find anything that simple. Clip it on your belt, plug your bass into it, plug a cord into the passthrough on into your amp and one or two ear buds into it.voila - you  can always hear yourself in one ear

I'm too old to keep explaining to idiots that it is impossible to hear yourself over a loud drummer if you are asked to run your 200 watt amp on 1. Last night I was so pissed off that I turned my stage volume down to zero until the drummer complained. 
 

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