Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - fealach

Pages: 1 2 [3]
31
The Bass Zone / Re: Bass Playing You've Heard Lately That Makes Ya Wanna Play Better
« on: July 31, 2010, 10:25:21 AM »
The bass playing I've heard lately that makes me want to play better is my own. 


Listening to recordings from recent rehearsals.. ugh, I need to play better.

32
The Bass Zone / Re: Favorite bass?
« on: July 30, 2010, 08:44:25 PM »
Quote from: Barklessdog on July 30, 2010, 12:32:06 PM
love the fretless, nice

It's a little more "boutiquey" than I usually go for,  but it sounds exactly like I've always thought a fretless should and feels like a dream to play.  It and the 5 string are early works from Brian Ristola in New Hampshire, US.  He's doing much more elaborate work these days, and I was lucky to stumble on them while he was getting established - prices are out of my league today, but competitive I suppose for what he's building.  http://www.ristolainstruments.com/

That is indeed an Alembic in the middle, Exploiter body style as they call their spin on it, officially a "Spoiler" model.  Bought it used, I think it was from Club Bass in Canada.  Serial dates it at 1985.  I was actually looking for one that looked more like Entwistle's, always loved the way his looked and his Alembic sound.  This one turned up a good bit cheaper than any other I'd seen.  It's not really much like John's, being the budget model (HA!) but the 32" scale suits me better and the dumbed down electronics are versatile enough.  Neck is thicker than I like, and the design pushes the nect forward if you will, so that it's easy to play high fret positions but the lowest are a reach for a Hobbit like myself.  Once I plug it in, though, the sound is worth it.  Just got it and my Mouradian CS-74 back from Mouradian Guitar, and the Alembic finally has action low enough to make me happy.  The CS is my favorite when I'm playing it, too, but I don't want to spam pictures of all my junk so I settled for 1 pic with 3 basses.

33
The Bass Zone / Re: Favorite bass?
« on: July 30, 2010, 07:00:38 AM »
I'm another one for "whatever I'm playing now."  I have too many basses, but while I am playing most of them I'm thinking "this is the best bass ever made."  I think that's how it should be, whether you have one bass or 20.  The top and the bottom here are Ristolas, I have 1 5 and 1 fretless but several fretted 4 strings so I tend to rotate those. 


34
The Bass Zone / Re: Show us your Mojo'd Basses
« on: July 30, 2010, 06:52:47 AM »








I think The Hulk may have used it on tour for 20 years or so.  The strings have worn channels in the bridge pickup, frets, and fretboard.  The detailed pics are mine;  if I had seen them in the ad I wouldn't have bought it, thinking there's no way it would even function.  Amazingly it does, sounds great and still takes a low action.  I've since turned the bridge pickup around, taken the rear strap button off (amateur install, drilled through the thin hollow graphite, looked like a disaster waiting to happen) and come up with a homemade replacement for the missing (of course) original pivot plate.  Plan on relocating the output jack back to the stock location and putting the tone control back in eventually. 

People seem to actually like the worn paint, but I'd like to get the scratched-in "RAMPAGE" off of it.  Seller swore it was stock white, I didn't know much about Steinbergers so it wasn't until recently I looked it up in the SN list online and saw it wasn't.

35
Gibson Basses / My Explorer, currently exploring the interior of its case.
« on: July 17, 2010, 11:06:08 AM »
Just joined recently, it's pretty cool here.  Thought I'd post pics of the poor, abused Explorer I rescued a while back.  In other words, stupidly bid on and unluckily won.  I wish I could say I was drunk at the time.  I guess I have a soft spot for the cast off victims of man's cruelty, like the 3 legged stray cat I took in ..and this bass.  I know they both are doing the best they can, the cat gets around OK considering and he seems very happy to have a home.  Similarly, the bass sounds great when played between the 3rd and 7th frets, but isn't usable otherwise.



Yes. it's been converted to a 12 string.  Not by me.  I think it might have worked out if the guy hadn't decided to string it up with guitar strings and tune them to the pitch they would be on a 25" scale guitar, and leave it like that.  Got tension? The fretboard looks to have started coming off near the neck pickup, and been screwed back down into place.  When I got it, I couldn't even tune the thing in less than half an hour;  there was no sense string-tuner arrangement, I had to physically trace the course of each string to find the proper tuner to adjust.  I think his criteria there was just to get the guitar strings to reach the tuners.

I cannot get the bow out of the neck, the truss rod works but I have turned it as far as it wants to go, and being but an amateur don't want to push my luck.  With no strings, I can adjust it so it it seems fine, but the neck has the strength of a wet noodle and doesn't even like being a 4 string.

I don't really consider this a "project" at the moment as I have no time or money to invest in it.  I know a luthier who wants to see it, who can fix it if anybody can.  I also know that if that doesn't work out, my brother has converted set neck basses into neck-through 8 strings before with Carvin necks, and that might be the most affordable route as I have the hardware already, but I'd lose the 32" scale which I like. 

So, just thought I'd post possibly my dumbest bass purchase, maybe someday it will be functional (ugly I'm OK with) but figured the pic would be good for a laugh (or tear) or two.

36
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Let's see your rig!
« on: July 17, 2010, 10:32:17 AM »
Just checked out the thread, very impressive, both the bass and the work you've put into it.  My Explorer is well beyond my basic set-up skills, but I have found a luthier well worth the 2 hour commute who is interested in it.  The one thing stopping me is lack of funds.  If I can dig up some pics, I'll put it in the Gibson section with the disclaimer that it's not my fault.  That Hiwatt sounds interesting!

I'm just a common American mutt, more Scottish and Swedish than anything else, but the screen name has no bearing on that.  Irish Gaelic's probably at least pretty close, it was taken from one of Tolkien's languages and he drew on European tongues.  Picked it when I was a young nerd for Dungeons & Dragons type games, when stumped for a screen name I tend to revert to it automatically.  Used it for years an a couple other bass forums, so I figured I'd stick with it.

37
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: octave pedals - who likes what?
« on: July 16, 2010, 02:50:37 PM »
I was satisfied with the Digitech Bass Synth Wah for octave-down sounds.  Mine stopped working after a few months of using it at practice once a week, for one song, and the store I bought it from had thrown out all the paperwork (which many stores seem to do with anything they open up for display) so I was out of luck.  Could have just been a rare lemon though, haven't found many complaints online.

I'ved used the Akai Unibass octave-up pedal, owned 2 and sold both for more than twice what I paid.  They track well, and produce an octave up sound that, depending on the settings, can be strange but kinda cool or just plain annoying.

Just last week I plugged the headphone out of my Roland Bass RX Micro Cube into my amp, and it performed pretty well.  I didn't try to test its limits, just played a couple of songs on a 4 string and it didn't seem to have much lag.

38
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Let's see your rig!
« on: July 16, 2010, 02:39:57 PM »

Quote from: gweimer on July 15, 2010, 08:56:51 PM
 

Nicely put!  I just picked up an Eden Traveler 400w head (even has the initials from P.O.D.'s bassist on the front), and I'm running it through an old Peavey 1x15 cab with a JBL in it.  I got it as a backup head, but in bigger rooms, I'm pairing it with the Ashdown EVO-II combo.  So far, I'm still struggling with the Eden, but I think that pairing it may be helping me out a lot.  I'll try to post new pics.


Cool.  My second amp (first was the ubiquitous Peavey combo) was a WT400.  I liked it quite a bit once I realized that no amount of fiddling with its boatload of knobs made it sound any better than it did "flat."    An amp should sound good without needing a ton of knob tweaking, I think, and to my ears the Eden does.  I'm not familiar with all the Ashdown models, but I did like the RPM-1 preamp I owned.  Another amp with a mind boggling array of EQ options, but easy to get a good sound out of.






Quote from: Kenny's 51st State on July 16, 2010, 01:20:11 PM
Fealach... the Thunderbird has a rebuild thread at the moment but I'm stalled - should be finished in the near future - what country or state are you in...?

oh yeah... and that's Scott's (GOT) smaller rig... ;)

Just updated my profile slightly, I'm in Connecticut in the US.  I'll have to check the Gibson section for the thread.  My basses aren't from the "big names" so I haven't looked in the bass threads yet.  I do have a Gibson, but it's a victim of torture at the hands of its last owner and it makes me sad.  I told a luthier about it and he wants to see it, but I'm not sure there's any (affordable) hope for it.

39
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Let's see your rig!
« on: July 15, 2010, 05:34:09 PM »
That is both beautiful and terrifying.

40
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Let's see your rig!
« on: July 15, 2010, 04:09:13 PM »
Cool! (Well, not the transformers blowing up, but the rigs.)  I have to add, that's a mightily awesome looking bass, though the (RD is it?) in the older pic is no slouch either.  I've only played a 120 once with a guitar in Guitar Center, they had it priced more like a Hiwatt and it had problems, but seemed to have potential.  They were convinced plugging a bass into it would blow up the head, because it was a guitar amp, and everyone knows you can't play bass through a guitar amp.  Never seen a "real" Hiwatt for sale locally, which I suspect is just as well, because I'd likely be tempted to sell my car.

41
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Let's see your rig!
« on: July 14, 2010, 06:58:56 PM »
Just noticed the link doesn't seem to mention the odd part of the amp.  It has a (solid state?) switchable Boost.  It's the additional board visible on the left side in the "guts" pic in the link, that's perpendicular to the board the control knobs go to.  With it on, the amp's a monster.  With it off, it sounds quiet and meek.

42
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Let's see your rig!
« on: July 14, 2010, 06:52:06 PM »




Now that I'm Googling it for info, it seems it may be only officially 150 watts, since it's similar to the 150;  the tech that did the work on it measured its output, and claimed he had it around 210 if memory serves, with more to go but said he was concerned the guitar cabinet he was using would blow if he turned it up any more.  I have about zero technical knowledge myself, so I took his word for it.  In any case, it's weird and plenty loud, two qualities I like in an amp. 

http://www.soundcitysite.com/sc_webpages/photo_page_15.htm#x188_1.1

Don't have any wiring shots.  It came with GEC KT88s, their date code indicated 1974 according to what I found online.  Power tubes didn't seem to make much of a difference to me, I tried it with new JJs and old Peaveys (stock tubes in a Classic 400 I sold, not sure who actually made them) so I sold them.   They paid for the amp, matching cabinet,  new power tubes, and some misc tech work to get the amp back into fighting shape... with a good bit of cash left over.  Eventually sold the cab, it looked good with the head but wasn't such a hot performer.  Preamp tubes did make a difference, it sounds best with the ones it came with.  The one that still has discernible markings is a Mullard.


Over the years I've owned all sorts of amps, as has anybody that's been messing around with music I imagine.  Still own a Mesa D180, a couple little cabinets, and 2 Genz Benz amps that I like but make for boring pictures.  I should sell most of it, but I haven't yet been so desperate for money that I'm willing to part with this cool stuff for the tiny amount of cash it would bring in, never mind dealing with the hassle of trying to sell anything.  It doesn't take up too much space stacked in the closet.

43
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Let's see your rig!
« on: July 13, 2010, 08:25:53 PM »
Thanks!  Sadly, the speakers in the Sunn are not original.  One blew shortly after I got it, so I boxed them all and replaced them with the only things I could afford, new Fender OEM 16 Ohm speakers billed as being made by Eminence.  They sound surprisingly good, not a lot of low bass from this cab with them but I'm told that given the low volume area of the cab there wouldn't be a lot anyhow.  Strong mids and high end, at least for a non-tweeter guy.   It does sound vicious by itself with my 200 watt Sound City, in that snarly rip-your-face-off sort of way.

There are 2 cabinet setups I've wanted to hear this head with but probably never will.   One is 3 squareback SVT cabs, the other requires a Telecaster and  3 stacks full of Greenbacks.  And a few miles between it and myself.

44
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Let's see your rig!
« on: July 13, 2010, 07:34:31 PM »
Hello, Thought my first post might as well be a pic of some of my stuff.  I use this setup most often, currently at least.



The cabinet under the head and the classy home made rack (made from a tree spike display Home Depot was throwing away) is just an amp stand.  The Sunn 415M and 2 Bag Ends are the ones in use.  Please excuse the lousy quality, my camera is horrible indoors.



No, I don't have to move it often.  I'm the only one in the "band" who realizes we're never getting out of the basement, but I keep it to myself.  I play for fun, and use this huge cumbersome rig because I own it and I like the way it sounds.  Like many bassists probably, I'm also the only one who knows you don't need to play at full volume all the time.  Why all the effects? They were in the rack the tuner and wireless were in when I moved it all to its current resting place. 

Some cool stuff in this thread.  My preference in terms of amps is towards whatever sounds good.  Anything I own is because it sounded good and I got a great deal on it.

Pages: 1 2 [3]