Amp suitable for bass and e-drums?

After having played drums for a few years. I was recently inspired to take
up bass (I'm TOTALLY diggin' it). I'm wondering if there's an amplifier that
might work for both bass and e-drums. which I could use for low-volume jams
with other musos and practice at home.
I have a e-kit that I've been monitoring through headphones and a small 15W
practice amp for my bass (this amp doesn't cut it with the e-kit. I heard that a good 100-150W keyboard amp might do double duty for both bass
and e-drums - could anyone confirm this. and perhaps recommend a reliable
brand?
everything I've read says a keyboard amp is the way
to go for your situation. The Roland amps get some decent praise from us
bassists. As a bassist who has been playing for 25 years. and been an
e-drummer for 4 months. I say Cheers Aaron!
I'd recommend looking to PA gear. Perhaps a powered cab (e.g. JBL Eon)
with a small mixer or a powered mixer (e.g. Yamaha EMX 66M) with some
resonable PA cabs. Either route with a Sans Amp BDDI to give the bass
some color. Basses themselves don't put out that much useful
information above 5K but cymbals go way up (15K+). so bass cabs alone
probably would not cut it so well.

120 watt keyboard amp/PA with 4 input channels.
and an FX send/return. all for a price of about US$200. I can't imagine
a better product for practice and light gigging.

I'm going to check out the Behringer. Roland and Kustom amps this weekend.
they seem to be pretty good starting points.

Would You Believe......

The four string bass guitar starts it out with the phantom voice. Then I join in along the way with
the Ugly Stick. for lack of a better term to call it at the moment.
Specialists in Live Sound FOH Engineering.
Vintage Instruments. and Tube Amplifiers

Building a bass from scratch - sort of

I want to build a bass from premade parts (i.e. body. etc.). I would
like to use a P-bass style body with a Jazz style neck. It seems that most
all bodies that I can find are already routed for pickups. etc. Does anyone
know a supplier that has bodies with only the neck pocket?
Your Custom Shop will actually have a resale value. The parts bass
won't. OTOH. my Warmoth P-Bass with Antiquities II pickups turned out
great.

plea for knowledge - cab query

hi y'all. i want to use existing parts to make an extension speaker
cab for higher frequencies in my bass rig. (about 1k on up) i only
wish to use one speaker. i have a passive three-way crossover i'd like
to use. it has both a pos. and ground outputs for mids and highs.
should these mid and high outputs be wired to the one speaker in series
or in parallel?
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid.
but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill

You will need the top of a two way crossover. This
could be made as simply as one capacitor in series with
the HF driver or if you have a separate amp as simple
as a small cap in series with the amp channel input
that is driving the HF driver.

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid.
but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill

i have a setup similar to that which i am using now--a foster
(or fostex) horn in a box that crosses over at 3.5k. i think i prefer
cones to horns for bass and want to test my theory on the rig at a gig.
but. I have a ten with a whizzer cone that's good up to 10k. I want to set
it up with a crossover that's bypassable so i have a little full range
rehearsal cab that i can also use as a high end driver at gigs.

thanks for the input. i could buy a two-way crossover. but i hate to
wait for shipping. i'm not good at building. and i have this three-way
right now.
i run a bridged amp into a 2x15 cab and take a parallel speaker lead
from the 2x15 out to the high frequency driver. the crossover needs to
handle 50 to 100 watts. thanks again.

Getting paid, or not

The grapevine says a club owner who booked us for next month sometimes has
issues about paying bands if he doesn't think the music drew enough of a
crowd. Swell.
My view on this is that the club is a short walk to the river. where a body
would vanish quickly. so the club owner should reevaluate his practices.
Clearly. this may be an impractical approach on my part. My other idea is
that we should require half the money before we set up. and the rest at the
end. I'm interested in other options. although I like my first idea best.


Well the best option is to have a contract so you can take him to small
claims if he pulls that shit. Even with only a verbal contract it's
worth going to small claims just to screw up his day. It only costs
about $15 to file in most places and best case scenario is the moron
doesn't show up. then you get a default judgement against him. Barring
that you can have a bunch of your meanest looking friends hang around
till the end of the night looking like they're ready to bust up the
joint. This is always a good motivator to pay you and get you out of
there fast.

but eventually there comes
a time when a Contract is worth having....
you can't hack it without one forever - unless you're Chuck Berry.


then let him cast a stone at me for playing in the band.


You seem to have a lot of crappy bar owner posts. I'm over here in Buffalo and we always get paid. Find a better class of bar owner.

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid.
but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill

I made it a point NOT to post in this thread until I read everyone else's
opinion. lest what I say draw attention from your post.
Contrary to thread. I would say you do not NEED a contract. If he's as
slippery as you say. shoving one in his face might guarantee that you don't
play there at all.
Nor is a contract a guarantee of getting paid. He signs contract. renigs on
payment. you sue and take him to small claims court. he ignores everything
you send him. and adds your judgment to the pile his LLC has accumulated.
End of story.
what you DO need to do is make it clear form the get go that
you intend to be paid no matter what. I like the half up front idea. just as you guys were loading in. I'd pull him aside and tell
him straight out. "Look. the rumor on the street is that you're not paying
guys what you promised. I hope that's not true. because I had a great paying
wedding call me just after I hung up the phone with you. I turned them down
because when I make a commitment to a gig. I honor it. So these rumors
aren't true. Are they? I'd play it with more shock and surprise than anger. There's a chance he
might throw you out right then and there. He wasn't going to
pay you anyway. More likely. he'll know your on to him AND feel guilty about
your wedding.
If it REALLY looks like your not gonna get paid. start looking for some "in
kind" compensation that will move out the door quickly. Cases of liquor are
an excellent choice. and easily traded for cash. I came VERY close to that
once. but the guy finally broke down and paid us.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid.
but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill

No. I only see one of those posts about once a year. We try to keep our dirty laundry indoors but once in a while someone pulls something egregious.
And there are two sides to every story. Usually. bar owners pay. Occasionally a bar is in its final throes and there are all kinds of rumors. You'll often know before you play. If six of the 7 tap handles have cups over them on a Saturday night....
I have been playing in Buffalo for 30 years and know a lot of people. Word spreads fast. When you're just starting out. there are too many pay to play or door gigs and thats where I see the new guys get taken advantage of.
Watch the Blues Brother when they play Bob's Country Bunker
Watch "standing in the shoadows of Motown". Even they talk about getting worked over by sleaze bags.
You seem to have a lot of crappy bar owner posts. I'm over here in Buffalo and we always get paid. Find a better class of bar owner.

Contracts are of course good practice for establishing clearly the myriad
details of an engagement. such as load in times . equipment
supplied. food and beverage hospitality.
merchandising and of course. method and time of payment. Establishing
these things in writing makes for a smooth discrepancy free enagagement for
all involved.
They're next to useless if you're dealing with someone who doesn't give a
rat's ass about fulfilling them.

(gigabit) wrote;
Contracts are of course good practice for establishing clearly the
myriad details of an engagement. such as load in times .
equipment supplied. food and beverage hospitality. merchandising and of course. method and time of payment.
Establishing these things in writing makes for a smooth discrepancy free
engagement for all involved.
But.
They're next to useless if you're dealing with someone who doesn't give
a rat's ass about fulfilling them.
No they're not useless if you're willing to follow up and take the jerk
to small claims court which i've done on three separate occasions and
won all three. Some would argue that you're burning your bridges with
that club by suing. but do you really want to continue doing business
with an asshole like that ? One guy told me i'd never be able to collect
on the judgement I got against him. boy was he surprised when they
showed up to padlock his doors on a friday night. he paid. I even filed
small claims on one guy on a verbal contract. when he got the summons he
called me and paid up rather than lose a days work going to court. I'm
not saying be a dick and sue everyone. If there's an honest mistake like
a double booking or the weather kills the event. i'll work something out
and cut them some slack. but if they're just being assholes forget it. I
also sell them on the contract by saying did you ever book a band that
didn't show up. or have a band take way to many or to long breaks ?
well this contract protects you as well as us because it spells out
exactly what you're getting. Remember though that you've got to live up
to the contract too.

Advice wanted for a bass

I want to buy a new bass. and I would like to know which models have a
low (very low) action and along with a thin. and not that wide scale.

and not that wide scale.

and not that wide scale.

I have this bass and I give it 2 thumbs up! Action is great. The only thing
is. it's a little top heavy. The right strap cures that.
Mike

Have you tried a different strap? thick leather
Levi's that makes my Skyline 55-01 a lot easier on my shoulder.

I don't like Jazz basses and I don't like P/J pickup configurations. yet
I love the Fender Aerodyne. Go figure.

both
were very heavy. Even when playing seated. it was not comfortable
(especially the 70 one)...

Do Rockbass have the same qualities as the Warwick when it comes to
necks. Warwick seem very expensive. and Rockbass are more in my range...

The German-built one was built with superior hardware and more.
expensive (and heavy) woods. And the German one (with its passive
electronics) sounded much better than the SE. which had active electronics
but lacked any unique sonic character.
All said and done. I prefered the "handling" of the Rockbass. It was more
comfortable to play and I prefered the feel of its neck (I think it was
maple. as opposed to the wenge neck of the German built bass).
N


and Rockbass are more in my range...

Go with that. If it feels too heavy. ignore the others. Besides. ASATs
have horrible balance for smaller people and neck dive issues. Big people
have more ways to make up for that. as there is more strap to back/shoulder
surface area contact. which slows the neck from diving.

The most commonly accepted bridge width is that of a fender 4. at about 3/4"
from one string's string center to the next. But nut widths can vary
between P bass (1 11/16ths-ish or more) width and J bass width (1.5") or
less. But this is all very general.

Yamaha BB 5 string owners

I played a used BBG5S last night. and was pleased to find it had
wwwwiiiiiiiide string spacing (normal?). Is this common for the entire BB 5
string series of basses? The Yamaha web site doesn't have this important
data.
Yamaha is the only mass production company I know of that uses Standard
Spacing on some of their 5's and 6's. Definitely on the TRB 5/6 and the
Signature models.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid.
but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill

ideally 5 and 6 string basses are SUPPOSED to have the same spacing as a
regular 4 string bass. which is why the necks are "wider". yet still easy to
play. AFAIK this was Anthony Jackson's vision when he had the first 6
string "contrabass" made.
It's a combination of cost considerations and consumer skittishness that
keeps most companies from making them that way. It also prevents a lot of 4
string players from migrating to a 5 or 6 IMO.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid.
but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill

3/4' string spacing or thereabouts (center to center of string at the
bridge) is generally regarded to be "standard" spacing. chief. Tell a
luthier you want "standard" spacing. and they will know exactly what you are
talking about.
It follows then that these would be the most comfortable instruments to
play. as they have the same string spacing that you started playing on. The
reason they don't is because it's cheaper to mass produce smaller necks. and
because many people look at a full size spacing and freak out. when it is in
fact easier to play than the smaller one - which they would find out if
manufacturers made full width basses.
Now you are welcome to build whatever the hell you want. but people won't
necessarily use it. Outside of Paul McCartney and a few Beatles tribute
bands. how many bassists primarily gig with a Hofner Violin? Exactly. Seems
like the P Bass is still the template for any really successful bass.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid.
but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill

Exactly. Nobody mentioned 17mm. flat out. Take a survey.
We (as a community) would have much less posts about "I can't slap on a 5
cause the strings are too close" if it were not the case.
Better yet. Normal spacing can be defined within one company. Apples to
apples. Take an Ibanez Roadstar from the 80's. and compare that to any
Ibanez 4 today. Close enough the same to consider that their standard 4
string spacing. Then grab all of their SDGRs and EX 5's and 6's from the
90's and forth. WOA! And why did they come out with wide
spacing on the BTB series? How about Rickenbacker. Making 4's for a while now. They established their
string spacing early on. Then came their 5s. Would you consider their 5s
to have had "normal spacing" by Rick standards? Not by Washburn or Alembic
standards. And on an personal note: I honestly like flatter and wider necks to
"proportionate" necks. I believe there HAS to be some "give" somewhere. If
you make a neck that is 7" wide. you can't make it proportionate. we all have our likes.

I believe you but it's odd. because it doesn't feel like the RB is
"standard" spacing - and I've played more than a few over the years. I think
it must be that tree trunk neck that makes it feel different.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid.
but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill

Not in my experience. I've had Carvin. Hamer and possibly a few
others. My fretless (Noguera) and Lakland are the first five strings
I've owned that had nice/normal/wide/.75" string spacing. Skinny
spacing caused me to sell all of the others. In my experience. too
skinny is the norm (although the times may be a-changing).

The RB is supposed to be. but I haven't touched one in years either. and
it's SUPPOSED to have an asym. neck. Maybe they put the thick part at the
bottom :-)

but it might have been confusing to read. I do that
a lot. I talk and type too passive-aggressively. :-/

I would have disagree with the idea they are cheaper to produce with less
that the 3/4 spacing. In most cases the head stock will be wider than the
heal anyway. so nothing really to save unless your talking about the fret
board. Quite honestly I think it is more of a trend and that you see more
and more players in main stream rock using picks... in which case the narrow
spacing makes them easier to play. For the record I started out playing
with a pick. playing main stream rock with narrow spacing (Ibanez 405) and
it lended itself well for drilling out 16th & 32nd notes for long periods.
But as I had gotten more and more into 70's rock (when bass was really bass)
it was difficult to play with a pick. As much as I wanted to be mainly a
finger player. I was only able to really make that transition after I picked
up a Carvin LB75 with the 3/4" spacing. I have pretty small hands but even
that being the case the wider spacing is just more comfortable to play with
fingers.
I still have the 405 and actually used it on gig when I was having some sort
of tendon issue with my right hand about 2 years ago and had to revert to
playing with a pick. Other than that it sits in the closet. Bit of a shame
because in the right hand it has a great neck. but I just can't deal with
the narrow spacing unless I use a pick.

the fretboard is what I mean. I remember when the first mass
production 5's came out - they went from the ":standard" spacing of the
boutique basses to the weird "in between" spacing they have now.
a) the neck with used is the maximum that will fit on their 4-string
equipment. and they don't want to upgrade for a limited appeal instrument.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid.
but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill

and they don't want to upgrade for a limited appeal instrument.