barefootcyborg5000 said:
Speaking of bass stuff, I'm mildly shopping for a new amp.
What I have is an old Peavey TKO "Sheffield 15" 80w combo. The speaker is an eminence Delta 15a I put in over a decade ago after the stocker succumbed to all the abuse. But in the intervening years the amp was stored improperly and doesn't work as good as it used to. All the controls are noisy, the volume swells and fades, there are random noises and popping. Also the combo weighs 90lbs.
So I'm weighing my options.
1- I could possibly fix it, find/test for faulty components, clean and lubricate. I'm not hugely confident, but I don't have anything to lose either.
2- take it to the man. I have a really good amp tech, but past experience says average repair is $200. Possibly less, but not under $100. Possibly also more, transformers aren't cheap.
3- and this is where I'm looking for ideas. I may scrap the amp and rebuild the enclosure with a different power section. Speaker handles 300w RMS iirc. If I could shave a few lbs and gain a little power I'd be pretty happy. Something maybe classD with 7-9 band EQ? Idk. There's a lot of cool stuff out there these days for not a lot of money.
Suggestions?
The problem with class D stuff is the wattage is a lie. I have a 60w Peavey Century that is significantly louder than a class D amp rated at 5 times more. It is light though.
Also cheap bass amp screams peavey mark IV to me
barefootcyborg5000 said:
Updated guitar situation. We're been shuffling stuff and reorganizing, and I consolidated my stringed stuff into one place.
We'll call it the wall of dusty neglect. Maybe staring at the arsenal every morning will motivate me to play more.
L to R: epiphone gothic explorer, Cort B4, Yamaha motive, Gretsch 5100(?), Cort 5, Japanese lawsuit era J bass, Ibanez artcore, Epiphone ej200. Not pictured is my LP I've loaned out.
Oooooh how do you like the Brent Hinds?
In reply to poopshovel again :
In my opinion, it's the best high gain lunchbox amp out there. Clean channel is pretty one dimensional, but it does have a loop. And the option to switch down to .5w is super handy for apartment life with kids.
22 inch hi hats you say? It's only crazy if it doesn't work right?
I can barely hear from my cold but what I can hear is promising
My new guitar strap has shipped! Pics once it lands.
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
To be fair my cheap hi hat stand can't push the upper cymbal up so they are only kinda really hi hats.
But your old ride is being used as the bottom one
I pulled apart the TKO. The speaker is actually a Delta Pro-15a. So a little nicer. Cast cage and stuff. The amp itself looked remarkably clean and issue free. The output ground was indeed barely hanging on. Easy fix there. But now I find that the input has a bad connection too. Both the low and high gain inputs act the same so hopefully I can figure that out. If I wiggle the cable it makes hella noise. The enclosure is 100% roached. Tolex is bad. Corners are bad. There's a hole in the back from being dropped at some point. The bottom is broken nearly in half. And it accounts for 75% of the total weight. So I think it's fixable and improveable. I think I can size it down slightly and probably shave 10lbs. Now. Just need to wait for lumber to drop a bit.
*edit. Switched cables, no change. Switched basses, problem gone. Hmmm.
barefootcyborg5000 said:
I pulled apart the TKO. The speaker is actually a Delta Pro-15a. So a little nicer. Cast cage and stuff. The amp itself looked remarkably clean and issue free. The output ground was indeed barely hanging on. Easy fix there. But now I find that the input has a bad connection too. Both the low and high gain inputs act the same so hopefully I can figure that out. If I wiggle the cable it makes hella noise. The enclosure is 100% roached. Tolex is bad. Corners are bad. There's a hole in the back from being dropped at some point. The bottom is broken nearly in half. And it accounts for 75% of the total weight. So I think it's fixable and improveable. I think I can size it down slightly and probably shave 10lbs. Now. Just need to wait for lumber to drop a bit.
*edit. Switched cables, no change. Switched basses, problem gone. Hmmm.
Contact Eminence and have them spec out a small ,light cab with that speaker. A tuned cab will make all the difference
In reply to Antihero :
Not a bad idea at all. I know there are formulas for total capacity and porting and all, but something purpose designed for bass guitar would be way cool.
this right from their site:
So maybe I just ask what they'd recommend between sealed and vented. I wish I knew more about acoustic physics. The amp is 80w and the speaker will handle 400w so I can push it all the way. Maybe for full range I want it vented? Maybe for punch I want it sealed? Sealed enclosure volume is lower. But I also need to account for the size of the amp itself... but I can change it from a front-load to a top-load pretty easily. Hmmm
I sent an email to them. We'll see where it leads.
I know I've posed this before, but my little trash Gretsch is so good. Late 90s, southeastern Asia built during a tumultuous time in lower Fender manufacturing, and it doesn't quite match any model lists I can find. But it is solid mahogany, rosewood board, smooth and chunky. And yours truly ripped out the stock pickups and routed the cavities for full size buckers with a pocket knife. The intonation is a compromise. The paint is rough. But there's just something that feels right.
Get one.
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
I'm looking really hard at the Junior Jet bass. It's a short scale, and looks like it'd be a hoot.
In reply to Recon1342 :
I never recommend buying unless you can get your hands on one first. Most of the newer Gretsch stuff is not quite as comfortable to my hands. They do look the business though. A perfect aesthetic in any setting.
barefootcyborg5000 said:
In reply to Antihero :
Not a bad idea at all. I know there are formulas for total capacity and porting and all, but something purpose designed for bass guitar would be way cool.
this right from their site:
So maybe I just ask what they'd recommend between sealed and vented. I wish I knew more about acoustic physics. The amp is 80w and the speaker will handle 400w so I can push it all the way. Maybe for full range I want it vented? Maybe for punch I want it sealed? Sealed enclosure volume is lower. But I also need to account for the size of the amp itself... but I can change it from a front-load to a top-load pretty easily. Hmmm
I sent an email to them. We'll see where it leads.
I like ported for everything really, I like boom and chugs that crack foundations. One thing to note is that depending on the cab design, that speaker may not handle 400w anymore.
In reply to Antihero :
I'm leaning towards ported. More efficient, which means more potential volume. I never heard from eminence, and I found out they offer an "enclosure design" software for $79 or something. So that may account for the silence. Eh. The amp chassis is 19" wide, and the depth is fixed too, so those are my X and Z dimensions. I can't go any narrower or shallower, but I can save about 3" of overall height, and probably 15lbs. So that's good enough. As for what the enclosure does to the power handling of the speaker, the amp is only 80 watts, so I should be safe.
Speaking of short scale basses, I'm holding this old Yamaha Motion mb2 for a friend since he moved. The goal was to ship out a few guitars once he was settled, but plans change and he's asking me to sell this one for him. I've only had the case open a couple times and never even plugged it in.
I want it. I don't have the money for any more guitars. Already have two basses I rarely play. But I don't want to let it go. Anyone here need a rad bass? Save me from myself?
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
Yamahas are vastly underrated basses, especially the vintage ones. Actually, I love all the instruments they build. My drum kit is a Yamaha, and it's still holding up great after nearly 30 years of abuse.
That thing is awesome, but I'm already getting it for having too many instruments now, so I'm out.
barefootcyborg5000 said:
In reply to Antihero :
I'm leaning towards ported. More efficient, which means more potential volume. I never heard from eminence, and I found out they offer an "enclosure design" software for $79 or something. So that may account for the silence. Eh. The amp chassis is 19" wide, and the depth is fixed too, so those are my X and Z dimensions. I can't go any narrower or shallower, but I can save about 3" of overall height, and probably 15lbs. So that's good enough. As for what the enclosure does to the power handling of the speaker, the amp is only 80 watts, so I should be safe.
Give them a couple days, they will eventually get back to you IME
Looking at their can designs, this looks like your best bet but that speaker is probably holding you back tone wise.
In reply to Antihero :
Holding back tone? I always thought the speaker sounded pretty good. But my knowledge of acoustic physics is pretty limited. Are you talking about that roll-off above 1kHz? The amp has a 7 band EQ up to 5k so I can boost the higher stuff.
On the drumming side of things... I've been playing more lately. I've been doing 45min sessions during my lunch breaks to play, mostly for exercise. Back at it for about a week now. While my chops are trash, I'm having fun. The one thing that has been apparent is I need to get some new cymbals at some point.
Everything that says Sabian on it, save for the hi-hats, is cracked. The AA Medium Crash on the left, the AAX Metal Crash on the right, and the AA Chinese to the right of the ride are all badly cracked in various places. I still play them, but man, they are annoying to play. I think I am going to ditch some guitar and electronic drum stuff I never use to fund this venture. I'd also love to get a 2nd set of hi-hats on a fixed mount for the kit, but I have no idea where I'd put them. I also have another ride: a Zildjian A Rock Ride, that can probably leave. The A Medium Ride on my kit is probably my favorite ride I've ever heard, so the other one just sits in a bag anyway.
11GTCS
Dork
12/12/22 7:02 p.m.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Sabian came to be as part of the “divorce” settlement between Robert and Armand Zildjian and are made in the old “K” Zildjian plant in Meductic Canada. If those are the B20 versions they’re made with the same alloy as your Zildjians and should be more or less the same in terms of resistance to cracks. If they’re the B8 versions the lower tin content tends to make them a little more brittle.
Or you’re a metal beast playing with war clubs. 
After literally decades of collecting pedals, I finally bought a pedal board. Used, but apparently lightly gigged, if at all, from a small guitar store in NH. I'm looking forward to debating on how to string pedals together on it over the holidays.
...and it came with a case, which is nice.
barefootcyborg5000 said:
In reply to Antihero :
Holding back tone? I always thought the speaker sounded pretty good. But my knowledge of acoustic physics is pretty limited. Are you talking about that roll-off above 1kHz? The amp has a 7 band EQ up to 5k so I can boost the higher stuff.
Basically the f3 being 61.26hz means that you aren't necessarily getting the super low end of say an open low E. This may not matter to you a whole bunch, it just means the fundamental of the low notes is very attenuated and you are basically hearing the overtones more than anything.
I've built a couple bass cabs for our bassist but they are basically subwoofers. This is a guy that plays an eb-0, with flatwounds, a rubber pick and an octave down at times, a lot of the notes aren't really so much "audible" as " the nails have backed out of my siding". It literally sounds like the room shifts keys, it's glorious IMO
In reply to Antihero :
Makes sense. The speaker is rated 40-4kHz, but a single 15 isn't all that much surface area. I could build it into a subwoofer, but at the cost of high end. I generally don't detune, and the EQ has a slider for 40Hz so I can boost those frequencies sufficiently. I'm not trying to rattle the building. Not these days.
But it does get me thinking. Eminence recommends 2-4.7 cubic feet for a vented box. That's a lot of room to operate. Generally, more volume = lower frequency range. But easier to tune than the overall size is the size/volume of the vent. Multiple, altered diameter, altered depth... I have access to scrap ABS pipe in pretty much any size I want. Hmmm. Not that I have the tools to measure frequency response. Still, the old earballs are pretty good.
