Hi all,
I’ve owned a set of premier 701 vibes for two years now and have loved the beautiful tone and bell like quality to the bars. It’s getting a bit old and rattle so rather than pay to get it refurbished I bought a new set of premier 751 vibes with speed control, graduated bars and in very good condition. However the sound I currently get is dull and lifeless. I’ve tried adjusting the metal legs so that notes are dampened when needed and left to ring when bar depressed but even when the pedal is fully pressed down the tone is not great. The bars are fairly dirty and a bit pitted in places but would a polish cure the sound? I’m playing my old set alongside this new set and I’m not impressed so far!!
Anybody got any ideas or tips on this?
Tim
Comments
Please post sound files or video comparing the two
Randy_Sutin Thu, 12/20/2018 - 16:01
There are lots of us hardware geeks on the site who may be able to tell you what is up with the axe if we can hear and maybe even see it in action making the offensive sounds.
hold the pedal down and play
tonymiceli Thu, 12/20/2018 - 16:38
hold the pedal down and play a bar. how does it sound just as a bar, don't dampen don't do anything.
does it sound good? probably should. then the bars are fine.
Leigh stevens says if the bars don't sound good 9 our 10 times its the resonators. they might be tuned differently then your other set.
and remember temperature has a lot to do with resonator sound. if they are tuned at 74 degrees and you play them on a room that's 65 degrees, they will not sound good. they are made expressly for rooms at 74 degrees. that's air.
does that help any?
also, i had a friend whom i express disatisfaction with an m48 and he said to me. let the molecules align, talk to me in 6 months. he was a brilliant brilliant person and great bass player (Chris Berg). 6 months we talked and the instrument sounded great! i don't know what to say about that. so i would also beat it in a little bit.
however i bet you need to tune your resonators and/or know the optimal temperature for the instrument. just know playing in a cold room means the instrument sound is going to suck. nothing you can do about that unless you can tune the resonators like on the OMegas.
It's almost always the resonators.
Piper Fri, 12/21/2018 - 11:40
In reply to hold the pedal down and play by tonymiceli
Try playing the bars without the resonators. Compare that sound with the sound of the other bars without the resonators.
great! never thought of that!
tonymiceli Fri, 12/21/2018 - 12:15
In reply to It's almost always the resonators. by Piper
great! never thought of that!
Good advice above. Both sets
Timbowden Fri, 12/21/2018 - 07:26
Good advice above. Both sets of vibes are in the same room so I guess that rules temperature out. I’ll try and record both vibes and post it to see if that helps. Might take a couple of days due to Christmas!!
record each instrument with
tonymiceli Fri, 12/21/2018 - 11:29
In reply to Good advice above. Both sets by Timbowden
record each instrument with the pedal held down, play the same note. you don't need to record it. you should just do it. what does it sound like. is there really a difference?