PorchBoard Floor Bass: Difference between revisions

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* The most interesting range of effects is possible when the gain is high enough that you have to tap softly most of the time. Besides that, it's a lot easier on the leg when you can minimize the effort involved in playing it. Yeah, it'll often "flash red" at those higher gains if you then '''stomp''' on the 'Board, but the associated distortion can ''(judiciously applied)'' have it's own place. Besides, why should guitarists be the only ones who have fun with deliberate distortion?!?!

''(Of course, for those of you who have seen Cliff Hendrickson play the keyboard, if one stuck the Porchboard under *his* foot you'd have to turn the gain waaaayyyy down! :D -- come to think of it, you'd really need two in order to stick one under each foot!)''

''(Of course, for those of you who have seen Cliff Hendrickson play the keyboard, if one stuck the Porchboard under *his* foot you'd have to turn the gain waaaayyyy down! -- come to think of it, you'd really need two in order to stick one under each foot!)''

* Unlike an acoustic kick drum, or most other large drums, the Porchboard seems to have few strong higher harmonics; for example, turning the High EQ way down seems to have little effect on the resulting sound.

Also unlike an acoustic kick drum, the Porchboard has very little intrinsic sense of "pitch" -- little sense of "playing a note". What that means is that when you play it by itself, it is rather bland and boring. The '''good''' aspect of that, however, is that it will complement most anything playing along with it -- you never have to "tune it up".

* Also unlike an acoustic kick drum, the Porchboard has very little intrinsic sense of "pitch" -- little sense of "playing a note". What that means is that when you play it by itself, it is rather bland and boring. The '''good''' aspect of that, however, is that it will complement most anything playing along with it -- you never have to "tune it up".

* Because of producing predominately low-end sounds, it really demonstrates some of the "curses" of bass sound which Hilmar-at-Bose talks about -- such as how the volume of bass sounds can vary radically at different positions in the room. For example, at one point during an "acoustic jam", someone came up and turned down the volume a bit on the remote channel for the Porchboard, whispering to the performer "it was way too loud in the back of the room" -- but from where the performer was sitting the sound seemed to be nicely "underneath" the other folks playing.

* The best sound of the Porchboard seems to come when played through an Extended Bass {{L1}} System (one with 4 {{B1}}'s); four {{B1}}'s provide the broad dynamic low range which can bring out the variety of volumes one has with most percussive instruments. However, it can also sound just fine through single or double {{B1}} Systems, too. However, it is not recommend for use with an {{L1}} without at least one {{B1}} attached.

* Note that the pickup in the Porchboard is much like a microphone; however, since it is (usually) sitting on the floor, you might need to be careful about what other pieces of electrical devices are near it. For example, a "wall wart" next to it might cause a 60-cycle 'hum' to be amplified!

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 * The most interesting range of effects is possible when the gain is high enough that you have to tap softly most of the time.  Besides that, it's a lot easier on the leg when you can minimize the effort involved in playing it.  Yeah, it'll often "flash red" at those higher gains if you then '''stomp''' on the 'Board, but the associated distortion can ''(judiciously applied)'' have it's own place.  Besides, why should guitarists be the only ones who have fun with deliberate distortion?!?!
-''(Of course, for those of you who have seen Cliff Hendrickson play the keyboard, if one stuck the Porchboard under *his* foot you'd have to turn the gain waaaayyyy down! :D -- come to think of it, you'd really need two in order to stick one under each foot!)''
+''(Of course, for those of you who have seen Cliff Hendrickson play the keyboard, if one stuck the Porchboard under *his* foot you'd have to turn the gain waaaayyyy down! -- come to think of it, you'd really need two in order to stick one under each foot!)''
 * Unlike an acoustic kick drum, or most other large drums, the Porchboard seems to have few strong higher harmonics; for example, turning the High EQ way down seems to have little effect on the resulting sound.
-Also unlike an acoustic kick drum, the Porchboard has very little intrinsic sense of "pitch" -- little sense of "playing a note".  What that means is that when you play it by itself, it is rather bland and boring.  The '''good''' aspect of that, however, is that it will complement most anything playing along with it -- you never have to "tune it up".
+* Also unlike an acoustic kick drum, the Porchboard has very little intrinsic sense of "pitch" -- little sense of "playing a note".  What that means is that when you play it by itself, it is rather bland and boring.  The '''good''' aspect of that, however, is that it will complement most anything playing along with it -- you never have to "tune it up".
 * Because of producing predominately low-end sounds, it really demonstrates some of the "curses" of bass sound which Hilmar-at-Bose talks about -- such as how the volume of bass sounds can vary radically at different positions in the room.  For example, at one point during an "acoustic jam", someone came up and turned down the volume a bit on the remote channel for the Porchboard, whispering to the performer "it was way too loud in the back of the room" -- but from where the performer was sitting the sound seemed to be nicely "underneath" the other folks playing.
 * The best sound of the Porchboard seems to come when played through an Extended Bass {{L1}} System (one with 4 {{B1}}'s); four {{B1}}'s provide the broad dynamic low range which can bring out the variety of volumes one has with most percussive instruments.  However, it can also sound just fine through single or double {{B1}} Systems, too.  However, it is not recommend for use with an {{L1}} without at least one {{B1}} attached.
+* Note that the pickup in the Porchboard is much like a microphone; however, since it is (usually) sitting on the floor, you might need to be careful about what other pieces of electrical devices are near it.  For example, a "wall wart" next to it might cause a 60-cycle 'hum' to be amplified!