mart

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1326281501' post='1494796'] Makes you wonder what they do with the bits that have been sent back?! [/quote] [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/blowouts.html"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/blowouts.html[/url] "In this section you'll find bargains, blow outs, remaining stock and [b]returned items[/b] from our current range of products."

[quote name='Mr H' timestamp='1326058432' post='1491820']...like a [i]sinister[/i] rash.... [/quote] I like what you did there!

Welcome to the fold. I picked up fretless nearly 20 years ago, and never looked back.

Is anybody else surprised at VW's choice of instrument cable in that EMG video? It looks like a long (30ft?) cable to me, and all coiled up. Isn't that the best way to ensure some signal degradation?

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1325957031' post='1490406'] I'd love one of these but it's the dreaded pick up only. Probably just as well, don't need any more basses. [/quote] Bad news, I'm afraid: [quote name='ebay listing'] On 05-Jan-12 at 17:39:29 GMT, seller added the following information: [font=Arial][size=2]Edit: After investigation I've found the bass can be couriered to mainland UK fairly cheaply. I can't revise the P&P options on the listing as it is active, but can courier to mainland UK for £20. [/size][/font][/quote]

A bit of rhythm guitar here, almost as much as bass these days. And I do a tiny bit of mandolin or mandola - basically Losing my Religion and no more!

[quote name='hairyhaw' timestamp='1325794102' post='1487945'] Only heard good things about them. Re GuitarGuitar - tried a price match in Glasgow, they weren't interested. Felt bad for the assistant as he did try but was overruled further up the food chain. [/quote] I've personally had only good experiences with Thomann. But silddx may offer a different perspective: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=139374&view=findpost&p=1258409"]http://basschat.co.u...dpost&p=1258409[/url]

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1325816460' post='1488356'] this is lurvly.. anyone know the price point on these? [/quote] For the Jazz the press release says the "MAP" is $2299.99: [url="http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/namm-2012-fender-introduces-select-series-guitars-and-basses-522166/2"]http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/namm-2012-fender-introduces-select-series-guitars-and-basses-522166/2[/url]

In the left-hand (yellow) config, you get away with shorter cables, but if the top one fails, then you'll have no sound at all. In the right-hand config, you need a longer cable, but one cable can fail and you'll still have one cab blasting out the sound. In terms of power/volume/amp safety there's essentially no difference.

PS Shaggy, if you want a hand with the wiring, drop me a PM - I'm just across town from you.

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1325782662' post='1487631'] With a blend pot you have a fixed ratio for example 50/50 or 60/40 of each pick up, wherever you are along the resistance range. As you turn the pot one goes up while the other goes down. With individual volumes you have 0 - 100% of each pick up available in any mix you like. Much easier to find the 'sweet spot' of each pick up & use them together or separate as you like. Compare a blend pot to a bass/treble control in one pot, bass one way treble the other, you can't have maximum of each can you? [/quote] Thanks for explaining your pov. I don't share your tastes, but I can now better understand why you prefer a V/V arrangement. Personally, the "sweet spot" for me is more about the balance between neck and bridge pups, so I like to be able to find that sweet (balance) spot, and then adjust the master volume to my needs. Incidentally, the blend pots I've looked at do provide 100% of each pickup in the middle position - either side of that they attenuate one of the pickups, but leave the other on full. So the options available in each set-up (V/B or V/V) are exactly the same.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1325772349' post='1487412'] No. After reading reviews of the courier service who have it, I'm not confident either. Here are the headlines of some of the reviews. ha ha..... [/quote] Pah. I've now had three different deliveries from DPD, and each time was perfect. They texted me in the morning with a 1-hour delivery slot, and each time it arrived in the slot. Last time was a bluray player that the shop hadn't even really packaged - it was just in the box like you'd find on the shelf in Sainsburys - and it arrived in perfect condition. Maybe it's the luck of the draw, but 3 out of 3 is pretty lucky, and I'm usually the unluckiest b***er on the planet when it comes to anything else.

[quote name='chaypup' timestamp='1325760597' post='1487096'] I think it's Vintage One who put up the ad. [/quote] I guess that's possible, but in that case the bass is sold, according to their website. But would an established US firm really be selling a bass on the London craigslist? With a price in Sterling?

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1325759400' post='1487076'] Why bother with the blend? Simple - separate volume pots give you more control, 250K Audio Taper normally. [/quote] Some of us like having a blend pot. It's nice being able to adjust the balance of the two pickups (or to switch from one pickup to the other) in one movement, without having to adjust two pots simultaneously. Can you explain how separate volume pots gives you [i]more[/i] control than a volume/blend set-up?

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1325766803' post='1487248'] Still in Brum, according to the tracking, but still scheduled for delivery today. Is there a lag updating tracking info sometimes? [/quote] Yes, there can be. I can't remember which courier it was, but one of them had a note saying tracking would only be updated after the parcel had been delivered! Really helpful, I thought.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1325718955' post='1486753']... I can't remember if you need a tapered audio (log) pot for the volume and a Lin pot for the blend [/quote] I think there's an element of personal taste about whether you have log or lin for the volume pot. For a blend pot like this you probably won't have much choice; most of the ones I've come across are log. (And also 500K not 250K).

It might be more credible if the seller would put up their own photos rather than just using the ones from the Vintage One site. And I'm not sure how [i]"One owner"[/i] squares with the current seller having bought it from Vintage One (unless they were selling it as NOS )

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1325606479' post='1485038']...As for range, the 5-string bass goes two octaves below middle C and one and a bit above (depensint on range) so we are talking around 3 octaves in toal. So the piano goes a lot further in both directions [/quote] Er, actually, the low B on a 5-string bass is (just over) three octaves below middle C. So a standard piano actually only has 2 lower notes (the Bb and the A). But you're right that it goes much higher - the 24th fret on the G string on a 5-string will be the G above middle C, whereas the piano has another 3 and a half octaves above that note.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1325266308' post='1481564'] Yes quite a few times over the years. It's easily sorted out - I just demand to see a signature on the delivery note and, when they can't supply it, they climb down pretty quickly. Sometimes the parcels are 'found' in a depot and sometimes the sender re-despatches a replacement order and beat up the delivery agent privately at their own leisure. [/quote] Last time I got a non-delivery from DHL I asked them to show me the signature. They said they couldn't show me the sig, but it was signed for by someone with my surname. Since my name is very unusual in these parts, the only way this was possible was because their driver forged the signature. They then said that they wouldn't accept any complaint from me - they could only take complaints from the sender since that is who their contract is with. Incidentally, I just had a delivery from DPD. While waiting I googled to find some feedback on how good they are, and found hugely negative comments whereas DHL, by comparison, were fantastic. Someone did once tell me that near my town there are two DHL depots, and one is very good about delivering stuff carefully, and one is absolutely awful. So maybe it's just that some depots are awful, and that determines the service you receive.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1325101688' post='1479916'] ... pathetic little ones that they could have been manufactured by Lego. [/quote] Ahh, they must have come of this amp: [url="http://www.geekalerts.com/lego-guitar-amp/"]http://www.geekalerts.com/lego-guitar-amp/[/url]

PM'd.

Yep, they're Dunlops. I've not had any problems with them (unlike the Warwick locks which seem to have very slack manufacturing tolerances). I guess yours must be a little worn away and so a replacement set should sort you out. If you can't wait for new ones to arrive, then the only quicker options I can think of are: 1) gaffa tape, and 2) try fitting the Schaller locks in place, but use an extra long screw to tap into the hole that's at the bottom of the recess. (You might need to remove the recessed lock, and put a dowel in its place, or you might not). If it's a natural wood finish, I'd be seriously tempted to just use gaffa tape for now. It should be easy to remove, and even if it leaves a mark you can scrub it off with scotchbrite, re-oil the wood and it should look fine.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1324334714' post='1473254'] If you have to plug your lead into the mains to get 240V, does that make it a lead bass? [/quote] Maybe not, but at least it will sort your hairstyle out.

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1324344528' post='1473336']... for example if you were in Cmaj, C-F-G, Dm-G-C, C-F-Am-D ....[/quote] +1. And then once you're familiar with the progressions you have in each key, you can turn this around, so that if your song consists of, say, C, F and G, then you can deduce that you're probably in the key of C major. Also, another rule of thumb (to which there are exceptions, of course) is that the key should feel like "home". If you play the sequence C, F, G over and over again, and you end the sequence on a C then it should feel good. End it on an F or a G and it should feel a bit unfinished. And if you end it with a Csus4, it will sound so unfinished that I will personally come round to wherever you're playing and play a C chord just to resolve the thing!