mart

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='1141530' date='Feb 25 2011, 05:47 PM']Strange that! I've always used the word 'tardy' to indicate; substandard, sloppy, slapdash. Whereas the dictionary definition does indicate lateness.... so yes in answer to your question, up my neck of the woods it does mean something else! [/quote] Thanks. I always like learning foreign languages [quote name='Ghost_Bass' post='1141537' date='Feb 25 2011, 06:04 PM']If you look closely to the bridge you can see a dark stain coming from beneath it in direction to the pickup. This sugests that that isn't the original bridge! Don't know JS's work personaly (i'm a bit far for that) but everybody has his faults and that pickup position could be the result of a distraction![/quote] I hadn't noticed the dark stain, but you're right it does suggest the bridge has been changed. Although the width of the stain is exactly the same as the W bridge, which makes me think the bridge might have simply been moved back. (But not far enough back). After playing with the images I think the two pickups are parallel (or very near to it), and the squintness may be an illusion caused by the angle they're at. But it is a strange angle - so close to perpendicular, yet not. But yes, that could just be down to customer choice.

The top bass in the picture could be ok, just the angle making it look wrong. But the bottom one definitely looks off. Oh well, we each have our own taste when it comes to set-ups. Maybe he/she never plays the E-string!

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='1141303' date='Feb 25 2011, 03:00 PM']... and that is something which 'would appear' to be pretty tardy.[/quote] Sorry, could you translate this, please? "Tardy", to me, means "late", but this doesn't seem to make sense. Does it have some different meaning up your neck of the woods?

[quote name='The Burpster' post='1141452' date='Feb 25 2011, 04:41 PM']Does say it was made in '95 - altho' I have a better theory..... Jon built it as a Warwick rep for a customer and as I doubt Warwick hardware was commercially available back then it was assembled by Jon with other hardware, and someone other than Jon has fitted the Warwick bridge since which would explain the alignment issues of all components..... Jeez I should be a detective....... [/quote] That would explain it .... except for the pickups being slightly squint! And the Warwick bridge has a footprint so unlike other bridges, that I'd expect there to be some trace of the previous (Shuker-fitted) bridge if your story were correct. But I agree with Warwickhunt, that the woodwork makes this look like a quality instrument, certainly not a cheap fake. It would probably be best if someone could contact Jon Shuker himself and see what he says. But then again, it's always fun to speculate wildly with no factual basis

[quote name='obbm' post='1140939' date='Feb 25 2011, 10:48 AM']It's an all-valve amp and therefore should have a speaker load attached at all times. Page 4 of the user Manual - Warning states "before the unit is switched on, the loudspeaker should be connected as describedin the handbook....." Even if plugging in headphones does disable the speaker output, the reflected load of the speker through the output transformer will have an effect on the output valve.[/quote] Indeed, page 4 warns of the need for a speaker to be connected. And then page 9, referring to the headphone socket, says "when a lead is connected here the combo’s internal speaker is disconnected", suggesting that a speaker isn't needed. (I'm assuming that the amp part of the combo is identical to the head). [quote name='obbm' post='1140939' date='Feb 25 2011, 10:48 AM']The manual is very unclear so I would pick up the phone and ask Blackstar directly.[/quote] I'm glad I'm not the only one who things the manual is not clear enough. I suppose I will have to phone them; I tried contacting them through their website query form and they just ignored it.

Strange - why would you do that rather than just buying the real thing? And it's not even a good advert for John Shuker - the B-string is nearly off the fretboard and the saddle positions suggest the bridge is set too near the neck.

[quote name='paul_5' post='1140647' date='Feb 24 2011, 11:25 PM']Didn't we have one of these yesterday? Long story short - a BCer tried running his Orange Terror Bass Head without a cab and turned it into a smoke machine [/quote] There was a similar question yesterday, but that was a general question about running heads without cabs. My question was more specifically about whether headphones change this: on an amp where the headphone socket cuts the speaker output, is a load necessary [i]when using headphones[/i]?

[quote name='obbm' post='1140655' date='Feb 24 2011, 11:31 PM']It would be really helpful if you could tell us the make and model of this tiny valve head.[/quote] Whoops, yes, I should have mentioned this. It's a Blackstar HT1RH. (Yes, a guitar amp. So I play a bit of guitar. I can handle it. I can stop anytime I want ...) [quote name='dincz' post='1140802' date='Feb 25 2011, 08:14 AM']The power amp needs a load only if it's amplifying a signal. If the headphone jack interrupts signal from preamp to power amp, then you don't need a load - and the unnecessary 8 ohm resistor will be stone cold. The problem running without a load is remembering every time to reconnect the speaker before you pull out the headphone plug.[/quote] So I can run it without a cab? That would be convenient.

Have you got a certificate for that? And is it a pre-CBS star?

[quote name='gub' post='1140262' date='Feb 24 2011, 06:44 PM']All finnished , a great read ,and i dont read much these days but this was really interesting . will post in the morning to mart[/quote] Looking forward to it! Then, after me, it looks like it'll go onto: 1) Chimike, 2) Jacqueslemac. Any other takers?

[quote name='mep' post='1140304' date='Feb 24 2011, 07:20 PM']I'm back at home now and have just checked my Trace Manual. It says you can unplug the speaker when using headphones. Of course the amp of the OP is a different make and model so best check with the manufacturer. It also says to use modern headphones of 600ohms not older style of 8ohms.[/quote] Thanks for checking that. Unfortunately the manual for my amp does not say anything about this (I've read every word - it's not a very long manual!) So I'm inclined to go with icastle's suggestion that the power amp is still on and so needs a load, but is disconnected from the preamp. Which makes me think about constructing a jack to 8ohm resistor lead! I wonder what OBBM would make of such a request

Through-body stringing must be better, because they use it on them fancy Sue Ryder basses.

I thought you had to unscrew that knurled bit at the top, then put the string in as usual, then tighten the screw up again. But I've no experience of these things so I might well be talking out of my backside.

What our insurance company recommended was getting some photos taken of you holding the instrument, and some showing the serial numbers. So I've now got a folder full of photos. No, actually it's not full. Definitely not full. There's definitely space for a few photos of that new bass I'm dreaming about ...

[quote name='icastle' post='1140055' date='Feb 24 2011, 03:20 PM']Yep. It's certainly not just feeding the amp output into the headphones like the old transistor radios used to - I have a similar socket on one of my heads and 500W into a set of headphones could be a bit uncomfortable. [/quote] Ah, that'll be a design feature so that you can get distortion from the amp itself, or from the speakers, or .... from your eardrums melting.

You have an aunt from Eroticon six?

That's not a jazz body - it's got three pickups. It's obviously a Big Al.

[quote name='icastle' post='1139959' date='Feb 24 2011, 01:46 PM']That depends on what the headphone socket is cutting off. I'd guess that what it's doing is breaking the output from the preamp and leaving the power amp running...[/quote] Ooh, I hadn't thought of that possibility. If it is breaking the output from the pre but leaving the power amp running then presumably it [i]does[/i] need a speaker connected? It would have been so much easier if the manufacturer had just spelt it out in the manual. Or replied to the enquiry I put on their website two weeks ago.

[quote name='lettsguitars' post='1139909' date='Feb 24 2011, 01:14 PM']yea, those tuners can become a lethal weapon for sure. heres an idea. take a picture hook to gigs with you, screw it into the ceiling with a piece of fishing line and hang your thunderbirds headstock from that, puppet style. thunderbirds are go[/quote] Brilliant! I think that is absolutely the last word on neck-dive!

I've just bought myself a tiny valve head[i], a Blackstar HT1RH[/i]. It says, as you'd expect, that you should connect a speaker before turning the head on. It also has a headphone socket, and when you plug headphones in, it cuts off the sound to the speaker. Does this mean I can use the head with no speaker attached if I'm using headphones? My understanding is that an amp needs a load, and a valve amp especially needs a load. But if the headphone socket cuts off the signal to the speaker, then surely it's disconnecting the speaker, in which case I don't need it connected in the first place. Am I right? (Edited to insert the name of the amp)

One approach is to put some plain black vinyl over the whole headstock, and then put whatever decal you want on top. (A Fender decal is quite tempting ... ). Or you can sand the headstock down - I did that to remove the logo on my Rockbass. I was planning to then paint the headstock white so I didn't bother sanding to a smooth finish, but I'd imagine you could get a reasonable look this way. You can buy a W headstock sticker from the Warwick shop, but it's something crazy like 15 euros and another 10 for postage!

[quote name='Johnston' post='1139800' date='Feb 24 2011, 12:00 PM']Don't be silly they keep everyone happy by using both methods on every bass.[/quote]

[quote name='lettsguitars' post='1139456' date='Feb 24 2011, 12:19 AM']i've wondered why people dont do this, as you say, i think it's just because nobody else does it. if it fixes your bass, jobs one of them good uns.[/quote] If you'd tried it, you'd know why people don't do it. With many solid-body instruments, if you tie a strap round the headstock (and use the bottom strap button as usual), then the body will quickly dive and the headstock will come and slap you in the face! Which can hurt. I know, cos I've done it! An alternative approach, which doesn't involve facial injury, is to connect your strap as usual, but then run a cord from the strap to the headstock, so as to spread the weight. That works, but you'll need to adjust the strap length to get it comfortable.

[quote name='Johnston' post='1139788' date='Feb 24 2011, 11:52 AM']There seems to be two schools of thought these days. The centre to centre being the same or the stings having the same gap between them.[/quote] And then there's the Fender "oh, any old spacing will do" school of thought

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1139488' date='Feb 24 2011, 01:26 AM']WOW! It's mind boggling that it can be off that much. I'd guess they don't drill the bridge holes at the same time they route the pickup cavities.[/quote] Yep, they clearly don't. The bridge is out by about 3mm. (At least that's what I reckoned when I re-fitted the bridge in the right place!) But what surprised me more was that the neck pocket seems to be out of line with the pickup cavities. Surely they would have been routed on the same machine at the same time? Yet the neck axis does not (quite) match the pickup cavities.