mcnach

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1431377679' post='2770764'] I didn't know Rory did bass work. I only stay 10 minutes away but have never visited his workshop for fear of walking out with one of his acoustic guitars. [/quote] Ha! Small world! When he was based in Edinburgh, just starting his business, he advertised he'd do setups etc, possibly as he could use the extra work in the beginning. I went to him with one of my basses... and continued seeing him afterwards everytime I needed something, from expanding a control cavity to install a preamp, to a fretless conversion (he's done two for me). He loves showing his work, and it's beautiful. I keep talking to him about branching into electrics... The wood work would be extremely easy for him... Sometimes he seems tempted. He wanted to build a telecaster for himself... But he really loves acoustic instruments. A couple of years ago I was talking to him about having a custom bass made. He was game. Unfortunately I had a few unplanned expenses and by the time I could have gone for it I realised it was all a bit extravagant and I didn't really need a custom bass. But I don't know... Maybe I should rethink that Visit him at his workshop, he makes great coffee Next time you see him tell him Jose says hi

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1431337348' post='2770045'] Rechargeable NiMH are best for metal. [/quote]

[quote name='Dandelion' timestamp='1431340367' post='2770089'] Dab a 9 volt battery on some wire wool for instant combustion. Very hazardous. [/quote] true, fun to watch and very educational about the dangers!

[quote name='anDy LAKIN' timestamp='1431290262' post='2769743'] i would also like to add that if you have a loose pp3 battery in your bag it is a very good idea to a bit of non insulating tape over the ends as there is a small chance they could come into contact with metal and may cause a small fire or damage to stuff [/quote] one night I had removed a battery from a pedal and put it temporarily in my pocket... and forgot about it. After soundcheck we go to find some place to have dinner and during the meal I notice a discomfort in my pants... and I jump out yelling! The battery made the coins in my pocket extremely warm!!! Fortunately I avoided a case of roasted nuts... So, yes... be careful how you store them!

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1431248160' post='2769088'] I have a Markbass MoMark TA800 amp, which has a line out level knob on the front. Should this always be set to full to send to the desk? [/quote] I set the level half-way on the MB heads/combos I've owned... it was always enough and I never had a complaint that it was too quiet or too hot... so that's where it stays

[quote name='blamelouis' timestamp='1431251665' post='2769131'] Need two batteries for my Marcus Miller jazz and was wondering if any basschatters have any preferences regarding longevity and value for money. Any bargains out there ? [/quote] Duracell. The batteries last long enough that differences in price with cheaper ones are meaningless. I go for reliability. And don't buy the cheap ones on eBay.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1431266742' post='2769408'] In my situation, it would look kind of hypocritical for me to take a stand over it, since the drummer and bassist in my band were both using other bands' gear that night. [/quote] Not necessarily. A drum kit takes a lot of space, and time to set up. The gig was at the Mash House, wasn't it? So another couple of bands playing... It makes sense to share drum kit... and I am sure that was prearranged. A suitable guitar amp takes little space and it's easily carried... Bass... I have mixed feelings. We don't *need* a large amp in many situations: I often just take my little MarkBass combo, as all it needs to do is serve me as stage monitor. I sometimes leave it in the car if I think it makes things easier and it sounds ok, and they provided it for me to use... but I always have my amp with me. Over time I have realised how some local bands -or certain individual members- never seem to take amps with them. I'm not going to be carrying my gear for them to have an easier night, so my general stance is not sharing. With people I know it's different, and whenever NUF is playing, if I'm in the bill too I'd offer my amp, no problem at all. I just hate feeling I've been taken advantage of.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1431265869' post='2769395'] Since this seems to have become the official gear-share grumble thread, I had a guitar gig last night, let the guitarist from another band use my amp without prior arrangement, and he had the gall to complain that it didn't have a gain channel! If you're going to rely on whatever amp you can scrounge on the night, carrying your choice of overdrive pedal might be a good idea, no? At least nobody thrashed it or put drinks on top of it though... [/quote] Well, you clearly didn't get the memo, so find whoever was in charge and tell them off. You were expected to carry a selection of overdrive pedals and other assorted effects for this other guy's enjoyment. Idiot. Not you! The other guy

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1431254154' post='2769178'] Would want to see it as the whole point of Roqsolid is that they are functional and cheap. That doesn't put them in the same league as offerings by Aguilar or Berg, for example. but then those might be £70 plus £'s.. If you could see them, and more importantly feel how padded they are, you could make a decision. [/quote] I have the standard one for my MarkBass CMD121P combo. It's very well made, but I'd go for the padded version next time. It adds about £5 more only, for 5mm padding. That doesn't look as substantial as my TKS ones, but I'm sure it would do the job well. Total cost for a BB2 type cover would be just under £55, if I calculated it well. You may add pockets for cables etc but that adds more. For me the point of these covers is to protect it from the elements when moving it etc. They're being transported by myself, exclusively. No cover offers enough protection against a heavy PA amp being dropped onto the cab etc, it's flight case territory then.

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1431251919' post='2769137'] To the original poster, I'm sure Chris McIntyre in Edinburgh fitted the Luminlay dots to a friend of mine's bass. [/quote] I didn't realise the OP was in Scotland! Mine were fitted by Rory Dowling, of Taran guitars (a one man acoustic guitar building operation), in Fife. Beautiful job. He used to be based in Edinburgh (at the workshop Chris McIntyre is now, in fact!) and he is now near Pittenweem in larger premises. Beautiful area, good excuse to visit and have fish and chips in Anstruther

Also, when screwing back the neck, I like to thread the screws through a candle first, to allow the wax to just slightly lubricate the thread. The screws then follow the threaded hole a little more easily. Whatever you do, be gentle, you don't want to enlarge the hole.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1431240859' post='2769016'] When you are securing the neck to the body make sure that the screws pass through the body without catching. They should be a tight fit but the thread should not catch. If the screws do catch on the body this can cause you to create a gap between the neck and body because the screws can be screwed tight up to the end in the body wood, but only part way into the neck wood. The resulting gap is then like a shim. [/quote] Yup, listen to this man.

These are the Luminlay fitted to my black Jazz:

don't mention Marusczcyc!! I ordered one (a PJ type) and I still have another 4-5 weeks to wait! It's agony!!!

You can replace the side dot markers with the "Luminlay" (google it) ones. They'll look just like normal whiteish markers in normal light, but they'll fluoresce in the dark. You can charge them with a UV torch simply by a quick sweep along them. The strong fluorescence dies down in a few minutes but the residual glow is long lasting and very visible in the dark. In addition, if your stage/pit has UV lighting... the markers will glow strongly all the time. Pretty easy and cheap to fit.

[quote name='donslow' timestamp='1431125489' post='2768141'] I'll try and keep this brief to prevent me rambling My bass started life as a vintage modified precision, new wiring, pickups, bridge, neck, machine heads, pick guard later it's near perfect, with one exception, still don't like the colour, Have just spent the last 5 days stripping the paint to bare wood, sanding and refinishing with wood dye, time to put it back together........neck on, pickguard and all electrics on, bridge on I restring it and the strings are flat against the fretboard on all frets, saddles raised as far as and still same problem, check the neck relief and is exactly how it was before taking it off, in order to gig with it I currently have 4 pieces of thick card (came from a whiskas box if it helps) underneath the bridge to raise it enough to get a decent action out of it Long story short, the bridge appears too low for the neck now there is no paint on the body, is this a common thing?! Has anyone else come across this problem? What are my options to repair? If it helps the bridge is a gotoh 203 "OEM Style" bridge Thanks in advance [/quote] Is the neck angle correct? If there was a shim in the neck pocket and misplaced it, the tiny difference in neck angle can cause that. I'd try a shim anyway (I use thin cardboard, from a business card or similar, or a bit of sandpaper, typically), increase ever so slightly the neck angle, and see whether that allows you to set up the bass nicely. It'll probably fix the problem at the saddles too.

I had a Nordstrand NJ4SE fail on me a while ago. They use very thin wire on those and I could see the end of a broken wire loose from the coil. Upon posting about it on Talkbass, as I really liked the pickup but was worried to buy another if they had a history of failures I learnt that there isn't really a documented problem with them, and someone from Nordstrand contacted me and asked me to send it to them. They fixed it for free. Contact Nordstrand!

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1431112546' post='2767996'] Interesting stuff about pickup placement - particularly where the 24th fret would be. I've always thought Ricks were good at producing the fundamental - is that a product of it? And are the harmonic positions somewhere to avoid? [/quote] considering that as you fret different notes, the nodes will shift too, I don't think that plays a role.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1430994195' post='2766606'] DR Fat Beams. Growl and heft in spades and would suit a Wal down to the ground... In my humble opinion, of course. I've also been enjoying D'Addario EXL-170 BT (Balanced Tension) which also growl very nicely, if that's your thing. [/quote] +1 on the Fat Beams

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1430893035' post='2765554'] Does this mean if you can vary playing behind , on and just after the beat during the same song you are a good bassist , if so I was better 25 years ago than I am now. [/quote] if you do it consciously for a particular effect, and you remain in control, sure!

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1430826832' post='2764886'] I'll probably wait for the Gen 4 options, you know the Tolex finish ones... You heard it here first [/quote] Now that would be nice!

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1430816005' post='2764722'] I'm sure I'll be told otherwise, but I do wonder about the thin-ness of the ply being used on some of these cabs now. Standing up to the rigours of the road. [/quote]I I'm sure if acoustic guitars survive, so will a cab Unless you are touring in Afghanistan, maybe.

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1430781402' post='2764594'] I see this has 2 speakon sockets. Why is this? Sorry to be dumb [/quote] If you have an amp with only one speaker out and want to use two cabs, you can use one cable amp-cab1, and another cable can1-cab2 using the second speakon socket. The sockets are almost-always-but-check-manual-please wired in parallel.

[quote name='Salt on your Bass?' timestamp='1430732043' post='2764020'] My band don't like coming home with me to schelp it up two flights of stairs from 30 yards down the road..... I like having big cabs that I can carry around myself (excluding any tonal considerations i find as a plus with them) the weight is a bonus but not my sole consideration. [/quote] That sums up my point of view too. From time to time I've said "ah, whatever, just use a trolley, go big". But the balance "pain in the arse" (or back!) vs "sonic enjoyment" has generally been tilted away from enjoyment. I used to use a 4x10 + 2x10 for a while and it was pretty nice. I was really happy with the sound. If felt hefty without having to be loud. It was "present". The 410 alone was about 45Kg. Between two people is not a big deal, but I used to load my car at home by myself as I didn't want to have someone come over to help. My girlfriend helped at times, but I could manage by myself... However, it was awkward. Now add bad weather, rain, wet streets...moving a bulky item through a crowd of people was never fun, even with help. So in the end, small/lighter wins for me. And it's not like you need to compromise a lot, I don't think. My BF Compact (Gen2) remains a fave for me. I heard nicer cabs, but this one can sound pretty damn good, and can deal with an amp pushing it, so you can get loud enough with it alone. It doesn't feel as hefty as the 610 solution I used before, but it's not a joy-killer at all... and it's just so easy to move and set up. This also means that if I play a festival or any other situation where backline is provided in order to make changes smooth and save hassle, I can still use mine and be happy rather than using an often substandard battered old combo (why guitarists get good gear and bass seems to be almost an afterthought?). IN most situations, I go through the PA, so the amp is mostly a stage monitor. With the Compact + BigBaby2 I never felt I didn't have enough power or presence (I'm not playing stadia ). I have used that, without PA, in a few village hall type of venues without PA support. I use my wireless to go around and see if the levels are balanced etc while we sound check... Those two cabs move a lot of air. They don't sound half bad either! I think that's a pretty good compromise for size/weight/power/sound quality. The only places I didn't like its sound in, were places where I'd never be happy anyway because teh acoustics are poor and there's little you can do, except not being too loud). Now I have an even smaller set of cabs, a pair of TKS 1126. They have a markedly different sound, and they're smaller. I can fit both in the boot of my car, which was a deciding factor in my buying them: I don't like to leave gear in plain view in my car, so that way the only thing not in the boot is my bass, which stays with me. I have not used that as extensively as the BF, but they can also move quite a bit of air. I feel maybe not as much, but I have never tested them side by side. They also have authority and sound pretty good. Soundwise I can't decide, I think I prefer the TKS, at gig volume, but there are too many factors involved and never used the two rigs in the same situation/venue. They are smaller, but they're a bit heavier, therefore more awkward to move around staircases, with people etc, if you have one in each hand. In short, each solution has definite pros and cons, but those pros and cons are weighted differently for different people. I find that the notion that one of the solutions is inherently and substantially worse, from a sonic point of view, ridiculous. There are differences, and there are combinations that make me smile and others not... but not a single one makes me go "ugh, that sounds disgusting" after I've had a chance to tweak the amp/bass controls. You know what makes me go "ugh!"? Having an underpowered combo, which you need to push too hard, and you end up having to choose between a decent sound or being heard. I've played my share of gigs with provided backline that meant I could have just mimed. Smaller lighter gear allows me to never go through that again. Barefaced may not be my absolute favourite when it comes to pure sound... but I do like it, however, where they gained my appreciation, was in working hard at making small/light solutions that REALLY worked, where I did not feel I was compromising too much in terms of sound (quality & 'heft'). Yeah, I can get help. But I prefer not to *depend* on other people. Especially when we play places where they provide backline... asking band mates to help bring my own feels a bit extravagant. They would help, no question! But I'd feel a bit bad asking. I just bring my own "little" solution, and I can manage by myself even if I always get asked if I need a hand when they see me. It's nice to say "nah, I'm ok, thanks!" and still be set up and ready to go before the guitarists are