mcnach

[quote name='Darkstrike' timestamp='1350517689' post='1840103'] Who cares if it's "just a variation" when it's a variation on awesome? Eh? [/quote] Good point

[quote name='tommorichards' timestamp='1350506749' post='1839936'] 2 things. What oil? And why not a ricky neck pickup? [/quote] Casey's TruOil. It's what MusicMan recommends for the Stingray so I bought some a while ago. Why not a Ricky neck pickup? Because... I don't particularly like Ricks (even if I were able to find a pickup!) and also I'm not a big fan of neck pickups. I know, I know, this way I'm just getting another slight variation of the Stingray... but what can I do? I'm stuck in Stingrayland

[quote name='Ashwood1985' timestamp='1350434342' post='1838957'] LOL Thanks for all the great suggestions guys. I've been a little pre-occupied with work and mixing some album tracks between shifts so I only got as far as taking the neck off the body and leaving the bass in two on the sofa for the last week! When I manage to get the time to strip it back I'll make my mind up. linseed oil and gunstock wax sound like good hassle free solutions that should deliver the result I'm after. I'll be sure to update with any progress! Thanks again for all the contributions. They're appreciated [/quote] doing the same at the moment on the neck of my Retrovibe Vantage. In my case I'm using fine steel wool and Casey's TruOil. I also have some Casey's gunstock wax. I applied the oil last night, couple of coats. Looking already pretty nice, and simple.

[quote name='such' timestamp='1350428325' post='1838915'] the OLP (OIP ) looks like the real thing, they made two pickup versions towards the end of production. If it's one of those and it's really unused, the price is good. Still, I wouldn't do business with that shop. [/quote] I think there must have been a lot of OLP parts on sale after production stopped. I have seen over the past couple of years a number of OLP MM2 basses with a few odd bits, very unusual colours, the wrong type of pickguard, slightly different body shape, etc. I suspect various people/companies bought crates of parts, and some were assembled into "genuine" OLP instruments, while some instruments end up just having an OLP neck and some hardware etc

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1350429090' post='1838924'] Most of the time when people request songs that we don't know I just say "yeah sure, we'll play it after the next one". Truckstop [/quote] Playing with our RHCP tribute band someone asked for Pearl Jam. Well, as it turns out, we were a Pearl Jam tribute band for a short while, so we launched into Even Flow (only I did not have the fretless with me, but it works)

Behringer V-Amp2. One of the guitar amp models, stamped on the front was the "Amercian Blues". They fixed that soon... but mine is one of the "rare" Amercian models. I wonder if that makes it more valuable for collectors now

I got the steel wool and the TruOil out today. I only spent a few minutes with it... and I'm very pleasantly surprised at what a little oil does for looks! I only used the very fine steel wool on the back of the neck to smoothen it a little and remove the slightly coarse feeling it had, that "raw" feeling. Seriously, about 5min it's all it took. Wiped it all off, and it felt noticeable better. Then the oil. It looks nice, darkening the wood a tiny bit. I'll apply a couple more coats tomorrow and let it dry properly, then buff it. I need to apply some to the fretboard too, but that will have to wait until I change the strings. I have no neck pickup anymore. I have plans for a drastic look change, and I'm going to go with a single humbucker (for now, I might bring back the neck pickup in the future, at a new location closer to the bridge). So to force me to act, I cut all the wires and removed the pickup. watch this space...

[quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1350409377' post='1838472'] check out this musicman copy. [url="http://thetopguitars.com/products/Musicman-4-Strings-Electric-Bass-.html"]http://thetopguitars...tric-Bass-.html[/url] [/quote] my eyes vomited.

[quote name='mark77bass' timestamp='1350315571' post='1837183'] Hi Guys, Does anyone know anyone who has one of these? [url="http://www.probass.co.uk/Vantage4.html"]http://www.probass.co.uk/Vantage4.html[/url] Be interested to know what you all think? Cheers [/quote] yup, got one a few weeks ago: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/185702-retrovibe-basses-i-dont-need-one-but/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/185702-retrovibe-basses-i-dont-need-one-but/[/url] I really like it. Mine was not perfect from the box, and I'm tinkering with it a lot (which for me is part of the fun). But basically it's decently made, the bridge pickup is great (not adequate, but great ) and it balances well, it looks great, unique... I hate the neck pickup. It is weak, and the position it's in lacks the "Jazz neck" sound anyway, and it gets in the way a bit when slapping (at least the way I do). I ended up screwing the neck pickup all the way in. Next step is... I'm going to get another pickguard and the neck pickup will go entirely. I'll put a Stingray-style pickguard and will modify the control plate area... so it's going to be a total mindf*uck of a bass: part Jazz, part Ric, part Stingray, yet none of them at the same time. Oh, and a preamp. Seymour Duncan STC-3M4 at the moment.

Listening to isolated tracks is very enlightening. I remember listening to the Blood Sugar Sex Magik album by the RHCP... when mixed it sounds great, but listening to the bass alone it reveals some less than perfect sounds at times... but it works. Also, the actual bass sound... it does not sound as "inspiring" as you'd imagine, by itself, but in the mix it sits perfectly and sounds really good.

[quote name='witterth' timestamp='1349799525' post='1830708'] Just after I'd finished playing on Saturday night a Bloke came up to me and said: "Oy! You!, whats the difference between playing The Bass Guitar and Pea Green Paint?" "I Dunno" I said. "Well", said he, "any F***er can Play The Bass Guitar" (True) [/quote] "well, can you?" is the reply that would be so tempting to give

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1349950411' post='1832540'] I can never understand why anyone would take a constituent of the whole and judge it in isolation. It's like enjoying a wonderful plate of food then eating half a teaspoon of salt and being surprised it tastes horrible. [/quote] Can I steal this? Great comment. I *will* steal it

[quote name='S9_S12_Bass' timestamp='1349976173' post='1833045'] Glad to see its going well, I've never been a fan of neck pups always sound too thin to me Would be interesting to hear this. Have you got any recordings with it at all? [/quote] No, no recordings. I'll probably record some rehearsals soon, but it would be a Zoom H2 picking up the ambient sound... so not exactly ideal to judge how a bass sounds.

Finally I had time to try the bass at rehearsal. I have not changed the electronics yet [1], so it's all stock. Overall: really good, actually. I'm liking that bridge MM humbucker a lot. It's very powerful, fat, meaty, with good definition. However, I really do not like the neck pickup. Not sure whether it's due to the pickup itself or its position, or both! But I don't care for it. I ended up screwing it down into the body until it's nearly flush with the pickguard. That way it does not get in the way, and it's better to slap (for me). It does not sound too Stingrayish, not even like the SUB I have, with the pickup wired in series. It has its own sound, which is nice, as I don't necesarily want two basses that sound the same. Definitely a one-pickup bass for me. I was thinking of having a red pickguard made, now that I have a good template... I may just do it without a neck pickup entirely, or perhaps move it closer to the bridge. Regardless, I like this bass a lot. Glad I bought it. One of these days I'll rub some very very very fine steel wool on the neck and put some Tru-oil, so that it loses that "raw" quality it has. [1] electronics... well, passive sounds quite good. Tone open, it sounds bright, crispy yet deep. Tone closed, nice fat reggae tones. I thought of putting a preamp in here. I bought a John East MMSR (Stingray) preamp off another BC member, but it arrived damaged So I'm waiting to sort this out. I have a 3-band Seymour Duncan preamp, but I really like the MMSR, with the midsweep... Yes, it's a cheap(ish) kind of bass. But it deserves it.

[quote name='Earbrass' timestamp='1349797095' post='1830660'] 26 and 28 for me. That rubbish "piano(?)" sound starts to grate pretty quickly though - surely they could have found something better? [/quote] 26 and 28 for me too.. but at the end I was just wishing it would end...

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1349516764' post='1827209'] Will do. I've messaged my old bandmate, as I can't find Jimmy's business card. [/quote] thank you

[quote name='stu_g' timestamp='1349467658' post='1826854'] i used to have an old session amp many years ago that used to cut out took it to guitar village in farnham and the bloke who did repairs remedy was to solder the internal fuse into its holder?the fuse never blew in first place! it was a mosfet fault of some kind, anyways amp never was repaired but i learnt my lesson and after invested my money into a trce elliot ah300smx which i still have today [/quote] Session? later Award-Session? I know the owner/designer, Stewart Ward. You could have taken the amp to him... he's in Basingstoke! I liked his amps. I don't own any of them, but all my cables were made by him

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1349465547' post='1826813'] An old bandmate of mine had a load of gear repaired by Jimmy Gillan (he works from home near the cathedral), and he seems to welcome transistor as well as valve stuff. I've not dealt with him myself, so I can't offer an actual endorsement, but my bandmate was quite happy. I don't think he has an internet presence, but I'm sure I can dig out his number if you want to give him a shot. [/quote] That would be good, sure. If you can find out and send me a PM I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1349464780' post='1826798'] Yeah, I sympathise. I don't know of any other techs in the Edinburgh area that you could go to with confidence. A buzz is often an an earthing problem; I've assumed that you had it away from all of the usual suspects, florescent lights, fridges, CRTs etc. I'm not familiar with the amp; does it have a headphone socket? If so, does that have the buzz? When I was a kid the local bike shop had a shell as a door stop in the summertime; after quite a few years it did turn out to be live! [/quote] seriously???? Live???? well, I laugh now, but I bet there were a few brown underpants when they found out!!! The amp was tested in three different locations, as I wanted to make sure it was not just some oddity of the wiring. The buzz is there. It's not your typical earthing buzz... it's... like an overdrive pedal with the blend knob nearly all the way towards the dry sound. It does have a headphone socket. I tried it at home, and I could not be certain. My headphones are not very good and bass frequencies make them be a bit noisy... so that was inconclusive. Dennis had the same idea and we tried it with a pair of headphones he had. We could not hear the buzz through the headphones, but again we could not be certain that it was truly buzz free, it was not the best sound possible. I should feed the headphone output into my RH450 and into the combo's internal speaker, and see whether it's truly buzz free.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1349460979' post='1826710'] Hmm, it does sound like he dropped the ball in this case. Have you tried the send and return jacks to confirm whether the distortion is coming from the power amp? Your description (distortion/noise blended with the signal at constant level, more audible during quieter playing) sounds a classic description of crossover distortion in the power amp. If I had a transistor amp making this noise, I'd start by checking the power transistors and their bias voltages. [/quote] Not yet. This was something that only occurred to me today on my way back from retrieving the amp. I will definitely try to bypass the preamp that way and see whether the buzz is still there. However, I would not know what to do beyond that. If I still get buzz, I would conclude it's the power amp. But no idea what to do next. If the buzz goes, I'd conclude it's the preamp... in which case I'd still not know what to do but I could bypass it permanently using another preamp in a box. I was on my way to become an engineer, specialising in electronics, inspired by Tom Scholz and my neighbour -who built a whole hifi system for himself- but then I discovered genetics... so I know nothing. And I am not from Barcelona.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1349460065' post='1826692'] Jose..... as a scientist your kind of methodical logical approach isn't followed by everyone.... can you not open it up yourself to have a look? it can't be that technical inside [/quote] ok, there is science and there is science my approach was just that: logical. Just attempting to isolate the source of the problem. The source is the amplifier itself. I went through it all with him the second time I met him, and he agreed with everything But that's as far as I go... then it's time for somebody who knows his electronics and is familiar with amplifiers to dissect it further. Not me. I opened it, of course. I open up anything even if I have no clue what I'm looking at! [1] BUt there is nothing like an obvious loose connection, or any signs of damage... I can't trouble shoot an amplifier. I may try to dissect whether the issue is the preamp or the power amp section... if they are modular... But really, this is not my field of expertise. [1] my dad had a mortar shell (empty) when I was little, from his military days. I was about 8 when I took it apart. I was not sure whether it was live or not, but I had seen movies where they deactivated bombs from the German bombers by unscrewing the tip etc etc and I figured it would be interesting to see whether these were anything like them. I was pretty nervous

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1349459374' post='1826681'] I've known Dennis for over 10 years and his roster of clients can't be argued with; but he is still human. I've only known him once over the years to miss something on an amp of mine but would still regard him as a brilliant amp tech. With my valve amp he missed an incredibly hard to see clipped wire which had been done by a previous tech (Slade's Charlie) to kill the normal channel on the amp - why you'd do that I have no idea but that's what it was. This too was only spotted by using an instrument through the amp rather that meters so I take your point. He was more than happy to rectify it gratis. I've referred many people to him as a first port of call - and to be honest you're the first I've heard of to be disappointed. That's not to say I'm not believing you in any way; I'm just saying in my work too I try to achieve perfection, sometimes - but not often - I miss the mark. [/quote] I had heard very good things about him too, that's why I decided to approach him. He seemed nice enough the first two times I saw him, and the second one, when I did all the swapping amp/speaker etc with him I really warmed up to him. I have no doubt he knows a thing or seventeen about amplifiers, that much is un-arguable. I accept that he, like anyone else, can make the wrong call at times. I can accept that he cannot find the fault in my amp as well. This particular amp is not exactly high end and I gather it's heavy on circuit boards and chips... I can understand it if he told me that it's just not practical to trouble shoot it... in fact it was an answer I was assuming would be coming quite quickly. But the way he went about my amp with me was quite disappointing. I don't know what's wrong, obviously But I know it's not the speaker. That is pretty clear, and first I told him about it, later I showed him and he agreed with everything I had established until then. But then, after a few weeks (he was away at one point, then I was away) it's like all that was forgotten and he convinced himself that the speaker was to blame... When I point that out to him (and I am normally a polite person, but I am especially polite with people who have the ability to help me so I was in no way showing disrespect or anything) he dismissed it all, and I felt he was being rather condescending. It was not a pleasant experience. I can accept I'm the unlucky one. I am not upset about his not fixing the amp. But I felt he was being dismissive, and that's what I did not like. Despite it all, I asked him how much I owed him for his time, and he did not want any money, to his credit. Only the initial £35 I gave him the first time. I was working on the assumption that he'd try, and I'd pay for his time regardless of the outcome. Anyway. That was my experience.

warning: a bit of a rant coming. So I have this Hartke A100, a 100W combo with a 15" speaker... Nothing special, but pretty nice sounding. Nice deep sound at low volumes, and it can get pretty loud so it's suitable for rehearsals. Now, mine developed a buzzing sound. It's not really noticeable at moderate/loud volume, but it is noticeable when playing quietly at home. It sounds like I had an overdrive pedal with the blend knob set almost fully clean, but letting a bit of distortion through. So I did the following: 1) I disconnected the internal speaker, and plugged the combo's amp into an external cabinet (actual two different ones). It still buzzed. 2) I connected a separate bass head to the internal speaker. I did not buzz. From that I concluded that the buzz was not mechanical, that the speaker and cab is just fine, and that the problem lies within the amplifier. I took the combo to someone that I had heard good things about, not far from where I live, about 20 miles away. I explained the situation, and he kept the amp. Two days later: "the transformer was loose", and something else, and he thinks maybe what I was hearing was some static because of components being loose. I express surprise, pay him £35, and take away the amp. Of course, I plugged it in and nothing had changed. Ok, I blame myself for not having shown the man the buzz I was talking about. My results from swapping amp and cabs above did not seem compatible with his verdict, which shows maybe he did not pay much attention to what I said. I get back in touch, and I take it back to him. This time I make sure he hears the buzz. He jokes "oh, we play rock and roll here, loud! I guess I missed that buzz but I hear it now, yes!". Fine. I also demonstrate the effects of swapping amp/cab, and he agrees that it has to be in the amp itself. Several weeks later he tells me that he "rebuilt the power supply" as he could see something there on his oscilloscope and that it was ok, but that he tried the speaker on its own attached to his signal generator and it buzzed. He concluded it was the speaker and proceeded to give me quotes for new speakers. I said no, the speaker was fine. We agreed I would come round and collect the amp then. I collected it today. He was adamant it was just the speaker, it needs a new speaker. I did not appreciate his condescending tone. I reminded him that he heard, with me, how a separate amp connected to the speaker did not buzz. I reminded him that the amp alone connected to a separate cab produced the buzz... so clearly it was not my speaker. He did not comment. I can accept it if he cannot find the solution, and I would pay for his time anyway. But he ignored everything I said and even what I showed him, in person. He just went on about what his oscilloscope shows... when it's something you can hear (which makes me question whether he knows how to use the oscilloscope) and having a dismissive condescending demeanor. I got home and tried the amp. Exactly as it was when I first approached him, well over a month ago. What a waste of time. There's nothing wrong with admitting defeat. It happens. But I have no respect for someone who does not listen to the customer's indications, and shows no logical thinking. He'd have charged me for replacing the speaker... and I'd be here a week from now, with the very same situation I have now, nothing fixed, and less money in my pocket. Seriously, don't take your amps to this man.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1349101500' post='1821785'] My understanding of the OP is that the whole bass is detuned a semitone so that would be 4 new detuners. I think I'd rather just take a second bass as a backup that could be detuned in advance. In fact come to think of it I'm sure I've done gigs where I did precisely that. [/quote] re-reading the OP... you may be right! In which case... I agree, 4 Hipshots will work, but it seems a bit over the top. I´d just detune on the spot or bring a second bass if I need it for more than one song.