Rayman

Frets have come up lovely…. Next up, an overnight soak in Monty’s ageing wax….

Parts upgrade primarily. The timber seems decent, nice rosewood neck, so it’s another project to practice my tech skills on. Quite a few of my basses have had the same treatment. In this case….. a fret dress, new pickups, new control plate (which I built yesterday)……. and probably a replacement bridge. The tuners seem reasonable. I Don’t currently have a jazz type bass, so hopefully this will be it.

Ok, so mystery solved I think. It was the tuners that gave it away, and after a lot of digging, turns out it’s a Chinese LTD. No big deal really, as the only parts I’m keeping are the wooden ones, and they seem like decent pieces of timber. Onwards.

Oh…. the fret job isn’t great either. I’ll sort that too.

The answer is no it isn’t, at least I’m pretty sure it isn’t. It’s definitely ESP shaped, but the decals are clearly aftermarket additions. The headstock is the right shape, and the neck and body clearly have age, as both the pick guard and the neck lacquer have discoloured nicely. It was advertised as a possible Japanese ESP from the 90s. It’s certainly isn’t MIJ, but it could be 80s/90s, maybe Korean? Please do give me your opinions. Solid one piece maple neck, and rosewood, and a solid alder(?) body or similar. Total rubbish electrics already in the bin… I’ve made the new control plate this afternoon… and SD QPs on order from Guitar Guitar. Check out the mad pickup routing??…… The neck pup rout is way bigger than the bridge one….. definitely not a high end job. Anyway, work is underway as you can see, lots more to follow. Hit me up with any input on its origin. It definitely has age, and they’re nice pieces of wood, a good solid foundation to build on I guess. Re- badged LTD maybe?? Don’t know. It’ll be a belter when I’m finished though. Watch this space

Drugs make you think your bad ideas are great.

Well for now at least I’ve gone for this Laney R1……. Not anything like tiny, but as a 65W 1x10 kickback it’s perfect for home playing. I’ve already replaced the speaker with the yellow Celestion BL10-70 you see here. I’ve also put a decent horn in it. So it sounds great and handles the low B on my Aria with ease. However…. the search for a tiny option continues.

Niiiiiiiiice

My first gig, Maiden at the Manchester Apollo, with the original lineup, probably ‘80/‘81. DiAnno was my hero after that. I was gutted when he left, and those first two albums are still their best. I never did warm to Bruce. Never seen them since.

Good job. It’s a pain, but, very fulfilling to have to figure out these problems for yourself. I had the exact same issue with a BB300 a few years ago, and a MIT BB1100. I ended up fashioning something similar to you.

Yes, Laney are tarred with the ‘budget’ brush I think. Shame really. The Richter amps are really good. One of my favourite guitar amps ever is the Laney linebacker 65, absolutely awesome it was.

Yes indeed! I was one of them! 😆 I’m still bitter.

I have no concept of Linkin Park, apart from the fabulous stuff they did with JZ. Mrs Rayman on the other hand is/was a massive fan, and she is far from happy with the new singer. That’s about all I know!

Very pleased indeed with the new (used) 10” speaker. It’s a like for like Celestion BL10 - 70, used but tested by the seller, the only real difference is the yellow painted cone which looks very cool. The horn, a Stageline HT30 is head and shoulders above the previous plastic job in terms of quality, so I’m delighted really. I did however have to rout out the hole with my Dremel in order to get it in. A great range of tones, plenty of low end for laid back grooves here in the flat. Noticeably the clipping seems to have gone until you push the gain up hard, so no surprise there. Was it just a loose speaker after all that? Vibrating maybe? It’s possible, as I see absolutely nothing wrong with the old speaker. Either way, I’ve ended up with a great home practice amp.

I was there on Thursday. A lot of Algam stock on the shelves. They’re going to need a bigger warehouse to accommodate all the new equipment. Bass amps will still play an important role, but there’s a lot of other irons in fires by the looks of things.

Well I hope you obliged!

Absolutely. Something else I need to organise is some kind of stand or box or something to stand the rig on.

I ran out of space ages ago for sneaking stuff in past Mrs Rayman, so, now I’ve got a storage unit in town 😉.

I played guitar for years through a couple of different bass amps, no problem. In fact when I went back to a Fender Princeton guitar amp, it sounded thin to me. It took a while to re adjust. You might not get that high end sparkle, but you a lovely warm tone. Decades ago, probably 4, my brother bought a Vox combo from Rhythm House music in Stockport to play lead/rhythm guitar through. He used it for years. It always did have a warm tone to it. Turned out it was a bass amp.

Thanks indeed for all of that. Primarily I want loud but portable. So the TC and the two 1x12 Hartkes appeals a lot. However is that going to match the grunt of the Ashdown head, 2x10 and 1x15? I dunno. We’re not talking stadiums here, it’s mostly rock/metal nights in small/medium venues. I Want to make a decision on if I’m sticking with Ashdown, or going small and portable with the TC and a couple of more portable cabs.

Thanks for that. Just to clarify, I’m looking at 2x 1x12s

I like the idea of a couple of portable 2x12s, I just don’t know if they’re up to it?

Most of the gigs I’m DI’d yes. So obviously this kind of negates the need for a ‘big rig’. But on Saturday, onstage, the TC + 410 was a bit lost. It sounded fine out front I’m sure, but onstage the sound, for me, was lacking, which effects how I play. However, we also do gigs where we don’t have DI, so I need to have that covered too.

I’ve never been an amp guy. I find them far less exciting than basses. However I really want to get my rig sorted. I’ve been using a TC D class head into a TC 4x10 for gigs (original heavy rock, Thunderbird bass). The TC sounds fine, but it’s not amazing. I have an Ashdown ABM 500 combo, which I love, especially on top of the ABM 1x15 cab, but it’s too heavy and cumbersome. We live in an upstairs flat and I’m not getting any younger. So I bought an ABM 500 head, a 2x10 cab and the 1x15 cab, which I haven’t tested live yet, but I feel like this rig is still pretty bulky. Someone I know is selling a couple of Hartke Hidrive 1x12 cabs. Super light and portable and very reasonably priced. Will those 2 Hartke cabs work with the TC head for hard rock? Will they have enough clout?

Mrs Rayman was treated to a Chicken Korma from the local curry house that particular night.