Mr. Foxen

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1334853386' post='1622425'] Just like if you mix red paint and green paint in one tin you get a tin of brown paint. [/quote] With the addition of you look at it, and your brain goes 'Hey, tartan paint'. The errors introduced by various things it what makes some sounds a bit annoying.

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1334856220' post='1622505'] I think all the parts mentioned above aren't actually copies - they just fit in the place of the original RIC part. At a tangent slightly, but has Hipshot actually changed their design? Just looked at their website and the footprint (the bit JH had a problem with) looks to be the same. [/quote] Think there was some messing about with the curve/angle at the edges, so side by side they are different, but obviously Hipshot aimed to look as similar as they can. There mere fact they have replacement parts shows the need for them. you know there is something wrong when they stop people doing better instead of doing better themselves.

Would avoid the T, and go Super 15. Which is exactly what I do.

Its all one sound. The wave isn't a neat sine, its loads of frequencies combined to a wibbly wave, you only get a series of perfect sine waves if you run a Fourier transform to divide them up. The cunning bit is just after your ears where you divide them up into different sounds, like a guitar and a voice at once, or not cunning when you consider it has been totally conned and isn't a guitar and a voice at all but a vibrating speaker.

What cab are you suing? Right cab will sort the volume issue.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1334847836' post='1622303'] You can share a cab but you can't share the speakers in a cab. I played with a guitarist who had a 410 rewired so that the left pair of speakers were powered by 1 amp and the right pair powered by a different amp. [/quote] Speakers sharing airspace with different signals is pretty bad news for bass, the air in the box is pretty important for the purpose.

Two Matamp rigs. Much more complicated things to make than woo solid body basses so worth putting the money into. [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1334830563' post='1621893'] I ought to qualify my original post by saying that I don't actually need any more basses and if I was to buy another one it would most likely cost more than £5k, so for me the money would be better spent on other things for the band. [/quote] You should totally invest it in having us make aluminium necks. [quote name='Conan' timestamp='1334846614' post='1622286'] "I'll take it! Do you [i]except[/i] cash my man?". [/quote] Aaargh

The OG: [IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/frankenbasses001.jpg[/IMG] My first serious bass, in that I payed actual money for it new, £70. A online store ha two dozen delivered an I asked them to twang each one an send me the loudest. Only original parts aside from the woodwork are the Earth wire, some scratchplate screws and three machine heads. Drilled for through strung bridges (this is third or fourth bridge) routed for a neck pickup, Hipshot detuner, Think Kent Armstrong pickups, switchable mono/stereo output, graphtech nut, heavy Elixir strings, two volumes no tone control. This is still my bass of choice for solo/Warrior Pope gigs in standard tuning, since I know how it feeds back really well and its all set up for definition and bottom so I can got from clean folky fingerpicking to massive gut shaking drone jsut using the volumes. The supposed to be upgrade version: [IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/frankenbasses002.jpg[/IMG] After putting together a guitar for hybrid folky Jim Moray with a piezo bridge, decided that would be the way to get my clean acousticy tone, so put this together out of accumulated parts. As it turned out, don't really get on with the slimmer profile Squier telebass neck. Also dual output, no switch sinc the piezo bridge needs buffering. Use it for recording because the acoustic sound is still really nice. Proof of concept for another project: [IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/drum001.jpg[/IMG] Just to show can get enough acoustic volume and brightness from a drum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1wo-XiDu9g

[quote name='bennymalta' timestamp='1334841821' post='1622195'] No you're right, they're two different things. Thankfully, thats settled and it looks like this amp sgot plenty of low end. About the clean or dirty tone. I've read that this amp is really really dirty and I'm afraid I wown't be able to get a clean sound out of it. I mean, sometimes you get those situations were you lower the gain (and work around) to get a nice clean warm tone but the amp just then looses all its power and low end. And frankly, I don't wanna be in that situation! Now I dont know whats the issue with this amp... [/quote] Main issue is it comes loaded with the wrong valves, needs sorting out as per link above. This also means the DI out is too hot.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1334843307' post='1622225'] Ah, now I get it, analogous to tech companies then, Apple = Ric, MS = Fender? [/quote] If RIC were apple, they wouldn't have jack outputs, only some special connector only compatible with RIC amps and cables. Hope they don't see that idea. Fender are more open source, lots of people work off the platform they provide, and they are pretty much free to do so.

Pretty bad plan all round. Valve amp needs a load, so especially bad involving one.Not really sure why you' want to use stuff other than a Hiwatt if you have one anyway.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1334842050' post='1622201'] I think I've kinda lost sight of what the original discussion actually was, but is Ric's QC as bad as Fender's, or is there simply a wide variability in sound etc from Rics (i.e., do they tend to build each the same but due to the vagaries of wood they sound different, or do they realy build each insturment differently)? Personally as I said above, I have found far worse QC with Fender than with Ric. Also, surely the massive scale -and therefore more automated processes - of Fender should reduce issues not increase them? [/quote] Don't really know why Fender have been brought into it at all. Whole point is brand is an overrated consideration, and is the main source of the disconnect between price and quality. RIC work the brand thing to the point where it overrides all other considerations. The Fender comparison mostly acts to show what not doing that does, mostly giving people more options, both under and outside of the Fender brand.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1334839722' post='1622138'] So you're saying that any crap QC at Fender is OK because if you get a crap part (e.g., neck pocket) you can replace it with aftermarket one from another company (e.g., a Warmoth body) [/quote] Think they licence them to the other companies, so still Fender endorsed. Although should I buy a new one with such an error (which I basically wouldn't, because I don't pay for brands when I can achieve same function elsewhere) it would be a warranty call. It is the attitude of actively stopping the option of improving/sorting such issues that is problematic. Fender quality control suffers from the immense scale of production, but they are happy to allow for the issues to be correctable. RIC don't have the first excuse, and don't allow for the latter.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1334836020' post='1622055'] Pity Leo Quan or Hipshot don't make drop in neck pockets Not sure I agree with you on that, OK Ric aren't at the scale of Fender, but neither are they Wal. Or perhaps I missed your point? [/quote] Can get bodies and necks, that does it. The point in that go back to the defences of RICs actions and attitude being because they are a small family run company. Can't have cake an eat it. [quote name='4000' timestamp='1334836414' post='1622068'] You can get aftermarket parts for Rics. Hipshot, Badass, SD, Bartolini, etc. [/quote] Hipshot had to redesign the bridge to look less like the original because of RIC legal action. They've made similar threats to various other aftermarket parts makers, anything that retains the look regardless of improved function. Hence the pickups made looking different. Equivalent to stopping P bass pickups having the dominoes look.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1334820668' post='1621657'] I don't mind Rcs being bashed on tone etc because that's a horses for courses issue, but IME their QC is no worse than any of the other large scale manufacturers. [/quote] Thing is, they supposedly aren't a large scale manufacturer, they are pulling the 'family owned business' and exclusivity thing. I'm still pressing to cut brand out of the judgement of basses, but the Fender style/attitude makes issues much easier to correct since they let aftermarket parts makers do their thing.

Trying to fit the new tuners, managed to drop one of the washers which went through a crack in the floor. Pulled up a board to ahve a root around down there, see if I could recover it. I got some Meccano an these marbles: [IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/shielding002.jpg[/IMG] There was some seashells too, so must have been some kids stash of shiny things. So gave up on the machine heads for the moment, seeing if the supplier can send me one washer. On to the shielding, first time doing it with paint: [IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/shielding001.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1334787134' post='1621445'] Really? These are mass produced by the thousand and the finishing comprises dozens of processes and QA checks to produce the final bass. I'm struggling to believe that anything seen in the factory as poor doesn't go back for another go and even more struggling to believe that there are people waiting at the end of the production line playing all the basses sufficiently long time and in various playing contexts finding the 'good' ones (on what basis will they be 'good'?) [/quote] Strings going over the pole pieces would be a good start. Fender have this innovation where you can correct that, its a pretty popular piece of design among most manufacturers. Look back over the thread and you can see the quality control issues mentioned.

Anyone got cash burning for one of these? PMs as might not suggest the guy sign up and put an ad.

Active doesn't necessarily mean louder than passive, should be a unity gain buffer ideally, unless you have boosts and eq. Plenty of hot pickups, and I sort of guess passive output is on an upward trend anyway.

AT7 in place of an AX7.

The rebellion got bought. Nice that people are doing stuff to celebrate my birthday though.

Delivery to Bristol is doable, I asked.

I've seen chrome P90 style 4 pole jobs that go into a bucker route, but I can't find them. What else goes, might end up with guitar rail pickups. Is for a pre routed body I picked up.

Again pushing the definition, but in the style of: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Musicvox-MI-5-Bass-Cool-Limited-MOD-Vintage-60s-style-Special-8-pole-PIckups-/320888807594?pt=Guitar&hash=item4ab676a0aa