Mr. Foxen

[quote name='fatboyslimfast' post='1220983' date='May 5 2011, 01:15 PM']Result - kudos to Mr. Foxen and Shockwave. Thanks guys. Popped up to Kingswood today and there was indeed a Squier VM J-Bass '77 in black there, in as-new condition (really - I couldn't see a mark on it anywhere) for £175. There was also an older Yammy in natural finish (which sounded nice, but the action was a bit too high on the upper strings for me) for £95, and a black Ibanez for £115 (good nick, but had a slightly noisy tone pot and the intonation was out on the bottom string - all easily fixable). But for me, the action, sound and condition of the VMJ just blew the others away. Really liking the maple inlayed neck too. Bit more than I was intending, but he chucked in a strap and for what is essentially a new VMJ, I can't complain at all. Have to pick it up tomorrow as was on the minibeast today, and strapping the VMJ to my back didn't seem like too good a plan. Can't wait to get it home and start practising on it! Cheers again all... [/quote] Cool. If you want any work done on it, like a setup or a string change, bring it by the Doomhaus in Greenbank and I'll sort it and show you the basics of how to do it. Bring beer.

Report it if you seee it come up, not to get it pulled, but to back up anyone who buys it and has problems.

It is pretty soft and dings pretty easy, at least the stuff on cheap guitars does.

[quote name='bremen' post='1221932' date='May 6 2011, 09:07 AM']Tell us the story! I think it looks [i]bitchen[/i][/quote] [quote name='Johnston' post='1222019' date='May 6 2011, 10:27 AM']That needs elaborated on !!![/quote] [quote name='Wil' post='1222030' date='May 6 2011, 10:38 AM']From what I can recall, from what I read ages ago in an old thread on another forum, the previous owner's drains backed up and flooded the ground floor of their dwelling, leading to the guitar getting coated in a layer of effluence. I think the previous owner then proceeded to beat the guitar up with a baseball bat but I may be imagining that. Oli will correct me if I'm wrong I'm sure.[/quote] Bunjy posts here sometimes (mostly for gear perving), so no need to even alter names: [quote]Bunjy's first flat was in the basement of a terraced house, he had an aluminium baseball bat to get read of uninvited guests (which came in useful when he later lived above "Yellow cabs" in bemmie). It had an upstairs and downstairs toilet. When the upstairs toilet was used for a number two the downstairs one next Bunjy's bedroom would backup. One day, Bunjy and his girlfriend went to work. The guy that lived upstairs spent all day shitting in the upstairs toilet. Bunjy and his girlfriend came home to find his BC Rich Mockingbird and everything else in their flat marinading in bum sauce. Ben picked up bat to kill said guy, girlfriend redirected him back into the flat where his rage was then directed at his now apparently useless, reeking musical equipment. I arrived the next day to find the remnants of the guitar chucked out in the bins, took it home, waited 7 years and gave it back to him.[/quote] The teller of the story is the chap who mastered and played second guitar on the Caricatures record, about when he turned up for the purpose he gave me the remains of this guitar, and I figured the smiling thing between him and Bunjy was to do with the amount of guitars that guy has broken and I've had to fix (the Mockingcaster being made of parts of three of them). That forum thread was the first I'd heard of the incident.

If you have the body, you are in the best position to evaluate it. I've had hands on an Indonesian Squier strat and it was one of the worst things I've handled, nasty ply routed badly, but some of the new top end Squiers are Indonesian and are pretty nice.

Spade connectors will do you. But I solder the wire ends before I put them in anyway.

[quote name='Wil' post='1221785' date='May 5 2011, 11:46 PM']If that's the guitar I think it is, I'm not sure I'd want to have had hands on it without rubber gloves...[/quote] Yeah, I didn't get told about that incident until I'd done most of the work and it had been sat around my house for 18 months. Raw sewage marinated guitars are pretty unfashionable I guess.

[quote name='Eight' post='1221511' date='May 5 2011, 08:23 PM']I'll be sure to try the NJ Deluxe basses at some point then. Cheers bud.[/quote] I have an old NJ Warlock, it was once a very nice bass but suffered the worse attempt at a refin ever (random direction sanding followed by painting with PVA glue). It is currently stripped and waiting for Waynepunkdude to swing by and grab it for a respray. I have an 86 NJ Mockingbird too, it is a lovely bass, but the pickups were microphonic. I've had hands on a really cheap mockingbird guitar too, i was rubbish, but is now awesome.

[quote name='Phil Starr' post='1220359' date='May 4 2011, 10:25 PM']In their current literature they describe the cabs as 4/8 ohms, do they have twin voice coils?[/quote] Would guess it means you get a choice when you buy, which would sort of explain the wrong driver/label cock up there. But the different voice coils from that shift about the rest of the spec a bit, guessing by a negligible amount?

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='1220178' date='May 4 2011, 07:42 PM']I saw all of them, he kept saying stuff then the other people (who clearly had no clue he had some form of fame!) around him were like "erm, no thats not what we believe we are... [insert wild statement] "[/quote] It was a lot like when the guitarist/main man of the band is being ranty, and the bassist trys to interject with something a little more sensible, if the interview was supposed to be aimed at the bassist instead, I think it got a bit top trumps though.

[quote name='Gust0o' post='1220028' date='May 4 2011, 04:41 PM']Also: Djent - [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djent"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djent[/url][/quote] This currently looks a lot like an article written by the bands that feature in it (except Meshuggah). I tried out with a band that pretty much fitted that description, using a BC Rich, but the Doom tone of my 10x12 rig kind of made the silly mid scooped guitar disappear. Can't really be dealing with all that fast stuff.

This is front runner on the new bit of nice gear race. Anyone got one yet?

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1219394' date='May 4 2011, 12:44 AM']He's out of business, they're all collectors items now. And the quality keeps going up with the price.[/quote] He might be a crazy old hippy who never sleeps, but he is still very much in business. I keep getting messages with his latest creations. His greatest work yet is [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bass-Fretless-4-String-Maple-Free-Form-Wishbass-/130514294327?pt=Guitar&hash=item1e63421637"]on ebay right now.[/url] It is a Wish style neck, glued to a randomly shaped piece of wood, totally impractical for making a bass from. Amazing.

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='1219281' date='May 3 2011, 10:25 PM']I think I actually used Wilko's own .... What a cheapskate I am! It was still better than the horrible brown varnish that the basses previous owner had used![/quote] Wilcos is more a wipe on varnish, Rustins is tung oil is a base that lets it penetrate. [quote name='Benplaysbass' post='1219290' date='May 3 2011, 10:29 PM']Thanks alot, will give it a go.[/quote] The secret is all in the sanding.

Rustins Danish oil is easy and gives good results, used it on all my stuff. Don't get Wilco own brand oil, got some for my doors and it totally sucks.

I'm leaning towards ordering a Wishbass.

Valve amps are less efficient, so the rule doesn't work so well there. My kilowatt Matamp blew a 5amp fuse on turning on, but it has always been happy running with them after that, not so long since it had a proper check up either.

And here is why bassists in Bristol have too much gear.

Wondering what basses are totally out of fashion. Now I'm not one of the cool kids, I've lost touch.

If you want a good bass in Bristol, I can sort you out. In fact, there might be a nice yammy, and a nice Squier, in budget in the Kingswood Cash Converters. Will ask Shockwave now.

[quote name='gusthebass' post='1218979' date='May 3 2011, 06:44 PM']So indeed, my experience. And the question then becomes how much more power does your amp actually need to really become "louder" (Higher SPL) with a small new cab instead of a big oldie!? Then there's this other thing about total membrane area (the 8x10s thing!)- though that could just be due to the increased number of drivers increasing the SPL for the same amp settings.. I'd liken this to playing acoustic bass guitars vs. a double bass - you know one of these works and the other one simply doesn't. Body volume, surface area..? Carry on please![/quote] Basically, the nearest you can get to a guide is the sensitivity spec, which is kind of rubbish as supplied by the manufacturer, but is the best you have to go on, unless you want to model the cabinet in WinISD or equivalent using its measurements and knowing what the driver is. From there, every 3db difference means doubling or halving the amp power to make up for the difference. Big oldies tend towards higher sensitivity from the bigness, and this was down to 'watts' being expensive (both in terms of the amps, and the driver's handling).

It will be nice for shielding, should be connected to earth anyway. I've fitted a bunch of stainless steel guards to Rickenbackers, and people are happy, improved balance too.

[quote name='paul h' post='1218754' date='May 3 2011, 04:06 PM']QUICK, YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE AND YOU CAN SAVE ONLY YOUR AMP OR ONLY YOUR CAB.....WHICH IS IT? [/quote] 95% chance it was the amp that started the fire.

I am sure 90% of the time the cab is the limiting factor on volume, but that is a different thing to 'tone'.