Mr. Foxen

What is the impedance of the input you are using?

[quote name='danhkr' timestamp='1353073250' post='1871281'] I'm fairly certain ebay doesn't actually have access to messages sent between members. [/quote] I'm absolutely certain they do have access to them, because whenever I phone them up with a problem, directing them to read through the messages saves me having to explain the situation.

Valve eq are pretty limited in sweep, so you can spin the knobs and not stray too far from a sensible sound. From knob positions they'll look like a lot of eq, but because flat isn't in the middle, it tends not to be. But, if its first rig, the cab is vastly more important than the amp, because they are a major limiting factor in your sound, loads of eq tends to be to compensate for the deficiencies of a cab.

Do you need much eq to get your sound?

Mate my super heavy strings much easier to fit into standard bridges. The extra flexibility at the bridge contact point also can reduce inharmonicity a bit, bit more like a piano string.

[quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1353109001' post='1871839'] I'm still not sure if he's being truely honest in his listing, not once does he mention Squier anywhere (back to the car analogy, it would be like buying a VW Golf only to get a Skoda Fabia with the seller saying "well the Skoda is by VW") but that's not to say for sure that he's being dishonest either - maybe he doesn't know the difference. [/quote] Do the Skodas have "[size=6]Skoda [size=3]by VW" on them though? Some Squier stuff has the "Fender" bigger than the "Squier Series".[/size][/size]

They say 'by Fender' on them, as per the listing, Fender is the better search term. Not that this guy has the first clue about using search keywords. Quite a lot say 'Squier series, by Fender' too, so overall they are still Fenders, Squier is like a sub category.

+1 the cheap and really good Korean thing has happened. The Korean made Epiphones are really nice but the new ones are made in China with the same model numbering.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1353068267' post='1871166'] and isn't the truss rod adjustment at the headstock on that one anyway? at any rate, I'm not sure how anyobne can conclude much from such picture. It bareley says anything other than... it's a reddish stratocaster. Can't even see the logo. [/quote] Strat is sig pic, the link is a P bass: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/fender-precision-usa-genuine-1978-bass-guitar-/181019270838

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1353020594' post='1870739'] Not sure I agree with that. A marshall always sounds like a Marshall and a Hiwatt always sounds like a Hiwatt and no amount of EQ or fiddling will make one sound like the other, also, a SS amp will never sound like a valve amp. It might come close but never the same and visa versa. [/quote] My Hiwatts sound different to each other. And loads of people are after a variant on the DR103 I have with a dirtier sound. Passive valve EQ on them are still pretty limited in range you you can't stray for from the sound they have individually. I've had tons of amps that sound like Marshalls, but I can usually fix them so they work properly. Edit: typo

One of the things about those anechoic chambers is apparently being able to hear the blood swooshing about in your brain, and the pulse of it all changing as you think about different stuff.

Generally back of the neck is finished, and fingerboard might not be, typically rosewood broads are unfinished, and depending on conditions might need something other that a clean off now and again. I like oiled back of necks in theory, sometimes an oil finish needs topping up with the appropriate oil (and that depends what it was done with to start with). Likely scenario: Rickenbacker is lacquered all over, so treat front and back the same. Fender Precision is lacquered all voer if maple board, or just on the back if rosewood. If the rosewood seems dry, might need feeding, lemon oil by default, although there are a million potions and opinions. Musicman I heard can have oiled back necks, think its gunstock oil. But not all of them, if its different to the precision's finish, might be that.

Pickguard looks kinda wrong style, but could had been replaced with the along with the EMGs, not sure how good a fit they are to standard guard. Fairly sure 78 predates the through body stringing on US ones.

[quote name='4000' timestamp='1353015936' post='1870647'] If price isn't important (and it isn't really) why do you constantly stress it as a negative/positive? And though price and country of origin may not be important, country of origin does have an affect on price, and yes, you also keep referring to that. [/quote] Because paying for nothing is a waste of money, and money is a finite resource for most people. It is a very real thing, as the exchange medium to purchase an item to perform a function, you can pay for function, or you can pay for exclusivity from a marketing strategy, with the corresponding reflection on which you rate more of your music or your image.

Amps would have to have very few knobs on them to be able to make such a generalisation with any validity. Not that that will stop anyone. Stuff with really limited eq, like the 3 band valve hybrids, the bass Terror and the Hartke LH things, those in theory are the same eq voicing, but different gain levels. The more eq control you have, the easier it is to get it wrong, and most active preamp SS stuff has +/-15 db on the knobs, which is an enormous range.

Is there enough strength in that little maple?

Country of origin has no contribution to the substance of an instrument. Nor does price. Substance can come at a cost, because you can have an instrument made to fulfil most things if the luthier is skilled enough, and you are honest enough in knowing and communicating what you want, the trick there is telling them what you want to achieve not telling them how to achieve it, because they know that part better than you.

Talking neck or fingerboard?

[quote name='Bassman62' timestamp='1352996423' post='1870320'] Many loudspeaker cab manufacurers use the least expensive speakers that they can get away with whilst charging phenominaly high prices for the finished product. Some few short years ago two of the most popular cabs from a leading UK manufacturer retailed at £499 each, these being a 4x10 and a 1x15, the 10" & 15" speakers left the actual speaker manufacturer for approx £9.50 (10") & £32 (15") each which equated £461 £467 for the empty cabinets which were basic tuned cabinets, nothing complex. [/quote] They had to pay BFM for designing the cab though.

Well, best is just to exchange emails and do it off ebay. Chances of them noticing and doing much is slim.

[quote]6550 (also known as KT88)[/quote] Only by people who don't know how to read data sheets.

But if the logo makes it cost 4 to 5 times as much as an otherwise equivalent instrument, it throws the value for money right out the window. Which is the whole point of the exclusivity being easier to sell than substance, making a good instrument is quite difficult. Stuff can be inconsistent when you can buy 5, pick the best of them and bin the rest for the price of a single inconsistent instrument with an expensive logo.

Bit strange grain/join orientation there.

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1352938111' post='1869717'] Sorry Oli, but I've got to say I don't think that cuts it. It pretty much renders your post entirely pointless, especially as you don't attach a price point to the bass which plays 'as good as could possibly be for the price'. Which of course was the point of 4000's post. It also fail's to answer Cairobill's post which prompted your reply in the first place. As things stand you're just announcing "I've got a nice bass", which presumably you got for a good price. It doesn't really move things along much. [/quote] The point of the substance thing being that the mystique built around the brand has no substance, but serves to maintain a high price. A concious decision has been made to pursue that end. The real substance of an instrument is down to the player to a massive extent. All of the branding stuff is value to a dealer, and is essentially insubstantial, it is just theory. As in, 'in theory, a cheap Chinese bass is inferior to an expensive American one', but in practice, the cheap Chinese one is massively better, because the practice is in the playing, and I can only absolutely say that about a bass I've been playing in favour of other basses. Having a 2mm action etc is still theoretical, in itself it doesn't make the bass good because it might still be unsuited to the player, although it has a contribution to make. But a brand name contributes nothing but resale value, and resale value is only good for basses you don't want to play.

If you want to try it, you'd have to come round my house and do so. Brand isn't a relevant reference point because it bears no relation to the substance of a bass. I was asked to suggest a bass of substance. And since I've been playing this one for many years, and continue to do so in favour of a great many others, I can say with absolute certainty, that it is an excellent instrument. The writing on the headstock is absolutely irrelevant to that. For the name thing if I'm asked to suggest a good guitar tech, I'll point someone at a specific guy, once I've established a few specifics, as opposed to going 'just go for any guy called Jones', because not all Jones' are the same person. I like my bass because when I choose to play bass, this is the bass I like to play. This one, not any other ones that are similarly configured. [quote name='4000' timestamp='1352934713' post='1869667'] If I like a Picasso, is it only because Picasso painted it? [/quote] See, if you'd said 'painting' instead of the first 'Picasso' it might have looked like you meant it.