obbm

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1509642332' post='3400560'] Well over here from the mid 60's on, we had Marshall, Sound City, Hiwatt and Orange amps and cabs. I'd say the sound of those amps and the bands that used them created and defined the sound of Rock. [/quote] ..... and Watkins, Vox T60, Vox Foundation Bass, Vox AC30B, Selmer Goliath, etc.

[quote name='SICbass' timestamp='1509537501' post='3399680'] That is absolutely briliant. For a moment there, I thought it was going to be one of skankdelvar's (a most excellent BCer) imaginative pieces of work á la Monty Python's "Luxury - t't kids uv tuday" etc. and then it turns out the whole thing is real. Or it least I hope it is and I'm not just a gullible prat, because it makes super reading. [/quote] Thanks. Absolutely true. The local music shop was Potters in Aldershot. It closed years ago but the edifice is still there.

The year was 1963. Jet Harris had left the Shadows and I'd just seen Little Richard and a few other artists at a show in Slough. I decided that I wanted to play a bass so I set about building myself one because real basses were just far too expensive, about 8 times the average weekly wage and I was still a poor schoolboy. My first bass was made out of one piece of plywood with no form of truss rod - I had no idea about such things as a 16 year old. The frets were inverted pieces of model railway track and the spacing was calculated using logarithmic tables. I needed a pick-up and remembered that during WW2 when my father was in the anti-aircraft artillery, one of his spoils was a German flying helmet. I'd used this as a headphone however needs must so I removed the ear-pieces and used them as the pick-ups. I saved up to to buy some tuners, a bridge and strings from a local music shop put it all together and amazingly it worked although the neck was like a banana and the action appalling. The second bass was made from a 1-inch thick piece of Pirana Pine and used most of the components from the original. I bought a cheap pick-up for this one. I had no amplifier so I got inside the family radiogram and soldered a screened cable to the volume pot. It worked but wasn't loud enough so I had to use my tape recorder to boost the signal. All very Heath Robinson but it worked and it meant that I could play along with records. Having played the trombone at school I had some understanding of music fundamentals however there were no tutors or internet back in 1963 so I bought just about the only tutorial book available and set out to learn some scales. Eventually I persuaded my mother to lend me £45 to buy a Framus Star bass, saved up and bought a Linear 30 amplifier and got a cabinet maker to build me a copy of a Marshall 4x12 which was fitted with Bakers Group 25 speakers from shop in Croydon. This rig served me well for several years.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1509491739' post='3399467'] A friend used his parents radiogram instead of an amp. Today's rubbish gear is sheer luxury compared to the gear we started on back then. [/quote] Amen Chris. I modded my parents radiogram to use as a power amp and used a modded Philips Tape Recorder as a pre-amp.

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1509491615' post='3399465'] My speakons to my tc450 only work one way round, they are all marked which way is the head end! [/quote] Seeing as a cable is simply copper to copper with no active components I fear this is just another case of [i]Snake Oil.[/i]

[quote name='TomRandles97' timestamp='1509476590' post='3399303'] It's about 9 Years old. It isn't Neutrik, it's gear4music which is giving me some cause for concern. And no, it doesn't. I have a feeling that they sent me the wrong cable as the pole piece in the centre of the input (I'm sure that's probably not the correct terminology lol) is round, whereas I have another 2 pole neutrik brand speakon that has more of a semicircular pole piece. The one I just bought does fit the connection though so I'm unsure of how to differentiate between them. If it was a 4 pole, would this be the reason it's not working? [/quote] There have been a number of instances of problems with Markbass amps fitted with early Speakon combo sockets. I have an LM2 myself which is a bit picky about which Speakons it work with it. For the life of me I've not been able to get to the bottom of it yet. Best to stick with genuine Neutrik 2-pole connectors, because that's what the combo sockets are, and if one doesn't work then try another.

1. How old is the amp? i.e what is the year of manufacture? 2. Is the Speakon on your new cable a genuine Neutrik? 3. Does waggling the Speakon and cable up and down make any difference?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1509474247' post='3399278'] IIRC the better right-angle XLRs allow the body to be rotated to each of the four 90° positions when you assemble it. [/quote] Not true for all makes of right-angle XLRs.

I have some brand new generic right-angle male and female XLRs which are £1 each plus postage if you are interested.

A couple of years ago I won some strings in the raffle at the SE Bass Bash. They have been fitted to my '73 precision for a while now and I really like them but I have no idea what make they are. The set is 50-70-90-110 The are flatwound. The winding is very tight so the string is incredibly smooth, unlike, for example, Rotosound. There are grey silks at the tuner end only, none at the bridge end. My first thought was Sadowsky Black Label as I have some of those and they have grey silks but they do not currently do 50-110 and anyway the mystery strings are slightly lower tension than the Black Labels. Can anyone throw any light on what make these might be?

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1508591844' post='3393156'] It's an XLR to mono jack cable that I bought from Amazon. It's a good quality one, Van Damme cable and Neutrik plugs. I'm not very technically minded as you may have noticed . [/quote] Without knowing how the inside of the XLR is wired it's difficult to advise but balanced outputs were fitted to some basses to improve the signal when recording directly into a desk. For use with pedals you are much better off using the normal unbalanced jack output. I should return your Amazon cable and get a refund.

Firstly they are both outputs, not inputs because the bass is a signal generator. The XLR will be a balanced output designed go girectly into a mixer channel. You don't say what sort of XLR to jack cable you are using but it could be you are grounding one leg of the balanced signal.

Another successful deal with the Basschat legend that is Merton. Thanks Martin. I hope the young man appreciates it.

Great result.

I took delivery of my first on Wednesday, used it at rehearsal that evening with an LMII and as a result ordered a second cab yesterday. I'll let you know in a months time.

About 20 years ago I bought a Fender 5-string Jazz from the USA. My first 5-string and I hated it. The neck was so wide that I just physically couldn't get my hand across the fretboard. It was moved on very quickly.

[quote name='KK Jale' timestamp='1508170868' post='3390232'] I really really wish I hadn't looked that up and seen how much you snagged it for. [/quote] Gulp!!! I am currently awaiting delivery of a new one any day now.

A bit more research shows that there are 2 companies trading under the name Chord. The Chord Cable Company who specialise in high-end Hi-Fi and other music related cables. Their Speakon cables start at £40 and go to £100. and Chord music brand, part of the AVSL Group Limited. [url="https://www.avsl.com/brands/chord"]https://www.avsl.com/brands/chord[/url] Very confusing and misleading. I think the OP's cable is from the latter, probably made in the Far East.

The red should go to terminal 1+ at both ends and the black to terminal 1- at both ends regardless of whether the plugs are 2-pole or 4-pole Are the connectors genuine Neutrik Speakons? Just looked at the Chord Cables web site and they don't list any Speakon cables. Did the packaging say they were made by The Chord Cable Company, Amesbury, Wiltshire?

The G2 transmitter has 2 inputs. The Mic input uses the tip of the 3.5mm jack for hot and the sleeve for ground. The ring should be left unconnected. The Instrument input uses the ring of the 3.5mm jack for hot and the sleeve for ground. The tip should be left unconnected.

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1506967891' post='3382418'] Thanks for sharing that. Can you post a link to your recommended seller and how much do the [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Sadowsky Black label Flats set you back per set?[/font][/color] [/quote] The Ebay seller is "bass-vik". A set of 45-105 Black Label Flatwound strings was £35.55 posted and delivered within 2-3 days. He doesn't seem to have any more of these at the moment but they do come up onto Ebay quite often. I originally found him by searching for "Sadowsky" in "European Union".

I've been through several different types; TI Flats - too floppy, Labella - too high tension, Rotosound - came with a dead G string. Eventually I happened across Sadowsky Black label Flats. I have them on my Precisions, Jazz and the Sadowsky HPJ. To quote another user "All the low end goodness one would expect from a set of flats but with very nice mids for some punch and clarity as well instead of just thump and thud like some traditional flats". They are made by Labella but are lower tension than their own brands. Difficult to find in the UK however there is an excellent Ebay seller in Poland whose prices are competitive and ships very quickly.

I have a string that I think is a Thomastik - red silks and slimmed down at the bridge end. Diameter is .128. It was cut and fitted to an SR5 very briefly and then removed after one gig.

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1506280754' post='3377591'] I guess that it would change the tapping on the output transformer between 4 and 8 ohm tappings. [/quote] Orange Terror Bass 500 is Class D Solid State and does not have an output transformer. The 4/8-ohm switch changes the settings of a limiter circuit at the front end of the power amp.