Slipperydick

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1438363271' post='2834007'] Has the amp ever had a Portable Appliance Test? Is the guitar lead shielded and is there continuity on all conductors? Could there be a loose lead in the guitar itself? If there's an earth issue on only one item of equipment it's likely to be the equipment itself that's at fault. I assume the new house earth is a PME system of some sort (i.e. earthed via the supply neutral)? If so your sparky will have given you a certificate with test results; this will hopefully show that your new earth loop impedance (i.e. the a.c. resistance from your house to the supply transformer) is less than 0.35ohms, which means that anything that's properly earthed won't be able to build up sufficient voltage between neutral and earth to give audible (or dangerous!) problems. It could also be that there's something else on the house power circuit which is interfering with guitar/amp, such as computer switch mode power supplies, electric motors or fluorescent lights which may have been masked by the higher earth loop resistance of the old earth spike - these still comply with regs at 200ohms, and I've found them at over 1000! [/quote] Is there anything in current regs to say you cant keep the earth rod or fit a new one in the same place, and have PME es well ? Might be a good compromise and wouldnt cost the earth. Much better to find the source and eliminate/ supress it it that to try and supress the amp though isnt it ?

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1438458758' post='2834706'] Earthed back at the substation and picking up interference from your neighbours. [/quote] 'Interference' would be more of a harsh buzz than a hum.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1438370225' post='2834088'] As a kid I remember watching all those black & white clips of all Mersey Beat Bands. I remember always thinking,[i]" I've got to get over there"[/i] Blue [/quote] S'funny that. Most of US were watching American TV programmes like 77 Sunset Strip, seeing everything shiny chrome and those 60s cars with tailfins and thinking the same thing.

[quote name='spongebob' timestamp='1438443022' post='2834572'] - improved earth getting interference.... [/quote] Errm - No !

Disconnect your router and cordless phones from the mains, switch off lights, especially ones with dimmers. disconnect anything thats on standby as well. See if it makes a difference, then disconnect anything with a display, such as heating timer, fridge etc. And I mean anywhere in the house, even if it runs on batteries. When you find it, you can suppress it at source - always the best way. Dont forget it could be something in your neighbours house. By the way, is it a hum or a buzz ? and is it 50HZ or a higher pitch ?

Apache. Not long ago I went and had a knock with a half formed covers band, and both Apache and FBI were on their potential setlist. Not sure where they were intending to gig !

If its covers that no one else does anymore, if thet ever did. This. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D12tJ8tfSs[/media] and this from CCR. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuPtOtGF4TY"]http://www.youtube....h?v=VuPtOtGF4TY[/url]

I never watch covers bands these days, so its hard to say what others are doing. But Blockbuster, Wooly Bully, and Great Balls of Fire always go down well for us. In the past a band I was with covered Joe Cockers version of Please Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood, which went down really well. All great songs for a drunken singalong to the chorus.

Hello Emily from Beatleland. I'm originally from Birmingham, home of......... Ah well - not enough space really.

One of min slides up and down.

Looks nice, P & P is cheap enough. Struggle enough with 4 strings meself though. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-String-Neck-Thru-Bass-Gear4music-Natural-Faulty-RRP-230-/270875129858?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D1%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5052832256953639504"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-String-Neck-Thru-Bass-Gear4music-Natural-Faulty-RRP-230-/270875129858?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D1%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5052832256953639504[/url]

Only ever bought 2 things from Cash Converters, both were faulty, and the service they offered was a joke. Even if it doesnt work at all, its only faulty if their 'Engineer' says so, but he's cant look for at least 10 days etc. I just wouldnt want to give em my money a 3rd time. Course, thats only my personal view, and one branch.

My knob came off on my hand when I pulled it too hard, so now I just grip the shaft and twist it.

Mines chickens head shaped.

Mine goes up to 10

I had a borrow of one of these for a week or two back in the 90s. Lovely Bass to play,great sound, but just not for me. Wouldnt fit on my back seat either.

My first was Upper Gornal Conservative Club, new years eve, sometime in the mid 70s. We only had about half an hours covers, plus some terrible composiyons of our own. I had never even met the drummer before. But the club had been let down by another band and were desperate. We went down well, even though we did most numbers at least twice " We've had another request for Johnny B Goode" has been a bit of a standing joke with the members of that band that I'm still in touch with ever since. We made about £70 each, Although I had to persuade the guy that we needed cash and sending us a cheque next week wasnt an option... i found the cassette of it a couple of years ago, its really really awful. Especiall my attempt a 'Something'

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1323883531' post='1468260'] The best thumb rests I've found are belt loops. [/quote] Braces, Thought you all wore them out there. Of course if your not a Brit, you probably call them suspenders. Come to think of it, what we call suspenders used to make good thumb rests as well. ! But you probably need to be either an old git like me, or a perv to have tried it.

I started out playing with my thumb, with a bass that had neither. Just used to put my finger tips on the scratchplate. Dunno how I did it though, cos I cant do it now. Then I moved on to a pick, cant do that now either. One of my p's has a thumb rest, but I put my thumb on a corner of the pickup anyway, which has worn the corners round. As for a tug bar, my other p has one, but who would wanna pull the strings so hard that you'd need it ?? Theyre just cosmetic really, surely.

No pleasin you, Chas and Dave. Nice to play as well.

I spent 30 years repairing amps, among other industrial and consumer electronic goods for a living, and now that I am sort of semi retired, will likely be going back to it in the new year. Modern kit is not a repairer friendly as it used to be, and not as solidly built, but it is more reliable, not entirely because of build quality though, components used are on the whole more reliable as well. As has been said, look at things like TV sets and such, in the 70s they were expected to fail twice a year ( and a good living could be made just repairing them ) When I started in the early 70s most amps were on metal chassis and hand wired, by the mid 70s, I was picking up work repairing solid state amps because the old hands were struggling with the technology, by the late 80s, it was valves that people were afraid of. I was lucky as I trained when valves were dying out in most other things, so I cut my teeth on both. In the 80s/90s I owned a company repairing all sorts of kit, one thing I realised early on was that some engineers have a sort of instinct for fault finding, others don’t. While you obviously need to know what your doing, a degree in electronics doesn’t always help. Its not that I’m knocking academic qualifications mind. I’m just thinking back to some of the engineers I knew or employed. Fault finding requires a very different set of skills to those needed to design an amp or talk loads of technical twaddle. Most amps are worth repairing, but only if you have a competent guy, who can fault find to component level, and quickly, doing the job.

both my pinkies and the finger next to em are usually a bit most of the time these days, so I can only play finger style with the other two. I've got used to it and my style has alyered to suit. Anybody got any ideas what might be causing it ?

I had a bout a couple of years ago, but as it happened I left the band I was with, the enforced rest cured it. but see your GP and make sure thats what it is. Some GPs will offer you an injection that cures it, but I bottled out as I'd heard its painful.