john_the_bass

I had somet called fret doctor recommended to me - it cost me about 16 quid shipped from the US from [url="http://www.beafifer.com"]www.beafifer.com[/url] - I think it was originally intended for use as a bore oil for fifes to stop the wood drying out and cracking and somebody used a bit on a fingerboard. I recently used some on my SG (which had a very light fingerboard) and it's made a big difference with the small amount that I used - the wood looks like it's restored to its natural colour and seems to have hydrated to the point where it's expanded a bit and the previously sharp fret ends don't feel as sharp. I'm going to use it on the rest of my rosewood boarded guitars now (my basses are both maple so I don't think I can use it)

I found it extremely difficult to get a direct replacement guard for my JV Precision - I tried a WD one, another one I found online, I tried my USA pickguard on it and none of them fitted. The only options as I could see were to try and find a JV guard or go to someone like Sims and get one made up - I looked into this option, but it was about £56 if memory serves me correctly. With 3TS/Rosewood, I like brown tort

Same here - I've shipped to the Republic of Ireland for less than 20 quid on a 48 or so hour service.

Good stuff, can't wait to see the final pics - looks great in the pics you've posted and I assume the attention to detail and the quality is superb?

yeah I've used fast fret (and continue to do so) although I remember there was one specific one that applied a polymer coating (or whatever it was) and made the strings a bit like elixirs

...that was supposed to apply a coating to the strings so it made them work a bit like elixirs or any other coated string? I remember reading about it ages ago but I can't remember who made it or what it's called

[quote name='Protium' post='278172' date='Sep 5 2008, 08:08 PM']Yeah but it screams out "THIS IS AN ASHDOWN AMP" - free advertising [/quote] No, the big Ashdown badge on the front does that for mine.

Aye, is a bit Pete, but cheers anyway. I went to a couple - one in Nottingham city centre, one in Bulwell and one in Stapleford that was more of a guitar shop. I also went and spoke to a very helpful fella at e-av, but they're not a showroom so I couldn't test any stuff.

Is that pub any good? I went to see the Ned's at the Civic hall before Christmas and when we went back to me car, there was a queue out the door just to go in and have a drink.

Good - did a wedding in a huge marquee in the huge garden of the bride's father's huge house. We usually use 15s for our Pa but had borrowed a set of 12s and set the sub up as well so we got a lovely sound and a fairly good reception although it would have been nice to have been offered a drink of water or something and it breaks my bloody heart to watch them bin the half-eaten buffet

I don't know the exact implications as I'm not that technically minded, but the earth recently went on one of my humbucker equipped guitars and I was getting nasty shocks off the micprophone.

Black Keys - Attack and Release BRMC - Baby 81

This is sort of f/x related - honest! I currently have a (budget) surround sound system and a small micro hi-fi jobbie on the same unit which has a pair of front speakers for the surround and a pair of speakers for the hi-fi. What I want to do is get down to one set of speakers and thought that the expensive way is to get a new AV receiver and a pair of speakers, which would also allow me to route the telly through it or, get one pair of speakers, connect them up to the A/B switch with a 1/4" jack plug, then connect A to the amp of the surround and B to the amp of the hi-fi My question is, is there any reason why I shouldn't do it? Is the signal level going to be that much different that what is produced by a bass or a buffered effect and am I going to risk blowing anything up? My theory is that it's just a switch - no more than that and all it does is route signal in direction A or B.

Cheers Steve. The Sovteks in mine were at least 4 years old, probably had a bit of life in them, but I'd read good things about the JJ's (I have a set of JJ's in the preamp after I whacked one of the old ones and broke it) and £39 didn't seem like a lot. Revalved it yesterday and fitted a G12H and the difference, even at "not annoying the neighbours" front room level is noticeable. The clean channel seems cleaner and thicker sounding and the drive settings are amazing - you can still pick out all of the notes in a chord with the amp breaking up. Difficult to describe but I am very happy!

Ta. I think we're going to head Nottingham way first, so might call in on those other places another time.

Can anybody recommend me a good PA dealer, preferably one with a showroom, where I can go and look at some stuff? I'd naturally like to try a system before I fork out a couple of grand of the band's money on one Ta

oh..... so it's professional pic time is it? 2 from the now defunct band (me on the left) with a Les Paul and court appearance attire

I thinkk we're going to continue own the seperate amp route, but we're going to look at a digital power amp, rack mounted in a road case that I can mount a 16 channel desk in (along with the light controller, 1u crossover, that kind of thing) - believe me, it all makes sense in my mind. Lighter speakers would be nice so we don't have to kill ourselves lifting them up onto stands.

Hello We currently have a big PA - pair of subs, mids and tops. What I would like to do is to replace it with something much much lighter and more compact and do away with the mids altogether. One thing I thought was to take the current driver out of the top and replace it with a neo driver - is there a fullrange (or near as dammit to where the sub takes over) neo driver that I can slot into the hole where the driver came out. Failing that, can you recommend a replacement set of cabs - tops and subs - to replace what we've got?

You sir, make a very good point and certainly something to think about!

Cheers all - I think the general concensus is to keep [i]a[/i] bass, the one that gets the most use and I think that Nick knows that would be my P. I do occassionally get a request to go and dep for a band on the bass, which I usually turn down , so I suppose I would need to keep hold of my rig as well - and while I'm at it, I might keep hold of the Stingray!! Seriously, yes I think it's probably a good idea to keep a bass - realistically I don't know if I'm going to use it again, but I do have some sentimental attachment to them - rigs have never been much cause of GAS, I wanted to have one I liked the sound of, but it was just a tool (as are my basses I suppose). I'll keep thinking! [quote name='Alastair' post='265308' date='Aug 19 2008, 10:57 AM']Ill have the ray [/quote] And as for you, you cheeky b@stard!

Hello My originals band - [url="http://www.myspace.com/27brigade"]www.myspace.com/27brigade[/url] - has finally come to an end. Our second guitarist left some time ago, leaving us as a three piece, I had some "commitment issues" that I posted about on here (see the DI or not to DI thread) and, particularly after our guitarist went, it just didn't really sound right. The songs were very good, but there was something missing and we were getting a bit bored playing in empty venues (even supporting signed bands in empty venues), playing the same songs and generally not making any progress. We decided that we would have a rest until September and so stopped practicing together. With September looming, I spoke to our frontman/singer/guitarist/song writer about what was happening and how we were moving on and he said he'd pretty much decided that with one thing and another, he just didn't want to do it anymore - which was nice! Obviously I am quite pissed off about this, but looking on the positive side, we had a good craic, supported some big bands and got a couple of our songs on the radio and the telly even. I play the guitar (long before I ever played the bass) and play in a covers band - I don't care what anybody says about covers bands and their opinions of them, it's not for here. So I get to play (which I enjoy very much, guitar or bass) and as a plus people are up for the craic, whether it's in a pub or at a wedding and I get a few quid out of it - but regardless, I still get to play - not having to rehearse with 2 bands a week is a plus, because it does take up a lot of time and it's not just my time that I have to think about, particularly as I'm not far off getting married and being out 2 nights a week, plus gigs, isn't a good idea. However - I have also been asked to join another band, again playing guitar - another originals band and again, don't care whether it's guitar or bass, I like to play. There is a chance that I might not be playing much bass, if any. My kit doesn't owe me anything, although I could replace it all with guitars and I have a real hankering for a 335 and an SG - and my 'ray, Precision, rig and pedalboard could probably fund that. So, do I? [list] [*]Sell the lot and turn it into guitars? [*]Keep one because you never know when you're going to need it? [*]Keep the lot because it doesn't owe me anything and you never know when you're going to need it? [*]Find another band to play the bass in (not too easy round these parts, especially playing the sort of music I want to play, with the level of commitment I want to put in? [/list] So what do you reckon?

Oh no - it doesn't [i]need[/i] new valves an a speaker, it's just got a set of crappy Sovteks for the output and an HH Invader speaker - they both need swapping for something a bit better and the covers will stop anymore of the tolex getting whacked off!