john_the_bass

Problem solved - as I thought, the reason it was blowing fuses was because I was fitting it with the wrong fuses - the quick blow or F fuses. I put a T (Time delay) fuse in, as I should have done in the first instance and it's working fine. All good and I'm very happy and relieved. I shall be buying the bloody thing a set of covers, some new output valves and a new speaker now!

Took my amp to a gig last night - I have a Laney LC30-II - a 4xEL84 powered 30w 112 [b]guitar[/b] combo (ok so it's sort of the same!). Plugged it in, switched it on and nothing - no lights, hum, anything. So this morning I had a look at it, took the T315mA fuse out (HT fuse, whatever that is). It didn't look blown and I don't have a voltmeter, but the man at Maplins did and said it hadn't blown. I went home and discovered the other mains fuse (underneath the IECC socket) - a T630mA 20mm fuse, which had blown. What's happened is this - at some point, prior to me buying the amp, the speaker cable appears to have been cut and connected back together with one of these.: The block has come into contact with one of the output valves, melted through the insulation to the metal cap inside (where the wire connects with the terminal). I assume that this caused the fuse to blow when something shorted out - however, I thought that glass is an insulator and not a conductor so I have no idea how that would have happened. I went to Maplins and came home with some F630mA fuses - different to what I took out which was T630mA. I am assuming F stands for Flink (German for "speedily" or presumably quick) and is therefore a quick blow fuse - T presumably is a time-delay blow and offers some extra protection. I replaced the fuse, which promptly blew again, so I don't know what's wrong with it now and I've got gigs coming up!! Bloody thing. Any ideas what's gone wrong? When whatever shorted out, could it have knackered it up totally? edit - there is a pic of a terminal block in there, but I can't see it - if you can't it's just a plastic terminal block which was used to connect the speaker cable together. I don't know why, but the first mod is to sack that off for a straight cable.

+1 - I had an AB and a single FX loop switch and they were very good indeed.

My indie-rock originals band were asked to play in an RAF Officers' Mess for a posh do. It was weird playing [url="http://www.myspace.com/27brigade"]this sort of stuff[/url] to a room full of rather posh RAF officers, who were all dressed up like the co-pilot from Airplane and wondering what they were listening to. Fun though.

The revision of the H1 was a 70s logo and a badass (and possibly more), but this looks like pre-revision H1

Did you ever settle on one Steve? What was the outcome?

Fraud!

[quote name='budget bassist' post='261683' date='Aug 13 2008, 04:28 PM']Haha that was an analogy i hadn't heard before... i think he meant they're a bit common... and it that's not what he meant then f*** knows![/quote] Yes that's exactly what I meant! [quote name='BassManKev' post='261719' date='Aug 13 2008, 04:54 PM']give ernie ball a quick email with the serial number, they will tell you what month it was builit in plus if you take the neck off, a date stamp can be found on the neck pocket (tis on mine anyways)[/quote] If you post the serial on the EB forum, they will tell you what [b]day[/b] it was completed Mine was completed on the 12th July 2002 and sent to Bass Northwest

The problem with 'rays is they're a bit like sh*t in a field. I still like 'em though... my 2002 'ray: *makes mental note to clean the fingerboard!* and more [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johna_le3/sets/72157605506656741/"]here[/url]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='257933' date='Aug 8 2008, 11:30 AM']And, is it me or is Michael Fitch a Councillor?[/quote] Is it a quiz? My money goes on Fitch being the Councillor - if you were the councillor, I doubt there would be so many tribute bands and Michael Fitch wouldn't be on stage 4 times.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='257985' date='Aug 8 2008, 12:24 PM']Mustang Sally has to be one of the most bland songsever made, I guess thats why it works well at weddings[/quote] Depends how well it's done. I know it's a cliche to hear it at a wedding, but like Al says, nothing, but nothing comes close when it's done properly. We did a wedding with a set list completely by request. I can't find the setlist now, but it was all stuff like Franz Ferdinand, Stone Roses, Sultans of Ping FC, Oasis, Jam, Fratellis, White Stripes, Kings of Leon, Jet, Wonder Stuff, Dandy Warhols - that kind of thing. To the right audience, it went down a storm (and no Mustang Sally - although, that's not to say I [i]won't[/i] play it).

2 hours a week with each band - covers, we all learn our parts first and I think rehearsals are necessary just to make sure we're all doing the right thing at the right time, playing the right version and the right arrangement. I would hate to turn up at somebody's wedding having not rehearsaed a song only for it to go badly and knacker the whole celebration. Originals band, we use the time writing as we go and rehearsing what we do.

The Hercules stands are excellent and because they grab under the headstock and hang the guitar on the stand, you don't have to be too concerned about body shape. Cheap? Depends on what you call cheap - 20 quid should get you one from most guitar shops

I have everything on a spreadsheet which lists for each instrument the serial, how much I paid for it, where it came from, any marks or damage to it, if it's in a case - a bit sad really! Oh and I have photos of everything including the serials. I should have a pic done of me holding each instrument as according to Endsleigh, this is suitable proof of ownership

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='249780' date='Jul 28 2008, 04:58 PM']It does make sense but you forget inflation. I bought a bass of here second hand for 600 off warwickhunt a few months back. Now say next year i chop my hand off and want to sell it. At the current interest rate selling it for less than around 630 is a loss. 661.5 the year after and so on.[/quote] Ah ok - you make a good point, but I'm looking at it in simple terms of buying it for [i]x[/i] and then selling it again for [i]x[/i]

HJ - yes I see what you're saying, I suppose it's not necessarily that the value of the instrument is going to go up, but that there's a guarantee that it's not going to go down - of course I don't necessarily mean buying new, but buying at a price which is pretty much the fair value of said instrument. As an example I have a 2005 USA Fender Precision - I paid £550 for it and I reckon, even in a crappy market, that marketed properly I could get £550 for it, even though if you look hard enough you can get lucky and pick one up for maybe £450? I'm not saying go out and buy a new one for what, £900? and expect it to still be worth 900 quid in 12 month's time - but do you know what I mean? I face not having any money very shortly - I hope it's not going to happen and I'm pretty sure it won't, but if it does, I'm going to have to start selling stuff off - to use my P Bass as an example, if I'd spent that £550 on shares and I had to sell those off at what they're currently worth, they'd only be about £300-worth now. Likewise, if I'd bought my 'Ray at full UK secondhand value when I did, it would probably have cost me about what - £900 early last year? I imported mine from the US at about the value they are now, so if I was desperate to sell it, I probably won't lose any or much cash on it - but I'd be facing a hit if I was desperate to sell and had picked up a UK bass Does that make sense or am I talking out of my bottom?

I've been thinking about the basses and guitars I've bought and my reasons for buying them and wondered what your thoughts were. When I buy a bass (or a guitar for that matter), I have to admit that I do look upon them as buying money - to a certain extent. I've bought in the past stuff that I know I would be able to sell fairly quickly because they're generally popular instruments and at prices that I know I would be able to sell off "cheap" and break even, rather than be saddled with something that I was desperate to sell because I needed the readies in a real hurry. For that reason, I would never buy anything "nichey" or close to bespoke or even a bit unpopular, for a slight fear that it wouldn't sell. As an example, I bought a Les Paul Standard to use as my main guitar in my covers band - if I'd bought shares in the company I work for at about the same time I bought the LP, the value of my investment would now be about 50% of what I'd bought, but I could sell my LP for at least what I paid for it - obviously current financial climate allowing. Obviously my shares [i]could[/i] go up, but in theory so could the value of my LP, particularly if Gibson UK keep putting the price of the new ones up. I was wondering all of this as I am in the process of being made redundant and there is a rare chance that if I might not get another job at all for ages and might have to start selling the guitars to pay the bills. I've not got anything that's got any real emotional attachment and the stuff I've bought (P Bass, Stingray, LP, my Martin, etc) I bought because I thought they would retain popularity and hopefully always be in demand. I suppose the two questions I have are this (and one of them is a bit long winded): i) There was a piece in the Guardian a couple of weeks ago about buying watches as investments and a couple of examples were cited as being good money makers - stuff that was going to be worth a fair whack in the next 20 years or so, maybe four to fives times the value now. Do you think it's possible to that there are basses out there now - current modern stuff - not vintage - which you could buy, hang onto and never lose any money on? I know it's the $64,000 question and it's almost unanswerable, because we'd all be buying these instruments if there was one and the price would either go up because of the demand or the value would come down because everybody had bought one.... ii) - and this is probably the more realistic question. What makes you buy a bass - do you buy one solely for musical or aesthetic reasons? Do you buy a bass for life or when you get one are you prepared to flip it for the next thing that takes your fancy and be fully prepared to lose money on the deal? Do you wonder what it might be worth in 1, 5, 10, [i]x[/i] years time or are you not really that arsed? I know I've seen some posts saying their latest acquisition is the best thing they've ever had, yet 5 minutes later it's up for trade and some posts of 30 year old, 1 owner bass porn - this post isn't a judgement on that, it's more an insight into people's bass buying habits and if it's really possibly to buy a readily available, mass produced instrument, and be able to make an investment out of it, whatever that return might be. Blimey, that's a long post - still, not got anything better to do

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Custom-Built-Landing-L-1-Shortscale-bass_W0QQitemZ270256912584"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Custom-Built-Landing...emZ270256912584[/url] A bit different to the usual short scale stuff?

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='246956' date='Jul 24 2008, 03:40 PM']I saw a bass for sale on the bay the guy said it was played on the recording of 'In the air tonight' i sent him a message asking if he gave a discount for that. He never responded[/quote] Quality. That's actually the best post I've ever read.

[quote name='silddx' post='246892' date='Jul 24 2008, 02:22 PM']I don't understand all this talk of "evilbay". I think ebay is fantastic. If you list stuff for sale intelligently, all other conditions being equal, you'll get what it's worth.[/quote] Bang on there mate, it's still a great tool I reckon, despite the changes they make to it. They're a bit mean with the fees sometimes, but if you use it properly, you can do really well. The world is bigger than Basschat after all

this one:

oh and a pair of glasses. have you seen the price of the bloody things?

(more) Guitars oh dear