thebrig

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1382624848' post='2254588'] Seriously mate, we need to know more. What rig would it be replacing? What sort of bass do you favour? What sort of music? I could offer a suggested micro-rig right now (Gallien-Krueger MB500 into Barefaced Midget) and that would do a job for me. Whether it would do that job for you, too ... who knows? [/quote] I am selling my Barefaced Super Twelve and Genz Benz Streamliner 9.0, but will be keeping my American Standard Precision. Probably playing all the usual pub-fayre, classic rock, blues, etc..

I know almost nothing about amps/power/wattage etc.. so could you keep any answers reasonably simple, so someone like me can understand please? I am in the process of selling my rig because I am moving soon, and I'm not sure if I will continue playing, but if I do find a band in the nice little town that I am moving to, we will almost certainly only be playing the local pub circuit, where most of the pubs will be no more than average size. I'm not getting any younger, and I am now suffering with incurable back problems, so I want to keep my new rig as light and as portable as possible, so what would you more knowledgeable people recommend? I want to have enough power to not have to go through a PA, but I want my rig to be light and portable. Thanks in advance.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1382616036' post='2254415'] On Sunday [/quote] How much did you have to pay?

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1382614144' post='2254356'] I used to rehearse in mill hill, near hammers lane. Not sure if that's nearer? The guy running it was Portuguese (or was it Dutch?). Bit of a tw@t when it comes to rushing you out . [/quote] This is our nearest studio, only 10 minutes away from us, but what a dump! They have just finished the new complex with a shop which is nice, but the studios in the new building cost as much as £18 per hour. The old studios which are outside are damp, smelly and just downright disgusting.

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1382613638' post='2254341'] AirPlay in Ashford ? Ian is a top guy to deal with too [/quote] Thanks for the suggestion, but it's a bit too far for us, we live in Hertfordshire. Anywhere in the Northwood, Pinner, Stanmore areas would be ideal.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1382612710' post='2254321'] We must be getting a discount then as we have always paid less than that, even for Studio4 ! <smug> [/quote] When was the last time you used it?

I tried the Santuary and found their prices very high. The drummer and myself are auditioning two or three guitarists over a three hour period, so obviously we are paying. At £16 per hour that's £48 the pair of us will have to stump up! We normally rehearse in Hertfordshire and most places we go to are more like £10 per hour, and one is only £8 per hour including amp, drums etc..

Feel for you mate! Have you not asked for a reason? Sometimes these things turn out for the better, you say you turned down a "proper" band for them, so you must have something to offer, and it doesn't sound that they were that great anyway. Today is another day, and there are plenty of other "proper" bands out there, so start searching Joinmyband or Lemonrock and other similar sites, and find one of them! Good luck!

We are getting together with a guy who has just moved into West London, does anyone know of any reasonably priced rehearsal studios around the Northwood area? Thanks in advance!

To update you all, I have playing around more with the amp settings today, and I think that I must have been setting everything too wooly in the first place, I have tried different settings to get a more clangy sound, and now the tone pot is actually coming into play giving me far more range. Thanks for all the great advice everybody, and the kind offers from some BC'ers to help sort the problem personally.

A few people have suggested that it might be wired incorrectly, and I have checked it against wiring diagrams, and it all appears to be correct. Now without wishing to turn my thread into a anti-Fender bashing, how could instruments costing £1,000+ be allowed to leave the factory incorrectly wired? I've heard some unfavourable stories about Fender's QC, but does this actually happen?

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1382457757' post='2252395'] are you near anyone else with a similar p-bass from on here? coffee, chat, a-b the basses?? [/quote] Thanks Andy, but I have had a couple of precisions over the years, MIM, Squier and now the MIA, and they all seem to have a similar problem, although I would say the MIM probably had the biggest range, although not great. The two Warmoth 54's I put together with Lollars, CTS250 pots, and PIO capacitor 0.047uF, have far more range.

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1382457388' post='2252388'] I've got a cheap P-bass copy that had the same problem - the tone pot never seemed to do anything. I had a look under the scratchplate and it turned out the pot wasn't wired up! So that'd be the first place I'd look... [/quote] I've checked it against wiring diagrams and everything is definitely wired up correctly.

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1382456881' post='2252379'] Dead strings? [/quote] Brand new strings, and I change them regularly, so it definitely seems that I have a problem, but then so do many others who have responded so far, and at a guess, I would say it's about 50/50 with some of you getting a full range, and others getting hardly any range at all. Odd!

I am going directly into the amp, no DI involved. The tone control definitely works, as it goes from wooly to slightly less wooly, but it definitely doesn't go clangy, which I feel is should at least start aproaching it, and like molan stated, I tend to have it either closed or fully open, because like him, there is nothing in between either. I absolutely love the bass, I got real lucky with it, and I certainly don't want to start messing with it in any way other than maybe a cap change. It does sound great, but it would be nice just to have a bit more tonal range for different situations.

Those of you who are gettng a lot of range, have they been modified in any way? I can understand how "same woods" can sound different, but I just don't understand how "same electrics" can sound so different.

It has one of the usual orange caps in there, the pots are 250's which compared to other precisions that I've had in the past, seem to be the norm. And none of those had much range either.

Right, I've now gone full circle, I started off with a precision, and then I tried almost every other bass you can think of, before coming back to a precision. For me, it just feels right, and most of the time it sounds right, but is it just me, why do I hear very little difference when using the tone knob? As I said, most of the time its cuts through nicely, but it would be great if I could get just a little bit more variation in tone, so is there anything that can be done to make the tone pot do more? I'm not really that clued up on the electrics side of things, and I definitely don't want to go active, so I was wondering whether a different capacitor or whatever would make a difference? My bass is a Fender American Standard 2008.

But how can you retire after such an experience, surely you want more?

It would seem that most of us work on shift one out, bring one in basis, but in all honesty, I bet most of us usually ship out a bass that's only worth a fraction of the new one, but as far as the boss is concerned, she wouldn't know their true values, so we normally get away with it.

I am still wearing clothes that I bought four or five years ago, don't get me wrong, they are all well looked after, washed and ironed etc regularly, and they look fine. Whereas, Mrs Brig will buy something new at least once a month costing on average £70/80 and think nothing of it, so a years worth of clothes for her, is the equivilent of me spending £900/1000 on a new bass every year.