Matt P

this week i'll have to resort to headphones and my tablet as i'll be away, but for future albums I'll make use of the living room and my full HiFi while my wife and son are out on a Saturday morning. Luckily my neighbour is fairly deaf and has never complained about the noise. Matt

Not sure what i'd be able to add to the discussion but i'm always up for new music so count me in. Matt

I don't know of any real reason that a stereo box would be better or worse than 2 mono boxes, the ones you are looking at aren't quite equivalent as the stagebug is a slightly stripped out version of the pro-di (the stereo box is 2 pro-di in one box, the pro-di being £133 each) I have both the Pro-di and a stagebug and i've not managed to hear a difference, my suggestion would be the stagebugs as they have a handy feature for keyboards where you can plug in both left and right into one box and it will sum to mono. handy if you need to use one of them for a bass (or other instrument) in an emergency. Matt

I bought Paul's Chromecast Audio and the whole deal was super smooth and easy. thanks again Matt

how big is your bag? K+M make a 3 section mic stand that folds down smaller than most, 565mm long when folded and about 1.5kg these are the most compact ones i've come cross whilst still being nice and strong. Mic Stand we have some of these at church and they're very good Matt

i'm using the Vong HPF's (ordered as kits and are very easy to put together if you're ok soldering), I don't need the ability to switch them so they're just set and forget. bought the first one for my church board then the second for my band board. can't fault them. I would have bought Thumpinators but couldn't afford the new price at the time and any that pop up secondhand sell so quickly that i miss them. i think the pair of Vong ones cost about what a used thumpinator sells for. Matt

ooh, i didn't know this, i'll have to set my 18i20 up with my windows machine then try it on the Linux machine. Thank you!

i'm using Linux on my desktop pc, I've tried a few of the Focusrite Scarlett interfaces, I don't think the 18i8 and 18i20 worked but i've had good luck with the 2i2 and 2i4 ( i think they are both gen 1) I've been using Reaper as my DAW but they also work perfectly with zoom as well as a general sound card. the 2i4 is my main interface for that machine. a far as I could find out most of the 2 channel interfaces on the market are class compliant and will work fine under Linux, but any more channels and they need specific software/drivers. (as pointed out by @Sibob) I did try and run the Scarlet mix control software using Wine but couldn't get it to work (I'm no computer expert though) Matt

I love a tiny guitar, just had this made by a guy in Cumbria, 19" scale and baritone uke host, tuned A-A with regular acoustic strings the guitar behind is a full scale acoustic that was made at the same time.

for the tweeter wiring the connections should be labelled as + and - but often the tags are different sizes as well so if there are no markings then just look for the wide and narrow tabs (from your photo it looks like the black/negative tag is the wider one) Matt

depending on the current finish type and condition it might be possible to refinish directly over the existing finish, but the cost is still going to be a fair amount, nitro metallic silver paint is about 19 quid a can, then it will need some primer or undercoat for a similar price and then a clearcoat on the top for the same price again, that's 60 quid in materials minimum, so anything more exotic (like metalflake or a deep sparkle finish) will cost more, then you need to factor in the time required and the hourly rate of a skilled individual to do the work. refinishing an instrument is rarely worth the outlay, the cost is usually prohibitive once you get a professional involved. Matt

I only use flats on bass and never change them, I think the last set I bought was Labella's at about 50 quid? (not many choices when it comes to short scale 5 string flats) My Letts had a set of chromes just after i got it and they're still going strong, the '77 P-bass had some old ernie ball group flats when i got it 12 years ago? they're fine too. my short scale 4 string has GHS Precision flats. when i started playing i had a Yamaha RBX765 and used to fit the DR fat beams, they were expensive but i used to get about a year from a set so that was fine. I've got a set of Newtone stainless rounds for the short scale 54 string that will go on at some point. i think they were 38 quid? my EUB has some used Innovation reds that i bought from the classifieds a a bundle of about 15 strings for 50 quid. It's a bit different for my skinny stringers though, the acoustics only get the best (Newtone Heritage 12's) and the electrics get whatever i can get the cheapest deal on (currently quite enjoying the premium Harley Bentons but have some pyramid' nickels that were under 4 quid a set to try as well.) the price of strings has really rocketed in the last few years. Matt

Is this the same head as the Unity 700H-Elite ? The website isn't that useful but i've clicked through to the manual and it isn't truly 2ohm capable, they list different combinations of cabs and it looks like it is ok to 2.67ohms for 3x8Ohm cabs, but not for 2x4ohm cabs! It's got way too many features and controls for me, I like my amps as simple as possible, but features like re-amping and the power amp voicing look interesting. Matt

all my speaker cables are 4mm sq, but only because that was what OBBM offered as standard for bass, I usually make my own instrument cables (still working my way through a reel of Klotz AC110) but when it came to speaker cables i went with OBBM as he had the speaker cable in stock and it wasn't as easy to get in the shorter lengths i needed, also when it comes to the jack plugs (required for my Trace GP11) I didn't fancy soldering those big Neutrik plugs on with my little 25w iron. Matt

oh well, no worries. Matt

I know I'm late to the party but os this available? Happy to pay postage /Guinness fees. Matt

i've got a 1971/1970 Marshall Artiste 2x12 50w sitting in the cupboard waiting for the day i'm called on to play guitar again (or when i have the spare cash to get it properly re-commissioned) might have to dig it out and see if i can find out who put it together! Matt

the JMP on the front plate would point to 68 or 69 according to the Reverb page, if the feet are small and grey then 68, the feet were changed to bigger black ones in 69. of course all this is only approximate! Matt

If i remember rightly somewhere in this thread Martin said that he would be using a traditional transformer for the output and a toroidal for the mains as a balance between weight and cost, as a slight bonus a pair of KT88's is slightly cheaper than 4 6L6's (and i'm guessing easier to package in the smaller space) Matt

thanks, i originally used case logic velcro ties but no matter how careful i was they went missing, a friend discovered the velcro wrap in B&q so that solved the issue (they might still sell it but i buy in bulk now) Matt

apologies for not getting this sooner, this is how i have my cable ties, the studs are jeans studs from eBay (prym branded) they come with a tool that you hit with a hammer to set them, i swapped to a pliers type tool as it's quieter for fitting them after my son's bedtime. the hole punch is a regular leather type one and i just use the smallest option. wrap the end of the tie round, punch a hole through the 2 parts then fit the stud, i usually don't cut it off the roll till i've fitted it, then i can wrap the tie round and cut to the exact length

I bought a Radial Pro for my church board and was very happy with it, swapped it out for an SB-2 for space reasons and couldn't tell the difference, the pro is kept as a backup. I have opened up both of them and the quality inside was impressive, some of that weight is the internal components but the solid steel casing is not light on it's own, i think bulletproof might be an exaggeration but it's not far off. Matt

exciting news! looking forward to hearing (and hopefuly testing out) the prototype. Matt

i've tried those cheap type before, they were usually made of 2 layers stuck together, after a while the ones i had the adhesive went soft and they spread stickyness all over the cables. the Velcro branded stuff i use is made in a single part so no glue to get everywhere. I use this stuff, I have a 5m roll of 30mm wide for bigger jobs and a 25m roll of the 10mm wide one which is perfect for most cables, i like that it is easily cut to exactly the length required. Velcro tie i'll take some photos of my usual configuration tonight.