icastle

[quote name='Phil-osopher10' post='1126613' date='Feb 14 2011, 01:12 AM']I was wondering if It is possible to light up my walkabout head with a few red leds just for banter. Is there anyway of doing this easily? Is it just a case of gettin a few leds and a battery and just whip it in or would it be better to tap into the power supply of the amp?[/quote] Hanging stuff that wasn't designed to be there off of an amp power supply probably isn't the best thing in the world to be doing. An LED requires a DC voltage to operate which means tracking down a point on the circuit board to make a connection after rectification (the output from the transformer is AC). Once you have found that point, you need to know the DC voltage so you can work out how many LEDs you need to wire, in series, to stop them blowing (bog standard LEDs only handle low voltages). Even if you got all of that sorted out, you'll be drawing current from the circuit that might be needed elsewhere in the amp. I'd stick to batteries (or a little plug in DC power supply?) if I were you.

Maybe the easiest option would be to take a look at some of the valve preamp pedals that are on the market. Set your drive level on that and just set your rig to a comfortable level.

[quote name='seymourfluid' post='1126119' date='Feb 13 2011, 05:05 PM']That's the problem. I have the master gain on 0.25. Only just breaking the power amp in and the preamp gain is around 11 o'clock. The valves don't start breaking until 12 o'clock. If I run just one cab, I can't get the sound so I need to run at 16 Ohm.[/quote] Ah that'd be a problem then I haven't seen a parallel -> series convertor box or cable 'off the shelf'. Why not drop OBBM a message on this board and ask if he can make one up for you as a custom job?

[quote name='obbm' post='1126041' date='Feb 13 2011, 03:34 PM']Read the spec and look at the block diagram. The High and Low Outputs from the crossover are 0dBV, which is line level. The only speaker outputs are the two jacks on the back panel marked "Outputs Speaker Jack Parallelled".[/quote] Bl**dy Hell ! I thought it was wierd having speaker outputs on the front - I looked at the pic of the rear panel and completely missed them - three times! You sure you didn't just draw them on there? Totally take back what I said earlier but will leave it there as a lesson in both RTFM properly and humility.

Can't you just turn the Pre amp gain up and keep the master volume down?

[quote name='obbm' post='1125987' date='Feb 13 2011, 02:34 PM']Why would you want to send line-level to a speaker cabinet? It'll be very quiet.[/quote] It's not line level. EDIT: 'Low Output' in this case is related to the inbuilt crossover, not signal levels.

[quote name='Eight' post='1125940' date='Feb 13 2011, 01:50 PM']Oh... that's a good point. Maybe my connection to the bass at this point is all technical/physiological. I'm not sure how to fix that...[/quote] Well, putting away your books and charts for now would be a start. Try hooking up with some other local musicians, if you're not ready to commit to a band then try some of the plug n play nights that have sprung up all over the place. Whilst it's great to strive towards greater things, you have to be realistic about what you're trying to achieve. Learning an instrument is a series of 'plateaus' - you get so far and then get stuck. You try and try and try and it just isn't happening. Then one day you try it and it does... then you carry on at a pace until you reach the next plateau... You are only two years into playing bass and this sort of thing is going to happen time and time again. For what it's worth, my feeling is that a simple bass line that blends seamlessly in with the rest of a piece is far better than a super clever bassline that is distracting and inappropriate.

Have you got yourself too bogged down with the technicalities instead of getting a 'feel' for the instrument perhaps?

[quote name='Subthumper' post='1125811' date='Feb 13 2011, 11:32 AM']Hi all I'm after a schematic for the above. In particular the power amp. Any help very much appreciated as its completly fried, or if anyones fixed one of these before are there any common problems to look for other than the chared remains of the output IC's? Cheers Just[/quote] Try [url="http://music-electronics-forum.com/attachments/9026d1271855035-ashdown-abm-schematics.pdf"]these[/url].

[quote name='minkey1980' post='1125719' date='Feb 13 2011, 10:05 AM']So acoustic sessions are seemingly in demand down our way at the minute and I only have my standard basses while everyone else changes to their acoustic instruments - even the ex punk drummer changes his sticks to those horses tail ones... so I was wondering - what do you guys use for acoustic sessions? I have looked at acoustic basses but never been impressed with any as you still have to plug and they just look wrong but open to suggestions? and having played fretless before this also seems to give a very acoustic sound...or do you just stick with the guitar in hand and watch everyone else carry more than one instrument to the gig? let me know your thoughts. thanks in advance.[/quote] I do three of these a month. I do have an acoustic bass but rarely take it along to any of these sessions - as you say, you still have to plug it in to stand a chance of being heard. When I bought my new rig I intentionally went for a 2x10 in amongst it so I just use that and tuck it in a corner somewhere if it looks an 'eyesore'. Instrument wise, I use an EUB and a 6er that 'looks the part' as it has a nice spalted maple top and doesn't clash with the acoustic guitar colours. So, keep it as compact as possible, blend in (leave the fluorescent pink Explorer at home) and be aware that you can very easily swamp the other instruments out. If you're at all concerned about whether this is acceptable or not, just ask the organiser, I've yet to find one who's not gone for it!

[quote name='fryer' post='1125710' date='Feb 13 2011, 09:54 AM']Hi, I have two 410 cabs. One is a Peavey, 450 w at 4 ohm, and the other is ( or soon will be ) an Epifani, 1,000 w at 4 ohm. At the moment I have a Peavey Firebass amp, with 2 parallel speaker outputs. It has a crossover, with separate outputs for high and low, but these can only be used to put one of the signals back into the power amp section. So I assume this won't do it - as there are only the parallel speaker outputs. So do I fit some sort of external, in-line resistor in the line output to the 450 w speaker cab ?[/quote] [color="#808080"]Forget trying to find 450W resistors and putting signals 'back into the power amp section' and so forth, this is just a rather unclear user manual. All you need to do is take a speaker lead from the Low Output socket, feed that into one cab and then daisy chain from that cab to the next one. Doesn't matter which way round you put them - one way round will sound different to the other, just pick the sound you prefer. On the front of the amp you have 'FREQ' and 'BALANCE' controls. Stick the 'FREQ' control to about halfway as a starting off point (you can tweak that later if you don't like the sound). Stick the 'BALANCE' control all the way round to the LF end.[/color] [color="#FF0000"][b]EDIT: To anyone reading this in the future, what I have stated above is totally wrong. Move along, nothing to see here! [/b][/color]

[quote name='StevieD_FenderP2009' post='1125541' date='Feb 12 2011, 11:27 PM']Ah excellent. Lets hope it's not the latter effect it has on it.[/quote] Well, if you blow it up it'll be a total write-off, a Tone Pump module is 100% unrepairable. You have been warned!

Ah. So it looks like my 14.5lbs ESP really tips the scales! I must admit I do find it a bit uncomfortable after 3 or 4 hours but then I'm only 5'8" and weigh under 9 stone, so maybe that's not too surprising. I'm off to find a 1 stringer balsa wood model now...

[quote name='apa' post='1125469' date='Feb 12 2011, 09:34 PM']OK so this might seem a little over the top but since I will have some left over I may as well use it Is Real Gold Leaf a good way of shielding the cavities of the electrics? I was going to use tin foil glued to the walls rather than splash out on a bottle of shielding paint that costs about the same as a pack of gold leaf!! I cant see why not. A[/quote] Gold is a far better conductor than copper - it's usually disregarded for shielding because of the sheer cost of it in comparison to copper. The only real issue is that you need to find a way to connect your shielding to the guitar earth - easy using copper tape but you will need to experiment with contact methods using gold leaf.

Bog standard wiring diagram for a P bass is [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=std_pbass"]here[/url] The idea of shielding the cavity is purely to reduce the possibility of 'hum' - you are building a baby faraday cage around the electronics. Conductive tape is easily fitted into most areas - doesn't matter if it's a front or rear facing cavity.

[quote name='jezzaboy' post='1125334' date='Feb 12 2011, 07:35 PM']I`ve got a SWR Workingmans 15 combo. I, foolishy, gave someone a loan of it and from what I can gather he heard some buzzing through the combo and decided to disconnect the internal speaker and run an extension speaker into it to see if it was a problem with the sinternal speaker. Result, the same buzz. Then, you`ll like this, he pluged another amp head into the swr ext speaker socket and turned em both on. The SWR made a phww noise and chucked it. Having had a look at it, the fuse has blown (the one on the back of the amp head), so, I changed the fuse making sure that it is the same kind as in the manual but it keeps blowing. Any ideas? Is it goosed? Has it mabye blown something inside? Next question. Anyone know of any amp repairers in Glasgow area? Any help would be appreciated. Jez[/quote] Oh lordy. The output stage will have been fried - so any semiconductors in the path of the signal from the speaker socket will have blown for certain, passive components might have survived, but no cast iron guarantee of that. Without seeing a circuit diagram it's hard to know just how many components would be in that path and at what point blown components would have prevented the signal from progressing further. This could potentially be a large repair bill.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1124988' date='Feb 12 2011, 02:42 PM']Fascinating. So can you only get "that classic overdriven valve sound" by pushing the output valves really hard? That can't be right, surely, or my Orange Terror Bass (valve pre / SS power) wouldn't sound the way it does.[/quote] Nope. T'other way round mate - it's the pre-amp valves you need to push hard.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1124953' date='Feb 12 2011, 01:51 PM']If the volume on the WEM is UP, then presumably both the pre-amp and the power stages will be cranked high. Shouldn't that take any level of input from the bass and overdrive it?[/quote] No. The classic distortion sound comes from the pre amp gain being turned up so that it distorts. On a single volume control amp like the WEM, it was designed to avoid what you were trying to do. The pre amp gain is preset to a maximum fixed level so it can produce maximum volume but can't be induced to distort.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1124946' date='Feb 12 2011, 01:44 PM']What really struck me was a guy playing DB with a blues/rock covers band. His sound was unbelievable, really superb, so much so that I pushed round the side to see what he was going through. Turned out to be, of all things, a Markbass combo. Later in the set, he put the DB aside and plugged in his Fender P while leaving the settings unchanged. It sounded (IMHO) utterly crap, just not the sound I like from a P. I'm well aware that it may have been exactly what HE wanted. [/quote] Yeah absolutely, but those are totally different instruments, albeit from the same basic 'family'. I also switch between EUB and bass guitar and definately have to change amp settings - I use two different colour self adhesive dots so I can do it quickly!

I have an ESP 6 string that comes in at 14.5lb...

[quote name='jwbassman' post='1124899' date='Feb 12 2011, 01:00 PM']Play both 4s and 5s, just have to remember which one I'm on at any given time [/quote] That's easy. If you suddenly find you're playing thin air then you're using the 4...

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1124888' date='Feb 12 2011, 12:50 PM']Exactly so me paying litterally a couple of hundred quid more for a minter all original isnt looking so daft![/quote] Absolutely not! If you're after a mint example then you have to pay 'mint' prices. [quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1124888' date='Feb 12 2011, 12:50 PM']The lack of knowledge from Denmark street leaves the worst taste for me though where/who are we meant to go to for a knowledgeable service?[/quote] I always stick to a few basic 'rules' when I'm considering a major purchase. 1) Don't trust a salesman - they're there to make a sale and any advice they give will be biased towards what they want you to buy. 2) Come up with a set of requirements - essentially a list of features you want. 3) Research the market - what products match your requirements? 4) Research the manufacturer - what provenance do they have? What's their service like? How do other users rate their products? 5) Research the risks - are there fakes about? If so, how do I spot them? I managed a £1M budget to move a datacentre using those same criteria, delivered more than what was originally expected and still had £10K left over. [quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1124888' date='Feb 12 2011, 12:50 PM']I know its hard to be an expert on every make and model of instrument but a green pcb in 77' Really thats basic stuff surely? Maybe someone is manning the ebay questions that shouldnt I dont know.[/quote] Yes that is a bit of a farce - bit like buying the Mona Lisa and then noticing she's wearing a digital watch.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1124860' date='Feb 12 2011, 12:22 PM']What was the setup though? Was your bass straight to a di or were you using your amp as the backline? If it was the di then they are complimenting your playing and that bass if its the latter then fair enough your getting a nice amp sound too. Either way its a compliment to you but mostly your playing either way IMO [/quote] It was amp as backline with a DI feed from that back to the PA. They've used the same sound engineer as long as I've been playing there and he is pretty damn good.

Of course I need a 5th string. Where else am I supposed to rest my thumb?

Reading the description of that one it is a little bit reminiscent of the antique axe story. This is my great great grandfathers axe. It is an antique. It has only had three new heads and four new handles...