icastle

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='1108003' date='Jan 30 2011, 12:07 PM']Lots of gigs done in those 30 years Fella..... Testament to the quality of My Acoustic 220 head and 404 cab, and my soldering skills of course! [/quote] ...in next weeks programme 4-string-thing shows how to solder a phono plug to a length of pylon cable...

BEADG here as well.

[quote name='snazz' post='1108334' date='Jan 30 2011, 05:16 PM']What are Peavy Basses like, they look good, but not seen any in the flesh so to speak.[/quote] I've tried a couple and been left pretty unmoved by them but they're usually a reasonably priced and reasonable quality instrument.

[quote name='Cygnus x-1' post='1107736' date='Jan 29 2011, 11:24 PM']Anybody know which model P scratchplate might/will fit without buying one, won't fit, buy another one and so on?, neck pocket & pick up dimension are fairly critical, not too bothered about extra screw holes, NJ[/quote] I've never had to play with pup cutouts on an OEM scratchplate, but I nearly always end up having to take a bit of sandpaper to the neck cutout regardless of where the OEM scratchplate has come from...

[quote name='adz' post='1107703' date='Jan 29 2011, 10:47 PM']Basically I have an Orange Ad200b and want the tone from the amp to go through the P.A. I use a distortion pedal and it sounds epic through the Ad200b and my matamp 4x10 but on gigs sound guys never bother to mic my cab and as there is no d.i out on the head they just d.i my bass. The P.A never sounds as sick. Over the last two years with this amp only once has a sound guy ever used the slave out on the back of the head to run to the P.A. I am just wondering if he would have used a standard d.i box or is there something else one would need to accomplish using the slave out? Any help appreciated Cheers[/quote] If the sound guy wants to use a DI box it needs to go in after your fuzz pedal and before your amp input. Just explain to the sound guy that you are using effects pedals and it'll muck up the sound of the band if he takes his feed from the other end of the chain.

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='1107679' date='Jan 29 2011, 10:16 PM']I like T nuts for speaker mounting, but they're a little tricky to get hold of in Homebase.[/quote] I usually buy mine online. Funnily enough though I did actually see them in B&Q a few weeks ago - I wasn't looking for them at the time so I didn't stop and see what sizes they did.

[quote name='machinehead' post='1107624' date='Jan 29 2011, 09:11 PM']The earth and neutral conductors might well be connected together but the earth isn't the same as a neutral.[/quote] No, I didn't state that particularly well - I was trying to avoid going down an unnecessarily confusing path talking about potential.

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='1107466' date='Jan 29 2011, 06:31 PM']Thanks gents - looks like locking & bolted it will be then. My first ever guitar amp was an AC30 that someone had put castors on before I got it, and that saved me a few times times (including rolling several hundred yards across a bumpy field at Greenbelt festival). But bass amps seem a bit different, and I thought I'd get advice before fiddling.[/quote] I use these: For those that haven't used T-Nuts before, you just drill a hole, put the nut on the inside of the cab with the 'tube' part inside the hole. When you tighten everything up the little 'teeth' bite into the wood and hold it there. Having a flat plate on the top acts as a 'washer' and spreads the load. If you ever need to change a caster the nut stays in place when you undo the bolt and it saves dismantling the whole thing.

[quote name='Martin E' post='1107418' date='Jan 29 2011, 05:49 PM']Thank you all for your replies. very interesting and informative and some things I hadn't thought about. We're playing several sets during the day at a large village fair/fete type event so lighting won't be required. Just the amps and PA to power fortunately.[/quote] Oh - and from first hand experience, watch out for anyone trying to plug stuff from the beer tent into the generator as well...

[quote name='silddx' post='1107396' date='Jan 29 2011, 05:30 PM']Yes, maybe I am mad, but I will stop at nothing to get it![/quote] You after a part in the new James Bond movie?

[quote name='chris_b' post='1107365' date='Jan 29 2011, 05:05 PM']I would also ask if the equipment provided has current PAT test certificates and if the promoter has Public Liability Insurance. This might backfire because he may ask if you have PAT and PLI as well![/quote] +1 And make sure your gear is insured as well. Most modern generators are pretty stable but if you're renting one it might not be as 'clean' as it could be...

[quote name='clauster' post='1107245' date='Jan 29 2011, 02:38 PM']Anyone know if several generators can be earthed together?[/quote] No you can't. The 'earth' provided by a generator is actually the Neutral. As there's no way that two generators are going to run in synch without a suitable interlink control (big and expensive) your earth would end up all over the place!

[quote name='blunderthumbs' post='1107252' date='Jan 29 2011, 02:53 PM']I Have four cabs in total. It would probably take me half a day to remove all the hardware, speakers x overs etc. Then another half a day to sand them prior to recovering. Then another day to recover them. I just haven't the time to do it myself. Thanks anyway.[/quote] Ah. I've not tried getting carpet off but I can imagine it being a real pain in the ar*e... I had a quick Google but the only UK place I could find are looking at £100 in materials and £140 in labour per cab.

[quote name='Phil Starr' post='1106971' date='Jan 29 2011, 08:31 AM']When you say shabby do you mean that they won't clean up well or are they torn. You can do wonders with vinyl with a can of WD40. Spray it on like a generous squirt of furniture polish and buff off with a clean cloth. repeat until clean and shiny.[/quote] +1 If they're really grimey then use WD40 witha little scrubbing brush (or a nail brush). If you're really keen then Servisol (the switch cleaner people) make a [url="http://www.audiomate.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=Y062B"]Foam Cleaner [/url]product that is specifically designed to do this job - used to use it years ago to clean up SH kit before selling it on.

[quote name='tinyviking' post='1106907' date='Jan 29 2011, 12:36 AM']Hey chaps, I have a puzzle; I would like to use my two basses - one is a precision (passive), other a EB musicman 5 (active). I use only two effects pedals at the moment - a digitech multi-chorus and a boss delay. My amp has two inputs for passive and active and I believe I'm right in saying I can have both instruments connected at the same time (can only play one at a time mind you). As far as I can figure I shouldn't use the effects send and return loop as the output of the loop is line level and the return jack is only 600 Ohm which might get upset with the >10K Ohm output of the delay pedal. So, my question is; what would you recommend to allow me to have everything plugged in but be able to swap basses without re-wiring the setup each time! Also I know I had problems last time we gigged as the PA guy DI'ed my bass and I lost all the benefits of the effects. Should I DEMAND that I use my own amp head/effects and the DI out of that? It's late and I'm rambling.... let me know what you think. cheers![/quote] Two part answer to this one. I use a little A-B switchbox that allows me to connect two instruments to my amp (or effects) so I don't need to faff about with cables when changing instruments. As for effects being missed in the PA mix you have two choices - either insist on using your own DI from the amp or make sure that the sound guy uses his DI box at the end of the effects chain instead of the start of it.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='1106899' date='Jan 29 2011, 12:28 AM']These don't pull out, and they are all locking if I need it - I usually just do diagonally opposite corners, though.[/quote] +1 to the locking wheels. I once saw a guitarist I know running across the stage at an angle to his Roland JC120... which suddenly decided to follow him. No harm done to any kit but he was the butt of many jokes for many years...

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='1105682' date='Jan 27 2011, 10:54 PM']Just thinking about moving stuff around over smoothish carpeted floors. Putting casters on a cab should decouple it from the floor, right, so is there a reason NOT to do this? Thanks.[/quote] Not really. I'd recommend using T nuts and bolts to fit them though - they spread the load better than bog standard wood screws.

[quote name='nick' post='1106853' date='Jan 28 2011, 11:18 PM']+1 Just had the scratchplate off mine, I wanted to wire in a PIO cap on the tone pot.... I am going to change the pots first, they're those crappy little ones you sometimes get on early Japcrap. No point in going overboard with putting CTS pots in, but a couple of Alphas will be a vast improvement. The other thing is, out of curiousity I put an old black scratchplate from a Tokai up to it, to see if it would fit. From what I can see, it wouldn't be a major modification to fit a P-Bass scratchplate - just a bit of trimming around the neck area.[/quote] No hanging around then! Anyone else started dismantling theirs yet?

[quote name='theosd' post='1106820' date='Jan 28 2011, 10:50 PM']It doesn't look like a regular jack socket otherwise I'd have sorted it myself... It's well and truly part of the circuitboard :/[/quote] Ah. PCB mounted ones are a bit fiddlier to source and fit... You'd better double the guesstimates about pricing. Is there not a MarkBass dealer down your way that you could hand it over to?

[quote name='Johnston' post='1106613' date='Jan 28 2011, 07:19 PM']HA Ha wonder what you'll get if you switch off safe search in google, [/quote] How do you think I found BassChat in the first place?

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='1106746' date='Jan 28 2011, 09:28 PM']ha ha....a lot easier than when I tried the same thing with 2.5mm flex the other week![/quote]

[quote name='snazz' post='1106713' date='Jan 28 2011, 08:52 PM']That's price fixing. You can't have my items unless you sell them for this much, yes that's price fixing alright. See it all the time with Sony PS3s and so on. How the hell they get away with it I don't know.[/quote] Price fixing doesn't work like that. If two companies agree to sell their product or service in such a way that they gain a competitive advantage over other players in the field then that is price fixing and is illegal. A retailer who has undertaken to sell a product at a fixed price for a company isn't price fixing because they aren't gaining a competitive advantage - they're maintaining a level playing field. The prices might be high, but if people are prepared to pay that for the product then there's not a lot that can be done I'm afraid...

[quote name='4000' post='1106761' date='Jan 28 2011, 09:49 PM']Last time I tried that it didn't work and it kept telling me I had to watch it on Youtube. Maybe it was down to the specific video.[/quote] If you put the entire URL in (i.e. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we55QQcsvY4)"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we55QQcsvY4)[/url] then it will do that. You need to make sure that you trim everything out of the URL so you are just left with the part that looks like v=we55QQcsvY4

[quote name='theosd' post='1106748' date='Jan 28 2011, 09:32 PM']It's only a small issue and having gigged this amp solidly for over 3 years now I'm not too aggrieved. The input jack socket has become loose and often requires me to jiggle the lead about to get it to connect and is [i]way[/i] too fiddly for me to be arsing about with it. Any ideas of a cost effective place to take this to to get it sorted in Kent? Preferably near Medway?[/quote] I can't point you to anyone specific (I don't know the area), but if it is simply a duff jack socket the it should be well within the capabilities of just about anyone who has some experience of using a soldering iron. If you need to hand it in to a music shop to get it fixed, assuming it is just the jack socket, then you're probably looking at 30 mins labour charge and a couple of quid for a replacement socket - so a comparatively cheap repair.

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='1106700' date='Jan 28 2011, 08:43 PM']Tone wise initial impressions are that it has a good output and a fair bit of punch but little warmth or sustain. The volume pot has most of it's adjustment in it's first bit of travel but both pots are smooth.[/quote] That's something I've never understood. In nearly every case I've seen, the volume pot is just the wrong value on budget range basses and swapping it fixes the problem. Daft thing is that it doesn't cost any more to use the right value pot than it does to use the wrong value pot - unless there's a factory turning these out that accidentally ordered a million pots instead of a thousand... .