icastle

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1394723952' post='2394448'] Ah, but will it be good any for...... No. I won't. [/quote] I very nearly did...

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1394704817' post='2394133'] Would a highly skilled joiner or electrician do a better job with an expensive screwdriver? Of course, if it broke that would be a problem, but I guess that anyone who uses cheap tools probably has a few spares... maybe I'm pushing that analogy a little far now? [/quote] A 50p screwdriver will be made of low quality metal and will fit the screw 'near enough' but will wear quite quickly. A good quality screwdriver will be made of vanadium steel, won't wear as quickly and will fit the screw exactly. [quote name='Conan' timestamp='1394704817' post='2394133'] When I think of some of the truly awful basses I played back in the late seventies/early eighties when I was learning, I shudder. You can buy a bass new now for less than £100 that is good enough to gig with! How did that happen? Glad it has though. [/quote] Absolutely. I used to work in a music shop back then and some of the instruments were, frankly, no better than cricket bats. I'm surprised that bass playing didn't die out! The first 'budget' bass I ever saw that was remotely playable would have been the old Westone Thunder 1 (or 1A if you were a bit richer). What I need though is a bass that is reliable and always sounds, feels and plays the same whenever I take it out of the case. It needs to have a stable neck, it needs to have stable intonation and it needs to stay in tune. It also needs to be comfortable to use, both ergonomically and from a weight perspective. I'm not saying that budget basses will 'fail' all of those criteria, but failing just one of them would make it an unviable proposition for me.

I don't form attachments to basses, as far as I'm concerned they're tools. Like a tradesman I choose tools appropriate to the job - I'm not going to buy a 50p screwdriver and expect to use it everyday for 5 years, I'll buy something that is appropriate to my needs, does the job I want it to do and have a reasonable life expectation provided I use it in the way that was intended. If my usage of that screwdriver goes up, or I need it to perform better because I need it to, then I'll replace it with a more appropriate one. Sure, I have favourite brands but I don't buy tools purely on name or price tag. They do however, give me an indication of what I can expect from the item in question.

So... you need to solder on a solderless connection to avoid the need to learn how to solder.

Pub gigs we have the desk next to us but for functions we always have it a distance away with a dedicated sound engineer.

[quote name='goblin' timestamp='1394506870' post='2392078'] Oh and the downfall? My load is incredibly large, I get assistance loading and unloading at gigs, but at home it's not so much fun! [/quote] Are you sure you just posted that to the right site?

My first Peavey Tour 700 was awful - I sent it back to Peavey and they replaced it. By all accounts there were whole areas of the pre-amp board that had been badly soldered. If you want to get it fixed, that'd be number one on my checklist.

I know it's a bit like the old 'have you switched it off and on again' advice that IT Helpdesks are often ridiculed for using, but if any part of the site doesn't work properly then it's more than likely going to involve IE11.

Some of the BC features are a real nightmare with mobiles. Certain things work with some devices and not others and making everything compatible with every device is really something for the software providers and developers to undertake. I've made a note of this issue (although it works fine on my Nokia) and we'll see if there's an easy solution.

Yep - I get the same if I use IE11 on W8.1. Using the basic text editor or a different browser is the current answer.

It's all subjective. I habitually use a little bit of chorus and personally find things like octavers and fuzz absolutely horrid to listen to. Doesn't mean I'm right though.

Mum and Dad were into Kate Bush, Elkie Brooks, Gerry Rafferty and stuff like that, although Dad discovered a band called INKSIES when he was in his 60's. It took a while to realise that he was raving about a band called INXS. So, things were a bit back to front in my family - Mum and Dad liked modern stuff whilst I was into Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and so forth.

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1394026487' post='2387045'] My understanding is that it would be legal for sales by private sellers in the UK at least, but it's not something that I'm interested in hosting. [/quote] Legality is a funny thing. For some businesses, the hardest part about taking legal action for something they don't like is working out who to name on the paperwork. If they can't identify an individual, they'll take action against the web site owners. In some parts of the world it is possible to bring a court action for the most ridiculous of things. The 'winner' is the person who can pay their legal bills the longest, not necessarily who's actually 'right'.

My first guess was wrong as well. In fairness to the customer services person in question, this is a combination that rarely comes up and if most of us got it 'wrong' due to it's unfamiliarity, then it's perhaps not hugely surprising that they initially did either.

According to Trading Standards: [i]If you offer a replacement for faulty goods that have been returned by the customer, the cancellation rights under the DSRs will run for seven working days from the day after the customer receives the replacement goods, provided you have previously complied with the information giving provisions in the DSRs.[/i] http://dshub.tradingstandards.gov.uk/dsrexplained

I've never really thought about it - I had to go look and see what I've got. Two with chrome. One with black. One with gold.

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1394058959' post='2387599'] icastle, that's encouraging news, thanks [/quote] Even more so since I updated it to make sense.

The nerve conduction test is just a little pad fixed to your finger with a small 'prickly' electric shock firing up it (not painful). They then use another pad which they move up your arm that looks for that signal - when they lose it, that's where the compression is. Sometimes the nerve 'moves' out of the space it's supposed to be in and it can be massaged back into place. I had surgery on my left elbow to sort out an ulnar nerve compression. It was uncomfortable, but that was about 20 years ago and what with medical advances, it's probably nothing like it was. It's been fine ever since though.

[quote name='TheBishop' timestamp='1392661868' post='2371286'] The pots are actually working perfect. Just the jack. Probably dirty. Will know when I remove things. [/quote] Here ya go:) Before you start, check what happens if you use a different lead. If it still crackles: Make sure the wires are soldered securely to the jack socket. Make sure the contacts are clean. Give the contact arm a little bend with a pair of pliers so it makes a good contact with the tip of the jack plug when inserted. If that lot fails then replace the socket - basic soldering skills needed. HTH

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1394005701' post='2386714'] Good stuff Chris, can it have a marketplace or will that run into problems? [/quote] Our experience of the sort of attention you get from advertising a few odd fakes shows that a site dedicated to doing nothing but that wouldn't be a particularly good idea. Such a site wouldn't be linked to from Basschat.

I used to go to the BMF years ago and, whilst it was a bit noisy, it wasn't excessive. However, back then, 250W amps were considered to be enormously loud and the idea of having a 1000W bass amp was something off of Blakes 7.

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1393925374' post='2385778'] I always buy my own tickets as soon as they become available, to make sure I can go to the show regardless of whether BC is there or not. [/quote] So that'll be next week then...

I use a Fishman G2 (same basic idea, less buttons) and run it straight into my amp input. I've also stuck a piece of tape at the top of it after trying to tweak the volume up on a dark stage and finding it was having no impact. Subsequent 'tweaks' made it worse and in desperation I slid the volume slider all the way to the top - everything failed at that point. After some head scratching and muttered curses I realised I was holding the thing upside down...

[quote name='MoJoKe' timestamp='1393868307' post='2385279'] These shows cost an absolute shedload to exhibit, its not just the stand space you need to think about and most companies like Fender/Ashdown/Gibson/etc, will most likely only have the resources (both financial and physical; POS info, stands, logistics, staffing etc.) to do one show at a time. If I was Fender UK, as a business decision I would have favoured the guitar show too... much as I would defend the bass community, the guitar show will have had much more footfall. [/quote] +1 There really needed to be a months gap between the two shows.