dmccombe7

If Leszek is ok with it i'll open it up and check the valves are all seated and secure. I have some spare pre-amp valves from my Ampeg days and can swap them out if needed. I can do basic checks if he wants but anything more will require test kit. Dave

Here's what i'm hearing from the amp. Gain was at circa 2 o'clockish and bass at 1 all else flat. Initially starts with drive selected and then without. Sandberg Marlowe passive bass with volume full. I cant get a normal valve distortion from the amp really no matter what i try. Nothing like @Clarky gets on the soundclip he sent me. Any thoughts on what might be the cause. ?

Hope so. Its quite rare to hear of anything like this on a HB amp but with the way my lucks been with amps in past 18mths its not what i needed. Dave

If it needs to be returned tho it will be another 2 months before i see it again. Dave

Well it was returned to the depot 30 miles away. No reason. I called customer services and gave them an ear full that its been missing for 2 weeks and has been sitting in their depot since 5am Fri and tomorrow is another strike day. They contacted the depot who agreed to let me collect. I now have the WB-100 and it sounds wonderful except for when the drive button is selected and it sounds like a deep crackle rather than a distortion. I've sent Leszek a message with a vid to let him hear the noise. Gain was set at 1 o'clock when i first noticed it but at 3 it was very worrying and at full gain it was like a damaged circuit board or a dodgy lead. With the drive button out it sounded fine. I have no idea what could cause that and am waiting to see what Leszek comes back with. I'll get a better pic tomorrow when flash wont be needed. Dave

Aye .........me. Still waiting Even Leszek has been asking today. Usual parcelforce lack of information delivery service. At least the other companies give you a morning or afternoon delivery and some have live tracking on where the van is and how many deliveries before yours. Not Parcelforce tho. Is it any wonder the bosses want upgrades and modern technology brought into the company. Dave

Mine is out for delivery. Hopefully today i will be the owner of a WB-100 Dave

4 hr gig with a 20 min break. Bloomin heck !!!!!! I simply couldn't do that. My fingers would be shredded. I manage a 3 hr set on occasion with Glam band because i dont play as hard with my fingers but 4 is out of my league. Huge respect @Bluewine I'm a member of a band that has refused money for a gig. Just after pandemic we were asked to play a larger venue on a Sun afternoon 1-3pm. We turned up (punk band) and the venue was almost empty. Most of the people there were people that knew the band from that local area and had come along. The owner had laid on food and free drinks etc. At the end of the gig the owner who was really happy with the band gave us the fee and the band had already discussed just take enough to cover fuel cost but the owner wouldn't have it and insisted we take the full fee. A deal's a deal they said. The Sun afternoon thing was a new venture to see if they could start pulling in a crowd on a Sun afternoon. We were the first band to try it and he was aware that it was going to be a risk. Also played 2 free gigs after the pandemic for 2 venues the band play regularly as a helping hand to get them back up and running. 2 small bar venues that were struggling to get people back in again. It was agreed before i joined the band but i was ok with it at the time. Not sure i'd be doing it again. Those were unusual times. Dave

Cheeky

Did you win ?

😂 I was just trying to "get with the times". At my age it doesn't work too well. Dave

Dream gig..........ladies college. Well maybe when i was 20. 😂

No big deal i knew what you meant. I watch a lot of US movies. 😂 Dave

I had one gig last night and i'm knackered today and only just over an hours drive home on mixed roads (country then Motorway) Dont think i would have managed another gig today. Dave

Is that Newcastle UK. The way you describe it as a "strip mall" sounds more US ? Just curious Dave

Riverside Bar in Dumfries last night. Love this venue, great crowd, great owner and staff. Play there around 4-5 times a year. Unfortunately after many years putting Sat live bands on, an elderly neighbour that has been there for many years has now decided to complain about noise levels. Unfortunately his wife passed away and the guys having some mental issues trying to cope with his loss. Its a shame all round. No winners and i do have sympathy for the poor guy. Bands used to play in the large conservatory they have but have now moved bands into bar area which is smaller plus we were asked to keep our punk covers band quiet. It was so quiet i could clearly hear people talking louder than the band.because the cabs just weren't doing anything. Bass sounded muffled. I actually practice louder at home. As it got busier once we started we did turn up slightly and just enough to get the speakers working and give a little bit of energy in the overall sound. It was like playing punk covers in a club band at the start. At the end of the day we still got paid and i had no issue with noise affecting my hearing 😂 Bar is literally where the camera is. Decided to try the P bass for the first set and it sounded ok but went back to my Marlowe for 2nd set and the change was amazing. P bass had lots of warmth in its tone but because volumes were so low it lacked clarity. Marlowe just brought things back to life and i could hear every note i was playing. Maybe helped by the fact we notched up the volume a little for the 2nd set. Dave

I've never really played for the money but in recent yrs since retiring early i've found that it comes in handy and saves me taking money out of my bank account. I just use what's in my wallet these days. I've played a few freebie gigs with the punk band that were already agreed before i joined. Both were a thank you to venues that have been really good to the band and it was to help them get back on their feet after the pandemic. I have one next Saturday night with the punk band but its for the singers best friend who followed the band a lot. 2 yrs ago on her way home from a bike rally she had a fatal anurism and dropped the bike. The family couldn't honour her during the pandemic and made arrangements on her 2nd anniversary to have a get together with all her family and friends. They asked if our singer and the band would play at the event in a large hotel. The band said yes and agreed that we would play it for free. I have no issue with that. Its for a close friend of someone in the band and someone that went to many many gigs. Dont think i would be up for doing free gigs for official charities altho i ahve done some many yrs ago for Glasgow kids hospital which was a cause that was close to me at the time. Dave

I've read a few things now about why not to put a short shim in the end of the neck pocket and preference being a tapered shim. If the short shim is a risk to damaging the neck why not put a slightly thicker full pocket shim in and raise the full neck in pocket height. The shim i used was only 0.3mm thick but if i just put a full pocket shim of say 0.5mm the full length of the pocket that would raise the full neck height albiet level rather than angled. That would protect the neck in same way as a tapered shim and it would negate any air space between the fixing screws. I literally only need to drop the string height about 0.5mm to get where i want it to be. I understand its a thicker shim than if tapered. Where can i get a tapered shim for a 6 bolt Sandberg neck ? Dave

Yep that's it almost spot on altho not quite as bad as that. The ski jump actually starts around the point where the neck joins the body but its straight from there to the 21st fret. The bass isn't that old tho and altho i haven't checked to see if its shimmed or not i wouldn't expect shimming to have done this in such a short space of time. Its not bad enough that i would worry too much about it but i might take a look to see if its shimmed next time i change the strings. I've just put a shim in my MarloweDK and now i'm worried it might cause this exact problem. I can see how it might with a shim at the heel and a 6 screw fix to the body i could see the middle screws pulling down on the neck towards the body as there will be a slight gap there now. If it bothers me enough i'll put it into a pro but at the moment its fine. I might now look at a rethink on the shim i've just put in my Marlowe as i dont want that neck to have a major issue. like this. Dave

If i hadn't just bought my Mesa Subway rig recently i might have gone for them as they do look nice .....different but very nice. Never heard them tho but if his cabs are anything like his amps they will be first class gear. Dave

Are you sure its not a typewriter

I think its because i generally play hard with my right hand fingerstyle and instinctively play hard with my fret hand and therefore tend to push strings all the way down to the neck rather than just lightly enough to touch the fret. The further i need to press the string down can give me some aches and pains when playing longer gigs. I'm comparing them to my Fender Geddy Jazz, both Sandberg basses which have lower frets and they are far easier to play. Vintera P is slightly higher fret height but not a lot so it works ok. Dave

It doesn't choke with the way its set up now. I would have thought 2mm string height with no fret buzz or choking is ok. ? I'm no expert on P basses but is that not ok I could probably get a pro set up done and have the nut height reduced but that's not something i would tackle myself. Dave

Its a Vintera P bass so not a top of the range bass but it sounds wonderful. It has that warmth of tone. The neck isn't the best fit for me but i can cope with that. I've managed to get string height down to 2mm but the neck has a weird "kink from the neck joint. I can get the neck straight from nut to neck joint and then it kinks up very slightly. Its a weird thing. It means i get choking on the 14th / 15th fret if i lower the strings any further. To be fair 2mm string height is pretty good anyways. Its the blonde one with maple neck. I have tried the £2k fender P basses but the Vintera ones just seemed to suit me better. I found the fret height were slightly lower than the more expensive P basses. I can see me looking for another P bass just for a change if it sounds as good in the punk band on SAt night. I play solely with fingerstyle. Dave

My Sandberg VM4 that i always use with the 70's Glam covers band had duff E & A strings after the last gig so i decided to take my P bass to rehearsals last week and WOW i was so surprised how well it sat in the mix and with the EBS HD360 amp almost flat it still had lots of depth of tone. I was worried that it wouldn't give me the clarity i like from my VM4 but it did a fantastic job and i could hear every note clearly. Gonna take it to the punk gig on Sat night to see how it compares to using my MarloweDK. Just goes to show that you should never rule out a good old P bass. Dave