dmccombe7

Took my 1989 Warwick Thumb NT to Chris at McIntyre Guitars in Edinburgh after recommendations on BC and whow ! this guy knows his stuff. Very impressive. He diagnosed the problem and pinpointed it to the original pre-amp itself. Bought the recommended repair kit from Warwick direct and arrived in 2 days. Chris fitted the kit and his cost to diagnose the fault and replace the full electronics including pots and jack socket all for less than a good set of strings. He was happy to talk bass and pass on some trade secrets. He even worked late to save me a return trip. Very helpful and understanding of what your bass means to you. Highly recommended. Dave

Yep. agree Dood. Time to move on to the next debate i think. thanks Dave

Thanks Chrismuzz I was beginning to get paranoid. I did clearly state in earlier comments that Hartke had a good reputation hence my reason for buying in first place. Made it clear that they generally get good reviews. Obviously a sore point with Hartke users on the forum but that's life. Some good, some bad. Dave

I used the Hartke website taken from an advert in Bass magazine looking for a contact. The fact I could only find the US contact I hardly think is relevant. They are the parent company and should therefore redress any contact for advice whether that be replying to me to say contact the UK customer service or to pass the query on themselves. Please remember that at that point I was only looking for some kind of advice from Hartke to see if there was an easy fix. I stated the facts. If Hartke or BC Moderators for that matter don't like it then that is too bad. I believe I have the right to state what I believe to be true or do we simply keep quiet about issues and no-one gains from the situation. I certainly hope we are not turning BC into a suppressive forum. It should be open to all comments provided they are not derogatory or abusive.

To clarify :- Thomann were never at fault and offered a refund altho that means losing a fair amount of cash through exchange rates etc. I contacted Hartke direct for advice and when no response from Customer Service contacted Larry H after advice from BC members. The fact it took approx. 2 weeks to get any response at all is pretty poor in anyone's book. Great that Larry H took the time to contact me at all but by this point I had given up and returned the item to Thomann. It personally left me with a poor image of Hartke and a complete loss of confidence in their products. That is a difficult thing to change. PLEASE NOTE that Hartke generally have good reviews hence the reason I bought the amp in the first place. In the OP's case it clearly was not the fault of Hartke that it was taking so long however it was another faulty Kilo in question and that is an issue for Hartke. Dave

Had a Streamliner 600 and very nice amp if you like that warm valve sound. I changed because i wanted more flex with my amp and a bit more power playing in a classic rock band. I now run a Gallien Krueger 1001RBi but its by far the loudest amp i have tried and probably the smaller 700 would have been a more sensible choice. It goes from clean to growl with ease and not overly expensive either for what you get. Could try Orange Terror series of amps. They seem to get good reviews altho a bit limiting tonally. I use Bergantino cabs of varying types. Dave

I'm afraid its about the same level of poor customer service i got when i bought a Kilo from Thomann who finally took it back without issue but trying to get anything from Hartke was a bit of a waste of time. Eventually Larry H did email me after about 2 weeks if memory serves me right asking what the issue was. To be fair he at least got in touch with me. Customer service in US didn't get back to me at all and UK someone got back to me after Larry H did. Pretty poor when the owner of the company gets back to you faster than his customer service departments. It was enough for me never to touch Hartke gear again. I'm now sitting with a very nice GK 1001RBi. It may have been a one off but doesnt sound like it. ??? My Kilo had a complete lack of volume. Could barely hear it at 50% on Vol / gains. Dave

[sup]Bob Daisley for me.[/sup] [sup]Neil Murray also a maybe in this category. [/sup]

Rehearsals normally used a GB Streamliner with 2 112ae cabs. Lightweight and valve pre-amp. For gigs with 5 piece rock covers band i used GB STL 600 with Berg HT322 (heavy beast 1x12, 2x10 & horn) and warwick IV into the 2 112 cabs (drummer used these as monitors to hear bass as they are rear ported) Normally larger gigs. Nowadays i have same cabs but with Gallien Kreuger 1001RBi for large gigs and smaller MB200 for small gigs and rehearsals. Dave

Have always thought first 2-3 cover songs and then a brief comment depending on crowd. Occasional thanks if audinece is enjoying it and showing it in some way is always nice and goes down well. Dont think jokes are suitable but again depends on audience you are playing to. My audience has always been rock fans and they dont generally want to hear a lot of drivel between songs. My pet hate is too much talking between every song. If you have a crowd up dancing you want to keep the momentum and therefore go straight into next song and keep women on the dance floor as much as possible. Where you have women dancing will always attract male crowd therefore everybody wins Dave

Use Fender Nickels on my Jazz but never tried the flats.

Fault traced to pre-amp which is no longer manufactured. Currently being replaced with Warwick equivelant MEC unit and some new pots just to give it a birthday after 25yrs. Chris @ McIntyre guitars in Edinburgh highly recommended so far. Will update when job totally complete. Dave

For me it depends a lot on how much commitment the band have. I like to meet the band before agreeing timescales. I've turned up at auditions and knew the songs better than guys that apparently had been playing or rehearsing for 12-18mths before i auditioned. These guys wanted note perfect, tone perfect and with proper level of attack etc whereby they would stop a song if anyone didn't get it quite right. Took us a year to get to first gig 6hr rehearsal every 2 weeks. On the other hand i've played with guys who just want to jam for a few hrs. Thoroughly enjoyable. Then i have a Prog band on the go at the moment. Some pretty technical stuff and some 10 min epics and yes its a challenge but we want to do it right. We are all working the day jobs and dont have endless spare hrs "at our age" to devote to rehearsing every night in time for a weekly full band rehearsal. I think it's "horses for courses" in many respects and you have to decide whether you want to run in this particular race. As long as i'm enjoying myself i dont mind having more than 5 or 6 rehearsals to get it right. Patience is a virtue to be enjoyed. Dave

That's a bit of a leap. From never a fretless to 6 stringer fretless. I changed from 4 string fretted to a 6 fretless but had played various fretless basses over the yrs from WAL, Fender, Yamaha to my current Overwater (6er) and Jaydee (4er) I have to listen and make sure i can hear my fretless when playing to get that intonation as near as damn it. Nice bass and good luck with your development. Dave

Mines was repaired by Fender UK via Bass Direct. Contact Mark at bass Direct I'm sure he'll pass on the address. The guy from Fender was also extremely helpful and kept me fully up to speed with what was happening. Was all done and dusted and returned very quickly too. Dave

I've set up all my basses but agree if truss is tight get an expert to do it. Dave

Chris and the guys at Overwater wont let you down.

Here's my contribution. Custom Progress 6er fretless and Contemp J4. Dave

Do the Zon basses have a full graphite neck or just truss rods ? Some photos the full neck looks graphite. Really fancy a Legacy but need to check on the differences between them as there seems to be different Legacy models but they have some gorgeous basses. Dave

Thanks Kev, she's in for repairs at moment with McIntyre guitars in Edinburgh. Getting an intermittent popping noise which I cant locate. Chris comes very highly rated so will see how we get on. I've had it from new in 1989 and still not a mark on it. Has only done a few gigs back in 90's and occasional studio work. Dave

GK 1001RBi with Berg HT322 cab. Quite a step up from my first amp a Selmer 50w

This is my 1989 Warwick Thumb with EMG's. Has to be the best neck I've ever played and fantastic mid-range growl. And side by side with its best friends. Dave

Haven't liked much since before Poison album. Songs just kinda drone for me these days. He does put on a good show though. Dave

Took your advice Simon and took bass into Chris yesterday. Seems to know his stuff. I was very impressed even just talking with him for half hour. He has a vast wealth of knowledge and experience. He seems confident he can get to bottom of the returning pop noise on my Warwick. Thank for the heads up on McIntyre guitars Dave

Away from bands and gigging for approx 15yrs and only just got back into few yrs back when a mate asked me to help out at a jam session he was running every few weeks. Went along few times, got the bug again and started playing in rock bands all over again. Thoroughly enjoying it this time around. Think the maturity has taken away most of the anguish tho and makes for a more relaxing time. All the very best with new adventures. Dave