LukeFRC

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1456153517' post='2985981'] Yes and no. Yes, that's typical of a commercial cab. No, it's not a good target for a DIY cab. Using tens a 50-55Hz f3 and 35-40Hz f10 is a reasonable target, easily achieved. You'd need to go around 40-45L per driver, but the external dimensions will only be a few cm larger than 25-30L per driver, and with properly braced 12mm plywood construction and neo drivers the weight won't be bad. The Deltalite II 2510 is my go-to electric bass ten. [/quote]. You will save yourself (the OP) a lot of time and money if you stick "bill fitzmaurice simplexx " into Google and buy some plans....

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1455826470' post='2982821'] No but I am working on one of those the moment. Looking for names working title is Neo (babe magnet)? Jokes aside it is a better name than Monique. [/quote]a 6sl7 preamp?

don't worry I'll now always go for 5.67 makes me think of the Pixie's monkeys gone to heaven

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1455286150' post='2977819'] In fairness, factory fretless ones aren't as common, so probably worth £23.45 more. My "odd bids" always end with £6.66. Dunno what that says about me. J. [/quote] Useful info for anyone ever bidding on quality japanese basses on eBay

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1455625977' post='2980784'] Cheers for the comments on the Dolphin Loving that Thumb, Luke! [/quote] I love, it. The Streamer is all delicate mids, it's all precise and snappy and has a middy growl.... and all the variations that the ACG preamp gives you. The Thumb is a absolute beast, big bottom, massive lower mid growl and feels like it's going to take your arm off. They're two good uns, the thumb is just under 9lb and the streamer a fair bit under 8lb so not heavy either.

I'm confused, Beedster is now a Wal hire service?

Best pups I ever tried were nordies... I would say go passive first and then if you gig it and find you need a preamp... Well do that, j retro or something. Nice bass too was that on here, photos help!😀

[quote name='roman_sub' timestamp='1455535242' post='2979876'] Thanks for explaining! I also have a love-hate feeling with the old MEC preamps. Anyway, seriously nice Thumb! [/quote] Cheers

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1455571315' post='2980405'] Ive had a few TE heads, the Series 6 being the pinnacle for me. SM's also great due to their simplicity. I'm probably the only person who never really gelled with the SMX. [/quote] What sound wise is the difference between the series? I used to use a 1x15 combo, no idea what series - but the 7 band EQ at church - and admittedly I didn't spend long fiddling but it was a very 80's sound with my active pupped Warwick. Now I'm thinking it wasn't the greatest cab ever but I'm intreaged to try trace stuff again (that twin valve combo for sale looks awesome) Sound wise what would I be expecting from the different series?

[quote name='Nostromo' timestamp='1455526072' post='2979728'] Re the BRIWAX . . . . which one do you recommend for cleaning up a Bass ? . . . . they seem to market loads of different products . . . most of which don't look like they'd be suitable for polishing up a bass ? . . . however one's called "Briwax Sheradale" . . . . is that the stuff ?. . . . or is it just the Briwax original . . . which seems to be coloured ? Beyond that and re the original post . . . . I'd say Beeswax = Good for wood . . . . Olive Oil = Not so good . . . . ? [/quote] I use the original which you can get in clear...

[quote name='roman_sub' timestamp='1455491571' post='2979637'] Luke, what do the pickup switches do? humbucker/series/eq? Lovely old-school Thumb by the way [/quote] So you know active pups have preamps in them... it kinda affects the roll of of the top end... different combinations have different roll offs. TBH it's not that great! The two band preamp on it is one of the earliest MEC ones - apparently a straight copy of the EMG ones of the time and it's not amazing by today's standards.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1455412931' post='2978979'] I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic but capacitor type/construction has zero effect on tone. [/quote] "[color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]as you may discover, there is a great deal of snake oil used in the audiophile capacitor industry." [/size][/font][/color]http://sound.westhost.com/articles/capacitors.htm

I've always found pure beeswax based waxes get a little sticky underhand. Ones with Carnubra in seem to dry harder. For the price of a tin of Briwax that will last you 10 years of waxing warwicks and you *know* works I don't know what the benefit would be of making your own...

my two....

[quote name='Dazed' timestamp='1455395512' post='2978841'] Where's the blue streamer? ......... And the wife? [/quote] sold in post 3. I didn't get on with the sound at all... the natural one from the same year was so different sonically! EDIT: That's obviously about old bluey. The wife's still here - she actually bought me the thumb bass for my birthday- it's useful having someone fluent in German about to import basses from Germany

I think I had the same metal musicman type bridge that you have on my build... is it the one with the insets for the 2 side bolts? If so it's not bad but the 3 screws you get with it are made of butter. Get different screws to install it! (I learned the hard way)

So as I said earlier I went to sell the GK combo to a guy local to me (and basschatter) who runs a studio here in leeds. He let me play a load of his amps and cabs and basses (his 1977 Stingray was amazing and why I built the pink one)... I went to sell him an amp and ended up giving him twice as much and walking away with this... it makes basses sound how I want basses to sound. It's a B15 for the 21st century and it's probably unsurpassable! A wrongly labled eBay add meant I picked up a 1950's Phillips valve for about £3 that currently sits in her and is a step up from the stock Mesa valve. Oh and after I sold the electric guitar I missed having something to strum... I set myself a budget and took a punt on something without labels on eBay - purely based on the photo that showed some quite nice wood that looked like ebony. Worst case scenario I wasted my budget on some pile of crap guitar.... What I ended up with is a copy of an early scalloped braced Martin 00, all hand made by a fella called [font="Arial, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif"][color="#000000"]Steve Evans who later created the Boltona resonator company... it's got mahogany body a very wide neck, ebony board and oddly a V shaped neck. It's stunning sounding and really sings - never played another guitar like it. [/color][/font] [font="Arial, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif"][color="#000000"][/color][/font] [color=#000000][font=Arial, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]oh and if anyone is interested it's a Fujifilm XT1, XF18-55 lens with the vivid film sim on... [/font][/color]

And a little bit special this one... it's also lightweight... and a very very early BB1200. It doesn't get played as much as it deserves but you know when you have a really nice instrument and it just plays and feels like the really expensive basses you've played... Ok if someone wanted to swap for a fodera I probably would but it's another instrument I'm lucky to get to play.

Bitsa Stingray Handmade body and neck, hacked and bodged by me, and almost finished... shell pink all the way!

Remember that lovely old JV Squier? well after the pickup swap and after Alpher sorting the Streamer out it got less and less play time. To be honest I would have preferred a beat up version that played well than a near pristine collectable example... so I started thinking about what I liked and if there was anything that would make me want to trade it... It's a 1985 Warwick thumb. It would be a JD thumb except it was the closest to a custom shop they did then and ended up with the active seymore duncan pups and the solid mother of pearl trc .... and it sounds great and is fun to play. Also under 9lb which is nice. Do I miss a P bass - yeah but do I think I got a great upgrade?

My lovely 1991 Streamer Stage One. Lightest Warwick I've played, and sounds awesome. A fret dress by Alpher Basses transformed this into one of the most amazing basses to play. The machine gun MEC pups got swapped for some nice Bartolini, and after saving multiple times I installed a ACG EQ-01 filter preamp. After all these years It's still my first choice...

this was a lot more portable and one of the amps I've wanted for a long time. And I got one! And hated it. Plugging my active basses into the effects return and it sounded great, I just didn't get on with the preamp at all. Probably the only bit of kit on here I didn't enjoy owning. I wanted to like it... Luckily my old friend Warwickhunt liked Thunderfunk and had sold his one stupidly so we traded for his GK rb1001 210 combo. Nice combo. Some good sounds esp if you whacked the volume up loud and used the gain to control the volume. Then we were about to move house and one less big lump to move meant it got advertised for sale - we'll get to that in a bit... We're now unto date. there might be a few things I've missed off as I didn't take photos of them - but onto the new photos!