BOD2

[quote name='dabootsy' post='334057' date='Nov 21 2008, 07:06 PM'].....We have a quiet drummer ....[/quote] Hang on a minute. "Quiet drummer" Is this a wind up ?

Does it work ok if you use if for anything else ? Try sticking it in front of a loud guitar cab and see if it works with that.

Maybe try here for more information ? [url="http://x.nordstrandpickups.com/index.php"]http://x.nordstrandpickups.com/index.php[/url]

This covers it here ... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=30732&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=30732&hl=[/url] It's inside the pots that you spray.

Ah... damn those electrical pixies !! Something also worth trying if possible is to move any small power supplies around to ses if that reduces the noise. This isn't easy if they are plug-in wall wart types, but I have found from personal experience that some power supplies will induce noise in adjacent cables when they come in close proximity to them. Moving the power supply (or the cable if you can identify it) reduces the noise. If you can keep your cables aways from these power supplies as much as possible then that might help but on a small stage it's not always possible. Could it be that when you reconnected everything you had moved the power supply or the cables around it ?

[quote name='Waldo' post='335604' date='Nov 24 2008, 04:08 PM']And as for WD-40, tell me, do any of you actually know whats in it? You don't do you, and yet you're balking at using it on your guitar! It's mostly an oil emulsifying solvent which quickly evaparates and the rest is............mineral oil. The exact same mineral oil that's in your stick of fast fret. So why has it 'got no place on a guitar' ?[/quote] OK, I agree that it's not going to kill you, but it does carry a warning that repeated contact with the skin may cause irritation and dryness ... [url="http://www.wd40.co.uk/media/adobe/2/0/WD-40_aerosol_MSDS.pdf"]http://www.wd40.co.uk/media/adobe/2/0/WD-40_aerosol_MSDS.pdf[/url] I've used WD40 a lot in car maintenance before and I'd certainly prefer not to get it on my hands regularly so I wouldn't want to apply it as a string cleaner. I suppose it's not been formulated with skin contact in mind. But then some people might also say that about Fast Fret ! It's also not the best product to use on guitar electrics because it does leave a greasy film to which dust will stick and this combination of grease and dust on pots can cause them to clog up or become noisy. Much better to use an electrical cleaning product like Super Servisol for that. It might get you out a tight spot, though.

Lemon oil is for open grained wood fretboards (e.g. rosewood). It needs to absorb into the wood otherwise it just leaves a sticky mess so you cannot use it on varnished maple boards. You use it sparingly when changing the strings. It is a product developed for guitars (most guitar accessory shops will have some). It's NOT the stuff that comes in a yellow plastic lemon that you squirt on your fish.... For a varnished maple board you can use just about anything if you are careful. Ordinary furniture polishes will work but it's best to avoid ones containing silicones. A standard guitar polish will do the job.

That's the first time I've heard this concern raised. I can see how it might perhaps contribute to "drying out" an unsealed wood fretboard (e.g. a rosewood board) but that happens through time anyway and a touch of lemon oil on the fretboard when replacing the strings will prevent that. I'd be surprised if it got through a sealed varnished neck, though. It's not like you spray on copious quantities of Fast Fret. I've used it on my 6-strings occasionally and the applicator is quite dry so you're not applying very much of it, and most of it will go on the strings rather then the neck. I would say as long as you use it as directed (e.g rub it one then wipe down with a cloth) then it shouldn't cause any problems. As for the contributors on that Rick thread suggesting WD40....no, no, no. Use WD40 on your car by all means, but it's got no place on a guitar.

The jumper wire would make sense, otherwise the switch isn't actually connecting anything together in one of the positions..

I can't quite see from that photo - is there a "jumper wire" between the two contacts at the left of the switch ? The action of the switch should contact the centre pair of contacts either to the left pair or right pair (when viewed from your photo) If you have a multimeter check that the switch is doing what it should.

If the interference isn't mains-borne then there's no mains conditioner that would help. A ground loop can still occur if everything is plugged into a single socket - it's possible to get ground loops on signal cables. A ground loop is just effectively a loop of wire that acts as an antenna a picks up noise in the environment. It's probably more likely that there was something "noisy" in the room that was generating airborne interference and being picked up by everything else. It could be something in your equipment or it could be something at the gig - dimmer switches are a favourite suspect. There's no easy answer to this, although if it never happens again then it does point clearly to the venue.

I don't know that these would solve "humming" problems. The mains supply in the UK is actually relativley "clean" and doesn't usually add any noise to equipment - not that you would notice in a gig environment anyway. Plus, a more common source of humming is ground loops and airborne interference picked up by guitars and these devices would do nothing to prevent this. I'm sure there was a thread ages ago (or it may have been on the old site) and the concensus was that these devices would not solve many noise problems in the UK. Hopefully someone else might come along and back this up (or refute it) and add some clarification...

Just to re-interate what's been said previously... The big advantages of LED-based PAR cans are 1. They don't generate much heat - no more overheating on stage 2. The don't use much power - you shouldn't need any more sockets 3. They cool quicker so can be moved sooner The only disadvantages are 1. Might not be quite as bright - debatable this one 2. Are a little more expensive and not so readily available second hand The iColor-4 (or iColor-3) lights are dead easy to setup and use, very compact but still generate heat, and use a fair bit of power. They're fan cooled so they cool down quicker. If you want slow changing lights (rather than fast flashing) then it's probably better to use a basic controller (e.g. a DMX controller) as this gives much better and easier control of the lights than any "built-in" light controls do. You should also eb able to vary the lighting level (brightness) from a separate controller which is good for different sized venues.

Have a look here - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=20269&hl=band+lighting"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...l=band+lighting[/url] If you have any questions arising from that then post them here and someone should be able to help.

Have a look at the bottom of this page for a good diagram of how shimming works [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=18034&hl=shim&st=20"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...=shim&st=20[/url] Note the position of the shim in the neck pocket. Unfortunately it's pretty much trial and error to get what you want, although the adjustment available in the bridge gives you a fair amount of leeway.

Just to give you some more terminology ... A "mixer" has already been defined. It's where all the mics etc, plug into and give you the correct volume "mix" A "powered mixer" is a mixer with an amplifier built int the same box. It's usually a two-channel amplifier whch means it can drive two sets of speakers (left and right). A "passive speaker" is a like a PA version of your standard guitar/bass speaker cab. A box with the appropriate speaker type built in. You'll need separate amplifiers to power these. An "active speaker" is a speaker cabinet with an amplifier built-in to the same cabinet. More expensive and heavier than passive speakers but compact, easy to set up and the amplifier is perfectly matched to the speaker. A "monitor" is a speaker cab that usually sits on the floor and faces back to the band. It allows the band to hear some of what is being sent out of the PA speakers at the front. The singer will often need this to hear himself. A "crossover" splits the signal from a mixer into different frequency ranges, which can then be sent to different speaker cabs optimised to handle these ranges (e.g. bass bins, mid cabs, high frequency horns). Sometimes a bass bin willk have a crossover built-in. The more you look into it the more there is to learn !

[quote name='hitchy64' post='326352' date='Nov 10 2008, 10:21 PM']Cheers guys, that has explained alot. Can you plug the bass and guitars straight into the mixer and then back to our amps?? [/quote] It depends on the mixer. Generally it's better not to do it that way. For a bass guitar you can either use a "DI box" as suggested by Stewart or your amp may have a "DI out" connection at the back which is designed for this purpose. For a 6-string guitar you generally need to "sound" of the speakers to get warmth into the sound. A DI guitar sounds pretty awful unless you're into ultra-clean guitar sounds. For a guitar you usually put a mic in front of the amp or you could use an "amp modeller" FX unit, but since these generally sound different to the amp sound your guitarist will almost certainly want a mic. Acoustic guitars are mic'd up but these can be quite tricky to get a good sound. An electro-acoustic (with a built-in piezo pickup or similar) is a more practical solution. Keyboards, if you have them, can go straight into the mixing desk. If you play larger venues you cam also mic up the drum kit to boost the volume of this at the front. This is a bit of a black art but you'll need several mics for this and would be best seeking advice online for details.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='326292' date='Nov 10 2008, 08:59 PM']Edit: Dammit BD, will you stop doing that! [/quote] Sorry Happy Jack - I must have been typing faster than you ! But it's best to get more than one opinion anyway....

Phew ! Bit of a big question there but let's see what we can do. Firstly PA is also sometimes called FOH (Front of House) as in a large venue these are the speakers that produce the sound the audience at the front of the house hear. Your own amps are known as the "backline" ans are what produce the originalsound and what you on stage hear. Your backline will amplify all of your instruments. If you have a singer he'll need an amp/speakers for his/her vocal mic. This would be a "vocal PA" as it's for the vocals only. The size (power) of the vocal PA depends on the volume required. If you start to play larger venues you might find the the backline is not loud enough to project to the back of the venue, or of you turn upo the backline loud enough you on stage are deafened or cannot hear the rest of the band. Now you have a problem. You need more volume but more volume will cause more problems on stage. The answer is to amplify the backline through a PA. You can take a mic and put it in front of each backline amp then feed these mics into a PA. Now the backline volume can be kept lower and the PA will amplify the sound for the audience. That is the basic principle behind a PA. Now if you have 3 singers each with a mic, two guitars mic'd up and a bass mic'd up you've now got 6 mics and need somewhere to plug them all in and balance the relative volumes of each. That's what a mixer does. You plug the mics into the mixer, set the leves for each mic using the mixer controls, then feed the combined (mixed) signal into the PA amps and speakers. That's it, in very basic terms. One thing at a time - first understand the way that lot works then start having a look at what is out there and how you might use it. To determine what you actually need you first have to answer some basic questions - 1. How many mics and instruments will you need to amplify (i.e. how many "inputs" do you need) ? 2. What size venues will you be playing ? 3. How much do you have to spend ?

It will be earthed through the metal control plate. Since the pots are mounted on this and they are usually connected to earth in some way, then mounting the jack socket on the same metal plate also earths the jack socket. It's not the best way to earth and instrument - there is the potential for multiple small ground loops - but it's the way Fender has always done it. Are the body cavities full sheilded with copper foil ? This can sometimes help reduce hum. Other than that check the stcicky at the top of this forum for common causes of humming and buzzing.

If you look at the Aguilar diagram for two volume controls, the blue wire takes the output from both volumes and into the preamp module. Now if you look at the Aguilar diagram with the bypass switch, take the wire that joins both volumes from the "two volume control diagram" and connect it to the top left contact on the switch. The rest of the switch is as shown in the diagram. In one position, the switch will connect the volume wires to the preamp. In the other position the blue wire from the peamp is earthed (switched off) and the volume wires connect to the tip of the output jack via the jumper wire on the switch.

The basic circuit is probably simpler than you think - [url="http://emgpickups.com/downloads/wiringdiagrams/J_models1.pdf"]http://emgpickups.com/downloads/wiringdiagrams/J_models1.pdf[/url] The wiring of the JV pickups is exactly the same as that shown in your OBP-3 diagram except that they have the additional connection for the battery, which is shown in the diagram above. Here is the wiring info from Aguilar [url="http://www.aguilaramp.com/pdf/support_wiring_obp3.pdf"]http://www.aguilaramp.com/pdf/support_wiring_obp3.pdf[/url] One of the diagrams includes a bypass switch. I think that switch wiring should work for you as long as you provide a separate battery wiring path (i.e. one that doesn't go through the switch) to the pickups. One point of note, though. A bypass switch is usually provided for passive pickups so that if the battery fails you can still play. With active pickups that's not an option. In theory, the sound of the pickups bypassed should be very similar to teh sound with the preamp EQ set flat. If that was the case then the bypass switch wouldn't really be necessary. Just trying to save you some work here - these mini switches are fiddly to solder and there's a lot going on with the OBP-3 wiring as it is. One last point - when I wired up my OBP-3 I found that a couple of the wires were colour codes slightly differently to that shown on the diagram. Once I realise this it was fairly easy to identify which ones were which - but check yours before you start. Good luck !

A "short circuit" is effectively a wire right across the the two contacts of the output jack. This is unlikely although it could happen if you had a duff speaker lead in which the two wires touched each other. An "open circuit" is the opposite - the amp turned on with no speakers attached at all. This can happen by accident if you forget to attach the speaker cab before switch on. You'll usually get away with it for the time it takes you to notice but you never know with these things. Other than that you do get faulty valves. They're a lot like light bulbs - some will last for years, others will blow very quickly. If you get one faulty one it could damage the others. To prolong valve life - 1. Ensure the valves are correctly biased (if the bias is adjustable) 2. Always follow this switch on sequence a. Check speakers connected b. Switch on power c. Wait a minute or two d. Switch on Standby 3. If you leave the amp for a period by want to use it again - switch OFF the standby

The "tip" is the centre connection on a jack-type plug. The "sleeve" is the outer sleeve of the jack-type plug. If your power supply is "centre-negative" then that means the "tip" (i.e. the centre contact) will be negative. This should then go to the "black" for what would be the battery. That leaves the "sleeve" which is therefore positive and should go to the "red" for the what would be the battery.

[quote name='Peter Train' post='319846' date='Nov 1 2008, 09:41 PM'].....When manufacturers change designs it's usually done to improve the quality of the product. I can't believe that new basses made now aren't made to the same or higher standard that those made over 30 years ago....[/quote] Well that's how it should be, but often manufacturers make changes to make the product cheaper to mass produce - maybe changes to the design that require fewer man hours in manufacturing, or moving the entire manufacturing plant to another country where labour is cheaper. Sometimes these changes benefit the product, sometimes they don't. So it is possible to find some examples of older guitars that were made when a company cared more about the quality of the end result rather then the cost to manufacture. All of these things become part of the "myths" that surrounds older instruments and when people start speculating on these things it can inflate prices as guitars with certain "key features" become more sought after.