neepheid

I'm sure some friendly nearby BCer who is handy with a soldering iron could help you. It really is best if you remove everything before painting a body.

Fernandes Nomad bass? Built in amp? A toy? Dunno how loud it is on its own or how good it sounds though. [url="http://www.fernandesguitars.com/nomad-bass/nomad-bass.html"]http://www.fernandesguitars.com/nomad-bass/nomad-bass.html[/url]

We all love a good moan and a gripe eh? Leaving aside the severity of the word 'hate', I only have minor gripes and niggles that I've come to accept as quirks. You work around them and in time come to appreciate them for what they are. My best mate is the best mate in the world, but he's a grumpy bugger if there's no Tennent's Lager in the pub he walks into There is no such thing as the perfect bass. But if you really want to know, here is me being super picky about my basses: Gibson RD Artist - String through ferrules aren't drilled in a straight line, the tuners are off centre with regards to the edges of the headstock, the compression setting boosts the volume too much and can be a little hissy. Strictly active only, and you need a screwdriver to change the battery. I wonder if I could get thumbscrews with the right thread, Gibson did have the presence of mind to use threaded inserts for the battery cover screws rather than just wood screws into wood. Gibson Victory Artist - It's very clever (for 1981) that the EQ works in passive and active modes, but it's annoying that when you're in active mode the neutral point for the EQ is on the centre detent of the bass/treble pot, but if you switch to passive then you've just cut half your bass and half your treble because the neutral point is +5 on the knob (10 effectively - no cut). I don't think there's a way round it, but it's still something that I need to watch out for. Active gives a fair thump to the amp when you switch to it for the first time if you started in passive. It's also far too refined sounding for its own good and can be difficult to get a good sound in the rehearsal room with whatever ragtag amp I have to use. Gibson G-3 - A couple of the grub screws in the bridge saddles are broken (slotted, not hex) and need to be turned with a pair of pliers. Gibson IV - What can I say? It's a passive VVT bass. It's not exciting, but it's solid, reliable, comfortable and sounds good. It's a Thunderbird in a sensible, balanced body shape. Guild B402-A - The out of phase setting is pointless though, thin and nasal, there's no application for it within the parameters of the music I'm playing at the moment. Passive option is no EQ, but it's better than not being able to play at all. G&L Tribute L-2000 - The workhorse. The "active" setting is simply a line boost, and the treble boost sounds horrible. I only ever use it in passive mode. I'm considering removing the preamp and wiring a passive mode setting for each pickup (HB, single, OMG) Yamaha BB614 - The office/rough gig bass. I don't really have anything to say about it. It's got no passive safety valve, I might see if I can sneak a push/pull in there.

No problems with them, they collapse down pretty good for transportation, seem solid and reliable. Bear in mind that they're only designed to keep your bass off the floor and not much else, they're not big enough to perform miracles of stability, but as long as no-one plays sillybuggers near it then you should be fine.

I don't consider myself to be anything like good, I can hold the low end down and keep reasonable time, but I'm definitely functional rather than flamboyant. Taking lessons resulted in a big whoosh of improvement, mostly filling in the blanks, discovering the reasons why certain notes work beyond "because it sounds right" and being pushed to play more complex stuff, more complex rhythms. I got approached by a fellow bass player after my gig on Friday and was complimented on my playing, we talked a bit of shop (meaning gear, mostly) and it was nice. My wife tells me I'm looking up more when I'm playing. I've never been kicked out of a band for being crap. You have to gather all this anecdotal evidence and eventually come to the conclusion that you must be doing something right.

No problems from Thomann here.

The long reach barrel jack will only work for you if 1) it fits in the hole (I'm guessing that the current one is threaded in there somehow given that it's got a notch which looks like it's intended for a screwdriver) and 2) reaches far enough through for you to use the nut/washer to secure it inside the cavity. So you might need to ream the hole out a little, maybe not. Then again, it's only £2.29 from Maplin, that's less than a pint down the pub. Buy it, see if it fits in there, report back if it doesn't and we'll see what we can do.

A picture of the original would help enormously.

Don't be surprised by the tax bill. Don't be surprised by the courier charging you to present the goods to HMRC, paying the duty/VAT on your behalf then collecting the money from you. Don't think for one minute you'll be able to sneak a bass under the noses of HMRC, little bits and bobs sure, but not a whole bass. Do ask for all tracking info/reference numbers etc. so you know what's happening instead of waiting for a letter to appear.

Well, today I've just gone and contradicted myself. Hartke strings aren't long enough to do through body stringing on my RD Artist, so I've had to get some super long scale D'Addarios. I don't mind, I quite like XLs - I've had them before, but now I can't say that I don't use any strings other than Hartke It's that extra inch or so that the strings travel to get through the back of the bridge to the through body ferrules when they would normally go straight down through the bridge plate that does the damage!

Get your head round that then: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140654423300"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140654423300[/url] I wonder how many of these stated combinations are A: musically useful and B: the same as some other setting.

Three of the established music venues in Aberdeen have house PA, house bass amp and house drum kit (minus snare and cymbals of course). I guess we're quite lucky and you're right - no rig == no car == more beer!

I'll wade in with my observation that in damn near every 2 pickup bass I've played, both pickups on tends to yield the most "polite" sound, rounded, smooth, not much of the "grit" needed to cut through a mix. It's like the two individual characters of the pickups cancel each other out rather than being summed or complementing each other. No, the pickups are not out of phase, there's plenty volume, it's just too smooth. [quote name='krazy_olie' timestamp='1322563049' post='1452553'] The tone controls do different thigns whether in active/passive. I think in passive you usually want to have them on full, in active they become boosts so for a "flat sound" they need to be somewhere in the middle, but full on sounds pretty damned good! rolling them off can give some interesting distinctive tones. [/quote] Your ears may be telling you that but may I be pedantic and correct you here - the tone controls do the same regardless of whether or not the preamp is switched on, they are passive, cut only controls in the circuit before the output from the pickups hits the preamp. This signal then either goes straight to the jack or through the preamp depending on the position of the passive/active/active w/treble boost switch. The preamp is simply a line boost, with an optional (and rather horrible sounding to my ears) treble boost facility, all of which happens after the tone controls.

Is size really the problem or is it mostly weight? I recently changed cabs. I was going to go all modular, but in the end I managed to source a 4 ohm 4x10 which had no problem handling the output from a 3500 but is only 60% of the weight of my previous cab and now I'm happy. Ask me again in another 10 years, see how my back/knees vote then

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1322480011' post='1451195'] Better take the lowballers out of your hate list then Neepheid [/quote] I don't like it, but I don't go calling lowballers into question publicly either.

The freedom of the market is sacrosanct. Profiteering? Who are you to determine what is excessive? Comrade, this isn't some socialist enclave immune from the ebb and flow of the free market. I don't sell much stuff, but if I think I can turn a profit then I will. It's no-one's business but mine. Let's say I pick up something locally for silly money and sell it on here for a reasonable price. Am I wrong? No! I am enterprising. The item was sold for a fair market price, and the price I obtained it for is none of your business. I have no obligation to share my good fortune, I don't owe any of you a damn thing. This overinflated sense of entitlement really sticks in my craw. Goodwill? This is the same place which is the number one (in my experience) source of lowball offers whenever I sell things, so it cuts both ways. I am a capitalist pigdog, and I'm happy to be one. Not happy with a price? Negotiate in private or walk away. Don't stand on a soapbox with a megaphone outside someone's shop complaining about the prices.

Sorry to add to the wave of negativity, but please, [i]por favor[/i], don't do this. Much better to source a short scale neck, sort out how to mount it then move the bridge.

Difficult to say with the poor photography, but the pickup is in the right place for a post 1972 EB-0 (they moved it down a bit from the end of the neck to brighten the sound a bit), they used a black mounting ring around the pickup after they moved it down, it has the correct number of frets for the time (21), there's no dot marker for the 21st fret (correct) and the three point bridge was used from 1973 onwards. With some better pics then the bevelling in the cutaways could be checked. The headstock is odd, the logos were silkscreened on in this era rather than being inlays, but the edges do look odd. Basically, without better photos that's the best I can do.

[quote name='q_of_doom' timestamp='1322228699' post='1448260'] Whoops. I've just pressed the down button to see what it'll do only to realise that I've given neepheid the thumbs down. Sorry mate! Good thing we're not using live ammo or something. How do you undo this? [/quote] It's no biggie, honestly. I don't care because hopefully sense will prevail and the reputation system will be removed. The very fact that you clicked on the button "to see what it'll do" shows how frivolous and pointless it is!

The active circuit ought to say in its specifications if there are any restrictions. Like EMG-BT/BQ systems vs. controls - the systems are designed for active EMG pickups only because they include a volume and blend control which only works properly with active pickups (wrong pot values for passive pickups), the controls on their own (you sort out pickup switching/blending/volume and present the resultant signal to the EQ circuit) are fine.

I thought The Big Beef Chief was a disruptive knob for the most part if truth be told, I didn't find him amusing, more controversial for the attention seeking hell of it and I didn't care much for his presence at all. But that's just the colour and thread material of my stitch in the rich tapestry of life, isn't it? It happened to clash with his. I am usually pretty disappointed with the people I find on the top of pedestals.

Not rude at all - I prefer it when people just disappear, I can't stand all this diva "I hate you all and I'm going to leave!" stuff then posting for another few "will he or won't he?" weeks before finally going away. I salute you. And welcome back.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1322136603' post='1446931'] There's a 'full site' button at the bottom. That seems to drop a cookie which keeps it in full site mode. As it 'appens, I really rate the mobile site anyway. I can't see me shifting to full site too often. [/quote] That's double annoying, I'd like a button in full site mode which does the opposite - sets a cookie which keeps it in mobile mode overriding the flag in my phone's browser settings.