tauzero

[quote name='paul_5' post='1222680' date='May 6 2011, 10:28 PM']...and yet someone has bid? I blame the parents.[/quote] It's not going to be much work for the lucky buyer to take the three extra tuners and strings off and fill in the holes...

[quote name='Blademan_98' post='1223373' date='May 7 2011, 04:21 PM']Somebody must have been happy to pay £550 postage as the BIN has been activated![/quote] It's been relisted.

I think it's lovely, except the colour. Natural is the only way to go.

[quote name='Slipperydick' post='1226337' date='May 10 2011, 03:50 PM']That not what I mean by a noticeable difference. How about if you were in your 50s or even 60s, and the rest of the band were around 21 ? Where do you draw the line, come to that, at what point would the rest of the band ? How old is too old ?[/quote] The singer in one of the covers bands I'm in said he's thought about getting us to do his mum's 50th birthday. I'm 53. Anyroadup, what I value most - musical ability in those around me, drive, and the right level of ego. Too little ego and you go nowhere, too much and it all crumbles.

Veering off-topic, I once volunteered to do some lighting for another band who were friends of mine, while someone else set up some pyros for them. There was a 6' length of angle iron on feet which was the trough for the flash powder - the pyro man filled this brim-full, then it got knocked over so he filled it up again. I was at the corner of the stage, just in the auditorium (such as it was), widdling the light controller, and partway through the set, the pyro man triggered the pyros. There was a "whoomph" and a great sheet of flame as two huge doses of flash powder went up (the sparks had ignited the stuff on the floor) and the room was literally filled with smoke. The bassist was standing almost close enough for me to touch and all I could see of him was a ghostly Precision headstock about two feet away from me. Fantastic.

[quote name='bassace' post='1226038' date='May 10 2011, 12:02 PM']Talking of audience appreciation, You know how they applaud solos, in my opinion not very discriminatory a lot of the time. When I get applause for mine - yes, I do - I usually say that it's not because I've done it well but that I've done it at all (Samuel Johnson's dog)[/quote] I find that the audience often applaud when I stop playing a solo.

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='1225611' date='May 9 2011, 09:47 PM']I also strongly disagree with just tuning to other instruments. Intonation is likely to be cack up the neck and probably won't help vocals and vocal harmonies.[/quote] How does what you tune to affect your intonation? I've been using electronic tuners for 25 years or so. Wonderful things. For some reason, one of my guitarists can't tune up properly with them though. He tunes up on the tuner (though I haven't ever supervised him so he might not be going back to check the strings he's already tuned) and then retunes by ear, or asks me for an E/A/D/G. Maybe Les Pauls are crap to tune up.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1225485' date='May 9 2011, 07:52 PM']Even the Beatles had a Commer.[/quote] Two of them have come to a Full Stop though.

New Year's Eve gig at a social club where they had decided that there were to be no children allowed. Audience consisted of about ten people, all of whom were older than the band (and we were no spring chickens). At least we won two out of the three bottles of (not terribly good) booze which were the raffle prizes. Originals band, at the Barrel Organ, Digbeth in Birmingham - a well-known rock pub in those days. Audience consists of one man and a dog (literally), and I think his dog was there to take him home, going by how wobbly he was. And another originals band I was with, a metal band, got booked in by an agent to a pub which I now can't remember. We get there and the place is full of stiffs. Our first set goes down like <blazing saddles>a twenty-dollar hore</blazing saddles>, and the landlord tells us to finish then. We don't get any money from anyone. I learn a valuable lesson about agents.

[quote name='xgsjx' post='1225104' date='May 9 2011, 02:07 PM']It does seem a little strange that Bridge mode is 8 ohms & not 2 ohms.[/quote] Not really - bridge mode is the two power amp sections working out of phase and driving each side of the speaker, so you need two of the minimum per-channel load in series. Just imagine each side driving a 4-ohm load, then take away the ground connection from the speakers. I may have to draw a diagram, I'm not explaining this terribly well...

I've mentioned this elsewhere - I've just bought a secondhand EA iAmp 500 which had a couple of screws missing and a broken button cap. I emailed EA and they were very helpful and sent me a couple of spare button caps and some screws FOC.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1219811' date='May 4 2011, 01:09 PM']When were they ever fashionable?[/quote] Mid-80s. Think [url="http://clutterbuck.urbanup.com/5675255"]clutterbuckery[/url]. Sadly, the fashionable phase didn't last long enough to create a vast reservoir of unfashionable headless basses, and preceded any 5-string fashionableness as well.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='1218770' date='May 3 2011, 04:17 PM']95% chance it was the amp that started the fire.[/quote] What if you don't own an Ashdown? I'm not sure that there's a good way of answering this (although I voted for amp). As I'm happy with the cab but wasn't completely happy with the overall sound, I bought another amp, and having A/Bed the two (Superduperfly and iAmp 500) I prefer the sound of the iAmp. The cab makes a contribution, I'm sure, but it should be pretty uncoloured. If I use another cab, that will also change the sound significantly. However, as I'm happy with the current cab, it's the amp that's significant.

Inspired by reading the thread about poor service from a certain luthier, I shall commend the service provided by EA to the house. I recently bought a second-hand iAmp 500 which had a broken push-button top and a couple of missing case screws. I emailed EA to ask about replacement parts (I did mention I'd bought it second hand so they knew I wasn't the original buyer) and they very kindly put a few screws and a couple of button caps in the post to me FOC.

My Antoniotsai 5-string. I finally felt that I could settle down with a 5 after years of trying but not finding any that could even remotely compare with the playability of my 4s.

[quote name='kurcatovium' post='1217816' date='May 2 2011, 05:45 PM']Yes, but how can anyone did this to nice bass as it surely was?![/quote] It was a piece of cheap Japanese tat that he thought he could improve with new pickups. Whether it was an improvement or not is a moot point. See also my opinions on modifying 70s Fenders.

[quote name='Silent Fly' post='1206423' date='Apr 20 2011, 09:10 PM']However, there is one thing on which I respectfully disagree: there is a voltage divider. It is true, as you said, that a voltage divider is when you have al least two passive components connected in series. [i]This is exactly what happens.[/i] The 7 pickups that do not generate signal are connected in parallel but for the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9venin%27s_theorem"]Thévenin's theorem[/url] they are equivalent to 7 impedances in parallel. The equivalent impedance is Z/7. If you look at [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage_divider"]Wikipedia[/url] figure 1, Z2=Z/7 and Z1=Z (where Z is the impedance of each transducer), Vin is the voltage generated by pickup #1. For the Thévenin's theorem and the voltage divider equation, Vo/Vi = 1/8 regardless the value of Z.[/quote] I don't see that as being a potential divider - what you have are 8 impedances in parallel (actually nine, as there will also be the amplifier input impedance), with a voltage being generated across them. Therefore the voltage will be the generated voltage. Otherwise you will be trying to make one point in a circuit be simultaneously two different potentials.

[quote name='BassBus' post='1208939' date='Apr 23 2011, 09:21 AM']DB strings should fit through the string holes at the foot of the bass. I have my CR4M strung with Flexocors and they fit through fine, as did the Belcantos before them.[/quote] Yes, they fit through those holes, and then they bear against the body on the back as they turn the corner to go up to the back plate. This protects the body rear.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1216376' date='May 1 2011, 10:05 AM']You have to be a total tardo to pay cash for anything off the bay.[/quote] Um, why? I've bought and sold quite a few things cash on collection (as an option, not the only option). Saves giving ebay yet another slice of money through Paypal fees and saves packing things up (I have recently sold, packed, and posted a bass and two pairs of PA speakers, it's a PITA).

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1211381' date='Apr 26 2011, 02:10 AM']TBH I'm surprised they didn't walk out earlier. Ten minutes of what they thought was an interview turning out to be a set up for some lame gags, pretty poor show. Clive Anderson still comes across as a twat when he turns up on TV.[/quote] Very true, both sides were trying to out-twat each other and in the end Les Tosseurs played the trump card. They've written some pretty good stuff for other people, I can't think of a single one of their own songs that I've not intensely disliked.

[quote name='Johnston' post='1210701' date='Apr 25 2011, 10:41 AM']Doing it to vintage stuff "this is the perfect solution & it will only add value" thats just daft. A shame for the rest of us but if the owner is that silly then they deserve to have their eyes wiped.[/quote] Very true. It isn't as if the finishes on 40-50 year old Fenders will be pristine in most cases, it's a shame to deliberately damage a well-preserved instrument. And, stupidly, it reduces the value of an old instrument if the finish that looks like sh*t is taken off and it's properly refinished (unlike anything else I can think of).

Top horn extensions to eliminate neck dive that don't look like long prongy things.