brensabre79

OK I think this is getting a bit out of hand. I appreciate you just want some help, and lots of people are chipping in and trying to help, but perhaps it is not the help that you need. Wishface, it seems the two issues at play (besides the cheapness of the bass) are that you don't have the money to get this sorted by somebody else, and you don't have the knowledge/time to sort it yourself, is that right? It looks like the thing to try at this stage is a new set of strings before we go any further, its a simple job to replace the strings, but as you say you can't afford them. PM me your address Wishface (click on my name and send me a private message), I will send you a brand new set of Rotosound strings I have here on the shelf. That way, you can rule out the strings being the issue and we can go from there, step by step until we help you get your bass working the way you want it. Trust us when we say you CAN approximate a silk purse out of a sow's ear with the right knowledge and tools, and we are all here to help you do that, really.

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1346938752' post='1795059'] Whilst this is undoubtedly true, it is highly unlikely that they will be the 'best' replacement speakers for that cab, given that the it is a budget model. [/quote] I think the tuning of the cabinet is more important than the diameter of the chassis. There are probably many many better drivers out there that would fit. I've got 4 SWR 10" PAS drivers in my loft that would probably fit in the holes in the front of the cab. The thing is the cabinet dimensions and port were designed for the drivers that were originally in there. Unless you're into building cabinets and have the software and knowledge to calculate all the T&S parameters to get a driver that suits the cabinet volume and port length, you're gonna have a sh*t sounding cab, most likely with a huge peak at a certain frequency and a huge dip at another. Meaning that even with a better driver, you'll have to use drastic EQ to compensate and your cab won't be very efficient... so you'd probably be better off with the OEM drivers - even if they are the budget ones. On the other hand, you might be lucky and find that the internal volume of the cab is the same as a much more expensive one that uses better drivers - in which case get those.

+2

Just because a bass is cheap doesn't make it unplayable or unfixable. Yes you can pay £1,000s for a handmade bass, but you're usually paying for the expensive materials and the persons time. A cheap bass will be made by machines using basic materials and have had very little 'human' time spent on the set-up (This is why they are cheap - not because they are crap). The 'low quality' part is often to do with the set-up, rather than the country of origin or the materials used. My go-to recording bass is made from the cheapest parts I could find, the whole thing cost me less than £200, it plays like a dream and considerably nicer than my £1,200 US Fender I might add, which is caked in dust... What it saved me in ££s though it cost me in time, I spent a long long time learning how to a) build it, and set it up properly. Now I do set ups for lots of people for beer money. At first I was scared of breaking it, but you know what, its pretty difficult to irreversibly adjust a bass to the point of destruction. Don't be gung-ho, but don't be scared either. Who knows, if you put in some time and effort into it, you might end up getting yourself into a sideline in setting up basses, or giving advice out on here to other folks with cheap as chips 'low quality' instruments.

No worries, hope you get it sorted!

GK in the UK: [font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][color="#000000"]POLAR AUDIO LTD. [/color][/font] [font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][color="#000000"]17 ALBERT DR. BURGESS HILL WEST SUSSEX RH15 9TN ENGLAND 01444-258258 01444-258444 [email="[email protected]"][email protected][/email] [url="http://www.polaraudio.co.uk/"]www.polaraudio.co.uk[/url][/color][/font]

Definitely go with the original spec drivers. The cabinet is designed for these and not for any other. GK use [url="http://secure.netsolhost.com/272252.276452/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=GS&Category_Code=S8"]Paragon drivers[/url] for many of their cabs. I'm not sure on the exact model of yours but maybe you can contact GK. Anything else you put in there will probably require you change the dimensions of the cabinet or at the very least the port length. Easiest option is to replace with OEM.

I much prefer bound necks, unfortunately it means you have to spend lots of money on a bass these days. I don't know why Fender stopped doing them on the Jazz to be honest, I think they look like something is missing. And they never did on the Precision unless it had a Jazz neck on there. Unless you fork out for the very very top end model you just get dots. Very disappointing. I find white binding really helps with first note location when on a dark stage, and it makes re-fretting a whole lot easier not having to colour match 30 year old nitro after sanding!

Haha, it almost is Maple fretboards for me all the way! And a black scratchplate. - wait! How much!? Whats the number for Warmoth again...? "

From the pics I would say the neck needs a shim, the trussrod may need a tweak to get the action lower without the buzz and the bridge definitely needs adjusting - if its been in the same position for years it might take a bit of light bludgeoning to move it initially. All of these things will improve the sound and playability of your bass. There's nothing wrong with the bass it just needs maintaining. I appreciate what you're saying about being poor, you can learn to do all of these things yourself for free on the internet, and there's lots of info on here!!. Just like you can service your car yourself if you can't afford a mechanic - the car still needs servicing though either way! A bass is considerably easier to maintain than a car though

I usually find even changing the strings to the same make and type needs a little tweak here and there. Not usually the truss rod, but the bridge intonation definitely. It will save you a lot of time, hassle and money over the years if you can do a basic set-up yourself, and it can be fun if you get into it. Also, as you don't have to describe what you want to somebody you can often get the bass set up just how you like it after a bit of experimentation.

[attachment=117488:!!PB-w20120904094105-7600.jpg] I would have to have a Jazz neck on mine though

A 2x12 is probably a better solution, its smaller than a 4x10, most are lighter - especially the Neo ones. And there's a whole heap of reasons why they are almost as good (if not as good) as a 4x10 in terms of output, better in terms of dispersion. I changed from a heavy 4x10 to a very light 2x12 and my back, my car and my ears couldn't be happier!

I wouldn't bother with Vintage pots, I don't see the value in them. Keep the originals in case you want to sell your bass as all original. But if you pay a fortune for some 70s ones they are likely to be worn and the date codes won't match your 70s bass exactly anyway so those who know... will know. Just replace with CTS pots of the same type. This is what Fender used. Most people accept that parts are replaced as part of the maintenance of a working instrument and it shouldn't devalue in any way, but keep the originals just in case!

Check out the luthiers sticky at the top of this section, there should be one near you! Do you find the neck a bit rough? I got a 425x recently and it feels like they forgot to finish sanding it!

A wise choice! That is the very person who I would recommend to do it.

I'd just use the head and a separate speaker if you can get the head out from the combo. Replacing the driver will likely result in the new driver not being suited to the volume of the cabinet. Then you'll also be using the head as intended.

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1346225320' post='1786593'] You might well be right, but it sounds like a recipe for disaster. [/quote] Yes, exactly! Some of their stuff is great, solid workhorse stuff still going strong after 40 years of service in working mens clubs all over the country. But try and do anything slightly out of the ordinary like adding a speaker and BOOM! This is just the sort of corner cutting that earned Carlsboro their reputation among music shop managers for an unprecedented level of returned faulty amps. and yet they have only recently gone out of business!

If you open the pickup up out of its casing there should be a wire linking the two halves, this wire needs splitting in two to make the two additional tails you require. Essentially you are sparating the unit so you will have two single coil pickups. But be warned, you could make a right mess of it if you're not careful because the coil wrap wire is extremely delicate and the link wire will be soldered directly on to the coils. If you break the coil wrap wire (e.g. with heat from the soldering iron) you have a dead pickup. Once you have your four tails you can wire them in series, parallel or humbucking (one coil out of phase - i.e. swap the + and - wires around) or all three with some complicated switchery.

Assuming this is on both pickups. 1. Have you tried just changing the strings? 2. Could it be the pickup height needs adjusting? Or has this developed recently without any adjustment, perhaps happened after a new set of strings? 3. Have you got a spare Jazz pickup you could slot in to test? even a crappy £20 one off eBay? Seems unusual that three poles of the pickup would fail while one remains as they are a single coil unit.

TC use some kind of limiting compressor in their output stage to give the impression of a much louder amp. It squashes the signal, reducing the dynamic range but then so does a driven valve amp. So I think their model numbers are misleading but they are trying to say "this is as loud as a 450w or 750w amp" in terms of percieved loudness as opposed to measured loudness. The Class D thing has been around a long time but has never been practical due to the way switching power supply works. What B&O have done is develop a power supply mode that makes Class D technology useable i the real world. There is more info on the website I linked earlier, I was just trying to simplify the point as its not really the topic under discussion here, and my knowledge is vague. I was told by someone in the business that the majority of class D amps use the B&O ICE power technology, or have licensed it. They do do custom OEM models not shown on their website, but to all intents and purposes its the same stuff.

I find it amusing in the Class D world that all the manufacturers have different claims as to the watts. They all use the same power section because Class D technology is patented and owned by B&O. If you open the amp up you will usually see the B&O ICE module in there separated from the rest. They are all pretty much the same. My Genz Benz claims to be 600w but has the 500w ICE module in it for example... [url="http://www.icepower.dk/en/solutions/speaker/A_SERIES"]http://www.icepower.dk/en/solutions/speaker/A_SERIES[/url] In reality, watts don't really matter as long as your amp is loud enough for what you need. And don't get me started on valve watts vs solid state watts!

+1 Mini Brute, I've had 3 of these in my time. Years ahead of their time and solid as they are small! Great for upright and electric too. These days they are probably a bit dated though (if you can find one) and a Genz Benz shuttle 3 with 1x12 speaker would be the modern equivalent I guess. not a cheap option though.