KingBollock

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1472247784' post='3119873'] I dunno, I leave you lot alone for an hour................. I've always wondered how Freddie Kreuger managed the toilet [/quote] Perhaps it's a seemingly complicated arrangement that is obvious to those who know. A bit like the sea shells...

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1472204435' post='3119371'] When it comes to the internet I never cease to be surprised by the absolute self confidence of the immature, inexperienced and logically challenged. [/quote] [quote name='Wikipedia']The [b]Dunning–Kruger effect[/b] is a cognitive bias in which low-ability individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability as much higher than it really is. Dunning and Kruger attributed this bias to a metacognitive inability of those of low ability to recognize their ineptitude and evaluate their ability accurately. Their research also suggests corollaries: high-ability individuals may underestimate their relative competence and may erroneously assume that tasks which are easy for them are also easy for others.[1] Dunning and Kruger have postulated that the effect is the result of internal illusion in those of low ability, and external misperception in those of high ability: "The miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others."[1][/quote]

This is the worst one that I own.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1470466870' post='3106149'] Off topic for a post entitled "Music Tapes in 2016"? [/quote] Oh, I don't know, have you heard Mathcore?

A few years ago I cracked out my old Spectrum 128. All the games that were on tapes that were kept in cases worked fine, but every single one of the games whose cassette didn't have its case, failed to load. I was always a bugger for not putting stuff away properly when I had used it, which is why I never liked vinyl much, too easily damaged (and all the records that I did keep well got damaged by someone else, every single bloomin' one of 'em!). Yet I have always been really careful with all my CDs.

[quote name='SICbass' timestamp='1469848516' post='3101505'] The film is called `Sybil` or `Cybil`? Sally Field plays the leading role. In it, her "safe-place" where she can open up to her therapist about her terrifying childhood is a large, overstuffed armchair she refers to as "the big chair". I remember reading somewhere that the Tears for Fears' album and track, "Songs from the Big Chair", are a side reference to this. [/quote] Yes! In the past, when I have searched, that is the only thing that ever came up, but I only had that one scene to go on and could never find any images or clips of it, and I don't remember any of the stuff from Sybil that I could find. However, I have just found the exact scene on YouTube. So, thank you, I can now tick that one off!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1469843002' post='3101499'] 'Tales That Witness Madness', the 'Mel' episode... [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_That_Witness_Madness"]Tales That Witness Madness, Wikipedia ... [/url] http://youtu.be/eZg0uUJGm50 [/quote] Did you know or did you get the info from the name in the jpg address? Or maybe a Joan Collins filmography? All I remembered was that a man fell in love with a tree, and in the end the tree wins. There are a couple of films I remember watching back then that I would love to know more about, but I only remember certain scenes. One looks like a hammer horror in which people are sacrificed on a stone alter (attached to a wall at one end) where a large, wrought iron gate looking thing, with what looks like the shape of a bat in it, hinges down and crushes the victims. The other was very disturbing. It's supposed to be a true story. There was a girl whose mum would keep chained to a piano for hours and hours, and when she inevitably wet herself, the mum would take a hot poker to her insides. It was nasty. I don't want to see it again, but I would be intrigued to know more. I would have been around seven years old when I saw them (~1982). My mum loves horror films, but she didn't like watching them alone and my dad worked nights. And as I was the oldest son, and the only one that didn't get freaked out, she liked me to stay up and watch them with her. I saw quite a few of the "video nasties" before they were banned.

[i]It took me ages to find this. I never knew the name of the film, even though I remember seeing it several times when I was a kid[/i]

I've never had the money to go buying into new formats, I always have to wait until the prices come down, by which time they're usually better established. However, I did buy a PC in about 2000 with a Zip Drive in it. I never had any disks for it, though, because they were £8 each!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1469569212' post='3099513'] I remember the consumer battle between VHS and Betamax. VHS won out, but Betamax was the superior format. [/quote] From what I gather, this was somewhat down to size (I was first told this while working in a tv and video repair centre while repairing a Betamax machine for the first time). The Betamax machines had a much larger head drum than vhs machines. And the internal mechanism in a vhs took the tape from each side of the cassette and introduced it to the half of the head drum closest to the cassette, whereas a Betamax took the tape from one end and wrapped it around almost the whole drum. Which meant that you couldn't build Betamax machines as small as vhs. Betamax tapes were smaller than vhs which, while they were slightly easier to store, meant they didn't have as much tape in them. Also, having typed this thread I am now more aware that Betamax also takes longer to type, so perhaps that was the cause of its downfall? I used to have three Betamax machines and hundreds of the cassettes. We still have a vhs, somewhere, and a big box full of videos in the garage, many of which you can't get on dvd. A few weeks ago I finally unplugged my standalone audio cassette player and moved it out of the way to make space for something else. I also threw away a bin liner full of cassettes that I had recorded on to, too, though I have kept most of my official cassettes and blank cassettes still in their packaging but they're now in a box in the spare room. I also kept a couple of mix tapes that I had been given by girlfriends when I was a kid, though mainly because I like the songs but some of them I don't know who they're by or what they're called, so I can't get anywhere else. I was looking at mini Hi-Fis recently and several of them were just amps with auxiliary inputs on them, though some had digital radios and/or Bluetooth as well.

[quote name='Shambo' timestamp='1469008734' post='3094995'] Being approached by a total stranger as I walk down the street with a bass hardcase. Being cold called like a PPI claim. "Hello. You don't know me but I got your number off a mate (who?) says you play bass." I don't know who you are or what you want to play. You've never met or heard me play. Why would either of us behave so desperately? [/quote] That's reminded me of one I had forgotten about. I was seeing a girl who was distantly related to the local crime/gang family (the sort that are a one family crime wave who every one knows and don't want to cross. Most towns have one, I think), and they had a band. One of them approached me in the street, completely out of the blue, to ask if I would play bass for them. I told him I wasn't interested. The next thing I know people from all over the place are getting in touch asking why I turned them down and worried about my safety! I never heard another thing about it from the actual family, though.

A bloke, him self a very good guitarist, had seen me play a was very keen for me to meet his brother, who was also a guitarist and putting a band together. I went along for a rehearsal and it was just him and his mate on drums. They were obsessed with Hawkwind and weren't interested in anything else. It was boring. Another time a band turned up at my door (I don't even know how they knew where I lived) complaining that their bass player hadn't turned up for rehearsal and asked if I would jump in for him. I said yes because I was doing bugger all else that day. They were two guitarists, but one of them wouldn't even pick his up, he just wanted to sing, even though they had a singer there (neither of them could sing). The other guitarist was ok, as long as he was playing Enter Sandman and he was looking at the tab in his book, he fell to pieces otherwise. They said they had a drummer, but I knew who they were talking about and I also knew that he'd never owned a drumkit in his life. All the girlfriends and their friends that they'd brought along, were very enthusiastic... At the end they huddled together and then told me they had decided to fire their bass player in favour of me. Nope! Not happening!

Those look lovely and might well inspire me to finally get around to a project I've been meaning to do for ages. I have never done anything with oils on wood until very recently, so I know nothing at all about it. The stuff I used was Danish oil, is that anything like Tru-oil? I didn't use the Danish oil on a guitar, but I have got a headless Flying V that has a lovely grain on it. It was originally translucent red, but I stripped it, and after years of being buggered about with (it was purple and silver at one point (at the same time...)) a mate finally painted it banana yellow for me, but it's really badly done, so I want to strip it again and do a proper job of it with something that will show the grain well. The wood is a pale one (don't know what it is) with a nice dark grain. I used the Danish oil on pine and I love the way it came out.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1467723827' post='3085630'] Don't heat the grub screw - it'll expand & be harder to move - heat the saddle which, hopefully, will expand more than the screw and allow it a bit more room to turn. G. [/quote] Surely if the saddle expands it'll squeeze the grub screw even tighter? Wouldn't it be better to freeze it? Although, causing any expansion and/or contraction might just be enough to break the hold on the screw. So, maybe, heat and then freeze?

Even I can do those chords! Now, if it did Bs...

You can try soaking in cola overnight. Then see if you have a flathead screwdriver with a tapered head that you can hammer into the Allen hole and try turning it. Other than that you'd have to drill it out.

[quote name='ColinB' timestamp='1467620995' post='3084831'] Would a [url="http://miaudio.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/12AU7-6111_Valve_Caster_Summary_Rev002.pdf"]Valvecaster[/url] be a good start? The twincaster has cascading pre-amps and there's a list of mods at the end, like using a 1Meg volume pot for a high-gain circuit. [/quote] Oh! I have only had a quick skim of that so far but it looks like it might be exactly what I am after. I am going to make time to go through all suggested links properly later today. I felt a little bit daunted before but I'm starting to feel quite excited about it now. So thanks guys. There may be more questions. I shall let you know how I get on. I actually put a bits box order in last night, just for enclosures, some pots and the odd component that I didn't have in stock. So next up are an Ibanez NB10 Noise Buster, ProTone Body Rot II and a Tubescreamer (which is what has caused the sudden interest in tubes). It'll be nice to get back to building actual effects rather than just utility pedals.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1467611953' post='3084776'] I have a copy if you want to borrow it for a short while... [/quote] As much as I'd love a butcher's at it, because it does look good, I think I would rather see what I can find online before I ask someone to risk sending me anything through the post and all that that can entail. Thank you, though, it's a very kind offer.

[quote name='Passinwind' timestamp='1467604769' post='3084758'] OK, but how about a little more direction on whether you want clean, dirty, Fender, Vox, Marshall, and so on? The AX84 site I linked has full layouts and bills of materials for many different circuits that you could just omit the power section for. One dedicated preamp build that many people have started with is also detailed here: [url="http://www.dogstar.dantimax.dk/tubestuf/mctube.htm"]http://www.dogstar.d...stuf/mctube.htm[/url] . This uses a lower power supply voltage than many others, which may be a smart way to start out IMO. My tube bass preamps all use at least 300 volts DC, at which point decent test equipment and a little experience are surely helpful things to have. Another time honored way to get your hands dirty would be to find an old and/or broken guitar or PA amp on the cheap and hopefully make something useful out of it with minimal cash outlay. For instance, this one just needed a new input jack and it ended up being used professionally around Seattle for several years before I traded back for it: [/quote] The on,y thing I really know is that I want dirty. If I am successful I woul add a clean channel, too, but the main reason for this is for the filth. I don't know about manufacturer sounds, I shall do some research on that. I don't mind working with high voltages, back in the day I used to repair TVs, where many thousands of volts were involved. Though I would prefer something low voltage to start with while I experiment a bit. I meant to say thank you for the links but there was something else I had also meant to say and while trying to remember what it was I mangled to forget both. If you see what I mean. Thank you for giving me ideas to think about.

[quote name='Passinwind' timestamp='1467557649' post='3084521'] Why limit yourself to Basschat when you are wanting to build a guitar widget? Here are a couple of useful sites to get you started: http://www.ax84.com/ http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/ A kit will actually very likely save you both money and many headaches if you are needing to ask where to start, IMHO. Here's a relatively inexpensive one: http://www.paia.com/proddetail.asp?prod=9210K&cat=14 Good luck, and have fun. [/quote] This is the only forum I am an active member of. It's home. And I am cripplingly shy (is one way to put it...). I was hoping to see what parts I have (I do build other things, I have just never worked with valves) and what I could scavenge. I have never had any interest in valve amps, but I would quite like a valve preamp for guitar. I have seen ones that look very simple, basic preamps with just gain and volume, but not much in the way of details (there is always either lots of pictures and no information, or lots said and no show, never both...). I figure that if I could get a plan, layout or schematic, and a bill of materials, with some general advice for the circuit, it would be enough to get me started. There is such a wide variety, I was hoping that someone here might give me a clue before I just close my eyes, spin around and pick one at random. I have read that working with valve amps can be dangerous, but I am a safe worker when it comes to electricity, and I don't want the poweramp, just the preamp.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1467550570' post='3084459'] have you got this book? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Valve-Preamps-Guitar-Second/dp/0956154522 [/quote] I haven't. Until the last few weeks I have had no interest in valve amps at all. My very first proper amp was a Laney Klipp, but only because it was cheap. I think it was probably something to do with having no access to information about them back then that caused it to blow up. And I had no idea until the best part of two decades later... That book looks good, but it isn't cheap, and I really don't want to spend much. If it's going to cost a lot I simply won't be able to do it.

I have been thinking about building a tube preamp for a while now, but I don't know where to start. I know you can get them as pedals but I have been unable to find a layout for one. I don't even know what section of BassChat to ask about it in, especially as it is for guitar not bass (my bass amp has a tube channel preamp, but I don't like it). I don't want to buy a kit because they're expensive and I'd like to spend as little as possible. At the moment all I need is a plan for the preamp part, I can figure out what eq stage to use later. The only requirement really, is high gain. Any advice? Even if it's just to suggest what sub forum I should ask this in (so I can blame you if someone tells me I've put it in the wrong place...).

I used Dunlop 3mm Big Stubbys for twenty odd years (most of that with the lexan ones, but later switched to the nylon version), but switched to the Dunlop Primetones a year or so ago. The Primetones go up to 5mm. They last longer than the Stubbys (which is good because they're £8.99 for three) and they are easier to grip.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1467315021' post='3082822'] Last year I gave an as-new Cort T-34 bass (with a quite amazing finish) and a not-too-reliable Behringer head to a builder/aspiring bassist, in part-payment for a (bodged) concrete garage base. Otherwise I've actually made money on stuff I've sold, or just lost a few quid. I currently have a silly number of instruments sitting around and getting neither played or sold, because I know I'll lose money if I sell them now. Do need to bite the bullet, really. Jon. [/quote] I have the T-35 in, I suspect, the same finish. Some bloke had bought it for £350, as a first bass, four months later he decided it wasn't for him and sold it back to the shop. I then bought it for £220. It still had the plastic on the cavity cover and machine heads. I dread to think what he actually sold it back for for the shop to still make a second profit on it (and I don't doubt that they did).

[quote name='4stringslow' timestamp='1467221069' post='3082076'] I assume 100% monetary loss on everything I buy. I rarely sell anything, so it's the safest option. [/quote] I'm pretty much the same. I have sold a couple of basses, but one was my first, which was a Christmas present so didn't cost me anything, and the second was a gift from someone who didn't play it. I swapped a Carlsboro Stingray amp head for my first PC (a 286) but don't think I lost anything in that deal. I also sold a cab to a chap who gave it back to me, for free, after it spent a few years not being used in his spare room. I did sell a guitar combo that I bought new, but I can't remember what I paid or how much I got for it. It wasn't an expensive one, though. However, I have a couple of basses that I bought cheap, one new and one second hand, that never get played and they're not worth enough to go to the bother of selling. One is passive and has flats on it, so I could use it for certain stuff, or so I keep telling myself. The other I have had plans to de-fret for years, but haven't got around to it yet. So I am probably 100% down on those, unless I suddenly find uses for them.