KingBollock

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1422874172' post='2677680'] The most popular one i get is "Can you slap the bass?" I get it at least once a gig. Ive learnt to just say "yes" and move onto the next song. [/quote] You'd be amazed at what I can slap...

I used to try to catch it and vote, but it just makes me feel frustrated and inadequate. There was one month when I had a brilliant idea to go with the picture and I spent the whole month thinking about it. The recording would have only been about eighteen seconds long (the time it would take me to fall a mile), and I never got around to it. I just have very little confidence in that sort of thing. I was very disappointed in myself and stopped looking after that. I have even given thought to recording an idea I have had and hoping that one day a related picture might pop up... I have software and other stuff I need to actually record, I just need Dad to come to my house and show me how to use it!

I used to have a Vox 2x18. It looked like the Super Foundation but I remember it being more red than brown and it had a big metal rig thing over the top that acted as a handle and something to clamp the amp (which I didn't have) onto. If it wasn't the Super Foundation (and I am inclined to think it wasn't but my memory might well be playing tricks on me), any idea what it might have actually been? I had to leave it at home when I moved out. Although, thinking about how much trouble I had finding somewhere else to live, I could have just moved into the cab... Shame to be talking about it in the past tense, but it probably ended up on a bonfire or at the tip, like all the rest of the stuff I had to leave behind.

I agree with Lurksalot. The expensive, bespoke files make the job simpler and quicker, but in the end they all do the same thing. Just take your time and watch what you're doing. Even the shaft of a screwdriver, some dowel or a nail and some very fine grit sandpaper will do it if you take the time to get it right.

Ah, furry muff. I had assumed, because of the price, that it wasn't totally kosher. But with what you found out, the price is still probably a bit much, isn't it?

What's wrong with it? I'm not much of a fan of Ps but I like the look of that.

I'm not after any basses at the moment, happy with what I have. I'd quite like a cheap strat copy to take camping and stuff. What I would really like is to take my main two basses to someone to get them really, properly and professionally set up. With new nuts (steel for my Warlock and bone for my Cort) and get the frets dressed. Can't see it ever happening. I keep meaning to have a go at making my own nuts but never get around to it.

I've been messing about with electronics since I was a kid, so that doesn't phase me. I love having the excuse to fiddle with my basses innards, but there's only so much you can do. If you can learn to solder and follow instructions, then you can do basic electronics. I build my own pedals and my wife thinks it's magic, but she's bright enough that I bet I could teach her to do it in an afternoon. It's the other stuff that bothers me. Truss rods, shimming necks and adjusting nuts, argh! I do it because I am too cheap to pay anyone else to do it, and I have been doing it since I worked in a guitar shop when I was 15. But I still have no confidence and always feel like it would be better if I got someone else to do it. I put a new set of strings on my five string yesterday (thank you very much Elixir. Loving them so far.) and it threw everything out and I panicked. It took me a while, once I had calmed down, to realise the problem with the B and E strings was that the old set were tapered. I also had to bugger about with the truss rod today, it now looks, plays and sounds just right, and I still feel like I must have done something wrong. Oh, and to be able to dress frets... That would be amazing. I've never had that done on any of my basses and I have a feeling that could be the thing to turn a couple of good basses into really good basses, but I shall probably never know.

[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1422610009' post='2674495'] Or if your breadboard experiment gives you several sounds that you really like, get a 4/5/6-way rotary switch and play to your heart's content [/quote] I've got a 12 rotary switch that actually started the idea of even more clipping options for me. But it's quite big and I really don't think there is space in the box for it. I had to practically sit on it like it was an over stuffed suitcase to get it closed last time. I really need to sort the wiring properly, it looks like the back of a telephone exchange from the fifties at the moment.

Does anyone here use ferrite beads to help reduce RF noise in your pedals? I am thinking of trying them, it can't hurt, can it? I can get 100 of them for less than £3 on Amazon. The room I practice in is very noisy, with two PCs and monitors, router, cordless phone and various types of lighting, all in a small space. The biggest problem is probably that the headphones I practice with at night are cordless and transmit by radio. I do have some IR cordless headphones but they give me far less range than I would have with a wired set, which is bloomin' stupid. I'm not good with wired sets, I started going cordless when I was having to repair or replace a set every three weeks because I kept breaking the wire. So, have any of you tried ferrite beads and were they any good?

Something else I could do with some help with... I have already started work on a loop pedal with blend, but it has limitations. The blend works fine as long as the pedal in its loop doesn't reverse phase. As I said in my previous post, the only way I know how to correct that is to add a boost, the LB-1, which also reverses the phase, problem sorted. Except then I have to include a volume knob for the boost to make sure the out put is even. An alternative would be to find a boost with two gain stages that will leave the phase as it found it. That way I old flick between the two. It'd be nice to have the boost start to kick in about 9:00 to give plenty of scape for getting the volumes right. Then I would like to build a pedal that will have 6 or 8 of these channels. With a few other options for fun. I'm sure I am missing things, but it is 9:34am and I haven't been to bed yet, too busy thing about this crap.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1422520069' post='2673543'] Point 1) That's the best reason for doming anything, go for it. Point 2) Changing out the clipping diodes has a massive effect on the sound of the pedal. LEDS sound a 'softer' than Silicon diodes, and Germanium diodes sit somewhere in the middle. Putting more diodes pointing one way than the other will give you asymmetrical clipping, which may or may not be a good thing depending in your tastes. Best thing to do is to wire a breadboard in place of the original diodes and then chop and change to your heart's content. I think I remember reading somewhere than Boss patented putting one diode pointing one way and two the other way. Rotters. [/quote] I've already modded it with a switch that allows either the original diodes, no diodes or yellow LEDs (I preferred the yellow to the other colours I tried. The plan is to fit a second switch off the first to give me a couple of asymmetrical options. That's saying that I like the sound once I have tried it on a breadboard. Having said that, I'll probably do it anyway because it would mean the layout of the knobs and switches would be symmetrical. I think I read that Peavey have a patent for 40:1 asymmetrical clipping as part of solid state amp simulation.

I have decided that it is time to reopen my Big Muff/Musket and mess about with it, again. For no other reason than I can. Because the Musket side has five transistors the signal comes out reversed, so when it goes through the blend circuit that I have installed, the volume drops mid sweep. Unfortunately, the only way I really know how to re-reverse the phase is to add another transistor stage in the form of a boost. Which also mean I will have to have another volume knob or trimmer to equalise its output. ........... Tonight I found this: http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/1-Knob-Noise-Gate-td16440.html A one knob noise gate. It looks pretty handy so I think I might chuck that in there, too. Fortunately I have it all in quite a large enclosure, this thing will end up with a dozen knobs and seven switches. ............ The idea I had for the LED, using an RGB that glows blue for the Muff, red for the Musket and purple for both, isn't working out so well. Because I have an order switching switch in the centre I installed the LED to one side and I just can't get used to it, it always looks like only the effect on that side of the box is on, the position being more obvious than the colour. Which is a shame. So I am going to split it up and put separate (one blue and one purple) LEDs next to the footswitches. ........... I need to do some experimenting with the Mids switch capacitor values. ........... Right then, the actual reason for this post... I have a clipping stage switch that has the standard diode, no diode and LED options. I want to add a second switch so that when the first switch is in the no diode position it will in fact go to a second switch which will have a no diode option and then two asymmetrical clipping options. Which is something I have never given any real thought to before. Obviously I will breadboard it to see what I like and what I don't like, but I am at a bit of a loss as to where to start. Are there any common, well regarded settings that work particularly well for bass or the Big Muff? Does mixing diodes and LEDs work? I have seen some bonkers options, with a dozen diodes pointing one way and only a couple pointing the other, so it seems the options are endless. Have you experimented with this before? How did it go? Is it worth the bother?

What? Another chance to bang on about my first love that I totally regret being forced to sell? Oh, go on then... I can't post the only photograph I have of mine because I am naked in the picture (taken literally days before I started putting weight on, so not as revolting as it might sound, and my junk is covered by the bass). I don't even own any of the photos taken of my 18th birthday cake that was a replica of my beloved Westone Raider I. It looked like this one: Got it for Christmas when I was 12, in 1987. It cost £100. Feel sad now.

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1422266256' post='2670361'] Heavily modified (defretted and body and headstock completely 're-shaped) Aria Pro II Magna series 4 string (refinned in translucent honey). [/quote] Do you have any photos of that? I have the five string version and plan on defretting it. I have also considered reshaping it, it's so damned ugly. I was thinking of going with a nice, shiny piano white (it is currently bleurgh whitish).

[quote name='dadofsix' timestamp='1421893943' post='2666388'] And I forgot to add that I also have a power conditioner on the rack. Nothing but a glorified ac strip IMHO but it looks cool. [/quote] Well, at least I know it wasn't a completely daft idea.

I have a gap in my rack, too, I am planning on filling it with a Samson PB10 power distributor. Protect your gear and organise your power distribution 19 inch rackmount power conditioner Dual digital voltage displays Front mounted dimmable led lamps Rear mounted led gooseneck lamp http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000ZJV3WU/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3LSI3M60KSCMZ&coliid=I2MS5H2BEQH4PA

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1421883866' post='2666338'] The best I've ever received was a bass from ebay, the seller just put it in a single black bin bag and taped the top shut round the headstock. How it wasn't damaged I'll never know. [/quote] The Warlock I bought off Ebay came with a piece of flat cardboard soco taped to it and a bin liner taped to the rest of it. Fortunately it was in a hard case (which at the price I paid I considered a freebie) so it was ok.

I was talking about this with my wife the other day. The conversation started with me mentioning a "boutique" pedal Timmy clone that builder was charging £300 for (he was claiming it was his own design with three years R&D, and covered the circuit board in black goop to hide the lie*). My wife thinks it is all magic, but I told her that I could teach her to build a pedal from scratch in a weekend. All you need is a bit of practice with a soldering iron and the ability to follow instructions. There is nothing you could stumble upon that you couldn't find an answer to with a quick Google search. *Source: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/vemuram-jan-ray.html I love that site. Edit: I have no problem with people cloning pedals. My favourite own built pedal has a modded '73 Ram's Head Big Muff and a Musket (also a modded Big Muff) in it. Lying about it and charging the earth for it, that I'm not so keen on. Actually, I'm not even bothered how much they try to sell it for, as long as they have the balls to be honest about it.

There's no excuse for it. I have never once bought bubble wrap but I have tons of it, and those bigger air bags and various size boxes, all saved from stuff we have bought online. And it's not like it is any great expense to buy something suitable anyway, especially when sending stuff priced as you say. I recently received a dirt cheap Zoom B1on and it was so well packaged I wouldn't have worried if I had dropped it down the stairs. I mentioned the fact that it was so well packed in the feedback I left for the seller. Why risk it to save a few pennies?

I'd love to have a go at an onboard preamp. But I have a feeling that, if I were to build the one I would like, it would be far too big to fit into a bass, because I would be building it on veroboard. I have yet to learn how to make my own PCBs and can't see me learning any time soon. The preamp I would like to make would be the John East U Retro 01: [i]Highly flexible on-board dual input preamp and EQ system. Its high quality circuit uses three stacked knobs and includes an active blend circuit plus a 3 band equaliser with bass, variable frequency mid, treble and bright function. The pot threads are 10mm long, designed to allow rear cavity mounting in the bass body.[/i]

Woo! I got me a 5 string set of Nanowebs in the post today. I didn't see any email because Hotmail is being a dickhead and won't let me in to my account when on my PC, only my ipad, and I can't see any extra folders, only the main inbox on that. So after a minor panic where I tried desperately to remember what the hell I had bought while in some sort of apparent comatose state, I was very surprised and incredibly happy to open a new set of strings. They're certainly not a string I would have tried at random, being so expensive, but if they are good and last as long as they claim, then the survey will have successfully hooked them another customer.

[quote name='gadgie' timestamp='1421368856' post='2660579'] haha. I made a pedal board once. Out of MDF , all slanted and everything, sprayed in camo (what was I thinking). It weighed more than the 4 pedals on it. Gave up on pedalboard as such. Got a kind of gigbag board thingy with tuner, wah, J&H . All I need really. Even these 3 tend to drop in to the middle of the bag when I carry it over my shoulder. Not tried pedals with bass yet. [/quote] And what exactly is wrong with camo?? And you should see the pedalboard I have planned for this year, it wouldn't look out of place on the set of Aliens (I am even going to incorporate a UV reactive Weyland - Yutani logo). I rather suspect that, should I ever get around to gigging again, I will have to check the strength of any stage I might have to use. I haven't even got that many pedals, I just like making sh*t.

My personal favourite is Stand oil, a very thick Linseed oil.

My first bass, a Westone Raider I. I sold it to the Nuneaton branch of Cash Converters about a million (somewhere between 15 and 20) years ago. I adored that bass but it was either that or not eat that month (odd how having a wife can effect you. I had gone hungry many times in the past without ever considering selling my bass. And it wasn't even my fault we were skint!). Having said that, if I hadn't sold it It would probably still be my only bass, and I do love my BC Rich and my Cort.