KingBollock

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='1332314' date='Aug 8 2011, 03:17 PM']If you have a valve amp on with no speaker attached, all sorts of bad things can happen, as the equilibrium of the circuit is reliant on the output transformer having a load on it (completing the circuit of its secondary winding). Having a speaker and the impedance selector is wrong but not fatal, having no load at all can really mess things up, like the amp goes into oscillation and totally cooks itself.[/quote] Could this kind of thing cause all the capacitors inside to lose their innards? I had a Laney Klipp when I was a kid and I used to wire all sorts of different speakers to it, in all kinds of configurations, without knowing anything about impedance or valves, in fact I still know bugger all about valves... I just know that one day I saw the magic blue smoke coming out and when I opened it up (I used to open everything electronic up when I could) all the capacitors had popped open. I never thought to get it repaired. I just chucked it and ended up buying the most soulless Carlsboro Bass amp I've ever heard. I hated that thing.

I love pretty lights but can't justify buying those LED fret markers, as much as I would like to. The dots on one of my basses are really tiny and very difficult to see. I will get around to drilling out bigger holes and filling them with really bright UV reactive paint at some point. I think every stage needs a UV light and I have one in my practice room.

I started off with a book that had the tabs for some walking blues lines. My Dad decided my brothers and I were going to go to a teacher but he was a tight arse and only paid for one lesson a week and both my brother's and I had to learn in the same lesson. The best compliment I ever got for my playing was the teacher saying that my timing was really good. Unfortunately this ended up with me spending the entire lesson playing walking bass lines I had learned at home from a book while he taught my brothers to play stuff along with me. He also always used a guitar, never a bass. Though he was a bass player, infact I own a vinyl album that he played the very first bass I owned on. After that I got a Guns & Roses tab book but could never play it along with the record because it was in a different tuning and no-one had ever told me about alternative tunings. I do regret never having had a proper teacher though.

My Dad used to work for Federal Express loading lorries. He used to joke about wondering where Fragile (pronounced Frageely) was and seeing how far they could chuck those ones into the lorry.

[quote name='bigjohn' post='1328545' date='Aug 5 2011, 12:01 PM'] [/quote] Ha! Never seen that before. I just remember my Dad telling the Hammer version when I was a kid, about 30 years ago.

[quote name='dmccombe7' post='1326923' date='Aug 4 2011, 01:37 PM'] Does that mean you have a completely different lead from when you started or did you just renew the lead ends ? This made me laugh a bit but not sure if you were joking or not ? Hope so. If not - sorry !! Dave [/quote] It was indeed a joke! I have an aversion to smilies so sometimes it's not always so clear. That's why I included the reference to the Hammer, it's a very old joke based on the same idea. I'm not sure how old my current leads are. I use a couple of coily leads that I've had for something like 10 years I think. They work fine but I am intending to make some new ones with better components soon.

I've got a lead I've had for about 23 years. Changed the plugs a few times and the cable a couple of times, but other than that it's till going strong... I've got a hammer with a similar story...

Another one here for Lemmy.

I have a Cort T-35 and I adore it. I bought it as new for £229, the previous owner bought it new and only had it for 4 months, it still has the cellophane on the control cover and machine heads. I've never played an active Bass before so I have nothing to compare the electronics to, but they're not noisy at all and seem quite versatile for a 2 band EQ. The neck is wide and flat, which took some getting used to but was worth it. My next Bass will be a Cort Curbow 4 string, as soon as I can convince my wife that my life depends on it. I have a Cort headless Flying V Guitar that I've had for 17 years, which is a fun little thing and seems to take any tuning I throw at it, down to C, without having to mess with it. So, I've become somewhat of a Cort fan.

It never hurts to ask. As long as you don't ask something stupid... I think the best strategy is to put a bit on top of the price you really want. That way, if you drop down to the price you actually want, the buyer feels good because he thinks he's got a bargain, and you feel good because you got the price you wanted. If a price has been agreed then I think it's rude to try haggling again just because you feel that you'd have a better chance of taking advantage of someone in person. If you want to haggle in person wait until you meet before you start, don't agree a price and then go back on it. I do feel that low-balling is a strategy aimed at taking advantage of gullible people or those that aren't all there. And that ain't nice.

[quote name='silddx' post='1311274' date='Jul 21 2011, 10:35 AM']Sadly (in a way) I NEED the city. I adore the country so i get some of that when I go fishing. Which village are you in then? I lived in the middle of Llanfihangel-ar-Arth and Llandysul in a traditional Welsh stone cottage overlooking the Teifi valley with an iron age hill fort on the other side where me and my mates from Cov would go camping and injest the local mushrooms. Happy days! I used to work as an illustrator in [b]Carmarthen Museum in Abergwili[/b] , that was one of the nicest jobs I've ever had![/quote] My Mother-in-Law volunteers there. Has done for years.

[quote name='Mugz.wood' post='1316541' date='Jul 26 2011, 05:47 AM']nuts i grew up in chapel dewi like a mile away from Llanfihangel-ar-Arth and my dads a landscape artist who studied some illustration coarse in Carmarthen, i still sample the local mushrooms did they grow in the park in llandysul back then? welcome king bollock, and good luck with ur search for people to make music with im sure u will ive had no trouble and i live even more in the sticks than u in a village called drefach but then im not realy into Thrash/Death/Black/Blackened Death music[/quote] Thanks. At this point I think I'd play just about anything. Really rocking the late 70's, early 80's UFO, Whitesnake, Deep Purple kind of stuff lately. And I'd consider other genres too, especially Country, but Blues and 60's/70's Hippy type stuff too.

When I was slim (all too long ago) I seemed to be eternally looking for the longest strap I could find. Not any more though. When I sit I have my legs spread quite far apart so that the Bass hangs relatively low, rather than on my lap. But, as I'm rather on the larger side with a massive gut, I have to have the Bass higher when standing else my stomach pushes the top forwards and the Bass almost faces the floor.

[quote name='leschirons' post='1316207' date='Jul 25 2011, 08:36 PM']Welcome aboard, that's some pretty long list of gear for a self confessed living room bassist. It's good here, loads of nice people and loads of info.[/quote] It's not in the living room, I'd never get away with that. It's all in a spare bedroom. I mentioned the living room and the garage because if I was to play with others at my house, that's where it would have to be. What with my computer desk, workbench and all my music gear, there is probably enough room for one other person in here, if they promise not to move about too much.

[quote name='Hobbayne' post='1313931' date='Jul 23 2011, 04:39 PM']Was you out when they called? - Did they chuck it over yer back garden fence in the pouring rain? - Must have only happened to me then!! [/quote] This happened to my wife. Well, not my wife, to about £300 worth of fancy soap. They didn't hide my wife behind the bins in a storm only to be found in one huge lump a week later.

[quote name='silddx' post='1311274' date='Jul 21 2011, 10:35 AM']Sadly (in a way) I NEED the city. I adore the country so i get some of that when I go fishing. Which village are you in then? I lived in the middle of Llanfihangel-ar-Arth and Llandysul in a traditional Welsh stone cottage overlooking the Teifi valley with an iron age hill fort on the other side where me and my mates from Cov would go camping and injest the local mushrooms. Happy days! I used to work as an illustrator in Carmarthen Museum in Abergwili , that was one of the nicest jobs I've ever had![/quote] Cross Hands. Actually, that's another thing I really do miss, course fishing rivers and canals. There a some course lakes about but they're pretty soulless. I've ended up buying beach fishing tackle to make up for it. Can't be doing with game fishing.

I've done all mine with Aluminium tape. I've not done any with Copper however, so I don't know if it's as good. The tape was quite cheap and had conductive adhesive.

[quote name='silddx' post='1310230' date='Jul 20 2011, 12:46 PM']I lived near Carmarthen for four years after moving there from Coventry. But I came to London 25 years ago. You'll find more going on here than where you live Good intro btw![/quote] I moved here from Nuneaton, about 8 miles from Coventry. Best move I ever made, even with it's downsides. There is no way on Earth that I would move to London though, I hate cities. And thanks!

[quote name='Evil Undead' post='1308588' date='Jul 18 2011, 11:05 PM']Bore da! You need to move to a bigger town Enjoy the site![/quote] I don't speak Welsh as I'm not Welsh (I can ask for a cup of Tea and say "It's raining again"...). My wife is Welsh but she moved to the Midlands 18 years ago, where she was lucky enough to meet me! We moved here to be closer to her parents (and further from mine) about 3 years ago. Apart from the lack of technology I don't miss being in the middle of three cities (Coventry, Leicester and Birmingham). Being a couple of miles away from an RS warehouse was pretty handy, all we've got here is a Maplins about 10 miles away, thank Dawkins for the internet! Thanks for the welcome guys!

'Ello all. I am fairly new to the site and have enjoyed reading here for the last couple of weeks, so I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm an ageing Tattooed/Hippy/Rocker/Wannabe Cowboy/Miserable Bugger/Hyperactive Child. I have been playing since 1987, when I was 12. And I'm still not very good, certainly not all those years good. I'd love to get into a band but, other than being a bit rubbish, there are other problems... I live in a small village a few miles outside of Carmarthen in Wales, but I never learned to drive so I might as well be on the Moon. The stuff I'd like to play is quite heavy, Thrash/Death/Black/Blackened Death etc... I mentioned this in a local (ha!) guitar shop once and he actually said "Yeah, we had someone in here talking about that stuff a few years ago", 'oh' dear' I though to myself. Any time I've mentioned to musicians that I play Bass they always point me towards the kind of covers groups that makes me want to shrivel up and die inside (the sort that plays Pop music with a singer playing an acoustic guitar and a keyboard player and nothing else). Another thing is that I have absolutely no intention of making any money whatsoever at this, I don't care if it never leaves the livingroom/garage, I just want to get together with some nice people and write some cool music. And it's never going to happen. The last time I played in a 'proper' band I was 17. I adored that band but I had to move to another town and had to leave the band. I've never got past the 'Yeah, we should totally do something!' phase, since. My gear as listed on my MySpace page: Cort T35 Aria Pro II, Magna series Mab 20/5 Wesfield 4 string Peavey T-Max 500 Behringer Bass V-Amp Pro Peavey 410TX 4x15" cabs Dean Cadillac SE Cort headless Flying V Boss GX-700 Zoom GFX-707 Laney Linebacker 100 BMA stereo 500 Encore acoustic Fender Banjo An old classical Mahalo Ukulele I am a Bass player, it's what I started as and it's what I love. The other stuff is just for messing about with. My gear isn't brilliant but I have never been able to warrant spending a lot of money on it. I would if I could find an excuse/band. As soon as I can get my wits together for long enough to learn how to use the programs I intend to do some recording myself. Well, that's me. Nice to meet you.

When I was 12 my Dad decided my three younger brothers and I were going to be a band, and he the manager, obviously. He had decided I was going to play Drums. I wasn't having any of that, I wanted a radio controlled Monster Truck (The Tanyo Lunchbox. And I still want one!). But I gave it some more thought and I knew a few guitarists and drummers at school and I was a huge Motorhead and Iron Maiden fan, so Bass seemed a natural choice for me. My Dad liked my reasoning so that's what I went with. 'Bout the only good thing my Dad ever did for me.

Pick, almost exclusively now. I started out playing finger style for the first couple of years but about the age of 14 I started dabbling in electronics and always seemed to have either burnt or sliced open fingers, so I tried a pick as it's difficult to play with plasters on your fingers. I sort of tried to keep up with using fingers, especially for slow bluesy type stuff, but not so much anymore. I sometimes play three finger (well, two fingers and a thumb) like I do with the Banjo, but even then I will usually use my metal finger and thumb picks. I use a 3mm Big Stubby. They're so thick it's almost like using a finger anyway! They're really nicely tapered so they're a lot more dynamic than you'd think.

Thanks. After posting here last night I decided to email Peavey, to see what they said. I got a very prompt email in return along with the schematic for the switch. And information on how to attain replacement knobs for my amp that I had had trouble sourcing. They were very helpful.

Sorry, I'm quite new to the site and wasn't sure where to put this. Please let me know if it's in the wrong place. I've got a Peavey T-Max 500 Rack Mount Amp, I've had it for Donkey's years but never had the footswitch to go with it. It's not until the last year or so that I've bothered playing about with effects and it strikes me that it would be really handy to be able to turn off the effects loop, but I need the footswitch so that I don't have to reach around the back everytime I do. The switch has three latch switches and the two other switches might well come in handy too. I've seen more Hens sharpening their teeth on golden lumps of Rocking Horse poo than I've seen these switches, so the plan is to make my own, but I need the schematic and I've had just as much luck finding that. So I'm asking here if anyone can help? I would imagine that the switches are quite expensive when they do come up and there's no way I'm going to be able to convince my wife that it's worth spending more than the cost of components on, so just the schematic or even an idea of what the pins in the plug go to would be great and would create a fun little project. Thanks.

I'd quite like a Behinger PL 2000, the Rack Light, Power thingumy. But I only have 5 or 6 cm space in the front of my rack case cover and I'm not sure that it's going to fit. I have looked everywhere for info on how far the light sticks out but have had no luck, so I thought I'd ask here: Does anyone have one and can tell me how far the light sticks out? Thanks.