pete.young

Good of Phil to make the effort.

I have a Nordstrand 2B-4c in my Bass Collection 465. It seems to work perfectly well with either the original pickups or the Delano replacements, so I think it's unlikely that there would be any reason why it didn't get on with the Sire pickups. I never use passive mode. The passive switch is a push/pull pot on the volume control I believe! The sound is always better in active mode, and I can't imagine the audience will notice the difference anyway.

Red Witch Zeus is along similar lines to the Octo Nojs. It has a gated fuzz and a great octave, plus the usual fab Red Witch build quality.

I was in Baghdad when you were still in your Dad's bag! Must have been about 1975, I'd just done a floor spot in Sandwich folk club with a couple of guys I'd met in the pub earlier (the confidence of youth!) A big tall scary guy with a crew cut and an Afghan coat comes up, says 'Really enjoyed your playing', gave us a few suggestions for next time, disappeared into the night. When he'd gone, someone turned to us and said, "Bloody hell, that was Davy Graham." Saw Blondie on their first visit to the UK, 1976, supporting Television at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. 1977, drove past a gig in South Manchester somewhere, on my way to a folk music session. Some band called The Police, I wonder what ever happened to them?

We have two this weekend, and a band member has just pulled out of one (usually a packed sweaty and fairly unhygenic pub) citing his own age and health conditions. Fortunately there's a lot of us so we can cover it, but hey.

This has prompted me to dig mine out and give it a clean. The action's not as bad as I remembered, it plays OK all the way up the neck although it could be a bit lower, and the tension isn't that bad. There don't seem to be many ready replacements for the pickup, that don't require a router. A Seymour Duncan NYC neck would just fit but these are very expensive and hard to find. What do people reckon to buying a couple of Entwistle Jazz Pickups, cutting off some of the mounting loops and sticking them together back-to-back?

An oscilloscope? I don't have one myself but I know a man who does. I would guess it's an Accutronics unit from it's age, but there's nothing visible with it still in situ. This amp will need to go to a technician anyway for re-biasing and generally checking over - it was supplied with 2 wrong power valves, one Sovtek the other EXH - so much for a matched pair. I'll probably get them to look at it at the same time, although modern effects pedals probably render it redundant.

Thats an interesting mod. I've got one of these somewhere which needs some TLC. Do you mind me asking what strings you put on it? I have Status half-rounds on mine but they seem to have a bit too much tension.

A PJB double four, a clip-on tuner and a backpack.

Why do you need to rest your thumb anywhere?

The Yamaha THR10 is pretty good with bass but costs more than twice the Fly. I had a PJB Double Four for a while and that was incredible, but not really comparing like with like.

At least the spoon is a neck-through.

£126 quid with a day and a half to go? Silly money.

Best wishes for a successful outcome @Bassman Sam

A splendid effort! I salute you.

Being a couple of years older than @Krysbass I grew up with both systems and then worked as an engineer for a while where both systems were still in frequent use. Timber yards are the best. "I want some 4"x2" please" "No problem, 1.5 metre or 2.0 metre lengths? "I was hoping for 8 foot lengths "No problem, we can do some 100mm x 50mm!" The real bugger is not being able to buy Mint Imperials any more.

Aircell. They really do work.

I used to have a tenor banjo that weighed 12 Kg. Balance wasn't an issue.

Thanks @Chimike, I'll check it out. I was thinking of maybe opening the holes out to square and putting some captive equipment rack nuts in. Edit: Actually those look just the job. Thanks for the tip.

The effects loop runs at line level and is aimed at line level equipment, like rack compressors and other studio gear. Effects pedals are normally designed to run at a much lower instrument level. Some will work in a loop, many will not. Looks like you found another one that doesn't. There's probably nothing wrong with the amp. I suggest you forget using the loop and put the effect in the line between the bass and the amp, and all will continue to be well.

Parcelforce Pat has just delivered a lovely old Burman 501 to the residence. Nothing to do with me, it's my eldest son who bought this on fleabay. It seems to work OK but has a couple of issues: The top of the chassis is supposed to be bolted to the top of the case. Some of the little threaded inserts which press-fit into the chassis have come loose or fallen out. I can see that at least one has been soldered in place at some point. Are there any better replacements that I should be looking for or do I attempt to re-solder the originals back in place? Secondly , there's no output from the spring reverb. Assuming that the valve is OK, are there any hints or tips to get this working again?

Smoothhound is centre-positive, virtually everything else in the world is centre-negative. There's a reverse polarity adaptor, Diego make them and probably others too.

Great to see they still go up to '11'.

Paging Vail Johnson! Seriously though, a rack compressor could work for you, if it's just going to be always on and not used as an effect. A DBX266 new is 99 quid from various places, lesser known brands can be picked up second-hand (I have a Phonic 2-channel which I picked up for £35). The advantage is that you get really decent metering and all the controls you need to fully shape the sound. The disadvantage is that you have to know what you are doing.