SisterAbdullahX

Got a Hartke 4.5xl cab which I use with a 3500 head. Very happy with sound of cab but it's recently developed a metalic rattle when played at gig volume. Any ideas?

[quote name='steve-norris' post='92673' date='Nov 22 2007, 12:37 PM']Tayste_2000, how did you get on with the BAD MONKEY? I have just ordered a Humphrey modded bass version after hearing good reports, i will report in due course[/quote] Yeah, I just ordered one too. Heard good things and it's not expensive. Can it do the Muse thing?

Just been given a Hartke HA3500 amp head as a freebie after winning a 4.5XL cab on e-bay (Cheers Martin!). The amp is totally dead after a power surge occurred mid gig. Last owner changed fuse and valve to no effect. Any ideas on what might be the problem? How much to repair? Know of any reputable repairmen in Yorkshire?

[quote name='ped' post='139977' date='Feb 13 2008, 11:29 PM']Wow - well that's MOJO! I am sure a quick refin and electronics sort-out wouldn't cost you much @ The Gallery - worth investigating perhaps? Cheers ped P.s pics of mine on my site![/quote] Yeah, definitely will get her sorted at some point in the not too distant future. Too good a bass to have sat around collecting dust. I e-mailed Patrice about a year and a half ago to see how much a refinish would cost and he quoted something rediculous like 700 quid! Maybe he couldn't be bothered at the time and was trying to put me off. It worked if he was. The good people at Overwater said they could sort out the electrics, but at the moment I need to finance a new amp and finish off the Warmoth Jazz, neither of which the wife is too happy about! Your babies are fine, by the way!

[quote name='ped' post='138570' date='Feb 11 2008, 11:41 PM']Hey there! Another Vigier fan eh? I would love to see some pics. Perhaps I can fix it for you ;0)[/quote] Yeah, I love my Vigier, even though she hardly ever gets played, due to the pickup and finish issues, but anyway, here she is. TLC required!

[quote name='ped' post='29129' date='Jul 9 2007, 02:16 PM'] [[email protected]]Contact ped[/email] [[email protected]]Contact East UK[/email] [url="http://www.east-uk.com"]East UK website[/url] John East lives near me in Oxfordshire and used to live a stones throw away from my house. After meeting him for the first time at the bass bash and having a chat, I decided to try out one of his now world famous pre-amps in one of my basses. My Vigier fretless has always suffered from what I thought to be a fairly useless pre-amp. The unit consisted of a rotary frequency selector and a cut/boost switch, and most confusing of all, a tone pot assigned only to the bridge pickup. The main issue with it however was the fact that it was quite noisy and was becoming a problem on what is one of my most often recorded basses. It could have been largely due to the output jack giving up and a whole host of other things, but the rear tone pot thing annoyed me a little. The natural decision was to check out some new electronics in the bass, as I know the pickups themselves sound huge and the bass is otherwise lovely- so it was a sunny June day that I found myself in the car heading for Mr. East’s workshop just outside Oxford city centre. Many will know of the ‘J-Retro’ pre amp, a drop in replacement for fender type basses, complete with control plate. You might think John a brave man to mess with what is one of the world’s most popular basses, but after having a quick whirl on his own 70’s Jazz you hear instantly why these are becoming so popular among modern bassists. [i]The pre-amp comes in gold, black and chrome - or a mixture of the three if you ask nicely.[/i] A pre-amp is simple though, isn’t it? It just adds or cuts treble or bass and that’s that. Why not just do that on your amplifier? Well the electronics in your bass are an essential part of the signal chain, passing on the sound from your pickups. Cheaper electronics will mask and hide sounds which the retro brings out in the bass, making it sound like a new instrument. You will hear frequencies you didn’t know existed. This was certainly the case with my bass. I decided to go for the ‘U-Retro Deluxe’ model – essentially the same as the J-Retro model but designed to fit into a non-jazz bass shaped 4 hole body. There are three stacked knobs and one normal small knob and two switches. Here is a diagram of the arrangement with labels to show what does what exactly: [i]The arrangement shows the J retro layout - input jack is to the left[/i] More details on what frequencies are boosted or cut and by how much can be obtained from the East-UK website (link at the top of the page). The unit is very impressive. There are many possibilities with the amount of flexibility it offers. Just some sounds it has opened up to me are a rear pickup nasal fingerstyle sound, a dark and woody upright tone, a wide and full sounding natural vibe and a blooming and open classic fretless 80’s cheese mode. The difference it makes is huge, and my pickups sound better than ever. The unit itself is quite compact when compared to my previous harness, and can fit into most basses without any modification. You might have to have two small holes drilled for the switches; as it was I only needed one for the active/passive switch, but if you are against this you can hide them in the control cavity – John also does a small amount of custom requests to cater for your individual needs should you need anything in particular. If you have a bass that you think is being held back by its electronics and you want a reliable, super quiet and neat alternative which will make you wonder how you coped before, check out John East’s electronics. [/quote] I'm getting a J-Retro Deluxe for my Warmoth Jazz, to go with a set of Nordstrand NJ4SE's. I'm expecting big things! By the way, Vigiers ROCK! I've got an '84 Passion, all graphite neck jobby. It has the best neck of any bass I've ever played. Unfortunately the finish is falling off and the bridge pick up doesn't work, one day I'll make her great again!

[quote name='dub_junkie' post='138409' date='Feb 11 2008, 07:09 PM']swapped over the necks again - they just seem that little better playing and looking with the "wrong" neck on each. I did this before but reverted them back to how they came thinking I was for moving on the candy apple red/maple one. if they both stay as keepers this is how I'll have them from now on [/quote] That white sparkle, my friend, is fabulous. Is that a standard MM colour?

[quote name='dub_junkie' post='85012' date='Nov 7 2007, 05:08 PM']snce got another Sterling and swapped the necks out cant decide which one I like more they're both fantastic! [/quote] White is such a cool colour for a bass.....

Does anyone know if a modification could be done to a dbx 160 compressor to enable it to be switched on and off via a footswitch? Does anyone know a tech who could do this?

[quote name='Bass_In_Yer_Face' post='111497' date='Dec 31 2007, 02:17 PM']Been playing for a while now and I'm still staggered by Andy Rourke's lines from The Smiths...the guy is a legend. As someone once said, his songs sound like a whole different song going on withing a song.[/quote] Andy's playing with The Smiths was a thing of beauty. To me it was as important a part of their sound as Johnny Marr's guitar playing. I really don't think they would have been the band they were without him. The same can be said of another much overlooked player, Bruce Thomas from The Attractions. When I was 16 he was God! He had it all. He was melodic, supportive and muscular all at the same time. Also, he and (drummer) Pete Thomas together were rhythm section gold! Check out "Accidents Will Happen" or "Party Girl". Come to think of it, check out the entire Attractions back catalogue. Later, after years of listening to him I was surprised to hear that he was a north-easterner, like myself. He's from Stockton, about 10 miles away from where I grew up.

[quote name='DHA' post='115857' date='Jan 7 2008, 10:18 PM']Hi, The new models are all now active eq and that's one of the modifications that I will be doing on Sug's amp later this week. I am not happy with the compressor when it's integrated into the pre-amp so I am not offering it any more as an option on the amp. Another VT5-400-Bass was delivered to a BC member today with the latest active eq so there should be some more reviews soon. There are 2 more in production which are also going to BC members which are not far away now, so more reviews to follow soon I hope. Dave[/quote] Thanks Dave. It's nice to know that a manufacturer cares enough about a product (and his customers!) to make those kinds of changes. I'll keep an eye open for the reviews of the new ones.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='115906' date='Jan 7 2008, 11:07 PM']Cost. The QS410 has speakers with whizzer cones, not dual voice coils. Check out what people say about the treble response of the EA Wizzy, which AFAIK is the only other whizzer cone bass cab on the market. I used to own a whizzer cone cab and it's quite a neat solution to added treble without electrical crossovers (the voice coil / cone/ whizzer cone flexible joint acts as a mechanical crossover) and mid/tweeter units. Alex[/quote] Cheers Alex

[quote name='DHA' post='66843' date='Sep 28 2007, 11:32 AM']Please check out the special offers section for an offer to BC members on this amp. Dave[/quote] Hi Dave, I mentioned this to Sugden, so I might as well ask you upfront, any plans to build custom bass cabs to go with the amps?

[quote name='Sugden' date='Jan 7 2008, 01:37 AM' post='115173'] Hi I indeed own a VT5-400 Buzz has already directed you to my review if you have any other questions then Im happy to answer them through PM or on here. The amps back with dave at the moment having some updates mentioned in the review so I wont be able to give an update for afew weeks. I will add though that since the review I have gigged with the amp twice and practised with a band quite abit, and its by far my favorite amp out of the ones mentioned in the review and previous amps I have owned. It sits in the mix well, cuts through and everyone else I played with loved it. The sax player's never really fussed about peoples tones etc but he even mentioned how nice it was. Mind me asking what sort of tone your after? Cheers Sug To be honest, I seem to change my mind every week as far as tone goes! So I suppose something that covers as many bases as poss is what I'm after. From Doug Pinnick (King's X) to Jaco and everything in between! Love the idea of a gorgeous warm valve tone but also want mids to die for. The Kern 777 interests me too and I suppose the VT5-400 could be seen as direct competition for the 777. There's no mentionin your review of how good the compressor is. Can it do a Marcus or is it a more subtle effect? Also, the comments about the passive eq cause just a little concern. Would prefer to have a bit more control. However, the great thing about Dave's operation is the fact that you can pretty much custom design your amp, so maybe active eq or semi para mids could be an option. One thing I definitely want is punch and volume, and as you said in the review, it cuts through. I'm definitely interested! I wonder if Dave would consider building custom bass cabs as well!! Cheers for the help.

Anyone have or tried the QS410 Pro cab from Hughes & Kettner? I'm interested in it because of the dual coil speakers in it which means no horn required. I was wandering if it still has the top end sparkle but without the dreaded "clack" of a lot of 4x10's with horns in them.

[quote name='Buzz' post='115083' date='Jan 6 2008, 11:12 PM']Yes, people own the vt5-400 (I think two are in possession of BC, I know one is for sure). Have a gander further down at the affilates forum, and the DHA section. vt5- Preamp review: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5239"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5239[/url] Sudgen's review of his VT5-400: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6172&hl=dha+vt5"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...&hl=dha+vt5[/url] The search function is your friend at times.[/quote] Wow. That was a fast and comprehensive reply!

Anyone tried any of Dave Hall's amps or pedals? Particularly interested in the VT5-400 or 700 amp, or the VT5 pre-amp.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='110177' date='Dec 28 2007, 12:31 PM']Sorry when I said the tone was flat I meant that I left everything in the 12:00 (straight) up position. If, as has been pointed out, that the controls all set to the mid position 'isn't' true flat then I was quite happy with that (non) flat setting anyway No problems with the EQ or the comp and I found that the unit lacked something if you didn't use the BBE process (possibly as it would have been designed around the user buying/using it for that reason). If the noise (again I stress that I am picky) can be reduced or eliminated then I personally think that for the price it's a decent unit and worth trying.[/quote] Cheers

[quote name='jwbassman' post='110175' date='Dec 28 2007, 12:24 PM']Hi there I currently use one of these in my gigging rig (I've also got a Demeter in my studio rack, more about that later)... I'm very happy with it - I'd agree that the controls do take a little getting use to but nothing a bit of trial and error can't solve. I find the compressor useful in certain situations but don't use it all the time, the sonic maximiser sounds really good to my ears but I guess this will depend on your eq settings. I've had a number of excellent comments from the guys in the band since introducing this into my rig so I'm happy I did the right thing. Dave (OBBM) did a mod on mine to reduce the input gain as it was distorting unintentionally when I was using my active bass - this is a kown problem and easily solved (if you know what your doing, thanks Dave), I'm sure he will happily answer any question you have, I believe he used to use one of these too. Oh and another thing, change the valve in it, the stock ones are ok but Dave also suggsted a Philip 5157 (lower gain valve to help with the initial problem) which made it sound really really warm, I've since put a Mullard in it as according to those in the know these are the daddy of all valves. Following some direct comparisons I can safely say the sound is so much better that the stock valve. As I said previously I'm very happy with mine and would probably replace it if anything happened to it. A quick word on the Demeter, IMO it's generally brighter than the BBE - but they are two different animals, I really like the Presence option on the Demeter (it has 2 valves) and the controls mean you can get pretty much any sound you want from it. I've contemplated using it in my gig rig rather than the BBE but to me it just somehow seems more at home in the studio. Hope this helps, feel free to drop me a PM to discuss some more...[/quote]Thanks for the help.

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='110038' date='Dec 27 2007, 09:01 PM']Yeah, mine was a bit hissy as well. I really, personally anyway, couldn't find a use for the BBE process, it just made the sound 'boomy', and somewhat artificial. Flat on them is 10-2-10 from bass to treble, or thereabouts anyway, they're a bit like the Alembic, bass and treble are mostly cut only, and mids are mostly boost only, I found it very hard to get a nice 'scooped' sound. If you check on talkbass, I found a good thread which showed peoples settings.[/quote] Thanks again.

[quote name='timmyo' post='61739' date='Sep 17 2007, 03:02 PM']This came up a couple of times when I asked about what people would do differently as a beginner. So what IS 'proper' right hand technique ? Simply using alternate fingers, or is there more too it than that ?[/quote] There is no such thing as "proper" technique, for either hand. As soon as you try to do what one person tells you you start to beat yourself up for the smallest deviation, and this can only be bad. Even if Jeff Berlin himself tells you you must always mute the unplucked strings with your thumb and you've found a more comfortable way, tell him to mind his own business and stick to your own way.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='97991' date='Dec 3 2007, 10:50 AM']I love the idea of going to college to study jazz on electric bass. I would have loved to do it twenty years ago and I would love to do it now. All that playing, practising and studying all day every day. Brilliant! Only I can't help but notice that some of the people I have taught/played with who have gone on to do this (Royal College/Leeds etc) are now gigging on the same scenes as me, playing the same venues for the same money and doing no more gigs than I am. Not sure what the point of it all was? Not sure what point I am making. Not sure whether this thing half way up my arm is my a**e or my elbow.[/quote] Yeah, and the thing about these establishments that hasn't been discussed so far is the fact that actual bass study will only take up something like 15-20% of the syllabus. I did 2 years of a 3 year degree course at Newcastle College back in the 90's, and at that point Newcastle had a bit of a name for itself for producing talent, but we had to study jazz history, and lets face it, if you need to study that you don't deserve to be there, and even worse, bloody calligraphy! Arghhh!! This is because, despite the fact they call them "Jazz" Degrees, what they actually try to do is try to cover as many bases (no pun intended) as possible in order to make you as employable as possible after graduation . In other words, you might be thinking you're going in there specifically to study jazz bass, but while you're there they want you to consider the possibilty you might not work out to be the next Matthew Garrison and look to a career in teaching, or function bands or cruise ships whatever (not to say there is anything wrong with any of those), but just don't expect it to be 100% hands on improvisational and supportive study. Tie this in with the rediculous expense (£20,000 or so all in) and it all starts to look like not such a great proposition after all. Of course, there is the possibility that the course at Newcastle College was crap.....

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='110012' date='Dec 27 2007, 08:00 PM']I had the Bmax-T for a short while! I had no problem with the inherent flat tone and there was plenty scope to alter it BUT I'm mega picky when it comes to extraneous noise and the BBE has just a degree of hiss that was irritating... to me. I do have to stress that I have very high expectations and can't abide any noise (other than the racket I make). I've heard loads of peoples rigs and they seem to think a background hum is acceptable, not me. Just my observation but something to consider. I should stress that the noise didn't get any louder when you turned up the wick and it wasn't detectable at gigging volume but I just knew it was there! The guy who bought it from me was over the moon and didn't even mention the 'noise'.[/quote] Thanks for that. Other than the noise were you happy with it? You say the tone was inherintly flat? Did you experience any problems with the eq and comp, and was the BBE process feature of any use? Removing the noise from the equation would you recommend buying one?