BassTractor

Welcome, mate! Like others, I must admit to not having a white '76 T-bird, but I hope you won't hold that against me, especially since my previous neighbour had the '76 Ford T-bird, and it was indeed white. Ghastly, ghastly car though, and not at all to be mentioned in the same sentence as your T-bird... Demn! Enjoy BC! bert

Buon giorno, Alessio! Benvenuto! I hope you will enjoy BC. best, bert (alberto)

OK, I'll give it a go: From close to distant, and left to right: Moog Polymoog Yamaha CP30 Arp Odyssey Moog Minimoog Moog Micromoog (or that other tinylittle one - name escapes me - not the Multimoog at any rate) Hohner Clavinet (probably D6) Oberheim Eight-Voice unknown 4-octave thing unknown 3.5-octave thing (though I do recognise it immediately, I have no clue) Yamaha CS50 (I'd expect a CS80 there, but this one looks small and with one row of controls on top?) Arp 2600

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1411056547' post='2556063'] Well, I've got a Windows PC, and iPad and an Android phone - will that do? [/quote] I think it will indeed. It already hurt my eyes, so I guess these multinational evil ones are shivering of your and my combined efforts (me also having got a Windows PC, an iPad and an Android phone).

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1411033482' post='2555713'] it's more the inconsistency [/quote] It's the inconsistency I can't muster. It's a well known fact that 99% of evil corporations aren't even 100% pure evil, and it's about time the people on our planet regained some power so they could force these corporations! I say: buy a Windows pc and hurt Apple, then buy a Mac and hurt the other guys! To battle!

Hey Yan, and welcome from sunny Sufway! Don't pick [i]my[/i] brain though: I've been at it for only about two years and 11 months, so we're not even peers. Enjoy the forum! bert

[quote name='thefyst' timestamp='1410906277' post='2554668'] any chance of some decent photos of the preamp? im kinda interested [/quote] Will try in daylight tomorrow.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1410939257' post='2554765'] Or, if you want to deal in absolutes which are bound to piss someone off, BC is full of lowballing chancers? [/quote] Great reply. The point of course is that it can mean so much. Sellers are wildly different in their approach, and will assume differently about their audience or audiences when crafting their texts. Some of it is honest and dead serious, some is an attempt at manipulation... the works. One of many explanations (which I think may not have been mentioned yet - sorry if it has) is that the seller assumes there are prospective buyers out there who do want the item, but "cynically" wait for the price drops, and then this expression means there is no point in waiting anymore. BTW, for each and every item I've advertised here in Norway, I've got people asking about the item roughly two weeks after the ad timed out. They want to buy a price rather than an item, and many of them clearly are only in it for selling it at a higher price again.

Thanks, Flyfisher! The shop who sold me the bass had possibly assumed the Music Man cases are sturdier and tighter than they really are, and had omitted to pack the bass inside the case. Also, they had omitted to fill the void between the case and the way too wide outer currugated board box. So the bass moved freely about and got the case lid to flex, and the volume pot knob was knocked off by the case innards. As said, the pot shaft is brass and just a few mm in diameter where it enters the pot body. Dunno whether the normally visible thick part of the shaft is in one piece with the thin part of it, but it makes no difference for the repair methods that were contemplated. BTW, I could've sent it back, but chose to be friendly with the seller, and do the repair myself. Thanks for the words on soldering technique. I've soldered electronics a lot before, as a hobby, but haven't done it that much the last few decades - only when necessary. Still got good gear for it, so the bottleneck is me.

[quote name='thefyst' timestamp='1410886032' post='2554341'] yeah id just replace the pot also... allthough cant find any decent images of the pots but they look like they have extended lugs that go straight into a board...might be tricky to replicate with a standard pot. [/quote] Thanks, Thefyst. I saw your post after writing mine (laptop battery trouble). Yup, the pots are a mini type with rectangular body, and three pins coming out from their sides. Trying to use a standard pot here, while probably doable, would require one side of one or two mini circuit boards to be moved out of its way, and there is not that much space, so I think it's is better avoided. I do have the correct pot for it, so no sweat. Dad: I think they're brass shafts, but thanks!

Thanks guys! I went out and bought the tools necessary to get this dismantled (I think it's Imperial stuff), and you know what: replacing the pot seems like a doddle. Several methods are available, and I just need to count the amount of wires I'll have to desolder and solder for each method. For those interested: two and two pots are mounted sideways - directly on tiny circuit boards (with the three pins through the board) that are anchored only on those two pots, meaning I can center the pots in the pot holes and the circuit boards will follow, so there are no special requirements for placement of the pots on the boards other than that I must keep their shafts parallel to each other. I might remove just one of those boards or both or even the whole pre-amp constellation, depending on what I think is easiest. The guy warning me seems to have had little reason to. Like KiOgon says, I could spend hours building small rigs and stuff. Seems quite unnecessary now. Thanks again!

[quote name='Lewbass' timestamp='1410865717' post='2553970'] The looking cool and impressing the ladies part I've got down to a tee, naturally. Its the playing part that I have trouble with. [/quote] I'm sorry to read this. You must be very jealous of me then. The playing part I've got down to a tee, naturally. It's the having contact with a person of the opposite... er... gender! that I have trouble with.

Quit the talking around the bush! You have 900 quid burning. We need to know what you're going to buy. WITH PICS!

Hey Lee, and welcome! There's tons of advice on here in addition to a rich marketplace. Should be no problem getting a good second hand one for that price. Oft mentioned ones are Yamaha, Ibanez, Vintage, Squier VM series, Squier CV series as well as J&D, but there are enough others. Enjoy the forum! best, bert

Bonjour, David, et bienvenue! Je ne connais pas Lyon, mais j'aime la demoiselle d'Avignon. Elle est si belle et charmante! ;-) (You may be too young for that one. Twas a French tv series fourty years ago, and the whole male population of Europe was in love with Marthe Keller, who had one of the main roles.) I hope you will have a good time here! best, bert (that would be bertrand to you)

Anyone know what the quickest fix would be? I see: 1) metal glue to glue the 2mm or so thin part of the pot shaft back on the pot. I'd use vaseline on those parts that must not get glue on them. Requires a rig for placing the shaft semi-perfectly over the pot. 2) stainles steel "rod" glued into both parts. This would require drilling a 1mm or 1.5mm hole in the pot part of the shaft as well as in the thick part of the shaft, and glueing in a fitting stainless steel bit into them. I can easily mount the thick part of the shaft in a vertical bench drill with clamping system, but may have trouble mounting the body perfectly horizontal. 3) soldering in the new pot (or whatever method is required). This seems like the easy solution, but someone warned me against it, as reportedly these preamps are not that easily serviceable as one might assume. Before I put the bass on the operating table and remove its innards, can someone give a heads up on the preferred method?

Hey Lucien, and welcome! I like the tug bar bottle opener idea. Enjoy BC! Bert

Sorry for the confusion. I was trying to save you from a long thread of helpful advice in the style of "the correct placement of a generic bridge cover on a Japanese Precision copy body, slightly depending on the build year - as there are some complications for the latter part of 1992 and the years 1993 through 1995, is... over the bridge"... ...or "over the headstock of course, you dumbass!". So, are you asking for advice about the work method to get it precisely where you want it, or about the positioning choices themselves? If the former, then just cut three bits of wood to have around the bridge so there's no leeway for the cover, before placing the cover and marking the exact right spots for the screw holes. Me, I use Velcro instead though, which is a more flexible solution, with quicker strings change. Also adds height to the cover, which can be nice, and is slightly better for resale value when one can offer a bass without the holes.

You are aware that you're asking for it, are you?

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1410634555' post='2551528'] but "play" button saves your work ? [/quote] Hahaha! Like this Siemens ISDN phone that had dedicated buttons near the display for: - Latest Missed Calls (very nice indeed) - Latest Outgoing Calls (the whom-have-I-already-called-so-I-don't-really-need-a-dedicated-button-really-THAT-much-even-though-it's-a-great-feature button) but where the function for Latest Incoming Calls (who have called me and asked me to call them back when I had thought this through and know the answer to their questions) is conveniently placed..... ...wait for it..... ...in the Phone Installation menu! Man, this cries for a dedicated Off Topic thread. It's so hilariously stupid!

C'mon guys! OF COURSE there's a name or a logo on the headst... Oh.

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1410562707' post='2550953'] No [/quote] That Korg KR thingie will do exactly what you'd expect, and at reasonable sound quality. Haven't used that exact one, but a similar one, and it worked well. In my own case I did however notice getting bored with it, so I'm not convinced anymore that after some time, it is so much better than a metronome. What I'd like to see though was one like just that, but with three foot switches: the chosen pattern is repeated until you press the switch for one of the other two that you've stored "under" them. Never seen one, but equipped like that, it should come in well under 100 quid.

. Welcome, Mission man! ...to BC and back to the low end again. [quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1410545253' post='2550675'] except me - i'm 'orrible [/quote] True. Lowdowner is 'orrible, just like Xilddx and JTUK (and me, but you understood that). The rest is kinda "charcoal"...

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1410534998' post='2550532'] Well obviously, the one that sounds best would be the roasted maple one [/quote] Fixed, and with you there!

I'd think the MarkBass with VT pedal is the safe choice given that it's a very flexible solution without too many knobs (ymmv). The Terror Bass is a lovely amp (just sold mine but not because it's not great), but because of the heavily scooped sound, one is more limited (IMS, a relatively flat respons is reached by turning the Mids all the way up, and the other ones all the way down). I'd not advise anyone to buy one untried. If you like it, chances are you'll love it, but if you need to buy untried, then get the MarkBass with the pedal. The model is not that big an issue, but some prefer their LM II over the LM III (don't remember why), the F1 is very clear and true to the original signal, and by large the "valve" version of the little ones seems not worth the extra price of admission as it's reported to have a limited effect on the sound. Personally I haven't heard it, but from reading on the web, I'd get an F1 with a VT pedal.