wally8

Cheers fat rich, I will have a butchers. Really appreciate the help.

Hello All Just a quicky for any Jazz people out there. I bought a MIM Jazz a few years back 2nd hand. Bloke had put a pretty cool blue sparkle finish on it and the action was super and it played well at low vols etc etc. However, it was only until i really cranked it at practice it sounded a bit odd due to the neck pickup. Now i dont know if its just mine as i dont have any other experience with Jazz's but when i turn the neck pickup up anywhere past around 1/8 vol it cuases that horrible tappy high frq noise when your playing like youve got masses of treble, irrelevant of the tone dial setting. Its sounds ok with just the bridge pickup but im sure its meant to sound better, probably with the neck pickup not being a git. Ideas? Cheers

Hi all I very nearly got scammed. A woman is selling a white usa p bass 57 reissue in cambridge on gumtree for £430. Alarm bells should of been ringing at the price but i thought someone might be desparate for cash. Anyway, i contacted her and she wouldnt meet up at hers or mine. She also reckoned it was a 62 but it had the anodised scrateplate and mapel fret of a 57. I questioned this and she said "oh yeah, my husband got it wrong". She then reckoned as a work perk she could send stuff via parcelforce free of charge and i could pay the driver cash if i liked it, or send it back. Weird? but i didnt have anything to lose at this point. I then got a email from "parcelforce" saying to go to a local shop which uses paypoint and give them the ref number after paying the £430. I emailed her back telling her to get stuffed as this sounded clearly dogey and i would drive to her house and play this bass and give her cash - called her bluff. No response. I emailed saying i have forwarded her details to the police and the bass has now been withdrawn from gumtree. I googled it and others have had similar experiences with exactly the same story. Really naffed me off as people more gulliable would of been scammed. And if the bass was real it would of been killer!!!!!!

Thanks for the replies guys. I've got some dull sounding slinkys I'm gunna boil with vinegar. Cheers for the tip Johnston.

Hello all Bit random, but does anyone else boil their strings after a month or so from new to bring some twang back into them? My dad is well tight and used to do it to his strings which always made me laugh but it does breathe a bit of life back into them and the cack that is left floating in the boiling water is pretty ming afterwards. Cheers

Dv are awesome! They will give you a no quibble refund within 30 day period if u hate the amp. You can gig and practice the amp to make sure you like it within that period.

Here's my sterling. Made in around 1998. [attachment=108526:IMAG0671.jpg]

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1337582741' post='1662147'] Is that really that unreasonable? My band has a very defined keyboard sound. The sounds are all generated on a very specific '80s keyboard, saved in a library which we can take to fly aways on a memory card specific to that make and model keyboard.[which is provided in the tech rider - if it isn't we're screwed]. It is extremely unlikely that anyone would own the keyboard we need them to use and the band has our own. [/quote] That is a bit bizzare turning up for a audition as a instrument player and not bringing your gear, unless the band stipulate. Ive tried out as a singer before expecting the rehearsal space to have a PA which is usually the norm and the band looked at me as if i was the weirdo not bringing a full PA with me to sing through!!!! Luckily i had a mic and lead and sang through a guitar amp - that sounded doggers

I tried the limited edition blood orange 115 with the terror bass head and a pf500. Sounded/looked awesome. And its not very heavy. I had the terror on low settings but the volume of that thing and the great bass of the cab was seriously rattling shelves. No flapping or distortion and higher vols either.

Right, I've decided. I'm gunna trial the orange for 30 days. Let's hope I don't fall in love re being 500 squid lighter, ideally someone lists one on here for a bargain price!

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1337159859' post='1656279'] So the wife still does the Shania songs then? Not too bad on Pink though - her bassist, Eva Gardner uses Precisions into Ampegs, so valve-sounds in abundance. Gotta be a good excuse to get the OTB! [/quote] Ha - if i had a tenner lozz for everytime ive played "Man I feel like a woman"!!!!!!!!!! At least we do a bit of alanis morissette (nothing like the ludicrous amount of bass notes played in you oughta know, i pride myself in playing very close to flea's original lick, not seen many bass players live doing that, or the original war pigs) Paramore and Avril to keep me semi busy. We ended a gig the other night with Bullet in the head by RATM as an encore - not many people dug that in a fenny pub!

Hi guys, thanks for the info. I thought the orange was mega. Trying to convince myself to part with the best part of £500 is hard at the mo as I'm in band limbo. Playing in a dodgey cover band with the wife. I need something to get my teeth into to justify the outlay. Are Shania twain and pink covers Gunna do the orange valvey beauty justice? Not likely, I need Sabbath, soundgarden, led zep.

There should be some sort of test like a driving test so applying musos can show a cert of competence. Unless you are under 20 and joining like aged people to start out. Perhaps some sort of provisional license. Cor, I could be on to something here!

Hi guys I recently did a thread about not being impressed with the PF500 when i tried it. The summery was we all thought it may of been down to the 2x10 TC cab farting at me. I took my passive USA Precision this time instead of my MM sterling. Anyway, i asked the merry men of DV in cambridge to get me in the Terror bass, the PF500 again and put it through a decent cab this time, a 115 Blood orange cab. The orange was so loud it was a disgrace, near blew my head of at vol + gain at 4. The sound was amazingly vintage - so geeze in the early days, banging out the sabbath riffs. i also got a fairly decent twangy tone with the mids and treb rolled up and the bass down. The ampeg was much better this time round with the blood orange cab. Much more versatile in the sound department than the orange - much better for the higher frq twangy, slap and pop stuff - and its £200 cheaper - and had a nice deep ampeg tone But......... the orange looked the biz and had so much ridiculous power and simplicity At the mo im heading towards the orange as my big peavey head sounded closer to the ampeg sound, esp using a BDI21 with the SVT settings. The guys at the shop said i can take both home for 30 days to trial and bring the loser back - gunna do that tomorrow

Hi All Experienced bass player of 31 with transport, decent gear etc would like to join a band player rock/metal/grunge covers. Can also sing to a fairly high standard, not very good at doing both though! Ideally based in around Cambridge/Ely Bands of interest mainly the seattle scene = pearl jam, alice in chains, soundgarden But also massive fan of Black Sabbath (can play the majority of their songs) and RATM. Standard rock cover bands in pubs are 10 a penny - imagine how awesome a grunge/rock cover band would be!!!!!

[size=4]Ha - good work guys. I was singing in a band playing metallica/megadeth etc a few years back and our bassist was useless, playing with something like an encore. On route to band practice with his bass on his back on his moped he was smashed into a ditch by a car, wrote his ped off but still managed to get to practice via a taxi and m[font=Arial][color="#000000"]iraculously[/color][/font] his bass was still in one piece!![/size]

Im sure there are loads of you out there who have experienced the 30 minutes of hell i just have!!!! I took the wife to sing in a cover band looking for a singer and bass player. As soon as the guys walked in i knew things were going to be terrible. I bowl in with my 1x15 and 700w head and the guitarist comes in carrying a 15w vox practice amp!!!! the 3 songs we learned we by no means tech - paranoid, black velvet and misery business. The drumming was up and down in tempo, guitarist out of tune and plyinh wrong chords (he played black velvet in C# tuning when we agreed before the song started to b in D#), just horrendous. How after 1 song do you walk out and how do you say it?? Took me 3, a nod from the wife and a "I think thats enough for me" before packing the precision away. Like a rat up a drain pipe we were gone. There must be tons of stories out there. Cheers

Thanks guys. Lozz you are the fountain of all knowledge

Hi All. Im looking for decent dust covers for my peavey 4x10 cab, 1x15 and even my Firebass head if i can. There is an awesome website in USA which sell them made to fit for around £25-£30 each but the shipping is £30-£40. The gear just aint worth that much. Anyone know of a UK based company or a decent DIY option? I can just about get a large IKEA bag over the firebass head which aint too bad!!! Cheers, Ben

So contrary to some peoples belief, the pf500 hasn't tickled everyone's fancy. What a wonderful opinionated democracy we live in.

Cheers Lozz, my thoughts exactly. Just like the legendary dirty harry said "Opinions are like ar$eholes, everybody has one" I want an ampeg so bad, im not a hater, just reviewed a siuation to see what people thought. There is a lot of love for the PF500's so i may of missed something. The TC cab may of been pants (dont hate me TC owners), the head may of been iffy, i just found it unusual that at a fairly low level it was farting. I trust your judgement lozz, if you say its good then it cant be bad I may of been unlucky

[quote name='The Burpster' timestamp='1336135544' post='1641398'] Well maybe not too hard but, hard enough to put some of our younger viewers off the idea..... I can only find a couple of responses that agree with you and the vast majority seem to say that with a decent cab they are between good/reliable to fantastic......... does that not say something to you? It does to me, I shall get one ordered. As to shops, dont get me on a rant.... I've seen some fantastic gear slagged off by (IMHO) idiots that should know better, and seen very occasionally really good advice and support. The days of staff in shops ACTUALLY knowing much and in some cases anything about their products is I'm afraid long gone, and this doesnt just apply to the music business. But back to your thread, Ampeg have been in the business pretty much since it started, and they are not design dinsoaurs. I find it impossible to believe that they would release an amp (and certainly keep it in circulation) that does not undergo extensive testing and development before its released. Ask yourself this... "would they really make an amp that farts with a 'ray and then try to sell in the US where most of all the 'rays are owned....?" [i](......sorry, just read your original post again and its a Sterling that you auditioned with not a 'ray, but you get my gist...!)[/i] [/quote] Am i classed as one of these idiots? Bit OTT if you ask me considering everyones entitled to an opinion and i certainly didnt get personal with anyone, just my own experiences. If people are daft enough not to try an amp coz one or two people have had less that sterling experiences, nothing would get bought. As to would a massive company release a product that is less that perfect with faults? Think you only have to look at any market in the world - i.e the motor trade. Many companies have product recalls and release improved products that right the wrongs of the previous. Again, your entitled to your opinion but i take offence at the attitude directed at me [i]Make love not war[/i]

[quote name='The Burpster' timestamp='1336118390' post='1641016'] As I'm on the cusp of buying a PF500 (but with an Ampeg cab) I was interested to read this. I'm sorry but whilst I respect your opinion, you are slagging the head off after a very quick audition through a cab of which you dont ACTUALLY know what Wattage and Ohm rating it had...... and also a TC. That's a bit like saying a MacLaren MP4-27 is sh*te because I have just driven it shod with a set of Michelin Energy Saver tyres. What you should've done was take them up on their 30 day trial and tried it through PROPER cabs that are known to be capable of dealing with the output. My PRSs have 18v preamps and kick out nearlty 20v with fresh batteries but only a couple of very cheap class D amps (Behringer and Yamaha) have ever needed clipping significantly due to high output. The farting is more likely to be due to cheap & nasty chinese drivers in an inappropriate cab. Other posters above have pointed out that this head is excellent through appropriate speaker cabs, and its of more interest (and I wouldve hoped inspired you to have a rethink) to me that the variety of cabs that have been tried that it DOES work with. I'm not impressed with the shop not getting or having an Ampeg cab to play it through for you, but TBH I'm not impressed by shops per se. Give it another chance and play it through a decent cab before writing it off. I was similarly unimpressed with the PJB D200 when I first got it, but through a proper speaker cab it is very very good, and there is no reason why the Ampeg shouldnt be as good. I agree, no it wont be a Mesa but then its not Mesa money or weight. [/quote] I didnt slag it off too hard did i? Just that i wernt that impressed as others have also said. I'm really pleased how many people have joined and given there opinion, thanks guys. Humm, if the opportunity arises again, perhaps i just might trial one with a decent cab. It's a shame it seems most of the shops now stock cheapy stuff as well as a truckload of guitar stuff and we bassist have to travel far and wide to find specialist shops.