dannybuoy

I love it when he uploads a new effect using his iPhone. Reminds me of the Matrix where Neo learns Kung Fu! "I know OCTAVE!" "Show me." [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7arjCw5e35I[/media]

Well the fan arrived this morning but not sure it's going to be suitable. It can only be mounted in one direction due to it's design, where it will blow air out of the amp, whereas the original is positioned to blow air into the amp. It might not make much difference as the air will still flow across the heatsink. Still, I think I'll return it and get the non-pro version (Arctic F8 TC) in a more traditional chassis that can be flipped over to be mounted in either direction. I also found that the lugs on the 3-pin plug are too large to fit into the tiny plastic 2-pin plug of the original so I'm gonna have to get a 2-pin to 3-pin adapter.

I just got one of these again, and have decided to pimp it with new tubes and a quieter fan. I'm not quite sold on the idea of putting 12AT7's in like some others have done. Sure it will reduce the gain range on the dial, but I can't see it being able to offer any more clean headroom than if you just had a 12AX7 and set the knob lower to achieve the same gain level. What would give you more clean headroom is a tube that doesn't distort so early, and many aftermarket 12AX7's should be able to pull this off as well as the 12AT7's. I've been looking around for replacement tubes over the last couple of days, I want to try and open up the highs a bit and get the overdrive to sound less mushy. The main ones I was considering were: [b]Watford Valves Harma[/b] - These are specially selected and rebranded JJs or Sovteks (they offer two types), with optional Cryogenic treatment that some say makes no difference to the sound (and some who say otherwise). Meant to sound good but much more expensive than the original branded versions! [b]JJ[/b] - often recommended in many places, but usually for high gain guitar amps, whereas I'm more after a cleaner vintage sound. [b]Tung-Sol reissue[/b] - regarded as some of the best current 12AX7s, slightly lower gain than most, later breakup and more hi-fi than the cheapo Chinese ones. These are pretty cheap too! [b]Gold Lion[/b] - these have some positive reviews from massive tube geeks at TheGearPage. Many who are into their NOS tubes and unhappy with current production models seem to be very impressed by these. Of course the price tag may be influencing their ears, being 2-3 times the price of most others! I went with these in the end - I know I could be wasting money on overpriced tubes but I want the best sound possible and know that if I went with a cheaper type I would probably end up getting these to compare eventually anyway! They are also meant to have very low microphonics, which I guess is important in a bass amp especially given the amount of low end rumble these amps put out! Also, I find the fan to be noisy so picked up an Arctic F8 Pro TC fan for £5 on eBay. It has a temperature control sensor on a wire that I can attach to the heatsink, then the fan controls it's own speed. I'm hoping it will hover around a silent 500 RPM most of the time if using it for quiet bedroom practice, and only start blaring when the amp really warms up (by which point it will be too loud to hear the fan anyway). Might have to do a bit of jiggery pokery as it comes with a 3-pin connector and the amp uses a 2-pin. I'll report back to let you know if my tinkering was successful!

To anybody that's not read this, Bass Gear Mag's analysis of the EQ in the Terror Bass is well worth a read: http://btpub.boyd-printing.com/publication/?i=76122 Main points: - Treble and bass are boost/cut, mid is cut only - 95% of the knob sweep occurs between off and noon, not much difference after noon (hence some claiming the eq doesn't do much) - Flat setting is with the mid cranked and bass&treble almost all the way down!

I didn't know they made an 810! Does it weight a ton? That port looks massive, if you have a cat I wouldn't be surprised if you found it asleep in there one day!

A constant high pitched background noise is probably down to the power supply, try using it on it's own supply with just that in the chain and see how you get on. Then again if the ZNR kills it perhaps it's coming from your bass or something earlier in the chain? The noise issue I experienced is a softer white noise hiss that only comes in when you play a note and you have the active switch pressed in. I could only hear this through my headphones or studio monitors though, not my bass rig as I don't use tweeters.

Just because it's different to your plate does not mean it's not original. Back in those days there was a right mix up of Jap/USA parts being used. Of course I'm no expert and you could well be right, but I wouldn't jump the gun unless you are confident!

That one does have the Fender logo though, which are supposedly rarer than yours with the Squier logo. See one (or a pair) for sale here for £1200 also: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/174713-feeler-pair-of-1st-series-jv-basses-pj-rare/page__hl__jv%20jazz%20precision"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/174713-feeler-pair-of-1st-series-jv-basses-pj-rare/page__hl__jv%20jazz%20precision[/url]

Or getting a beefier bridge pickup?

Likewise, no problems getting enough clean volume out of mine, although it is a bit hissy.

If you have to max the volume and gain to get enough volume then maybe your headphones are too high impedance for the Vox to drive then properly?

Well, the tube rig absolutely kills, but I'm no longer in the band, so I'm downsizing. Currently have a Streamliner and Ampeg SVT210AV, but may end up with a Terror Bass instead. Will probably end up missing it and coming full circle back to the tubes at some point, but will have fun trying out lots of different stuff along the way!

It's not for everyone, but sounds glorious used as a low gain overdrive boosting into a tube amp! Running at 18v is necessary though when using a hot bass like the BB415 to stop it farting out so much on the low notes.

Yamaha BB415, Catalinbread SFT and Bass Big Muff, Orange AD200B and Matamp 2x12. Orange set 10 o'clock on the treble, noon on the mids, bass at 2 o'clock.

I bought an A4 sheet of foam from eBay. There are two main types available, the spongey stuff sold as camera case foam, or the closed cell foam that's much stiffer. I bought the closed cell type but I think either would do the job just fine.