geoffbyrne

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1318321700' post='1400366'] It's complete nonsense. It's just an electronic component - so if it works leave it alone. Changing it will only make a difference in your imagination. I'm sure I'm going to get shouted at but it's on the same level as gold-plated speakers cables and suchlike. I assume you have the knowledge and equipment to set up the bias when you change the valve? Never criticise a man's religion, wife, politics or valve-amp [/quote] I'm not shouting at you, but you are quite wrong about that. The different valves have quite different gains - AX being the greatest & AY/AU the least. This can make a huge difference to the performance of the pre amp. My personal favourite is the 5751 which has 70%(ish) of the 12AX7 gain - not too low & enough still to get decent tone. G.

Assuming a 5 conductor pup, Series/Single/Parallel is easy - there's a million diagrams online, but you need an On/On/On mini-switch. G

If you got to http://www.thesubwaybluesband.com & play the 'EP' you'll hear my former Cirrus BXP DI'd out of my Ashdown MAG400 head. No problem. G.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1318013473' post='1397362'] Hmmm, the SMB5A is alnico. The ceramic one is SMB5D. I do have an alnico SMB5A that I don't need (new, never installed). I don't need the ceramic either, so not interested in a swap, but if you want to buy it off me, just PM me. [/quote] Ahhh, I sit corrected!!!! It's the ceramic one I've got in the Ibanez RD605 - I find it a bit.....soul-less. I like the bass, but I'm looking for a more traditional tone. G.

I had Cirrus BXP that did both & I found it didn't make one iota of difference. G.

I have an SD SMB5A in my Ibanez RD605, and, quite honestly, I'd love to swap it for the Alnico version (anyone who wants to swap Alnico for Ceramic PM me) as I prefer the Alnico warmth. I currently have 2 MM 4-string pups in the drawer, a GFS - a fine pup, but each coil has very low resistance & it;s wired in series (although this can be changed) & has a sound of its own. Be good for a project, though. I also have a poleless-covered MM taken from an Ibanez. Each coil is approx 7.5K & it may be wired in both series or parallel. I don't know if it's ceramic or alnico. I believe this can get pretty near the Stingray tone. If interested in either, PM me. G.

I emailed you about this as was mentioned in previous ad, and did not receive the dignity of a reply. I hope you are more civil with others who get in touch. G.

My Ibanez RD605? [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/geoffbyrne/Sale/PA050176-1.jpg[/IMG] G.

Well, I don't know about 'Making It', but I'm 65 next birthday & the Blues Band we are currently getting together (Subway) has huge potential. Maybe not in charts etc. but the bunch of musicians we've got here certainly could make this band a force in the Blues circuit - I'm keeping fingers crossed, & age isn't a barrier in the Blues world. I also have a little (maybe not so little) functions band getting under way called 'Des Amis' - I've always thought of them as a 'Band of Friends' - we'll never conquor the world as the musicianship is limited, but we did a couple of gigs before the summer to great acclaim and it'll be great for what we are aming to do for it - fun & pocket money. I also have a C&W trio (Coventry & Western) for light relief - purely small pub gigs. To quote that web site, I'll rock till I drop! G.

Sounds like you need better shielding - as mentioned above. Do you use foot pedals? They are notorious for picking up odd signals. I used to have a Zoom FX pedal that literally picked up Radio Tokyo in Loughborough!!!! Yes, really. If that one bass is worse than the others, it points to a problem with that bass - maybe get all the groundings resoldered? G.

I have a DVDRW, a DVDROM & 2 x CD ROM drives I don't need. Welcome to 'em for postage. G.

If it's getting lost in the mix then you need more mids - try boosting low mids a chunk. G.

DON'T DRIVE!!!! Just.....don't....drive. G.

PICS!!!! (When you've got it!!) G.

I emailed & also have received no reply, so I'm out too. G.

Make sure the groove in the nut runs downhill towards the tuners & check there's a good 'witness point' right at the front edge of the nut. See how that goes. G.

[quote name='Slipperydick' timestamp='1317137670' post='1387229'] Both fuses instanly blackened ( not the mains fuse) probably means a dead short, so the bridge rec is favourite I reckon. its the black square thing on the heatsink in your photos. If you have a multimeter take the fuses out and measure it on the low ohms range across the two diagonally opposite terminals marked with a sort of an S. If its a short, its duff. couple of quids from somewhere like Maplins should sort you out. Depends on whether you feel up to changing it yourself. Leave the PCB fuses out, and and try powering it up, if the mains fuse fails your transformer is probably knackered. Dont try any of the above if you dont feel confident enough with electrickery stuff though. [/quote] Mmmmm. Interesting. I'll get round to trying this in the next few days - I've clobbered it all back together & screwed up the screws at the moment. The Good Lady has just had a hip replacement & currently needs a lot of 'lift & lay' support, so I'm a bit distracted....... G.

Looks like epic neck dive on that....... G.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1317121861' post='1386913'] If it is a bin job, whip out that reverb tank, they are handy, and the transformer has a scrap value if you accumulate such things (or know someone that does). [/quote] Yes...... That had occured to me. Could always stick it on Ebay for 'Spare or Repair'........ G.

No idea about the chockie-block thingie - it's as it was when I got it - as I said, it all worked fine for a while. @Slipperydick: they're blackened when they blow & it's not quite instantaneous. G.

[quote name='Subthumper' timestamp='1317050008' post='1385970'] I would suspect its either the bridge rectifier, or the power transistors. You will need to take it to a techie to find out for sure. If it was blowing the mains fuse then I'd suspect the transformer. Either way its gonna be more than you paid for it unless you have a techie friend who will fix it for beers plus the cost of components. Good luck Cheers Just [/quote] Yeah, that's what I reckoned. It's a bin case. Problem is, I really need an amp to run the foldback & this was light & cheap. So I'm still looking for something light & cheap................. Thanks for the input guys. G.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/geoffbyrne/P1010042.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/geoffbyrne/P1010041.jpg[/IMG] Long story short - bought cheap (£22) keyboard amp (Calrsboro) off t'Ebay for practices & driving foldback cab. Turned it on the other day (it's been fine for a couplke of months) & it blew bigtime - no magic smoke, but low frequency fluctuation. All fuses blown. Replaced all fuses & now blows only internal fuses - see pics. Anyone point to why? And is it worth repairing? G.

Couple of beer crates? The supermarkets do stackable toy boxes which fold down flat - try Poundstretchers & other store like that. G.

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1316853332' post='1383623'] Listen to the horn players complaining around 20 - 30 seconds in... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtC2XDbE8Zo[/media] [/quote] We do several blues numbers in B maj. - I used to move them to Bb or A, but now sax player says it's not a great problem. G.