Bobzilla

I picked up an old slightly abused BTB 556 (Bartolini Mk 1s). Original electronics from what I can see. It wasn’t working, but that proved to be a broken battery connector - easy fix. I also replaced the locking jack socket as it wasn’t locking and was breaking contact if the jack moved. So all good. Apart from an annoying ‘thwomp’. For no apparent reason. All nice and quiet for a while until all of a sudden you get what starts as just a little bit of rumbling, and then grows until you get a ‘thwomp’ noise, and back to reset. It almost sounds like there is some very low level feedback or something that just starts and then grows to a discharge, and then it’s done. Until it happens again. Any thoughts as to what it could be? I haven’t looked at the pre-amp at all, and haven’t cleaned the pots, but they are not scratchy at all. Ta in advance.

Buying one of these second hand. Any suggestions as to apps that I should be using? I know of PocketGK (does this work with the SonicPort?), but amplitube seems to want me to buy a whole load of stuff. Primarily using as a very small practice headphone amp rather than anything more. Thanks

No, not Borat, but my E string has gone dead. Quite old now, think they are Rotosound rotosound, 45-105. E, A and D are still great and sing perfectly, but the E is as dead as a dodo. So what to replace it with? I'm wondering whether a 40 would do better for a start, but any directions would be great. And replace as a set, or try and get a single G? Ta. Bass is a P-Bass Lyte and I tend to play quite lyrical - I use my G quite a lot.

Good points all.

See, everyone is saying Jaco, but a lot of his stuff was really great, really progressive. Yeah, absolutely some of it was little more than 'aren't I so great' intellectual masturbation, as one of my former music teachers put it (admittedly about John Cage, but the same description applies) but some of it is really getting the bass to sing like I'm not sure anyone else has. James Taylor leaves me wondering WTF a little bit - perhaps its just my age, being an 80s kid. And Space Cowboy (sorry Stuart) leaves me a little bit cold. Emergency, Funk Odyssey and Travelling - great - but Space Cowboy not so great. In fact, arguably the best track isn't even on there - the Dave Morales Club Classic mix of Space Cowboy.

Well, the Peavey performs better than I gave it credit for. The sound was actually pretty good - perfectly punchy and tight. I don't think I need something new at all - if I do I think it's another 2x10 but lighter.

Good questions. Not sure whether it is the weight or what I'm getting for the weight. I bought the Peavey because it was lighter than my Trace cab - nice as it is, if I don't use it because it is too much of a fag to move about then I need to change it. The Peavey itself isn't light (albeit lighter than the Trace was) and I can drop an easy 10kg with a Markbass 210 cab. That said, if I'm getting 410 for not much more weight... I will have a better idea on Sunday as to whether it is weight, tone or both. From memory, I'm not blown away by the Peavey but then again I'm not raving about it. It was a reasonably priced option that was available at a time when I couldn't afford Mark Bass or similar, and no-one else was really into lightweight cabs.

Well, second hand. I play in a church music group, so tight/punchy is more important to me than loud. I currently have a Peavey 210 tx coupled with a MarkBass Little Mark II. Its been a while since I played so can't remember how I rate the sound. I used to have a Trace 4x10 which I loved, apart from the weight, so I sold that (regret that a bit now, but it was very impractical). I also have a 1x15 Trace which seems a little bit flabby - should really have sold that instead of the 4x10, but it seeming has better bass range than the 10". So, a few questions. The Peavey is still quite heavy - 25kg for 2x10 is not great in the modern era. What am I realistically looking at on sale of it? Good condition, had the single jack replaced by two 2p speakon connectors, one of which is a Speakon/Jack combo connector. Having sold it, what do I replace it with? I started out thinking a MarkBass 4x10 - similar weight to the Peavey but a 4x10. Alternatively a MB 2x10 - lighter than the Peavey. Now some of the Barefaced stuff is getting my attention, as is the GK MBE410, one of which has recently sold. I play all over the neck - I don't like being told to just stick to 'bass' notes. Sod that for a lark. I have 24 frets for a reason. I am also looking at getting a 5 string, so will need to cope well with my bottom B. I'm also quite cost conscious. I can probably add another £200 or so into the mix having sold the Peavey, but getting more than that from SWMBO (or more accurately, she who if not obeyed would become incredibly expensive in short order) might be tough. So I'm very much looking second hand. Thoughts?

Yeah, I like messing about up high.

SR505?

Giving this another go. I had a gorgeous Warwick streamer lx 5 that I sold to someone on here. I sold out because I just couldn't get on with it. Whilst I don't have small hands they are not the biggest and my fingers are not long - my go to is my p bass lyte and I will never ever be parting with it. So I suspect that the issue was the neck was too large to play the way I wanted to, so I was avoiding the fifth string which defeats the object of owning a five string. 3 years after selling it, I want the extra range back. So anyone got any suggestions as to a reasonably priced but nicely payable 5 string? To define reasonably priced, I have never paid more than £400 for a bass and am prepared to wait for the right one to come up. But I accept that I have done very very well in the past on most of my purchases and have probably paid 60% of value for most of my gear. Thanks.