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JapanAxe

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Everything posted by JapanAxe

  1. JapanAxe
    PM'd
  2. JapanAxe
    Update time! I managed to age the plate a little bit. Christmas / New Year guests are gone and I'm just recovering from my third cold-type virus in a row, so I finally got around to assembling the new control plate and wiring it up. Here's what it looks like built and then installed: Obviously the black knobs are not very 1962 but I like the look. Positive: Much easier having master volume and tone controls. Negative: There is still very little audible difference after the first small movement of the blend knob away from its centre detent. Positive: 3 distinct sounds at the twist of the blend klnob. Like @TRBboy I'll probably leave it in the middle most of the time. It's also become apparent to me that a Jazz responds rather differently from a Precision to the tone control being backed off - not bad, just different. Time to play some more Steely Dan methinks....
  3. JapanAxe
    I used to dep on bass with a blues band where the keys player thought his electric piano sounded too middly, so he ran it through a graphic EQ pedal with the most pronounced V setting possible. As a result, his left hand was considerably louder than my bass and clashed with everything I played. Eventually his expensive rack power amp went into thermal runaway and cooked itself to death.
  4. JapanAxe
    I second that emotion!
  5. JapanAxe
    If he looks like Thomas the Tank Engine I don’t know whether that would be a good thing or not…
  6. JapanAxe
    Loving the Thomas-the-tank-engine PA speaker!
  7. JapanAxe
    SOLD elsewhere
  8. JapanAxe
    I occasionally gig with a local singer-songwriter. On one such gig, I was to be on lead guitar and when we rehearsed in the BL’s front room, the bass player was getting noise through his old-school Class AB combo (can’t remember what, but not Ashdown). After our rehearsal I volunteered to take a look at it, so we heaved it into the kitchen so that I could get the chassis out and onto the table. The amp worked fine in the kitchen. We identified the source of noise as the BL’s wireless router. There are plenty of old bass amps either designed or built in the 90s that are still being gigged today because of their perceived sonic heft, and despite their physical heft. Far fewer people back then had WiFi at home, so it wasn’t something designers had to address. Also I think getting your gain staging right may help to reduce background noise.
  9. JapanAxe
  10. JapanAxe
    I don’t do New Year resolutions as such but I do review my goals periodically in my Bullet Journal. This will require some reflection, which I have yet to do because of (1) NYE gig, (2) house guests. However I have sacked off the predictable pub covers gigs to leave space for: (1) Bowie tribute; (2) Glam covers startup; (3) Rockabilly/country covers/originals; (4) Anything else that seems fun and/or interesting.
  11. JapanAxe
    Final 2025 dep gig on lead guitar with a pub covers band. Ticketed NYE pub event with family members on the guest list. All went really well and had to remind myself that a lot of the gigs can be grim with a really late drive home. Looking forward to 2026 with at least 3 happening band projects!
  12. JapanAxe
    Country music is massively popular in East Anglia. There is a (somewhat weird) fan-run country music club scene with a good number of clubs in that region. If you’re comfortable with strange requests, brown food, and ingrained racism, have at it!
  13. JapanAxe
    Paisley bump
  14. JapanAxe
    Hand-wired bump.
  15. JapanAxe
    ThorpyFX Muffroom Cloud added!
  16. JapanAxe
    Big green sparkly bump!
  17. JapanAxe
    The VVT control plate arrived yesterday but, despite being used, it is considerably shinier than the relic’d stack-knob plate. I intend to attack it (gently) with some fine wire wool before treating it with acetic acid fumes from white vinegar. I also could do with some raw sheep’s wool from a fence as the lanolin is apparently good for dulling bright metal.
  18. JapanAxe
    As a recent Jazz-itch-scratcher, I congratulate you!
  19. JapanAxe
    Both pickups on full is definitely my favourite Jazz bass sound.
  20. JapanAxe
    Just re-read your OP and noticed ‘read tab fluently’. I think that’s quite unusual, but unfortunately not that useful (in this context). With one tribute band I have had the keyboard player send me the ‘bass pad’ in standard notation, to learn before the gig; otherwise I’ve been expected to learn the set myself.
  21. JapanAxe
    Yes there are some 'genre' tributes but I think it can be trickier to pitch. For instance, if you did a Britpop show, you would somehow need to differentiate your act from a thousand pub bands knocking out covers of Oasis, Pulp, Blur etc. It's important to have a unique selling point (USP). If all this sounds very business-oriented, that's because it is!
  22. JapanAxe
    Be aware that is a long and expensive road. You need to pick an artist with enough well-known material (with maybe some album 'deep cuts') to fill a 2-hour show, and a strong enough base of diehard fans and/or well-heeled (usually mature) punters to pay for tickets. Some acts really require lookalikes as well as soundalikes. If the material is heavily produced/orchestrated, you may need synched tracks to fill out the sound. Then you'll want a professional-quality showreel for you or your booking agent to send out to venues. If a venue already has a tribute to your chosen artist, they may not wish to take a chance on an alternative. Just some things to think about...
  23. JapanAxe
    It’s about who you know really. I dep on rhythm guitar (mostly) and bass (occasionally) in a Dire Straits tribute that plays theatres and arts centres all over the UK. I met the BL through a mutual friend who was putting together a scratch band for a wedding - not something I recommend btw!
  24. JapanAxe
    Yes I'm trying to avoid that. Here's the P-bass circuit. The pickup is connected to lugs 1 and 3 of the 250k pot so always sees that impedance (in parallel with whatever it's plugged into). Here's the VVT Jazz bass schematic. Each pickup is connected to lugs 2 and 3 of its corresponding volume pot, so it sees everything from 250k (volume up full) to zero (volume at minimum). At (say) 20% it is seeing just 50k resistamce to ground. The OP circuit avoids this by adding resistance in series with the volume pot, forming a potential divider that can be used to reduce the output of either pickup. As I said in the OP, there are plenty of people who are happy with this, and it sounds like you get on with your blend setup. That's all good, I'm just looking for something that works for me
  25. JapanAxe
    Thanks, I came across these when I was looking into options. I drew out the circuit in the OP and added in the second cross-connection as per the lower diagram, then compared the two. The OP circuit simply puts a resistance (let's call it R) in the path of one of the pickups at a time, to attenuate its signal. The effect of adding the cross-connection is to add a second resistive path in parallel: At zero attenuation there is no difference. At maximum attenuation the resistance in series with the pickup is now ½R instead of R. At the halfway point, it becomes ⅜R instead of ½R, so the taper of the blend has changed. Also with this circuit you wouldn't get the effect of completely disconnecting a pickup if you cut the resistive tracks near the end. It would be a quick and easy thing to try though. In the upper diagram, the second cross-connection is tied to ground, which is a different approach altogether and has the effect of loading the pickups, which the OP circuit doesn't.
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