JapanAxe

Well that didn't go well. 90 mins into Mr Axe jnr's first rehearsal with the combo, it gave up the ghost. Further investigation revealed that the amp itself is fine, but the speaker works only very intermittently. I am told it was being played at or near full tilt, so maybe the speaker is trashed - it is rated at 250W and the 400W amp would be expected to put out about that much into an 8ohm load. He is going to get one of the rehearsal room bods to take a look at it. We are hoping it is something simple like a loose connection. The Sale of Goods / warranty route is a bit of a non-starter because of the cost of getting the thing back to Blighty. If it [i]is[/i] Donald Ducked, his options would be to replace the driver with a more powerful unit (although there would be no way of knowing how well it would match the cab), or extract the MiBass head and acquire a different light-weight cab with a higher power rating. For the moment though, he is understandably gutted.

Danelectro Cool Cat tremolo in 'hard' mode should do the trick.

Ordered!

Jose bought a pedal from me, an absolute pleasure to do business with!

I had a curly cable into the 80s and the main problem was the considerable weight of cable dragging down on your output jack and knocking against your legs in a somewhat irritating fashion. The audio quality wasn't great either, with a fair amount of top end loss. Never tried a lava curly but these days I prefer my cable (OBBM) to trail along the floor, not make itself a nuisance at knee height.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1398274364' post='2432387'] Me too - and they're usually failed guitarists. [/quote] I thought guitarists were failed bass players?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1398273709' post='2432378'] Good point, but I always take 'cutting through' to mean 'being audible in any way'. [/quote] Fair enuffski. Sadly I have known bassists who really do want to 'compete' with the skinny-stringer(s).

[quote name='fred72' timestamp='1398182428' post='2431308']I've not gigged with the full band yet, but I must admit I was practicing with the guitarist yesterday... he was playing through my little BadCat 5w amp and even though I was turned way down I had to crank the treble on the SB14 all the way up to cut through... [/quote] I always do a little chin-scratch when I hear a bass player talk about 'cutting through', as I wonder if they are trying to compete in guitarist territory. I prefer to carve out my own sonic niche in the nether regions of sound. After all, it is called a bass guitar.

Wow! Sweet! Surprised that made it through my ISP's porn filter

That is indeed one of the early models, with 'Electromatic' across the top of the headstock, and 'Gretsch' on the truss cover. Later/current models have 'Gretsch' across the top, and 'ELECTROMATIC' running down the centre of the headstock. I seem to recall early Electromatic hollow-bodies were made by Peerless, but I don't know if that was also true of the basses.

[quote name='ambugatone' timestamp='1398177413' post='2431221'] Yes, ideal is self locking screw (with rubbery extended top) screwed on top of the oroginal one. Nothing will move it. Normal one should do the trick too. [/quote] Yep, they're known as 'stiff nuts' or 'ny-nuts' (because of the nylon insert). I think I have some in my bits box, just need to find one with the right thread.

[quote name='Iheartreverb' timestamp='1398171281' post='2431121'] ... £15 Bahrain pedal... [/quote] Spot the unwanted spell check!

[quote name='ambugatone' timestamp='1398169867' post='2431090'] Issues when I bought it: Big Transformer loose - added one more screw to keep it locked in Revalve, I used mixed valves and switched positions a lot, JJ, Sovtek, Tungsol [/quote] Excellent idea for the transformer, ambugatone I assume you mean a second nut to use as a 'lock nut', this would prevent the nut from working loose due to vibration. I will also be swapping the 12AX7 valves around to get the best performance.

[quote name='goingdownslow' timestamp='1398116142' post='2430703'] Nice one. Hope you enjoy the amp as much as I do mine. [/quote] Yes, looking forward to gigging it now

Well I did it and surprise surprise, the amp was biased very cold. Initial readings in mV across the source resistors, looking at them from the front of amp: 5.1 - 3.9 5.1 - 2.1 4.8 - 8.2 [b]5.6[/b] - 7.1 Average = 5.24 I clipped my DMM leads to the resistor whose reading is shown in bold (just above the average reading) and gently turned the trim-pot until it read close to 25mV, then took the readings: 23.6 - 20.9 25.2 - 14.7 22.5 - 33.7 23.6 - 30.6 Average = 24.4 So far so good, no readings over 37.5mV (i.e. 25mV + 50%) I connected a speaker, plugged in a bass, and lo and behold, no muddy distortion. For good measure I turned off, disconnected the speaker and bass, turned the amp on, and took the readings again: 24.3 - 21.4 24.8 - 14.7 22.9 - 35.8 24.9 - 31.2 Average = 25.0 I'm not sure why they've all gone up a bit, but that trim pot barely needed touching! I also tightened down the transformer (11mm Halfords socket did the trick), but looking at the construction of the amp I think the fan can wait for another day! I'm still going to order a balanced 12AU7 from Hot Rox, then all should be well Here's some pics: General view of the interior with heatsink channel roughly centre rear, MOSFETs either side, source resistors along the bottom - The notorious blue trimpot - Preamp valves - Driver valves - 12AU7 is nearest the camera - Mid frequency selector (green body) next to tapped inductor

[quote name='Jonesy64' timestamp='1398109334' post='2430597'] I've been looking around for padded bags and cases but haven't been able to find one that fits so far. Had you already tracked down the right sized rack bag? [/quote] Forgot to mention, the ones I've seen don't seem to have enough room to accommodate the big grab handles on the front of the amp.

[quote name='Jonesy64' timestamp='1398107677' post='2430576'] What are you carrying your 3 Pro's around in.....rack case, flight case, padded bag? [/quote] I had thought about a padded rack bag (for transport only) but I'm probably going to use the foam-padded box that came with my Pedaltrain 2, as I only use the pedalboard with geetar, not bass.

I'm not going to argue with cliffyspliff, as that's the Classic 450 head that he just bought from me! I would still have it except for the fact that I can barely justify having 3 bass heads, let alone 4! Sean, glad you're enjoying it mate. It worked for me and I'm pleased it's working for you

My questions and comments about your setup were inspired by an idea that crossed my mind, namely whether my Bose L1 setup (accompanied by me ) would suit your requirements. Feel free to PM me if you wish to discuss this option.