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It makes perfect sense to me, especially as the prices of decent lightweight heads are getting ridiculous. I have a Sansamp pedal gathering dust upstairs so I think I'll look seriously at power amps in the new year, a 1u would be perfect.

That's as cheap as chips, think I might just have to take a chance in the new year. Could always keep the LM handy as a backup. Cheers :-)

Any suggestions for a decent power amp? I'm considering this route when I retire the Little Mark.

So I realised that the terminal on the speaker sub-frame had come lose & created a short, I have no idea how I missed it on first inspection but there you go. It was attached with a small rivet and had just liberated itself, I've drilled it out & re-attached it using a screw. So if your Berg starts sounding somewhat off it might be worth checking the terminal. Cheers folks.

Thanks for all the input chaps :-)

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1501010771' post='3341803'] You'd be better off in the long run going to Bergantino for the driver. You *can* stick any old speaker in to a cabinet and make it fit, but the right speaker has had the cabinet designed to get the best out of it. I suppose on top of that, you have a cabinet of epic tonal proportions, but you want to throw a generic speaker in it? Yikes! [/quote] Makes perfect sense, any ideas how to contact them?

Can anyone recommend a new driver for a Bergantino ex1/12? I've been looking at Eminence but there are many to choose from. Cheers

This is what happens when I don't check in with BC for a while! Can you lot not be trusted? Congratulations!

Just sell me your cab & don't worry about a cover :-) Or try these guys http://www.roqsolid.co.uk/wp/

I've been around Geoff's place this morning to swap some Banks's Mild tokens for his Little Mark ii. He's an absolute gent & I recommend you trade with confidence. Thanks Geoff

I have a solution for you, take one of your old thicker strings & cut a short (about an inch) piece off, stick it down the hole with the D string & it'll bite into it & keep it firm.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1491726895' post='3274982'] Very true, assuming we can hum or sing in tune. [/quote] Ha, you're right & if we can't we've highlighted a development opportunity :-)

I was taught to pick out the tonic by ear, so as you listen imagine one note that represents the whole song & hum it. If you get it right the note you're humming will fit right through the song & will feel spot on when the "one chord" is played. So for example if you're humming an E & the "one chord" roles around & happens to be a major then bingo, you're in E. It's easy to practice & worthwhile in my opinion, you can practice picking out the tonic while listening to the radio or whatever. Try it!

I bought one from Ernie Ball just before Christmas, had to wait about seven weeks for it because it came direct from the US apparently, think it was about nine quid.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1490566982' post='3266087'] Still looks very interesting, wonder what sort of finish you could get DIY in a sink? [/quote] There are DIY video's on YouTube, I paid to have mine done though because I didn't want the hassle of applying the top coat.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1490546599' post='3265863'] Interesting but unsure how I'd get the sunburst effect around the edges as the graphic would be above the base colour. [/quote] Hmmmmmmmm, of course! :-/

Have a look at Hydro-graphics, I know you could get Paisley then just lacquer it yourself. I think you'd get a better finish than wallpaper :-)

Hmmmmmmmmm, doubt I'll be rushing out to buy one. They look like cheap copies of the current Bb's.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1490393438' post='3264919'] I was taking the piss. [/quote] Maybe you should emphasise that with a smiley face or something, then maybe I'd know you're joking & not just a dick :-)

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1490352604' post='3264488'] Ambition is over-rated. Every frozen corpse on Everest was an extremely ambitious person. [/quote] Different strokes for different folks I guess, aren't the scientists looking to cure cancer ambitious? Or the service men & women who learn to walk again after losing limbs? Ambition is there to serve you surely & the climbers who are still on Hillary's step? are they victims of ambition or the task?

[quote name='grandad' timestamp='1490352321' post='3264481'] I'm 68 yrs old. Starting late in life I did the weekend warrior covers band in pub's and clubs. We improved and did weddings, functions and local music festivals. This spanned about 15 years, (aged 50 - 65), armed with just the rudiments of musical knowledge, that is to say, which key is which fret down the lower end of the fret-board and remembering patterns of notes that fit together. Now it's helping run a fortnightly music club and a weekly practice with 3 accomplished musicians/friends making up a Jazz quartet. We can pick and choose where and when to perform, money being not the object. It is a just perfect for me now. The ambitions or rather the things I'd like to achieve musically are to make up for the lost time of the first 50 years of my life before I picked up a musical instrument in earnest. 1. To continue my slow progress improving my music knowledge and skills, particularly reading scores, (this is hard late in life). 2. To play certain favourite tunes of mine with the quartet which I think will sound great as instrumentals. They are: THIS GUY'S IN LOVE, I SAY A LITTLE FOR YOU, HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE, PENNY LANE, BEGIN THE BEGUINE, MOONLIGHT SERENADE. There's bound to be more in the future. Not big ambitions on the scale of things but for me I'm loving every minute and desperately trying to retain what I learn, (a feature of old age I guess). I practice daily and read endlessly but the musical world seems to get bigger the more you do learn. So, my advice is, it ain't a competition. Set yourself a goal and practice towards it. Then set another one. I am truly grateful to be involved in making music. I've made great friendships, met lots of lovely people and a few nutters. I've played in front of a handful of people and few hundred people and given pleasure I hope to most. Last year my quartet were joined by 3 other fellow musicians to play at the Guild House festival in Henley in Arden. The venue was the walled garden with food stalls around the outside and families seated on the grass. I don't think I'll better that as a sunny afternoon gig. So no ambition here to do Wembly. I do encourage my grandchildren to play an instrument which they all do. So my retirement ambitions seem to be music, taking the dogs for a walk, mowing the lawn, sorting the caravan out and more music. And of course spending hours on BC waffling away. Retirement, I love it. [/quote] Hats off to you Grandad, more proof that old dogs can learn new tricks :-)

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1489853869' post='3260363'] Talent and ability, potential or realised, are different things. If you have innate talent, which you are born with, you will make much quicker progress and be able to take things to a higher level than someone who is not so fortunate. It isn't easy to accept, especially in these days of "I can achieve anything I want", but some do have greater talent than others. A pal of mine is tone deaf. He just can't pitch accurately. He really wants to play and sing and works at it, but is always back to square one. Various friends have tried to help him, but it's like explaining the concept of colour to a blind man. He just doesn't hear pitch accurately. It's an extreme case, I know, but the principle applies to a lesser extent, too. Some just have greater aptitude for sport, music, painting, etc, etc than others. [/quote] So in the case of the fellow who is tone deaf there's an issue/disability that prevents him from reaching his goal? I don't buy into "the born with it" ethos at all. When I was a youngster at primary school the music teacher told me I couldn't have a violin because I couldn't sing the major scale, now I can hold my own musically & learn everything by ear. I also couldn't walk, swim or ride a bike when I was born but in my twenties & early thirties I was a pretty decent triathlete. Natural talent? Hell no! Discipline & hard work? Tons of it! It's easy to dismiss one way or the other & I think threads like this one are great for gauging opinions, I'd love to hear people talk of their natural born ability, but most talk of toil & determination. :-)

I think there's a convincing argument for both sides for sure & it is widely known that humans do most of their learning early in life but that's not to say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. You certainly can, in fact it has been proven by science that the brains plasticity does slow but doesn't stop! Inspiration for us all. I think talent is learned and I agree that it's also influenced by the environment, age is also a huge factor. There are lots of good books on the subject if anyone's interested. For me personally just the belief that I can still learn anything (at almost forty) with a bit of effort has forced a shift in my mindset that has in my opinion made learning easier, if that makes sense!

On another note then, what are people's thoughts on innate talent? I'm firmly in the camp of talent is earned & learned rather than born.