chriswareham

Google a firm called Hammond Hire. They specialise in restoring Hammond organs, Wurlitzer pianos, Rhodes pianos, and have done loads of work on my old synths.

Mmm, EB3L. I acquired one of these earlier this year: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/280502-ndb-early-1970s-gibson-eb-3l/ Suffers from terrible neck dive, but i don't really mind as it sounds fantastic :-)

To be honest, the SWR cabs are more practical as they're easier to shift about than the fridge. As for using a valve amp for the dirt, I'm planning on trying my modified Sound City 120 in place of the Acoustic 140 next week.

Are they order only rather than regular stock? If so then it could really be a reflection of the pound falling in value after the referendum.

Oh my God, that is my bass - the one I wish I hadn't sold. Just to correct something in the listing, it didn't have a new truss rod fitted. I had the worst "dings" in the body professionally repaired, new scratch plate, new truss rod cover (the original was missing when I got it) and the original truss rod repaired since it had become jammed and couldn't be adjusted. It was relatively light, but that's relative to my other basses which are quite heavy. Paul - if it's too heavy for you or you don't get on with it for ant other reason, then I'd love to buy it off of you.

This doesn't happen very often, but I'll have to correct Jon The Jolana D-Bass is 34" scale, and you can find a little information about them on my [url="http://www.rickenfaker.info/jolana.html"]website[/url]. I've owned two and deeply regret selling one of them. The first one had neck with a moderately wide fretboard, a little curving across the fretboard width (radius?) and very shallow width from fretboard to back of the neck. Lovely bass to play, and I can't entirely understand why I sold it. The second one had a much flatter fretboard, more like a Rick, and it was a much "chunkier" neck from fretboard to back of the neck. It was comfortable to play, but I found it much easier to move around the neck on the first one. Based on the differences between the two I had, I'd suspect Jolana hand made their guitars rather than using CNC machines. Either way, they were both very well made and had excellent hardware. If you don't get on with the one you've bought, please, please contact me as I'd love to have another one. I scan eBay listings regularly, but they crop up very rarely (and the Rick police get them taken down usually).

$5,000 is about what the original 360 and 301 cab cost new in the early 1970s, when the original list price is adjusted for inflation. I've read good things about the repro amps and cabs over on the unofficial Acoustic Control forum, but the Guitar Center stuff is just badge engineering - sticking the Acoustic logo onto generic Chinese built amps. The guy who masterminded the repro stuff is a bit idiosyncratic, but it's pretty impressive how he got the rights and managed to get them into production. Sadly he's been inactive for a while, which I understand is down to serious health problems.

[quote name='Westenra' timestamp='1466548842' post='3076785'] Are those acoustic amps really all that? [/quote] The 370 and previous 360 model were the de-facto standard for many top bands and often provided as backline at the big festivals in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were much more powerful than most of the valve amps of the day, considerably lighter and being solid state were very reliable. Acoustic used very good quality components, and actually offered a lifetime guarantee on them! They are very loud, and have a great tone but lack the versatility of modern amps. The 360 was actually just a pre-amp, with the poweramp in the accompanying Acoustic 301 speaker cab or cabs.The 370 combined the pre and power amps in a single unit, and the accompanying cabs lost the power amps. With two cabs the load is 2ohms, which the 370 was designed to cope with. I'm running my 370 and 140 into 4ohms (Ampeg) or 8ohms (SWR) but they''re still astonishingly loud.

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1466542342' post='3076716'] Looks great. I have always regretted selling my Acoustic 140, albeit around 25 years ago! I really like the look of those tiny pedals, what are they exactly? [/quote] The 140 was my first Acoustic amp. Imported it from the US and had it modded with a new transformer for UK/EU voltage as well as a few tweaks to bring it up to modern safety specs. The 370 is a recent acquisition from someone in the UK, and the voltage conversion had already been done. The pedal board is actually one I use for keyboards, I was just mucking about with the echo pedal when this picture was taken. The pedals and board are made by Mooer, and are amazing value clones of classic pedals such as the MXR Phase 90 and EH Electric Mistress.

Got tired of losing the bottom end of my sound when engaging my chorus pedal and, on drop tuned songs, when I engage my distortion pedal. So I decided to go the "bi-amping" route, since I use either a pair of SWR cabs or an Ampeg fridge that has separate inputs for each set of four speakers. I'm using an MXR switch pedal in a setup like this: The result is perfect - with the chorus and distortion pedals off I can use the 140 as a "boost", and with the effects pedals on I still have an enormous bottom end (ooh err missus):

Thanks for the details of the Allianz insurance - seems well worth it. I always take bass and head into the hotel or B&B when touring, and consider my cabs as either too heavy to steal or at worst expendable.

Another vote for the Hofners - bought them because they were cheap, but turned out to be very nice and "zingy".

[quote name='zero9' timestamp='1465651573' post='3069954'] Or get yourself a multitrack recorder. You can always transfer the files to a computer afterwards. [/quote] Exactly what I use - a Tascam DP-08. Records to SD cards which can then be read on a computer, or you can connect to the recorder via USB.

The problem with using an older machine is the life expectancy of the drives, and the availability of replacements. I've had both spinning rust (magnetic) and SSD drives fail catastrophically, so I always use a RAID configuration where data is on two disks. However, a lack of parts meant I recently had to upgrade from my trusty quad G5 Mac (running Linux).

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1465139886' post='3065548'] There simply isn't such a thing as a future-proof audio interface. The only way to do it would be to stop updating any of your software including the OS. [/quote] Not true with class compliant USB devices. I recently had to install Windows 10 on a spare laptop so I could use an obscure MIDI utility. My ancient USB MIDI interface (circa 2002 or 2003) worked fine because it's class comp!isn't.

Mid to late 1990s, formed a punk/goth band and called it Wasp Factory. We got an indie recording deal, and were all set to go into the studio when NME had a gushing write up of an unremarkable indie band called ... The Wasp Factory. So we became Complicity. We shouldn't have bothered with the name change as the indie band went nowhere. An acquaintance, now sadly departed, had a band called Altered States which he formed in the 1980s and which he later reformed in the 1990s (with a bassist who went on to become the Complicity guitarist funnily enough). He registered the name, and I know for sure he stopped at least one other band using the name.

Played the White Horse in High Wycombe when it was a biker pub. We were on after the strippers ...

Hmm, I'll try moving the whole stack into the next room and seeing if the noise disappears.

The inference is usually enough, and I suspect the police really turned up to prevent a breach of the peace or assault.

Played one of the Chinese made Hofner versions a couple of weeks ago just for a bit of a laugh. Now I actually want one! Turned out to be a really nice short scale bass, and I would so love to see the looks on peoples faces as I play one in my doomy, stonerish metal band :-D

I'm wondering if anyone has any insight into why I might be getting a weird buzz from my amp at 40Hz (open E string) and 80Hz (E on seventh fret of A string). This only happens at home, not at rehearsals or gigs, so I guess it could be something to do with the electrical supply at my house. Could it be a ground loop problem? I know this normally manifests itself around 50Hz, but I thought it might be a possibility.

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1465139672' post='3065544'] You guess wrong. I have been in that situation. Found the oik responsible after reporting it to the police and them doing nowt. Rang the police to tell them I would be round at the oiks place at 06:00hrs the next morning with a few mates. Guess who was being led away to a police car when we arrived at 05:47hrs? [/quote] You're very lucky they didn't arrest you for threatening behaviour.

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1465124568' post='3065421'] I, too, am absolutely amazed that this has not been dealt with via the police. You know the guys name, you know the area in which he lives, the three local shops know him. What's the problem? The choice is simple: Call the police or send the boys round to sort it. Job done! [/quote] I guess you've not been in a similar situation. I have - involving my car which was removed from my parking bay without my permission - and the police were no help at all. As for sending the boys round, it's potentially satisfying but fraught with risks and likely to get you in more bother than the thief. I again speak from experience, having had tenants in my flat who stopped paying rent and then overstayed their contracted tenancy. In that case I wasn't even legally allowed to enter my own flat!

I've had a bass smashed by ParcelFarce, with clear signs the double walled box had received a sharp impact as well as boot prints where it had been trodden on. Despite this PF dismissed my claim and refused to refund the cost of the enhanced compensation that I'd been sold by the Post Office staff (who asked what was in the box but still sold me insurance I couldn't claim on). The recipient had photographed the damage before opening the box, which had been delivered to and signed for by the recipient's neighbour despite the recipient being in all day (it was a commercial premises). Cucking funts.

The printed sheet that comes with the pedal has the sample settings for the lead guitar version, but the online PDF on the Beringer website has the bass settings.