kodiakblair

The Warman pickups are,I think, very good. I'm well impressed with the jazzbar humbucker but fancy trying their MM. http://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/product/mm-4-string-bass-humbucker-132k-4-wire-overwound/

It's true that the grain is a photo, basswood doesn't really lend itself to sunburst finishes. I know a couple of German fellas who stripped their PB-50s. I'll ask them how easy it was. Have to say I wasn't too keen on the results on one of them.

Great shop. Were on the ball when I had trouble with my SUB at Xmas. Top folk.

Cracking bass. You're a lucky fella.

Cheers lads. I've passed on the names.

Was talking to a fella today about his new Tune bass. Action's a bit high and he's loathe to tackle the TR,says the nut feels stiff. It's a neck through Tune Zi and probably never had a proper set up since it arrived from Korea. Who's the people he should take it to ? He mentioned Brian's . Cheers KB

@luckman67 I'll PM you this afternoon. My old brain is finally starting to work

Few local fellas got something together after watching a Tube special on German Industrial music. Real mash of chaotic noise, sadly no angle grinders or Sthil saws were allowed on stage. Doubt we got 5 minutes before the plug got pulled

@jezzaboy Why would any "issues" with either the Harley Benton or J&D matter, both are on-line purchases so just get returned if found faulty. My JB-75 was a cracking bass, weighed a ton just like the 70's Fenders it's based on The Roswell pickups are grand. BTW the reason for the swap to Roswell from Wilkinson is simply better QC. The Chinese factories building the HBs kept getting fake Wilkinsons from their suppilers This is probably more than you want to spend but I think it's tasty. http://www.ccmusicshop.co.uk/product/revelation-rpbx-j-style-bass-in-3-tone-sunburst/ Get yourself over to CC Music in Otago St and try it for yourself

@yorks5stringer The Varitone crossed my mind too Never noticed any noise. Saw there were rolls of it in the cupboard when I was getting the soldering iron, cavity was exposed so why not Swapping the saddle machine screw for a longer one was another thing I could have skipped.

Dave When I converted one of my T40s to 5 string I used mono saddles. With 5 of them fighting for space inside the bridge base plate spacing was tight To get a bit more space I filed 1 side down on each of the die cast height adjustment blocks. You can go quite close to the grub screws without ill effect. No way it'll get you 18mm spacing but you'll get over 17mm easy. Quick and easy fix.

Sorry @Geek99 Never thought about that. I'm a carpenter so it's something I take for granted. Select a 4mm drillbit, put your drill on the slow setting. Keep the drill as straight as you can and start to drill through the string holes in the bridge. Only do a few mm at a time,clear the sawdust then do another few mm.

@dmccombe7 is that the BXP with the mono saddles ? The ABM 3D bridge used on some USA models is a clearance item. https://abm-guitarpartsshop.com/ABM-GUITAR-PARTS/Angebote-Ausverkauf/Bass/ABM-3565b17::80.html Easy swap

@discreet Beat me to the reply I used the exact same method. Used a 12mm flat bit first to give me the cut for the rim then a 9.5mm countersink with a pilotdrill bit to finish. Drilling the 12.5mm first I find easier,the point drops right in the pilot hole so it's bang on target.

It's John Carpenter's own soundtracks for me, Halloween,Assault on Precinct 13, The Thing, Escape from New York. They fit the film's mood perfectly.

Had the elephant ear as well. Jammed a bit cardboard in the join, job done

Thanks. I really appreciate your reply. It took me longer to write the post than do the work No joke and that's including the cleaning up time

It's 4 years since I bought my first PB-50. I'd just signed up on BC and had no idea who Thomann were, that soon changed First time I viewed their site the PB-50 caught my eye but it was £76 and £76 buys you nothing remotely playable. Bought one anyway just out of interest. 2 1/2days later a big box of goodness arrived. Now I don't have a list of conditions when it comes to basses, I like a decent neck, a bridge that holds strings,tuners that hold a string in tune and a pickup to convey bassy sounds. PB-50 delivered that Interest in these spike everytime @discreet posts one of his mods and I will post headstock templates out to any BC'er who fancies having a go themselves. The templates started off for use with a router and guided cutter but as yet no-one seems to have used one. @MrTea suggested I do a post on shaping the headstock so here goes First thing I forgot was to take a before photo so here's the Thomann link. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_pb_50_sb_vintage_series.htm I use the Mike Dirnt headstock shape and print on 200gsm card The set up on the newly delivered PB was great so the neck was left attached. Removing the tuners was first job. I'm working from the back so left the bushings in place. The screws can sometimes be awkward so if you've an old PH1 screwdriver,file the tip down and it'll seat itself into the screwhead better. The printed template has the tuners marked so align them with the holes and draw round the template. Remove the large areas with a copingsaw or in my case a pullsaw. ( in the photo is a router template made from doubled up floor tile) This is the rough cut, then I used a rasp to clean and round the shape. Sorry I forgot to take a photo after the rasp stage. After getting close to the pencil lines it's sanding next. Make sure you check the front face when sanding as you may not be sanding vertical. If you veered away from the lines you can hide it by sweetening the edges of the headstock. At the tip there it looks irregular. I managed to chip a bit of the front face so it's actually tape holding the glued in chip you're seeing The boss reckons I should tackle the 2 saddle bridge next. I masked off the edges so I had witness points then removed the bridge. Lady Luck came calling and the centre screw on the 2 saddle bridge matched the centre screw on the PB's bridge but I glued and plugged the other 4 holes.After fitting the bridge using only the centre screw I added the new Herrick pickup,this way I could run a string from saddle to nut and see they went over the pole pieces. Another thing was the bridge base was smaller then the PB one so the machine screw on D&G got swapped for a longer one (just robbed it from the PB's bridge) All lining up the back got masking tape before I drilled for the through body holes. Thought I'd a picture of the 4mm pilot holes but guess not The string ferrules had a 9.5mmm body but the rims were 12mm. Marked the depth on a 12mm flat bit and drilled for the rims,then swapped to a 9.5mm countersink. Tapped the ferrules in with a mallet and it was ready for strings and set up. I really shouldn't have bothered with the 2 saddle bridge, intonation is a hassle and I've decided to fit an ashtray There's also a bit too much shiny wood showing so I'm thinking about a scratchplate. Still undecided about the logo, I wished the HB logo had been in a different area so I didn't cut into it Looking at it now I'll get a Benton logo printed up and fit that. No shame in playing the HB

Links for the software are here. Audacity is one of the included programs. http://www.musictri.be/Categories/Behringer/Computer-Audio/Interfaces/UCA202/p/P0484/downloads You don't need to go through the V-amp or any other pedal. The ASIO4ALL driver will work for things like Guitar Rig or Amplitube but that wee thing will work on your PC without either. You do want a jack to RCA so visit Maplin https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-twin-phono-rca-to-stereo-14-jack-cable-15m-a04xf

I'm not sure how a receipt would cover you on a cash sale if the goods turned out to be stolen. Anybody can pick a book up at Ryman's or Staples and since most for sale ad pages advise meeting buyers in a public place any address can be given. Inviting strangers to your home when selling expensive items isn't the brightest idea when you think about it. If you're going down the receipt book road,grab one of those pens for checking bank notes. Only a couple of £ in Staples. I got one to put a seller at ease but he reckoned since I'd drove 200 mile to meet him and made sure I'd all English notes I was legit

I'm mainly going for a clean sound from a SC P-bass with flats. For easy sakes I use the Fishman Platinum pro. I think the Hartke is a good preamp and again follow @Bigwan in liking the Behringer. Others I've used are the Harley Benton Bass Expander (great for a headphone practice amp), Moen Buffalo and Dr J Sparrow. Plenty drive with the Moen but it's only had home use, intermittent fault ruled the Sparrow out. Eden WTDI is a nice compact preamp to consider.

Must be a close to a deposit on a house but a drop in the ocean compared to what I blew before getting sober.

@bebabass None of my Cirrus are 5 strings,my experience is limited to 4 strings. Your BXP could be closer to the USA than you think.l. Some of the early BXPs hit the mark straight off (later 4 strings switched from 35" to 34") and truth be told there's very little USA about the USA Cirrus Tuners were Japanese, nut from Canada,ABM bridge from Germany, VFL pickups were made in Korea. The PCB for the preamp was also made in Korea and I have my doubts the labour intensive work of soldering components was done in the USA.The BXP used Korean and Chinese parts. Main difference between USA and BXP is the hardware and a swap to a preamp module from the pcb. You can buy an ABM bridge direct for £80,don't bother with the tuners unless they're faulty. Most BXPs however also had gloss finish to both neck and body, green scotch pad to the neck will sort that. The Millennium preamp has sweepable mids and started appearing on Cirrus customs and USA bolt-on neck models. Something like 2006 sticks in my mind,by then the "New Millennium" celebrations were long gone,sales were dropping and Peavey discovered they had 1000's of these preamps left I'll confess to never paying much attention to the Millennium preamp, both my custom and bolt on have them but something like a £30 grapic EQ pedal will give you more options. Except for the glossy finish and 34" scale my BXP and 3 USA models all sound very alike.

I have a hankering for the Gold tapes too Think I better try the La Bella white and cooper tapes I've had hiding in the cupboard for a few years first.