King Tut

To be fair, I’ve just looked through the details of the file I posted earlier in the thread, including the mod, and there’s no mention of Clive Button anywhere. For those who haven’t downloaded it, here’s the text from the ‘not Clive Button’ mod - now to be known as ‘The Paul Mathews Mod’!!!! Important Notice To make the bi-polar 300 watt bass board reliable the following guidelines must be adhered to. When a board need to be serviced it is advisable to replace both the Output Transistors and TIP31 and TIP32. Also it is advisable to replace TR11 which is situated under the rear of the heatsink. The Output device should only be T2SC4468 and T2SA1695’s The Drivers should be of the same manufacturer as each other to ensure stability. And TR11 is a T2N3904 as listed on the parts list. TR11 need to be completely covered in Heat Transfer Compound (HTC) This is to ensure that it keeps the unit biased correctly even when the unit gets hot. If TR11 is not covered then the fan can cool this component down and give the board a fault reading of temperature and provide and inappropriate bias. When adjusting the bias on the scope, make sure that the crossover distortion is just not visible. Too far beyond this point will over bias the unit. Use a Shake-proof washer under the pcb earth point to ensure a permanent connection and prevent crackling noises in the future. Paul Mathews Jan 2000-01-25

Yup he just loves it. I saw them last year at The Craufurd in MK. When Maiden have a couple of night at a town on the current tour, he’s scheduling in a BL gig at a nearby venue, and using some of Maidens support band as their techs!

I’m a day late on this one - sorry - but on Thursday night I played Rebellion in Manchester with Stray. We were supporting British Lion, what with Del being good mates with Steve Harris. Bit of a hero moment for me. It was a bit nerve wracking as we had to pull in a sound engineer to take with us who fortunately did a sterling job. I gigged my Epi Thunderbird Classic 4 Pro for the first time. Loved it except for the fact that the side markers disappeared on the dark stage. It’s now been tastefully modded with electrical tape for the next gig! Also got Steve to sign the back of it for me. Anyway, we played well and the crowd were really receptive. The British Lion guys were all really helpful and welcoming and we all had a splendid time. Shall be repeating the experience in Nottingham tomorrow! Steve and I Steve’s Basses One bit of our two vehicle convoy with Maiden’s tour bus in the background!

Played a big bike rally in Helmsley tonight. Del (who is renowned for being loud) started to soundcheck with his Fender Deauville. Sound engineer suggested he turn it up a notch!! There was so much bass out front and back through monitors I hardly needed an amp! Had a bloody great night!

Do you mind if I ask why you’re changing the tuners?

I’ll let John know!

Who was your old Housemate? My bandmates make me feel young - except for our drummer!

Cheers fella! Thanks for your support!

Just buy a cheapo UV torch from Amazon. It’s got to be UV light I believe The one I’ve got uses UV LED’s. I use it to charge up the luminlay on my watch face before I go to bed. Only takes a couple of seconds.

We played a music festival oop North last year - can’t remember the name but it was around Burnley - took over the whole town. This was with the Verity Bromham band - i think it was our first gig. I didn’t realise that John uses Trevor Wilkinson to make bespoke stuff for his guitars. He’d arranged to pick up a guitar from Trevor at the gig and I met him and had a chat in the dressing room. I remember suggesting he’d do well to look into making Rickenbacker replacement bridges. He seemed like a really nice guy, and given that he was wearing a genuine Rolex Daytona, I’d suggest he’s pretty successful 😂🤔 Of course all of this has nothing really to do with what his product is like! I remember having some Vintage style tuners and I never really noticed them, which I suppose is a good sign. As for ‘overrated’, I’m not sure they are. I’ve always seen them as a budget bread and butter product without massive expectations.

Any idea if this is the Mark1 or 2? I had a mark 1 and couldn’t get on with the vintage fingerboard profile. Glad you’re happy with it, great basses!

I will do. I won’t be able to do it for a week though. Having said they’re Jazz width necks, I’ve always assumed they are but never actually measured them!

Ah ok thanks for that. The rest of my question stands about the B width vs the traditional 1.75” width.

it does seem a bit pricey. Doesn’t the B after the neck date stamp indicate a Jazz width neck? I’ve got a 74 and a 76 both with Jazz width necks. What was the deal with these narrower necks? When did they start making P’s with a narrower neck? Are there whole batches of them or was it an option when you ordered it?

Ive fitted Luminlays to two of my basses. They’re very good. To be honest just the fact that they’re a little bigger than the ones they replaced and that they’re a nice bright colour is as important as the glow in the darl bit. I wouldn’t try to install myself unless you were quite confident in what you’re doing. The hardest bit is drilling the holes in exactly the right place. Using a Brad Point drill bit really helps with lining up. I made a couple of mistakes on my first one resulting in a couple of bits of the old markers still visible, but made a much better job with the second one. Good luck!

I’m on my way to pick this up!

Last I heard they’d stopped touring due to health issues. I’ve seen them a few times and they never fail to impress. Norman is just awesome! Great to see they’re back on the road!