Dan Dare

Is it out of the question to visit a decent shop or two and try stuff? Buying gear at random is a very hit or miss way to proceed and you're relying on making a lucky choice.

To each his/her own. Cans are useful if one has to worry about neighbours or domestic harmony. Partners and family quickly tire of hearing the same 4 bars repeated ad nauseam whilst you work on that tricky edit.

I run C4s and 4Bs, which I like very much. I find them clean, but not sterile. I can't say whether you will like them. I don't think any cab will give you a true headphone sound. The drivers aren't an inch from your ears for a start and cans aren't affected by room acoustics. Edited to add. How little is your valve amp? PJB cabs are quite inefficient and take some driving. The C4 is rated at 400w, which I think is a bit of an exaggeration, but it will certainly handle 300.

Just noticed something else. Has he glued those bits of perforated plastic to one of the pickups to direct the sound of the strings better? Yes, I know magnetic pickups aren't microphones and detect movements of a piece of ferrous wire in a magnetic field, rather than vibrations of air molecules. But I can't think of any other reason he may have done it.

He's a great player. I don't like a lot of his stuff, but it's good to see what's possible on an instrument. I pinch the odd (simple) thing from some of these YouTube monsters. Nobody is forced to watch/listen to them.

Your monitors will still be valuable for mixing, which doesn't translate so well to cans (imho, of course).

Same here. As with any large company, it's the individuals who make the difference. If they're conscientious and competent, you'll be happy. If not, you won't.

The problem with that Schaller bridge is that the saddles migrate -surprisingly quickly - along their threaded rods with the vibration of the strings (I had one on a bass I used to own). A major nuisance. Threadlok only solved it for a short while and then it would happen again

Is anyone?

Me too. Sometimes had to unload in Soho or Covent Garden, then drive off and park as far away as Warren Street and walk back down to Soho to set up and play. I eventually stopped accepting gigs in the centre unless there was backline provided and all I had to take was an instrument so I could use the tube. I left London a couple of years back, but pals who still live there tell me it's even worse.

As others point out, a semitone shouldn't drastically increase the tension. Effectively, it will be akin to changing to heavier gauge strings, so the truss rod may need a tweak. If you're worried, you could use slightly lighter gauge strings. I wouldn't slacken any, as that may stress the neck unevenly.

Given that the photo has a large SWR rig in the background, it's surprising the seller didn't seem to know the value. I wonder if it's a bitsa. Scratchplate is wrong (should have a chromed part for the pots and the knobs are Strat types. You may not have missed a bargain after all.

Bit of a shame he used the original and rather rusty screws to secure them.

?

This is the greatest thread ever started on here. Some fabulous and hilarious (and very well written) tales. Great stuff. Thanks chaps.

Yes. Let's keep it light and frothy, with a chuckle or two...

True. Many years ago, I had the Bassman 135 head plus the matching 2x15 cab. One of the drivers blew, so I replaced them with Peavey Black Widows (which were highly rated at the time and not cheap). The difference in quality was enormous and I got at least twice the volume from the rig because of the improved efficiency. The original drivers were terrible things, with flimsy pressed frames and a cone that had been made by bending a strip of card into a circle. It had a large glued seam running front to back. Considering the Bassman rig was not cheap in its day, the drivers were awful. I dread to think what went into cheaper cabs.

The way things are going, we won't have anyone left to buy stuff from...

Within reason. A speaker merely reproduces what is fed to it. A high quality cab won't sound any good if the signal is poor or inadequate.

A Rumble 112 cab isn't "crap", though. May not be state of the art, but perfectly decent.

Puzzling. The only Micheldever I know is in Hants, not far from me.

This. It's completely venue and drummer dependant. I like to try to get away with kick, snare/hat and one, possibly two overheads, but it doesn't always work. In a confined space, you can have issues with spill from drums down vocal and instrument mic's, which is a whole other can of worms.

Very true and Bill's right. Manufacturers don't help by installing those tempting threaded mounts in the tops of subs so you can mount top boxes on them easily. More often than not, I use only one sub. I'll usually reduce sub level by 2-3db, too. Two is usually overkill in moderate sized venues.

Good advice regarding any drug therapy. Although they can be pretty well instant, chemical/drug routes can come with a hidden price. They may be convenient and require little to nothing of you save swallowing a pill or two, but the old advice - "If it hurts, stop doing it" has a lot going for it. That needn't mean stopping playing. Often, it means stopping playing in a certain manner or changing your posture - how you hold/use the instrument and so on. We often develop ways of playing which can be injurious in the longer term. They may not matter that much when we are younger, fitter and more flexible, but after a few decades, they do. The claw of death plucking hand - fingers hooked round the strings, pulling upwards with considerable force - is almost guaranteed not to do you any favours. Collapsing the fingering hand wrist against the neck and straining to reach notes with the fingers, or arching the wrist steeply and placing the hand under constant tension are both routes to pain and strain. The Ramones-style long strap, with the instrument round the knees, is a sure-fire route to back issues. The extra short strap, with the instrument up under the chin makes it likely that your plucking hand wrist will give problems because of the acute angle it's forced into. Plenty more examples. A good idea to explore these first before resorting to drug/chemical options.