Stylon Pilson

If it was any good, surely Fender would have made loads of them? S.P.

I've obtained a replacement battery snap from Aria UK and installed it, but the ground loop is still there. So I guess it's either (a) an unrelated fault which I just hadn't noticed before, or (B) something that happened while I was poking around in the instrument's internals. I'm now trying to track down the source of the ground loop. One thing I have noticed, which may be relevant, is that the noise disappears when I bridge from the plug on the guitar lead to the lowest string, but it doesn't disappear when I bridge to the highest string. The Aria Sinsonido has a stereo microphone in a tube in the bridge, so perhaps the problem is with the microphone under the E and A strings (or its connections). Any thoughts, or do you think I should make another call to Aria UK? S.P.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='258422' date='Aug 8 2008, 07:25 PM']The French have expanding metal ones with a central threaded insert that take bolts rather than screws. The fixing expands behind the wall (more than a normal rawlplug) to spread the load. They look like they'd hold a bass. If you check the packaging of the fixings, they may give details of any weight limits that they may hold...[/quote] That's exactly what I've used - the Rawlplug Interset. These things never tell you the weight limit that they will support. They only ever say "light", "medium" or "heavy" duty, without any indication what that represents. I guess it's so that people spend extra on "heavy duty" stuff when they don't need it, just to be on the safe side. S.P.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='257911' date='Aug 8 2008, 11:08 AM']Can a player ever be too good?[/quote] I think that I might be. [b]Edit:[/b] Scratch that, I [i]know[/i] I am. S.P.

Monday evenings, 2-3 hours. S.P.

Wall hangers are up. Here's the situation. Wall hanger #1 is mounted into a stud, but not perfectly. It's holding my Yamaha BBG4SII, but I'm going to redo it at some point. Wall hanger #2 is mounted into a plasterboard wall. I couldn't find a stud, no matter how hard I tried, so I just went ahead and used Rawlplug Interset fixings. There's a knack to using these things, and I completely bodged one of them up [i](you have to give them a good solid thwack or three with a hammer to make sure that the teeth bite nicely into the surface before you start tightening the screw)[/i], so this hanger is only using two screws instead of three. Still, it's very secure, and very happily holding my Epiphone G400 SG, which weighs about 6lb. Wall hanger #3 is also mounted into a plasterboard wall. By now I had figured out the Rawlplug Intersets and all three went in beautifully. The cavity in my wall wasn't deep enough to accommodate them, so I had to drill about an extra centimetre into the brick on the other side. This one is currently supporting a common electro-acoustic guitar. I'm really impressed by these Intersets. S.P.

[quote name='budget bassist' post='256842' date='Aug 7 2008, 12:53 AM']Yeah i've hung from plasterboard before, didn't bother using plugs either, just nice long screws straight into a stud.[/quote] Thanks for responding. I was looking for first or second hand evidence of basses falling from plasterboard walls because they weren't screwed into a stud. S.P.

[quote name='Pkomor' post='256822' date='Aug 6 2008, 11:58 PM']i hang my stingray, and a cort gb74 on wall hangers, secured by 3 screws into a plasterboard wall, using quality plugs. It is fine, they easily support the weight, and my basses aren't light! Go for it, it worked well for me![/quote] What kind of plug did you use? S.P.

Fair enough. Off to the shops for a stud finder tomorrow then. S.P.

I've purchased a few wall hangers so that I can put my instruments up out of the reach of my son. One of the walls which I'm planning on using is 4cm thick and made of plasterboard (so I assume that there's a 1.5cm cavity in the middle). I've tried using a magnet-on-a-string to find a stud to drill into, but it's not being drawn towards anything. Is this a common construction for a 1960s house? If I can't find a stud, I reckon that an 8lb bass hanging from three screws will still hold. Should I use heavy duty wall plugs, just to be on the safe side? S.P.

[quote name='aceuggy' post='256076' date='Aug 6 2008, 11:02 AM']That's a great review. I intend to buy one very soon, two things concern me, first how loud is the fan? I will only playing this initially anyway at home with the volume down, unless the wife goes out! Would I hear the fan above low volume playing, that could be a bit distracting.[/quote] I've got the EB12-180 and I assume that the fan is of a similar volume. Yes, it's quite loud, but I don't find it to be distracting when playing at low volume. The best advice that I can give you is to try one out and decide for yourself. S.P.

[quote name='lowhand_mike' post='181976' date='Apr 21 2008, 04:46 PM']But i am still at a loss as to exactly what the sub harmonic generator does. As to me wether it is on or off the combo sounds the same.[/quote] That's strange, I have an EB12-180 and I can definitely hear the difference when the sub-harmonic is switched on. If you can't hear any difference when you switch it on and turn it up to maximum, then it must be broken. It basically adds an additional note(s) an octave below what you are playing. When the dial is turned up to maximum, that sub-harmonic note should be more-or-less as loud as the source. S.P.

The plastic battery snap on my bass guitar broke apart, so I figured I'd try to replace it myself. The original was connected to a little 2.5mm TRS plug, so I took this out and soldered on a replacement battery snap. Now I seem to have a really bad ground loop, making itself known as a rather loud hum that disappears when I touch the relevant parts of the instrument. Does it seem likely that the ground loop was caused by: 1. Poor soldering (haven't done any since school) 2. Inadequate part (ie the replacement battery snap) or 3. Inadequate shielding round the base of the TRS plug Thanks in advance. S.P.

[quote name='Faithless' post='250477' date='Jul 29 2008, 02:49 PM']EDB was twice-the-price as GSR, and I couldn't afford it, so, after a bit of trying, I took GSR.. EDB one felt really better, but, money... [/quote] How long would it take you to save up the extra for the EDB? S.P.

Doable. It might help if one of you puts down a guide vocal track which can then be replaced by the lead singer when he comes in. S.P.

[quote name='Wooks' post='250303' date='Jul 29 2008, 11:35 AM']Why is this? I'm probably showing my ignorance here, but what's the difference between an instrument cable and a amp cable??[/quote] Instrument cables are shielded - the "ground" wire runs around the outside of the "signal" wire with insulation between them. Speaker cables have two thick parallel conductors and are not shielded. Using speaker cable as instrument cable -> noise due to lack of shielding Using instrument cable as speaker cable -> possibility of conductors melting together and causing a short. S.P.

[quote name='silddx' post='250241' date='Jul 29 2008, 10:16 AM']I kinda disagree, I think starting with your own number shows confidence and makes a statement that you are an originals band that does a few covers, rather than the other way around.[/quote] I agree with this sentiment. You can start with an original, but you have to make sure that the intro and ending are bulletproof, and you play it with gusto and enthusiasm. Play it as if it were your #1 hit and the audience know all the words. S.P.

If you like your Ibanez SR and you don't have any feelings of lust towards any other instrument, then get another SR. S.P.

[quote name='Faithless' post='249739' date='Jul 28 2008, 04:19 PM']Nobody?... [/quote] Buy the best bass that you can afford. S.P.

[quote name='insinkerator' post='244362' date='Jul 21 2008, 12:19 PM'][url="http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Peavey-Tour-450-Bass-Head-?sku=480314"]Peavey Tour 450[/url] -Its the price tag that caught my eye here. Seems almos too good to be true.... am i right?[/quote] I can't speak for the other two that you listed, but I can vouch that Peavey gear is good and very robust. Obviously don't buy it without playing through it to see how you feel about the tone, but as far as build quality is concerned, don't let the price tag fool you. S.P.

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='244328' date='Jul 21 2008, 11:14 AM']It sounds fine at bedroom volume but I won't get chance to put some serious welly through it until Saturday. The other lads think it was a monitor issue - I hope so.[/quote] If you can find a way to test it before the next gig, then that would be a good idea. Partly because you may find that the same monitor issue arises again, in which case you still won't know whether it's busted or not. And if it explodes next time you crank the volume, you want to have a little bit of time left to obtain a replacement! S.P.

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='244304' date='Jul 21 2008, 10:44 AM']The rest of the band camped in the field with all the bikers but I went home sulking thinking my new cab was kaput.[/quote] I assume that you have since checked it and found it to be in full working order? S.P.

Saturday night was a 40th birthday party for a friend of Greg, our lead singer. Greg had offered to do this gig for free before I even joined the band, so I can't complain. And the birthday boy paid for the PA hire, so we weren't out of pocket. We were playing in the corner of the garden, and hardly anyone was watching us - most of the guests were inside the warm house, listening to the stereo. I switched to a fretted bass after 9:30pm because it was getting dark and we didn't have much illumination on stage. The gig went fine, but when there's barely anybody watching, and one of the neighbours' neighbours' neighbours' neighbours comes round halfway through to complain about the noise, it puts a bit of a dampener on things. It's infuriating to know that 95% of the people there wouldn't have cared if we hadn't been there. Still, I try to throw myself into the gig anyway, and do all my moody introspection the next morning. S.P.