Annoying Twit

The power supply arrived in the post today. If I power my Roland Microcube (with headphones) with the power supply and use pedals powered by batteries, then all is well. If I power the pedals and the amp with the power supply, then I get large amounts of background hum and noise. I can use this, but eventually I'll want a better solution.

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1428689434' post='2743871'] In total agreement with RandomBass. Looks Great. [/quote] Me too. That's a great pickguard. Is it a custom one?

Best wishes for a speedy resolution of (what sounds to me too to be) the minor electrical issue.

There are examples of Harley Benton products being rebrands. I can't remember all the details, but the metal resonator bass is one example. The Joyo pedals. I'm sure there are others. Presumably if Eastwood owns the rights to the design, they'd be compensated for the use of that design. If they don't own the design, then they don't have much to complain about. BTW: The Eastwood Classic 4 and the Harley Benton HB60 look close enough for one to have inspired the other. But, the body shape is slightly different.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1428669629' post='2743602'] That Baritone seems to be sticking, and looks quite expensive against a £19 P-bass! [/quote] Looking at Dekos too much has changed my impression of the price of instruments. I remember looking at the solid spruce topped classical guitars with Fishman pickups. £150 or thereabouts seems a lot, in comparison to the Dekos, but it isn't compared to anything else. £64 for a usable new baritone guitar is surely a bargain. £200 for that resonator thing not so much, however. The dekos seem to be about 35-40% of the new price for the item. That would put the new price of the baritone at about £180 or so. £19 for a usable p-bass. Those sorts of prices are having an effect on my instrument pricing mental processes.

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_pb_20_bk_standard_seri_deko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...d_seri_deko.htm[/url] P-Bass Deko. Also, some others. EDIT: Some guitars including a LP copy and a 'Vintage strat', but they disappeared quickly. P-Bass still there. £19 I think. EDIT: P-bass gone.

There is a Harley Benton micro-pedal specifically intended to do 'Boogle' sounds. http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_micro_stomp_boogie_master.htm However, I must admit that I don't like the sample sounds. As you say there are many variables in sample sounds for distortion pedals, but I have nothing else to go on concerning that pedal. I did personally very much like the sound of the full Mesa amp/cab in the Suhr riot pedal review when it was being driven by the pedal, even when the pedal was off.

I've been using your thread as a prod to look at various ways of achieving This is a demo of the Mesa Mini Rectifier. IMHO this is an awful review, and I decided early on I wasn't going to waste 18 minutes of my life on it and FFWD'd through it a lot. The digital 'Rectifier' models I have use huge amounts of gain, so much so that I can't use it all as I don't practice in a quiet (electrically) enough environment and there is silly amounts of noise when gain is high. I was surprised how non-metal the demo sounds of the Mini Rectifier are: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKJnzV8JdFU&spfreload=10[/media] I had a look at the Suhr Riot. Listening to this demo, it seems that the Suhr does the distortion pedal thing fine, and I like the sound. Though, is this a distinctive sound? It sounds a bit like a fairly generic distortion pedal. Nothing wrong with the sound, and it does cover quite a few bases, but I'm not hearing anything unique here. Am I missing something? [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueg5KRW80Ng&spfreload=10[/media]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1428595885' post='2742866'] I reviewed some for my local shop and the tend to have Arias, Subs and the like in as that is their market. I rated the Revelations Jazzes as the best in shop and like them a lot more than the Subs, for example. So, assuming the hardware is average, and for that price, it is understandable, they pay well enough for the budget, IMO. [/quote] I've played MM Subs at that same shop, as well as a range of Cort basses including the A5 which is in a higher budget range. It's hard to compare as for some reason quite a lot of their basses have actions set higher than I prefer. Which is saying something as I like a high action. The Revelation had a nice medium action, and for me is best in shop just because of that. I haven't played many short scale basses. The last was an Epiphone Beatle Bass, which I thought didn't play well at all. This Revelation was much better than the Epiphone. I like to compare things to the Fender range. I'd think that the Revelation compares very well to the similarly priced Squier VM range instruments that I've played, e.g. the Jaguar. However, the Revelation has the advantage of being a much more interesting looking instrument, IMHO. (Shallow? Moi?) However, I didn't plug the Revelation in, so I don't know what it sounds like. I didn't notice anything wrong with the hardware. I tuned it up a bit by ear as one string was way out, and didn't notice that the tuning machines were anything other than entirely serviceable. The nut was cut well, as far as I can see. And I certainly didn't try and adjust the bridge.

That shop had a Revelation LP bass in today. I had a go on it, and I liked it a lot. Not perfect but a nice action and it was comfortable to play. One of these: IMHO it looked nice up close.

Baritone guitar deko. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mr_63bk_baritone_vintage_serie.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...ntage_serie.htm[/url] EDIT: Baritone still available, at £64 something. Someone made their own baritone guitar out of a HB Beatles Bass. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmrHoele130&spfreload=10[/media]

I don't know the answer to your question, so here I am wasting your time (see username for explanation). After reading your post, and having played around with some of the guitar amp models in Logic Pro X this evening, I had a look around. Here's a guy going on about pedals, he's quite amusing and forthright in his opinions. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUABS0LWByM&spfreload=10[/media] He's now talking about the Marshall Jackhammer, which is interesting. I have a Marshall Guvnor Plus and IMHO it does a good job at getting rock sounds. At least 'as far as I know', which isn't very far. He says that the Jackhammer can be bought for £20 on ebay. I paid £17 for mine as a shop 'floor' model. Here's an ultimate guitar thread where people are discussing your question. [url="http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-1281261.html"]http://www.ultimate-...?t-1281261.html[/url] Some boutique pedals recommended. Homerecording.com similar. http://homerecording.com/bbs/equipment-forums/guitars-and-basses/distortion-overdrive-pedals-mesa-boogie-sound-362926/ I don't know how much it matches the 'Mesa' sound, but after I accidentally bought a Harley Benton Bass Graphic EQ and enjoyed it, I'm thinking about adding another inexpensive pedal to my next Thomann order. Listening to the samples, there's something about the HB Extreme Metal pedal that I like, though for me it's the 'Rock' sound sample that really catches my attention. The pedal, compared to the same music being played through other pedals, has a clearer top end, IMHO. The metal sound sample sounds very much like ... metal to me. More so than some other distortion pedals I listened to. This may not be the sound that you want. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_extreme_metal.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...treme_metal.htm[/url] EDIT: I had a bit more of a look around for sound samples. The only other pedal that gave the clear high end response that I heard there was the Boss Metal Zone 2 itself. Is the HB a clone? On other threads (your post prompted me to look around a bit) people are recommending the AMT pedal, here's a youtube video. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOs9Mux5oDA[/media] Hopefully someone who actually knows what they are talking about will be along to give you some proper information.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1426419761' post='2717803'] Coban stainless steel strings, on eBay, £7 delivered for a set. They're not the best. But they work. For £12 I prefer Warwick Red Label stainless steel, but the £7 ones are not terrible [/quote] My Warwick red label six string stainless steel set cost me £10. Surely this qualifies as cheap strings. They feel OK to me. In the same order, I bought some Fender 9050L Flatwound strings, which I have on my fretless acoustic. I don't have much to compare them to, apart from one La Bella flat ( , but they seem fine to me. They cost £13.72, which seems cheap enough for flats. While I hate to admit it, I'm not sure that I've really learnt the difference between nickel and stainless steel strings yet. I've bought a set of Fender tape wound strings to try out, but haven't put them on anything yet.

[quote name='alittlebitrobot' timestamp='1428504304' post='2741919'] Wow. Some [b]amazing[/b] stuff and really good prices. I'm going to have to search the forums to investigate all the import tomfoolery, see if it's worth doing. ...mind you, that Warwick "W" bass is horrendous. [/quote] I've played one, and I don't think it was that bad. It's as good as a similarly priced Squier Affinity, and is certainly more distinctive than yet another jazz copy. A shop in New Zealand said that they had sold them to a number of beginners, and they asked me if my name started with W. They had a good selection of the modern small w Rockbasses too, including a very nice six string.

Nice guitar there.

Very cool, IMHO. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U9c10kRr3s&spfreload=10[/media]

There are some other cheap bass ukes. However, I haven't seen a zebrawood one before. http://www.rondomusic.com/ukb22.html

I own one of the older passive Rockbass Streamer Standard five strings. I don't claim to be a bass connoisseur, but my impression is that the things that are wrong with it is that the pickups have low output. The tone control doesn't do a great deal. However, both of these problems can be fixed by a decent amp or outboard stuff. I think the basic sound of the pickups is great, they are just too quiet. I'm guessing that the active versions would have plenty of output and much better EQ. Listening to the video, the sounds they are getting don't sound too different from what I get through my graphic EQ pedal (for tone shaping but also a level boost) and some amp sim. In particular when Andy Irvine is soloing on the newer Streamer Standard at about the 4:30-5:00, that sounds quite generic to me and I feel that the bass can have better sounds coaxed out of it. I'm also no setup wizard, but I'd say that the only things wrong with mine is that I can't get a super-low action without fret buzz. Investigations with short straight edges suggests that the frets aren't too far off. IMHO, the bass looks and feels good, particularly I like the feel of the neck. I played some real Warwicks at a bass bash last year, and while the German made instruments did have that 'more expensive' feel, it wasn't a huge difference. BTW: I bought my Rockbass from the classifieds here as about the first thing I did when I arrived in this forum. It cost me £115.

What an amazing selection of basses.

I see your point concerning the H and the Fender F. I'd noted how stylised the H is but hadn't made the connection. The logo on my HB PJ bass is clearly meant to look as Fenderish as the differing words allow. BTW: I was tempted to buy one of the HB compressor limiters as well. But I was put off by the reviews. The HB compressor/limiter pictured has an 'enhance' control, but it creates a lot of noise. Owners typically turn this all the way down, but then lose some higher frequencies. The HB Dynamic Compressor is said to sound better, but be fragile.

[quote name='lemmywinks' timestamp='1428330400' post='2740259'] Aye I've been using them for over 10 years and they were about £12 back then. Two sets for £20 is great value. [/quote] The same set?

It's worthwhile knowing about other options, depending on what happens when I try and power multiple items with the one I've bought. It would be £35 for the Diago with a daisy chain cable (if I buy theirs from Amazon), so it's worth trying the £10 one first. 9V power supplies won't go to waste around my place, I have many items that run on them, and a shortage of them as a couple of old Boss ones that I have are suffering from frayed cables.

Oh dear. Yes, I hope mine is better. I suppose if I get loops, I'll just have to use it for one gizmo at a time.

Thanks Colin. I just purchased one.

I have an increasing number of things that require 9V DC power. Some of these require a fair bit of power. E.g. my Zoom B1xon requires a 500ma power supply just for itself, though I don't know how much power it actually draws. My Roland micro-cube (not bass) amp draws 185mw. It would be sensible to obtain a single power supply for all of these, but what should I use. There are high quality power supplies such as the T-Rex Fuel Tank Chameleon, but that costs about £120 itself. I can understand the price if (e.g.) it uses transformers to make sure that each power supply is isolated to avoid ground loops etc. Are there cheaper but still reasonable alternatives? Would it be better to buy a single wall wart for each of them, or try daisy chaining?