Beer of the Bass

I think these are the precursor to the current Squier Affinity models, and should be pretty comparable to them. IIRC they were the basic model that appeared in Argos etc. I'm sure there's a Squier forum somewhere on the net - maybe seek out the hardcore Squier geeks there and ask them?

Here's my guitar amp - it's one I built myself. The circuit and layout are closely based on a Fender Princeton Reverb, and it's in a lightweight (9mm) birch plywood cabinet with an Eminence 1028k alnico 10" speaker. It does about 15 watts, is light enough to lug around on the bus and has reverb and tremolo to die for! Even though it's only 15 watts and a single 10", it's as loud as I usually need when playing semi-clean with my band. [attachment=101858:princeton front.jpg][attachment=101859:princeton rear.jpg]

With all of his political views, Haden would be an interesting one to write about. I'd read it, anyway. Edit; whoops, I've pressed the wrong voting button! Ah well, Dave Holland would be good too...

I bought a Bigsby knockoff vibrato from Wil - he was pleasant to deal with and I wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again.

[quote name='jacko' timestamp='1330027694' post='1551772'] Just wondering why a 'rehearsal studio' would need a 100 watt guitar amp. The loudest guitarist in my band has a 30 watt combo for stage use and the other one uses a 16 watt tiny terror - both plenty loud enough for any pub gig so way over the top for a studio. [/quote] I know the solid-state versus valve loudness thing has been done to death on here, but 100 watts is not outrageous for a solid-state guitar amp IMO, especially if clean sounds are needed. I gig with a 15 watt valve combo on guitar, and I've played through solid-state amps of 50 watts or more that can't match the usable loudness available from mine. I would much rather walk into a rehearsal studio and see almost any 15-30 watt valve combo than the usual Marshall MG or knackered Peavey Bandit (the exception being the Sessionette in one place we use, which is just a nice sounding amp regardless of what it uses). I can get the idea that rehearsal studios want their gear to be low-maintenance though.

Cheers for the stands!

Having a bass head and cab with Speakons only, and a couple of guitar combos wouldn't pose too many problems in that respect though, unless the clients were really ingeniously stupid.

Mention of shonky PAs in Colorsound made me smile, as one of my bands rehearses there, and they still have those! Hard to beat the central location though. I'm not a fan of Line 6 stuff for rehearsal rooms, as the last thing you want in a two hour rehearsal is to spend half an hour finding your sound. As someone who uses several rehearsal rooms, one thing I really like to see is stands for the amps - it makes it much easier to hear everything at a sensible level if they're raised and tilted, especially the guitar amps. Yet surprisingly few rehearsal studios have them.

I find I really miss the hi-hats and ride cymbal when a cajon is used on its own. One drummer I play with likes to busk with snare, hi-hats and a bass pedal hitting a suitcase, which it all packs inside.

A wee question based on genuine curiosity (i.e. not a dig at the NOS market) - how much difference do you guys hear between old Mullards, Brimars etc and the modern Sovtek/EH/JJ valves in instrument amps? Or are the NOS more desirable for things like reliability and tolerance of high plate voltages? I've tried swapping 12AX7s around between new EHs and some old Brimars in both my guitar and bass amps, and can't really say I heard any difference. Mind you, both amps have quite low gain preamps which run fairly clean, and I haven't tried swapping different power valves.

If you're thinking of putting it up for sale on here, I'd be curious to see some good pictures.

Ah, that'll be why the prices are creeping up then!

Older British valve heads from the less fashionable makers can be good value, especially the PA versions, though prices are creeping up. There's also the risk of expensive work being needed if you're not the DIY sort. Most of them will be 100 watts (with a few exceptions), which works well for me, but is a bit less power than the Orange. Fine if you've got plenty of cab though...

[url="http://www.hatsandcaps.co.uk/Borsalino-Beaver-Fur-Fedora-P130305/"]http://www.hatsandcaps.co.uk/Borsalino-Beaver-Fur-Fedora-P130305/[/url] £356 for a hat? Definitely too expensive.

I've got a set of the stick-on fake inlays on a bass, and I find them fairly unconvincing. I can see the edges clearly, and the pearloid pattern looks like a low resolution print. They do look good from a few feet away though. Mine were from a Japanese supplier, whose name I can't remember, so I can't comment on whether others are better.

I've got a set of Orla bass pedals, which came with a keyboard that got trashed by a courier. Rather than binning them, I thought I'd see if anyone can use them. There are two pedals broken off, one of which is missing. I think Orla still make these, so you might be able to get spares from them, or cobble something together. They are wired to a multi-pin socket, but doing a MIDI retrofit wouldn't be too difficult. They can be picked up from me in Edinburgh, or if you want to arrange a courier to collect them, I'll wrap them in cardboard for you. Prog on a shoestring! Now GONE! [attachment=99014:Orla 003.JPG][attachment=99015:Orla 004.JPG]

Looks well thought out! I'm curious about the tone stack - is it based on a James/Baxandall type or something else?

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' timestamp='1326106970' post='1492248'] Just before Christmas I bought a fretless 5 string yamaha from Brian (Blademan) here, as a Christmas present to me. Did a little fettling, popped a set of flatwounds on (well, top 4 strings anyway - need to find a flatwound and practiced a bit. [/quote] If you're still looking for a flatwound low B, there was an eBay seller selling old stock D'addarios cheaply. I had one off them a couple of weeks ago; [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAddario-Flatwound-CB132-Single-132-Bass-String-/200642847011?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2eb73ee123"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAddario-Flatwound-CB132-Single-132-Bass-String-/200642847011?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2eb73ee123[/url] I thought it was worth a mention, as they're cheaper than many places. Oddly enough, I played mostly fretless for my first 5 years of electric bass as my first fretted bass broke, but I rarely get the urge these days as I'm playing double bass or fretted electric instead.

I think the knackered guitar cabs make a big difference! I played a gig last year where the house "bass" rig was a horrible Carlsbro Stingray through a tired old Park 4x12", and I was struck by how Stranglers-y it sounded when I used a pick. The speaker breakup sounds a bit different to amp distortion. I can't imagine wanting to nail that sound all the time though, unless it really suited your band.

I don't think many people are getting rich building high-end instruments. My brother is a luthier, building classical guitars at 3k to 3.5k a time. The business is ticking over nicely, but he doesn't have a particularly lavish lifestyle and probably works longer and takes home less than your average skilled worker. While there are fewer man-hours in most electric basses, I suspect the smaller bass outfits operate in a similar way. I think we're just not used to paying developed-country wages for manufactured goods any more.

I usually use my 1x12" Princeton Reverb copy for guitar gigs, but today I played through an old silverface Twin Reverb in a rehearsal room, and was enjoying the "big amp" sound even though I wasn't playing louder than usual. It'd be interesting to figure out why that was pleasing (given that the two are voiced similarly), though maybe it's a psychological thing. I've never quite seen the point of a 4x12" cab these days - a guy I know drags a JTM45 and a 4x12" around but has to use a powerbrake all the time as it's ridiculously loud otherwise. If I were him, I'd probably have gone for a smaller, less efficient cab!

That eBay kit is also sans transformers, which makes it not such good value as it may appear, as they're the most expensive parts.

I think it's the scientist in me; whenever I see a "graph" with no scale, I tend to ignore whatever I'm being sold. The strings actually might be OK, but their marketing seriously underestimates the intelligence of the viewers.

I am impressed by the level of marketing bullshit and pseudo-science twaddle in the first video!