Stub Mandrel

At the end of '95 I was in an originals band that were pretty proficient, we just played locally but always went down well, and had a good, professional demo and distinctive songs. I changed top a much more demanding job, met my future wife and moved further away over the first few months of '96, and decided I had to put the band to one side, helped by a disastrous last practice where my amp sounded crap. Over a decade later I fixed the amp (just a broken joint on a smoothing capacitor!), but there were years when the only thing I played was an hour bashing on my acoustic. Life brings changes, and I started playing a bit more, and my duaghter started drum lessons, which meant regular sessions sitting in a music shop diddling with the guitars and deciding I ought to get an Epiphone electric. Then one day a courier arrived at the door. Inside the huge package was a guitar case and inside that was an immaculate but nicely worn Tokai SG - my brother had let me know he was sending em something, but not what! From there, my enthusiasm for playing grew slowly and steadily again and with encouragement I started to learn some stuff rather than just diddling the same riffs and runs. I started trying to play along to every song that came on Planet Rock. To my surprise I reliased my bass playing hadn't got worse, if anything my ear had got better and now there were tab sites to help me get the difficult bits. I realised I wanted to be in a band again, did a 'weekend warrior' event aimed at folks just like me. Had the good fortune to be matched with an excellent guitarist and drummer (in four bands, I've been blessed with four good drummers!) and behold it's happening again. And it's great 🙂 My one regret is that I now realise that I was actually a half-decent bass player back in the day, I'd always considered myself 'competent' and assumed people were being polite, what would my playing be like now if I had kept it up? So don't be afraid to take a break, but my advice is that 23 years is a bit too long.

Fair call, my approach is new batteries that never get used in the critical pedals - compressor and a distortion.

Yep they are like that. Does it not reduce volume (outside) as well?

We walk hand in hand with horror, we ride side by side with death, we are the warriors at the end of time Over poisoned crystal deserts, where the ruined towers shout We march towards our dying scarlet sun. Death Death to life! Death! Death to time! We bring sweet destruction now to everything. In our mirrored flashing armour, in our secret, hideous helms, we are the Angels of your ruin. And we climb obsidian mountains, on our final, dreadful quest, Crossing lakes which cry with pain as we pass by. Death to all things living! Holy death will cleanse the world! Death, our standard! Death, our only joy. We are the Warriors at the end of time. Death to air and fire and water Death to light and earth and sound Death to anger, love and sadness Death to death... and time... and apace. On the dead horses our dead riders, Seek the last retreats of life. Life betrayed us and we slew it Corpses locked in battle, dancing at the End of Time Works for me 🤣

Sneak a look in a Pirate Studio - they need to get good results on a budget. The one I use has foam on the walls, fabric covered, then a layer of plywood or chipboard with holes of many different sizes. Works pretty well.

I tried using switching jack plugs. But my bass is an old dog, and you can't teach an old dog Neutrix.

I've had to learn this - only a few minutes ago I had the realisation I've played it enough that I now enjoy it (like broccoli). And (like broccoli) I'm equally sure there's a point where it gets all to much! Ho hum, Use Somebody next...

One thing about the Hohner design is that if the battery is flat you CAN switch to passive. Many basses don't let you do this. I've never been 100% convinced that a preamp inside the bass can actually do anything you can't do better with one outside it, except, perhaps, drive a VERY long jack lead.

Get one of these and stop worrying:

I found the music to 'If I Were a Carpenter' yesterday in a (looks round guiltily) Russ Shipton book. I'm inspired to gather some fellow musicians of similar stature to myself (6' 2"), use brown instruments and wear brown clothes to play the music of one of my favourite sixties bands. We'll call ourselves The Tall Faeces.

To explain why, when you switch on an amplifier it will almost always make a click or pop as the capacitors charge up and the bias levels settle down. As it's not unknown for people to switch active in and out during a performance, this needs to be avoided. So... if the amp switches on when you plug in a jack, it is in 'standby' and the other switches are just re-routing the signal or changing parameters, less likely to make an unwanted click, pop or even thump.

I used to go to the Bass Centre in Birmingham. Got this case there: And this fine long-sleeve T. My little girl is at University now!

I like it, it's musical rather than just 'wankage'. Hmm. I've got a mate who looks just like Scott. But it isn't Scott.

Truth is, with the lithium batteries, all I can do is try them out and see how long they last. My guess is that on the Hohner system there's an LED that probably uses 10mA which would flatten them in about three days on its own, but switched off (but still plugged in) the drain might be a few mA (guess) that would take a couple of weeks.

Review what you want to achieve. Don't be afraid to take a break, but consider the reward of getting an album out and think about what the real barriers are. If you have great demos and access to resources, perhaps you just need to lose someone in the food chain and replace them? Or tell them 'shape up or ship out' which may be kinder or crueller depending on their sensitivities. P.S. Phil got that from Cream - Born Under a Bad Sign P.P.S. <googles> Who nabbed it from Albert King P.P.P.S Who cadged it off Lightning Slim (1954) according to Wikipedia! Sorry for the thread drift...

That's true of anything in life. When you need to reach a level of proficiency to be able to identify your own faults, you are getting somewhere.

Found these: Alkaline cells, typically ending around 6-7V: Comparison of various chemistries:

No, it's a result of the chemistry. The (9v NIMH cells use 7 cells to give 8.4V as an approximation to 9V) The original zinc carbon cells had six nominal 1.5V cells, but they typically drop to about 6V before most applications give up.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=9v+rechargeable+USB+PP3&_sacat=0&_sop=15 "Stable discharge Voltage from 8.45v down to 7v to supply power for device " 7V should be plenty for most applications.

Remember being asked to have an emergency bag ready in case of asteroid strike, zombie attack or Brexit etc? Back in the day I used to have a 'gig box' with all my pedals PSU and various spares, so I'm making up another one. Do you have one and what do you have in it. This is my thinking for now (pedals, bass(es) and amp(s) not included): Spare 9V batteries. Spare strings, (even just a used set - better than nothing!) Earplugs, two sets. Spare patch leads. Two spare instrument leads. Spare power lead. Spare speaker lead. Fuses, all possible values needed. Screwdrivers (phillips and flat) Hex keys My main fear is blowing an fuse internal fuse! Second worry is that I end up being a spares depot for the rest of the band...

Inspired me to order a pair of USB-rechargeable PP3 batteries off eBay.

Oh there's plenty of poo, and blue-green vomit, on the moon, as my photo below proves:

Nice to see that upright again, (and I think that bass you're playing breaks some sort of knob count record...)

"Three froglets in blue string overcoats. How extraordinary." 🤣 I'm sure the Soup Dragon was pretty sweary! There was definitely a 'What the Hell!" in there 🙂

Any links?