Al Heeley

^ Probably more appropriate to post comments like this as a personal message to the poster rather than in this thread here.

I have to agree with shimming as a last resort. If you already have a well set-up instrument then truss rod tweaks are then best way of changing action. But it has to be good already and truss rod tweaks are so very tiny. First you have to judge how much relief (bend) there is in the neck, then check saddle and nut height. I see I'm just repeating advice already given so i'll stop now and let u get on with it

My 'ray has a pretty low output for an active pre-amp bass. Mind you, if you max out the bass it distorts in a rather ugly fashion. The 3-band eq is very sensitive on my ray.

I have become obsessed with modding tubescreamer pedals for bass and guitar, this is the little clipping switch I've developed for my Sonic Kitchen Tubes Creamer. A bit fiddly to solder but a neat little unit that can solder directly onto any overdrive pcb to replace the 2 parallel clipping diodes in the circuit. This is an ON/OFF/ON switch so when its in on position 1 it shorts out the 2 Si diodes and routes signal thru the LED diodes. In On position 2 it does the reverse. On the middle OFF position it routes signal thru both sets which knocks the output way down. The LED distortion is much higher volume raw gain, biting aggressive distortion, you can go from raw crunch to a splatty fuzz. the Si diodes gives you the conventional Tubescreamer overdrive, much softer sweeter harmonics and lower output that you can compensate for with the volume knob. Using the same switch and 2 different capacitors instead of the diode pairs, soldered direct to teh switch lugs, you get the great AMZ Phat mod which for me is essential for using the pedal effectively with the bass guitar. The jumper wires then replace the 0.047uF input cap. On ecap choice remains at 0.047uF for the characteristic tubescreamer mid tone boost, the other can go up to 0.47 or 0.68uF to let a huge load of bass through which, to be honest, sounds fabulous!

good grief - £2k buy it now! If it is a yr 2000 then thats not exactly a '70's Classic' in my book. Maybe he swapped out the pickups, It had better be a damned good and rare bass for that sort of money.

be interested to see which strange parts of animals you use for the next round of mods.

I was always told western union transfers should be avoided for any online purchases cos they are the least secure and most favoured by scammers. Many legit ebay sellers (and buyers) in the US stipulate no western Union. Caution is recommended.

I have a marshall 150w 1 x 15 combo for sale (still) if you want to get started cheaply - it has proved very reliable, is loud enough for small - med pub rock gigs and has some nice feautures like a 7-band graphic eq as well as a blend knob to mix solid state with valve preamp. Good range of tones. Its being used every now and then as a back up rig. Send me a pm if interested.

Absolutely do the blonde thing

ZZ vs Sting. Tell me (please) you've already decided!

Nope - I would suggest min 150 w for pub gigis with 2 guitars & drums, to avoid straining the amp. I'm assuming typical pub covers rock stuff? Spend more now on a bigger combo or you'll be trading in the 60Watter in 2 or 3 months.

They are surprisingly natural to play and as said before you get benefit of more even string tension across the tone range. most benefit from extended range basses, ie: 6 trings over >24 fret board. have a looko here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=35397"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=35397[/url]

Arf!

I had the Marshall setup last year - MB4210 combo plus MB115 extn cab - a lot of bass for the bucks but it was unreliable, I had 4 separate failure issues and it finally went back. Now replaced with the Peavey tour 450 head and a Hartke XL 4x10 cab, it it more money than my marshall system but peavey are really bomb proof and I've had a lot of great comments back about the clarity and punch of my sound - a league up from the marshall setup, though the marshall is capable of a lot of versatility. the peavey head also has a great range of options, in a mid sized gig its just starting to reach the limits of its volume but we do play pretty loud. Heard quite a few rigs since getting the Peavey/hartke and its only topped by gear twice the price.

But I thought stomp boxes were all designed with impedance to be best suited going between instrument and pre-amp? Rack effects & didtal processors, etc. can be configured to sit in the fx loop.

Thats very neat work there! Have you traced the signal path all the way thru with an audio probe? Have u double-checked you have the IC's in the right way round? any replacement ones you can slot in and try? what is the 8-leg one, a standard op-amp chip?

+1 for the scotchbrite pads - i got some green ones from B&Q - softer than wire wool, do not leave tiny scour marks in the neck wood, and you get a lovely silky smooth finish. Done this to all my guitars now.

thats a bummer. Your pic looks like the E pot leg is shorting against the casing of the A pot. I'm sure it's not but double check it?!

Hey Jack, Have u posted up this info on the DIY stompbox forum, see if anyone can help? I'm no whizz at pin voltages on these things, all I can say is that most of the time mine don't work properly its due to a tiny break in the copper trace or its something shorting out against enclosure when I squeeze the lid in place.

Good point, works well for old Cortina sump plugs though.....

+1 for ikay - thats how I care for mine.

You can certainly spend 40 minutes rubbing away at the varnish with fine wire wool. even though it will not remove all the varnish it will take the stickiness off it and you'll stilkl have sealed wood underneath. Rub off all the dust with a tack cloth.

One more method while you're at it - soldering iron on the head of the screw. the screw gets hot and expands just a little, when it cools a bit it can be easier to unscrew. I'd just grab the head with pliers and start twisting.