Al Heeley

If it only buzzes when you touch the strings it sounds to me like your bridge isn't earthed properly or your electrics are not shielded properly. The advice about good quality lead is sound, so may be your first route for investigation - amazing how many people spend hundreds on a good instrument then spoil it all by saving a tenner on a cheap lead, but it may be the shielding or grounding within the guitar. I also get bad buzzing in some rooms where the electrics are 'dirty' - often things like amp situated near refrigerator or where theres a ring mains and lights on dimmer switches - my amp hates dimmer switches!

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='615405' date='Oct 3 2009, 12:10 AM']I haven't had anything but a Skoda for the last ten years - they are brilliant. Most people here haven't got anything against a bass being built in Korea.[/quote] Skoda represent superb value for money but it's the public that set the resale price level, and they don't hold their value as much as a VW, for example. Same with basses - Korean instruments are now regarded as good quality, higher value than Chinese or Indonesian but less than Japanese which is less than American. Chinese quality is now very good and prices are lower than ever, but they will never hold their value as well as a US instrument because of market perceptions. If it's not selling then it's priced too high. Try a trade-in but you'll get even less for it at a shop.

I posted a simple circuit on here earlier which was incredibly useful (for me) for live gigs, it was an A/B + X/Y box, basically it allows you to select between 2 different inputs and select between 2 different outputs. So when gigging I have main bass + backup bass plugged in and can switch between them with a footswitch without having to fart around unplugging cables, then for the output I have choice of sending signal to amp or signal to tuner. Sending to tuner also acts as global mute. very useful, and thats only one config I find handy, lots of others depending on your own setup. My most regularly used pedal.

[quote name='cm261' post='614998' date='Oct 2 2009, 05:22 PM']I dont understand a word that has been said in like the last 7posts Maybe I won't build this thing lol.... Out of interest, what other things have people here built/what would you suggest building?[/quote] For me, the Tubescreamer is the best - I've built 5 of them now and 4 of those have ended up as part of friends pedalboards. Dyna Comp - classic compressor, worth a build. The other really useful easy build is a basic a/b or a/b/y box.

ok thanks, i was searching the heel and the back of the headstock

yep its an entirely inappropriate but cool use for a IC logic chip isn't it? Found to give a really nice harmonic overdrive/distortion - it makes for a great home build project and is very moddable as umph says.

Ricky bass Serial Number A guy brought a nice 4001 in for wiring check, looks like a fault on one of the jackplugs where the mono is linked to the stereo jack. I wanted to check the manufacture date via serial number, but it doesn't appear to have one. Where are ric serial no's normally located?

+1 for a bass Llama clone - another great distortion/fuzz box

Bobs Bits Box (ebay seller) has a few Allparts Banzai Effects has a load of good ones but its posted from Germany so a little longer wait time Maplins There are dozens of outlets when you get stuck into Google

How cool is that! Awesome - congrats!

Congrats! Yep - to reverse the pot action simply swap the wires on lugs 1 & 3. I found one of the knobs surprisingly ineffective for the overall tone quality (now which one was it...?) and would probably end up replacing that with a trim pot the next time I put one together.

I can accept that some finishes could influence the tone & resonance of an acoustic instrument but not an electric bass. Not to my ears - too much other stuff rendering any tonal perturbations insignificant. I do enjoy these debates though

Patrick Eggle's handy tip: 3M Imperial Hand Glaze, used by professionals finishing luxury car bodywork, non-silicone, no residue, excellent shine. You can buy it on ebay, lasts for years [url="http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/3M-Imperial-Hand-Glaze-16oz-Non-Silcone-Non-Wax-CAR_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2em63Q2el1177QQhashZitem5d25afaf28QQitemZ400064229160QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories"]http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/3M-Imperial...sQ5fAccessories[/url]

[quote name='katri' post='612438' date='Sep 29 2009, 08:38 PM']can i ask why it has a EH nano logo on it?[/quote] The enclosure was originally meant for a bassballs clone and I was playing around with logos and some new dry inkjet rub decal paper.

[quote name='munkonthehill' post='612344' date='Sep 29 2009, 07:08 PM']hahaha maybe Al, check my picture on this profile, look on the floor at my right foot. recognise anything? haha[/quote] Cool, glad its gone to a good home!

Our guitarist has a H&K head and 4 x 12 stack, sounds great and has these cool blue LED's, but I have never tried a H&K bass amp. My Marshall is fixed now with the replacement of the splitter board, but who knows how long before something else works loose? I have sadly lost confidence in it, a lot of amp for the price, as has been said before, but more attention to QC needed please. I reckon you just shook yours to destruction with that big fuzz box matey

Hey Max, Did you accidentally send out a Thanks but Sorry email recently? I received 2 of them saying my application had been refused, but I was already accepted, and I hadn't recently re-applied. Hope your sfx labs server isn't playing up? Maybe you have decided I am not worthy after all

I had the thermal cut-out issue back in the Spring when the 115 was playing up - the head was trying to power the extn cab and becuase of the broken coil the signal was not getting thru, and this overheated the amp. Sad to say, last Marshall I shall buy. Need to find someone to buy mine now.....

My MB4210 started farting and spluttering at the gig last Saturday, I thought I was pushing it too hard but at yesterdays rehersal at 1/3 volume it was spluttering and distorting. Very disappointing. I took it apart (cos I like taking things apart, oops - warranty voided) and found a loose fuse block on the little splitter pcb inside the cab. Now I already had problems with the splitter pcb on the 115 extn cab, the choke coil was loose and had broken where it enters the ciorcuit board. Marshall sent me the wrong replacement piece at the time which is in fact now the bit I think I need to repair the 4210. That was lucky. Don't do this at home kids - amps carry big currents and can fry your eyebrows. On both occasions I think the respective components were not secured well enough to the pcb, and having a little mass and leverage, worked themselves loose with the vibrations of gigging and transportation. These amps are really cheap for what they are but unless marshall iron out their Indian assembly plant QC they are going to ruin their reputation for rugged reliability. These splitter PCB's look to me like a particular design weakness. I'm hoping that replacing the splitter pcb will resolve the problem - I have added an extra coupl of cable ties to the one already there to help secure the remaining components onto the board. These amps HAVE to withstand big vibrations and some knocks & bumps during transit if they are to be used as an everyday gigging tool. Tone-wse they are ok for the money i guess, a pretty wide range of sounds available, the 115 extn cab heps tremendously to reinforce the bottom end, but they are not a £1000 boutique amp quality, I don't have £1000 to spend on an amp, I just wish the Marshalls were a little more fit for purpose.

I think he's referring to possible excessive heat from the soldering iron, not an electric current issue.

ALWAYS use sockets, so theres no chance of cooking the trannies - some are quite sensitive! When u get yr multimeter wire it up and check the voltages at the legs of each transistor are correct. This can also lead you towards solving the problem. Good luck!

do you know how to trace circuit faults using an audio probe? Really valuable to work out where toe bad solder or broken track is. Check you remembered to put the transistors in their sockets - don't laugh - it happened to me on 2 builds - I was scratching my head for 20 minutes wondereing why there was no sound..... Audio Probe: [url="http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/debug.html"]http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/debug.html[/url]

...and the 5.1k resistors are fine, well within the +/- 10% tolerance of mose resistors anyway. Good luck with the build - great pedal if you have good double glazing and deaf old neighbours.

I used to play with the pups as high as poss without the string vibrations actually hitting them, to get the highest output I could from the pups. I found that by dropping the pups and increasing the gap to the strings the whole tone opened up really nicely - sort of allowed the vibrations and the resonance to breathe more - it didn't sound like I'd stopped the strings choking, as I was not convinced they were choking before, but it just sounded more open and a lot more pleasing. This was on a squier jazz bass and my warmoth gecko fitted with SD Basslines pups, as well as a home-made P-bass type, also SD pups.

[edit] sorry just realised you said it was painted. Ignore me, I'll drop off to sleep in the corner again in a minute.