warwickhunt

re. Speakon v 1/4 You'd not hear an audible difference (all things being equal otherwise, like nice heavy duty short cable) between the two but TBH the 1/4" jack is just a throw back to telecommunications so if you can, I'd opt for the Speakon. One benefit of the Speakon is that it locks and though I know you can get locking jack sockets, they aren't common on cabs. You're also a lot less likely to get a short with Speakons and that could be vital if you have valve gear! Even XLR connectors are better than 1/4"

I'd be interested to hear a definitive answer to this as I had always assumed the hardware, (excluding pups), bodies and necks would all be from the same source or out of the same parts bin and that the main difference was the cost of labour to assemble and it could be argued that the QC 'may' have differed between the 2 sources. Though I have to say that to my mind I can't see how your ethnicity makes you any better at screwing a few bits together and whether your Mexican, American or Japanese for that matter I'd assume that the Fender corporation would train you to a certain standard of workmanship and have the same degree of QC no matter where the location. Do I have an over simplistic or incorrect view on this! Is the body wood for one different to the other (alder v ash maybe) in which case you will get a difference but we'll all have a preference that doesn't make one 'better'. I prefer the sound of alder... but it isn't better than ash. Are there major differences in the bits used?

Pete's a top bloke to deal with, no worries! Excellent communication and before you know it we're meeting up and swapping stories (as well as cash for a EB Sterling). Have no fears about any deal; Pete's as straight as they come.

[quote name='thinman' post='170740' date='Apr 6 2008, 03:44 PM']John, One's just come on on finnbass for £250 which is a bargain but it's in Portsmouth.[/quote] Cheers mate, I shall go forth and check it out. Anybody you know or is it a well known finnbasser? Carriage is probably gonna be the killer but we shall see!

Some of my gigs aren't worth adding to this thread but last night was odd enough... Turned up (in the snow) at The Masons Arms, Amble and straight off the guitarist is on a downer as he had his dog put down that day. Next, the singer has a VW and he duly locked his keys in his car (auto locks after x minutes), luckily all the gear was out but unfortunately his spares are 45 miles away with no-one able to access them! 9.15 start duly came around and we stepped up to the mics to perform in front of 4 peshed women... I counted them twice in case I'd missed one Straight away the 4 of them were up dancing to the first number (Oasis - R&R star) before we'd finished the 2nd number, the room had 60 people in half of which were up dancing and they stayed up for the next 35 minutes (the first set isn't even a dance set, we keep those numbers for the 2nd set)! End of a great first set and we confidently said, "We'll see you in 15 minutes". Like sh*te, the place emptied and we started the 2nd set to the same 4 p*ss heads that started the night. A few people drifted in and out but the crowd it appeared has a herd mentality and they had followed the age old pattern of moving on to the town's only other watering hole! Absurdly, as we finished the 2nd set and had just decided it would be embarrassing to do encores for 4 sloshed birds who could hardly talk; the pub started to fill up again. So we went back on and did a number and before we'd finished it the pub had 60+ punters in! So we did a couple of strong numbers from the 2nd set (they hadn't heard them) and as we thanked them and powered down, we suddenly had gangs of peshed punters shouting torrents of abuse for not doing more songs! It wasn't a bad night but you live and learn.

Nice looking job and I'm pleased the H&K is working out for you, must send you the manual as soon as I can lay my hands on it! I 'may' end up with one of these soon and though I've not heard one in the flesh (anyone in the NE ) I'm sure from all of the comments I shouldn't be disappointed. <edit> I'm on the look out for one of these, I'd buy blind (or deaf in this case) if the price were right but if it's proper money then I need to hear one first

I think it's fair to expect that a piece of equipment should be fit for purpose and last longer than a month, so they 'should' be tripping over themselves to help you. The thing to do (and it's a tricky fine line) is establish your legal entitlement and then armed with this return to the shop and be firm but fair with them. No good bowling in and demanding money back because the amp is cr*p, as they'll get their backs up and try and claim that it was your treatment of the equipment. However if you go in and offer them the opportunity to correct the situation and explain that you require a combo to continue playing, you'll probably get further. Sorry I can't help with the specifics of the legality but a trawl through tinternet should help you and your local Citizens Advice Bureau give free impartial advice. Due to the time limitations on consumer rights I'd be acting sooner rather than later! With regard to which combo to go for if not the Ampeg... soz can't help there either! Looking back over my reply, all in all it's a bit useless except to sum up that you need to know your legal entitlement and be firm but fair with SC

Tasty! Less is more and he even left some space for the drummers. Can't see it being like that down my local on Sunday

[quote name='Smash' post='169731' date='Apr 4 2008, 12:23 PM']Does anybody know where I can find the width of the necks of Warwick basses, especially at the nut end? I like Jazz necks or fast slim necks and someone a while back told me I wouldn't get on with Warwick necks as they are thick? Is this true? Reason for asking is all these cheap Warwicks are unbearable GAS, I don't really need one but..... they look so nice.[/quote] The Warwick necks vary as much as Fender ones do. Bear in mind that the depth and profile of the neck has as much bearing as the width. I'll measure a couple of my Warwicks when I get home but the rule of thumb is (no pun intended) the older Warwicks have slmmer/thinner necks but the newer (especially BO) necks are chunkier and any Dolphin neck will feel like an aircraft carrier if you like pencil necks

Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick ran a 2/3 way rig with his 12 string basses with a signal going to Hi-Watt guitar amps IIRC. I don't think he ran X-overs or anything like that it was just the full range signal but that is an easy option if you want to develop a signature sound. I do recall reading that one of his basses had different outputs for each pup that was meant to sense the different octave strings but TBH I also recall thinking that was a load of ball-cocks as I couldn't see how his pup could be tuned to only receive the high string octave sounds and not the low. Though I did wonder if it was just a guitar pup in a bass that was wound/filtered/tuned to roll off the bottom end!

4 pages in and no mention of 'Dread Zeppelin'... sheeesh what kind of Elvis fans are you

'Smoke On The Water'

Can't believe no one has suggested... Smoke on the water ... I'll get my coat