nekomatic

I bet I know who that is… (follows link) yep!

Sounds like you all had fun - maybe I’ll make the next one…

How about your local authority’s music service, or a local secondary school? They’re probably under-resourced, so a donated instrument would probably help them give more kids access to music making.

Ignore me if I’m talking rubbish, because any expertise I have here owes much more to the textbook than the battlefield, but have you ruled out an intermittent short in a speaker cab or cable, or a dodgy mains supply?

Can it drive a load of lower impedance than its input impedance, at a gain of 1 or more? Then it’s a preamp. What it does with the rest of its time is its own business 😎

You asked for cheap… https://www.toolstation.com/work-bench/p12739

Well I've watched the first lesson and while it's obviously much too early to rate the course, I like his style and he's already suggested some significant changes to how I've simply been holding the bass, so I'm definitely going to learn something! Watch this space…

I’ve always felt GP were a good make but that’s not based on any science on my part. I may have read a Which? review at some point. Anyway whatever make you get, use the slowest ‘intelligent’ charger you can find. Fast charging is terrible for batteries. You do need one with proper end-of-charge detection though, not just a super cheap one that goes for a fixed time then stops.

I do find myself thinking that the paper coned electromagnetic speaker in a wooden enclosure is the worst possible way of converting electricity into sound, apart from all the other ways that have been tried from time to time.

I’m aware that the claimed power output of cheap audio kit is routinely vastly exaggerated, but I’ve always assumed that the quoted output for something like a bass amp would always be true continuous RMS watts, or the manufacturer would lose all credibility. Are there documented examples of name brand bass gear failing to deliver the claimed output when tested?

I’ve signed up. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I’ve never tried doing it myself, but Rod Elliott has a guide

That’s really useful, thanks. I’ve got plenty of books and other material to play, it’s the technique focus and the regular schedule that I reckon would be a help.

I see that enrolment for another session of this course is now open. I'm wondering whether it might be a worthwhile investment to scrub up my very rusty technique (and frankly it's never been brilliant) and get me into a daily routine of playing something given I don't have any bands or projects going at the moment. Has anyone done it and would you recommend it? It promises to be suitable for all musical styles, is that true or is it really all funky semiquavers?

Some bracing - I'm going to stop there for now and see how it performs, I can add more if it seems like anything's vibrating and the slot port blocked:

Hotcha!

I MADE HOLES IN IT Horn aperture is four holes with the hole saw, joined up with the power saw. Port aperture is cut with the 127mm hole saw (I've got this set which I don't think could possibly be any cheaper, but it has worked.) This was a bit necky as my mains drill has no speed control, so it's flat out or nothing! Space on the baffle was even tighter than I expected, so the port aperture has ended up taking a tiny bit out of the transverse brace, and I couldn't cut the right-hand edge of the port aperture so just sanded down the pointy bit with the Dremel. It looks terrible, but the horn covers up my shoddy handiwork nicely… I may need to drill new fixing holes in it though, as the lower two existing ones end up right on the edge of the baffle, where the join with the batten to block the slot port will be. Port aperture is slightly too small for the tube so will need some sanding (as if there isn't enough to do already) but I guess better that than too big… Last of all, one on the back for the connector plate. I put it in the corner so it looks OK with the cab in either horizontal or vertical orientation, and I made it round because that was easiest, but actually I think it looks kind of cute:

If they’re not VAT registered then they don’t have to add it to their prices, but they also don’t get to subtract it from their costs, so yes arguably you’re paying extra VAT in a way you wouldn’t be if you weren’t importing the goods. But I guess that’s how the fiscal cookie crumbles, and something the company has to think about if they choose not to register (I assume it’s optional below the threshold where it becomes compulsory, iyswim).

I haven't bought anything from overseas recently but the VAT position seems pretty straightforward: if the goods are worth more than £135, you'll need to pay VAT to the carrier (plus their collection fee). The seller shouldn't charge you any sales tax if they are shipping outside Canada. The £135 figure is the same for all countries. Whether there's any duty to pay on top of that (or rather underneath that, as the VAT gets charged on top of the duty) I don't know, but I think it would be a few percent at most - maybe someone with experience can help, or you can find it somewhere here (maybe) If you've recently imported something worth £200 and not been charged, it sounds like you got lucky.

The thing about Celestion and Xmax would explain why every Celestion driver I’ve ever tried modelling a cabinet with has seemed to be completely useless. In contrast to me I guess the people who specify and buy them in quantity actually know what they’re doing. Francis Deck (off of Talkbass, and of Fdeck preamp fame) had a web page that would model speaker designs and included a ‘bass-weighted’ (as in the instrument) excursion plot, but the page seems to be down now.

I live very near St Winifreds and am 50 so it’s highly likely I know or at least have met some of them. i can think of worse claims to fame, to be honest…

Oh and how could I forget: Buy a stand. When not playing the bass, put it in the stand.

THIS. Except in my case the early ‘90s. I’d still have made a flipping fortune though. ‘Practice more’ also good advice…