Stewart

A fresh set of roundwounds on a precision played through a hiwatt 200W valve amp into a guitar 4x12 that you've half-f*cked (cones flapping around slightly would be nice) Beaten to it...

Yes (though it needn't be a pedal) Also you may find a pedal (or other) effect works better before the input Generally modulation/delay/reverb can often be better in the loop - but experimentation is the only way....

If you can stretch to £350 - 2 x SRM350s would make nice monitors... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=39146"]PA for sale[/url]

[quote]I suppose a theramin is just anotherform of synthesiser really.[/quote] No, a theremin is just an oscillator (which is invariably one of the sound sources in a synthesizer) with control of pitch and amplitude provided by antennas - which are affected by the proximity of the players hands (or any other body part...) To my mind it's voltage control (of oscillators, filters and amplifiers) that's key feature of a synthesizer

Get well soon

Cruel, but fair

Yes, I've got a japanese precision neck on a Warmoth jazz body with DiMarzios. My second-favourite bass (after a '79 USA precision neck on a Mexican precision body with Kent Armstrong). Nice to have the 'jazz sound' without the neck (The more the neck resembles a log, the better I like it

If you take a look at RCF, Electrovoice and JBL you'll probably find something to suit you. If you're going for a 'boxes on sticks' PA for vocals then I can recommend RCF ART310-A (active - they do most of their models in active and passive though). They sound a lot sweeter than the Mackie SRM450s to me - as well as being smaller/lighter/louder. Add a subwoofer (or several) as and when required... SRM450s aren't that bad though, they just sound a bit harsh when pushed. I've heard nothing but bad things about the matching Mackie subs though (SWA-something??)... Ideally get to hear it before you buy it - at realistic levels (usually almost impossible).

[quote]could always use a limiter to take it out as opposed to manually removing it. ...[/quote] It's a gate you'd need (though many rackmount compressor/limiters contain gates) - but a better bet would be finding the culprit and getting rid of it - the chances are it's primarily one pedal - just remove one at a time. Order might help or make things worse, but you can only find out by trying different combinations.

Instrument cables aren't capable of carrying the currents involved - it'll get hot and fail (possibly going short-circuit and taking the amp with it...)

[quote name='timloudon' post='384183' date='Jan 18 2009, 05:33 PM']I suppose I'm asking whether the circuit inside adds something other than just a level boost, like a certain tone.[/quote] Many older (and some current) models use just a transformer (no active electronics at all) - and some of those are highly sought-after (they're inherently non-linear but potentially flattering I'd imagine). But generally (these days) the answer is probably no.

DI is basically about converting to a balanced signal - usually to run a fair distance to a desk channel. Traditionally they have lots of attenuation (Pad) options so that you could use (say) the speaker feed of a rig as an input. Your preamp might have a balanced output (or an option for one) in which case you could view it as a DI with-bells-on.

Yamaha MSP-3 perhaps? Also the old Samson range were quite good, but I haven't heard the new ones.

You need the Code for the type (say M1R2) and then you need the resistor codes (M2K2 and M10K) They're 0.6W - more than you need, but no matter

Done - very few signatures though, and not long to go...

[quote name='umph' post='373862' date='Jan 8 2009, 10:41 AM']i'd go for the small clone personally[/quote] Yes, me too (Haven't heard the Digitechs though)

Unless it's a very odd manufacturer using strange components then no - they're not polarised

This is remarkably cheap - might be worth a gamble: [url="http://www.studiospares.com/Microphone-Preamps/Studiospares-Mono-Valve-Mic-Preamp/invt/348000"]Studiospares Valve Preamp[/url]

No, cynicism is justified... From the specifications: Continuous Power Output (1kHz, 0.5% THD): Stereo Mode 390W+390W 4ohm / 240W+240W 8ohm Bridge Mode 800W 4ohm / 490W 8ohm * escholl got there first *

Try some Tru Bass Rotosounds (though you just might to ease out the nut a bit, as they're quite chunky) Otherwise, I'd always go for TI Jazz flats now...

[quote name='Protium' post='365781' date='Dec 29 2008, 09:19 PM']No, you will be pushing 450W between all 5 speakers = 90W to each.[/quote] No, that would only be true if all the drivers were wired in series or parallel - they are a combination of both in the 4x10

Had good results with Soundslive, DV247, Dolphin, GAK and Thomann over the past couple of years. Soundslive have been particularly good (and very competitive)

[quote name='nick' post='348814' date='Dec 8 2008, 04:56 PM']... Ideally, once down to bare wood, I'd like to leave it, but guess it would get grubby fairly quickly.[/quote] Maple really needs to be completely sealed from the environment (Nitro/Polyester/Some-other-lacquer) - at least according to Warmoth. Musicman basses mostly seem OK with oil-finished Maple though (I believe)...

I take it along to every gig in case of rig-failure, and every practice (sharing half-a-PA wih vocals).

Neck Everything else is important too, but the neck/fretting hand combination is paramount.