LITTLEWING

I've just acquired a used Squier Standard PJ four string with the Jazz neck, thing is the original Jazz style bridge pup has failed and there's an Aria unit in it's place but it seems a little quiet compared to the precision pups even when raised nearer to the strings. When both volumes are up it's even a smidge less. I've seen a couple of Wilkinsons on the 'bay, one's 7.5k and the other is 9k so which one would be best for balance with the original split precision pups?

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1462445512' post='3043033'] Wunjo's is almost all that's worth going to Tin Pan Alley for these days. The street is a pale and sickly shadow of its former self. I remember a time when you could kill a whole day there. [/quote] Ah, the good old days. Macari's, Fender Soundhouse, ...bumped into Townsend, Boz Burrell (Bad Co), so many faces.

How do people find on average the condition of a bass on arrival? I know it's best to try a few at a store and go home with the best one, but to save a round trip of a load of miles I'm looking at buying a Mex Precision online from a very well known store and wondered if in general for instance they're actually ready straight out the cardboard box to do a two hour pub set and have no real issues? Or is it a case of sharp fret ends and buzzes where they've just been screwed together at the factory and sent straight out to punters?

I bought one for £169 in walnut a few months back and for the money it's absolutely awesome. I was looking for a spare bass for gigs and tried a few very underwhelming Ibanez's when I spotted a Toby hanging nearby. The second I plugged into the shop's combo the depth and clarity and character hit me, followed by the butter-like ease and speed of runs I could suddenly achieve on the very grin-inducing neck. The active bass control is just sublime and reminded me of the sweet Music Man palette. What amazed me recently was the overall punchiness that came over clear as a bell on a video someone did of a few live covers on a simple iPhone. If the price tag was in the five hundreds I would still have bought it. It is honestly that good to me.

I know we've had this topic a few times before, but during last night's gig my left hand index fretting finger cramped down halfway thru a song and slowly went away to only somehow transfer to my right index playing finger leaving me to rely on the second and third for one number. Bloody embarrassing although most punters don't really pay that much attention if the low end isn't quite right for a bar or three. Anybody got any ideas? Never seems to happen at rehearsal.

Here's one for ya..... I acquired a 31 year old Westone Thunder 1A a little while ago and as it sounded and played incredibly in passive mode, I never bothered about seeing how the active circuit sounded. (okay, there was a wire off one of the two battery connectors and I couldn't be arsed soldering it on again until recently...) Anyhoo, I chucked two (admittedly different makes, one Duracell and one perfectly working one showing nearly 9v made by VMP whoever they are). Plugged in and all was sounding absolutely bleedin' awesome. However, 2 weeks on at rehearsal I went to switch to active and it was dead as a dead thing, totally fine in passive mode. First thoughts were 'sh*t, I left it switched on and both batteries have died', so I took them out and tested them only to find the Duracell was showing 8.9v and the VMP wierdo was showing MINUS, yes MINUS 5.7v. Turning the test leads the opposite way showed 5.7v in normal 'plus' mode. How the heck can a battery turn it's polarity backwards??? Is it because it's (probably) a foreign jobby and made cheap inside and couldn't handle pushing it's puny 9v with a proper Arnold Schwarzenneger type batt and just screwed itself ?? Right now I'm a bit loathe to put 10 quid's worth of Duracells in if there's a strange fault in the Westone circuitry.

Here's one for ya......Which is best - Angling a pickup or staggering the polepieces (where applicable) ? My old Westone Thunder 1A has adjustable polepieces. I've angled the split pups to suit the distances from the pups to the strings and all sounds pretty darn sweet and balanced, but would it be more aurally beneficial to leave the pups flat with the E and G at sensible distances and raise the pieces for the A and D in an arc as per fret radius? I know it's all down to the pup's magnetic field to transmit the vibes but how would the raised pieces enhance (or not??) the volume/tone? Ol' Leo recognised this and manufactured staggered poles on his Strat, so there must be something in it. (but then, Jazz and Stingray pups etc. are all at one level and they always somehow sound just superbly right. Damn this electrickery stuff........

Is it just an aesthetic thing or does each string HAVE to line up between the pole pieces on split P pickups? I just put a Wilkinson bridge with brass saddles (improved the tone massively) with narrower string spacing on a project P as an experiment on easier playing etc. but obviously the strings now don't lie directly between the pole pieces. The volume and overall tone hasn't changed to my ears, so does it really matter as much? After all, if the pups had 'blank' covers on, how would one even know where the strings sat above them as long as they're in the magnetic field?

Anyone near Poole, this guy is a legend. [url="https://www.facebook.com/john.j.benton?fref=ts"]https://www.facebook.com/john.j.benton?fref=ts[/url]

Absolutely!! Sockets tarnish VERY quickly in outside humidity and sound like crap until you scrape the contacts bright and clean again. And a spider suddenly appearing on your dashboard doing 70mph to a gig doesn't go down at all well....

Have you pressed the new strings firmly over the pickup side of the saddles? Gives them a slight angle as hours of playing naturally would and makes them sound alive. (Try it on any bass right now if you don't believe it) It's possible the new ones are in an arc on the saddles not only giving minimal contact but are further away from the bridge pickup in particular causing the drop in volume although your description does sound lead-like.

I've found that a set of watchmaker's screwdrivers are just about the right sizes of average bass nut slots. Wrap a small bit of fine sandpaper around the business end shaft keeping it on taut with finger and thumb and keep 'shafting' (oo-er missus !) and checking with each string tensioned up until you're happy with depth and width. Doesn't take long to go through plastic. Bone takes a bit longer.

I've always had mine on any passive or active bass right up on full and generally control the output for each song with my fingers. TBH I don't use it for any other reason than to turn it down when it's not in use in it's stand. I guess if there was a REALLY quiet number I would nip it down to suit. I personally employ the tone control more than anything to fine tune if needed to tame the required level.

I loaned a newfound musician mate a 100 watt Orange valve guitar amp in the mid '80s as he didn't own a decent one and he moved house suddenly. Never found out where he went. Somewhere out there I still actually own a classic amp worth a few pretty pennies.....

Ideally you should never keep any gear in an unheated outdoor room. All kinds of corrosion can start up. A pal had a Hartke 2 x 15" cab once which suddenly sounded like the speakers had blown, hardly a sound out of it apart from a distorted fart. Cut a long story short it turned out to be a tarnished jack socket. Quick clean up and a squirt of electrical lube and it was cracking windows again.

Okay, okay. I didn't read it properly. It's just that as soon as I see the words guitar and attic I'm reminded of a mate's Fender Strat which he put up in his loft when he gave up playing for about ten years and when he retrieved it one day it was, well, not very healthy and I found it difficult holding back the tears... I'm back on the right tablets now.

What the hell is anyone doing storing guitars in an attic anyway ?? Have you been up there in the summer - feckin' hot like an oven, and winter - like a bleedin' walk in freezer. You want to shag your prized instruments to death, then carry on. You've only got yourself to blame when they're split, rusty and warped. 'Kin hell !!!

I'm looking at somehow tilting back my combo to hear better when we're playing but can only find stands for sale which will raise it off the ground. I know the normal practice is to have a cab as much on the floor as possible, but is there REALLY any discernible loss in bass and 'good' tone if it's up in the air somewhat ?

Absolutely spot on.

Now THERE'S another thing.....Fender and the Haynes Fender manual say about setting up the heights but is that at the 17th with a capo at the first fret or without? I set my P and Jazz without a capo at 7/64" at the E at the 17th fret gradually sloping to 5/64" at the G and that gives me a nice relationship between finger/thumb and plectrum as long as I don't get too enthusiastic.

Just a quick update, I took the speaker out and found a large lump of 40 x 40cm wood pinned diagonally across the back panel which looks like there were vibration problems with the cabinet at some point, so as an experiment I screwed a fairly large piece of hard foam to it effectively raising it off the rear panel aiming to kill some box-ey sound waves. Slap me hard and call me Doris, but it actually sounds like a bloody good quality combo now. Used it yesterday at praccy and I was smilng like a dog with two wotsits. No more bare wood cabs for me in the future. (Notes to Rumble 100 owners - 1/ disconnect completely unnecessary tweeter, 2/ disconnect completely unnecessary red led's, 3/ fix a lump of foam to rear internal panel, 4/ snip the spade connectors off the speaker wires and SOLDER them on. (You will now have a sensible combo).

Cheers, chaps. Happy New Year.

Does anyone find sound deadening inside bass cabs good or bad? I use a Fender Rumble 100 with a 15" speaker in our rehearsal space (disconnected the tweeter-yuk!!) and the stupid red Leds. (yuk again!!). Anyhow, its always sounded great up to about half volume and then after that begins to sound too harsh as though the bass is 'fighting' itself. The cab isn't exactly very deep so could the waves be reflecting off the back too much? I was thinking about damping the inside just on the back with something or other to possibly 'tame' the middle boom.

Cheers B-B, What great reviews, guess what I just may be purchasing!!

Had to resort to my trusty old Westfield back up bass recently and as the drop in clarity etc was a bit of a bummer, I've been looking at not-too-expensive replacement P bass pups. I found Wilkinson's MWPBs, ones from Axesrus and ones from a guitar chap called Entwistle all sub £30. Any recommendations please, guys (and gals) ?