Moos3h

[quote name='silddx' post='646165' date='Nov 5 2009, 12:28 PM']Sorry, I think I must have misread your post. I understand now, I thought you meant you bypassed your [b]active [/b]electronics. I wasn't being patronising, sorry, I just meant turning up on-board active controls to full is the virtually the same as turning the controls on your amp up full. Apologies for my misunderstanding. What you've done is interesting actually, what difference in tone and output were there?[/quote] No worries matey, have edited my original post to make it a wee bit clearer anyway

The grounding is all soldered to the sleeve of the jack - I think that's right? Seems just as quiet in terms of buzz as it did before (once I reattached the bridge grounding wire! Doh!) Although it's hard to say for sure, as I did a string change at the same time, taking the volume and tone controls out of the equation has possibly given an increased amount of volume and high end. Really should have put the old strings back on for a proper A/B test.

Sorry, perhaps I didn't make myself clear - my basses are all passives and on those I leave everything up full. On actives, (which I have have owned, but never stuck with) everything is left in the notched, middle position. I find a tone in your email very slightly patronising (apologies if I am misreading this) but no I don't also turn my amp controls up to the maxmimum too. My point, which I thought I had already made clearly enough but I guess not was that I am enjoying removing the options for sound shaping from the bass - getting rid of the knobs and switches to fiddle with, and concentrating on make the best noise I can with my fingers, is that so wrong?

I meant to post this a while ago, but I recently bypassed all the electronics in my main bass and just run from the pickup straight to the jack. It's a P-Bass copy with a GFS pickup and it sounds absolutely HUGE as a result. I came to the realisation that almost always, I NEVER touch any of the controls on my passive basses and leave everything on maximum - this is partly why I've never got on with active preamps etc as I have fiddled, but always found myself back at the centre position. (Edited for clarity!) The flipside to having no tonal control on your bass is it forces your to do it with your fingers - I've got more adept at going from wooly thud to biting attack just with the part of my striking fingers I use, or by changing pick type. I then approach EQ on the amp as EQ'ing for the room and not the instrument. Any other players here with this approach? I'm not saying we should all ditch our expensive onboard EQ's etc but try it sometime, it's quite refreshing! It's like having nowhere to hide! Cheers, James

Fantastic buyer - fast response to all PM's and very quick payment. Top chap!

Thanks Wil!

[quote name='Rayman' post='644584' date='Nov 3 2009, 06:51 PM']That sir, is possibly the best looking bass I've ever seen.....[i]wow[/i]![/quote] Stick a marginally more substantial bass on it and I would agree!

Plenty of Wilkinson Brass-saddled bridges on ebay for about a tenner. I bought one and am very happy with it as I don't need the brick-shiphouse construction of a Badass or similar.

I'd like to find a good cheap source for that stuff, ebay is mostly useless! In Halfords, you can buy conductive paint for fixing the elements of your rear window demister, I wonder if this would do the trick?

I'd be interested to hear how you get on, I ordered a shielding kit recently, but couldn't for the life of me get the tape to stay stuck to the body - I cleaned the painted surfaces but it should wouldn't stick!

I've mentioned these guys before: www.guitarfetish.com GFS pickups. Fantastic, just fantastic. Stocks can be a little up and down, but the quality is astonishing and the tone very, very good indeed.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='643488' date='Nov 2 2009, 03:40 PM']I often think the way people go on about quality and quality control in china and taiwan etc is pretty racist - as though "they" aren't capable of creating something that's just as good or better than a UK or US factory or something. I'm not saying that's happened in this thread, but I see it a lot on this board.[/quote] I've seen that too, and it's certainly not the point I'm trying to get over here....I'm more interested in why the decision to assemble overseas is taken when the end price is still so high...is it BECAUSE they actually make a fantastic guitar in Indonesia, or would the same guitar being wholly USA-made be upwards of £2k? I couldn't care less where the stuff I buy comes from, but I'm interested in the economic and practical choices for any offshoring and the implications it has. I've grown up in a country that actually makes very little, and it makes me curious of the factors involved.

I should also add, I'm merely asking what the deal is - I'm probably missing something which explains the extra cost, and perhaps what Dave said, that they are finished in the states goes some way to explaining the cost - we're also probably talking numerous different import/export taxes being levvied at all points. Cheers, James

My point is rather that given the constant grumble from specialist manufacturers is usually 'Our labour costs are so high....we can't compete on pricing' when based in the UK or other western countries (and America too, these days) it is understandable that such production being done overseas makes sense, to keep costs down and keep instruments accessible to all. I can dig that, but if we're talking a £1k upwards bass, what the heck are your overheads if you're building in Indonesia and it's still retailing for such a massive amount of money? I mean, I realise that with the exchange rate, we're getting stiffed every which way but if I was seriously considering dropping that kind of cash on a bass then I would look elsewhere, if that's Jingoistic then I apologize but it's how I feel* Cheers, James * Says the man who regularly gigs a bass that is made from MDF and was probably assembled under horrific conditions in a developing economy.

Right, explain to me how it can be so expensive and be made in Indonesia??? Sorry, I'm lost. That is mental money for a guitar built over there, regardless of the materials used - has anyone bought one and how good are they? Cheers, James *** Subtitle modified to something less offensive - Apologies ***

Yep, in fact it only takes someone to put a stills camera in my direction and all hell breaks loose. Part of the reason I became a photographer, keep me behind the lens and not in front of it!

I'd be more worried about that crack in the neck....ouch. Can't see anyone going for that at the asking.

Yes, it's generally sensible to have a head that can offer more power than your speakers are rated for - it's rare that OVER powering kills speakers, provided that you listen carefully. More often than not, speakers are damaged by DC clipping caused by amp heads being driven too hard. It should be fine!

As you're looking at it, lefty-loosey, righty-tighty! Try using a screwdriver bit on a socket to give you more torque - you could also try a tiny amount of WD40, but I really mean tiny - it won't do the wood any good if you soak it... Cheers, James

Cheers Ben! You too mate, t'was a pleasure!

Nice stuff, although I found Teenage Kicks was on the wrong LP speed setting - it should be twice that speed!