flyfisher

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1322857' date='Aug 1 2011, 10:46 AM']I admire your tenacity but that's just daft. No one came out of that looking good.[/quote] I guess I put integrity and honesty above money. The guy tried it on then thought he could buy his way out of my distain for him. It's not about the money, it's about taking the pi$$. So I sold it to someone else.

[quote name='Monckyman' post='1323406' date='Aug 1 2011, 07:10 PM']Be aware that a desk recording will not provide a balanced mix, but will favour things that are quiet onstage, and wont perhaps have so much guitars that are loud etc. reverbs and other FX are usually louder than preferred also. MM[/quote] I understand the point, but doesn't this make it fairly pointless to capture an unbalanced mix? It's not as if it's going to be possible to re-balance it later (unless I'm misundertanding something here). I've often thought about doing something similar but have discounted it because of this.

Interesting article. I've always suspected that a good musician can make good music with almost any bit of equipment. I guess there are technicians or musicians.

With that much weekend work the answer's quite simple - just give up the day job and relax during the week.

[quote name='bassman7755' post='1322803' date='Aug 1 2011, 10:02 AM']Although I generally haggle, once a price is agreed then a deal is a deal and I think its very underhand and manipulative to try to renegotiate at the point of purchase unless the item has a significant previously undisclosed fault or something. Its no more acceptable than for a seller to suddenly decide they want more for it after all.[/quote] +1 Haggle away by all means, but a deal is a deal. If the deal is done unseen and it later turns out that the item is not as described then the [u]seller[/u] has broken the deal, at which point it's perfectly reasonable to renegotiate. The only time I cancelled a deal was when trying to sell an item (nothing musical) and photos had been exchanged, discussions had and a price agreed. When the buyer turned up, they started moaning about this and that and tried to knock the price down, even though I reminded them we had already agreed a price. So I said OK the deal's off, at which point they immediately offered the agreed price but I said it was too late. They then offered me a bit more but I still refused. A deal is a deal but they'd already shown their lack of integrity so they'd blown it.

Use the money saved on an unnecessary power conditoner to buy some flashing christmas lights.

The 'cash thing' is generally regarded as an advantage because it means the buyer is willing to do the deal right there and then. If the seller accepts a cheque or a bank transfer or something similar then it takes a bit of extra time for the funds to clear and the buyer might change their mind after the initial excitement of the deal dies down and not actually make the transfer, or might cancel the cheque. With cash-in-hand the seller knows the buyer is serious.

Why can't people understand that there is no 'correct' price for anything? It's ALL by negotiation because the 'worth' of the item will likely be very different to the seller and the buyer and sometimes the difference will be so large as to be irreconcilable such that no trade is possible. That's life. There's no point getting upset about it. My SIL inherited a car when her father died. She didn't want it and tried to sell it, but she had it in her mind that the car was worth more than anyone would offer her for it. So she held out for her target price. Five years later, the car is still parked in the same place as when it was last used about 4 years ago, the battery is flat, the tyres are down and the brakes are seized because of rust. She turned down £3500 for it but I doubt it's worth £500 today. What a waste.

It depends on the specs of the unit itself. Do you have a user manual or make & model number to track one down? Broadly, if the unit has an IEC socket and a 'kettle lead' then it's probably designed for worldwide use, with a suitable mains lead. But if it has a fixed mains cable with a US mains plug then it's probably designed just for US mains voltages and simply swapping mains plugs could release the magic smoke. Note the use of 'probably'. It's just not possible to be definite without further information.

[url="http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/categories/search/castors-wheels"]http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/categori.../castors-wheels[/url]

I haven't made PCBs for years, but you don't need a heap of stuff to get started. If the tracks are going to be fairly big and you don't need an ultra-neat job then nail varnish will work as an etch-resist and you can avoid all the photo-resist/UV light malarkey. Ferric Chloride will do the actual etching. I used to buy bags of crystals, though I'm not sure if they've clamped down on such chemicals these days. Good luck though - there's a lot of satisfaction to be gained from making electronic stuff from scratch.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1317556' date='Jul 26 2011, 07:56 PM']Mine has a smart wee button that shoots it up to 130w in the blink of an eye. Handy for casings.[/quote] I've not seen one like that before but it seems like a very good feature. What make is it?

[quote name='bleedproof' post='1317333' date='Jul 26 2011, 05:11 PM']You can get temperature controlled irons but they are more expensive (especially the good ones )[/quote] Worth every penny though if you do a fair amount of soldering. Part of the problem is that smallish irons, ideal for some joints, have a small heat 'capacity' so when applied to a biggish component or solder tag the iron will initially cool down faster than it can heat up the component, so it has to be kept applied while things heat up again with the risk of overheating the component. Somewhat perversely, a high-power iron may do [u]less[/u] heat damage to components because the iron won't cool down (as much) when applied to the joint and will heat the soldered part (and the solder) so quickly that the joint can be made, and the iron removed, before much heat is conducted to the actual component innards. If I could only choose a 'normal' soldering iron, I'd go for something a bit on the 'heavy' side and be sure to make fast joints to avoid the risk of cooking the components with a low-powered iron that has to be kept on the joint for too long.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1316088' date='Jul 25 2011, 06:57 PM']I really tire of the negative comments on here sometimes around Wyman.[/quote] Probably because he doesn't do high-speed slapping (thank goodness).

Saw them quite a few years ago in St Albans Arena and thoroughly enjoyed it - a bunch of great musicians at the top of their game, clearly enjoying themselves and with nothing to prove. [quote name='Len_derby' post='1315984' date='Jul 25 2011, 05:28 PM']Can you imagine a drummer the calibre of Charlie Watts putting up with a duff bass player?[/quote] Nail --> head.

[quote name='RhysP' post='1313720' date='Jul 23 2011, 12:28 PM']Looks like he's using an Ibanez of some sort in that clip. Peggy has used loads of different basses over the years - Fenders, Riverhead, custom headless models made by Mike Vanden & lots of others. last time I saw Fairport he was using an Ibanez but he does use Crafter basses now apparently. A superb player, one of the best IMO.[/quote] Doesn't that rather suggest that our choice of bass doesn't really matter? A good player will get a good sound out of almost anything.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1314683' date='Jul 24 2011, 12:44 PM']Because it shows the majority (£130) has nothing to do with class D, A, valves or solid state. The postman doesn't care [/quote] Ah, I see your point, though I'd still argue that the return shipping is more likely to be necessary with a complex class-D amp than a 'conventional' one, unless you have lots of very competent amp techs in your neck of the woods with the skills to deal with SMD boards.

I meant that the breakdown is not relevant to the overall cost. We could make a guess at and even more detailed breakdown, but it doesn't change the overall cost of the repair: Capacitors £0.67 Labour £58 Shipping £108 Subtotal £166.67 VAT @20% £33.33 TOTAL = £200 Why do you think the breakdown is relevant?

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1313666' date='Jul 23 2011, 11:35 AM']Looking at the invoice the parts and labour were around £70 and the rest was shipping the amp to and from Germany for the repair.[/quote] The breakdown is not really relevant though. It still cost about 10% of list. [quote name='BigRedX' post='1313666' date='Jul 23 2011, 11:35 AM']And you just have to look at all the horror stories on here about people taking their gear to what is supposed to be reputable tech and it coming back only partially fixed or worse. And then wonder why I wouldn't prefer to send my very expensive amp back to the manufacturer to be fixed.[/quote] Fair point. It makes sense to return very complex products to the designer/manufacturer. But it' expensive, that's all. [quote name='BigRedX' post='1313666' date='Jul 23 2011, 11:35 AM']In the end you pay your money and take your choice.[/quote] Indeed. Though with modern, complex and highly-integrated consumer-electronics the servicing choices are somewhat limited.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1312539' date='Jul 22 2011, 11:39 AM']I own a Tech Soundsystems Black Cat amp . . . . Last year - after I'd been using it for 2½ years - for no apparent reason it stopped working . . . . so I got in touch with the manufacturer (now Techamp) and arranged to send it back to them . . . . they were still able to fix it quickly (according to the repair invoice it was a couple of capacitors . . . . The repair took about 2 weeks and cost around £200 (not bad for an amp which had a list price of over £2000) and most of that was shipping to and from Germany. Based on this I am perfectly happy with Class-D amps.[/quote] Perfectly happy for a product to require return to the original manufacturer to diagnose and replace a problem with 50p's worth of components at a cost of 10% of the list price? Hmm. Imagine having to send a £20k car back to the manufacturer to have a couple of lightbulbs changed at a cost of £2000. But I'm not at all surprised about the story. A [u]manufacturer[/u] will always be able to repair stuff down to component level; they've designed and built the thing after all. But it will always be expensive, as the story proves. C'est la vie.

Its the way of the world these days; ever more complex, highly integrated technology. Wonderful stuff while it works but economically pointless to actually repair, except by simply replacing whole sub-assemblies. If you have the tools, skills and knowledge, it can of course be done but only if you ignore the value of your time. A pulley bearing siezed on my lawnmower last year. The replacement part was £110+vat, and that was without being fitted. The pully was made from two pressed-steel halves riveted together around the bearing. I didn't fancy shelling out £110+vat so repaired it myself. I drilled out the rivets, separated the two pulley halves, accurately measured the bearing, found a replacement on the web, bought a couple of new bearings (£4.50 each), reassembled the pulley, pop-riveted the two halves together, re-fitted the pulley to the mower and, hey presto, it's been fine ever since. Great - I saved well over £100. But imagine if I'd had to pay someone with decent workshop facilities to do the job for me? Modern cars are the same. PCs are the same. In fact, pretty much all modern consumer electronics are the same. It's just modern life.

[quote name='Blademan_98' post='1310963' date='Jul 20 2011, 10:56 PM']What, one bass I er don't understand....... [/quote] Having frequented this forum for a while now, I don't think I understand it myself anymore. Perhaps I should think about getting a J-bass as well, though judging from all the bass GASsing on here it would likely be the start of a very slippery slope!

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1310874' date='Jul 20 2011, 09:43 PM']Because some folk prefer the sound of single coils to 'buckers. Simples. [/quote] Interesting. Is there that much difference? (You might guess that I only own one bass, sad though that may be).

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1310841' date='Jul 20 2011, 09:18 PM']1. a P bass has a humbucking pickup therefore shouldn't hum... if it does then there is something seriously wrong (if the fault is with the bass) and shielding wont help.[/quote] I'm slightly embarassed to admit I didn't know that, though I feel I should have - so thanks for that. But it begs the question: why not use such an arrangement in all basses so that shielding isn't necessary?

I've often read about people doing this. I can understand how it works and I assume people have had good reason to go to the trouble they do, so I'm not having a go, but . . . 1. I've never had any noise problems with my bog-standard MIJ Fender Precision 2. Most manufacturers don't shield their basses (I believe) . . . which implies, to me, that it shouldn't be necessary. So, when there's a noise problem, and I know there sometimes is, should we be looking elsewhere for the cause rather than reach for the copper tape?