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Ancient Mariner

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Everything posted by Ancient Mariner

  1. Ancient Mariner
    You know this is the 'for sale' section of the forum? DR Rare Bronze are nice, but can be a bit subdued in the highs - not necessarily a problem with a small bodied acoustic. Otherwise DR Sunbeams have a bit more bite with pleasant warm and last well. If you don't mind spending a bit more, try a set of Elixir coated strings: many like them for their tone on acoustic as well as very long life. Gauge wise, if it's for a new guitar player then I'd suggest 10s to begin with, otherwise try 11s or 12s. I find 12s too heavy, but some guys demand blood on the fingerboard.
  2. Ancient Mariner
    Actually I can lay down plenty of funk or grind with my guitar, but love it when a bass player works with me on that. Not sure I've reached the stage on bass yet where I can really make it funk or grind, so maybe it's time for more practice.
  3. Ancient Mariner
    The intro to Highway Star (Deep Purple) is probably the best bit.
  4. Ancient Mariner
    Pickups do de-magnetise slightly over time, but that is usually considered to give them a sweeter, smoother tone (desirable for guitars, probably not significant for bass). The only reasons to replaces pickups are if they've stopped working or you want the instrument to sound different in some specific way. Some old pickups (like those from 50s and 60s Fenders and Gibsons) can be highly sought after. FWIW I have some old Gibson pickups from the 70s, and one of those is the sweetest, richest pickups I ever heard. Pickups don't wear out.
  5. Ancient Mariner
    Generally satellite were just about level with Kay in terms of quality in the 70s - i.e. bottom of the pile. At some stage I acquired a Satellite Les Paul (should that be Less Paul) which I gave away: plywood semi-hollow body, single coil pickups in humbucker size shells and everything done as cheap as possible while keeping the outline vaguely recognisable. By comparison I also owned a Columbus Les Paul (much earlier) and that was quite a decent instrument with Dimarzio pickups. Hondo and Westone instruments from the same period were better, as was Avon and Shaftesbury.
  6. Ancient Mariner
    I would love that, but I'm selling rather than buying stuff. *edit* Unless you're after guitar amps or speakers in trade, that is.
  7. Ancient Mariner
    Looks fabulous.
  8. Ancient Mariner
    It probably depends on whether you prefer a high-mass bridge or a BBOT type. The bridge *looks* very much like the generic high mass bridge that I replaced the BBOT on my J type with, and that was MUCH better in terms of tonality and sustain. Probably doesn't compare with a badass or Schaller though.
  9. Ancient Mariner
    Normally you'd adjust the nut to fit the instrument. Many factors affect nut height, including fret height, and it's preferable to tweak to taste on a case-by-case basis.
  10. Ancient Mariner
    GFS do some rails type humbuckers.
  11. Ancient Mariner
    Hearing is a funny thing. Listening and trying to discern small differences in tone will fatigue your 'ears' very quickly - say 30min or so - to the point where one starts imagining differences. Plus for many, their tone will be from their amps and EQ settings (and any effects they use) and small changes will be invisible. On a related subject, some years ago there was a lot of scepticism over cryogenic treatment of valves. I had several matched pairs of valves and access to liquid nitrogen, so..... I did some experiments with treated and untreated valves. Now some people can't hear the difference between an EL34, a 6CA7 and a 6L6, while to others the tonal differences are very striking. I got my wife to swap around the different valves for me while I was outside the room, and kept a cover over the amp so I couldn't see what was inside. I was able to identify every valve that she put in the amp correctly, and whether it had been treated or was standard. However posting the results on an amp building forum created a LOT of scepticism - they wanted to know that cryogenic treatment made no difference, and were not willing to even try the valves themselves. Now in a band setting, most people couldn't tell a P from a J or if you use Trace Eliot or Hartke amplification when they're stood in the audience, let alone how many layers of paint the body has. But the thing is, that doesn't matter - all that counts is whether the instrument feels and sounds right to us. And that's a reason it may be better not to meddle, unless you're one of lifes 'techs'.
  12. Ancient Mariner
    It *probably* won't make any difference, unless it's got a thin-skin type finish (unlikely). Most Fenders get that super-smooth paint finish by using a very thick paint, and any effect refinishing might have on resonance will be very small compared to the original finish. BUT. To refin it will have to be stripped, possibly taken back to bare wood, resprayed, dried, sanded, sprayed etc etc then rebuilt. The work involved might change the way it plays and feels, and that would have nothing to do with the finish. I've had a guitar refretted, and I no longer wish to play it! Personally I'd not change it, and instead hunt for an equivalent in black. Besides rosewood & white looks so much better than RW & black, but I would swap the scratchplate to tortoise shell.
  13. Ancient Mariner
    Sunday afternoon bumpage.
  14. Ancient Mariner
    Friday night bumpage
  15. Ancient Mariner
    These were apparently produced as a product prototype from a Chinese factory for a UK distributor, and a small number found their way onto UK Ebay. I bought this amp 3 or 4 years ago as a basis for modding, gave it a couple of tweaks and then loaned it to a friend who played it most weeks in church. He's now emigrated and I don't really have the space for it, plus I'd quite like to release a little cash. The amp itself looks quite nice, but the 'tweed' is really just a printed heavy duty vinyl and the cab is lightweight ply with floating Fender style baffle, which is obviously not enormously strong, but it IS lightweight. Inside is a steel U chassis with chassis mounted valve sockets taking 2 X 6L6 and 2 X 12AX7, but with lots of space for more if you were inclined to mod. I have schematics and a list of the tweeks I made (which were mostly in the preamp to give a more pleasing tone, plus a couple of diodes to drop heater voltage). The speaker is a no-name Chinese eminence-alike, with medium magnet and a pleasant tone without the harsher top end often found in ceramic celestions. Controls are the usual TMB + presence, gain and master + a 'boost' switch mounted in a 'classic style chrome top plate with white screen printing. 2 inputs but single channel. Tonewise it's fairly typical 6L6 with some snap at the top end and warm midrange. Loud enough for small gigs, it's rated at a conservative 30 clean watts, but probably puts out more like 45 if you hoof it, and is loud enough for small gigs un-mic'd. Overdrive tones are a bit fizzy, but it's loud enough to cope with running cleanish and taking a pedal. I'm probably doing the amp a dis-service, but don't want to mis-represent it either as something astonishingly wonderful. Why sell? I presently have 7 other guitar amps plus projects, 2 bass amps and a bunch of cabs sitting around, and one of my hobbies is amp building. It's very tempting as I'm writing this to build another amp in this chassis, but it's been sat in my livingroom since the end of May, and I've only plugged it in twice. I'd like £110 plus shipping - it's worth more than that as parts in amp-building circles. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v717/AncientMariner/Tube30front.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v717/AncientMariner/Tube30back.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v717/AncientMariner/Tube30top.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v717/AncientMariner/Tube30inside.jpg[/IMG] Eminence Cannabis Rex 16ohm, this is one of Eminence's most efficient speakers (102dB @ 1W). Fair condition - £35 plus postage http://www.eminence.com/speakers/speaker-detail/?model=Cannabis_Rex Celestion G12H 16ohm anniversary. Excellent condition, less than 10 hours use, it will come in celestion packaging. £45 plus postage. Payment by cash on collection personal cheque or bankers draft please - I don't do paypal any more. For more info PM, email (tertl at uk2 dot net) or call 07 545 003 608 Thanks guys.
  16. Ancient Mariner
    Just found out, the bass player is the legendary Dave Markee.
  17. Ancient Mariner
    Marc Chapman is an old friend of mine from when we lived in London. He's got a new CD coming out at the end of the month, and this is one of the tunes from it - there's a great smooth bass line going on behind it, so it seemed appropriate to share here. I can't seem to embed youtube videos in the new site, but here's the link: [media]http://youtu.be/xI043mn4Pc4[/media]
  18. Ancient Mariner
    Where in the UK is this?
  19. Ancient Mariner
    [quote name='Spike Vincent' post='1375794' date='Sep 16 2011, 05:01 PM']Bugger..[/quote] This
  20. Ancient Mariner
    Carlos Santana and Buddy Miles - downloaded from Youtube courtesy of another thread on here.
  21. Ancient Mariner
    Generally stickers look lousy, but that's because they're usually applied artlessly, with no eye for detail or style. OTOH something like Duarte's sterling has obviously been finished thoughtfully to create an overall effect. Not my taste, but good never the less. Gaf's racing lines also add to the overall appearance of his bass because they've been applied with taste.
  22. Ancient Mariner
    Looks great - no cash to speak of though.
  23. Ancient Mariner
    Affinity are the very bottom end of Squier quality, so AFAIK you aren't likely to be getting Classic Vibe quality materials or construction.
  24. Ancient Mariner
    I've used the Ginex system a number of times - it made an amazing difference on a cheap bass I bought a couple of years back, and it's also been good with a various guitars. However it does require a lot of care to remove material evenly and not overdo it. I'd be concerned with that about getting the FB flat enough to begin with. Also worth being aware that (for guitars at least) the S shape is desirable, with a bit of drop-off required above the 17th fret
  25. Ancient Mariner
    There's no reason to slacken strings off for storage - there's no additional stress when being stored than there is when being played, and the neck is designed to cope fine under tension all the time. Probably the most important thing is to keep it in the same conditions you'd be comfy in, and not to get it either too wet or dry. Like that Sea foam strat, but I don't have a bass to trade that you'd want.
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