Ancient Mariner

There are 2 sizes of 9V rechargeable: 8.4V and 9.6V. The 8.4V have a larger capacity, but deliver a lower voltage. 3 years ago I bought a bunch of the 8.4V jobs for use in radio mics, and after the first year of use (trickle charged continuously when not actually in use) we started getting some weird feedback and variable tonal qualities, as well as increasingly frequent 'low charge' failures. Last summer I replaced the lot with the 9.6V jobs, and they've been working faultlessly since. Many bits of electronic kit have a minimum voltage, rather than minimum current threshold, and because 8.4V is close to that already, it doesn't have to drop much to become inadequate. OTOH the 9.6V jobs have to discharge a very long way before they drop below the limit.

Just been on the phone to Stringbusters. The chap I spoke with thought there should be a shipment arriving within the next few days: apparently they arrive in the UK every 2 months. He also said that they are selling a lot more recently, and that it was difficult to keep up with increased demand. One more thing - he mentioned an issue with 'fakes', although didn't go into details. Could that explain why sometimes a set seems to be 'dead'?

I've had a couple of courtesy emails, and Anthony forwarded my email to Mark Dronge (the Pres.) but no information as such yet. I suspect they're not a large company, and dealing with customers *directly* takes time they can't easily afford.

Nice guitar playing too - that's a very carefully controlled Les Paul.

I very much suspect that neither is easier or harder, though it all depends on what and how you want to play. I find rhythm guitar easy and instinctive, and so moving to bass was fairly painless once I'd sorted the mechanics of it (because it's enormously more physical than guitar) because I can feel the rhythms in a piece. Probably the hardest part is note selection because a) I can't hear bass notes clearly and notes an octave or 3 below what I'm used to interact differently within the music and chords on a bass often don't sound good - at least not in my hands. There was that Mr Big vid floating round a while back with Billy Sheehan standing side by side with the guitarist, playing pretty much the same things (allowing for the laws of physics). Both players at the top of their game, both demonstrating that there's maybe not so much difference after all.

My son heard this band earlier this year and recommended them - and I promptly forgot! Will try to hunt down some vids later.

Just emailed him to ask about availability & supply, plus mention breakage issues. Let's see if I get a reply. Seems to be a real shortage in the popular guitar gauges too.

It's complicated. At the age of 11 I had lessons for brass, and played tuba in various orchestras and a military band until I was 19, becoming reasonably proficient and reading music. At 16 I picked up the guitar and after 3 months could play a couple of simple songs, using chord books and words with chords. Went on from there to play by ear, playing lead in a couple of bands and buying my first bass (part-ex'd fairly quickly - horrid thing - in favour of a nice guitar). About 18 months ago I was 'out of work' musically speaking for the first time in 30 years, and picked up a couple of budget basses to learn how to play. I'm hardly proficient, but I can play like a bass player - watched what other players do and watched a couple of you-tube vids too.

It's a really great idea, right until you actually want to play the type of guitar it's emulating. For me, there's a lot more to different guitars than just the tone, and If I'm going to have a 'Les Paul' then it needs a big chunky neck, fat frets and sustain that lasts forever, even clean. If I'm going to have a strat then it needs that C shape neck, skinny frets, a body that hugs close and a middle pickup to dig into directly over. It's only about the tone after it feels right in my hands first. I'd expect bass to be similar.

FWIW the pitchblack mutes too - you have a choice of outputs for muting and non-muting. Had mine a couple of years now, and really like it.

Some are good for amps, but not well known, like the 6SN7GT. Quite a few valves *can* be used provided the amp is designed around their requirements, but obviously you can't plug some of them straight into a standard amp.

Is that tone clean? Sounds a but overdriven to me. The pick will make a huge difference too.

I've found guitars with large scratchplates (i.e. Fenders and clones) will often suffer crackles if the scratchplate is rubbed. Usually it can be fixed by removing the S-P and all the pots etc, spraying contact adhesive onto cooking foil and sticking this to the back of the plate. The foil is easily trimmed, and contact with the pots after they're replaced provides sufficient earthing for a 'silent' instrument.

I've had this problem a couple of times before. I my case it was actually a poor electrical contact between the piezo 'crystal' and the contacts either side. What I did was to unwrap the pickup strip, remove and clean each piezo segment and both contact plates, then reassemble. Take care not to lose the piezo elements if you try it.

Is there any possibility that you didn't put them back quite right? An EL34 should have a peg with a key in the middle of the base to ensure correct fitting, but these can get snapped off sometimes and allow the valve to be plugged in 'wrong'. Another possibility is that a heater wire has just come off that valve socket, although that's a not very common.

Used to use it on regular guitars when I used D'Addarios. About 8 or 9 years ago I switched to SOB and DR strings. Around the same time started treating my fingerboards with lemon oil about once a year and cleaning my strings carefully after each occasion: now I just don't find I need it.

[quote name='dc2009' post='1306339' date='Jul 16 2011, 11:54 PM']You must have a PA in a church (I assume there are mics). I'd rather recommend something a lot less powerful (and therefore cheaper and lighter) and investing in a decent bass amp mic (or DI ofc). You could also always rely solely on the PA and just get yourself a Sansamp. On the behringer note, I will say that I've heard a lot of people slate their gear, but to my ears and knowledge it's always been alright for the price. Thing is, I would never say it is more than alright. It does the job just fine but you'll never hear anyone rave about it.[/quote] Most church PAs aren't built to take bass at anything like a decent volume. I'd recommend spending £16 on a decent set of castors (75-100mm) that will roll across poor surfaces and bung them on your existing combo. Then the only lift is into the car afterward - works for me with a Laney 4X10 combo.

You could try these: [url="http://www.webstrings.com/flatwound_bass_strings.html"]http://www.webstrings.com/flatwound_bass_strings.html[/url] $17 (obviously + shipping). They're decent, fairly high tension compared to rounds, sound good to me on a precision.

Interesting how the bits on it are worth double the basic instrument.

'Mazing.

Great news - really well done! Hope the RA stays minimal for you as you build up fitness and stamina.

Multi-effects processors are great if you'll invest the time and effort to program them, even the absolute tone isn't usually as good as individual pedals. I've used a Korg unit for guitar since the early 90s, and it's great: just plug in and all my tones and effects are there, just waiting to be used. No panic trying to find out which patch lead stopped working, which knob got moved (so it doesn't sound right) or wondering how you're going to fit that extra pedal on the board that you MUST HAVE for a new song. I have a separate pedal board too, when I need the very best tones. But when all I want to do is make music in unfamiliar surroundings the processor is a much easier route to take.