Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Ancient Mariner

Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,106

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Ancient Mariner

  1. Ancient Mariner
    [quote name='john_the_bass' post='833754' date='May 10 2010, 11:03 PM']Hello good people of BC! I have a G&L Asat Special in Butterscotch blonde/yellow with black hardware from 1987 (at least that's what I can work out from the serial #). It's a 3 bolt neck guitar, has an "Asat by Leo Fender" logo, the old-school U shaped string retainer and what I think is a single ply, anodised black aluminium pickguard (original of course!). Thin neck with rosewood fingerboard and I'm pretty sure an ash body too. The finish is nitro and is wearing off around the forearm position and along the back of the neck but there are no dents or dings to speak of and the wear is commensurate with regular use I reckon. I will take pics in the morning but I've been thinking of parting with this while I have been away for the last week - the tone is MEGA, does thicker and fatter and twangy much better than any Tele I've played. My preference is for a thicker neck to get my sausage fingers around and possibly going back to a set of humbuckers. The original case is included but has seen very many better days and is missing two catches and most of the underside through a lot of use. I've not used it since I've had it and had transferred the guitar to another case - the guitar will be sold with the original case. I would be looking for around £850 - I would consider a trade deal for a hard tail PRS (preferably a Mira or Starla or possibly a CU22), maybe some kind of Gibson (not an LP Studio, faded anything, Special anything or Melody Maker) or a USA Tele with a chunkier neck (but no solid colours). It works so well in the Mr Plow band, I am probably not doing the right thing by selling it, but I could do with something a bit more versatile for the covers outfit. If there are any builders out there that would be able to put together a custom guitar to a very strict specification and would take the G&L as payment, drop me a line also. Ta[/quote] Any pics? Would you be interested in a Heritage H150CM 'Les Paul' as a trade? Neck is more like the slimmer 60s profile that the baseball bat 58s.
  2. Ancient Mariner
    I'd guess that the Aguilar is smaller, lighter and easier to cart about? That's largely where the money went + nicer build quality. Cheap kit has come a VERY long way, and can often be as good as much more expensive gear in some respects.
  3. Ancient Mariner
    [quote name='Marvin' post='830655' date='May 7 2010, 01:47 PM']I noticed it but chose to ignore it [/quote] Likewise.
  4. Ancient Mariner
    Thanks BB.
  5. Ancient Mariner
    I'd guess how much cutting and boosting depends on the rig etc too, so it's not a case of just boost everything 50-200Hz. I found the image below a couple of years back and it's helped me understanding where different instruments lie in a mix - hopefully it's useful to some of you in this context too.
  6. Ancient Mariner
    They are useful if you're playing at lower volumes, and don't want the levels of popping or slapping to spike excessively above fingerstyle volume. The compression aspect can also be useful if you need more sustain, and will swell the volume as the note dies away naturally to maintain the level. You might also consider a limiter, which will prevent the excessive volume peaks from popping and slapping without gaining up the volume when a note dies away. At higher volume levels some amps and most speakers will naturally compress a bit anyway, so if you play loud you'll already have an idea of the effect.
  7. Ancient Mariner
    Some foams will last longer than others. Personally I'd try medical grade silicon rubber tubing if you can get it: either in small diameter around the PU retaining screws or a fat piece under the middle of the PU. It should offer the high damping efficiency of foam together with a very long lifespan.
  8. Ancient Mariner
    Sorry to hijack, but how different do they sound and feel from stainless flats? I don't plan on changing strings too often, and I'd like to make a sensible choice.
  9. Ancient Mariner
    Removing half the valves in a guitar amp is done to halve the power output and drop clean headroom. The 2 remaining valves work just as hard as they did before at half the power level. However if the amp was previously set to produce 50 watts with all 4 valves and is again set to produce 50 watts on only 2 they yes, they will be working harder than before. Removing one pair of valves will also change the double the impedance that the output needs to see. If previously you used a 4ohm load then you will need to change it to 8 ohms. Failure to do that will also wear the valves out more quickly. Valve amps do appear to cope with quite a wide range of impedances, but it is not good for them to be run at the wrong impedance, and it will likely shorten the life of the output transformer as well as the power valves.
  10. Ancient Mariner
    Before you buy new PUs, have you tried altering pickup height at all?
  11. Ancient Mariner
    When you connect 2 or more cabs in parallel, the max wattage of the whole system is always the wattage of the lowest power handling cab X the number of cabs. Thus 150W X 2 = 300W. In the 'bad old days' of valve amps you needed to at least match the max output of the amp with the cabs, and if you intended to dime it then preferably allow 1.5X in power handling. Valve amps wattage is normally their clean rating, and so will often produce a bit more when pushed hard. Solid state amps appear to have all sorts of clever trickery built in (sometimes) and may be safe even when your speakers theoretically shouldn't cope - just don't bank on it!
  12. Ancient Mariner
    The thing is, an instrument like bass or guitar is always the sum of it's parts. We're looking for relatively small differences changing woods, hardware etc. This biggest difference is often in the subtle things, like how it responds to us as we're playing it, rather than tone per se. In any case I doubt whether an audience could hear the difference between a jazz, a precision and a stingray most of the time.
  13. Ancient Mariner
    [quote name='TDM' post='826537' date='May 3 2010, 03:20 PM']Soundclick is fast but I think the free accounts are limited to 128kbps bitrate.[/quote] They are. I use soundclick and it's worked well for me, but you do need to pay attention to your mix and encoding bit rate to maintain quality.
  14. Ancient Mariner
    The difference a good fret level makes. Bought a REALLY cheap J type from GAFbass on here at Christmas. With a little tweakery it was OK, but the wood & tronics gathering convinced me it was time for a levelling. Now it's working with me, rather than fighting me, and with other adjustments it's so much fuller sounding too. I'd already done the encore P type and wish I'd got round to this one sooner too.
  15. Ancient Mariner
    [quote name='Schnozzalee' post='825816' date='May 2 2010, 07:35 PM']Makes me wanna play guitar.[/quote] Me too. Oh, I do already.
  16. Ancient Mariner
    They seem good value on the 'bay right now - wondered whether they're any good? Yes, I know many recommend Duncans and Wizards, but I'd like to know about these.
  17. Ancient Mariner
    [quote name='BurritoBass' post='824253' date='Apr 30 2010, 05:44 PM']First time, eh? GAS is like shin splints - once you get it, it never goes away[/quote] Oh GAS is very familiar, but not until now for basses. I should be grateful for all the bizarre body shapes and skinny horns, because it makes most of them desperately unattractive to me. Guess it's mostly because I've got the amp sorted out, and now I have to buy something else to substitute for practice.
  18. Ancient Mariner
    [quote name='OldGit' post='823987' date='Apr 30 2010, 01:04 PM']This is for blues harp rather than guitar. Does that all still apply?[/quote] I've built an experimental preamp with a switch to change from conventional cap + resistor to LED bias, and the LEDs give a more aggressive tone with a bit more drive. Might be want you want to help cut through but you might also find it a bit hard-edged..
  19. Ancient Mariner
    Dawsons are doing 'em for 230 quid right now too.
  20. Ancient Mariner
    Probably Jack Bruce. He's the bass player I always wanted around when I played guitar.
  21. Ancient Mariner
    Can't speak for the bass combos, but many of the guitar versions are genuinely good sounding (some prefer the tones over their Peavey equivalents) and the more recent releases I've seen have sounded great. They had problems early on with some amps literally catching fire, but quality seems to have been improved considerably since then. Not necessarily the best choice if you're planning a 200 date tour, but more than good enough for home/rehearsal use.
  22. Ancient Mariner
    Blocking distortion is just unpleasant, rather than 'nasty'. I'd try the 1000uF cap on the EL84 and bleed more treble off first.
  23. Ancient Mariner
    I'd go along with escholl, but also recommend changing C2 for something much larger - 1000uF or there abouts. Having a big cathode cap on the power valve can strengthen and smooth the bottom end. Some guys I know have used up to 2000uF, but above that things start to get a little muffled. If you're in the mood to experiment then change C1 to about 2uF or 4uF and C9 to 22nF or 47nF. This will reduce the bass generated in the first gain stage, but will also allow a wider frequency range through to the next stage. I would suggest trying the larger of both values to begin with, and if the tone gets harsh and ragged when you wind up the volume then the amp is suffering blocking distortion. In that case change C9 to the smaller value. You could also try bridging R17 with a 100K resistor. Have fun.
  24. Ancient Mariner
    Should be completely safe unless the fridge bursts into flames.
  25. Ancient Mariner
    It just alters the tonality a bit and the manner in which it will push an amp into overdrive. I'm not sure what it's like in the bass world, but with guitars it is quite different to just hoofing the gain control. Overall, side by side I find overwound pickups of otherwise the *same specification* to sound duller and more nasal. A high output pickup needs to be designed on purpose - it's no good just adding more turns to a vintage style PU. However if you have a vintage style pickup that is very toppy and harsh/bright then it can mellow it out a bit and help give it a bit more kick. In this case, I'd be pretty sure the most powerful effect a 5% overwind has is in the marketing.
×
×
  • Create New...