Gear with its own personality

[ahpook]

13 minutes ago, JoeEvans said:

Ah, the internet. When you're gagging for an argument and you really don't care what it's about...

 

POTD !

 

 

[BreadBin]

[Rich]

I've got a great idea. How about we

 

(and it's a radical plan, so concentrate)

 

How about we

 

(here goes, deep breath)

 

get back on topic and stop this ridiculous feckin Laurence Logic arguing over pointless, irrelevant, nitpicking minutiae?

 

Good plan, yes?

[tauzero]

There's glory for you.

 

Spoiler

'I don't know what you mean by "glory",' Alice said.

 

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. 'Of course you don't — till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'

 

'But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument",' Alice objected.

 

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

 

[la bam]

3 hours ago, JoeEvans said:

Ah, the internet. When you're gagging for an argument and you really don't care what it's about...

 

(deep panto breath....) 

 

"Ohhh no it isntttt" 

 

 

[meterman]

I had a Minimoog on ‘permanent loan’ in the late 90s that had it’s own personality, definitely. Either that or it was just a bit knackered. If you wanted to record it on a track you had to get it done within 20 minutes of switching it on. After then, the pitch drift would be so unstable it would be unusable.

 

After a while I used to sample it and use the samples instead. Gave it back to my pal who had it totally overhauled and still has it now. 
 

I remember wanting to take an axe to it one day in the studio though. 😂

[TimR]

The old analogue gear before cnc, automation and quality control would all have sounded slightly different. Different components from different batches with different tolerances. Add to that speakers need to bed in, it's no surprise that combos, amps and cabs sound different.

 

I guess basses you've owned for a while will have various wear points that only you (or the previous owner) will have put on them. Pickups wound slightly differently, pots with capacitors slightly different, woods from different trees. Especially when just changing strings makes a huge difference. 

 

I guess looking for new gear we can have a sound in our head that we are never going to get, I've always got something close and just learned to enjoy that new sound.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by TimR

[TimR]

18 minutes ago, meterman said:

After then, the pitch drift would be so unstable it would be unusable.

 

I had a Trace Elliot amp that would do strange things after an hour. Used to turn it off during the break and let it cool down until I got the top off and found a dry joint and fixed it. 

 

Many years later the wisdom of the Internet highlights it as a common fault. 

[TimR]

4 hours ago, la bam said:

 

(deep panto breath....) 

 

"Ohhh no it isntttt" 

 

 

 

It's behind you. 

[tauzero]

I don't think I've ever had two of something to decide which one is "the one", except for a Zoom MS-60B and as one of them has a missing knob and a non-functional quadrant of the circular switch then I can safely say that the other one is "the one".

[bassbiscuits]

The rehearsal space we’ve been using since the summer comes equipped with a fairly old Ashdown ABM300 head into an 8-ohm MAG 4x10 cab. 
 

Much to my surprise it’s a stonking sounding bit of kit, and really loud. Especially surprising since the various Ashdowns I’ve owned weren't my cup of tea at all. 
 

But this one has magic inside it somewhere. It sounds lovely.