Mr. Foxen

[quote name='danhkr' timestamp='1340369628' post='1703445'] Really it was a response to someone who said you'd have to bin a solid state amp when it goes wrong. That isn't true and I simply pointed out that the majority of decent (I didn't say handmade, boutique or top-end) valve amps are made similarly. It seems alot of people think that by spending £1500 on an amp they're getting some kind of indistructable bomb-proof piece of kit. My point was, thats not always the case. [/quote] Aside from the Ashdown you mentioned, the others aren't decent, they are just overpriced. I've been in examples of them all and they are sub Peavey build quality. Cheap Ashdown SS stuff is easy to work on and they send you the parts easily, the Ashdown valve amp I had was handwired to boutique quality. Orange amps are hot glued together.

They are low end examples that make them comparable to mass produced solid state amps, the quality level at the available is far higher for valve amps. So you are trying to compare poor quality valve amps to standard quality solid state amps. ~Work with equivalents, and you might have a valid comparison.

[quote name='danhkr' timestamp='1340368425' post='1703424'] Never said it did, just that they are few and far between and not as 'commercially' accessible. My original point was that the majority of what most recognise as 'high-end' valve gear (eg Ampeg, Orange, Ashdown etc) aren't really made much better than their equivalent solid-state variants. Thats not to say one is better than the other or none of them are good amps, just that reliability and repair-ability are similar. Its a myth that buying (for eg) a new Orange valve head is getting you an indestructible 'tank' like amp, just as it's equally a myth that buying a SS Ashdown means you'll need to bin it first time it goes wrong. [/quote] Those all aren't very well made amps. Again, just because they are overpriced and heavily marketed, doesn't make them valid examples. Mcdonalds sell a lot more burgers than anywhere else, doesn't mean they are hold up examples of restaurant eating.

[quote name='XB26354' timestamp='1340300036' post='1702599'] This is wider than music, it's anything that can be obtained electronically. Software, anyone? It is stealing. It is be a commercial product for sale that has taken time and effort for skilled people to produce which technology allows people to get for free. If you could get Dulux paint or your weekly shop off the back of a lorry, stolen, what's the difference, just because you can see the object? Is there even a music industry left? Who makes a living from music unless it's covers or functions, or one of the few fading bands on their last hurrah? [/quote] The difference between software and tangibles is when you take a tangible, you've removed it from someone else, the 'intention to permanently deprive' that is part of the definition of Theft, whereas the electronic stuff you've made a copy of, leaving the originator with just as much as they had before. So that would be mixing up your own paint to use, or growing your own groceries in such a way they are the same as that on the lorry, without them ever having to fall of the lorry, which continues to its intended location, which you no longer have to go to, because you've already sorted yourself for that stuff.

Can't make valves in the EU, so all EU means is paying for a middle man. If its vintage pre valves you want, you should come to me. Might be able to point you at some vintage power ones too.

[quote name='danhkr' timestamp='1340292825' post='1702432'] Yes but how many are? When your average pcb-based valve head is anything from £1200 upwards, that's already above and beyond most people's upper end. [/quote] Handwired ones aren't necessarily any more money, none of mine were even half that. Just because people pay too much for not very well made things, doesn't invalidate the existence of the well made ones.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1340277882' post='1702085'] Maybe we should stop thinking of recorded music as a product and start thinking of it as a service. That way when people obtain a copy of a song that they have not paid for but should have it's the same as not paying someone for having done a job. Surely we can all agree that this is a bad thing? No one wants to work without being paid for it. [/quote] Service would be the gigs part, the actual playing, rather than an ongoing thing from having played under certain conditions previously. Session musicians work on that basis, you get your session fee for your playing, then the product you worked on is someone else's. Otherwise it would be like a bespoke car manufacturer charging a fee every time someone drives the car, or every time someone sells it or parts of it thereof (sampling).

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1340276273' post='1702048'] And yet false accounting falls under the Theft Act too. Conversion is the civil equivalent of theft but also extends to the use of items legitimately held by a person, but being used in a manner not authorised by the person contracted with. [/quote] Are you against the existence of copyright law then? Also in the latter case, where is the contract, and the item?

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1340275685' post='1702031'] Yes, and I can also see how people stealing cars is good for insurance companies. [/quote] Manufacturers rather than insurance companies would be the equivalence surely? Further equivalence would be not stealing cars, but making copies of a car you have, and giving them away. Which shows where the theft bit doesn't apply.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1340274908' post='1702012'] I wonder if any of the people making claims about what is and what is not stealing have actually read the entirety of the Theft Act to see what sort of things are covered. I also wonder if those people who claim "nothing has been taken because it is a copy" are aware of the Tort of Conversion and how it operates? [/quote] If the 'Theft Act' applied, then the laws of copyright wouldn't be required. The requirement of 'intention to permanently deprive' as part of the legal definition of 'theft' is key. Have read it. Torts are civil, so not to do with theft or anything criminal.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1340271189' post='1701913'] People also forget (or don't realise in the first place) that setting up for on line streaming or downloads without a 3rd party like iTunes is not particularly cheap. We looked into hosting our own streaming on our website and found that we'd quickly exceed our bandwidth allocation which would put us into a whole new price point for hosting the site. [/quote] Put it up on Piratebay, and megaupload (except that, along with all the Caricatures alternate masters and mixes was taken down) or equivalents.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1340236791' post='1701683'] As far as I know they aren't starved - they light up like a Christmas tree so there must be some decent voltage going through. Funnily enough my Gold Lion 12AX7s don't glow though. [/quote] The glowing bit is the heater than runs on 6.3v. If the starved bit, the plate, is glowing, your amp is broken. If a valve glows especially much in an amp, it will be the LED under it.

ECC81 and ECC83 from my stock of tested good ones, Mullards, or Brimars or various other ones. Mullards would be as original.

The core isn't stainless steel, which is the important bit.

Shuguang GE-KT88.

Bear in mind if you use the same meths for ages it absorbs water, and can still allow strings to rust. Mostly if you use a tub instead of a tube so there is loads of area exposed to air. Also, I found my meths tub after being abandoned for a year or two due to house moves, and all the meths evaporated, and left a tub coated with dissolved out finger jam. Special kind of minging.

Good wood for guitars is defined by sounding good, not by any arbitrary label such as species derived stuff.

If you do go for EMGs remember some you can run at 18v for extra headroom.

In an electric bass the stirngs are earthed in common to the pickup, that might be a good start, but shielding the pickups themselves and earthing might also help (copper foil inside the covers if there is space).

[quote name='billyapple' timestamp='1339973545' post='1697216'] There is a hand-wired (they call it hard-wired) version that is UK built and UK pricier. But (depending on your point of view) the same thing. [/quote] Think might only be the Tiny Terror that is all valve. The Bass Terror is mostly a class D power module and SMPS that will be far too complex to handwire.

Orange's idea of made in the UK is board put into the chassis and chassis into the sleeve in the UK, so wouldn't be worthwhile anyway.

Fat Finger is worth a try, or clamp a G clamp to the headstock and see if its a neck mass/resonance issue. And a detuner on a standard P bass might open up some range without needing a 5, although it won't go all the way to low B, depends how much of that 5th string he really needs.

Yeah, did hit up youtube first. Found my new favourite pedal reviewer (warning: contains swearing): [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0TsdvOxlpI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0TsdvOxlpI[/url]

Anyone rocking one? What's it like? Especially in comparison to the VT bass?

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1339895696' post='1696090'] Interesting read. My gas is turning orange. One question: other than price, are there differences between the UK made and China made ones? [/quote] Might be thinking of the Ashdown Little Bastard, that had UK and China made models. If you want a UK made Bass Terror styley, have to wait for the Matamp one to be done (its all SS and probably cleaner though).