Jakester

Well, you're paying him. If you don't like it, tell him, and if he won't do what you want, don't use him!

Yikes, good luck!

Ah, I see! Sounds like a pain. I'd have thought without that Thomann one it might be time to bust out the soldering iron! This suggests you can switch M and F connections around, but it's in the States: http://www.networksound.com/index.php/products/pbays/xlr

Er, and that particular one you have highlighted is available: https://www.thomann.de/gb/millenium_pb16_xlr_in_out.htm Is it that you don't want to use Thomann?

What's the use case? I have an ART P16 which is 16 in/16out but if you need both I/O on the front panel, that configuration wouldn't be much good to you! The rack ears can be flipped so you can have either input or output on the front panel, if that's any use? https://www.thomann.de/gb/art_p16_patchbay.htm https://uk.farnell.com/art/p16/patchbay-16-channel-xlr-balanced

Sorry, yes - that’s what I meant!

I just used a male to male Jack adapter when I used a different head while I was waiting for my combo head to come back. Worked fine.

I recently bought a double bass from BC, and it had been bought and sold on here at least once before that. The other option is try one of the shops - Bristol Violins might sell for you on a commission basis?

LOL no! By 'further investigations' I meant checking all the switches are engaged/disengaged as appropriate, checking the gain levels to make sure I'm not underdriving the distortion section etc etc. I couldn't even figure out how to get the cover off!

Well, yes - what exactly did you think I was going to do?

Hmm, it may not entirely be back. I gigged it for the first time this evening and the OD circuit didn’t seem to work. It wasn’t necessary for the gig, but I will do somE further investigations...

I really fancy (for no good reason!) having something like this in a rack behind me: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/5929558943747217

I would agree, except the one I had was really inaccurate and struggled to pick up bass notes. I’ve just got a Swiff mini tuner which I run from the tuner output of my preamp - works really well for just double checking intonation.

So I am a moron. I recently acquired a BassBone and, realising that it needs a pretty hefty 15v 400mA supply, and my current pedalboard PSU wasn't going to cut it, bought a CIOKs SOL, which had enough outputs and the options to deal with all the pedals I have. Spent ages carefully setting it up on my pedalboard, checked the jumpers, double checked them, triple checked them, and once everything looked good, I plugged it all in. To be met with a cloud of acrid smoke coming from the BassBone. Sob. Of course, I knew that it needed a 15v 400mA supply. But I hadn't clocked it needed a CENTRE POSITIVE supply, not a CENTRE NEGATIVE one. So by plugging the latter in, I managed to burn out my new pedal. Or so I thought! Once I'd cleared out the smoke from the room and triple checked I'd disconnected everything, I plugged in the correct Radial PSU and lo and behold, it still worked! Using the correct adaptor on the CIOKs also showed it was all working, so thankfully no damage done to the PSU (phew!). From my very urgent Googling straight afterwards, I gather that *some* pedal manufacturers use a sacrificial diode which stops the rest of the pedal getting knackered if you use the wrong PSU. So, even though I had a faceful of smoke, it seemed it was okay. Nevertheless, I got on to Radial to ask - they said they couldn't give me details of the innards, but to speak to Polar Audio, who are their UK distributor. Unfortunately Polar state that they don't do out of warranty repairs, and recommended two servcing companies - Surrey Amps and the dreaded (to me at least!) Real Electronics. Having had no luck in the past with RE, I did a search for amp repairs, and came across [a repairer, the details of whom I have now deleted owing to subsequent issues] I dropped [person] a line, and he said he'd take a look; his hourly rate/diagnosis fee was much less than Surrey Amps so I gave it a shot. The service was exemplary - not only was I kept informed every step of the way, [person] even sent me a video of the pedal opened up and explaining the damage and what needed to be replaced. I gave the go-ahead, and he also sent me a video afterwards showing everything working. Finally, the repair was turned around and back to me in just over a week, for less than the cost of the SA diagnostic check. He also picked up an issue with a dodgy pot and replaced that too. I can't sing his praises enough. Whilst I could have kept on trying to use it, it wouldn't have had any protection and [person] pointed out the heat had damaged a small resistor too, so who knows if that could have caused other problems in the future. So, I have been saved by my own stupidity once again. [edit - repairer details removed due to subsequent issues] (I haven't wired it all up again yet, but I will not be turning anything on until I'm absolutely sure I have the correct polarity this time!)

Went back, checked with a tester - all fine, plugged in - no problems at all despite using all the same gear. Weird. Definitely no fridges or other heavy equipment nearby either. I mean...

And when you say “damage to sticks”, what do you mean? If he’s knackering sticks on a proper kit in a way he doesn’t on an electric, it suggests to me he’s got an issue with his technique. That said, better he’s knackering sticks at £12 a pop than cymbals at £200 a pop…

Drum shops? But seriously, there’s just the same range of shops for drums as there is bass. G4M, PMT, GAK etc all do drum stuff. There’s specialists like Drummersonly, Graham Russell and Drumshop. Then there’s some great buy and sell groups on Facebook. Take your pick.

Does say it's only for acoustic guitars though - looks like you need the soundhole to draw it on the strings.

Looks like it. Lawrie, if that doesn't do it, if you PM me your email address I'll send them to you.

Do you mean Walking or Expanding? I think I have the former so could send you the mp3s.

But there are so many more variables involved than simply "it's a piece of wood". Colour, form factor, electronics, brand (and that can of worms!), association (or otherwise) with noted players, even- shock horror - the actual sound. That's like saying "a car is just metal on four wheels" or "a house is just a load of bricks". And if that all works for you, perfect. But just as your particular needs for cars, housing etc might not work for anyone else, similarly their own instrument choices based on their own needs might be different to yours. Or, to put your statement another way - just because your own basses which are perfect for you cost peanuts, that doesn't mean it'll work for anyone else. If that were the case, we'd all be playing Precisions. Oh. What's that? We all are? 😉

It's not that it suffers problems - I daresay it's probably no more or less than any other brand. It's that it's impossible to get MB stuff repaired by anyone other than their approved repairer - who, in my own experience, were not very good. Obviously I can't generalise based solely on my own experience, but it does make it incredibly frustrating as an owner and certainly disinclines me to buying any more of their stuff. Indeed, when I had other issues recently (subsequently attributable to the venue, not the amp) I was entirely prepared to flog all my MB stuff off at a loss as I'd lost faith in it all. Similarly if I do have any other problems in future I'm not going to bother to try and get it repaired, I'll just go for a different brand entirely.

Sadly, yes. And, IME that means they can charge what they like. I sent my CMD121 head away for intermittent volume problems, got charged £170 with no real resolution, only for the problem to recur. I ended up sacking that head off and buying a second hand LM3 to put in instead. The economics of MB repairs mean it works about practically the same.