ahpook

Limited edition of 420

Looks like me and nobody are going to have to agree to differ...

Not the best of 1991 by a very long chalk.

Don't tell me you've never heard Toupée -perback Writer ?

Again, not bass albums, but 'The Comforts of Madness' and 'In Ribbons' by the Pale Saints were a big influence on my playing. Household names ;)

I've used a strip of double-sided sticky tape, cut to size.

You could make your own show up. Go onto youtube and pick a video from an ancient bluesman, a 'challenging' modern-ish band, somebody who won a BBC jazz award three years ago and a burke playing spoons in an ethnic hat. OK ? Now flick between them and a vid of Joolz on boogie woogie piano, over and over again. Play Joooolz at the same time as one of the vids....it won't fit, but that never stops Joooooooolz. Turn the bass waaay down and you'll not notice the difference. Not that I watch it of course, it's shiite.

Not. Looking.

When they came out I remember a couple of folks on ebassist got the Laklands and they said they didn't suffer from neck dive. Looking at the design, the strap anchors from the upper horn and it's pretty close to the 12th fret so I'm inclined (Ho-Ho) to believe the neck dive would be better than, say, a Jack Casady. But I do find it hard to believe any semi-bass wouldn't suffer from some neck dive, just down to simple balance of materials. Not sure I'd want to be convinced tho....then they'd be two of us after one

Yep, me too.

This is Basschat...all guitarists are egomaniacs, singers are preening narcissists and drummers are always late. Meanwhile on Drumchat, all guitarists are egomaniacs, singers are preening narcissists and bass players are always late.

A hearty welcome !

I think it's there to get people engaged in the auction. You make an offer and then you're partway into making a deal...which is more likely to lead to a sale than just walking on by.

Very much so....a list of everything the strap isn't could be somewhat extensive.

I've seen some basses that look like they've been hit with the ugly stick, but I've never seen the actual stick before.

In the spare room, with my imaginary bandmates. The drummer's always late.

Time for a band chat methinks.

I had a chat with our own @Stub Mandrel about the background noise and he thought the same....I think I'll abide by your guidance ! I think I'm just trying to be over thorough... The background noise doesn't increase in volume when the amp is turned up, so yes...no problem at volume, but it does bug me a bit when it's quiet in the studio/spare room. I think I'm becoming too quiet-obsessed. Too long working in a library, perhaps

See...now I've put it back together (well, bar getting the front panel off again as one of the level LEDs was out of whack....didn't mind at first, but after a couple of hours it became too much ), I'm starting to wonder again about the background noise. I gave all the boards a good flexing when it was powered up and nothing seemed to affect the noise then, but maybe a reflow on the power side might help...I'm wary of applying too much tinker !

Doubly frustrating !

I'm sorry for your disappointment, but I'd say until the bass is in your hands, don't assume it's going to be yours. If this had happened to me I'd not be wondering what was happening to 'trust', I'd be cursing myself for not going for the other bass. YMMV

When some dads were out teaching their sons how to play football, mine was teaching me how to solder and work a multimeter.

Right then, back up and running....and a saga. Oh how we love a saga ! As promised @LennyP there's a pic of the busted pot. Or at least the biggest bits Also the head with the fascia off. I like the bent bits of silver metal to keep the light from the lamps in the right places to illuminate the labels and logo from behind. So then...why the saga ? And why did he have the main board out if he was just changing a pot ? Well, after putting the new pot in, strange things started (and didn't start) happening. The 3-LED level indicator didn't work and the EQ was in a mess - constant cracking in the background when it was engaged and moving the sliders did a) nothing b) made the sound get distorted and disappear or c) acted as strange volume controls. Harrrumph #1 Next step - I pulled the EQ/Level indicator board and gave all the sliders a thorough clean. They were filthy. Two rounds of switch cleaner and isopropyl alcohol were needed to get them ship-shape. Checked the board and reflowed some of the less savoury connections. Back together....still the same problem. Harrumph #2. After some pondering of the circuit diagram and removing the feeds to and from the EQ board I realise that it's most likely the problem is on the main PCB, not the front slider/level indicator board. Time to get some proper disassembly done (Pic 3). It's built like a tank, so this was quite good fun. Soldering iron on, pot of tea made and some Suzanne Vega to listen to and I started on the clean-up and partial reflow. Did all the pots and switches as well as a couple of strange-looking solder joints in the EQ circuit. Everything else looked very solid so rather than make problems I stopped there and reassambled. And it works ! Whoo-yay ! Sounds spiffing too, still has the background noise on standby, but it's not too bad and I may still give it another service at a later date, but for now Matthew, I'm off to be Tony Levin for a bit

Nice, I bet it sounds as solid as it looks ! I've got most of the bits of the pot - when I do the surgery pics I'll see if I can take one of the remains.