Matt P

they are a bit more than Rotosound (26-28 quid depending on spec compared to about 20 for roto's) but DR start at about 30 quid minimum and Newtone will wind to your own spec. the postage is stated at £1.20 which i think is pretty good. (for the record i haven't yet tried the bass strings but i've been using the Newtone heritage acoustic guitar strings for about 10 years and won't buy anything else) matt

i wouldn't expect there to be a difference in performance or sound but the choice of series or parallel speakers in a 2 speaker cab is sometimes down to what happens if one of the speakers fails, it they are parallel then the amp is suddenly seeing a 16 ohm load, if they are in series then the amp is suddenly seeing no load at all (which is usually very serious for amps with valve power sections0 the amp manufacturer will decide which outcome is the least disastrous and go for that (if they're engineering it properly) Matt

I missed this originally, the thread started 2 years ago so there is a chance that the replacement program has finished, I used isopropyl alcohol to clean both of mine up, I wish I'd seen this 2 years ago as it looks like I would have got a couple of extra stands!

yeah i know that if i ask the right people then i could get a P-Retro, unfortunately until i get my overdraft cleared and then a decent way back into the black it just isn't a sensible option right now, i'm doing my best to only buy the absolute necessities every month and maybe this time next year i'll have enough spare cash to make the phone call. i've had a pretty expensive time over the last 2 years, (redundancy 2 months before my son was born, a total of 4 months with no income and now a job that pays less than the old one but with about 50% less stress) i've just read that last paragraph to check it for spelling errors and it reads liker a sob story! i'm actually about 200% happier than i was 3 years ago! and not buying new gear has meant i've spent more time playing and my technique and musical knowledge is also significantly better than it was! Matt

ok now i'm really jealous! i think that's pretty much the exact spec i'd go for (especially if it's 18mm string spacing) the website says the single pickup versions are currently discontinued. I've been thinking of a P-retro for my Letts 5 string for a while but they're not listed for sale anywhere and i'm totally broke ( and probably will be until my son moves from nursery to school and we stop paying a small fortune in childcare every month) Matt

i was just looking at the two 5 strings listed on Alan's website and was thinking maybe you were going for the RetroB J5 which is very pretty but that bass you've gone for is gorgeous! which preamp has it got? i played a couple of ACG's at a bass bash a few years ago, i wish i'd bought one when i had the money. Matt

This is the first time I've seen this kind of thing for musical instruments, it's usually ray ban sunglasses. I love the idea of buying a bassbreaker amp for less than a set of valves! 😁😂

There are reports on talkbass that the eminence delta lite can work in the TL806 but the general consensus is that it is fine as a guitar cab but even with a bass oriented speaker it is still a fair way behind a properly designed modern bass cab, I'm with @Sibob on this, I'd be selling the ashdown and buying something else that is better suited to you.

WinISD is available HERE it's not that difficult to set up, i've managed to model a few different cabs but i never got round to actually building anything. matt

If you can get some accurate internal measurements then you could put the numbers into WinISD (which is free) and this will give you an idea of what the current tuning is like, it should then offer you some dimensions etc for porting and show you what the frequency response will be ported. this would be a totally free way to see what adding a port or two would do to the cab. if you post the dimensions on here then someone else might be kind enough to run the numbers and advise you. (i have the software but am not an expert.) which Ashdown cab is this? i had a Neo loaded mini ABM 4x8 many years ago and really liked it. a quick google throws up quite a few different ones. (mine had 2 ports on the rear and a varnish finish rather than vinyl.) some appear to have the speakers offset and are taller than they are wide, mine was pretty much square. Matt

ok, i've just had a measure and the soundhole on this guitar is 88mm, the pickup has been modded a little bit and sits slightly towards the neck i wasn't really concerned with a pure natural acoustic tone on this guitar, i wanted a slightly raw bluesy tone, it's fitted with 13's and tuned D-D, i've got a handmade acoustic with a fantastic AER blend system in it if i need to sound pretty (a wonderful guitar but it's hard to sound bluesy with a guitar that expensive!) according to my measurements i've cut it down to 83.4mm wide, this is about as far as i dared to go. so it will fit into your soundhole but it will take some modding and will be fiddly to fit as you will need to feed the clamps onto the back (i use a pair of angled tweezers to hold the clamps while i fit the screw s. Matt

if i were buying cables then i'd be using OBBM in fact i have 3 of his excellent speakon-speakon cables as i couldn't easily source the 4mm speaker cable he uses. I make my own instrument leads as i have bought a whole drum of Klotz AC110 cable and have a good stash of neutrik jack plugs, the cables end up pretty much as the OBBM ones but with slightly less pretty soldering and i fit name labels and velcro ties. there are 2 good reasons why people recommend OBBM, the first is that his products are very high quality and the second is that his prices are very reasonable (i've added up what it costs to build a lead and he's not making huge profits on each one) he's also a nice guy and an active member on here but that's an aside matt

I've got one fitted to my travel guitar, I can dig it out tomorrow evening and take some measurements, I've modified mine to get it to fit so might be able to give you the minimum sound hole diameters possible. Matt

i went the barefaced route with a pair of the 2nd gen midgets, mainly after hearing (and trying out) Jack's midget+compact rig I was invited to one of his band practices and was very impressed at how he was easily audible above the pair of Marshall half stacks, then I was told that only one of the cabs was plugged in! (I may have mis-remembered this, I also recall something about someone offering to help move the cabs and then promptly chinning themselves with it as it was considerably lighter than they imagined) my second choice was a super twelve but i went for the midgets as they are easier to get into their hiding place (and a single one is ample for practices) i've actually gigged with only one plugged in (accidentally, only realised while i was packing up) i'd suggest looking at the TKS cabs as well we A/B'd them at a bass bash against the midgets and the only real difference we could detect is that they're not quite as loud and they're a fair bit cheaper. if you're in the north east then i'm pretty sure a few options could be brought together for a demo (BF and TKS, and possibly others) i'd guess that other basschatters arountd the UK (and possibly world) would be happy to let you hear and test their cabs (we're a notoriously friendly bunch!) Matt

Flightcase warehouse should be able to make something to suit, they do a fair amount of custom work. https://www.flightcasewarehouse.co.uk/ Matt

well i'm stumped then! @Bridgehouse has said pretty much what i was trying to get across, it's a pressure issue with the nylon strings, have you tried other nylon strings? it might be that another brand has a different composition of outer wrap that works better with the piezo saddles. Is this a fresh set or an old set? it might be that there is a flat spot on the deader strings that is preventing proper contact? Matt

What gauges are the individual strings? It might be that the quiet strings are a bit too fat and aren't sitting down into the grooves and making proper contact.

is there any chance you could measure the total length for me please? wondering if these would fit in one of my guitar hard cases (if they do then the chances of me buying one at the end of the month will go up to 90%) Matt

I can't help you but I'm tempted by either the blue or the green myself, wondering if they're small enough to fit in a guitar hardcase?

what bout one of the tiny Mixers that are available? something like this, not much bigger than the Art but about half the price, https://www.thomann.de/gb/kustom_pa4ex.htm it has a 2 band eq on each channel as well. the smaller Behringer mixers add in some stereo channels as well, perfect for adding a Mp3 player or a laptop. (they also double up as great little headphone practice units, i used one for years before swapping to a Focusrite Scarlett and a PC) Matt

Hiscox every time for me, i've got 3 of the bass ones, a standard acoustic case, a pro-ii acoustic case, a 335 case, a strat case and a les paul case. my music room looks like an advert for Hiscox! (i've had to label the cases to make it easier to grab the right instrument) it's the strength of them that i like, when i bought the first one (the standard acoustic case) the guitar shop owner put my guitar in, closed the case then stood on it, that convinced me of their strength, this was reinforced a couple of months later when the guitar was in a caravan that suffereed a blowout, it got hit by a rather large gas bottle and came away with a small scuff on the case, if it had been a traditional plywood case then I have no doubt that the guitar would have been reduced to firewood. I think there is a video on the Hiscox website that shows the construction method and demonstrates the strength of the case, as well as plenty of user testimonials to the protective qualities of the cases. - https://www.hiscoxcases.com/build-quality/ Matt

A solid body u-bass might be a good option, as a bonus they work great for travel or to get a more double bass sound, I've got the acoustic u-bass and get way more use from it than I thought I would, the solid body has the bonus of being just like a scaled down "regular" bass

Have a search on here for pingray, there are a few mentions of it and a build thread somewhere (I'm on mobile so linking is a pain) I think that @Ou7shined built it and in my opinion it's the way to go. Matt

If you open the plug at the headphone end (one screw to unplug from the headphones and then a smaller screw to open up the plug) you should be able to see the colour coding, the plug has 4 pins and then a small gap to the other 2 pins, that should allow you to orientate yourself for wiring up the other end, I think the stereo plug will be left to tip, right to ring and ground to sleeve. Unfortunately I'm currently on my mobile so links and stuff are a bit tricky.

the dt250 uses the same connector as the dt100, i've replaced a few leads on these, there is a wiring diagram here, ignore pins 5 and 6, these are used for the models with a boom mic. you need to remove the screw on the connector to get it out but they're easy to re-wire, i've bought replacement ones and re-used old ones with no issues, i actually have a couple of different ones for my headphones with different lengths and different connectors (short for use when tracking at home and much longer for when i'm with the full band.) Matt p.s, if you decide to give up on the DT250's i might buy them from you as i could do with another pair.