Matt P

i'm hoping to tap into the collective knowledge of basschat here, my main bass is my Letts 5 string which has 17.5mm spacing at the bridge and a lovely d-profile chunky neck, i'm looking for a second bass for backup at gigs and probably to have strung up with rounds as an alternative to the chromes that i have on the Letts (although i won't rule out chromes on the new bass) the string spacing is the main thing that is important to me, i have tried many basses with tighter spacing and they all feel wrong (and I found myself clipping the wrong strings with my right hand while playing) I guess that 18mm spacing might be ok but not any more than that. so far i have tried Ibanez SR's, Warwick Corvette, Yamaha RBX, Cort A5 and a number of budget Stingray copies that all had very tight spacing (16.5mm and less) the RBX was 19mm and felt far too wide. A nice chunky neck would be a bonus, i'm not too bothered about active or passive but the simpler the controls the more comfortable i am. What basses would people suggest i try? my budget is about 4-500 pounds and i'm happy to buy secondhand or new. so far the only bass that seems to fit the bill is the USA Musicman sub 5, and while there is one in the classifieds the seller hasn't been on for months. Thanks in Advance Matt

I don't know much about the shop that you took it to but I'd be tempted to try and get another quote to fix it, there are a few good repair places around, this thread should help [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/198-recommended-amp-techs/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/198-recommended-amp-techs/[/url]. some places just don't want to bother and would rather sell you a new amp than fix the old one I'm assuming that it's the Eden Nemesis in your sig, these seem to be solid old-school type amps so it should be repairable at a sensible price. Matt

please report back if you buy one, I've been looking for a 5 string for a backup and these look very tempting. especially at that price. (I'm really hoping they've copied the string spacing from the original bass, if this is 17.5mm spaced then it's exactly what've been looking for!) Matt

the aggie has the same polarity as the Boss standard, I'm running mine from a cheap Harley Benton supply with no issues, it sounds like this one has died, hopefully you can find someone local to take a look, I know a guy I the Newcastle area if you're local. Matt

as long as it's got standard through-hole construction (rather than surface mounted) then it should be repairable, most of the circuit diagrams are on the net so it should be possible to work out what the issue is. what pedal is it?

I think the dowel option is the best, you might have to shape it to fit into the holes, or possibly drill the hole out a tiny bit to get it round, if that seems like too much work then I'd take it to an expert, it's not a huge job so shouldn't cost the earth. when it comes to strap buttons you really want it to be a good solid job. nothing worse than your pride and joy falling to the ground at your next gig! Matt

that is a very tasty looking amp, I see that there's a bit of space between the case and the chassis at the sides, would it be possible to make this any narrower? My cabs are only 15" wide (and 15" deep) and I'm not a fan of amps overhanging the cabs, if it could be built to fit atop my current cabs then I'd be very interested! Matt

I'd be looking at a secondhand Markbass combo, they pop up in the classifieds fairly frequently and you should be able to pick one up well within your budget, I think they will all power an extension cabinet if needed and they are fairly compact and not too heavy, and if you decide to move it on at some point you should have very little trouble selling it for about what you paid for it. I think that they're all 250 or 500 watts but it's better to have a bit more power and not use it than to run out of volume. you'd be surprised how much power you need to keep up with even a small guitar amp! Matt

it's in this set of photo's 14th row down, alongside my Modded natural p-bass and my Letts singlecut, there might be a photo of Jay playing it somewhere as well. [url="https://www.facebook.com/michaelthebass/media_set?set=a.10151880033356322.1073741842.690966321&type=1&l=8640e97db3"]https://www.facebook.com/michaelthebass/media_set?set=a.10151880033356322.1073741842.690966321&type=1&l=8640e97db3[/url] Matt

I'm afraid I didn't get any pictures last night, I did take it to a bass bash a while ago , i'll see if it's in any of the pictures from that

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1443699475' post='2876955'] You have a concrete bass? Any chance of a pic? [/quote] I'll see if I can sort some tonight, it started life as a hollow violin bass but the previous owner was convinced that a bass shouldn't be resonant so filled it with concrete, it's just about playable. I need to find it a new home really. Matt

my Letts Singlecut 5 is 7.5lbs I think I might also own one of the heaviest, I have a concrete bass that crushes the scales at over 16lbs (especially impressive considering its a violin bass shaped body)

For those who trawl cash converters for the odd bargain it's probably worth knowing that they put a code on the sticker that tells the staff how much they paid for everything, it's known as the blacksmith code, usually written as a 4 or 5 letter code, b=1, l=2 up to H=0, so if the code is ch kh then they paid £40.50p for it, useful when haggling for deals. I always try bargaining in cash converters, unless they are seriously under the real value.

you can't go wrong with obbm's cables, there's a good reason that everyone recommends them! glad you've got it sorted Matt

That has a stereo input, you just need to feed it a stereo signal, you need a mono to stereo cable or adapter.

what setup are you using at the moment? it might be that all you need is a different cable. if the input to your transmitter is stereo then a mono to dual mono cable will do the trick, this might be a very cheap fix. Matt

Just bought a cyrus hifi amp from Chris, couldn't have been a better deal, I'm a very happy bunny. Matt

The guitarguitar in Newcastle is notorious for poor service so I won't use them at all, I think I'd rather buy online and use the distance selling regs so I can send it back if I don't like it. Matt

this does look very interesting, has anyone spotted a UK/EU supplier yet? I might even have to break my personal rule about credit for this (provided its interest free credit of course!) Matt