Matt P

Thanks for the heads up, i need some more of the newtone acoustic strings and this helps bring the cost down greatly, with the bulk discount for 10 sets i save a pound a set.

hercules on the wooden plate for me, i trust them with both expensive and heavy instruments, they're nice and safe as they 'grab' the neck and there's virtually zero chance of the instrument escaping. might be worth having a word with your local music shop, if you want 12 they might cut you a good deal. Matt

mmm pretty, you can't go wrong with that store either, they're our drummers prefered seller, we're lucky that they're just up the road from us although we haven't been to their new store, we only ever knew the tiny shoebox-sized store they used to operate from (i've never seen so much drum kit in such a small space.) we've got a band outing planned for next month as our guitarist is also a drummer. Matt

Dad3353 speaks the truth, a resistor would have to be [i]very[/i] big to handle even the wimpiest of practice amps let alone a gigging head, we do need to know what 1x12 it is you're trying to modify, i have a feeling that the best course of action would be to sell it and get an 8 ohm cab instead. Matt

how about one of these? has an aux input for your i-device and virtual surround, [url="http://www.froogle.richersounds.com/product/soundbars/philips/css2123/phil-css2123"]http://www.froogle.richersounds.com/product/soundbars/philips/css2123/phil-css2123[/url] there are more expensive options, i know that the yamaha ones are very well respected for their sound. Matt

duracell procells for me too, i buy them in packs of 10 online, they seem to last the same as the duracells from the supermarkets but are around a pound each against the 3 quid each that they are on the high street. just make sure it's a reliable seller as there are some fakes out there. Matt

i think ishould have read the question a little better, it's semi acoustic that i voted (335 copy) but that was because i thoiught you were asking what i would reccomend (i love mine and with a coil tap and a piezo bridge it would cover most bases) but if it was a house on fire moment or that nightmare (for me) situation of having to sell all but one of my guitars then my McIlroy acoustic would be the one i'd keep, nothing i've ever played comes close to how good it sounds and how well it plays, i still can't quite believe that it's mine and i've had it for just over 4 years. [url="http://www.mcilroyguitars.co.uk/"]http://www.mcilroyguitars.co.uk/[/url] (mines an AS25, walnut and cedar with pearwood bindings)

i once bought a car with fag paper round a fuse (never drove it very far though!) as another Newcastle based Bassist, which shop did you use for the fuse? just for future reference.

TC polytune for me, i've used a tu-2 before and it was ok but it was a loan from a friend, went for the polytune on reccomendations from here (actually just asked for it as a christmas present from my darling wife), it's nice and solid and can be used for powering other pedals the same as the boss ones, i like the poly function where you simply strum all the strings to check them all at once, very handy as a quick check between songs that nothings slippped and it tracks the low B on my yamaha perfectly, it switches automatically between poly and single string as well which make life very easy. Matt

just picked up my bass from the doc, custom scratch plate, wiring and a setup. it's perfect. Thanks Doc Matt

i'd go for a 5 string set of flatwounds and ditch the thinnest string, i've gone for the overwater ones for my 5-er, (apparently made by picato) i think they're jolly nice and they're about as cheap as you'll find for flatwounds, they sound good and are lovely and smooth under the fingers. (thery were delivered pretty quick too as overwater are just along the A69 from you (and me) matt

tortex 1mm or 1.14mm usually the big triangular ones but also the sharps (when i can get them) also a fan of the big triangular fender and gibson ones (heavy or extra heavy) i drill holes in mine for grip, usually a few 2mm ones in the rough area that i hold it, i find it helps my grip when my hands get sweaty (and makes the picks easy to identify, all my mates know that if a pick's got holes in it then it's mine.) i've also got a couple of the wooden ones, ebony i think, feel real nice but wear out a fair bit faster than the plastic and not cheap at 3 quid each, bought them when i made a trip to see a tanglewood/overwater bass, having spent ages playing the bass and not buying it i felt a bit bad so bought some guitar strings and a pick (it was a small community type place that mainly was there to sell guitars to parents and then provide them with lessons, has the bonus of being open till 8 some nights though.) matt

12 pages already! blimey, i might be up for one of the group buy too if the price is right, would make a nice alternative to my Headlite Matt

i've got the version with the wooden back plate, one in the living room with my beloved mcilroy acoustic on it and another in the study with my 77 precision on it, i think they're great, just make sure you fix them securely to the wall, they are only as good as the fixings you use, i ditched the supplied ones and used heavy duty ones. They're great as you always have an instrument to hand, i play far more now as there is always a bass or acoustic to hand. I should also say that my precision weighs 11 pounds and the hanger holds it just fine (unlike my poor back) Matt

i've got an old car amp lying here if you decide to try that route, it says 100w on it, nothing special and i think designed to run 2x 4ohm speakers. It's got a 5A fuse so should be fairly low drain. I guess i'd take a tenner plus postage if you wanted it. Matt

i usually bring my spare head for this kind of thing, plenty of room on the cab for both of them (SWR headlite for me and Ashdown superfly for them) and it takes seconds to swap them over, i don't mind lending cabs either, but they're not fancy or expensive and this will change when i can afford the barefaced cabs to replace them. I have been known to lend my whole rig and bass but that was a church worship event and i knew the guys well, they didn't touch any of the settings and i got a chance to check out roughly how loud i was in the room.

my SWR Headlite lives in a neoprene netbook sleeve (10" i think) and then goes either in my alu-framed case (the cheapish ones that maplins, B&q et al sell) or into my courier bag with the cables) it also fits in a gigbag pocket but i don't have any gigbags. the original gigbag that comes with the headlite was awol when i got it (from a basschatter) and i didn't have the cash to buy a gigskinz or similar. the netbook sleeve cost me one packet of chocolate buttons from a guy at work (a big pack but they were on special offer so £1) Matt

the peavey page linked to doesn't give a huge amount of useful information, (the aforementioned thiele-small parameters for instance). if you're worried about mis-tuning the cabs by getting the dimensions wrong i'd go for one of the designs available from the web, the B&C site has a nice looking 15" sub that you can download the plans of for free, i think eminance offer plans too. if you go for a trusted design and it's recommended speaker you will end up with something that will definately sound good, the peavey speakers are good but there are no promises that the finished sub will sound better than the original one. Matt

i wouldn't bother re-housing the speakers, to get a better sound you'd need the exact specs of the drivers and then WinISD or similar to design the enclosures. if you're wanting to build a box I'd head over to Bill FitzMaurice's website and take a look at the plans he offers, many people rave about them and I'm sure you could make some killer subs within your budget. http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/ Matt

obbm speaks sense, 4mm would be best for that kind of output, i'm using some 1.5 at the moment for quiet practing but come payday i'll be ordering some of obbm's monster 4mm ones. The manual for my amp actually states 1.5 as the absolute minimum and suggests that 4mm would be best. Matt

not as such, but i think you should be able to work it out, if not i can draw you a diagram later. Matt

your best starting point is the manual (available from the roland website if you haven't got the paper copy) from a quick glance it seems you need a double momentary footswitch, i made one of these for a friend a while ago for his EA Doubler, it was quite simple and i took the chance to customise it to his needs. i fitted 2 of these [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/push-to-make-foot-switch-34489"]http://www.maplin.co.uk/push-to-make-foot-switch-34489[/url] into one of these [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/aluminium-boxes-1728"]http://www.maplin.co.uk/aluminium-boxes-1728[/url] (i can't remember which one) i used this cable [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/3-core-3a-mains-cable-2183y-96"]http://www.maplin.co.uk/3-core-3a-mains-cable-2183y-96[/url], with a standard stereo 1/4" jack on one end to go into the amp and a 3 pole set of these [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/audio-locking-connectors-chassis-plug-line-socket-997"]http://www.maplin.co.uk/audio-locking-connectors-chassis-plug-line-socket-997[/url] at the footswitch end. this allowed it to be super compact (to fit neatly into the pedalboard) and i could route the cable to suit, the locking 3 way plug and socket meant that it couldn't unplug itself at the footswitch end and that no-one could 'borrow' the lead for something else. i made the lead length to suit and it would be a simple job to make another shorter or longer lead if required. i think the whole thing came to 30 quid or so. the wiring inside was very simple. Matt

And another vote for the Bass Doc, he's making a plate for me at the moment with just from the holes and dirty marks on a body to go on for the shape.(original plate was awol) but i think he can make them from a traced outline too if you can supply one. you won't be dissapointed with the quality, i've seen his work and it's top notch. Matt

what options are there for 5 string precision pickups? I keep looking at ou7shined's pingray and the only mod i'd make would be to make it 5 string, but there isn't the huge range of pickups available like for a 4 string. I've found the bartolini's and the nordstrand's but the search kind of dries up after that, i'd be after a classic p-bass tone and ideally there would be a good matching MM pup to go with it. If they could be cheaper than the barts and nordys that would be great too (moon on a stick i know but shy bairns get nowt.) I'm thinking of approaching either ou7shined or the bass doc for the build but might give it a go myself if my shed gets built. Matt

Just Met Up with Benebass and bought His Aria csb fretless, A very nice man and a fantastic Bass, Trade with confidence People, this is a man to trust. Matt