icastle

If there are ventilation holes on the top or bottom of the units then you're going to add at least 1U and either make sure it's 'back off when in use' type or, if it's a fixed (or awkward to remove) back you'll need to add a case mounted fan somewhere on the back panel to vent hot air out of the rack. If there are no ventilation holes then the units will use 'front to back' cooling and space between the units isn't an issue. When buying a rack I always leave an extra 1U and put a blanking plate in it - you never know if you'll find something else you want to add in a few months time...

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1367447' date='Sep 9 2011, 11:27 AM']What do you guys and girls think? Have I been selfish?[/quote] Unless you're playing professionaly, there always comes a time where personal commitments, work commitments, money and bandtime all collide. I'm just starting to feel that now as I've overstretched myself and have had to cut back on some of the dep work and become a bit more picky about studio work that I do. I don't see this as selfish, there are only 24 hours in a day and there is a finite amount of time and money that you can realisticly commit to spending. Selfish would have been stringing them along when they could have found someone with fewer commitments and would be around on a long term basis.

[quote name='Linus27' post='1367388' date='Sep 9 2011, 10:30 AM']Thanks for the replies everyone. So it seems it makes no difference which ever way you choose to set it up.[/quote] No difference at all as far as the amp is concerned. Running two cables from the amp to the two seperate cabs removes the risk of losing all sound if a cable should fail. I do that out of habit (and I made my cables to the exact lengths) - I guess it's the musical equivalent of an airbag, you never need it until you need it and then you're thankful you had it.

Hmmm. I don't really see a pawn shop suddenly getting so many new guitars that they are doing a 25% off sale. It may be totally innocent but then again it might be worth sniffing them to see if they smell of petrol or smoke...

[quote name='clarkpegasus4001' post='1366991' date='Sep 8 2011, 09:06 PM']I must be one of those cynical people then.... isn't always about ££££££'s ?[/quote] Cynicism just adds a much needed sense of reality to a world inhabited by wearers of rose tinted glasses...

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1366496' date='Sep 8 2011, 03:10 PM']Never seen what the purpose of the legislation was. Let's be honest, the factors that determine where live music is played will be the size of the room the size of the potential audience and the cost of the band. Most of the venues I play coudln't take more than a 4 piece without there being no room for an audience.[/quote] The more cynical mind would perhaps think that the biggest reason for bringing this legislation out in the first place were based on £'s... [url="http://www.barrowbc.gov.uk/Docs/licensingfees20090926.doc"]http://www.barrowbc.gov.uk/Docs/licensingfees20090926.doc[/url]

Got to say that, around here, either the majority of the local pubs have managed to succesfully navigate the inevitable 80 page document detailing everything from venue size to sock colour... or they've just ignored the rules.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1366381' date='Sep 8 2011, 01:43 PM']Just think about the Viagra and penis enlargement opportunities you miss out on. [/quote] Don't need them. I'm a bass player not a lead singer...

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1366348' date='Sep 8 2011, 01:18 PM']I can see where you're coming from with not wanting to give the shop your name and address. However, we had a customer that bought a Roland product from us and refused to give his details. We could only give him a till receipt. If he lost that, and forgot to register for his 3-year Roland warranty (and many people do this), we would have no record on our system, as it works by inputting name and address details. Just a thought.[/quote] I'm not 'many people' though (unless I forget to take my medication ) In fairness, I've not experienced this very often in music shops. I 'tried' to buy a vacuum cleaner a few years ago and the girl on the counter insisted on having my name and address citing 'policy' as a reason. I explained that entering into a transaction with me also had a set of 'policies', one of them being that there is no need to be recording my personal details. She wouldn't budge so I put my money back in my pocket and walked out. In order to protect the innocent I shall simply refer to that shop as 'COMET'. I simply went next door to Currys and bought the same item for the same price but without the confrontation.

In many respects, I'm the worlds worst customer. After 30 years of playing I'm pretty much done with finding that elusive 'ultimate sound' and the chances of me being open to new ideas on that front are negligible. I'm not going to fiddle about with XYZ strings and ABC pickups with DEF atomic powered and index linked pre amps. I'll have already researched the product and by the time I go into a shop the choice will already have been made - so upselling or downselling will be ignored - carry on doing it after I've said no and I walk out. Extended warranties are not entertained and neither are add on sales - push me with 'cautionary tales' after I say no and I walk out. You do NOT need my name and address 'for the receipt', it is NOT a 'legal requirement' - push me for it after I say no and I put my money back in my pocket and walk out. If I say 'No' then the answer is No - carry on pushing me towards something I have no interest in and I walk out. BUT On the plus side, I don't 'browse' around shops - if I'm in the shop then I have the money in my pocket and I'm buying. The ideal transaction as far as I'm concerned would be: Me: One of those please. Assistant: £399 please. Me: Here you go. Assistant: Cheers. Me: Goodbye. Assistant: Goodbye.

PVA is a little bit too rigid when it dries. Good old fashioned Copydex does the trick though.

[quote name='chrisg347' post='1364342' date='Sep 6 2011, 05:54 PM']I've had a recent electrical issue with one of my bass guitars. I assumed it was just that bass that had the problem but recently (as the bass with the problem is getting replaced) i've gone back to my starter bass and that has also been having a similar problem. The problem itself is specifically a grounding issue as far as I can tell. Buzzing will come from touching anything metal, the volume of the buzz really depends on what i'm touching e.g pickup screws = louder buzz than strings. The only thing linking them is my Ashdown practice amp. Either that or it's the small Line 6 audio interface i'm using. Or if it's neither of those, i'm just really unlucky but i'm hoping someone would be able to give me some pointers and tell me if it's even a possibility.[/quote] Well the symptoms descibe a missing or poor earth connection somewhere. Although the chances of that happening on two basses (assuming the symptoms are the same on both?) is pretty slim, my first suspect would be the thin wire that sits under the bridge...

[quote name='madanglian' post='1364210' date='Sep 6 2011, 04:01 PM']I have an old Maxon pickup that is not working very well. Output is very low and the DC resistance is about 70 ohms. Reseach suggests the resistance should be 7000-8000 ohms. This suggests to me that somebody has had a go re-winding it, but they've used wire that's too thick, and not enough turns.[/quote] Possibly, though it's probably more likely that part of the coil has become damaged and the windings are shorting out. [quote name='madanglian' post='1364210' date='Sep 6 2011, 04:01 PM']I'm wondering if anybody knows what gauge wire is normally used for pickup coil windings, and how many turns are typical?[/quote] Somewhere in the region of 42 gauge wire seems to be the most common. The number of windings depends on the size of the core, so not easy to quantify. [quote name='madanglian' post='1364210' date='Sep 6 2011, 04:01 PM']Is PU rewinding something that can be done by hand, or does it need a machine to do it properly/ at a practical speed?[/quote] It's usually done using a motorised machine that keeps track of the number of rotations (and therefore windings). It must be able to wind them by hand (they must have been able to make them before they made machines to do it!) but keeping track of the wind count and ensuring that each winding stays parallel to the previous one could be very time consuming.

Try the Flightcase Warehouse - their site (somewhat confusingly) is at [url="http://www.spider-engineering.co.uk/"]http://www.spider-engineering.co.uk/[/url]. I've had a few flightcases off them over the years - they have hundreds to choose from 'off the shelf' and can custom make something at a readonable price if they have nothing suitable.

[quote name='BottomE' post='1362369' date='Sep 4 2011, 10:42 PM']Is there a good way to test a bass setup at home through headphones? Unfortunately i can't rig up properly at home and test at the levels that i gig at. I think i already know the answer is no but if there is some trick or software or something that can help it would be great to know.[/quote] Not really. Headphones don't reproduce sound in the same way as your bass cabs, the room acoustics vary from venue to venue and what sounds 'good' at home stands a good chance of becoming 'mush' when you play live. As far as possible, I leave everything on the amp flat - that way I can have a reasonable amount of control from the 'bass end' if I need to do a slight tweak during a gig.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='1361278' date='Sep 3 2011, 08:29 PM']I'm pretty sure if you daisychain & the 1st speaker fails, the 2nd speaker will get 100% of the signal, as the input/output is wired in parallel & the signal does *not* have to pass through the speaker before leaving the cab via the output.[/quote] Yep that's absolutely true. But (and it's a big but because it rarely happens) if the cable between the amp and the first speaker fails then you get nothing.

The problem I've always found with these 'multiband' setups is that you are always at the mercy of the band that's been on prior to you. If they're really cr*p then the audience will either have melted away and have to be enticed back, lost interest and have to be re-engaged, or will have overplayed their time slot and leave you with a reduced set slot (unless you're a bunch of egotistical tossers as well - at which point you nick the next bands slot and exacerbate the situation still further). We used to do quite a few of these small scale multiband things but, after having all of the above happen one afternoon, we tend to steer clear of them.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1360916' date='Sep 3 2011, 01:13 PM']I played a pub two months ago where my OTB kept screwing up - either suddenly disintegrating into bursts of static or simply dropping out altogether. After the first (much shortened) set I had to hastily re-rig and DI through the PA. Played the same pub last night and as we were setting up I could see from my power conditioner that the pub's power supply was poor. The display on the conditioner is in coloured LEDs (rather than a voltage reading) and we were getting all the reds lit, plus the occasional orange. I'd interpret that as being maybe 160V - 180V rather than an all-green-LED rating of 240V. As soon as I started testing my OTB I started to get the same problems as last time. Game over. Unplug the amp, and dig out the DI box. Is this a valve amp thing? Do pre-amp valves need a minimum voltage before they just stop working? Or is there something else I should be investigating?[/quote] There is a minmum voltage that valves need before they'll work properly. Valves run at less than mains voltage and usually have power supplies that provide a constant voltage. Your amp would have been designed to work on 220V +/- the usual 10% with a bit added for luck. It *could* be that the power supply on the amp isn't able to deal with a 30% + input loss. As far as the record for voltage losses is concerned, I reckon you might be giving Dood a run for his money...

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='1360640' date='Sep 3 2011, 02:31 AM']It goes like this... [list] [*]All electronics work because they're filled with Magic Smoke, [*]The smoke is pushed around the system by means of Physics (or "Witchcraft" if you prefer something more understandable) via a system of Special Pipes usually called "Wires" or "Cables". [*]The Ohms act like a sort of kitchen tap, or a hosepipe nozzle - If you get the Ohms right, a nicely balanced amount of Magic Smoke travels around the pipes. [*]If you have too many Ohms they restrict the flow of Smoke & everything gets a bit weedy and useless (think of standing on the hosepipe). [*]If, however, you don't have [i]enough[/i] Ohms [b]too much[/b] Magic Smoke comes down the pipe, causing it to burst & it all leaks out. [/list]This last point leads to a situation that electronic engineers commonly refer to as "ItzFuktMate", so it is best avoided as they will demand a large sacrifice of Money to put a patch on the burst pipe & refill the system with Magic Smoke. [size=1](You can stop thinking about standing on the hosepipe now, but only if you want to.)[/size][/quote] Oh very well done - I absolutely love it!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1360204' date='Sep 2 2011, 06:08 PM']But then where would my tuner go? [/quote] After editing out all the suggestions requiring axle grease and\or a degree of double jointedness...

[quote name='Alec' post='1360031' date='Sep 2 2011, 04:06 PM']And, BTW, in case you're still to buy Speakon cables, I'd always recommend getting cables with 4-way plugs on, rather than 2-way plugs, as the 4-way plugs are much easier to engage/disengage. It's still fine to have these wired with 2-core cable of course. I despise 2-way Speakon plugs![/quote] You need to be a little bit careful with that. A 2 way plug will fit into a 4 way socket, but Neutrik recommend [b]against[/b] using a 4 way plug in a 2 way socket because the latching mechanism doesn't work properly.

[quote name='Skezza' post='1359975' date='Sep 2 2011, 03:22 PM']Thanks for your help guys so I can use either or both sockets if I choose[/quote] Yep

[quote name='xgsjx' post='1359868' date='Sep 2 2011, 01:49 PM']Now that's a very good & valid reason to not daisychain Funny enough, the only daisychaining I do is on the PA.[/quote] Ah, but on most PAs the 'daisy chain' is usually used because the first cab in the chain has a crossover in it which then feeds to the second cab. To do it without daisy chaining would potentially mean running external crossovers and doubling up on the number of amps you have to lug around to achieve the same volume.

[quote name='xgsjx' post='1359841' date='Sep 2 2011, 01:33 PM']Some prefer not to daisychain incase the 1st speaker cable fails, though I've never had a speaker cable fail mid gig (it's usually when you first plug it in, if at all).[/quote] I haven't either but I tend to look on it as more of a way of avoiding that 'one in a million chance'. As my amp is flightcased, having two seperate cables permanantly plugged into the back of the amp (made to two different lengths to fit my multicab setup nicely) makes my setups quicker and removes the 'b*gger - forgot one of my speaker cables' opportunity that I managed to fall for when I was daisy chaining.

[quote name='Pbass1' post='1359823' date='Sep 2 2011, 01:26 PM']Im guessing that its also ok to Daisy chain the 2 speakers to produce the same 4 ohm load ? rather than using both outputs from the amp[/quote] Yep. If you have two speaker sockets on the back of a mono amp then they are always wired in parallel. This means that daisy chaining two cabs gives exactly the same load as running them directly from the two sockets.