Marky L

Here's an interesting one that I'm scratching my head on and would love some input on. So, I have a Fender P with a rather fruity maple neck! It's known to a few of you on here already (it's black ). When I collected it I demoed it amped up with flats on and all was good. I replaced the flats with roundwounds (being my prefered string) and off I went. Unfortunately it had to sit in the boot of my car for most of the day which turned out to be one of the rare stupidly hot ones. When I get home I have a look and can see the neck has shifted and it plays fairly badly. My skills are limited and after messing around with it over a few weeks I decided to throw the towel in and go to a luthier I use. The main issue I had was the neck profile being basically mental and also the D string being quiter than the others and the G sounding dreadful. No sustain at all and in fact when played the notes on the G sounded very sort of choked off, particularly up the dusty end. When I showed the luthier he exclaimed "F**k me!! This is the craziest neck I have ever seen!" He reckoned it's actually an elongated S as opposed to just a single relief or bow. That and the fact that the headstock has a weird twist in it too (some of you recognise it yet?!?). Anyway I collected it last week and he had done a sterling job on the profile and action (it has to be medium high which is fine by me) with just a little bowing still present. Unfortunatley his bass amp was not working and so I just had a twiddle with it acoustically and it all rang true. When I got home and plugged in... the D was still quiet and the G though better was still choking and is definietly quiter than the E and A, both of which sound fantastic and big. So where is the problem? Does it sound like a PUP issue? The D & G part of the split is buggered? I just can't think what else. I'll go back to the luthier but would like to suggest some options to him. Cheers

I seem to remember one ep, in the 2nd series maybe, where the drummer seemed to get a bit of an arse on about electronic drums and in particular programable drum machines as if they were the begining of the end for real drummers.

Cheers Yeah, might have a snoop around a TV repair shop.. if I can find one

I think I managed to cook the cap in my 79/80's P bass whilst trying to solder it back on so need to get a replacement. Would one of the Sprague ones mentioned above do the job? I had a look on evil bay and there is a guy selling 1uf orange caps on there, but their rating is like double the Sprague ones? I'm not really looking to change the tone at all. Advice always welcome Ta

Well done on persevering and getting the result you wanted. I'm still waiting for my refund for the faulty power amp that I returned to the seller 10 days ago. His emails are very few and far between. The last being 3 days ago saying he has tested the amp, found it faulty and asked if I prefered a cheque or Paypal refund. I stated the latter! (I had already told him this in a previous email to him). I have raised a case with paypal as he is so slow on responding and I'm getting pi**ed off with the delay. I have said to him I want the refund sorted by this weekend. We'll see what happens. I think he is dragging it out and won't actually refund me.

[quote name='OldGit' post='546555' date='Jul 21 2009, 02:59 PM']Playing an instrument is not guarentee of a firm grip on relaity.[/quote] Actually I think it's a guarantee of NOT having a grip on reality at all!

Give Chelsea Dagger by the Fratellis a go, that goes down well for us. Just about to try Don't Look Back In To The Sun by The Libertines too.

Top class!! Thanks for that, so I have a little headroom. The annoying voice in my head was telling me the 15 would be overloaded !

Ok, I know this is dumb, but my confused old head just ain't working right! I have an Ashdown head - 500W at 4 ohms This goes in to a 1x15 - 300W and a 4 x 8 - 600W (both 8 ohms) So, if I turn the amp up full (forget the fact that it's likely to get a bit dodgy on 10) what actual wattage is going in to each cab (in theory)? Am I putting 250W into each to get the 500W total? My concern is if I do push the loud knob up near the top, am I going to overload the 15" speaker. Ta muchly M

That and having a retarded singer who thinks it'd be great to clamber up on top and the whole lot comes crashing down!

I do like the fact that he has used a pack of ropey brand budget fags for the guide to size! Hmmm.. I hope the rest of the components aren't budget brand.. As for getting a new boiler.. man you wouldn't need one with that. Can you imagine the heat that thing is going to bang out at full bore?? Just plumb up your central heating to it and you have the perfect excuse for blasting it out in those wintery evenings

I used to use Jim Dunlop 1mm black nylon (they are nylon aren't they?) but moved to Wedgie XT 1mm. I much prefer them as they are concave where your thumb goes and a textured grip of course which just gives me perfect grip when it get's a bit sweaty. Any of you JD users I'd really recommend you have a go with them... and if anyone can find out where I can get a box full online in the UK I'd be obliged as I'm buggered if I can remember where I bought them from!! And I want to try a metal one.. any recommendations? I like a little bit of flex in my picks.. hence the 1mm nylons.

Blimey! Not only would that cause your ears to bleed, but I imagine every other orifice too!

Hey! Cograts on getting the winning bid Love to hear what you think about it. I was thinking about having a punt, but as ever, other resource draining options have been grabbing at my wallet!

I missed out on that black Ric posted at the start of the thread. I thought I had the deal, but alas it went to another home. I very much want want like that as it's going to be the closest I will ever get to my long term desire - The Blackstar. And to think I missed one of those a number of years back too... "Regrets.. I've had a few.." well, bloody loads actually!

My first transaction with Beedster and what a total pleasure it was to deal with him. Picked up the P bass with the "exciting" neck on the weekend and even though he was pushed for time, Chris spent time with me chatting bass stuff, running over the P and sorting me out a great cup of tea and gave me a great tip on truss rod tweaking. I can totally recommend Chris to any one wanting to buy, sell, trade with complete confidence with a genuine guy. Cheers mate, good meeting with you Mark

As a quick update. I got back to my mate with your info. He was still interested to look at it (local to him), he did and he said is was a total piece of s**t. He hasn't bought it! Thanks again for your help

Oh blimey!! I'll let him know on the sharpish. From the pic I have seen, it looks like those posted here. Thanks for the heads up. Appreciate your help M.

Wotcha A guitard I know has asked if I know anything about WRM custom basses. Apparently he is leaving the dark side and is being swayed to play bass and has been offered a WRM four string bass. he has looked but can't find any info on line. Anything anyone can tell me on WRM?? All responses gratefully received.. even the sarccy ones Mark

Alas I never did see them. As I recall they were joined by Dave Vanian from The Damned for a brief period when the Damne split in '78.

+1 to JJ's black n maple P bass. Also the P bass Algy Ward used to record Machine Gun Etiquette with The Damned. For history's sake, then Sid's white P bass and also DeeDee Ramone's white P from the first couple of albums.

Thanks for your replies. We certainly can mix the output for monitors, so that's OK, but they are mainly for vocals and some keys. On stage bass is plenty loud enough and no one really wants to hear the guitards!! There is a Peavey amp on the bay that I thik will do the job. Actually there have been a few of differing specs. Also had a nose on Thomann's site and they have a Behringer unit that does 2ohms if I still take that route. Can't say I've heard loads of great things about Behringer though.

[quote name='crez5150' post='513603' date='Jun 14 2009, 09:38 PM']You don't need to go to 2ohm unless its a single channel amp..... most p/amps on the market are two channel or have independent power stages at least so if you were to hang 2 x 8ohm monitors off of each channel of an 8 ohm output you would be running them at 4 ohm not two....[/quote] Ah, right then. So if an amp has two power stages (one per side), then I would take the rating as per channel and not over all. I get that, but wasn't aware of that. I'd need to find something that would suit (has a pwer stage per side.. at a bargain used price of course!!) We're running a left an right output from the desk so would connect to both left and right of the amp. Not looking to do any bridging at this point.

[quote name='crez5150' post='513603' date='Jun 14 2009, 09:38 PM']You don't need to go to 2ohm unless its a single channel amp..... most p/amps on the market are two channel or have independent power stages at least so if you were to hang 2 x 8ohm monitors off of each channel of an 8 ohm output you would be running them at 4 ohm not two....[/quote] Ah, right then. So if an amp has two power stages (one per side), then I would take the rating as per channel and not over all. I get that, but wasn't aware of that. I'd need to find something that would suit (has a pwer stage per side.. at a bargain used price of course!!) We're running a left an right output from the desk so would connect to both left and right of the amp. Not looking to do any bridging at this point.