Sparky

[quote name='Merton' post='1246268' date='May 26 2011, 09:19 PM']Whereabouts in London are you? Do you wanna try the MB200?[/quote] Yeh could do Merton. Nice offer. Thanks. Actually live in hemel but i work in london... cabs are in hemel though! hmmm. could always make a journey one weekend with my cabs.. or maybe just take the plunge with Mr.Noisy and then if it doesn't work out, sell it on again. Hmmm I'll think about it!!!

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1245858' date='May 26 2011, 04:35 PM']So, if someone were to buy an Ashdown Little Giant and hook it up with a nice external pre-amp, the volume issues go away? Truckstop[/quote] Saw just that (a LG350 with a Behringer valve preamp) being sold as a set on here recently..

Ok peeps. After a couple of great offers and some serious consideration, I have realised that due to personal circumstances and a crash bang wollop admission of new parental responsibilities, I'm not actually prepared to spend nearly as much on this outing as I'd originally thought... Figure it's not so much about spending an extra £50 on top of an extra £150 on top of my original £150 budget, but more about spending Hundreds on something I only Want because I like spanky new kit! doesn't everyone? I've not gassed for so long, this first hit has smashed me like a goddam steam train! So one and all - Thank you for all your advice so far but regrettably, I'll be moving forward with a revised Budget of £200 TOPS. This means no markbass and no Ampeg (unless one comes up 2nd hand within budget, which as Lozz points out is unlikely for a while). This leaves me with the G.K('s), the ashdowns and the harleys. Got to say, of the 3, I'm gravitating towards the G.K's just because of their size and the many endorsements I've read on here and elsewhere on the web. Going to keep an eye on the marketplace here - probably for the 500w version (at the right price), simply due to my understanding that to push 2x 200w cabs with a decent amount of headroom, I [b]may[/b] need More than the 200W the smaller model affords. Please though, correct me if I'm wrong?... Merton??? Because Mr.Noisy's got an [i]almost new[/i] MB200 on here for £185!!!! And if I could manage with that, I MAY even have a smidgen left over to take a look at one of these d.i boxes a few of you have mentioned... Just as a sweetner for turning down dave's markbass!!! easy... so to refine the advice i'm after; Do we think a G.K. MB200 will be powerful enough to push 2No. Hartke 210XL's for toilet circuit (barfly, underworld, borderline, metro club etc. etc.) size gigs where all I can usually hear is cymbals and white noise from the 3 vocals and guitar screaming out the house monitors? What do we think? Once again - thanks in advance. Sparky.

I have indeed Lawrence. Just looked at it and the problem seems to be with the peg itself. The part of the peg with the thread isn't being held tight by the housing to the top and the bottom. So when I turn the peg there's a small amount of vertical movement before it starts to ratchet. Hmmm... Wonder if I can just squeeze the opening tight/closed with a pair of pliers or something...

Thank you for your replies all. So - It'd seem that if I'm willing to pay 300+ it's Markbass no questions. Suits me!! Borrowed a MB combo (single 12" I think) at a gig once and it absolutely blew me away- loved it. Only thing holding me back it guilt! Just battling to justify spending that amount when the band are playing so infrequently.. That said, if I did splash out, I wouldn't be looking to change again for quite some time. Same goes for the Ampeg... Suppose if we're only playing a few gigs a year, it Would be nice to sound the sh*t for them!!! Thanks Merton & Pete for your input on the G.K.. What cab(s) are you both using? Could someone help me out on the maths for this please- am I going to be leaving a lot of cab unpowered with a 200w amp? Likewise, if I end up with a 500w head, is that a waste of amp power?? Does 2x 200w cabs = 400w capacity?? Ie. A 400w amp would be ideal to run 2x 200w cabs?! Ergh... Realise it's not as straight forward as that and has to do with setup efficiency etc. but like i said in my original post, Just want to make sure I'm making the most of what I have... Thanks Skidder - Yes, I'll look more into the ashdowns also- these fall much closer to my original budget before I started gassing for more expensive stuff. Yeh Lozz, I like how the Ampeg looks and will try to test one out. Do you think these likely to start coming up second hand any time soon? I realise they're pretty new but i dig the idea of an amp that only has 5 nobs! looks like it's built pretty solid too... which is good - cause like i said - i'm not planning on changing up again any time soon - just can't afford (or justify) it... Thanks for that Paul (re. the Harley . £123 does seem an amazing price for any 350w amp head!! So worth a look for sure. Someone mentioned thomann's no questions return policy- is that for real? Might be worth buying one just to try it! The 500watter also may be a good bet... Dave - Will look into the D.I boxes you mentioned - Know nothing about that stuff but am interested. I like a pretty plain sound and am always wanting to cut through the mix more - will this help? When i played through the markbass that time, i dug how well i could hear myself - even though the combo was sitting round my ankles! Z-Mech. I've not read the thread on stacking vertically, but i can see how that'd work... when we rehearse, i often sit down so my ears are closer to my cabs. Other than all that, I think I may just need to bide my time and watch the BC marketplace like a hawk-- for that £200 quick sale Markbass LMII ;-) ...and... i'm spent. Many many thanks. Sparky

I've got a MIJ '62RI from 1996. I love it. Apart from a good setup, the one thing i'd like to get sorted on it is the E tuner... there's movement between turning the peg and it ratcheting. Make sense? Means whenever i tune the E string I have to tune to below the note to tune back up - to make sure it doesn't slip. Do you know where to go for an exact replacement? I don't want to have to drill any new holes and I've no idea where to start. What do you reckon Bubinga? Cheers, Sparky.

Haha - Great thread - Start, middle, happy ending. Well done Evil. Enjoy...

Hello all! Looking for some informed opinions to help scratch a terrible gassy itch! Not posted on here in many moons! Nor used the phrase GAS for quite some time!... But hey, guess what- i find myself 'in the market' so whoop!! Ok. Need to downsize (hopefully not downgrade) my rig- on a budget! Have a small practice amp for home, so i'm purchasing for the rig I use for gigging / rehearsing with my band (blues-rock..I guess. Loud drummer, bass, guitarist, 3 vocals). Budget- started off at £150 but as is always the case, window shopping finds me considering stuff for more. In all seriousness though- I can't afford to spend very much - especially as the band isn't playing nearly as often as we used to. So, here's what I'm thinking: CABS Swap my Trace 2103H 2x10 cab (which i'm finding too big and heavy) for another Hartke 210xl (I've already got one) so those will be my cabs- 2No. Hartke 210XL's rated 200w 8ohms. I like how they sound and they're not too big to store or too heavy to carry on my own. Wollop. HEAD Sell my Hartke HA3500 head for whatever I can get for it, throw a little money into the pot and get myself a 'micro' head of some description. So, based mainly on size, price and power, I've narrowed my options down to the following: Harley Benton BA250H 250W@4ohms £125 new Ashdown Little Giant 350 350W@4ohms £250 new / £120 s.h?? Gallien Krueger MB200 200W@4ohms £200 new / £120 s.h?? GK MB500 S/H £?????? Ampeg PF-350 350W@4ohms £280 new / none available s.h...yet? Markbass LM250 250W@4ohms £250 s.h..??????? So, what do peeps reckon I should I go for???! I'd absolutely gag for the Ampeg but fear that unless I can hold out and wait for one to come up second hand (might be in for a wait?!!) I'll be spending almost double my original budget. Which amp would compliment / make best use of my cabs? Be good if I could get away with using one on it's own for smaller venues and both for bigger ones. Will the G.K's 200W make full use of the cabs' when i'm using both? I Did read the impedance wiki thread but am still a little uncertain about speaker power and how that fits into the equation. Not going to get hung up on the numbers but just want to make sure I'm making use if what I've already got. What's wrong with the Harley Benton that it's so dirt cheap??!!! Does anyone have one they can give feedback on? Any others I haven't listed that you think i should be considering? £300 is absolute TOPS and to be honest, i can't really afford That. Figure Genz are out of my price range, as are eden, aguilar etc. etc. Hmmmm- apologies for the long post. Only changed my setup once since I got my first giggable rig 15yrs ago and I remember it was a palava that time too! Anyway. Thanks in advance folks. Hope you're all doing good. Best get off to bingo now laters! Sparky

10 out of 10 once again! just a small practice amp this time, but as was the case last time - beedster's a guy to deal with. bish bash bosh, nice chat, job's'a'goodun!

ah yeh, cheers mr.tinman. seen the name 'wizard' banded about alright (always associated it with 'thumper' - but as i can see from the link - that's the P-bass pup hey). Anyway, I'd just assumed they'd be out of my league (price-wise) because of all the love, but turns out they're not all that dear - cheaper than Seymour Duncan's anyway. i'll definitely keep an eye out for a second hand pair - i assume age makes no difference? (seeing as vintage pups are sought after?). one more thing - when talking pups - what do the terms 'hot' and 'stacked' mean? [quote name='Tinman' post='405431' date='Feb 10 2009, 03:19 PM']If you save a little bit more cash you could get a pair of wizards (they're raved about on here) [url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/shop.asp?category=Bass"]http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/shop.asp?category=Bass[/url][/quote]

Eazzzy all! Looking to pimp my Jazz with some new pickups... thing is - i don't really know what i'm looking for. No idea what's in there already - they're just the pups that came with the bass. It's a 62RI MIJ Fender Jazz. Ideally I'm after more sensitivity and response for my fingerstyle - pups that'll bring forward the muted / ghost notes and give the full notes more presence & clarity - need to cut though more! Don't have much of a budget really - maybe £40-50 for some second hand goodies. Any suggestions as to what i should be looking out for in the BC marketplace would be much appreciated. Cheers, Sparky. p.s. is there already a thread outlining the properties of different pickup brands and models?

[quote name='Tee' post='207052' date='May 27 2008, 09:11 AM']Hmm, i'd say the Precision was a design classic, so a 'Mondeo' would be far off the mark imo. More like a VW Beetle, or a Mini.[/quote] Ford Transit... in a good way. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Transit"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Transit[/url] ...love that Mark I Minibus!

i think that if you add another 8ohm cab, then the amp will be running at 4ohms = max power (350W). after you've tried the rig with just the one cab (think the HA3500 puts out 240W at 8Ohms?) and feel that you need more power, then you'll need another cab. Then again, you might try it and find out it's plenty loud enough for what you need... depending on what type/size of gigs you're playing, 240W is still a half decent amount of power. either way. good luck. i've used a HA3500 for years and find it's a good work horse.

whenever i read the title of this thread, i always think it's about the processes vintage basses endure to aquire their mojo... how Do you wear off the finish on your bass using just your shirt sleeve??!!! Really abrasive shirt material and lots of playing i guess?

There's a pinned thread in the Miscelaneous gear section. It's a 3 page thread so hardly a brief rundown'. Good place to start though i'd say. Think there are some fairly concise posts near the beginning! Good luck!

So, i gigged the flatwound strung P on saturday and it was fine. Gig was good. House rig turned out to be an Ampeg SVT something something and an Ashdown something 8x10 cab. Guitarist had a Marshall half stack which was giving me itchy feet. Bass rig sounded alright i guess - didn't blow me away, but having an 8x10 was a little luxuary - mmm, speakers at head height! - no need to turn up and deal with the ensuing boom! anyway, like i said - the flats were fine - didn't get slippery (when sweaty) and sounded good, i think..: the following band's bass player was using the same rig with a P too and it sounded good out front so i'm gonna assume mine was also. So, in conclusion: Flats + GigSweat = No Problems. Thumbs Up. Sparky. EDIT: Oh ya, Huge Hands, the sound on saturday was really good. As i mentioned - the guitarist was using the house half stack (instead of his poxy little combo) and also, when we got there the stage was set up so that the Marshall and the bass amp were on the same side of the drums. Couldn't be arsed to move either so just ended up standing next to the guitarist - bit cramped, but novel, and i could hear him well without having to put anything through the monitor. This meant that the vocals sounded better, the guitar sounded good and because of the 8x10 cab, the onstage bass was clear too. wollop!

I like that idea. That way, when people post their rigs (in the same way that folk post their guitars in 'bass porn'), other members can post comments in the relevant/individual threads. Should we wait to see if anyone has any objections to this before changes are made??? Know it's not a biggy, but still...

I really like the 'show us your rig' thread but does anyone else wish it was a seperate forum/page rather than just a really really long thread? To me, a nice bit of 'rig porn' is almost as satisfying as a nice bit of 'bass porn'... Has anyone mentioned this before mods? Don't really know how this stuff works... Cheers, Sparky

as you face the stage, guitarist stands to the left of the drummer and i stand to the right. us up front share 3 wedges. drummer has a seperate (on it's side stylee) monitor. guitarist sings, then the lead singer(s) stand to the right of him (centred on stage). guitarist is loud enough to hear himself, but not for me to hear him from the other side of the stage - that's why i ask for a touch in my monitor. we obviously have the opposite problem with our guitarist - he's too useless to buy himself a decent amp that we can hear! i understand what you're saying though about monitor quality decreasing with every extra thing we put through them. oh well.. we'll see how it goes on saturday. i put up a seperate post about 'boom' after our last gig at this place.. got lots of useful suggestions ranging from amp positioning on stage to eq etc. but like i said - on saturday, i'm gonna get what i'm given and i'm gonna plug in and play! looking forward to it! cheers huge hands and everyone else. will let you know how i get on with stage sound and them there slippery snake flatwounds!

oh, and Never know what it sounds like FOH. the other bands always seem to sound alright...

ahh, ok - cool cool. huge hands, you might be able to help: we're not a super-loud band (i know what you mean about bands who like to crank it unneccessarily loud): line-up is one guitarist (running only a small marshall combo), 3 vocals, drums and bass. no 2nd guitarist, no keyboards. thing is - at this particular venue, it always seem to be the same problem ~ vocals + guitar in monitor = white noise. what do we ask for from the sound engineer so that the singers can all still hear themselves plus a bit of guitar? seems like a simple request but it always seems to get crazy up there. i'm pretty sure it's not our amps that are the problem (we only turn up loud enough to hear over/through the drummer) - it's the sound quality / volume from the monitors that makes the stage a bad bad place to be!

i've no idea what brand the strings are. beedster gave me them to try out when i bought the bass (as well as the rounds it was strung with). as for cutting through in the band/mix, i don't feel i've Ever cut through!!! or if i have, i've not been able to tell because stage sound is always so poor. it's a bit of an odd gig on Saturday; there are 13 bands playing throughout the day/night and everyone has been told they Must use the backline provided. suits me - it'll be an ampeg so'll be a nice change from my hartke/trace rig (which i've had 'boom' problems with at this particular venue). we're 12th up so i'm hoping that by then, foh and stage sound will be sorted - fu*k me, if they haven't got it PERFECT by then they deserve to be shot!

[quote name='The Burpster' post='201606' date='May 18 2008, 04:59 PM']J, looking at it now its back together, if it were mine, I'd put black screws in the PG and black V+T knobs with a blk nut on teh jack and leave that white PG.... It looks pretty.....! Overall ...... Very well done on your 1st build.![/quote] good suggestions here and won't put you out too much. diggin' the white/cream PG too. good job!