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.

[quote name='mr_russ' post='206724' date='May 26 2008, 06:51 PM']Heh he, that markbass cab is sodding great, I've had it for years- I'm adding a 1x15 so I can get the full whack out of the GK[/quote]
what happened to the Markbass 2x15? loved the look of that cab.

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

I've got one of these (use it with a HA3500 head). It's good. That's a good price.

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!

[quote name='queenofthedepths' post='201170' date='May 17 2008, 05:48 PM']I'm sure John Entwistle would vote for himself, in his never-ending search for the perfect bass A bloody brilliant player, never satisfied with his tone...[/quote]
+1... wasn't sure if it was just me, but although the playing was amazing, in that clip of The Who with Entwistle's bass track solo'd (someone posted the link a while back), IMO the bass sounded just terrible!

thanks chaps. i'm pretty sure my sweat's a pretty average viscosity, but depending on 'how hard i rock' the spread of open pores can extend right down to the fingertips! raghhhh!!!!!

Nope - Standard Fretted P-Bass. Just looking for an insight really. I've been playing and gigging roundwounds since I started.. and it's always a bit nerve-racking - the first gig with a change in your setup.. especially since the strings are the crucial point of contact between you and your instrument, i'm extra apprehensive. Oh well, if it all goes wrong, my Jazz is set up with rounds so I can always just revert to that...

as the topic heading suggests really. i've been playing with flats on my P for the past month or so and am really enjoying the feel and the sound but on Saturday, I'll gig with them for the first time. what should i expect when i start to sweat? will they become slippery??? oh, and ya, i Do sweat - a lot - when we gig.

yes yes, welcome simon wordsetc.