JMM

Thanks for the replies. Good to know it's the looper as it's within its warranty and so shouldn't be an issue getting it fixed/replaced :-)

Not yet, but I'll give it a go. It's intermittent and won't happen constantly, but at least a few times within a 3-4 hour rehearsal. As it's happening over both loops, I doubt it's an issue with the patch cables. So that just leaves the power supply and the looper. Is it more likely to be the looper?

I've got the following set up: Bass > TC PolyTune > Brighton Onion Pedals A/B looper > Amp Loop A: Boss Chorus Loop B: Tech21 XXL Bass Distortion Also a clean option on the looper pedal which is a true bypass. The whole lot is powered by a Harley Benton power supply. When playing and engaging one of the loops, sometimes there will be very little volume and it seems to stay at this low volume. The only way to correct this, is to either change the loop and then back again, or engage the clean option on the loop and then go back to the effect I wanted. This will then go back to the normal full volume. This issue has happened with both the chorus and the distortion loop. What's likely to be the cause of this issue?

Thanks, this is a transistor output, but with 2 preamp valves, just to make things a bit more confusing haha. With my very little understanding of electronics, the power produced must go somewhere and 500 watts is quite a bit!

Headless basses are great! They never seem to go out of tune (even when playing in a freezing garage) and they fit so much easier in cars, due to fitting in a regular electric guitar gigbag. You can pick up a Hohner Jack fairly cheap though, so you're mainly doing this for the experience of actually building a bass.

Thanks for the reply. I'll avoid the ground lift button for now then. The Sansamp does look a good option. For the moment though, would running an amp purely through a DI damage it in any way?

I've got a gig coming up with quite a crowded stage, but a lot of monitors. All the bands have been asked to share their amp (unlike the guitarists who get their own sound!). I was just wondering whether it would be possible to set up just a head and DI that, to get the tone I want. The stage has a lot of monitors so I don't think it should be an issue hearing it, but can the amp be used without outputting to a cab? Also the DI has a ground/lift button, what is this for? Thanks (If it makes any different, the amp in question is an Orange Terror Bass 500.)

A tailor or upholsterer should be able to sew a new one in for you if you want, but I'm not sure how cost effective it would be. (I bought a regular sized guitar Fender Strat Gigbag and it fit my headless perfectly and was just over £10 from Thomann. The same one on UK sites was 2-3x the price.) Alternatively, I recently bought a leather messenger bag for work and saw this on the website I bought it from: Zips If your zip has started to come undone, you can try this simple method to mend it. Make sure the zip is open all the way to the end. Take the zip pull in one hand and using a small, ideally pointed, pair of pliers, press down firmly on one side of the zip pull (on the metal itself). You are just trying to mesh the teeth together a little so do not press too firmly. Then repeat this on the other side of the zip pull. This should allow you to pull the zip once more.

The Terror Bass was tested to have just shy of 600 watts on one of the Ohm settings, with bursts of almost of 1000 watts! I recently compared mine to an AD200B and just on tone, I really do prefer the terror bass. The AD200B was warmer, but seemed to have lost of a lot of the growl that the terror bass has. Does anyone know when they changed the XLR output and if there's any way to check by looking at the actual amp?

That's great service! By the way, sometimes when a small bulb does blow, it can be intermittent as it's easy for the filament inside to reconnect when being moved - in this case, probably by the bass vibrations.

I've bought a few HB products and have actually been impressed with the quality. They also have a 3 year warranty which is a nice bonus. I ended up buying a Bright Onion Pedal Looper though. They're all hand made to order and you can choose exactly what you want. They can also run without a power supply (although you do need power to see the LEDs): http://www.brightonion.co.uk/

I can see there being more innovators, but perhaps technological innovators in the form of effects and not necessarily new playing techniques. Loop pedals are allowing music to be played that has never been played solo before. They're also allowing creating quite different arrangements, due to the way they work. The trouble is now that music is more accessible and it's easier for bands to record and play now, the main issue is getting noticed. The only thing I think I've ever done which I think is probably a first, is to put one of my dreadlocks under the strings near the bridge while playing, in a similar way to the bridge mutes on some stringrays. It did work really well and I loved the tone, but I can't see myself becoming famous for it haha. [quote name='Stan_da_man' timestamp='1360516942' post='1971583'] On the subject of public awareness; I'm pretty sure if I said 'Jaco Pastorius' to 99% of the general public, their reply would be "Bless you"! [/quote] My old amp had a sticker on showing how to emulate certain sounds, one of them being Jaco's. I had a sound engineer in a studio think that it was Michael Jackson!

Just thought I'd update this. I originally ordered a Polytune Mini Noir, but after speaking to TC, they mentioned that they've dropped the polytune feature for basses on the Mini (it still has the polytune feature for guitars). I then changed my order to a standard Polytune and have been really pleased with it. It's got quite a few different display modes and has been very easy to see.

I've been playing with everything at 12, which gives quite a nice overdrive sound, but not really enough of a contrast when I then use my distortion pedal. I'm now playing around with a lower gain for my clean tone, although I'm leaning more towards dropping my distortion pedal and just using the overdrive tone of the amp itself as it's got quite addictive!

I've been extremely impressed with my SP210 as well. We tend to rehearse at very high levels and in both a four piece and three piece band, with a drummer playing hard enough to break cymbal's, this cab could always be clearly heard. I originally bought this cab for its size and appearance, both of it which it's been amazing for (I did consider a Barefaced cab, but I feel their appearance leaves a lot to be desired in comparison), however whereas I thought I'd be compromising volume, to my surprise I haven't.

I've just blown all the money I have at the moment on a few new pedals. Unfortunately, that's left nothing to buy something to secure them too. I'm not looking for an enclosed case to protect them at this stage, just something to hold them and the wires in place so I don't have to rewire it up at every rehearsal/gig. Does anyone have any idea's as to any old/junk stuff I could use to create one? I like the idea of a perforated metal grill so as I could use cable ties through it to secure all the patches and 9V leads, but then I don't know where I'd find something like that. The only other thing I can think of is a scrap of spare wood, but I want something a little more imaginative than that. Any ideas?

I'd recommend looking for a secondhand bass. Not only will you get considerably more for your money, but you'll get a lot more back if you ever decide to sell it on.

How much further did you tune it for the string to snap? I've only ever known someone break a G string and when that went, it actually left a cut on his arm. Since then, I've always been a bit paranoid of snapping a G string popping, but I never imagined an E string breaking!

That's good you can get daisy chains with a female socket and saves me having to find a pedal with a DC out, and I'll look for one with a transformer too, thanks.

I've just finally got around to ordering my Polytune mini. Something else I have just noticed is that the Boss TU-2 has an accuracy of +/- 3 cent, the TU-3 has a better accuracy of +/-1 cent, but the Polytune is +/- 0.5 cent, so 6x more accurate than the TU-2.

I'd recommend an Orange Terror Bass 500 and an SP210. Not only do they fit in the boot of a smart car (along with my bass and a few bags for when I stay at my mates house), but I can easily carry my bass, amp and cab in one go straight into any gig venues :-). The set up has got plenty of volume too and easily keeps up with very loud rehearsals and gigs.