brensabre79

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1392648782' post='2371034'] I'm a bit surprised that the guy in that video didn't say anything about slacking off the strings and allowing the neck to settle. I'd never adjust the truss rod with the neck under tension. P [/quote] I do, it doesn't cause problems with a healthy neck as long as its a fairly small adjustment. Also, there should be no need for settling time if you do it this way - it's an instant adjustment. I think the settling time thing comes from when the neck has been without strings for a while - i.e. not under tension, or when the truss rod has been tightened up with no strings to counteract. OP, thats a lovely looking bass, should be pretty easy to get that back up to condition. Have fun!

How about mods? Many people upgrade things on their fakers, like pickups, bridge, truss rod cover etc. Might be a good idea to have a section on this... Oh let me know if you need any graphics Chris

Surprisingly early on they started using polyester on all guitars. http://www.caraguitars.com/fullerplast.htm

Someone said to me once "guitars (and basses) are like people, they all have a different personality." you can have many friends, or a few, it's up to you. Some people have found "the one" they won't part with, like when you get married. Most have not found that special bass in their life and enjoy the company of a few different ones that they quite like... I have basses that I fell in love with in the shop that have not been played since - something of a one night stand I suppose. I also have basses that I wish I could play more often but don't fit what I'm doing all the time. But one bass, for all purposes. Nah.

Don't forget a graphic EQ - or at least a Feedback Destroyer (although I think feedback deployer is more fitting for those things personally!) If you can wring out the nasty frequencies on a decent graphic you can get the mics much louder through the PA

I prefer passive for the reasons above, PLUS... If the amp fails in an active speaker you lose the use of both speaker and amp. Its a lot easier and cheaper to carry around a spare amplifier than a spare active speaker. I have a class D Behringer iNuke as a spare. It serves a as a backup bass amp, backup PA amp (front and monitors) and, at a push a spare guitar amp (our guitarist brings a Line6 pod to gigs just in case).

I play this with the covers band. It was one of those situations where the drummer suggested it, to put me in my place when he couldn't get a beat right. SO I had to nail it just to show him!! It was hard work, but I got to a passable interpretation in the end. We have a new drummer now. And he clicks in at around the right speed before switching up a few gears at the first "hit me". "just to keep me on my toes". I have to say, although I usually manage to keep up, I have grown to hate this song that I once loved so much. The story behind it, I'm told, is that it started out as a fairly straight 8th note groove. Around the time they were working on it, Norman had been to see Jaco Pastorius playing live. After which he started creeping in the 16th notes gradually until the bass line we know and love was born. Apparently Chaz Jankel didn't like it at all, saying it was too busy, but it kind of stuck because they all got used to it. Whether true or not I don't know, but I do know it goes down very well at every gig we play it. So much so, we usually extend it [i]ad nauseum[/i]. And here's a tip from someone who has played this out every week for 2 years... If it doesn't hurt you're not doing it right

Resistance will help, mainly because that is pretty much the difference between the '64 and '84 models. They may also be a custom wind of course. Mine are "'74's" because I asked for something in between the two, with a fatter bridge pickup for my 70's spacing I also have a standard '84B sitting in a box... there is no visual difference at all!

Nice one! Glad that worked out for the best in the end And just think of all the Car stereo amps you can literally crush with that big iron

Would help to know more, i.e. type, resistance, or at the very least what bass it's on and which bit of the 3 band EQ...

+1 spare amp, I take a Carvin BX500 in my wires bag. Don't wanna be opening up my valve amp mid gig - that's a quick way to burn or electrocute yourself. Just swap the head, and worry about whats wrong with the amp later.

I've got a late 60s fretless mustang bass, awesome for recording

I've not had great experiences with the Harma retro personally. I've had 4, two (cryo) sounded good for a while then started crackling, the other two (non-cryo) sounded OK, but not great. I've found the most consistently awesome Preamp valve for me is the JJ ECC803S I've got these in both my amps now. But they are quite hi-gain so you might be better with JJ ECC83-S - I have one in my DHA pedal and its also warm and loverly and nothing like the cost of a NOS.

Album may have been a Musicman Stingray. I played with them very briefly in the early days, he had a black Stingray, changed to the 70s Jazz mid-way through recording album i think, so it's anybody's guess. I would say, just go your own way with the sound, get as close as you can, but play the way you play. Even with the same gear you'll never sound exactly like somebody else - it's more to do with technique than equipment

"Used for a couple of photos and left unused since" - not exactly pre-loved, more like never-loved, just used and left

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1389226160' post='2331749'] You could fit a J Retro: that would sidestep the current issue and upgrade the sound too! [/quote] And double the cost of the bass! If you want a cheaper alternative for a replacement pre-amp, you could do worse than the Artec one - (look on eBay). the J-Retro is very nice (if you like the sweepable controls - personally I find them too much for live use) but also not cheap! Alternatively, yes the pickups are passive so you could just have VVT or even VVTT or VBTT if you have 4 holes Or even VVT with a rotary series/parallel switch - there's lots you can do

Looks a bit like a Dave Hill Super Yob

OK Thanks! Well I did the power off tests and all checked out OK. Pin 3 continuity across all 6 sockets Same for pin 8 200 ohms between the three on each side for pin 4. I'm thinking that as the bias probe is quite tricky to get in there because of the bear claws and it may be that these were pushing it out again. Its possible I just didn't have it in the socket properly.

OK thanks 6v6, I'll check it out tomorrow. It's a bit of a pain to get into as the sockets are on the PCB (I know, not the best) so you have to lift the whole PCB out to get underneath. Is it OK to switch on the amp with no tubes in then? (Rubber gloves on )

Wow, thanks 6v6. I'd better check it out then, as I only got a bias reading on 1 out of 3 tubes! Would the amp even work if only one or two of the tubes were actually giving any output then? Maybe this explains why it seemed so underpowered...?

Well, no. You see a pickup by its very design is similar to a microphone. i.e. a coil with a magnet in the middle. the thing it is missing is a diaphragm that moves the coil (or the magnet), however vibrations can cause the pickup to become microphonic when the coil and/or the pole vibrate. Wax potting prevents this. I used to use [url="http://cpc.farnell.com/1/3/hellermann-sleeves"]these[/url] when I worked in studios as the patch cables would last much longer, but I doubt it would have any effect on microphonics though. Of course i could be completely wrong!

Well I did it! Adding the Bias mod was actually easier than making the bias probe actually. I wasn't expecting it to arrive in kit form. I first checked the bias with the old valves in before I did the mod. It was running at about 20mA - which according to the Weber Bias calculator was yielding about 8 watts per valve. So I was getting just under 50 watts out of my 160W amp! I installed the new JJ 6L6s (matched sextet) which were getting about 18mA. once I'd done the bias mod I checked the plate voltage, worked out that 44mA would get me the 70% max recommended power and adjusted the bias up to 40mA to be safe. this got me about 18 - 20 watts from each valve. So 100 - 120w total, more than double what it was running at! Sounds good too The only odd thing was that I could not get a bias reading off all the valves (old or new), but as they all lit up and its making a noise I figured this may be an issue with the probe rather than the amp. As it's a matched set the global bias adjustment should suffice, and I've left 10% margin. Thanks everyone for your help with this, I wouldn't have even attempted it without your wise words! Now to gig it (I'll be taking a backup amp just in case)

Dont worry. I've ordered at matched set of JJ 6L6s, a bias probe and the two resistors I need for the bias mod. I'm just waiting on the potentiometer then I'm going in for surgery (having discharged the caps first). That should be my boxing day sorted then

[quote name='SlapbassSteve' timestamp='1387672507' post='2314506'] The Wikipedia page on stingray basses mentions that this can happen and it's down to the player... Hmm. [/quote] Down to the player.. but only on MM Stingray? I agree with your reaction of hmm! I'd say there something amiss with your pickups / setup. Assuming its not choking and acousticslly you're getting a nice note. then maybe the pickup needs adjusting? Or dare I say checking for electrical fault...

I want an orange bass now