brensabre79

I've been lugging round my SWR Goliath II 4 x 10 for years and it serves me well, but these days I am looking for something smaller and lighter. My current head is a Hartke HA3500, so I get 350w @ 4ohms / 200w @8ohms and I'm thinking about getting either a 2x10 4ohm cabinet or two 1x10 8ohms that can handle this. I might consider swapping the head too though. I've heard all sorts of recommendations of compact cabs, MarkBass, Ibanez etc. but trying in a shop is no substitute for a gig situation. So my question is, what would you recommend? what have you tried and tested? bearing in mind the huge sound I'm used to from my SWR and the watts handling. I don't want to get something that will be lacking in the low frequency or power department! i don't want something that says it will take 500w all day long but in reality farts at anything below 100Hz. I'd like to get all this for around £500 (if I can use it with my Hartke Head) or £750 with a shiny new head too. So whats the best bang for my bucks? Cheers Bren

+1. I have the Goliath II. Thunderous lows for a 4x10. I used to run a 1x15 alongside, these days I don't bother. Really solid Cabinet (mine has been chucked around for decades and its still going strong). And the overall sound is really good for cutting through a loud band. The Goliath II cabinet was designed by David Eden. I have heard that since Fender bought SWR the accountants have moved into the design studio and they are not so great now. You may be able to find a S/H Goliath II but take a good look at the speaker cones for creases. I had to replace mine after i lent it to somebody less careful than me and the original PAS drivers are discontinued. The replacement speakers from SWR themselves are not the same (they are for the [Fender] Goliath III onwards). I had to get some Eminence ones matched to the cab volume in the end - Eminence were really helpful with this though. I once had an Ampeg - vastly over-rated IMO - don't get me wrong their amps are amazing, their cabs are nothing special and very expensive for what you get these days. EBS are pretty dear too. I have tried a couple of EBS cabs. They're a great, clean, punchy sound but the 10"s lack balls in my opinion. Lovely clear mids, crisp highs, but there no bottom end. If you're playing Jazz/Funk then these are your best bet for punch. If you want some bottom end in there go for the S/H SWR - or have a look at some Eden cabs (essentially what SWR once were if you ask me!) P.S. I'm actually thinking of trading my SWR in the new year for something a bit smaller and quieter, as these days I don't do such big gigs and it is a lump to haul around. But you can probably find one in better cosmetic condition than mine

[quote name='Booooooom' timestamp='1321920424' post='1444532'] +1 for meths. I recommend making one of [url="http://www.tunemybass.com/strings/bass_string_cleaning_tube.html"]these[/url]. In addition, I'd thread a short length of drinking straw/tubing over the headstock windings to straighten and bind which makes getting the strings into the tube much easier. Also, run the strings through a clean cloth/piece of kitchen roll as you withdraw them from the tube so you don't splash meths about. Works a treat [/quote] +1 on this! I used to boil and the zing comes back for about half a gig and then suddenly its gone again. The main thing that boiling achieves is agitating the strings, you can do this in meths and they won't go rusty! I have sweat like battery acid and I've been experimenting for years to try and get through more than two gigs on a set of strings! Meths works a treat (24 hours MAX) and has the advantage that you're not heating then cooling - which affects the elasticity of the string, and also not exposing to water which speeds up the oxidization process immensely. Washing up liquid does degrease, but you don't need to boil for the degreasing. A guitarist I knew used to use WD40 (4 or 5 sprays a gig!) to clear the moisture from the strings and also make it easier to whizz up and down the fretboard. - a bit like fast fret but cheaper! but the best thing you can do to prolong string life is just snap the strings to loosen dirt and then wipe down with a cloth at the end of a gig/rehearsal. And wash your hands (with soap) before you play to get rid of grease and dirt from your fingers.

Hi Ovialexm, its difficult to tell from the picture but.... There are only a few companies who actually manufacture strings (spoiler alert. e.g. Elites are actually just GHS boomers with a high price tag) the different companies usually have a different combination of silks for identification. So chances are there will be quite a few makes that are similar to the ones you have. Originally Posted by [b]John Hall, Rickenbacker CEO, 8/29/1998[/b] "There are actually only a very few string factories producing guitar strings in this country, and all the rest of the brands . . . including some of the really well known brands . . . are done as private label production." Thats not to say that different brands aren't made to different specification though. Your best bet would be to go to your local music shop and compare what you have to the models on display, try them out and find something similar to what you have. Usually new basses will be fitted with the manufacturers own (e.g. Fenders have Fender strings) or the shop should know what they have put on there... Apparently D'Addario makes strings for more people than anyone else so might be a good place to start. But if you just want a really good set of strings DR are far and away the best I've ever tried, they last 3x longer than any others they also sound and play fantastic - just my opinion, others may differ!

Marshall are UK based and are also very helpful. They should be able to supply a direct replacement or if not at least tell you where to get one. You could contact Eminence directly. they are really helpful in terms of will this speaker work in my cabinet questions. They were great with me when I needed to find replacement drivers for my SWR Goliath ii - the OEM had stopped making the speakers ages ago.

A difficult one to answer H&R, has it always been like this? did you buy it new? I'm not familiar with the bass, has it got a passive / active switch? If so is there any difference in level? If the replacement batteries were new I don't think more expensive batteries will help much, seems like quite a substantial drop in volume from the norm. If you're up to it I would check the wires inside are all connected properly. Including the battery wires and the switch jack wires and the pickup wires. make sure its all grounded properly etc. Check the solder joints are not loose / dull. Otherwise it could be any number of things. Might be best to take to a tech who will have the diagnostic tools required to identify the fault.

Have you tried with a different bass? and is your bass active? might be worth changing the battery in the bass if it is active - the low powered and farty sound is often down to a low preamp battery. If not that, then you can try changing the pre-amp valve like BassBod said. You can get some great valves from watfordvalves.com Failing that, its probably a job for a tech.

Basically you join the positive wire of one pickup to the negative wire of the other. What you're left with is one positive wire and one negative. The positive one goes to your volume control (or straight to the tip of the output jack if you don't want any controls!) and the negaitve goes to ground. Here's a usefukl website which explains better than i can... http://www.1728.org/guitar.htm

Yeah I know its not a spot on guide - trying to be brief and not go into too much detail. Thats a great guide on the link though Ou7shined. Nice one. Great pics Steve. i agree with ou7shined the neck looks to have a back bow from these pics but if you could post the one looking down the neck we'll know more...

No I don't think you should live with it KT. Neither should I. But I'm at a bit of a loss myself with this problem. put in extra foam pads - good place to start though MoonBass. Grounded the whole of the cavities with copper tape. The pickups have all been wax-potted and still I have this. The only time I don't get it is when I don't boost the treble on the bass pre-amp. I have to say though when I turn the gain down on the amp and the master volume up I get the same volume without the squeal - but I don't get the growly sound I like either

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1320756274' post='1430856'] Don't be ashamed of your Hondo bud. I have an old Hondo II Jazz in my armoury which can hold it's own very nicely indeed. [/quote] Yeah this too. nothing wrong with a Hondo - I have played many in my time and once they are set up right they can be just as good as basses 5x the price

Welcome to basschat Steve! Sounds like you need a set up. Unfortunately there are a number of reasons for string buzz, it depends on where the buzz is coming from for a start. It could be the string height is just too low, or the truss rod in the neck needs more tension, or that one or two frets are sitting higher than the others... First thing to check is the [b]neck bow[/b]. put one finger of your left hand (assuming you're right handed) on a string at the 1st fret, and put your right hand little finger on the last fret, then reach as far as you can with your RH index finger between the two (you'll probably get to about the 12th fret) and push down on the string... IF there is no movement at all (i.e. the string is already touching the 12th fret without being pushed) your truss rod has too much tension - this will be the most likely cause of string buzz - it needs to be let off slightly to allow a very slight bow. IF there is a little movement (about the thickness of a thick plectrum or a business card 0.5mm - 2mm) your truss rod is probably OK for now. IF there is more of a gap (i.e. 3 or 4 mm) then the truss rod needs to be tightened - this won't help the string buzz but probably needs doing. If your truss rod is OK check the [b]action height[/b] (the distance between the string and the fretboard without touching the string) The quality of the bass and set-up will dictate how small this gap can be without fret buzz. I play quite hard, with a high action and at the 12th fret I usually go for a 3mm gap. The higher the action, the greater the tension of the strings is. You can lower/increase the action at the bridge (usually a small allen key) - you will probably need to re-set the intonation (usually the phillips screw at the back of the bridge) google this or search on here if you do! The [b]string height at the nut[/b] (usually white plastic the strings pass through on their way to the tuning pegs) is also a factor, this is usually set quite high on budget basses and makes it hard to push the string down at the first few frets. If its set too low you'll get string buzz on open strings too. The height should be just above the height of the first fret (the same height the string is above the second fret when you play the first fret - i.e. just clearing it). This might be a job for the shop as you need special files and if you get it wrong and take off too much the only thing you can do is replace the nut! If all of these are OK then it could be one or two rogue frets sticking up. This means you'll need them filed and polished level - i would go to a guitar tech for this, although there are people on here who could tell you how - it's quite specialist. It might be an idea to get it set up properly by a good guitar tech/luthier in the first place and talk to him/her about what needed doing. Then you can tweak the bass to your liking if you fancy a meddle - just remember to move in small increments and keep a not of what you adjusted and by how much so you can go back if it makes matters worse. For peace of mind I always take a new bass to my local guitar tech and get him to give it the once over before I fine tune it to my playing style. i hope at least some of this helps. Bren

You could wire the pickups in series if you have 2. Maximum balls but the sound is not to everyone's taste... Personally I'd have it swtichable, in fact I do on all my basses

Yep sounds like microphonic p'ups. Although both my JBs do this too. One with brand new Wizards, the other with stock Fender p'ups (about 10 years old) the only bass that doesn't do it is my Sabre which hasn't been touched electronically since 1979 when it was built!

Don't sell anything yet. Play the TBird for a while and enjoy it. After a while pick up the other one again, see if you love it again, if not then think about getting rid. The pickups make a big difference but there are other factors in getting the Thunderbird sound and if you like the feel of the Tbird too why try and make what you've already got from something that isn't even close?

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1320423204' post='1426756'] Warmoth do a 70s pickup position option on their jazz bodies. Don't know of any UK suppliers that offer this. Finding a local luthier to build a body to your spec may be easier. [/quote] Yeah I'm starting to think a luthier might be the best option. Loads of companies in the US, but nobody in the UK that charges reasonable rates. Ordering from the US doubles the cost after shipping charges Thanks guys

True. I agree, in fact I gave one of them a mouthful about it. Although the guy that [i]is[/i] looking at my a100 has had it 6 months and doesn't seem much closer to diagnosing the problem, having had every single capacitor, resistor etc. tested on a scope he's resorted to just changing components now to see what works. He said, by the end of this I could have just built you a new amp! He's normally brilliant too! I guess these days everything is designed to be constructed on an assembly line and then never opened up again. Sorry to Hijack your post Les. Hope you get it sorted out

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1320413763' post='1426548'] Bunch of wusses - when I got my HA3500 the valve preamp was not giving any output, only the solid state one. Me and a mate fixed it ourselves - a resistor had burned out in the valve preamp circuitry. Replaced it and took the opportunity to replace the caps as well. The compressor control is on a stupid daughterboard which just relies on being in the right place relative to the tracks on the main board and we messed that up a little - ended up hard wiring it and it'll be all the stronger for it. Bottom line is though two ordinary guys fixed mine. I'm no amp tech. [/quote] Guess it depends what the problem is...

Hi there, Does anyone know where in the UK I can get a Jazz bass body to fit my Squier VM Jazz Bass '77 Neck? The neck on my Squier is truly amazing (for what I paid especially) but the body seems to be made from something horrible and the pickup routings are in the 60s position which isn't what I want. I thought about filling and re-routing, but having seen the wood underneath I thought again! So I was thinking of swapping the body completely for a replacement Swamp Ash or maybe Alder but can't seem to find anywhere decent here. I found one place allpartsuk but they only sell pre-routed for 60s position pickups and they charge an extortionate amount of money for a body, even one made of two or three bits of wood glued together (although I know a lot of Fenders are like this underneath ). Anyone else done this mod btw? Cheers Bren

My HA3500 is pretty quiet, it is the one in the wooden box though not sure if that affects anything. I think the fan speed is affected by the temperature of the amp though (i might be wrong on this!) but if the fan bearing is fine it could just be working hard because the temp is up...? one thing to check inside (if you're brave enough) is that the the output amps are screwed in to the heat sync tightly. They can loosen, which causes the amp to work very hot because the heat is not dissipated, which could cause the fan to work at maximum to try and cool things down.

My Hartke has been with my local repair guy for about 6 months with a mystery 'noise' its making. He wasn't very complimentary about the design or build of it and said next time he sees one he'll just tell the owner to set fire to it and buy another amp - preferably a different make! Not very helpful but apparently they are a bugger to fix, 3 other techs down here refused to look at it when I told them what it was! If anyone can help you up there though its probably Dave Lunt. He's in Stockport so a bit of a drive from Salford. i think he's in the recommended amp techs section on here - or the phone book. He looked after my stuff and my dads stuff for years when I lived up there. Reminds me a bit of Austin powers but he definitely knows his stuff! He will also tell you if its worth repairing first!!

Its a pretty similar story with most things. Vacuum Cleaners (most look like a Hoover - even the completely different Dyson). Why are all amps and cabinets basically black boxes? Why are all speakers round? The Fender shape works, pure and simple - ergonomically it is the best design for a bass guitar, proven by the fact it is still around. Even the Warwicks and dare I say BC Rich etc. are based on the original Leo Fender design in their own way - the horns might be a different shape but the principle is the same. The ones that aren't so clearly based on the Fender shape are famously the ones prone to neck dive (or neck pain!). The only significant difference apart form the choice of wood are those basses with thru necks (Rickenbacker came up with this one i think) but the form is not really that different... The most radical re-design I can think of was the Steinberger headless / bodyless (Hohner even copied that!) bass. How many of those do you see around these days? how many BC'ers have had one at some point and gone back to a Fender shaped bass? You do see copies of other makes but not so many because most people at some point realise that for all the fancy shapes and bells and whistles you can get the original Fender design gets you (and keeps you) the gig!

For my two pence... I'd be wary of replacing one fret, depending on how worn the others are... If one frets sits higher than the rest it'll buzz. But you can do it if the rest are pretty new, they will all need filing down to the same level though so might as well do them all! Is it rosewood or maple neck - huge difference in cost to do this because you have to refinish a maple neck afterwards!

[quote name='iBudd' timestamp='1320242404' post='1424198'] Thanks, I hadn't thought about shimming the neck, I think I'll look into that... but it's only the open A that rattles, and fretted notes doesn't, as I understand it the shim would allow me to lower the action more uniformly... but if it's only the headstock end of the neck, is that a clue that it's the curve of the neck rather than the angle that's the culplrit?? I tried raising up the nut slot a little, little temporary shim with folded paper, and that achieved not very much. I usually play with a pretty medium action anyway, not Jamerson-height but I do like to have room to dig in a little for more r&b stuff. One very odd thing I've noticed is that if I hold the headstock moderately tight with my hand and play the open A it doesn't buzz. What on earth could that mean? [/quote] Sorry, misunderstood the first post. So is the rattling at the headstock end? Could be one of the machineheads or ferrules there is a bit loose... Or maybe even part of the truss rod assembly rattling?