JPJ

Just a daft thought (too lazy to check the Thomann site), are the 4's & 5's the same scale length? If so, that could explain why the 4's are intonated nearer the rear of the bridge than the 5's.

Thanks for a great review of what looks (and sounds) like a killer bass at a great price. A game changer for sure as you rightly state. Picking up on a couple of points and looking at your photos: (i) the through body stringing option looks like it will involve a near 90 degree string break over the saddle, especially on the 'E' string, is this the case or is it just the angle of the photo?; (ii) again, from the photos of the controls, I'm guessing they are as high above the bell plate because there is only a single nut on the top side of the plate. If you added a second nut underneath the bell plate (or adjust one that's already there), it should be possible to lower the knobs down closer to the plate.

Just to add to the subs debate, we always use two because our tops are pole mounted and its much easier to get an even spread this way. As has already been mentioned, you can control the output level of your subs separately from the output level of your tops. Similarly, if your using a fully featured crossover, then you can also deal with phase issues by introducing delay to one side or the other.

I've got with 10, 15, 12 because thats how my preconceptions told me to vote, but what do I know, I'm a luddite when it comes to loudspeakers :-)

[quote name='bumnote' timestamp='1426711739' post='2721253'] Please be carefull if you do this. I spent some 30 years involved with the filling of Aerosols which when made were tested to ensure that at 50 degrees C they did not leak or burst. However if heated above 50 C degrees it is likely that the contents of an aerosol will expand to such a degree that they will exert a hydraulic pressure within the can which will first reverse the dome in the base of the can and then split the seam or blow the valve out. One I left in a lab water bath and forgot blew a hole in a corrugated roof, and it made a mess that took ages to clear up, that was hair spray so it would be real mess if it was paint. Wear eye protection and be carefull [/quote] Good advice here. I've been using this trick for years and not had a problem yet, probably through luck or the fact that the little painters bucket I stand the tin in doesn't contain enough heat energy to raise the contents of the can above the critical temperature. I imagine that your lab bath had a heater that maintained the temperature of the water?

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1426610870' post='2719835'] *note to self, don't buy cheap aerosols again, one the nozzle blocked up and another developed a habit of spitting blobs of paint every so often. [/quote] Top tip, stand your aerosols in a container of hot tap water for about 15 mins before shaking the can. Helps the paint to fully atomise, especially at this time of year

[quote name='razze06' timestamp='1426155889' post='2714944'] I did the replacement as suggested here, but the results are not pleasing for me. The sound is a lot louder, but also middier and with an almost hollow quality to it. Critically, the bass sounds always on the verge of saturation. Even at low volume, the bass now gives a lot more unpleasant harmonics on the E, A and D strings. I wonder if the signal is too strong and the preamp can't cope very well... I'm going to try and change the shape of the coiling of the piezos in the bridge anchor pits, but any piece of advice will be welcome! [/quote] Sorry, I should have mentioned that the new piezos are a lot 'hotter' than the stock Stagg ones, but you can use the trim pots on the preamp board to calm them down. After a bit of experimentation with levels I'm very happy with the sound of the new pickups.

No reason why not, just make sure the body is nicely sanded and clean from any residue and dust. And Andy, I'm going to have to try your finishing method as those two look amazing.

No not at all, but I think you'll still run up quite a bill at Halfords. Depending on the body wood and how particular you are going to be over the finish, you might get away without the grain filler. Halfords do a fine filler which comes in a natty yellow colour in an aerosol and a couple of coats of that might work just as well. Again, depending on how glossy you want the final finish to be, you could just spray the paint and leave it at that. The finish will have a degree of what's known in the trade as 'orange peel' which reduces the reflectivity and hence the mirror shine but that might be ok for you. Personally, I'd have to flat it but that's just because i'm wired that way :-)

For ease of application, I'd go with modern cellulose. Buy the complete system from one source (grain filler, primer, and colour coats). Take your time, the key to a good finish is lots and lots of preparation i.e. once the body is stripped, grain fill and sand to an even 600 grit using a block. Again, after priming, flat sand the primer to 800 grit, again using a sanding block. After the colour coats are on and evenly applied and fully cured, wet sand through the grades (1000, 1500, 2000 grit) again with the sanding block. Take care when wet sanding edges and radius's as its very easy to sand through. Finally buff and polish using good quality buffing compounds and lots of elbow grease. Personally, I like using Rothko and Frost products based on lots of good experience. I'd recommend one 400ml aerosol primer and 2 400ml aerosol colour coats per body (that should give 3-4 good coats of primer and 6-8 colour coat applications). However, the whole process is quite expensive and you can easily blow £150 on filler, primer, paint, wet n dry, and buffing compounds. Oh and you'll need a decent respirator mask otherwise you'll end up trying to paint the flying pink elephant that's laughing at you

One of our guitarists uses either a Zilla 2x12 or a Marshall 4x12, no real difference in volume (he's still too loud either way) but the tone of the Zilla is much nicer. What is the spec on your cab (watts, ohms, front/rear ported etc)?

Very cosmic in a nice way. Take your time building up the clear coats and give them plenty of time to fully cure before final sanding & polishing.

Is this all the time or just one location? Reason I ask is I run my SM1500 in bridge-mono like you and some venues power supply doesn't seem to keep pace with the amp.

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1424532460' post='2697392'] The Winery Dogs (Billy Sheehan, Ritchie Kotzen and Mike Portnoy) use the same setup for monitoring. Interested to hear any semi-budget desk suggestions to go with such a setup though. Behringer's own digital desk looks mighty, but so is the price! [/quote] Then take a look at the new X Air X 18, pretty much the full feature set from the X32 but less than £700. Ok, you'll need an iPad or similar but still....... [url="https://www.studiospares.com/product/384430?mc_cid=55df7a2516&mc_eid=77e115d883"]https://www.studiospares.com/product/384430?mc_cid=55df7a2516&mc_eid=77e115d883[/url]

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1424440280' post='2696326'] Work was a bit slow this morning so I decided I had to make a decision about the tuners, with that in mind I headed out to the garden with the Dremel and some small files to slightly reshape the tuners so they fit the headstock, well I say slightly, the G string tuner had to have one corner adjusted quite a bit, not idea I know but for me it was worth doing even if they look a little odd if you study them from the back. Pics of the back and front with everything held in place with masking tape or gravity. [attachment=184408:After Grinding 2.jpg] [attachment=184409:After Grinding.jpg] [/quote] looking good, you can't beat a bit of guerrilla engineering :-)

[quote name='Erik' timestamp='1424434367' post='2696242'] Looks nice ! Seeing the foam damper... are there more folks here that use this? I wonder why to be honest as I do not see the need on my Stagg (and not on my previous one too). Do you get excessive ringing of the afterlengths? [/quote] Yep, mine a damped with an old jay cloth otherwise they ring loud and clear

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1424368970' post='2695628'] Due to not owning a spray gun and the nature of the metal flakes, this bass will most likely have a textured finish (but I quite like the idea of that and let's face it some flake finishes do look textured). With a textured finish in mind, I am considering not using the flake where the scratchplate goes. Not only will this be less work, it'll also make installing the scratchplate a little easier. [/quote] Interesting! How are you going to apply your flake if you don't own a gun? Are you intending to do it the way the old skool car guys used to do it and just blow it onto wet paint?

Depending on how much you need to remove, you could use a file and this would reduce the chance of the chrome flaking. That said, if the chrome is applied properly then it shouldn't flake and as the tuners are aged, a little bit of flaking shouldn't look out of place.

If it was me, I'd grind a little bit off the long side of the tuner bass plates until they fitted snug with either a file or preferably a Dremel or similar. The pro alternative would involve plugging and re drilling the tuner peg holes.