stevebasshead

[quote name='Luther Blissett' post='40188' date='Aug 1 2007, 08:26 PM']euhm, unfurtunately the hole is right in the middle, in the bubble, and I don't know if I can fix that, and of how to replace the cone, I wish I could, but I'm afraid I'm not nearly technical enough for that!!! [/quote] Sounds like the hole is in the dustcap rather than the cone proper, so it probably doesn't need fixing (but if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me soon enough) Regards, Steve.

[quote name='Toasted' post='29851' date='Jul 10 2007, 04:32 PM']I've been getting my strings from Germany. They do great deals on all my favourite brands.[/quote] These guys ? [url="http://saitenkatalog.de/home/index.php?osCsid=52557f64e37374066de9fda121756b18"]http://saitenkatalog.de/home/index.php?osC...de9fda121756b18[/url] If my ailing memory serves I used them after reading a recommendation from yourself on BW a few months back. Cheap and quick they were too, got a set of FatBeams from them.

The cover might be having a small effect reshaping the magnetic field generated by the pickup maybe ?

Looks like a great spec, Dave. Might be worth getting the mods to move this to the Amps and Cabs section for more visibility as it's so much more than an effect. Steve.

[quote name='wizbat' post='24683' date='Jun 28 2007, 11:36 PM']Yeah I,d like to know as I,ve been thinking "oh my god , hope he don,t knacker it" As for sticking your knee under the neck!!!! the only bass that I,ve really ever encountered that the manufacturer ever advised that was rickenbacker with the early single truss rod 4001,s.[/quote] Great advice here [url="http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/"]http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/[/url] for setting up Rickenbackers and a separate section under the Bass Guitar Maintenance section for all other basses. This guy's highly recommended on the Rickenbacker forums. Friend of mine bought a vintage switching tone pot for his 4003 and Rickenbacker didn't include a wiring diagram. When he emailed them to ask for one they just pointed him at the above site - canny recommendation ! Ric's really are very different to set up. Any Ric owners should read the advice on the link above but basically, for Ric's you adjust the rods with the strings tuned to pitch, and for the 4001 model NEVER, EVER tighten the truss rods to move the neck, always loosen the adjusters, move the neck manually where you want it and then tighten them to hold it in place. 4003's have stronger rods so you don't have to move the neck manually but you still do it with the strings tuned to pitch. You'd be aiming to set the neck up FLAT, no relief. Totally different to the majority of basses. Regards, Steve.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='23947' date='Jun 27 2007, 11:58 AM']And as well as the Vigier Nautilus system (on the bass), there's the programmable Trace Pre-amps (separate from the instrument). A couple of folks on here have them. I forget the official designation....[/quote] Sansamp's PSA-1 preamp is programmable too, but with an all analogue signal path. Marketed more at guitarists but works perfectly for bass too.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='22219' date='Jun 22 2007, 11:55 PM']Herco Flex 75 (the silver/grey one) for me. I've just ordered a box of 100 from the US as they seem to have become almost impossible to get in this country now and are hidden away on the Jim Dunlop website so well that only a determined search will reveal them.[/quote] I used to get mine from Stringbusters if that helps. Not that you'll need any for a while Steve.

[quote name='dood' post='21980' date='Jun 22 2007, 04:44 PM']great scott! thats cool! does the strip come with a PSU too? If not, what does it need?[/quote] Cheers Dood - and yep, a wall wart is included. I got my set from Focus but *adopts BBC voice* other blue LED strings are available They're the type you see people draping round trees in their gardens at xmas, I just laid them back and forth behind the roll of plastic stuff. Focus also do a multicoloured version which flashes, might get myself a set of those too. Could be an interesting effect, pulsating away behind the diffusing plastic stuff These are the blue one's [url="http://www.focusdiy.co.uk/invt/23499"]http://www.focusdiy.co.uk/invt/23499[/url] but I can't find the multicoloured one on their site. Seen it in store though. Steve

[quote name='lobematt' post='21875' date='Jun 22 2007, 01:21 PM']blue peter badge is winging its way to u now young squire[/quote] Ta !

[quote name='misrule' post='21647' date='Jun 21 2007, 11:14 PM']Landstrom Sharkfins -- the white ones, with a serrated edge. I feel a bit embarrassed about admitting this, for some reason, but I've used them on gu*tars since I was a teenager (long, long ago). The ridged edge gives a nice, full sound. Cheers Mark[/quote] I thought I'd be the only one to have sharkfins, don't see them every day !! I'm using their really, really thin red one's for recording with at the moment. I have a really low action and find heavier pics just bounce the strings off the frets too much (I'm a bit heavy handed at times ) but the bendy reds alleviate that while still giving a pick attack. Also, by varying finger pressure and grip I can stiffen them up if needed or get a compromise inbetween a pick and fingerstyle sound. Takes a bit of practice but well worth it. And yeah, the serrated edge gives a very different sound. Nice. I used to use the silver Herco's (around .75 I think) but recently for gigging I've been using a green Plectr'o' - anyone remember them ? Came out about 4-5 years ago, hole in the middle, variable thickness as you spin round from the point to the rounded edge. Good grip feature having the whole in the middle 'cos your finger and thumb tips meet. Very hard to find now. Steve.

For those who asked...(Velvetkevorkian, Dood, Lobematt) [size=3]My camera phone doesn't show the [b]true[/b] blue in the head-on shot but the other two are exactly the shade[/size] Head-on, colour's not real-life though (damn camera, see the next two for the proper colour)... Side on, exactly the colour From inside the rack, also acts as a bit of internal lighting ! Easy to do - One string of 84 Bright Blue LED's from Focus DIY, a roll of that knobbly, grippy, semi translucent clear plastic stuff from IKEA that stops your cutlery tray from zipping round your kitchen draw like an excited puppy, plus 10 mins of your time. The LED string is just laid back and forth, behind a roll of the grippy plastic stuff, enough to diffuse the LED's to taste, then a final, separate wrap around the lot to hold it in place and attach to the rack. I made two snips in the outer wrap either side, just enough to act as rack ears, sticking out for attaching to the rack. Do I get a Blue Peter badge ?

LOL! I could live with that

[quote name='dood' post='20917' date='Jun 20 2007, 05:48 PM']Interestingly, I do wonder why more compressor companies dont put a side chain filter in as standard. the benefits outweigh the additional pennies it costs to add one.[/quote] Mine's got one but I never thought of using it that way...interesting idea though. (It's an XIX CP1402 twin channel jobby. Awful colour scheme but got good reviews in Sound on Sound.) I have a love/hate relationship with compression in general and at the moment it's out of my rack and 'sleeping in the spare room'... Just to update my posting earlier in this thread, I did end up taking the Aphex out of my rack. As much as I love it I've rearranged everything so now I have the neck pup from my Ric going through the DHA rackmount (sounding fantastic with a pair of 1969 NOS Jan Philips ECC82's) and the bridge pup into the SVP-Pro, at least for the moment. The Ampeg's not quite doing it for me, at least on the bridge pup so I'm considering alternatives incl. another DHA rackmount. Or I could swap it out for the Aphex. Hmm, I might have play with that tonight and use the Behringer minimixer to boost the output to a suitable level for the poweramp... The gap left by the Aphex has been replaced by 84 (yes, 84 ) bright blue LED's. None of my gear had blue LED's before but I might have over compensated They're arranged behind a roll of semi-translucent plastic to blur out the individual leds and give a rack-wide and lush blue light. I'll post a pic if my camera phone does a decent job of it.

[quote name='DHA' post='15632' date='Jun 11 2007, 03:06 PM']Hi, I think people are using my rack designs as both pre-amps for driving power amps and as overdrives to drive amps. Not sure that I need change much anyway as my overdrives are really just pre-amps. Or am I missing something? Dave[/quote] Hi Dave, guilty as charged on both counts I used to use your first Dual Rack Mount (Serial No. 001 !) as an overdrive in front of my amp but a few months ago I switched to the stereo outputs on my Rickenbacker and I'm using it now as the pre-amp for the neck pickup. It sounds bloody fantastic with a pair of Jan Philips ECC82's and the Silicon diodes switched in. The only minor niggle is the overall output level, although I accept that the ECC82's have less gain than the ECC83's you supply which probably accounts for some of it. That said, when I had the ECC83's in but ran it clean, when the boost circuit was up full to give a strong enough signal to the poweramp it distorted a little (maybe your latest designs are different ?) but it's no problem, even with the ECC82's I use now. I run the boost lower and the output goes to a micro-mixer in the back of my rack to blend with the other pre-amp so I just use the micro-mixer to increase its level. So that's the only thing I'd suggest - making sure the pre-amp's output level is sufficient to drive a poweramp on it's own. I like the 'modular' idea too, that gets my vote. I'm using an Ampeg SVP-PRO pre-amp for the bridge pickup but might well be tempted to get a second DHA rack pre-amp as the Ampeg's not quite doing it for me. Or I could sell both my DHA and Ampeg and get one of your new one's if each channel had it's own input and output (i.e. stereo, or more accurately dual-mono operation). I'm looking forward to seeing what you come out with. Steve.

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='13471' date='Jun 7 2007, 09:57 AM']i was just a bit surprised to see wear at the nut end in such a short space of time - probably after an hour? Also, i had the most weird feeling as the coating started to go at the bridge end. I was playing with my fingers and it felt sort of cold and sticky, like me blister on me index had burst![/quote] I can't speak for the Polywebs but the nanowebs don't feel any different when the coating starts to fray (i.e. no 'blistered stickiness' feeling). I play mostly pick style and yeah, that does wear the coating off a bit quicker but with no effect on the tone. I've also had one or two sets where the coating has started to fray along the fretboard length, again with no noticable tone difference. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them but if the fraying bothers you, you could try Warwick's EMP range - their coating seems much, much more resilient, even to a pick. They also feel exactly like steels (i.e. rough but smooths off after a few hours of playing-in) and are almost as bright. I've just switched to them after about 4 years of using the Elixir Nano's and I'm impressed although they don't seem to last quite as long. Not much in it though. I also tried a set of D'Addario EXP's about 18 months ago which I didn't like, they sounded duller to start with and went off quite soon too. Maybe a duff set but at £30 a pop I didn't want to risk a 2nd attempt. Steve.

[quote name='overwater#1' post='5805' date='May 24 2007, 03:06 PM']Neither of my Trace cabs have wadding, but neither does me really early GP11 combo... That just has a huuuuge port underneath!!!! I think it does have a Fane speaker in though. The cabs sound fine without wadding in though... Im still very happy with them, though only bit missing is I have a 1048 cab, not 1048H, so I dont have a horn...still sounds the dogs danglies though! [/quote] In that case I can foresee my own inertia not getting round to adding wadding anyway, I'll leave it as the factory intended - cheers. [quote name='rumour6' post='7396' date='May 26 2007, 11:57 PM']Hi there, the driver is a Fane Studio 7 Series unit, this was standard in the single 15's of the mid to late 80's. There was wadding in some of the earlier big boxes (8x10, 1812 etc) but they ditched it around series 3. Top class driver and dead right for the box. If you need a replacement, the Unit to use is an Emminence Pro series 300W unit with the cast chassis. Andy[/quote] Cheers Andy, that's helped me to date the cab. I'm quite chuffed with it's condition for a 20yr old example. [quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='7558' date='May 27 2007, 12:19 PM']No worries! My job involves lots of lifting heavy/awkward loads. After 18 years, I've got the technique down! I only lift when I have to, though. That's the trick. My 1153 has castors, and I have a dolly board/elastic straps for the rest so it all just rolls. My issue with the 1048 is its depth. You can't get it AND you through a single doorway sideways at the same time. Face on, and you can kiss your knuckles goodbye. Ditto the 1518. It's the same enclosure with different baffle, grille, ports and driver.[/quote] My knuckles would tend to agree with you on that one. As does the fingernail I once lost through another ill advised manouvre...

Other : 2 Valve pre's (running my Ric in 'stereo'). The neck pup goes to an Ampeg SVP-Pro, the bridge to my DHA dual rackmount. Both run into a minimixer and the output from that goes to a Yamaha P5000 SS power amp

The core is the signal carrying wire (i.e. positive, or "hot"), the mesh carries the negative back to complete the cirtuit and also acts as a shield around to the core to prevent radio frequency interference. So you'd unscrew the plug, desolder the core wire from the central post and solder the capacitor in between the end of the core wire and the post you've just detached it from. Hope that helps

[quote name='Oxblood' post='4562' date='May 22 2007, 06:50 PM']You place it in the positive ('hot') signal line of the guitar cable. Easiest way to do this (assuming the capacitor is physically small enough) is to solder one end of the cap to the tip of the jack plug and the other end of the cap to the signal line of the cable. Doesn't matter which end of the cable you fit it into, or which way round you solder the cap.[/quote] You beat me to it I'm sure the capacitor will fit, it should be small enough once you chop the legs down a touch. All I'd add is to wrap some insulation tape around the legs of the capacitor to avoid shorts, but I'm probably teaching you to suck eggs here

[quote name='Merton' post='4381' date='May 22 2007, 02:34 PM']I suspect that the early Trace's had wadding then when Kaman took over the costs were decided to be too high and the wadding was removed. In the next couple of months mine are both going to have some put in them, when i get round to it....[/quote] I'm going to be selling them soon (about time, I've had the Tech's long enough) and while the speaker's out I might as well put some wadding in. Just as an aside, the only reason the speaker's out is because I was using its magnet to remagnetise the Horseshoe's off my Ric's bridge pickup. Works a treat as you'll see below !

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='4341' date='May 22 2007, 01:59 PM']I had an 1110 combo, and that had wadding. I presume it to have been made in the mid-late 80's. My 122HSMX was undamped, as are my 1048H and 1153. All of the latter three have Celestions. Can't comment on the 1110. I never dared to open it up...[/quote] ...or lift it alone Nice beast !! My 1048 on it's own is a pain to lift, let alone in combo form. That and the 1518 are the reason I went for a pair of Tech cabs. And now my back is speaking to me again.

4U - Ampeg SVP-Pro, DHA Dual Rackmount (acting as a preamp), Aphex 204 (twin Aural Exciters/Big Bottoms ^_^ ), 2 AKG wireless receivers side by side and tucked round the back a Behringer minimixer. All of which serves me right for wanting to go stereo with my Ric... 2U - Yamaha P5000 poweramp The Aphex, as fab as it is, might be coming out soon. If it does, I like the vented blanking plate/flashing blue ropelight idea !! I've got feelings of inadequacy I tell ya because none, [b]none [/b]of my gear has blue leds ! A frosted glass blanking plate would be even nicer though

[quote name='Merton' post='3650' date='May 21 2007, 02:58 PM']Earlier Trace's used Fane speakers, I think they changed over in the late 80's/early 90's to Celestion, though someone else on here (DrP please!!) may be able to give more accurate dates. AFAIK, none of the Trace speakers ever had wadding in, mine certainly don't.[/quote] Thanks for the quick reply Merton. Interestingly my 4x10 (also vinyl covered) has some wadding in there but I've no idea if they were made/bought at the same time as each other, originally.

I have an old Trace Elliot 1518 cab which I've had for about 6 years now. I don't know how old it is but it's from sometime before they carpet covered them and I had reason to take the speaker out last week. It turns out it's a Fane whereas I was expecting a Celestion - was I wrong or do you think the previous owner(s) changed it ? Could this be why it sounds brighter than I was expecting for a 15 inch cab ? Also, there was no sound damping wadding at all in the cab, does anyone know if there should be ? Thanks in advance, Steve.

I read somewhere (I think it was an article on vintage Celestions) that it's the rubbery roll surrounds of the speakers that'd take the damage because guitar speakers aren't built for the back-and-forth excursion that dedicated bass speakers require. Therefore they come under more stress and ultimately fail. The article also said that some of that cone-breakup sound was sought after by guitarists and contributed to the vintage sound. What you could do is a similar trick to what Rickenbacker used to do in the 60's and 70's. They wired a 0.0047mfd capacitor in series in the bridge pickup of the 4001's and early 4003's. This cut out lots of the lows from that pickup and was done because a lot of bass amps at the time weren't able to handle lots of lows. Rather than do that on your bass which would affect the sound going to both amps what you could do is wire in a capacitor (pennies from Maplins) into the cable you're going to run to the guitar amp. Chris Squire (I'm sure you know of, famous 4001 player) used to run his 4001 into a bass rig and Marshall guitar set up so you'd be mimicing that same set up.