pete.young

Well, this week I'm happy to report that the show featured a massively talented female vocalist with a stunning and original voice, and a great band. Adele was also on the show.

Tanglewood used to make one called the EB-18 Elf in Daphne Blue or sh*te brown. I think it's now discontinued but they pop up on the bay occasionally. I bought one when my then 10-year-old son showed an interest.

An update on this: Tecamp have been brilliant and fixed the amp in less time than it took DHL to turn up and collect it. It's on its way back to me. They agreed that the driver had failed and fitted a new one for 80 Euros plus tax - not sure which model they used yet. Given that this is the second driver that has failed (the first one was fixed under warranty), I'm not going to waste any more money on Sica. The next time it blows I'll follow stevie and LawrenceH's suggestion and look for a Celestion. Thanks to everyone for the helpful suggestions.

I'm very happy to be playing at Ipswich May Day in Alexandra Park, this Sunday 1st May www.ipswichmaydayfestival.co.uk/index.html My band Crossover will be on the main stage at 3.00 pm - it'd be great to see any Suffolk-based chatters.

I've just had something delivered by DPD today. They emailed me to tell me which day they were coming. Earlier today, they emailed me to give me a one hour slot. The delivery arrived 8 minutes into the slot. They also gave me the option to provide instructions to leave the parcel with a neighbour, or to chose an alternative day. I don't really see how this could have been better. I'll definitely use them again.

Webstrings are fine, and cost a lot less than UK prices. www.webstrings.com

The "bloke with the looper" is Ed Sheeran, who is a local lad from just up the road from me. I've seen him play live several times and had a couple of quick chats - he's an extremely pleasant and grounded chap and a grafter - more than 600 gigs in the last 3 years, 5 self-financed EPs (including one with a bunch of Dubstep dudes). Please don't write him off on the basis of that one song: he's capable of much more than you saw on Tuesday night and hopefully will get an opportunity to demonstrate it on the Friday night programme. As for Jules's show, there's not many other options for people like Ed Sheeran to get national exposure, particularly now that Peel is no longer doing what he used to do on the radio. Even if you didn't like it, at least you've had the opportunity to engage with it and make your own decision. Without Later, even that would be lost to us.

[quote name='51m0n' post='1206884' date='Apr 21 2011, 11:21 AM']Then again there aren't really any good compressors for £60 either...[/quote] A bit harsh - I got a used Phonic two-channel 19" rack unit off here for less than £60, and it has all the controls that you eloquently described at your memorable lecture! Of course, figuring out what to to with them is a lot harder than twiddling a single knob and convincing yourself that it sounds right :-)

You might try popping along to Brandoni Guitars since you're in London, and see if they have anything on the shelf that takes your fancy. [url="http://www.brandoniguitars.co.uk/"]http://www.brandoniguitars.co.uk/[/url]

Dont bother with Panasonic, theirs are crap. Sony are good but pricy. These days I find that my Shure earphones are just as effective, by blocking out the external sound rather than trying to cancel it.

You could probably get somewhere near this sound using a pitch-shifting pedal such as a digitech whammy. The V-Bass nails it, no problem, but it's a lot of effort for not a lot of reward!

Our latest clear out has unearthed a childs tee shirt, colour black, with the legend 'Bass Player' in white on the front. As new, I think it was worn once for a school project by one of my kids. Size label has been removed, but it's probably about right for 11 - 12 years old. With the shirt laid flat, it measures 44cm from the bottom of one arm to the bottom of the other. PM me and it's yours.

That's a very intriguing clip and refreshingly different to a lot of the crap bombarding the airwaves at the moment. Good luck with the gig. If I weren't playing in Ipswich I'd come along.

Waxies Dargle, Ipswich's most popular Pogues covers band, are in the Spreadeagle pub this Sunday, 17th April from 5.00pm. I'm not on bass for this one, so come along and drool at Mike Waxie and his Yamaha SB200, and marvel how I even attempt to keep a fiddle, mandolin and cittern all in tune at the same time! Hawaiian shirts optional.

[quote name='Bloc Riff Nut' post='1200252' date='Apr 15 2011, 08:42 AM']EBS dont do a Classic Line 12 or 15 at 4 Ohms so I might have to change brand/make completely.[/quote] Maybe I'm looking at a different EBS web site to you, but the one I can see has a Classic Line 2x12 at 4 Ohms. However, mixing cabs with different drivers is not guaranteed to give the results you expect and IMHO you would be better off to buy a second 4x10 .

[quote name='stevie' post='1196285' date='Apr 11 2011, 10:01 PM']I read that this driver is available in a number of impedances - so check whether you have a 4- or 8-ohm version before getting a replacement. It might also be worthwhile dropping Tecamp an email.[/quote] I did send an email to Tecamp, and I've had a hugely positive reply today suggesting that they think the tweeter/midrange unit is the problem and asking me to send the unit back to them. Which I'm going to do, when I get 10 minutes to dig the box out of the loft. Many thanks to everyone for your helpful comments: i'll let you know how it pans out.

Many thanks to Dusty, Essexbasscat and everyone, and sorry I couldn't stay longer or bring anything! Next time ...

[quote name='stevie' post='1195410' date='Apr 11 2011, 09:14 AM']Oops, sorry... (hitting myself over the head) I didn't read carefully enough.[/quote] No worries! It's something I can easily test and should probably do anyhoo before I completely right off the driver - I can disconnect the internal and plug the extension into a suitable cab. Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check out the Celestion. So far Sica haven't responded to my request for a data sheet, so getting a recone kit out of them might be a challenge.

[quote name='icastle' post='1195208' date='Apr 10 2011, 11:13 PM']According to the specification, the cooling fan is temperature controlled, suggesting that it doesn't do anything until a particular temperature is reached.[/quote] That's true, but my understanding is that when you first power up the amp, the fan runs for a few seconds as a check that it's working. That doesn't seem to be happening.

Stevie, why do you think that? It's still fine above 'C' and is OK at lower volumes. I'd expect a transistor to either work or not.

[quote name='Musky' post='1194327' date='Apr 10 2011, 09:37 AM']I've got to admit I'm not that up on Bass Collections at all and might have been fooled by that. From the big thread on SGC Nanyo I remember that the serials were supposed to be tucked away in the control cavity and all the model names began SB3**, but the fact that SGC is plastered over the pickups would have had me convinced. So how can you tell it's a copy?[/quote] Well, give the man James at Bristol Guitars his due : I sent him a message and he's amended the listing to remove the comments about it being Japanese. Besides the missing Made in Japan on the electrics cover and the model number, the serial number is wrong (it starts 00, SGC Nanyo the first two digits were the year of manufacture and they stopped in 1996). The other thing that struck me as odd was the electrics: all the pots and all the electronics are fitted to a single circuit board. All the SGCs I've ever seen had individual pots with bits of circuit board attached to them, and connected up with some wiring (and some fairly dodgy soldering).