Jono Bolton

I picked up an old Peavey head recently, and it sounds amazing, but the volume pot clicks, pops and bangs whenever I turn it; not really an issue at home, but I probably couldn't use it for gigging as it is. I've used Servisol on it a few times now, and it isn't getting any better. Is replacing the pot the only option or is there something more heavy duty than Servisol that I can use? The amp's probably 40 years old, and has cheap plastic shaft pots, although the others seem to have held up ok.

After a wee delay, the new corner protectors have arrived and have been fitted to the head. A couple of holes had to be re-drilled but they generally fit pretty well. Now that they're on, and the vinyl's has been cleaned, it looks almost brand new bar a bit of tarnishing on the handle. Not bad for £70.

I've had quite a few of the CV models (P Basses, Strats, Teles) and while I've not been able to fault any of them, I've never clicked with any of them either. I'd still like the Sonic Blue CV Precision, and there's one in one of the shops up here, but they're wanting £370 for it. A mint condition one went on ebay the other week for £430. They're getting to be silly money now for certain models.

D'Addarios for me usually, although I've got Fender flats on my bass at the minute. I've used Rotos in the past but only when I've come across them cheap. I've always found that they're rough as toast.

Is the Yamaha BB400 fretless for sale near me worth a punt at £269?

Biffy Clyro.

Best: I sold my black Matt Freeman and bought a white one instead. No discernable difference between the two other than the colour. Perhaps the Fender flats I put on it were the best purchase. Worst: Nothing yet; I've bought very little this year. Aside from a Peavey 4x10, the only other bass-related purchase I've made was... Schrödinger's Purchase: I picked up a 70s Peavey Century head last week. It had some scratchy pots and switches but they seem to have cleaned up ok. It's tidied up well, but I haven't had a chance to really give it a full test yet; it's far too loud for using at home. There are no notches on the knobs or numbers on the control panel so it's impossible to see what settings I'm using, which is a massive pain in the derrière. It does sound good, but only time will tell if it's something worth keeping.

I managed to get inside the head today and sprayed some Servisol inside the pots and did bit of general tidying. No more crackles from any of the knobs which is nice. I've had the corner protectors soaking in coke since Tuesday but I tried cleaning them today and they're pretty shot, so I've got a new set ordered and once they're on I'll add some pictures. It's a very nice sounding wee head.

Not a valve amp, but I've used an old Sunn Concert Lead for bass before and it was great. For recording in the past I've split the signal through my Peavey Mark IV and an Orange guitar head to good effect.

The only time my amp has failed on me was when I didn't have a backup; thankfully it was towards the end of a set and there wasn't anyone there to bear witness other than the sound guy, who seemed to have never done a hardcore band before so the sound was stinky poo to begin with. It was a horrible gig. I booked the amp in to a tech to be looked at as it was a couple of weeks before we went on a short tour, got it back the weekend before and was told it was fixed, only for it to happen again at practice the night before the first of our run of gigs. Had to spend the next few days borrowing from other bands, using house amps or DIing straight into the desk. When I went back to collect my amp for the second time, the guy told me it was due to one of the capacitors that had failed, and showed me the swollen cap in a "this is very obvious" kind of way. I asked how he managed to miss it the first time round given it looked fit to burst but he had no answer for me.

By sundries, do you mean cans?

That was my plan, but for some reason none of the screwdrivers I have fit comfortably into the cross heads of the screws to be able to get them out My pal down the street has a 'leccy screwdriver that I'll ask for a shot of over the weekend; that should hopefully get me inside. I'll have a look at the solder joints too while I'm in there.

I picked up an old Peavey Century head today. I didn't get a chance to test it before I bought it and the seller hadn't used it in over 6 months but I managed to haggle a bit off the price as a result. When I first plugged it in, there were a few pops and bangs from the inputs and the power switch, which I attributed to the fact it had been in storage for most of this year. I don't have a Phillips-head screwdriver that fits the screws on the front panel to be able to open it up, but a quick spray with Servisol on the knobs from the front, and on the power switch and jacks seems to have cleared most issues up, but the volume knob is still incredibly scratchy. Is there anything else I should be looking at doing to try and sort it before booking it in for a service? P.S. the chrome corners are soaking in coke just now to try and get rid of some of the rust spots, so pics will be added once I've put it all back together.

Herbie Flowers and his blue jazz?

One of my big bass-related regrets was not having the patience to wait for one of these to come back in stock. Ordered and paid for online, I got an email saying that the shop didn't actually have any in stock (the site said they did) and that it would be a few weeks before they had more in. I politely declined and cancelled the order and ended up spending a lot more putting together a parts Jazz. I think at the time the 50s Classics were around the £400 mark; this was about 10 years ago. Still, the whole thing could've been avoided if I'd not made the mistake of selling my US Standard Precision - the biggest of my bass-related regrets.

I'm using Fender 9050Ms; they're 55-105 gauge flatwounds but by Christ they feel a lot heavier. They're not unenjoyable to play, and a bit brighter than flats I've had in the past, but I can't quite get the action as low as I did when I had lighter gauge rounds on.

Does anyone have any recommendations for where I can find an old, high mass brass bridge like the one pictured? I've always liked the look of them but so far my searching hasn't returned any results.

Thanks. Was interested in the idea of a Sunnbather preamp/DI pedal and a power amp but didn't really know how it would work.

Sorry to hijack, but how would it work, using a power amp and a separate preamp pedal? It's something I've been interested in but never really understood.

What are the odds that the "buyer" who added the additional €250 pulls out? Sounds like an attempt to drive the price up to me.