BassBod

Good to hear your blonde is shaping up well! My next step is going to be a full fingerboard shoot, and strip the 'oribble finish off the back of the neck. I'll probably get the finish off first, and then have a minor re-carve done to make the profile a bit slimmer. But before that I've got to just play the thing until those Spirocores don't seem so scary......

Probably worth a wanted add and a word with some dealers (Gallery). There are probably a few spare necks about - Wal used threaded inserts for the bolts, which made it more practical to swap over (holes didn't strip like wood screws do). I know I passed my Pro IIE on with both a fretted and fretless neck, and the new owner probably has one left..... Edit - for the following; Thinking about it, PM me if you're interested and I may be able to "find" one? Worst case scenario is it will need a new fingerboard....but could be potentially quick and cheap-ish?

Time for a follow up on this. Made the trip to Frome to see Martin Penning, and I'm very pleased with the results. I was starting to give up on the Zeller, but now its got a new well fitted sound post, the bridge has been properly seated to the top and its wearing a set of Spirocores. Its sounds like a double bass! The strings are harder work, and the fingerboard is going to need a bit of attention, but now it feels worth the effort and I want to play it. Martin was great to work with, and not in the least bit "snobby" about working on a lowly bass..to a low(ish) budget. I just wish I'd done it last year! Thanks again to all for the info

Welcome aboard - plenty of us Bristol bassers here...many of whom will have ventured into Old Market, I'm sure. Interesting to read about your Pangborn history - I recall seeing a review of one of the aluminium fingerboard fretless basses a very, very long time ago...was it a Pbass type with two split pickups? I'd also love to learn more about Ashley's work - by the time I could afford to buy a good bass he was long out of business.

Shameless plug...I'm currently selling a John Marlow electric mando in the For Sales section of this very site.....

The Gollihur bridge is good, but it will save a lot of potential hassle to get it fitted by someone with (a lot of) experience. When you slacken the strings everything, including the internal sound post, becomes mobile. Its also a good time for a general fine tuning - nut slots, endpin fit, tailpiece chord etc. Good luck, but the end results should be well worth it

I had a similar issue - two EA CXL 110 cabs and an Eden WT400. Would go into thermal protection if pushed for too long, but should have been happy with the "4 ohm" load. Replaced the Eden with a EA500 head and problem solved. A few years later, sold the cabs, one got damaged in transit and the opened to replace the speaker...which was clearly labelled as 4 ohm, despite the external label on the cab saying 8 ohm. The EA CXL's are great cabs, but I think EA were misleading with their specs/labelling - and it has caused problems for users. I'm happily using a EA Micro head these days, but I went Barefaced (and would consider Acme) for the cab.

I could be wrong..bit I'm pretty sure I used Honeys with the magnetic (Armstrong) pickup on my EUB...and it worked fine? Didn't like the sound much..but it worked!

Nick kindly brought his new found Shergold round for quick looksy last night. I must say, it has a lovely neck and an even better sound! Really nice bass and far, far better than my (rather) distant memories of them would have suggested. I just hope there are no fretless ones popping up for sale over the next few days. Thanks Nick!

Well - yours is still the only "Fender" bodied Wal I've seen in twenty odd years of Wal spotting...and the body/weight/balance issues were the worst thing about the two I've owned. I think there's a potential market....although the 50p per bass may demand some serious haggling with Mr Herman. I heard in the old days it was tea and sandwiches.

I've got the SWR Mr Tone Control eq - something like 9 bands (but no Q). Fantastic if you're willing/able to be very specific and picky, but you need to be working in an environment where its worth it and you have the time to set up and tweak away. Its also got an eq off switch...so I most often use it to add a separate sound for upright bass with one channel amps, and apply some high pass filtering to avoid the rumbles down below!

I think its high time there was an official Spoombung artist model in the Wal catalogue, with at least 50p going direct to the artist for every model sold. Shall we start one of those poll things?

There is nothing unusual about SWR designs, its good old fashioned 1980's stuff. So any "good" experienced tech should find it all pretty familiar inside....just ask around for the best local amp tech and you should be fine. There is a sticky somewhere on here that should have a few that are close(ish) to you.

I shouldn't have looked.....

Nice one Greg...bit posh for my lowly bass, but that's the sort of treatment it needs!

[quote name='gcordez' timestamp='1328202115' post='1523613'] Martin Penning in Frome is outstanding. [/quote] Can you PM me a number?? Nice to know there's a good reason to visit Frome....

Ok, all you upstanding bass chatters - I really need to get my acoustic bass set up and sorted out (its a humble Zeller). Who do people use in the Bristol/Bath area? I'm not looking for anything pricey, just possibly a new bridge, sound post setting and a possible minor crack fix in the (carved) top.... I need names and numbers, please.....

I had one in a Zoot for a short while. The bass side was ok but I found the treble side was too hissy, and really not very nice. I also had quick fiddle with a P retro (in a good Tokai P) and thought it was a fabulous piece of work...it really does enhance a P bass without distracting you from its basic character. Like all the best active designs, you quickly forget its an active bass and just use it.