thinman

Have a look at the Live Sound forum on soundonsound.com - quite a lot of PA speakers recommended there. There's a few people over there who really like the Studiospares Fortissimo brand. Apparently they're the same speaker (Sound King) that gets rebranded as Carlsboro but for half their price. You could always build some Bill Fitzmaurice OmniTop 12s if so inclined. I built an Omni10 bass cab and I'm going to go back to a passive PA using BFM cabs from our current DB technologies active system.

We do this too but I don't have a recording. And yes - the record's pretty vague bass-wise. I always felt that the "bass" line was more a combination of a bit off bass synth plus left-hand piano. I play what I think of as a composite of the two. Also, unless you're trying to do a clone of the sound rather than a song I think it better to treat it as a bit of boogie like "Stay With Me". Just an opinion though...

I've bought a fair bit from them and always been really pleased. Good point about price given the current exchange rate but depending on what you want they might still be cheaper than a UK-based outlet.

Blimey - that was quick. Thanks. I suspect a DPDT switch will do - I'll try to work it out.

Has anyone got a S1 switching schematic for a Jazz? I had a brief look as this must have been asked before but couldn't find what I wanted. If not I'm sure I could work it out but I'm not sure if the pick-ups are wired in phase or anti-phase when in series. Also, does any one have a recommended supplier of the appropriate push-pull pot? I don't want to fit a separate switch. I assume it's usually the tone pot that's used for switching?

I've got one but I'll be selling it soon. . I bought mine in December 2006 which I think put it in the dodgy batch and the transformer blew last January just after it went out of warranty. To Ashdown's credit they repaired it BUT it did take them 6 weeks to get a replacement. Sound? Well that's a matter of taste but it has a reasonable bit of grunt. However, my tastes have changed and I now prefer a bit more top-end bite which the 2 x 10" has.

Slightly off topic I know but has anyone been made aware of fake "Fenders" off ebay? A guitarist mate bought an new "Epiphone" Les Paul at a suspiciously good price off that site and it was actually a really nice guitar. Until he found out it was a fake.

Can we start on Nick Beggs now?

Thanks all - I'll try some of the suggestions. It's not playing octaves that I have a problem with as such - it's the repetition of damping the octave by lifting off that is giving me problems so I may go back to trying thumb and index and muting with the side of my plucking hand.

Got a new sunburst Jazz from reidys.com for £340 which I thought wasn't bad.

Servisol certainly cleans pots up but it's pretty aggressive stuff so use sparingly - especially if you have pots that have some form of grease in them that gives that slightly damped good-quality feel as it scan strip the grease out of them and make them feel cheap! I've read that it can be harmful to some plastics but not sure how credible that is.

Steady As She Goes - Raconteurs

Thanks chaps. I've probably been a bit too hung up on keeping a finger-to-a-fret for this. So it's index on root and little finger with ring finger on top. I take it the damping technique is the same then?

Can't think of a specific one but I have a rule of thumb that it's one I think sounds easy. I think they only sound easy because someone really good was playing it.

Probably a bit basic but... When playing disco-style root and octave, what's the best technique? We play Pulp's Disco 2000 and the bits in the verse where its just F and Bb root and octaves kills my left (fretting) hand. The right hand seems OK - I've tried both index and middle pinky plus thumb and index without problem but I think the notes shouldn't ring so some left-hand damping is required. I do that by lifting-off slightly but that really knackers my little finger when repeating for any period. (I, probably wrongly, use my middle and little fingers for root and octave). Should I keep the notes fretted and use a different damping technique?

I think the lack of agreement on what valves work is best is partly due to the great variation between individual valves of even the same type. Apparently the manufacturing process is prone to quite a bit of variation. Then there's the amps they're used in and personal preference. Watford valves test their valves to try to achieve some sort of consistency.

Can you cut and glue plywood? Build a Bill Fitzmaurice Omni 10 or two 10.5s. the Omni 10 is a 2 x 10 horn loaded and a variety of tweeter options. The 10.5 is a 1 x 10 and a pair is slightly louder than the Omni10 but obviously a bit more work. Very efficient and sounds great. Pretty light too. See www.billfitzmaurice.com and/or look on the Build Diaries here.

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='186063' date='Apr 26 2008, 06:08 PM']Mark King, Level 42 Though unbelievably dextrous, in my opinion, his playing and music is souless, funkless, 80s shiny blue-eyed pop.. More a technician than musician Loads better than I could ever be, but highly overrated..[/quote] Blimey - you're reading my mind silverfoxnik! I'll concede that he's incredibly fast and technical. But I don't want to listen to it. Dons tin hat....

Lee, I've just got a replacement pre-amp valve for a my amp (which I bought from warwickhunt as it goes but it's not an EBS) and I got a JJ/Tesla ECC83S. There's quite a few valve reviews on the web and it does seem that the GrooveTubes get variable reviews. I felt the pre-amp could have done with a little more gain so that it could be overdriven a bit more when required and that valve (the "S" version) has a bit more gain than the standard ECC83/12AX7. When run clean it's also very good. It does sound a bit better than the original - it has a bit of a stronger bottom end. I also bought the "cryo" version. It was a bit more money at about £12 but they supposedly last longer and are more consistent between individual valves. www.watfordvalves.com specialise in them and delivery was pretty prompt. Mike

Well, it turned out to be some cracked solder joints on the board where over time the front panel must have wobbled around. They were quite easy to see with a magnifying glass and a bit of resoldering sorted it.

Having been tinkering around with an old amp I did a bit of reading round and have to concede that there are number of things that can reasonably done as part of a service. Whether these are actually done I do wonder. These ar enot my opinions or recommendations - just a summary of what I've read on various web sites. However, if anyone has a service done I wonder if these are covered: 1. A good hoover out or blow out with compressed air. Apparently a lot of the dust that accumulates gets there because it's attracted by charged components. That dust can conduct a bit and cause crackles, other noise and even burn outs. The amp I'm looking at used to have a rat-fur covered case and the circuit board looked like someone had emptied their shaver onto it. Oddly, the hairs had tended to align themselves to various components making me wonder if they're not totally electrically inert. 2. Pots - clean with a suitable cleaner and lubricant. Replace if necessary. 3. Jacks - clean and replace if required. 4. Valve amps. Opinions seem to vary but some say valves in the power stage need to be changed every 1-2 years depending upon use. They have to be biased when changed. Pre-amp valves would then typically be changed at half that frequency but some say if they work then leave them alone. Corrosion of the sockets is apparently a common problem so a service should include cleaning/replacement. 5. This one surprised me but apparently aluminium electrolytic capacitors are usually best replaced after 10 years regardless of use. These types are most commonly used for smoothing/filtering of the power supply (these look like small drinks cans and most have 2 or 4) although they're use all over the place. Over time their performance degrades. Supposedly the most subtle manifestation can be less filtering leading to more 50Hz (or harmonics of) overtones being introduced into the sound thus clouding notes. At worst they can go bang. So, some would recommend that if you have an old amp it's best to have the electrolytic caps changed. They're not that expensive - a big one for a power supply is around £3. 6. General safety/integrity of wiring - especially any mains or high voltage stuff. So if I'd spent £50 I'd expect that to go a bit further than unscrewing the case.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='179710' date='Apr 18 2008, 01:13 PM']Is there any way you can get a connection through to the amp output or to the woofer? They just need connecting in parallel to that, no crossover required. Alex[/quote] Alex - I know you know far more about these things than I but I just thought I'd point out that if the OP can get to the speaker out then the 4 tweeters should probably be wired in series with each other and it's often recommended (especially by Bill Fitzmaurice) to put a 4 ohm 25W resistor in series with them too. The whole lot is then put across the main driver. Mike

I've got 84s on my MIM Jazz and don't suffer any noise problems at all. Is the hum as bad when both pickups are switched in / turned up? I think the pickups are supposed to be wired in opposite phase to each other so that hum is cancelled out which is why when one or the other is switched out or turned down the hum increases. Have yours been put in in-phase with each other perhaps?

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='177865' date='Apr 16 2008, 01:40 PM']Is it a 12AX7 in the pre? Pity it doesn't have a SS gain stage, as you can tell if it's the valve by using the SS side (Trace/Peavey/Hartke etc.) I had a 12AX7 go microphonic in my Trace after about 12 months. The replacement's lasted another 10 years! They should be easy to swap in and out, just do it with the power off and remember to treat valves like Halogen headlamp bulbs - don't touch them with your bare hands.[/quote] Yes - it's an ECC83/12AX7. I've got another one on order. I think the valve was replaced about 12 years ago but the amp's had little use in that time until I got it recently. Reading a lot of manufacturer's websites they recommend preamp valve replacement about every 3-4 years but I think that's assuming a fair bit of use. The previous owner recalled a similar problem either with this one or another identical amp and suggested cleaning up the headphone jack and the effects loop jacks as they got a bit crudded-up. Haven't done that yet but will try that first and before I replace the valve. I wondered if anyone else has had a similar problem that was proven to be the valve. Mine doesn't seem to be microphonic. Are you sure about not touching the valve? I thought that with halogen lamps it's because they run far hotter and a foreign substance can cause irregular heating and breakge. I didn't think valves got as hot and they have stuff printed on them which must be as bad as a bit of finger grease.

I've got a problem with a Hughes & Kettner Bassbase 250 head. The gain seems to fluctuate up and down such that it might run loud for say, 10 seconds, then get a lot quieter for a similar period. The loud/quiet periods vary. There's no noise or extra distortion apparent when either loud or quiet and the transition is very rapid. It doesn't seem to make much difference where the input gain is set - the same thing happens. There doesn't seem to be a problem with any of the pots - they're all quiet - and the jacks seem OK. The bass is fine in another amp. The preamp is valve only and I wondered if that might be the problem, i.e. it's got old and the heater's gone a bit cranky - I think the valve has been replaced in the past - I'm not 100% certain of that but it does look quite new. The amp itself is quite old - maybe 16 years. I'll order another as they're only cheap and easy to replace but has anyone had similar problems?