Musky

[quote name='Weird War' post='353646' date='Dec 13 2008, 03:35 PM']Aye, that's what I was getting at.[/quote] Ah see what you mean. I managed to ignore the 'and then a flurry' bit. [quote]Have you had bad experiences with 70's Fenders? If so what bass was it and what were the problens.[/quote] There's a sticky in the bass guitars forum about this, which if I remember correctly got slightly heated. As a slight aside, someone posted in the the introductions forum looking for a black/maple 70's precision and he noted that they seemed to fetch silly money (which over £1100 is for a late 70's model IMHO). Maybe there's not so many floating about at the moment, or someone trendy is currently using one and pushing up demand...

I did this years ago with a Lords of the New Church b side. I wrote a bassline, and the guitarist came up with his part for it. We thought it was quite good. And then I revisited the single - not only was 'my' bassline almost the same but the guitarist's part was virtually identical as well. The weird thing was that I'd only ever played the song once, maybe 9 months beforehand, and the guitarist had never heard it. The only thing we could do was ditch the entire thing...

Jumped over £400 in the last 30 seconds. Maybe not such a bargain after all...

And now it's sold again. I've just shot the buyer a message warning him.

[quote name='johnnylager' post='353339' date='Dec 13 2008, 07:31 AM']Kerosene - Big Black Corona Belly - Victims Family Saturday Night [punk version] - Whigfield Ancient Mariner tho Mert - choice, man.[/quote] Whoa - I want to see your band.

Well we're not a covers band, but we do a song called Stop, Look and Listen. It's an old 60's garage punk number - never released and recorded by a band that nobody knows the name of. So that's fairly obscure, but not particularly unusual.

[quote name='ron s' post='352606' date='Dec 12 2008, 12:06 PM']Thanks. I did have a quick look for that one. Apparently the Kay body was identifiable in that it was in 2 halves sandwiched together (the KB24 I believe?) but this one has a standard ply (lots of small layers). Thanks again, I will have another search for Kay copies.[/quote] Yeah, definitely not the KB24 - yours is far more accurate.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='352477' date='Dec 12 2008, 10:07 AM']According to a reply to a question, zero-feedback seller reckon's the other listing's his mum. But the reserve on both listings is the same - so I guess that's OK, then! Jon.[/quote] I just got the same reply Jon. "Hi, yea sorry this was listed twice by mistake, my mum tried to sell it for me on ebay at the same time i listed it on ebay as well. they both have the same reserve price though as it is the same guitar." I've emailed asking which auction I should bid on and whether he was going to pull one of the auctions. We'll see what he has to say. Edit: He's now ended the second auction.

I've not had any luck with the musicians sites like Musofinder myself - I think the only responses I ever had on them were from people cutting and pasting a standard "how much does it pay" type reply, and clearly hadn't even bothered to read the ad. I had by far the best response from ads on Gumtree.

Mr Digits has relisted his rather nice sunburst Maya again - [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Maya-Bass-Guitar-Japanese-70s-Rare-Vintage_W0QQitemZ140287516808"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Maya-Bass-Guitar-Jap...emZ140287516808[/url] Things must be getting tough at Digit Mansions as he's listed it with a £295 BIN or Best Offer (though he's taking a slight liberty with postage costs). So that's just £19 more than he bought it for.

...and it's back again. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Precision-Relic_W0QQitemZ130274916072"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Precision-Rel...emZ130274916072[/url] Maybe mad Mick McMad wasn't as mad as we thought.

I never really understood why Trace Elliot always used to stick the preamp designation on the front of their amps rather than the actual model. Trace developed the GP11 quite early on in their history and it went through a number of versions, so we'd really need to know which version you've got. I'm not sure about the earlier models, but the mk V's and VI's used to have it on front beneath the GP11 logo. You can also open the amp up - there are usually date stickers on various components.

Have you tried using the line in Chris? I might expect that you'd probably hearing some hiss if the power amp is working, but it might be useful to check anyway.

Holy crap! I really hope f bass can sort something out for you.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='348421' date='Dec 8 2008, 10:52 AM']I dunno - I think people are being circumspect about bidding on stuff with relatively high start prices, like that APII. It sold for its start price, £99, while that other piece of broken crap started at a tenner and made it to £78! Which is outrageous considering it's incomplete, the neck & body are very probably from different instruments (ever seen a maple dot board on a JapCrap J? Me neither) and bloody Status Quo might have scrawled all over it! What's [i]wrong[/i] with people?? J.[/quote] Yeah, I was wondering about the dot board as well. As for the Quo 'signatures', they all looked in the same writing to me. Combined with the half hearted attempt at drawing the Quo logo on the bridge cover, it looks more likely someone was just displaying their allegiances.

[quote name='Paul S' post='348429' date='Dec 8 2008, 11:05 AM']Hi guys - thanks for the prompt replies! This place is great, isn't it!? Er, budget and sound. Second hand is what I thought. I want to spend as little as possible but enough to get good value - maybe £100-£200 ish is as much as I can spare for now. Sound - the band play assorted covers of 60s-90s blues/rock and roll. Think Blues Brothers kind of vibe. So I think a cleaner sound rather than the dirty overdriven heavier rock thing. An oblique thought occurred to me, being basically a tight wad. There is no facility to add an extension cab to the TKO 80 but would it be possible to get the wiring jiggled to add one? Specifcally I am thinking another Peavey of similar ilk - TNT or TKO which can be bought second hand for peanuts and just somehow connecting into the speaker? Or would I have created a Frankesnstein's monster that will end up destroying my family? Or maybe it isn't as strightforward as I imagine (somethign about 'drivers' whatever the hell they are)... plus I realise that would double my weight issues, not solve them, but just wondered if it would be a short term, low-cash option to keep the bank happy?[/quote] That's a tough one for the kind of cash you're looking at, but bargains regularly come up on ebay because so many listings specify pickup only. So you're just limited by how far you can travel. Genuinely [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=466"]lightweight gear[/url] gear is pretty much ruled out though. Something with a 15" speaker would probably my choice of cab, simply because it's likely to give you the sort of tone you're looking for and the fact the driver will be lighter than multiples of other drivers. It'll also be louder than a single 12" speaker and more likely to be biased to towards the bottom end. Although 200-300w is a good size to aim for you can gig with lowered powered amps, especially if you've got PA support - though in my experience you can't always rely on that at all gigs and monitoring might be less than perfect (ie you can't actually hear your bass ). Keep an eye out for stuff like Trace Elliot, Ashdown, SWR Workingman or Hartke, all of which can sometimes be found dirt cheap. There are plenty of other options which come up a bit less often, like bargain ampegs, and cheaper brands like Laney. Ultimately your choice is limited by budget at the moment.

Peavey makes decent enough gear, but you're right about the weight. I tend to suggest buying secondhand - you can get more bang for your buck and should you decide to move it on you can do so without losing a shed load of cash. But the bit of vital importance you left out is budget! Edit: ...and what kind of sound you're looking for.

Oh bugger - sorry about that. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-ELECTRIC-BASS-GUITAR-4-STRING-STATUS-QUO-SIGNAT_W0QQitemZ290279352094"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-ELECTRIC-BAS...emZ290279352094[/url] An Aria Cardinal ended yesterday as well, a CSB Deluxe. I don't remember one of these coming up before and a I was sorely tempted especially as it was black. Didn't go for it in the end because of the pickup placement and the fact that I recently bought a CSB 380, but it only went for £99. Prices do seem to dropping a hell of a lot... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/80s-Aria-Cardinal-CSB-Deluxe-Bass-Guitar-Made-in-JAPAN_W0QQitemZ120342547483"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/80s-Aria-Cardinal-CS...emZ120342547483[/url]

A Jazz japcrap (minor) project with just a little while to go - those scrawls on the front should clean up nicely . I like the way he thinks it's a Sound Pad - does anyone know what it really is?

[quote name='bassbloke' post='347400' date='Dec 6 2008, 06:35 PM']Not so. A head with a 4 Ohm minimum load can't run at any less than 4 Ohms without causing damage. There's nothing to stop it running at 8 or even 16 POhms - you'll just get less output. I would advise against re-wiring a cab for 2 Ohms. Even if your amp supports 2 Ohms,you are running it at the very limit of it's ability and I reckon you'll shorten the life of the valves and output transformer.[/quote] Not true AFAIK. It's a valve amp, and the tap should always be matched to the speakers impedance. Running it at a much higher impedance is not a great idea. As benwhite suggests, it will always give 300w at 4 or 2 ohms - that's what the output transformer is for.

I'm finding your post very reassuring. It's nice to know some people are still so clueless on ebay that more savvy bidders are still likely to beat them by adding a few extra pence!

[quote name='steve-norris' post='347166' date='Dec 6 2008, 12:12 PM']£220 including shipping from the states, i will most likely get stung for import duty etc but all in all not a bad deal especially as i couldn't find one in this country.[/quote] Not too bad a price, especially considering the cost of shipping. It's just such a shame (and baffling) that they were never released over here.

[quote name='darbs' post='343373' date='Dec 2 2008, 07:07 PM']ok i read this and it says tp check the set up lower the strings as far as they can go down and if the neck is set up right then every fret should vibrate and then its just a sake of raisin the strings ok i lowered my strings and i have no fret buzz should i lower my bridge (its a warwick double buck) or should i play with my truss rod? ? ?[/quote] There are a few other guides about which might help you to understand what goes into a setup. [url="http://www.tunemybass.com/bass_setup"]http://www.tunemybass.com/bass_setup[/url] [url="http://www.fender.co.uk/support/basses.php"]http://www.fender.co.uk/support/basses.php[/url] [url="http://www.weedhopper.org/Music/Bass_Guitar_Setup.asp"]http://www.weedhopper.org/Music/Bass_Guitar_Setup.asp[/url] Essentially they all tell you the same thing, but some are better illustrated than others. Personally I'd start with simply lowering the strings by adjusting the height of the bridge saddles. If you get no fret buzz (though a little buzz is acceptable) keep lowering until you reach the point where they are buzzing excessively or choking the note altogether - then raise it slightly. If you're happy with the action (and everyone has there own preference, depending on their style of playing) you don't need to go any further. If you're not happy with the action you might want to check the relief (or bow) in the neck. Again this will vary, but if you don't happen to have a handy feeler guage you can use the thickness of a credit card as a guide. You can measure the relief by fretting the first fret on the E string and using your elbow to hold the string down against the last fret (or get someone to help you!). There should be a small gap between the top of the 7th/8th fret and the string.

That looks very nice imho. I've long hankered after a double cut semi like that, but like you I also felt the pickup on the Ibanez looked at bit out of place. It should look great with a DS in place. How much did you pay for it, if you don't mind me asking.