Musky

I've only just seen this thread... You really like your neighbour's Precision Lyte you say. And you live near Southampton? You need to take a look at [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1996-Fender-Precision-Lyte-Bass-Guitar-Vintage-Sunburst_W0QQitemZ180246584300"]this.[/url] It's a great price as it stands, and would still be a good price at anything under £250.

Very naughty, but apparently these were flagged up on the Rick forum quite some time ago. Obviously they aren't as concerned about Mr Hall's baying hounds as Ebay are.

I had a seventies Precision that came new with a slight twist to the neck. I was told that it wouldn't be a economical repair with the amount of work needed to sort it out.

Speaking of Ricky TRC's, I meant to post about [url="http://www.ioffer.com/i/Rickenbacker-trc-nameplate-Trussrod-Cover-48301116"]these[/url] a while back. Not real, of course, but about the only way to get one for sensible money.

[quote name='ianrunci' post='208312' date='May 28 2008, 07:34 PM']A punk band called Nervous Breakdown in 1977 closely followed by another punk band called The Frantic Elevators shortly afterwards,[/quote] Frantic Elevators - with Mick Hucknall?

[quote name='Merton' post='206811' date='May 26 2008, 08:41 PM']This V-Type was around 1994-1998 actually, it's the precursor to the V4/V8 and I remember seeing literature about them when buying my first real bass amp c.1995 I sold one of these for £370 about 2 years ago which was about £100 more than I was expecting.[/quote] Ahh... mystery solved then. They must've been introduced in the US later then - I was going by a press release on harmony central.

An Aria Pro II CSB 300. I've got a few others from the list (and a some more not on it) but the Aria has been my main plank for a few years now...

[quote name='Ham fisted Bass' post='206190' date='May 25 2008, 09:26 PM']Each to his own etc.. But I totally agree with the last bit regarding quality.[/quote] And the bit about top fret access. Oh well, it's all about the bottom end anyway.

I'd say it went for about what it's worth. It doesn't appear to be Matsumoku (no 3 piece neck and no mention of Mat or Japan on the plate) so it'll be a Korean model. Matsumoku made Aria Cats sell for under £50 fairly regularly and rarely make over £70, to put it in some perspective.

Maybe a replacement pot is in order. You do get some variation on the specs of pots, but yours sounds a bit ridiculous. I don't suppose it's possible someone has replaced it with a linear taper pot is it? Other than that, do 'Rays have a trim pot to control the output on the electronics?

I'm not sure how much more information is about really. The manual for the preamp is available [url="http://www.britishaudioservice.com/trace_operateinstru.shtml"]here.[/url] As for the date it was produced, the serial indicates March '99. The dates on the circuit board appear to be on the power amp section - I can only assume that Trace used the power section of an already existing amp, as the v types weren't announced until Jan '98. Value is probably in the region of £350, give or take a bit.

I wouldn't say that whatever your vibe the P will fit the bill, but they are remarkably versatile for a single pickup bass and are capable of far more than just 'thump'. If I could only choose a single bass to use for the rest of my playing career, it'd probably be a precision...

[quote name='budget bassist' post='203157' date='May 20 2008, 07:10 PM']They're probably not wired as humbuckers, am i right in thinking humbuckers in parallel and single coil in series? If so those two rows of pole pieces are probably just wired in series but in a case to look like a humbucker.[/quote] The difference between humbuckers and single coils is the number of coils. Humbuckers have two coils which are wired with the opposite polarity, which cancels any interference. They can be wired in series or parallel, which affects the tone they produce but doesn't affect their interference rejection. Single coil pickups are just that - one coil which can't be wired in series or parallel because there's no other coil to wire it in series/parallel with. *Edit for factual inaccuracy!

[quote name='stevebasshead' post='203176' date='May 20 2008, 07:34 PM']If the equipment needed to draw a particularly heavy current from the battery would some batteries be worse than others at supplying it under such load? That's the only other thing I can see making a difference, assuming my understanding of electrickery is correct. No idea whether it'd make such a difference as to be audible though.[/quote] Yeah, Lithium and NiMH are pretty good in this respect. Zinc Carbon on the other hand are only really good for low discharge applications. They also drop off from their stated 9v pretty quickly and settle down to something like 7.5 for most of their life before tailing off. So it's entirely possible that FX heads who claim zinc carbon sound better just prefer a lower voltage powering their pedals. Alkaline are probably best for very low drain applications like bass preamps just because they have a very low self discharge rate and also have a long tail off, which gives plenty of warning when they're going to die. There was quite a big thread about this before, but it must have been on one of the previous forums. If you search about the net you can find the specifications for different types of battery.

[quote name='Machines' post='202379' date='May 19 2008, 07:38 PM']9v is 9v in my book.[/quote] 9v is indeed 9v. But unfortunately not all 9v batteries stay at 9v for very long. Different batteries have different discharge rates and characteristics, so theoretically the battery can make a difference. I've seen plenty of people state a preference for zinc carbon batteries on vintage fx boards, though I've never managed to hear a difference myself.

30-odd lbs is pretty impressive for a 15". I [i]might[/i] be interested in one of these (finances allowing)!

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='201841' date='May 18 2008, 11:30 PM']Seems OK for the price, especially considering the fifty odd quid worth of hyperbole in the ad copy.[/quote]

The 75 RI's were introduced around the mid nineties. I can only assume there was a slight overlap in the transition from MIJ to CIJ and the introduction of the new serial numbers. It's pretty safe to guess that your first thoughts about the date of the bass were correct.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='200579' date='May 16 2008, 05:16 PM']My friend whose space I'm borrowing switched server whilst I was on holiday, so his email to warn me about losing everything on there wasn't received until too late! Alex[/quote] Ah Ok - It did occur to me that you might have been hiding trade secrets! Incidentally Alex, what kind of size and weight are you envisioning for the compact 15" cab?

It means vibrato.

It's a Bronco with lots of extra bits by the look of it...

All your pix have disappeared Alex. Did you delete them or is it some kind of technical cock up?

As ever, you're a font of knowledge Jon. So in short, the Ventura with the Steel Adjustable neck might have originated from Mat. Or it might not. Doncha just love JapCrap!

[quote name='Starvolt' post='198901' date='May 14 2008, 05:19 PM']Ah, so true. It's the whole PC thing. I more meant the main design of the logo, but it's all good. Mine is only about 6 Months old, so that may have something to do with it [/quote] It's more an anorak thing! When it comes to sweating the details it's the small things that count. Not so important with the cheaper Squiers perhaps, but when someone is trying to pass off something as a 70's fender (like [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=19387"]here[/url]) knowing what kind of logo you should be looking at matters.