Musky

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='81590' date='Oct 31 2007, 07:25 AM']Not if you live in the NE it isn't! Tyne & Wear and Northumberland is the NE but others may place the boundary elsewhere.

re. the matter of ZPQ's involvement... in the grand scheme of life the universe and everything it doesn't matter at all but it would be interesting to know exactly how he came to be chipping in and yet 'appears' to be directly involved. You are right of course he hasn't stolen anyone's money or broken into a house and nicked the bass BUT is he the original seller in which case he's the kind of eBayer that we all love to hate. Conversely did he deliberately gazump a fellow BCer using info gained from this forum? There is always a buyer and sellers view point and I'd certainly be receptive to hearing the whole story.[/quote]

As I understand it, the original seller and ZPQ live in different necks of the wood - somewhere near Manchester (if I remember correctly) and York/Hull. I also don't think it was this thread that drew attention - BB first posted 4 days after the end of the sale. So it might appear that ZPQ contacted the original seller after the end of the auction with a higher offer, as BB suspected had happened.

Although making higher offers after the end of an auction is perhaps slightly unethical, it's quite commonplace, and not just on ebay. To my mind the problem lies with the seller, who not only renegued on a deal but then started spouting unbelievable claptrap about the whole thing.

Old HH valve sound amps - they used to be in rehearsal rooms everywhere. In fact I like the sound of all the older HH's, quite growly little amps, if generally underpowered.

Try Zed One on the corner of Camden and Brecknock Rd's. Brilliant studio, though I suspect it's above your price range.

Other than that, Islington Arts Factory (opposite the women's prison!) is dirt cheap - £9 p/h inc. all backline for the larger room, though both rooms are quite small. In my experience it's the best cheap studio about, including Scar (which is a bit of a hole).

I'll always contact others bands before via myspace (if they don't contact me first), or get their contact details from the promoter if I can't find them there. A lot of the venues I play usually expect sharing of drums anyway, so I'll ask about backline as well. Most often people want to bring their own amps, but if they want to use mine it's not a problem. Aside from the practical side of sorting out the drums, it's just basic courtesy really. As I said in the other thread, it really annoys me when people turn up with no backline - not because I won't (eventually) let them use my amp, I just feel it's taking the p*ss.

I never bother checking out a venue - I'll take the same kit regardless. I do check up on promoters if they've contacted us though - some are notorious shysters.

[quote name='grosa' post='80828' date='Oct 29 2007, 03:28 PM']wear braces and shove your bass behind them[/quote]

Tip of the year!

Why didn't I think of that?

Well, google reveals it was the Able Bassmaker and was made in Wales.

[url="http://filters.muziq.be/model/able/bassmaker"]http://filters.muziq.be/model/able/bassmaker[/url]

[quote name='El_JimBob' post='80958' date='Oct 29 2007, 07:30 PM']I think the pedal was called a 'Bass Maker' - we had one in the store i work at for years - great pedal, but no-one was ever interested....
If you're interested, ill dig around and see if i have any of the original info....[/quote]

Ahh, that'll be it! I had Bass Master in mind, but it sounds like the same thing.

There was a pedal by a small British manufacturer that claimed to do this, but I can't think of it's name just now!

[quote name='metaltime' post='80627' date='Oct 28 2007, 11:25 PM']they do 2 a super fuzz and an ultra fuzz the ultra being the fz 2 copy has anyone tried it?[/quote]

AFAIK the super fuzz is the FZ 2 copy - they both have bass and treble controls, compared to the Ultra Fuzz's single tone control.

It's quite strange. I just looked on ebay at FZ-2's and they seemed to be going remarkably cheaply compared to a few years ago. Although they didn't seem to be hugely rated when they were available, they earned a reputation after they were deleted. Seems like that reputatation has gone - or maybe just the players [i]du jour[/i] aren't using them anymore. Fashion can be so fickle, but great if you buy at the right time.

[quote name='Buzz' post='80244' date='Oct 27 2007, 09:40 PM']Someone's REALLY hopeful with this one:

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180154984590"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=180154984590[/url][/quote]

Ahh, our old friend in Germany. He seems to be hopeful about everything he has.

Well it's not a Rickenfaker, but I think even a Hondo would be preferable to that piece of junk.

[quote name='nick' post='80124' date='Oct 27 2007, 02:13 PM']Top idea, though not good for my wallet!
Watching a few of those myself[/quote]

If you were thinking about the Kay P bass or the Avon SG, I'd seriously reconsider. Both were very lowly instruments that beginners were very happy to move on from.

[quote name='badmonkey666' post='79713' date='Oct 26 2007, 11:04 AM']I have had my Bassmachine head for around a year now, bought predominantly for the smaller gigs, and also because it came with a 2x15 cabinet. The speakers in the cab were original HH rated at 100watts each, although i've upgraded these to 500w Eminence Delta Drivers now.

I have the tech sheets for this head, including wiring diagrams (bonus) and it says
-output power : 250w into 4 ohms
-Input impedance : 1M Ohms
-Compressor control range : 40dB
-Bass control @ 50Hz : +12dB -9dB
-Mid contro @ 200Hz : +3dB -3dB
-Treble cont @10kHz : +14dB -8dB
-Graphic eq range: +/- 12dB @ 70Hz, 125Hz, 350Hz, 820Hz, 2kHz
-output to mixer: 20mV, 200 Ohms
-signal to noise ratio: 75dB
-Dimensions: h-228mm, w-692mm, d-311mm
-Weight : 16kg

The heads originally came with a 3 way footswitch with features for switching between channel 1 & channel 2, and for turning the effects (phaser) on or off. Unfortunately mine didn't but I had one made for it. (try locating an old 7pin din plug these days!!!) and its great. The only problem I had with this amp was it was fading and distorting in both channels. This was traced to 2 faulty capacitors, so they were replaced with original HH ones and its been fine ever since. It drives 2 cabs at just under full volume (min load 4 ohms) quite happily all night long, without so much as breaking a sweat.

I have to admit though that this was an ebay bargain. I won't disclose how much I paid for it, but I can say I recently saw one for sale in France for approximately 180 quid. It wasn't immaculate, but everything worked, and it didn't have the footswitch. Spares are readily available from these guys here www.majelectronic.co.uk.

Hope this helps and good luck when you come to sell it. Don't let it go for peanuts though. A good one in full working order is rare!!

Oh yeah, and thanks for the link to our website!!

Regards, Daz
www.reverenddrivetrain.co.uk[/quote]

Theses things seem quite popular in France (well - comparitivly anyway). In fact the last band I saw using one was French. It might well be worth making any auction available to Europe.

[quote name='ZPQ' post='78487' date='Oct 23 2007, 07:17 PM']I think he means JV not DV, but it's actually an early 90's Silver series made in Korea not Japan (the Japanese bit is important)

The really sought after models are from the early to mid eighties and have serial number beginning with JV then almost as good, SQ, then the E series which brought them inline with Fenders lettter per year policy.

Might be a nice bass but not particularly special - just a Korean Squier from the 90's.

Cheers
John[/quote]

That's not a Silver Series - they all have the legend 'Silver Series' written on the ball of the headstock. People just seem to assume a silver series Squier refers to colour of the Fender logo. The Silver Series was built in Japan, and was a slightly upmarket Squier compared to the Korean built stuff that was earning Squier quite a bad reputation.

The serial number of this one puts it at 94-95. But yeah, just a Korean Standard from the 90's.

[quote name='et1058' post='77043' date='Oct 20 2007, 05:24 PM']Thanks for that, it'll be interesting to see the review[/quote]

As promised, here are the scans from IM&RW February 1981.

[attachment=3058:bassmachine1.jpg] [attachment=3059:bassmachine2.jpg]

The SVT3 has a transistor power stage does it not? In which case plugging in an 8 ohm cab won't blow it up, it just won't produce as much power.

But yeah, two 8 ohm cabs will be just fine.

Take a look at [url="http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html"]http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html[/url]

It's not specifically about fender basses, but there's heaps of good info there.

I've got a Bass Machine head, and though I've not used it for years I love it's basic sound - very in your face and aggressive. I've got a review of it from International Musician somewhere which, being written by Stephen Delft, was very biased towards the technical aspects of the thing.

Off the top of my head, I can tell you it's about 180W into 8 ohms, and despite the name it was also designed with guitarists in mind - the eq centres were a bit of a compromise. The passive (and interactive) rotary tone controls weren't particularly intuitive either, with (I think) the bass control having a flat response when set on 10. Mine cost me £275 in 1983, which was well down on the full retail price. I'll try and dig out the review, but it'll probably be early next week before I can.

It's been a few years since I saw one on ebay (mainly because I haven't been looking) but £125 seemed to be the going rate.

Not really. These things are quite sought after, as the early Hiwatts were pretty much based on the Sound City amps of the time. Just the transformers are worth very good money, likewise the valves if he replaced them with Mullards. I'd guess people are bidding in the hope the the output tranny is still good.

[quote name='Krysbass' post='75553' date='Oct 17 2007, 01:20 PM']The Mr Big solo is a firm favourite of mine - I frequently borrow bits of it for warm-up exercises or mindless noodling.

I’ve always really liked the tone he got on this (particularly the studio version) – anyone know what gear he used?[/quote]

EB3 into a Marshall stack was his usual setup.

[quote name='andy67' post='75504' date='Oct 17 2007, 11:44 AM']YOU SAY USED TO?

something happen to change your mind?[/quote]

Not really, I'm just not as fanatical as I used to be. Times change, tastes move on. He's still a great player though.

I used to absolutely love Andy Fraser. The bass solo on the live version of Mr. Big was the only bass solo I've ever heard that - IMHO - actually worked as part of a song, and not sounded like fret w*nkery that the song could live happily without.

[quote name='colda' post='74981' date='Oct 16 2007, 11:06 AM']My rack 'head' consists of a Behringer V-Amp, a Behringer compressor/noise gate and a 600W (2 x 200W into 8 ohm) power amp

I have a Laney RBC115 and am looking for a Laney RBC210 (or poss. RBC410 8ohm) to complete the stack but alas finding the correct cab is proving difficult.

My mind has now started drifting towards selling the rack and simply getting an RB7 (2x10 300W combo thing) and just using the 1x15 as an extention cab

Financially this would not make any notable difference and as I'm not using the effects on the V-amp and the cab simulation lives on 'tube pre-amp' it seems that the biggest thing that I'm going to lose by doing this is the joy of flashing lights

Has anyone else 'gone back' from using a rack/stack setup?

Will I regret it if I do?[/quote]

I can't comment on the Laney, but plenty of people on here are using combos for portability, if nothing else. I use a Workingman 15 for just that reason, and although it sounds nothing like my Trace VA350 and 4x12, it was never intended to and it gets the job done.

I don't think it's a backwards step going from a stack to a combo - I'd love an Ampeg B15n, which a lot of people reckon creates some of the finest bass tones available.

[quote name='chris_b' post='74968' date='Oct 16 2007, 10:38 AM']As I understand it, at the moment Pete is not working. There is a WAL owners forum somewhere on the web, don't know the name, where you might find more info.

If you have a crackle it might be corrosion in the barrel of the socket. I had that. Get some very fine sandpaper (very, very fine) and clean up the inside of the barrel.

I don't know if he is still there, but Paul Herman used to work with Charlie Chandler, at the shop in Hampton Wick. As an ex WAL worker he might be able to help. Failing that any good repair man should be able to fix the problem.[/quote]



Paul Herman is taking over the production of Wal's apparently, though he's got his work cut out upgrading Wals electronics to current safety standards and other work commitments.

The part needed is a switchcraft 13 jack socket.

Electric Wood is no more, dissolved at the end of last year, and Pete Stevens is effectively retired due to poor health.

[url="http://thedudepit.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?PHPSESSID=ceea59a9e48e79abc17c390d07e46298&topic=645.0"]http://thedudepit.com/simplemachinesforum/...amp;topic=645.0[/url]

All very sad really.