Musky

This thread is definitely causing me battery related paranoia. Although maybe I had that anyway, as I asked for a battery checker last christmas. So... which batteries are best for metal?

I think something to bear in mind is that most of the people on this site are in their 40s/50s, so as you point out a career in music may not be upper most in the minds of many on here. And of course the ones that are putting in the hours every day are the ones who don't have the time to be browsing bass forums.

[quote name='hunt the shunt' timestamp='1362317504' post='1998262'] Also, because the thin strings use irregular intervals because they can't play proper chords dont mean bass has to. [/quote] Yep, this is the key (no pun intended) to this. Just tune to Bb standard tuning and work out the notes you need to play from there. [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362310554' post='1998132'] Forget all that, the music is what is important. Use whatever tuning you need. You just need to get used to it. The primary skill is hearing the notes, not playing by numbers. But practicing scales in standard tuning will help you hear the notes so you can go to your weird bass and work out scales by ear, rather than by laborious technical exercise. So see if you can buy an old hack for £60 and keep it knocking about the house for practice in EADG [/quote] The problem I'd have with this if I were in the OP's position is that while I can hear the intervals between notes, this automatically gets converted to the fret positions in standard tuning. It would probably take me a fair bit of practice to overcome years of ingrained muscle memory. But then I'm an old git who's probably set in his ways, which I'd imagine isn't a problem the OP has.

[quote name='tommorichards' timestamp='1362229341' post='1997244'] 2 for a pound at poundland. kodak ones [/quote] The two for £1 packs are zinc, which don't have the same life or current levels as alkaline. They're also more prone to leaking. The comparable alkaline ones Poundland do work out more expensive than the ones in the link. Though of course if you don't have a use for 10 batteries or need them today pound shops are your friend.

The bridge and soap bar just look so wrong on that bass.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1362036426' post='1994700'] Gah! I've just measured the door of the cupboard I keep my gear in - literally the ONLY place in the house safe from rampaging children - and the ML112s are 1/2" too wide to fit through. That's me out of the running [/quote] Are you sure you've measured them correctly? Trying them in person is the only meaningful way of checking!

IMHO, the bassist in question has already solved this mystery himself in a reply much earlier in this thread.

Hmmm... is it just me that thinks he's beginning to get a little disingenuous? Two new questions, the first asking if it says 'Made in USA' on the headstock, to which he answers in the affirmative. Then someone asks if there is a serial number on the front of the headstock, and he replies by asking "what's a headstock?"????

Good to know, even if it's fairly unlikely to be needed.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1361912219' post='1993059'] Yeah, look for a Behringer BDI-21. Less than £30 brand new and everyone I know swears by them. It's essentially a Sansamp clone but with cheaper componants. Truckstop [/quote] Do these things actually have enough output to drive a power amp properly? I mean, he'll definitely get something out of it but he's been getting something out of the EQ and mic pre. I'm pretty sure the Laney he's got in his sig will have a line out, and could be used to see if the Custom Sound is working properly when fed with a decent signal - without dropping anymore cash on the thing.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1361814505' post='1991331'] If it is a power amp it must be used with a pre-amp. You really can't be sure of what its capable of if you don't have one. [/quote] +1 Power amps are designed to be feed with line level signals rather than the low level ones from instruments.

[quote name='Boombaxx' timestamp='1361819806' post='1991478'] i did not think it was worth much it actually does not sound all that bad. And it has wheels [/quote] There's at least one thread on here of people expressing there love for old HH's, even if it might be through rose tinted spectacles. IMHO the VS100 sounds pretty good, if a little limited volume wise. Plenty of them that start life in a combo extend their use after being rehoused in a DIY sleeve.

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1361820598' post='1991510'] There is a R***fakers Facebook page, just do a search. [/quote] There was a page that was quite busy, with lots of pictures. I think it was Nick that started it up but it doesn't seem to be there anymore, just another one with a handful of pictures and comments. Anyone know what happened - JH practicing his dark arts perhap?

I think the mods are already on it. A thread they posted in Effects For Sale has just disappeared.

[quote name='davidlovellbass' timestamp='1361744694' post='1990285'] i was thinking of not saying anything about the bass, only that i'd be selling two seymour duncan ric pickups and a hipshot ric bridge attached to the correct shape body as ebay allows the OEM parts to contain the word Rickenbacker in the title [/quote] Strictly speaking you're probably right. The only problem is that JH doesn't seem to see things like that and will put in a vero complaint to Ebay even on things that aren't registered trademarks. Ebay will just roll over and pull the auction just like they did even before RIC had any registered marks on their designs in the UK. Just use it as a shop window, include your phone number and urge people to make a note of it. If it gets pulled you may be able to do a deal off ebay and save the not inconsiderable fees to boot. Personally I'd crop the photos to not show the bass as well.

Not a huge amount unfortunately. I wouldn't expect one of those to go for more than £120 even on a very good day, and in reality might only go for little more than half that. The fact that it's the combo rather than the head alone actually works against it. It makes shipping very expensive and effectively limits it to local sales. Oh, and welcome to the forum!

Danelectro French Toast? Cheap price belies the sound you can get from these things.

Unlike SS amps valve amps should never be used with cabs of a higher impedance than the amp is rated for. I'm not overly familiar with the T&B, but it'll have either a selector switch or separate outputs for a given impedance. Since you have the option of two impedances with each cab (32 and 8 ohms) you should bear in mind that hooking up two cabs of the same impedance will usually halve the total load on the amp. Again, unlike SS amps valve amps will produce the same power into any load it is designed for, so if the T&B has a 16 ohm output, plugging into both the 32 ohm inputs on the cabs will be safe. Don't use the amp with just a single cab plugged into the 32 ohm input though! Edit: Just googled the output impedances on the T&B and it seems they're 15 and 7.5 ohms. Which presents something of a conundrum. Does any one know if the gap between the more standard 8 and 16 ohms will make a difference? Presumably not as the speaker loads are just nominal?

While it's always sad to see a venue disappearing the article has missed the reality what is going on in London, which is the migration of venues rather than the disappearance of them. Lots of venues have popped up in the Shoreditch/Dalston/Hackney area, and venues for small bands in the more central areas are drying up. The West End is now almost totally devoid for these types of venue. The high demand for residential properties in central London is driving many businesses to more far flung locations where rents are cheaper and running a business more viable. It's obviously more of a problem for those living in areas with a smaller number of venues catering for original music, where the loss of a venue can have a major impact, but for London it's not such a problem.

Rick certainly do scour ebay, and it's quite probable they save people with 'fakers to their favourite sellers list. I think it was Luke who was caught out with an ebay listing, and when eventually he relisted without any obvious keywords (or even pictures!) he received an email from JH accusing him of being devious. Ash had a similar experience as well. You'd have thought he had better things to do with his time.

The Tascam BT2 (or the earlier BT1) are the only CD based phrase trainers I know of. Although if you've got access to a PC for practice purposes you're probably better off with [url="http://bestpractice.sourceforge.net/"]Best Practice[/url], or the Amazing Slow Downer if you're a mac user.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1361094857' post='1980833'] But it's going to take time and resources away from fixing things that still don't work on the real site. These should be all sorted first IMO before messing about with extras like Tapatalk. [/quote] I think this was the very reason given when Tapatalk was suggested in the Site Issues forum. Apparently there is some kind of bolt on that's available for the forum software that will enable it's use, and it's not too expensive as I understand it. I've never used Tapatalk and the mobile site works fine for the most part, but if Tapatalk adds a bit more functionality it would be welcomed by me. Particularly if it allows you to jump to a particular page rather than clicking through a whole thread to see a particular post. But yeah, let's get some of the other issues out of the way first.

[quote name='Bigjas' timestamp='1360965059' post='1979301'] Dean Edge 1 Less than £200 and a really nice bass for the money. It plays really well and doesn't sound too bad through a decent amp. I was looking for a backup bass and now I use it as my main bass sometimes. Worth a look. Jas [/quote] Dean are well worth looking into IMHO. A few years back I went Xmas shopping for a bass for a mates son and narrowed things down to a Peavey Zodiac and a Dean Edge 10a. Walked away with the Dean. Oddly enough a Squier CV was the worst bass I tried that day,

If your mate owns a shop he's not just looking for a decent cheap bass to sell. There's also the brand on the headstock to consider. There are stacks of decent enough cheap basses out there, to the point where it's actually harder to find stuff that really is just junk. I would have killed for the kind of choice that's available for peanuts nowadays when I was starting out. But he's also got to consider his market. A lot are going to be young where a brand really matters, and plenty will be parents who've head of nothing but the biggest brands. This probably means Epiphone and Squier are top of the tree due to their association with their parent brands. Unfortunately Fender's policy regarding stock levels probably rules them out, and I'd imagine Epiphone are no different. Your Peavey suggestion was a good one I reckon, as was the idea to import his own brand. I remember Johnstone made some headway regarding sourcing stuff from the Far East, but unfortunately he's not about to tap for any more info.