Musky

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1355079095' post='1893798'] On very rare occasion my Jazz jack-socket slackens off a bit enough so that the lead moves a bit and the volume drops off dramatically along with tone change. As soon as nut tightened up again its fine. I've checked the wiring inside and its fine. Try tightening the nut on the socket and if still same try checking the connection inside. [b]Might just be dirt on the inside of the socket.[/b] Other probs might be loose wire or bad soldering joint. Unusual for the capacitor to fail but it is a possibility. Would try the simple things first though. Dave [/quote] This would be the first thing I'd check. I had the same problem with the sound fading down on an amp and it turned out to be a dirty input socket.

A rather nice John Birch starting at £599. Marked for death with the R word in the title though... Oops... Edit for the link! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-John-Birch-Custom-made-Bass-1970s-Not-Rickenbacker-/321038028156

The way the black of the sunburst covers the forearm and belly contours tends to suggest the body's made of plywood...

I suspect you're right, but given the amp has now been repaired twice and a speaker has already been repaired in the first instance the OP's case would appear to be stronger. Fingers crossed for the guy anyway.

If you're anywhere near Glasgow you could do a lot worse than checking out [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/193370-peavey-databass-combo-l40"]this amp[/url]. A gigable combo for the price of a practice amp!

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1354837439' post='1891220'] I can give you a crash course in Best Practice - [url="http://bestpractice.sourceforge.net/"]http://bestpractice.sourceforge.net/[/url] - assuming you use Windows[list=1] [*]Choose a track [*]Click play [*]Move the pitch and/or speed slider left or right as required [/list] Not too hard... [/quote] +1 I was just about to post the same thing. There's nothing wrong with any of the other suggestions and they can all do considerably more, but Best Practice is a simple and lightweight bit of software that is very easy to use without any additional steps. If you're a mac user the Amazing Slow Downer is what BP has evidently based it's GUI on, but you'll have to shell out for that one.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1354806562' post='1890650'] Agreed. No quality system is so perfect that it can guarantee no faults 100% of the time, but what it can do is prove that the company has been sufficiently diligent to have considered the risks and done everything reasonable to minimise them. In this respect it greatly assists a company's defence against negligence. [/quote] I think Fretmeister would probably be in the best position to chip in here, but I'm not sure they'd be defending against a charge of negligence. If someone has to claim under a guarantee for a defective item they have no need to prove negligence, just that there is a fault that wasn't caused by misuse. The amp in question was faulty, and that fault caused damage to another item. As the amp has been repaired by the retailer he should be able to prove whether the fault was caused by a manufacturing defect, faulty component or poor design that a reasonable person wouldn't expect. I don't think most people would consider it reasonable that a new ABM curls it's toes and dies under normal use. Now all he has to do is establish whether the fault caused the damage to the speaker. As he already has had one speaker repaired due to a fault in the amp, he stands a good chance of getting the second speaker fixed (as long as it has a value of at least £275). The OP originally posted this question in another thread, and I suggested he might get a better response with his own thread as well as pointing him to [url="http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/consumer/consumer_protection/139.html"]this page[/url], which suggests he has a case.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1354737577' post='1889902'] On my part, to an extent. On the part of the person ignoring what I've said, [b]it isn't negotiating[/b], it is spam or lies, depending on if they didn't read it, or read it and ignored it. Either way, no point in going further. [/quote] It's pretty much rule number one in negotiation, and the whole point of entering to a discussion on price. If you're open to offers on your stated price, you're opening up the sale to negotiation. The essence of negotiation is compromise. A compromise that both parties usually accept is that tabled figures are a starting position. Of course with any sale the seller can decline to sell for whatever reason they want, but usually the point is to conclude it to the mutual satisfaction of both sides rather than 'win' the negotiation.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1354654474' post='1888863'] If your new amp caught fire and burned your house down, your house insurers would sue the amp company for their outlay. It's called product liability. If you can prove your faulty new amp shagged your cab, then they should be paying. [/quote] Do you know whether the £275 minimum limit still applies, and whether this would apply to the value of the item at the time of the damage (ie replacement cost like for like, rather than new)?)

The TRC doesn't look right because the ink is worn (and it also looks a bit manky!) and also why he doesn't know whether it's a 4001 or 4003 - it's a 4003 BTW. The shape looks good to me, but I suppose it could be one of those fake TRCs that were available from Italy - they didn't have the model numbers on them. If you mouse over the first image you can just see were the binding stops under the bridge, although there were fakers that also did this. Mat made basses had twin rods, but they didn't look like those which a correct for a Rick. The fingerboard does have the orangey hue that real Ricks have however - I've never seen any copy which has replicated that, as they all have the darker rosewood that is more commonly used on boards. Overall I'd say it's good.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1354422199' post='1885812'] Valve preamp. I know it's a preamp with a valve, but why? "All valve", how does this differ from valve preamp? Power amp. Just used to amplify without valves? [/quote] As Pete says, preamps deal with the low signal inputs from instruments and boost them to a level the power amp can use. All the tone controls, switching and any other gubbins the your amp might sport happens in the preamp. The power amp just makes things louder. Either of these stages can be valve, SS or a hybrid of the two. However, just to complicate things a little, both preamps and power amps may contain both valve and SS components. 'Valve' preamps may contain a solitary valve and have all the EQ dealt with by SS circuitry. There has been some debate as to exactly how much difference a single valve used in this way makes to the overall sound, with some claiming the valve is included purely for marketing purposes. I really don't have the electrical knowledge to make any judgement, but it's something you should be aware of and it's why some manufacturers might declare their preamps 'all valve'. If a preamp has an active EQ it will most likely have more than one valve - although a passive EQ need not. Similarly, power amps can have valve or SS power stages. However power supplies can also have valve or SS rectification, and many all valve amps do in act use SS rectifiers. As for any aural differences between the designs, let your ears decide.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1354360296' post='1885134'] It is what most of these "attributes" are - sales patter. Butter? Patter. [/quote] I could never tell talk from mutter.

[quote name='JohnFitzgerald' timestamp='1354218271' post='1883840'] Glad it's not just me. [/quote] Ditto that.I've tried using the full version on the site on my mobile in the hope that would sort things out, but it seems only the the mobile version of the site is available.

[quote name='Floyd' timestamp='1354181620' post='1883046'] Where I'm coming from is that the Gibson quality check as it goes into the Gibson packaging means nothing if a dealer can open it all up, put the guitar on display, sell it on as new when it's been returned etc. It's also pointless (and I wonder if it ever happens) for a dealer to set up a new guitar when it's going to be shipped somewhere where the humidity and temperature is going to be different anyway. All I wanted was an unopened box and as an end customer paying a lot I should be able to get it. I don't know if it's still the same but Gibson used to ship their Custom Shop guitars with security seals on the box which said if there seals are broken , don't accept it. How's that work then with the dealer who insists on opening every box? Ok it's a bit of a rant I know [/quote] Fair enough really. As a customer you should be able to get what you want, whatever keeps you happy (within reason! ) IME however, unless things have changed recently Gibson's quality check is non-existant. I'd most definitely expect a new bass to have been set up by the shop before buying one, even though I might want it set up again later to suit my tastes. That's one reason to buy in person from a decent dealer - you can have a word and ask them to set it up to your preferences in the first place.

Looking at the US auction it seems it might have hex grub screws on the bridge, which also isn't right for the year. I wouldn't consider it until I'd seen pictures with the neck and scratchplate removed, and any bid would have to take all the changed parts into consideration.

Welcome to the site! By the sound of things you had a PB-551, but the side mounted jack and black headstock definitely indicates mid-eighties. Edit: Anything like the one [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/new-me-mij-precision-552047/"]here[/url]?

Finally voted. It wasn't an easy decision, and in the end I went for the one that I felt had the best composition given the inspiration for the project. I was sorely tempted to vote for others that perhaps suited my tastes more and were great songs in their own right, and it's such a shame we couldn't vote for more than one. Maybe single transferable vote next time. Seriously good work from all concerned - not a duffer in there. Well done chaps!

[quote name='BB2000' timestamp='1354035556' post='1881242'] I'm going to have to sell my Fullerton '83 reissue burst '57. Do you think it would be worth holding on to it until it's 30th birthday? Don't these collectors have some stupid notion of a bass being "vintage" at 30? [/quote] 'Vintage' is pretty much a moveable feast, so I wouldn't expect that hanging on to it for a few months is going to make any difference to it's price.

Perhaps female to female jack connector might be a viable option? At least the conductors would be enclosed.

The one with the scoop bin and the VS head? I think everyone ends up ditching the cab and using the head as a standalone.

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1353250178' post='1872934'] Oh, and it doesn't appear to offer any clues as to when the ad was posted either. [/quote] I notice that the date the item was listed has been added now. Cheers guys.

[quote name='dincz' timestamp='1353607778' post='1876583'] And presumably: never buy an amp that uses a pair of bridged power modules for each output? My point being that if a speaker is being driven with, let's say, 40 volts RMS, it doesn't matter whether that 40 volts is being delivered by a single power amp channel or by 2 channels each capable of 20 volts. The speaker doesn't know or care - it's still 40 volts RMS. I don't understand this thing about bridging being a bad thing. It's simply a matter of sensibly matching the power ratings of amp and cab. [/quote] You're right. If the drivers can handle a 40V swing then everything is fine and dandy. The problem is when the user doesn't really understand what's going on when an amp is bridged and uses the same load, which would in theory result in 4 times the wattage. Although I'd expect the amp to go in a puff of smoke before the speakers.

I've been waiting for the donate button to reappear! On the mobile at the moment (which I don't entirely trust) so I'll do it tonight when I get home. Thanks for all the hard work!

If you look at the page source you'll find a hidden link to secfbichecker.com, which is serving some kind of script. No idea what it is, but it's likely that which is triggering the alerts. Not good.

[quote name='MrTaff' timestamp='1353372941' post='1874466'] You could say the same about any bass gear, but nobody expects the band to pay for it, you're responsible for the stuff you use imo. [/quote] Like I said, ideally the singer would own the PA. But since they hardly ever do and the band [i]needs[/i] a PA something has got to be done, hence the OP's dilemma. Whilst you're right in principle, in practice sticking to your guns on this would more often than not mean that the band doesn't gig.