Musky

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='788072' date='Mar 27 2010, 06:27 PM']Aaaggh! Undead!!! Undead!!! [url="http://www.gumtree.com/london/77/55942677.html"]http://www.gumtree.com/london/77/55942677.html[/url] £150? Cheeky Bugger![/quote] Ah, but he's cleaned up the rust.

Hmmm... The seller is based in Sherman Oaks. Is this the gnomes-in-the-attic guy again?

I was shopping for a friend's son just before Xmas, and tried the Dean, GSR200, what I think was an SR200(?), and a Classic Vibe Jazz. I walked away with the Dean. Quite a nice bass all round, which actually surprised me because nobody ever seems to give Dean's a heads up. Played a damn sight better than the Squier as well (though I suspect the Squier needed a good set up). I might have choosen a Peavey Zodiac (which was very nice also), but I didn't think my friend's son would appreciate the aesthetics Having said that, I was only trying new basses because my friend wouldn't take my advice and buy second hand.

I think the amount of time and effort you put in should be entirely dependent on how you feel about playing. If you're enjoying it and aren't getting any aches you could spend all day practising if you want. If you're busy or have other priorities, that's fine too . There's really no right or wrong to the amount of practise you put in - unless perhaps you've got an entire set to learn before next Saturday. Just bear in mind that the more practise you put in the quicker you'll improve. (I've dodged the thorny issue of how to spend your time practising efficiently).

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='784119' date='Mar 23 2010, 10:53 PM']Looks purty but I'll bet my left ba' it's ply... not one-piece mahogany. [/quote] And not a slab body either. Wrong on all three counts!

A change of pickups is probably the most obvious choice, and the one which is most likely to improve the bass, but the world is your oyster. Some players like a heavier bridge (badass/gotoh type), but aside from some more radical surgery, cosmetic changes are very easy to make with the amount of after market parts out there. How about a tort guard and covers for a retro look?

[quote name='Bobby K' post='781776' date='Mar 21 2010, 04:41 PM']So I'd need to know the wattage of the cab first. Is it simply a case of taking the drivers out and looking at the figures on them? When you say [i]250w mode [/i] do you mean when the output power selector switch is on [i]low[/i]?[/quote] Strictly speaking you don't [i]need[/i] to know the power rating of the cab, so long as you use your ears for signs of it starting to complain. Even if the cab is rated at 320w like the later 1048's, you could still push it to it's limits (or past them) with say an amp rated at 300w if you like distortion and boosting the bass. And if you do like distortion, that can mask the sound of the speakers complaining. But it won't hurt to look in the back of the cab anyway, just for a bit of peace of mind. Or you could have a word with Merton - he's quite up on old Trace gear and might know the power rating. 250w is the rated output of the VA350 (AFAIR) on the medium setting, although I'd expect that to be quite conservative. Edit: I just took a look on harmony central to see if anyone had left a review for an older cab, and someone mentioned that they used Celestion C100h speakers, rated at [i]32 ohms[/i]. That might put the kibosh on any idea of using this cab as a standalone.

Yes it's safe, very safe - so safe you wouldn't believe it. The main problem you have is not knowing the actual wattage of the cab, and the fact that even in the 250w mode the VA350 might be delivering well over 300w [i]clean[/i]. The simple answer is to use your ears - if the the cabs are starting to distort, turn it down. From the [url="http://wiki.basschat.co.uk/info:amps:impedance_and_wattage#you_can_use_any_power_ouput_amp_with_any_power_handling_cab._if_any_of_these_combinations_makes_bad_sounds_then_turn_down_and_or_stop_cranking_the_bass_eq_excessively_or_damage_may_occur"]wiki[/url]: "You can use any power ouput amp with any power handling cab. If any of these combinations makes bad sounds then turn down and/or stop cranking the bass EQ excessively or damage may occur."

Soundslive were doing a limited run of UK made MAG 600's for a very good price recently, but they seem to have disappeared from their website. Though I'm not sure that really counts as 'lower wattage stuff'.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='781394' date='Mar 21 2010, 09:29 AM']It's a Fenton Weill - one of the pioneers of British guitars.[/quote] +1 As I scrolled down the page I thought I was going to be the first person to say that. Should have known you'd get in there first.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='781243' date='Mar 20 2010, 11:12 PM']Peaches - The Stranglers. Arguably I bought a bass specifically to learn to play Peaches - I had no idea how to tune a bass at the time, so when a more knowledgeable friend showed me what I was doing wrong, I had to re-learn the song... I then went on to learn the entire Rattus Norvegicus album, so that was OK. Jon.[/quote] Yep, Peaches for me too. JJ was a huge influence on a lot of bassists of a certain age, and Peaches must have been their easiest song. I'd be surprised if it wasn't the choice of a few more people on here too.

Great to meet you on Friday Clarky, and a thoroughly enjoyable evening all round. Still seems strange seeing you without Sid though.

The 12 Bar passes for my local and Barnet is a gent with great taste in music. If I can persuade the other half to come along I may well see you there!

[quote name='bumnote' post='779418' date='Mar 19 2010, 08:34 AM']Hi Bobby Is that the VA on ebay that completed yesterday or the day before?[/quote] I just had to do a search for that one. £62! How to screw up your chances of maximising your sale price in one easy lesson! Congratulations are due if you did manage to score that one Bobby. [quote]Without looking inside you wouldn't know but some of the older 4-speaker cabs used 16-ohm drivers in series parallel to make them 16-ohms. They can be rewired to be 4-ohms.[/quote] I forgot about that option - it would work with a more common 8 ohm cab rewired for 2 ohms as well. Whatever cab you end up with you just need to bear in mind that Oxblood ended up measuring the output on his VA350 at 470w - it's a lot more powerful than the rated output would suggest.

[quote name='numptydumpty' post='779260' date='Mar 18 2010, 11:03 PM']So can anyone recommend a jazz type bass which has the narrow neck?(say 38mm ish) Peavey milestone 3s look like they have the PUP config and are on budget (£50 ebay),hows the neck?[/quote] Don't know about the Milestone, but I tried a Zodiac before Xmas and was quite impressed. Jazz type neck, though with a P/J pickup configuration. Good price too.

[quote name='Bobby K' post='779318' date='Mar 19 2010, 12:02 AM']Ok, thanks for that Musky. Am i right in thinking then that if I ran the VA350 through [b]two[/b] 8 ohm cabs, the impedance will then become 4 ohms and thus eliminate the risk to the power amp? I don't really have the capability to transport around two cabs plus the beast that is the VA350, if I'm being honest. Would be a lot easier for me to be able to run it through just one cab. I'm now assuming that that one cab would need to be a 4 ohm cab.. Am I correct?[/quote] Running a single 4 ohm cab would certainly be the easiest option (especially since I can't think of any cabs that are rated at 2 ohms ). Another option would be a pair of lightweight 8 or 4ohm cabs. Overall weight would probably be comparable to a single standard cab. Or if you can find a two speaker cab that is wired in series, rewire it for parallel.

Another VA350 owner. Sadly whichever preamp you use, you'll still be risking the power amp running at 8 ohms. It's the power amp that connects to the speakers, so that's what will 'see' the load. The VA350 pushes its valves pretty hard in standard form, so you really don't want to strain them further. You might like to do a search for posts by Oxblood, who bought a VA350 power section and did some pretty major work on it. He also lovingly detailed all that work and his findings. You'll have to go to finnbass for the conclusion though.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='772265' date='Mar 11 2010, 11:09 PM']'Theoretically' you can get done for attempting to defraud HMC&E and lose the bass! Not trying to scaremonger or be a wet blanket but these days the C&E are far more on the ball and they are well within their rights to check the contents of any imported package and if they even 'consider' that you are trying to pull a swift one they are within their rights to confiscate the item and investigate the declaration; if you are found to be defrauding them then you are scr3wed... just saying! With regard to the £ v $ conversion, don't use PayPal! <edit> Should add 'why' paypal is naff for International trade... their conversion rate is abysmal. Great that you get cover but when I [u]SOLD[/u] a bass to the States, I didn't actually get anywhere near what I expected as I used the UK banks normal currency convertor and it was way different to paypal's![/quote] Yep. I had a bass turn up from the States marked 'repair'. I didn't ask them to send it that way, it was just how it arrived. Thing is, ultimately it's down to you to prove that the bass was sent to the States for the repair in the first place. If you've no proof that it was purchased from the States and then returned there, Customs are well within their rights to confiscate the bass.

I've no idea about the wattage, but I doubt very much that celestion is original. In fact a quick look at the wikipedia entry for celestion reveals that all production moved to Ipswich in 1975 - yours was made in Thames Ditton. Which might mean the speaker is worth more than the rest of the combo. (I say might because I've no idea what the collectors market is for this model of celestion.) Edit: Forget all that - it actually says Ipswich on your speaker. I still think that's probably not the original speaker though.

Double hit with that last "Custom". It doesn't seem remotely custom to me - more like one of the early Fuji-Gens. Full width sparkley inlays - check. Mudbucker - check. Humbucker type at the bridge - check.

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='767150' date='Mar 7 2010, 06:36 PM']Welcome Aboard, Don't know of any blues-specific tab sites -I use [url="http://www.911tabs.com"]911 Tabs[/url] when I [i][b]need[/b][/i] one. "Need" is the word here I feel... I regard tabs as a "get out of jail card" for when you've got to nail somthing awkward at short notice, or you really can't figure out what is going on. [b]Ears First[/b] then tabs if you're stuck. Also, a lot of tabs appear to be written by non-Bassists who seem to have some very odd ideas about fingering. AlsoAlso... Blues is a very flexible genre. It doesn't have that many "set" bass lines, but does have a bucketload of little licks & phrases that you can nail together to join the dots [i]your[/i] way. Ears are better for this, trust me. Listen to loads of it, you'll find yourself picking up little bits here & there and your vocabulary will grow. ... Pete.[/quote] +1 to both Bloodaxe and your mate. Most tabs are usually inaccurate, even when the transcriber insists it's spot on and it's rated at 5 stars, so you're still left with using your own ears to correct the things. Software like Best Practice or the Amazing Slow Downer are a godsend for figuring out the basslines, allowing you to slow down the songs whilst keeping the pitch and loop sections of the song you're working on. FWIW I use www.bassmasta.net for tabs, but they're all much the same as they all crib tabs off each other.

A few months back someone posed a similar question, or more specifically looking for source of online backing tracks which the user could put together themselves. There were a few decent suggestions, but I can't for the life of me remember what they were or find the thread! In the the mean time you could checkout [url="http://www.freejamtracks.com"]http://www.freejamtracks.com[/url] or even some of the more illicit isolated track recordings of well known artists that are available if you search hard enough.

Both Sloy and Treponem Pal had twin bass players, both bands doing post hardcore type stuff (much like Cop Shoot Cop and GvsB). I'm sure there were other bands about doing the same kind of stuff in the early nineties with two bassists, but I'm damned if I can think of them right now. I was in a band with 3 bass players for a few years. :ph34r:

See if you can pick up some boxes from your local music shop. Ideally you'll want a large rectangular one and one of the triangular ones to fit inside. Sometimes they're happy to let you have them but some do seem to get a bit funny about the idea of people using their boxes to trade on ebay. In which case check out their rubbish collection day and get there after they've put their stuff out for collection. Removing the neck prior to shipping opens up your options for packaging considerably though. And bear in mind that some couriers won't insure if it isn't in a hard case, so check their T&C's.

[quote name='Hamster' post='759021' date='Feb 27 2010, 12:20 PM']I quite like the idea of having a template based for sale post - although I don't think it should be enforced, just encouraged. Have a look at a couple of Shockwaves's FS threads to see how clear and informative some structure can be. - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=76324"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=76324[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=78132"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=78132[/url] I'm sure the board can be programmed to provide text boxes when starting topics in the marketplace - it will help posters who really aren't that good at presenting their gear for sale - like probably we all were when we first started selling stuff. As for locations, I don't think anyone will be knocking on my door if I change "Surrey" to "North Surrey", likewise if posters specify what region of Yorkshire or London they live in - every little helps if you're trying to encourage a sale, and we do want to sell stuff don't we?. Personally, I've just bought the house next to Old Horse Murphy It's the same with fleabay, there are some excellent adverts with fantastic photos & information and some less so - we've all seen them. So sellers - make an effort and get a sale![/quote] This is exactly why I liked the idea of a template (though not making it mandatory). Even with the best of intentions many of the ads in the for sale section manage to omit some key information, like a price or even exactly what model it is. A template would at least serve as a useful reminder of the info needed to get the best response, though it should be entirely up to the seller whether they choose to complete the template, copy the information into their text or ignore it altogether.