stoo

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1410073647' post='2545768'] The PA uses your bass head as a power amp? I'd look at changing that if I was you [/quote] Why's that? We're running both my bass and the vocal mic into a small mixing desk, and that feeds into the effects return of my GK MB500, which is driving BFM Omni10s - which are designed to double as Bass/PA cabs.

We get together weekly - (mostly) originals punk kinda stuff If last week was anything to go by - Turn up to find the drum kit in the studio has been replaced by a massive pile of booze. Briefly consider allowing this discovery to reshape my plans for the evening, but chicken out and go on a hunt for the drum kit. There had been a mini festival on the farm where the studio is over the weekend, and they'd managed to bring in all the surplus booze stock, but not the drum kit they'd borrowed. Ah well - it was all still there so no biggie. The drummer and I then get the kit and PA back to the studio and set up. The guitarist and singer eventually wander back over. Guitar amp gets cranked up to cringeworthy, vocals get cranked up to relentless feedback and then we have 20 minutes of me trying to convince them that the best way forward is to turn down while the atmosphere gradually sours. Common sense eventually wins over and then we get cracking on with trying to get through our set so far. Yet again we try and delicately suggest to the singer that it might be worth arranging her lyrics notes in some sort of order so we don't end up with intros as long as the rest of the song while she finds them. Usually after we get through the set once we then either have a go at writing something new or have a bit of a random jam to see if it throws up any ideas - but this week the guitarist & singer decide to add another cover to the set. Guitarist then tries to work out how to play the song from memory, seemingly never having tried this one before. Then a phone appears and is held up to the mic, and we're subjected to a playback so poor in quality I can just about make out drums and little else. They have another go at trying to work out how to play the song, completely ignoring the drummer's and my bored expressions all the while. By this point I've clicked on the tuner mute and laid my bass back in its case. The drummer's got his bass drum apart and playing with different amounts of deadening in there. I'm seriously considering finishing packing up and walking out to see if they notice, but the PA uses my bass head as a power amp. Still not entirely sure how I got out of there without calling it a day there and then.... There's always next week, I suppose!

[quote name='Bolo' timestamp='1408702685' post='2532660'] Frankly the Sterling by MM basses, manufactured in a good facility in Indonesia, are finished and set up in the regular MM factury in SLO-California. With the same stuff as is used for the US MMs. [/quote] Are you sure about that? I seem to remember reading that the main SbMM models were setup in the USA, but at Praxis in Orange, California - not at EBMM in SLO. And the SbMM SUBs don't go via the USA at all. Either way - they're still decent bits of kit and great value for money

Some more for ya.... [url="http://s10.photobucket.com/user/scrapperstoo/media/guitars/rays_zpsf5f49780.jpg.html"][/url] Depending on how you want to look at it... twin EBMMs twin SUBs twin Indonesian made officially licensed 'Ray copies twin maple boards twin rosewood boards twin single H 3EQ'ers triplet single H'ers triplet 3EQ'ers I think I might need to thin the herd down a bit, but I'd probably end up developing a chronic need for a pre-EBMM or a Classic, or a Bongo, or a Sabre, or a Cutlass, or....

Unless you're expecting to play very big venues with no PA, the MB500 ought to be plenty powerful enough. I've got the slightly older (but almost identical) MB2-500 and some BMF Omni 10 cabs (1x10" and 2x10") and it will easily go louder than I'm prepared share a room with!

I've just been lent one of these with a view to starting up a band comprised mostly of silliness. Market research has suggested there's a definite bonus to targeting the drunk demographic, so I'm more than happy to give it a go! Seem to be having a bit of a nightmare keeping the thing in tune though - do the strings ever stretch enough to the point they settle down? Or is that just a quirk of rubber band strings that I've got to get used to? Not helped by having loads of friction over the net - winding the tuners only seems to affect the tension between tuner and nut until I pull the string away from the nut and shuffle it over a bit. anyone else found a decent solution to this? Not sure what's best to try and use - ground up graphite in the nut slots? talc on the strings? adjust the shape of the nut slots? If it was my own I'd take a gamble and just keep trying stuff until something worked, but I don't want to do anything that might muck the thing up.

Nice one! I thought I'd bagged the stingray steal of the year award when I won a slightly tatty trans purple and maple 3eq for £500, but that looks well tidy!

[quote name='deepbass5' timestamp='1405969094' post='2507106'] I think sometimes 500 watts are too much and we would all be encouraged to set our gain signal paths more sensibly if we used 300 watt amps. with both my Mark bass and my GK mb500 I set the input gain between 10<12 o'clock the main out on the Markbass is never much over 1/4 way up say 9 o'clock where the GK head would be at 12 o'clock. for the same output. The GK fan is noisy too much for a studio recording session, where the Markbass rarely comes in and can't be heard so worth shopping around. I would be interested what Genz and TC owners feel. I also have an issue that to get all the best features from a company you need say their 800 or 900 watt model, most of us would be willing to pay the same for the one that suits our music and band situation. not chasing big watts in order to get useful features. [/quote] The fan on the mb500 shouldn't come on in normal operation - only in exceptionally hot circumstances. Might be something up with the temperature sensor? Some more info from Bob Gallien in this thread on talkbass http://www.talkbass.com/threads/gk-mb500-fan-when-does-it-come-on.867209/

[quote name='Jonesy64' timestamp='1405936188' post='2506588'] Back to the TB500.....yes, it'll sound alright at low volume but you won't get it breaking up if that's the tone you are after. I always had this problem with my all valve guitar amps...at home you could never turn up the gain enough to get the tubes cooking. If you are set on a TB500 (bargains in the used section by the way) and need the dirt put an overdrive pedal in front of it for home use. [/quote] This doesn't really apply to an amp with a valve pre-amp and a solid state power amp though, does it? If you're running the power amp hard enough to overdrive it then the result is unlikely to sound particularly tubey, I'd think. If you're working the pre-amp hard and taming it with the master volume on the power amp, should give a similar effect whether quiet or loud.....no?

[quote name='mirszmarsz' timestamp='1401387298' post='2463167'] Ok but what value do you use guys for neck relief ... assuming capo on 1st and 12ve fret ? [/quote] I've never seen any benefit in measuring neck relief - I just get it so that it's almost straight, then file the nut so the base of the slot is in line with the tops of the first few frets. Then gradually lower bridge saddles until buzz starts to appear. If it's mostly apparent at the lower frets, then a little more relief is required. If mostly at the higher frets, then try a little less relief. If it's fairly even along the neck then I figure the relief is about right Then I raise the bridge saddles a little again to get rid of the buzz. Not sure if that's the best way to do it, but it seems to work OK for me...

I've had one of the Gibson EB0 style ones. Quite a nice looking thing, but had a neck like a baseball bat and sorting the action out to something nice to play would have taken more setup skill than I had at the time. The electrics were all hopeless on it so I replaced the pickup with a closed top guitar humbucker, and made up a new loom for it. I ended up giving it to my GF's son who loves SGs and wanted a bass - but he got bored of it fairly quickly after he got given a Squier Jazz which was much easier to play. One day I'd like to dig it out again and see if I can sort it out properly... [URL=http://s10.photobucket.com/user/scrapperstoo/media/guitars/juan_lauda_zps12915777.jpg.html][IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a111/scrapperstoo/guitars/juan_lauda_zps12915777.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I had a similar conversation with my GF's kid.... so I promised him £50 if he can do a passable version of Hit me with your Rhythm Stick. He's not there yet, but the cockiness to practice ratio has changed quite a bit, and he's making surprisingly good progress!

I went for the pro 17 in the end on the recommendation of the guy at ACS. Had them a couple of weeks and finding them hard to fault.... On the couple of occasions I've been struggling to hear something through them and taken them out.... Always found things were no clearer with them out.... Just lots louder!

The Sterling by Musicman SUB Ray5 would also be worth getting a demo on.... I've got 4 string versions of the EBMM and SbMM SUB's, and while the EBMM is definitely a better built bit of kit, the SbMM is floaty light in comparison, and plays like a dream once set up properly. Soundwise - I don't think I'd be able to tell them apart in a blind test - that may say more about my ears than anything else though!

[quote name='philparker' timestamp='1398347640' post='2433236'] Yes, I've used Nick Marchant for a DB set up - he probably can't do it while you wait. [/quote] His workshop's at his house though, so he may be willing to be available for collection / drop off in the evening to avoid needing to take 2 days off work...

If Salisbury's not too far, then there's Nick Marchant - http://www.guitarrepairsuk.com/

If one of the speakers in a 2x10 is 4ohm, then wouldn't the only way to get a total 6 ohm load for the cab be to run a 2ohm speaker in series with it?

I'd be responding with stuff like "How about you only play muted chords on the upstroke" or "I think it'd be better if the 2nd guitar was a saxophone instead" and see how receptive they are to suggestions as they are keen to make them

One way to do it - not the cheapest, mind - would be to go for a John East 3 band 3 knob preamp. It's setup as a pretty close copy of the original 2EQ with bass and treble on a stack knob where the treble control would normally be. Centre detentes on the half-way points, but they're only a convenient reference point, not really an indicator of any sort of flatness. Where the bass control would normally be is another stack knob as a sweepable mid. Boost/cut has a centre indent and this one is supposed to be flat on the click, so should be just like a regular 2EQ. I've put one in my USA SUB (accidentally bought a passive one after not checking the ebay ad close enough!) and like it a lot.

There's an Icon V4 (roadworn P sort of thing) floating about at work somewhere which I keep meaning to have a go on to see what it's like - will see if I can track it down tomorrow

I seem to manage OK with a cheapo (had em ages and can't remember, but probably less than £5) set of needle files and a bit of patience. Would be more tempted to buy appropriate gauge files for doing guitar nuts, but on a bass I've always found it easy enough to just use a round profile file with a gentle taper down to a point on it - just work out how wide a hole you need, and don't use any of the file that's fatter than that bit! I'd need to be doing a lot of 'em to justify that £65 set......

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1396799956' post='2417448'] OR... How about a USA made EB MusicMan SUB? It's essentially another Stingray with a different finish/look, and well within your budget. [/quote] Nothing like a Jazz neck though!

[quote name='Diablo' timestamp='1396596303' post='2415420'] If you sold your gear through a general or specialist auction house you pay at least 15% on the hammer price - about par for the course I'd suggest. You have to balance the extra costs vs. the potential extra market visibility (therefore higher hammer price) and decide if it is worth fleabay taking a cut. Cheers, Rich [/quote] +1 on that The main thing that irks me about ebay is the fixed, published finishing time and the last minute snipe bidding. Would like to see an option to extend the auction finish time in the event of a last minute bid. I suppose there'd have to be an increasing minimum bid increment to stop it dragging out too much.