JapanAxe

I tend not to tolerate anything that I can rectify with hand tools or a soldering iron.

A big vote of thanks from me Tom. I have done a shedload of bass and guitar transcriptions myself, but your site is a lifesaver when I have a dep gig at short notice and need dots on the hurry-up!

I’m usually recording covers of intros or solos as a way to demonstrate my playing ability. My DAW of choice is Reaper.

I usually start with some form of drum track filched from the Internet. If it’s a MIDI track then I will often edit it to introduce some dynamics! I create a tempo map and align the drum track with it.

I create the guitar and bass sounds outside the box using mainly analog kit - I rarely use amp sim or fx plug-ins. Then I record the parts. For reverb I either record a separate wet track from one of my three outboard spring reverbs, or create a send and return.

Any tricky keys parts are obtained from MIDI files, otherwise I play them myself.

I have no mastering software, I just do a mix that I think sounds ok and render it to a 192kbps mp3 for uploading to SoundCloud.

I don’t recommend you follow this procedure btw, it just works for me!

I would be inclined to learn right-handed. You may have to move your left hand further and more often than if you were using your little finger, but that’s no bad thing - if you try to play in fixed left-hand positions (in the way that scales are often presented) you can end up stretching your left hand too much and causing discomfort and/or damage to it.

If I’m gigging on skinny-string guitar then I almost always have my (combo) amp up on a stand. But if I’m gigging on bass I never have my cab on a stand. Most often my cab is a BF Super Twin which has excellent dispersion so no problem.

9 hours ago, SubsonicSimpleton said:

A friend of mine built a homebrew amp based on one of the champ circuits (he plays bass and DB no skinny string), and tried a few things for the tone stack eventually settling on a baxandall circuit which works great - I spent some time twiddling and couldn't get a bad sound out of it, might be worth considering.

Yep, the Baxandall is very close to the James.

I do like what I’m hearing from the ToneStyler. As a chap who builds his own amps I think I’ll have a go at making my own though - I’m pretty sure I’ve got all the parts in my stash already!

Welcome BahHumbug, I'm probably not too far from you - I live in the teeming metropolis that is Swin Vegas.

I’ve been giving the tone stack some thought. I really like the James tone circuit on the B15 and I’m now toying with the idea of fitting one here, with the addition of a shift control. It would be quite fiddly as there are a lot of components to mount to the pots and I don’t have space for a dedicated tone stack board. Watch this space!

33 minutes ago, Crusoe said:

Very little of that made sense to me - it's all word salad, but still interesting to follow the thread. Does it go up to 11, though?

No numbers on it at present so I'd have to say no!

I've just had a blast with it in my living room. I think I've found the settings where it sounds best (from L to R in pic: Master, Bass, Mid-shift, Treble, Gain) but I may well re-work that tone stack. Unfortunately the oscillation at full volume is back, or it could be the pot wiper coming off the track when full clockwise.

Sounds best with my Fender Precisions, doesn't seem to like my Dingwall so much!

1 hour ago, krispn said:

Some audio of the B10 in my P bass with a TBird pick up 

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/347215-tone-styler-bass10-soundcloud-link-added/

Nice!

It lives! I shouldn't be so surprised, this isn't my first rodeo...

I ran through all my checks this morning. It turns out B+ barely gets above 500V in standby so maybe I could have got away with the single 100uF/500V cap. The two 100uF/450V are safer though and there is no lack of smoothing in the power supply. When I first brought the power up with valves in, I got a sudden squealing when the mains (via my Variac) hit about 120V, so I swapped the OT primaries over and that went away.

Bias was a bit hotter than I wanted even at minimum setting, so I swapped out a resistor and that brought it into range. Plate dissipation on each KT66 is now about 56% of maximum which is perfect for a grid-biased amp. I initially had loud oscillation when the Master volume was up at maximum (Gain at zero) but that turned out to be caused by the meter probe clipped to the earth bus!

I plugged in a bass, and even through a One 10 this is loud, much louder than the B15 clone that I built. There is also a fair amount of overdrive available from the Gain control. There are a couple of outstanding issues:

(1) The input socket isn't shunting to earth properly when there is no plug in it. It's a recycled Switchcraft from my parts stash - hopefully some judicios bending will fettle it.

(2) The response of the tone controls is weird. I know the FMV tone stack can be pretty interactive, but this is all over the shop. I'm going to go back to the schematic, the original layout, and probably Chapter 11 of Merlin Blencowe to bottom this one out!

I'm going to fit the bottom plate and cover now and try it through my BF Super Twin...

9 minutes ago, krispn said:

@JapanAxei have a stellar tone tone styler for sale - it’s a B10 I used it in a p bass not the PZ5. and there’s a demo on bc somewhere with me using it with a TBird pick up. I’m at work but a search on bc should find it and let you hear it. 
 

Just saying 😀

PM’d!

1 minute ago, Muzz said:

FWIW (tho not strictly OT), I put an East pre in my ABZ, and it really brought it to life...

Yes I thought there would be people who had gone down the active route. I’ve owned and enjoyed active basses but passive is where I live.

You’re dead right about the limited travel of the treble roll-off side. I’m used to riding the tone pot from song to song on my other Precisions but the ToneFusion is (at best) half as easy to use as a regular passive tone pot.

One thing I do like about it is the no-load setting at the detent position. I’ve had a quick look into the ToneStyler and the #10 position on the B-10 unit does this. You can also get no-load tone pots though.

Completed the 6.3V AC wiring for the heaters and the pilot lamp, and continuity is good. I've also installed the bulb and fuses and fitted the knobs - as the circuit is based on a JTM45 I went for a 'stealth Marshall' look.

I've made myself a check-list ready to commission the amp tomorrow morning!

I bloody love my Dingwall PZ5, purchased from @krispn of this parish just over 3 years ago. I've realised there is a feature I rarely use, namely the top half of the sweep of the Tone Fusion Control. Going back over old threads I notice @CameronJ said he rarely used that part of the control too.

I'm now considering swapping it out for a traditional tone pot, perhaps with a larger-value capacitor to allow for more treble roll-off. Has anyone else done this with theirs? Obviously I would keep the parts to install in the unlikely event that I ever sold the bass.

Just so y'all know where I'm coming from, I favour a fat mid-focused sound and don't get on with Jazz basses, onboard active EQ, or tweeters in bass cabs. Yes I'm that bloke.

I bought my Barefaced Super Twin cab in late 2017 and naturally decided to get a cover for transporting it. I went for the Roqsolid budget 'DustGuard' option which consists of a single layer of tough polypropylene fabric. I always kind of wished I'd gone for the felt-lined version, and recently did just that, leaving this one surplus to requirements. The old one has done an excellent job of protecting my cab though about 3 years of gigging (allowing for the zombie plague!) and has sustained some wear as illustrated below.

A new one of this spec would now cost you over £56 plus delivery, but you can have this used one for just £22 delivered.

For the benefit of the clever-clogs out there, no the cab is not included in the price!

Wired up front panel controls, OT primary and choke. Now to check connections and continuity before installing 6.3V AC leads for pilot lamp and heaters.

That would drive me nuts and I'd be on my toes.

Wired up the speaker sockets and pre-amp valves, except the heaters - I leave those buggers till last!

They look great Stew! Any change in the sound at all?

Another wedding gig last night. We set up in record time after the usual late-running wedding breakfast, only for the guitarist to encounter a terrible buzzing which we narrowed down to his Kemper. Fortunately I carry a Digitech Bad Monkey for guitar-amp-related emergencies, so he played through that straight into the PA for the whole gig.

Afterwards several wedding guests came up to complain about the guitar sound. Oh wait, no they didn’t!

The Kemper worked fine when it was tested at home later that night.

12 minutes ago, 3below said:

Inspiring work , well built valve amps are a thing of true beauty.  I also value that they can be easily repaired in the event of component failure - smt technology is not friendly to those of us with ageing eyesight.  Any reason for choosing eyelets over turrets other than personal preference? 

Personal preference. Turrets are easier when it comes to connecting more than about 3 components or leads, but they take a lot of heat to solder properly.

And thanks!

I reached the point where I had to fit the transformers and the eyelet board, so I did. There are now loads of wires everywhere, but from here on in things get tidier.