xgsjx

I had a scratchy noise from my pups when my left hand run slightly over the strings. I removed the pups & give them & their holsters a good clean as there was loads of dust & crumbled orange foam from an old gig bag, cleaned up the shielding plates & checked they was earthed ok, popped em back in & set em back up (takes a bit of patience & messing about at very low & very loud volumes for me) and that was the scratchy noise gone. Dusty pups appears to be the main cause of scratchy noise from what I've read on tinterweb. Hope this helps a bit.

To tell the truth, soldering is a piece of pish. There's also a very good Fender spare parts website, if you need the address for it I can get it from my G*it****t as he collects Fender junk (no offense intended). PM me if needs be & I'll get you it & put it on here. PS, buy a decent soldering iron & some decent solder, it will be worth it in the long run.

I have to agree with bass ferret. If you're not gonna get to try any I would lean towards the GK & SWR stuff. Ashdown stuff looks great but it is a case of love or loathe. Ampeg is pretty pants unless you're going for the higher end stuff & then it seems to be either you love it or it's just not quite there. Try & get a blast on as much stuff as you can, it will help you decide what sound you're after. I saw that Trace rig & it seems like a good deal & the 15" would come in handy later for gigs. I've used a few Trace rigs & the earlier ones are better than the new ones.

For the past 18 years it's been my Ibanez SR1000. Has a brilliant range of tones, a very nice neck & is easy to play. Can't say more than that. I'm planning on getting a 5 or 6 string in about a year, perhaps a custom build or something.

Anybody tried Bailey guitars in Fife? They do a "build your own guitar" course & they intrigue me as I am saving to get a custom bass built.

Before I got my Markbass combo I was looking at Ashdown stuff (amongst others) & hoped that it was what I was looking for as visually I think Ashdown looks the dangleys. I tried an Ashdown rig (ABM 500 head thru a 210 & 115) and unfortunately it just wasn't my sound. I seriously hoped that it would be as I could get this for less than my combo. I like the MB sound as it makes my bass sound just like my bass & if I want it to sound different then I can use the two filters or effects are there to do that, but I do realise that this isn't to everyone's taste & that Ashdown may suit different styles of playing just as some people prefer Metal & some Jazz. If you couldn't get serious lows from that MB rig tho, I think there may have been some trouble with one of the components as I have broken things with mine.

When I first started it was early U2 & Talking Heads songs that I learned most of the time (well it was early 80's!). But if you hear a bassline in a song you really like then try & learn it, I prefer melody over speed but do enjoy the odd bit of tapping & quick runs. Good luck with the build. You should pop some pics up of your progress.

[quote name='molan' post='228226' date='Jun 27 2008, 06:46 PM']I'd spotted the semi as well & quite like the looks: Kinda Rickyish in places. £235 for a 4 or 5 string - would love to know what they are like. As an owner of a Korean Lakland I'm certainly not going to assume that because it's Korean it's rubbish![/quote] Headstock looks very Ibanez. Nice looking bass tho. Bet in 5-10 years they may be 5X the price, if they make some rep that is.

Was just having a look at ebay & came across the Alden Jupiter Bass. It says: "Alden guitars are the result of a collaboration between UK guitar guru Alan Lester David Entwistle( ALDEN ) and one of Korea’s leading guitar companies." Here's the link to the one on ebay: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alden-Jupiter-Bass-Spalted-Maple-Top-4-5-or-6-String_W0QQitemZ180257578808QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item180257578808&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C65%3A1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alden-Jupiter-Bass-S...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url] I especially like the line that says "If you are not only "cheap" looking, but also quality" Who's gonna go & buy one & give us a review?

[quote name='d-basser' post='226275' date='Jun 24 2008, 10:24 PM']would you kill me if you knew how little I paid for mine a few months back?... [i]...£640...[/i][/quote] How the F@*k did you manage to get that so cheap? Scuse the french but that was the very first thing that I said when I saw that! I tried a few of the afterburners a few years ago in Ed Roman's & totally loved every second of it & would have fetched one back if it wasn't for the $3500 price tag. The fan frets are very easy to use & the sound off them is tremendous.

Here's pics............. The cover is padded on the inside & has so far been kitten resistant!

I got a cover for my 102 from www.amplifiercoversonline.com & they hand make em & offer a really good guarantee as well as an excellent delivery service & a perfect fit. Sorry, didn't mean to praise em so much, but I was very impressed.

I never thought about the ESP's or Yamaha's until now, I will be putting them on the "to try" list. i don't mind going 2nd hand on this & after looking at the list so far it seems from an aesthetic point of view very nice. I was expecting lots of things with bodies as ugly as posh spice & necks like surfboards . So far so good. What sort of bass would i be looking at on the second hand side? I've looked on ebay but it seems a bit on the quiet side for 6ers.

I might go & have a look at those Ibanez basses. Anybody got any idea how much a s/h sr 1006 would be? The toby looks a nice bass, but I need to find one up here to try. I don't wanna buy blind when it comes to a bass (but I did with my combo!). I tried a Rockbass & I thought it was RUBBISH! Might have been a one off, but I was well disappointed as I would like a Warwick 6 string but can't justify spending that much in the near future (most of my money is allocated to doing the house up). Anyone got any other bass suggestions? Thanks

I've just finished a gig with the CMD 102P & had a double bassist making use of it in the support band & he was very impressed how it handled his sound. I cranked the bass up a bit for our set with everything else flat & the master at just above 9 o'clock & this had the drummer asking if I could turn it down a touch, which is nice as it used to be the G*it****t with his AC30 who only heard those words! Everyone goes through the pa as well as using their amps except for me so the pa has headroom for everything else & I have no trouble being heard out front. As i said in another post, if I needed to do a bigger gig (& it would have to be big) then I would add another 210 or 410 if there wasn't ample pa support. I bought this blind & was looking at loads of combos & rigs & tried quite a few & IMO this is the best for less than a grand.

Sorry guys, really can't buy just now & they're very nice looking basses. That Toby looks nice, but I'm having trouble finding a uk shop with em. Where did you get yours?

Hello there, Anyone recommend a good budget 6 string bass? I tried a Hudson not long ago in Guitarguitar & quite liked it. I was originally looking at 5's but after trying the 6, I could put the extra string to good use. I know there's Peavey Grind for sale on here but I'm not looking to buy for a good few months yet & just wanna make a list of recommended basses to try. Is the Ibanez budget ones any good or would it disappoint due to having a 4 string one & kinda expecting the same sound. Cheers

[quote name='OldGit' post='223012' date='Jun 20 2008, 03:31 PM']Get the combo and one of these for big gigs when you have PA support an you use the combo as a monitor [/quote] Bonus if you do go for the 210 combo, it's a kickback design so you wont need that wedgie thing ^_^ Also if you wished to you can remove the amp very easily if you wanted to get a cover made for it as it's 4 screws in the top. Allows you to use it with any cabs you like at a later date. From what I've read on here & other places you'd be better going for a 210 cab later as opposed to the 15, but if you get to try both before me then let me know your opinion. I'm even toying with the idea of the mb 410 but it might be way more than I'll ever need!

[quote]Is it generally better to use same make cabs as extension cabs?[/quote] I asked a similar question & the answer I got was pretty much "from a sound engineer's point of view, always use the same brand drivers that operate within the same frequency range", but as always go & try different ones if you can before buying (try your Ashdown & see how it sounds, if you like it then it's good). BTW the 210 combo is an easy carry in one hand with bass & bag of wires in other!

I got the 210 combo a couple of months ago & it still amazes me at how much bass 2 10" drivers can produce even at loud volumes. I'm toying with the idea of adding another cab (was looking at the mb 410 & the abm 410), so if you do get the combo let me know how it sounds with your 410. I've done a couple of gigs so far with it & the loudest i've had to put it is with the gain and master both set at @ the 10 o'clock position & my bass volume is usually between 1/2 & 3/4 vol with no fx & that's been at rehearsals (bloody noisy guitarist gits). Both these gigs was to 100 or so people so didn't need it all that loud & everyone else was through pa except me. One gig had songs containing 2 guitars, violin, banjo, mandolin & 2 lots of vocals and me & the other was straight rock with 2 guitars (one switching between synth sounds), drums, vocals & me on bass and both of em I could be heard clear as day. Not tried any of the other cabs mentioned, but quite sure they are top notch also. I got mine from the Bass Merchant & he's one very nice guy to deal with and I got next day delivery free to Perth!

[quote]btw I heard a rumour that guitarists can turn down the volume on their amps although I'm not sure it's true ;->[/quote] This is actually not true. What you may have experienced is the pickhand of the G*****st hitting one of the pots on the said instrument, thus causing what may sound like a temporary reduction in noise. I heard this phenomenon last night & had to investigate it.

Frigorifico will be playing at the Dunblane Centre (which is in Dunblane, funny enough) onthe 22nd of June to support those in Burma. Anyone who wishes to come along is welcome. More details will be on here soon. Eg, if there's a bar & what time doors open.

No worries buddy, reading back on my comment it does sound not how I meant it to. I do that all the time with the woman

I don't know why digital distortion, just what I read somewhere else. I could be wrong on what it's called tho. I also didn't mean to imply that you don't know how to set gain etc, just trying to offer to anyone reading anything I learn (which I dare say there's more people on here know more than me as opposed to knowing less ), that way if I put something forward & it's incorrect then someone will correct me (hopefully) & we all gain that knowledge.

According to the MB manual (& I think it's the same for all amps, as it was on the TE rigs I used), you should turn the volume on the bass guitar full up, turn the volume right down (no sound) on the amp & set the gain so when you play a string at it's hardest the clip light comes on, then reduce the gain very slightly. I set mines like this but also have the volume on the bass rolled back about 1/6 once I've done that & turn the volume on the amp up a bit further if needed. I think the difference you'll get in tone if you increase it past the clip level is a bit of digital distortion, which to 99.99% of folk sounds crap.