ossyrocks

We have a gig tomorrow for the very first time in the town where I actually live!

That's actually hilarious!

I was there too! It's was our 4th time seeing them. Amazing band, with a very talented and wonderful vocalist. It's the first time we've seen them at The Brewery (their first time there I think), and I don't think the sound was as good as our three previous gigs, but it was still ok. I really liked everything Dave Jones did on bass, except perhaps his solo, which I found a bit hard to understand. Yes, highly recommended. Rob

In my experience, the weights are all over, from nice and light, to boat anchors. I currently have 4 70's Fenders, and they vary between just under, to just over 9 lbs. The '78 Precision I had was 8 lbs 9 oz. 2 of mine have been played to death, and two have been looked after very well, they're all nice basses to play, and they sound great, though different from each other. The condition of this one above is lovely, and I particularly like a black Jazz, they do look fab. The gap in the neck pocket is a shame, but if it plays ok, that wouldn't put me off, but the weight is the killer for me, my shoulder hurts just looking at it. Rob

11 lbs !!

Beyond the pizza, which you are already generously providing and for which I shall make a donation, I just need access to tea, preferably continuously, otherwise I might expire. Rob

Running just a pair is fine to do. Make sure you run them on either side of the output though, ie run a pair in the middle two sockets, or the outer two sockets, and not two on the left or two on the right.

We have 16 gigs in the diary for the rest of the year including a few festivals and a theatre. We're also releasing an album this year to coincide with our appearance at The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival in August These are exciting times for me! Rob Edit: PS: I also turn 60 in a few weeks and my wife and I are off to Tuscany to celebrate.

If the output transformer is the original, then there are no options for changing the settings, they didn't have multi-tap output transformers. Your mains transformer is certainly changed, the one pictured above is a Hammond, and it would have originally been a Schumacher. No big deal, but make sure the price reflects the changes. Just think about this, Fender installed speakers in their amps which correctly matched the output impedance stated on the back panels, and the actual spec of the output transformers. They also gave every amp an EXT SPKR output, which when used, immediately had the amp seeing half of the stated impedance. It worked fine, and they didn't worry. Rob

Well, that's something I would love try sometime, a Bassman 100, through FOUR Fender 2x15 cabs !!

Hi, and welcome. The Bassman 100 is designed to work with a 4 ohm speaker load. I have never ever seen one designed to work with an 8 ohm load, so that pic above is highly unusual. Anyway, generally Bassman 100's (and 50's) would usually like to see a 4 ohm load. The speaker outputs are wired in parallel, but you must connect a speaker to the "SPEAKER" output first, before connecting a second speaker to the "EXT. SPKR" output. So, connecting an 8 ohm speaker to the first output, and a second 8 ohm speaker to the EXT output, would present a total load of 4 ohms to the amp, which is ideal. Fenders can usually withstand a mismatch either way though, so you could easily run a single 8 ohm cab and the amp would be ok. Equally you could run two 4 ohm cabs, which would present a 2 ohm load to the amp, and it would be ok, but it might run a bit hotter. I have a modified Bassman 50 which has a changed output transformer designed to see an 8 ohm load. I run it into a 4 ohm speaker without problems. Rob

Pickguards are hard to relic, I know, I've done a few! What I find is that they don't need scratching up, they just need dulling down. Fine micromesh pads do a good job if you're patient. It's looking good though Andy. Rob

@andytoad re the pickguard white ply being too white. You could try to take the gloss off the edge and round over and age the sharp edges with some fine wire wool. Then I would try to dye the edge with something like a wood dye rubbed in using a cloth. I'll be brutally honest though, I'm not sold on that guard. I know I said I'd probably go for a black guard, but now I'm looking at it, a nice tort would really set if off. Those Boston ones discussed recently might work. Rob

We made a music video! ....and an album actually. This is the video to accompany the first single release from the upcoming album. Do you think us old blokes in our 60's could get on Top Of The Pops? 😁

Lovely, congratulations.

I saw those extra holes. I've never seen that on any original vintage Fender before. It certainly could be the original neck to that body, but it was swapped onto another body at some time previously and then swapped back, or it's a parts bass. I don't think those extra holes would ever have appeared out of the factory. I bought my '73 Jazz (which looks very similar to this one) from Bass Bros, and they are great to deal with. They are reasonable people trying hard, and they will enter into discussion about aspects of the instruments they are selling if you have any queries. Rob

I briefly mulled over selling my Elf this week as I have just bought another small Class D head. But the Elf is just so handy to carry as a spare, takes up very little room in the kit bag, and I wouldn't realise very much cash for it. It just makes more sense to keep it. I also tried the new small class D head through the Elf 2x8 to see what that was like, and it really is a very capable cab. So that's now my new tiny rig, with the Elf head as backup, when I just don't need to schlep the big rig. Rob

I think this is where I got mine pictured above. I have also had a Jazz guard from him. I don't remember it costing that much though! I thought I paid about £20 for them. I can't seem to find him on ebay either now. Edit: No, I got mine from Reverb - see this link: https://reverb.com/uk/shop/guitars-electric-ltd Rob

What do you think of this one? It's a cheap repro off ebay, so they can be found cheaply, but I think I got lucky with the colour. I had it on a MIJ reissue and it looked rather good. The bass for comparison is a '73 with original guard. Rob

I seem to have selective amplifier constipation.....I can't pass GKs. So another one arrived yesterday. I first heard one of these at the North West Bass Bash last year when @GreeneKing brought his along. I think everyone was quietly impressed by it, I certainly was. Anyway, one popped up on Facebook Marketplace, but it was a long way away and the seller was unknown to me. I messaged him and explained that I was reluctant to buy sight unseen on Marketplace, and he offered to list it on Ebay instead to provide more security. So here it is. It's intended as the beginnings of a smaller rig, smaller than my BF 3x10 and vintage racked RBs, but also as a backup on bigger gigs when I'm using the big rig. It will replace my Elf as backup too. I've seen and understood what Bob Gallien says when he explains how things work, and that the EQ and Overdrive circuit are based on the old RB heads. But if anyone here has/had one, I'd be interested to know how you used it, particularly the Overdrive circuit, to get a similar tone and feel to the old RB heads. Cheers, Rob

It seems you're right! That's disappointing! I bought mine from Steve Robinson Guitar Tech in Manchester, it might be worth contacting him to see if he has any. https://manchesterguitartech.co.uk/