ossyrocks

Yes. I recently had an issue with a Barefaced cover which was too big, but Barefaced resolved it very quickly, and the replacement cover was shipped to me directly from Hotcovers. Rob

I totally agree, but not because of anything you might have written which you may consider to be drivel, but simply that I too appear to be a "Grand Master", which completely baffles me! I come here often for sage advice and information from people who have much more knowledge and experience than I do.

I'm going to try to hang onto this cab and see if I can use it occasionally. It would also be interesting to take into the studio next year when we're planning to do some recording. Please have a look at the speaker frame. This speaker mounts into the cab from the front, so I would have thought it would have had some kind of gasket around the rear edge of the frame. There's certainly remnants of all kinds of gunk around the rear edge now. I was wondering if it would benefit from a gentle cleaning up and applying a new gasket before refitting into the cab? Please share any thoughts you may have, and also if you know a source for a suitable gasket. I'm also thinking about casters. It appears to have had some before, but they would need to be really heavy duty, and perhaps secured with T-nuts inside rather than just woodscrews. Rob

Well, I've pulled it to check. D140F with the orange frame. Reconed, but with paper dust cap. I've fired it up tonight, and it's got a proper old school vibe going on with a P bass with flats. My wife is not convinced however. Rob

I blame Martin (@The fasting showman) for this. He sent me a message yesterday about an old Fender Bassman cab which was for sale on Facebook about an hours drive from me. I didn't know I wanted one of these cabs, and to be honest, I'm still not sure! But it was so cheap that it didn't make any sense not to go and buy it. So here it is. I am still in shock as to how big, heavy and awkward it is, the pics on Facebook didn't give a clue to scale, and I certainly needed help getting it in the back of my car from the house. Now it's home, I'm trying to figure out how to convince my wife that it's a good idea to keep it, when I don't have anywhere really to actually keep it! The speaker is a reconed JBL D140F apparently, but I'll check that out in due course. Anyway, feel free to roast my stupidity at today's purchase. Though it does look quite nice with my Bassman 50 on it I must say. Rob

I do like the Rumbles. I did a gig last weekend at Lancaster Music Festival, where the band before us had offered use of their PA, lights backline and engineer, because set up times were tight, and there was no time to break theirs down and set ours up. Yes please we said. I did try to find out what I'd be playing through, but I didn't find out in advance. Then on the day their bass player walked in with a Rumble 100. Hmm, I thought, this might not cut it. Sound check allayed all my fears, and the amp was just great all night. In fact a perfect foil to my P bass with flats. Rob

Done! Thanks for the heads up Martin!

Ok, you can have first dibs. I'll sort it out first and make sure it's tip top. It is surprisingly light for a 2x12. I think they use the same drivers as the NEO range. It's a one hand lift....carefully.

The cab is working fine, and the guy I got it off used a jack to speakon, so he didn't use that jack socket on the cab. But I'll check it over anyway. I won't be keeping the cab I don't think, whilst I can secrete RB heads here and there without arousing much suspicion, cabs are harder to hide, and with the addition of this one, there are now three cabs in the conservatory. The cab came with the head, so I didn't have a choice whether or not to take it.

This latest 400RB came with a cab too, a 4ohm 212MBE. It's well used, but working well via the speakon. It's missing part of the 1/4" input jack socket, ie the bit that screws in from the outside of the panel. It has clearly become loose and then lost. I've been through my spares and don't have anything. Long shot - Does anyone have a spare, or can point me to the right part? The socket inside is PCB mounted to the board and appears to be fine. EDIT: Just found something on ebay which was worth a punt for £3.95. We'll see! Rob

Ok, I've not posted in this thread for a while, but today I picked up my first 400RB MK4. It's in good nick, working fine, and sounds very nice. It doesn't sound exactly the same as the earlier MK1 and MK2, but it has it's own thing going on and I do like it. The settings on the amps in the pic are the ones which most make the amps sound like each other. Notice the lower setting on the Boost pot, as the MK4 seems to have lot more boost on tap, and also slightly more Treble and High Mid is required to make it sound like a MK2. The Mk4 also has a more pronounced bottom end, like it's extended in the lower frequency range vs the MK1 and MK2. I do perhaps regret selling my MK3 to @Minininjarob, because if I hadn't I would now have the full set!

Ooof. The cost of service is unsurprising to me, albeit still quite painful. We have to look at these things as an ongoing cost of use/ownership, rather than a value for money investment. My '73 Bassman 50 cost more to rebuild than it did for me to buy in the first place (and I paid too much!), and I will never recoup the money I have in it. But, I will also never find another like it. Rob

Is there anywhere on the internet which provides a documented informative timeline/history/details of the Ampeg SVT, V4B or B15? I'm interested in these amps, but an understanding of them eludes me just as much as the Musicman Stingray! Rob

I've become a big fan of Sean Hurley over the last year or so. I like his approach, his technique, and his tone. I've even got a big old piece of foam under the strings of my P bass at the moment, which was remarked on by the drummer at rehearsal last night. He didn't seem to think I had any issue before using it, but to me it makes getting "that tone" quite a bit easier. Rob

I think you're right. The cost of new basses these days has pulled the vintage market with it. Look at this brand new Fender custom shop Precision for sale at Peach for £4600, and it becomes harder to say that a nice condition, all original sunburst/tort/rosewood '70-'73 P bass is worth less. https://www.peachguitars.com/fender-custom-shop-2023-collection-64-precision-bass-relic-bleached-3-colour-sun.htm

Ah, I didn't know he did commission sales at 15%, that's useful to know thanks. Rob

I also agree with Tony that the older ones sound different. I've had various modern Fenders, standard, AVRI, CS, MIJ. My favourite "modern" one was a MIJ PB62-RI from 1987, it was exceptional. But none of them played, felt or sounded like my vintage ones. My current favourite squeeze is my latest '73 Precision, it's just sublime, but I'm still in the honeymoon period, and the others are feeling a little neglected, but I do still love them all. When I get on stage with one of my vintage basses, it just feels right for me, I'm not working hard to find the tone in my head, it's right there, every time. Rob

ah ha, good shout. I've just taken the guard off to have a look. There's nothing on the pots which indicates the values, just a manufacturer from Korea. The cap is standard 0.047uf. I've had a root in the bits box and found a P bass loom I pulled out of a late 70's P bass. It's not an original, it was a replacement in that bass, but they are newish Dunlop pots, 250k, cloth covered wire, and a Sprague Orange Drop 0.047uf cap. I'll drop that in and see if it makes a difference. Thankfully I also have some new flat top chrome knobs which fits these pots. It sometimes helps to be a hoarder! Rob

It arrived today from Thomann. The packaging wasn't great, I do a lot better job myself when posting a bass. However, it has arrived unscathed, but I think that was more luck than good packing. Fit and finish is good, it's not too heavy, 9 lbs 2 oz, or 4.14kg. The action was high in my opinion, but the first thing I did was set it up. I put a set of La Bella Low Tension Flats on it, then it needed a good tweak of the truss rod, and intonation and bridge saddle height. It's now got a low action and is playing well. The neck is great, very much like an early 70's Precision, the fingerboard has soft rolled edges and the fret ends are well dressed. It's a good bass to play. Sound wise, it is brighter than I expected, even with the flats, and when compared to a vintage P bass, it does sound thinner. I'll have to see how that pans out. Does anyone know if the wiring is standard, as per the Fender P bass diagram? I'm wondering if a change of cap value is all it needs. Rob Rob.

Two of us share lead vocal duties in my band, and the band leader sings backing. We have sort of settled on whichever of us is singing the next tune, then it's up to them to talk if they feel like it. We don't have a hard and fast rule, we keep it low key, brief, and appropriate to the audience. Some rooms are bouncing and they love the recognition that we, as a band, are loving their appreciation. I suppose it's like having a conversation with your audience. We now have the added problem of merchandise. So a couple of times last night, I did mention that "this next song is the title track of our album, etc", come and see us after the set and grab a copy etc. We did sell A LOT of merch last night! Rob

Are you at the Hope & Anchor tonight, Friday? It's my favorite pub gig in the whole of Cumbria. It's tiny, and I mean small, you couldn't swing a cat in there, but they're lovely. Give Joanne the landlady a squeeze from me.