Painy

2 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

We do The Final Countdown. Works a treat.

Same here funnily enough - always gets the crowd singing along. 

3 hours ago, Quilly said:

If you're really looking for a low powered tone machine, consider a small valve head like the Ashdown CTM 30 / Little Bastard and a One10 Barefaced cab. Other contenders are the Ampeg PF20 or 50. 

Or even the little Ashdown CTM15. There's one on ebay at the moment for £250 plus £10 postage (it's not mine by the way - if I had one I wouldn't be selling 😁). 

Sadly I really do need to get this shifted so price now dropped from £475 to just £450! Still includes postage and the Musicman hardcase. 

If anybody would rather collect then the price of postage would obviously be knocked off the asking price - looks to be about £30ish with insurance. 

Thanks. 👍

Yeah, I do hear people say good things about them but I found the ridiculously hot output on my old Sterling SUB made it almost unusable and it felt kind of flimsy to me (the neck stability was not great either). 

This on the other hand sounds and feels like the real deal and the low B is way better than it has any right to be at this price point. I really wish I could afford to keep it but needs must! 

My plan for this year was to use some of my gig earnings to buy myself a nice big valve amp. Instead I had to settle for spending some of my bonus from my day job on a nice small valve amp instead. In the great scheme of things I'd say that doesn't leave me too much room for complaint given some people's situations. 

I am missing the extra cash a little - especially as I was initially furloughed from my main job for 8 weeks and since then have only returned to work on reduced hours until the end of October. On the flip side though I've managed to offset at least a bit of that against the fact that I've not been making my usual 100 mile round trip daily commute as I'm able to work from home. Not only that but my employers seem to have decided that working from home will be the long term plan so that's a longer term saving of a few hundred quid a month in fuel and parking charges too. 

For me the negative impact of not playing has been far greater in terms of its effect on my mental health than it has on my bank balance as the lack of gigs has left me feeling pretty low at times.

I'm hoping to put together some sort of acoustic duo soon though so I can maybe get at least a couple of gigs in here and there. 

Not necessarily a setup I would actually gig with - but in theory I could. 

Ibanez SRMS805 into an Ashdown ABM500rc Evoiii through an ABM Mini15. I could include my Budha Chakra compressor and EHX Bass Soul Food pedals too. 

2 minutes ago, maidens97 said:

Wish me luck 😭

You don't need luck. You need one of these... 

5 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Has anyone had both  the LB30 and the CTM 30, I haven’t checked the specs , but is there any difference 

Same amp, just a different box.

4 minutes ago, andy67 said:

I had the LB30, took the Chinese Ruby’s out and replaced them with EH tubes. Made such a difference to an already awesome amp.

What kind of differences did you find the EH vaves made? More / less gain, more clarity, more bass? 

My CTM30 has the original JJs in it (and does sound amazing) but I'm curious exactly what effect I might get from changing them. 

2 minutes ago, Quilly said:

I often wondered could you get a pure valve slave amp for bass 🤔

There was the aguilar DB728 and the Ampeg SVT-300 too. 

2 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Back in the day I had two of these which I used as amps for my mobile disco. I absolutely loved them at the time and clocked them at the time pushing out short term undistorted peaks at well over 120W on an oscilloscope. I had to replace the output transformer in one of mine and did the same job for someone else but this was way back in the early 70's. They'd certainly be loud enough but you'd need to pair them with something fairly efficient in the way of speakers, think in terms of a 4x10 or 2x15 unless you can afford something exotic and expensive.

Might be worth messaging Oli Foxen who used to be a regular on BC. He was a real valve man and restored a lot of old valve amps including some of these old Sound City's. He's based in Bristol

He's an admin in the Ashdown Amplification Fans Facebook group. Link to his Facebook page below if it helps:-

https://www.facebook.com/oli.foxen

Love the colour coordination. Back in the late 90s when I bought my first 5 string I was using a Trace Elliot rig so I decided to buy a green bass to match (Yamaha RBX765a). I even went and bought green cables to go with it. 😁

I decided to buy my son a Ukulele for his 3rd birthday a couple of years ago. 

Since then my wife and I have spent an inordinate amount of time desperately trying to keep it hidden from him! 😐

I do however have a solid body electric 5 string bass ukulele that my wife bought me for my last birthday and it is brilliant! 🙂

A quick search online found this - although still not the cheapest option. It does run off AAA batteries though and looks like it has some pretty decent features. 

https://m.thomann.de/gb/roland_go_mixer_pro.htm

PRICE REDUCTION!!! WAS £475, NOW £450!!!
I'm putting up for sale my Sterling by Musicman Stingray Classic 25CA (not one of the cheaper SUB basses) with an official Musicman fitted hardcase.
It's in excelled condition, plays great and sounds brilliant. The case is in slightly more used condition than the bass and is missing a badge on the side but it's completely fine with no cracks and the latches and hinges working perfectly. I'm only selling it reluctantly because I have a repair bill to pay for my car at the moment.

This is the 'Classic' version so has the oval pickguard that you would normally have on the 4 string models rather than the teardrop that comes on the standard 5 strings. It also has a slab body which is still surprisingly comfortable and a narrower nut width which makes it a nice fast neck.

Link here to the full specs:-

https://intl.sterlingbymusicman.com/collections/basses/products/ray25-ca?variant=31853459406920

I have changed the pickguard to gold pearl but apart from that it's all original.
I'm looking for £450 (NOW REDUCED FROM £475!!!) but that is including the hardcase and insured postage to UK mainland only.

Just a couple of pictures at the moment but I'll add some more later on. - NOW Added! A couple of marks that I've now shown in the pictures : small crack in the lacquer on the back of the body which I hadn't actually noticed before, couple of scratches on the neck-plate and a small mark on the back of the neck which you can see but I can't actually feel it at all. 

As I have been asked, the weight shows on my wife's digital kitchen scales as 9lb 6oz.

Also, not really looking for trades as I'm obviously looking for money towards a car repair but I might still be tempted by partial trades for items of a lesser value - as long as I end up with at least £250 my way. I don't have anything in particular in mind though so can't hurt to ask. 🙂

Any other questions just ask. 

Made an inquiry about a passive Volume/Tone/Tone circuit (as per the Warwick Adam Clayton signature bass) the day before yesterday, paid for it yesterday and received it today. Not only brilliant service but brilliant quality workmanship and parts used (as always from John). 

Thanks again. 🙂

3 hours ago, MartinB said:

The article in the OP has been updated with a clarification from Facebook. Selected highlights:

Doesn't sound too different from Twitch, YouTube etc, at least for band purposes.
I'd like to see a statement about soundtracking a video with recorded music that you own the rights to, but I'm guessing that doesn't apply to the majority that they're going after..

That sounds much more reasonable. 🙂

11 hours ago, Quilly said:

Did you gig with this recently ? As you know I’ve pretty much the same set up now. sounds loud to me?

A few weeks ago I had an audition and took my CTM30 and ABM Mini48 and Mini15 cabs and it managed to comfortably keep up with an enthusiastic drummer without getting too dirty - albeit in a smallish rehearsal room. I imagine those Barefaced cabs would be louder. 

Just seen this article posted in a musicians' Facebook group. No idea how accurate this is or how stringently the new rules might be enforced but it can only be more bad news for musicians at this point. 😕

https://loudwire.com/facebook-rule-change-bands-livestream-show-delete-account/?trackback=fbshare_mobile

Divorce! 🙄

3 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Ooh that is interesting - how do you get that? Hadn't heard of that

I bought a vacuum cleaner from ebay the week before last which was collection only. I think the email notification to say payment was due contained a link to the collection number. 

On 04/09/2020 at 17:20, jrixn1 said:

There's another scam with PayPal which goes like this:

1. Buyer genuinely pays with PayPal and collects the item in person.
2. Buyer subsequently opens a dispute with PayPal claiming the item was not received.
3. PayPal requests a proof of delivery from the seller. This cannot be produced (because it doesn't exist, because item was not sent through a postal service); PayPal sides with the buyer.

You made the correct move here: i.e. never use PayPal for a transaction made in person.

 

Ebay now provide the buyer with an IR barcode and collection number for listings with the option of collection in person. When the buyer collects the item, the seller can then either scan the IR barcode from the buyer's phone or just request the collection code to type in as confirmation that the item has been collected. 

Seriously mate, you've got to stop selling basses that I really want when I've got no money! 🙄 

I use an Ashdown CTM30. It sounds absolutely beautiful but as my band is very loud and being only 30w does mean I have to find ways around it's low power. 

Option 1 - small gigs:

Through a 4x8 and 1x15. Doesn't really move enough air on its own to be loud enough so I connect it to a power attenuator which then links into a 220W solid state head to do the heavy lifting driving the cabs. The signal comes off the speaker output of the valve amp so you're still getting all the nice back end drive in the sound. 

Option 2 - medium gigs:

Through a 4x10 and a 6x10. More speakers moving more air as well as the hight of the stack getting the speakers right up to ear level ensures it's loud enough on stage and the PA takes care of the rest if needed. 

Option 3 - bigger gigs:

The valve amp runs the 4x8 and 1x15 and then DIs into the ABM500 which runs the 6x10. The CTM30's DI comes off the power stage so again you get the full sound of the amp sent to the ABM. 

It's obviously a lot of messing around to make it a usable amp for me to gig with but the bottom line is that it just sounds so good that it's worth it! 🙂

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

I like the pickguard- was it hard to get the edge corners smooth without taking too much of the annodisation off? 

It wasn't too bad to do. I cut it fairly roughly with a jigsaw first to within about 1mm of the outline. After that I used a file to get it down to the final shape and then it was just a sanding block with a bit of wet and dry to get the edges smooth which let me be quite precise. 

4 1/2 years ago I received a Squier Vintage Modified Precision 5 string as a valentines gift from my wife. I fell in love with the feel of the neck instantly - enough so that it straight away became my number one over all my other more expensive basses. I have a habit of tinkering with my gear though and since then I've gradually changed bits and pieces here and there. This week I finally finished making changes and thought I'd share the end result. 

Quick disclaimer - the modifications do include a Fender decal. This has been discussed to death on here already but its my bass, my choice and this bass will never be sold on (in fact it will have to be prised out of my cold dead hands). There's also a Fender logo neck plate but that was only fitted because the original Squier one got a nasty scratch across it and I had this one kicking about already. 

Here are the other modifications:-

Bar string-retainer on the headstock swapped for a pair of round string-retainers. 

Pickguard changed to gold anodised aluminium (cut by myself by hand from a blank sheet). 

Black thumb rest added. 

Chrome pickup and bridge covers added. To make access to the bridge easier for string changes, the bridge cover attaches with magnets which are counter sunk and epoxied into the body. 

Again to make string changes easier, the bridge itself I've adapted to be quick release by drilling though the tail piece alongside each string hole. Crude but works perfectly! 

The pickup I've swapped for a Nordstrand NP5V. This originally came from Dave Swift's White Sadowsky P5 so the shell is branded Sadowsky rather than Nordstrand. 

Dunlop Straploks fitted. 

I originally installed an active preamp which was an old Dan Armstrong Yellow Humper that @KiOgon kindly repaired for me and modified to include a true bypass switch. It was a simple circuit that just had a 3-way toggle switch to select between a flat eq, bass boost or bass and treble boost. To install this I had to route out some extra space under the pickguard. I also routed battery access through the back of the bass and made a little plastic plate to cover it. 

Unfortunately the Yellow Humper gave up the ghost a little while ago so this week I've installed an Artec Semi-parametric preamp. Stacked treble and bass, stacked mid frequency and mid level, volume and an optional pickup blend.

Because I had, the option of a pickup blend control with the preamp, and because I still had the original pickup, I decided to add a bridge pickup to get a bit more clarity - particularly from the low B. As the original pickup is a split coil I decided to go for the kind of V-shaped pickup layout that you see on the Warwick buzzard bass to try and get more articulation from the lower strings. I don't particularly like the look of bridge pickups on P-basses however so I also wanted to make it a 'stealth' pickup. My first thought was to route the pickup cavity in through the back of the bass so it would sit just below the surface of the body but a quick test showed that it wouldn't get enough signal from there to be effective. Instead I opted to fit it into the front of the bass in the normal way and to just make a wooden pickup cover for it. I made it by hand from a piece of ash and stained it a similar colour to the centre of the sunburst. I think it blends in fairly well. 

At this point the only original, un-modified parts are the neck itself, the frets and the tuners. I had thought at one point about fitting some Hipshot Ultralights but there's honestly nothing wrong with the original tuners and the frets aren't showing any wear just yet. 🙂