cytania

Thanks Foxen, emailed Alex back and forth last week and we tried a few things. He mentioned moving the cone and I can't feel any grating. Ran out of time to remove the driver and loon inside though. Your loose wire idea is a good one. I'll try to get a look inside somehow, festive duties permitting.

OK, theory of the week for my buzzing cab is that I've blown the driver. Need to take the Compact apart to confirm this but I've a feeling doing this at the weekend will be judged unconducive to festive atmosphere Any tips on what I'm looking for visually? Scorching or could it just be a subtle crease in the cone? If I discover the worst is it worth reconing? Can't find an exact match on Blue Aran, this looks closest; http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=EMIKAPPA15ARK&browsemode=manufacturer The other option is to go the whole hog, cut out the fiddly bit and fit a whole new Eminence 3015. Anyone done this? What gets me is I'd describe myself as pretty careful with the volume. Is there any way of protecting speakers? I see Eminence have a product called D-Fend that replaces 'lamps' whatever they were?

Many thanks Alex, you've shone some clear light on my amp/cab buzz mystery. The thought going round my head is 'how could I have blown the speaker when I've always been so careful'. Perhaps the repairer that can't hear the problem also has a non-linear/coloured speaker set...

If it's simply home practice the Roladn Cube 20XL is plenty lound enough, in fact I often put the 'power squeezer' on. It gives you satisfying lows without complaints from the other half.

" the distortion I heard was, Alex said, my amp" Can 4Strings or Alex enlarge on what this means please? It may somehow tie in with my amp woes, particularly the way the cab was fine with a friend's amp but not with my SWR. How does my Compact bring out distortion in an amp when cheap GK cabinets don't?

When I started this thread I picked Ashdown sort of at random, well it had to be a curent cheap bass head - could have been the Hartke 2500 but ooh, is there a lack of love in the room for Ashdown. Think I'll give them a wide berth...

Fascinating stuff and for a moment there I though my own buzzy rig problem might be down to the cab... however the buzz is there at very low volumes and brought out by a whole range of notes. Good thread though maybe one for pining?

Thanks JT, I have another local name lined up if Hot Rox under-achieve again but I'm giving them this chance to come good on my initial money. Great to hear the positive views on SWR. I liked the fact that under lid it's a preamp board and a power board, plenty of space round them and that aluminium case - all adds up to great heat dissipation, so the fan isn't working hard. The preamp tube is easy to get at too. I really hope it pulls through and gets it's balls back. My mate's 300w Ashdown pushed the barefaced cab in a very convincing manner, making me wonder if the SWR had been gradually getting thinner sounding for some time. Maybe part of why I needed to turn the bass up a few weeks ago.

Well the good news is I'm getting the amp seen to under the original repair ticket. Email appers to have galvanised them, so amp is back in the shop. However wether they'll dig deeper and come up with £150 for a transformer is another matter. I'm hoping a bit of rebiasing will do the trick. All the same, Gallien Kruger's MB200 only £225 at Bass Direct. Makes you wonder... Have loads of old lead solder if anyone wants it, been in the family since the 70s, but my soldering skills are truly awful nowadays.

Just branching off from my SWR SM-500 saga as it's truck me that I'm already £55 down and if I throw more at the offending amp I'm a fair way to having purchased an Ashdown Little Giant 1000 from Thomann for £234. Now the SWR originally retailed for £1500, you can now get it for £499 from Bass Direct, I think mine was £320 third hand. But really this just reflects the rapidly declining costs in the electronics world. I know SWR is meant to be a luxury ride but at present it's giving me the heebie jeebies with it's 'sometimes I fart and buzz, sometimes I don't' routine. C'mon persuade me not to lose faith in old school amps...

Just sent Hot Rox the following; "On the 11th November I dropped my bass amp in for repair. At the time I suggested the preamp tube be changed but when I picked it up on the 18th I was told the input jack was the causing of the buzzing. The buzz had gone but soon reappeared and the amp was still underpowered. I paid £55 for the repair and am very unhappy to still have a bass amp fit only for a quiet metal band. Ideally I would like a full refund however if you wish to look at the amp again I would like a timescale as my and my friends repairs have taken a long time. I understand that amp problems can be erratic but I feel that my descriptions of the nature of the problem and suggestions for it's solution have been ignored. It would have been much cheaper to purchase a 12AX7 valve myself."

The problem is back again. A metallic tinge around most notes at any volume. Took my amp and cab over to a friend's yesterday. His amp drove the cab cleanly. My SWR drove his cabs fine. Indeed the buzz wasn't much in evidence. We tightened the driver and grill mesh screws on the compact and had a nice cup of tea. This morning I tried it out the rig and it's back; glassy, metallic shimmer that almost modulates. I'm taking it back to Hot Rox as I don't think their repair got anywhere near the mark. Maybe they tightened the input jack but the erratic nature of the problem shouts 'valve' at me. They can fix this under the original charge

JTUK you sort of get my point, it shouldn't be that useable but somehow it's working out as a decent sound. Maybe something is right/wrong about the amp or cab. Maybe I've turned into a bass craving idiot. I think I'll have to back it off a bit for the rock stuff but it's a lovely thing for mid-tempo.

I've owned an SWR-SM500 and a Barefaced Compact for two years yet somehow never bumped into the sound I got tonight. So simple, turn the bass control right up, leave the sliders at 0 and cut any strings that give a nasal farty tone. Whole character of the amp/cab setup changes from hi-fi polite to commanding ballsy warmth. Volume can't go much more past 12o'clock than 1o'clock but it's now proper cut-through loud. Yet not bandmates complaining loud, indeed I think there were approving smiles. Why did I never find this before? Was it not evident at home messing around volumes? Could be the new obbm/RockWire cables helping. Certainly is the key to low end rightness with the band. Maybe in a few decades I'll work out the 'aural enhancer' or find a hidden switch that gives me super-powers. Hoid on, what's this at the back of the wardrobe?...

My tuppenceworth. Bass Direct are doing SWR SM-500's for £499, presumably they are selling off old stock. I came across this when I was preparing for the worst with my own SM-500 needing repairs. Seems very nice with my Compact, not ultra bassy but loud enough to be heard most places. Plenty of tone-shaping on these so maybe not a neutral power amp but they do have the Speakon outputs that Barefaced Compacts need. Don't know if the other amps suggested here are jack outputs only, well worth checking as I see alot with no Speakon outs in rehearsal rooms but likely they're old doggy amps.

Well, just got in and setup the gig rig. Plunka Plunka! Hot Rox have sorted my SWR amp out nicely. Apparently the problem was the input jack. Cost fifty quid but well worth it as that's one of the last things I would have checked. So no tubes replaced and the Compact is wonderfully powerful again. Like new or possibly better :-)

Hot Hand? Is that the reason for the glove? And doesn't the guitarist have a blackberry embedded in his Les Paul?

A few years ago Guitar and Bass magazine did a 'private collections' feature on Arnulf Lindner and he stated that he played a Rickenbacker on 'Suddenly I See' but had since sold it as he wasn't getting on with it. Not sure which issue, have a random assortment under the bed.

Thanks for the helpful comments chaps. Changed the bass batteries but they were fine and the effect happens with my backup Ibanez. Today it's very much like a fuzz box effect and even at low volumes, but no clipping indicated on the lights. Also tried dropping frequencies but no effect on the fuzz. I've also had time now to try it just turned on unconnected to anything else and it got quite hot which the manual suggests means it needs rebiasing. Hope to get seen by a professional tech very soon as Xmas gig coming up.

The amp is a SWR SM-500 and the cab is a Barefaced Bass Compact. Used to sound very hi-fi, allow lots of tone shaping and cut through the guitars no problem. Last few months it has become increasingly muffled and prone to farty distortions on mid-range notes. Often these problems seem to lessen after a few hours practice or bizarrely by turning up the master volume slightly. Last night switching to a shorter cable improved things some but not a enough to say 'problem fixed'. The SWR has one tube in it's preamp stage, the manual mentions 'breaking glass' noises if it needs replacing, could this be my farty sound? There's also a hum noticeable at home that wasn't there when the rig was 'new' (the amp is third hand). Looking inside I see no obvious nasties (no dust, no patched up wiring) but the tube is unmarked in any way, not sure if this makes it the original SWR provided one, in which case replacement is way overdue. I guess I'm asking this so I don't become 'the guy who had his tube changed when actually the guitars were just too loud' but against memory of things the amp feels underpowered and easy to get farting the cab. The speaker doesn't look damaged and I'ver certainly not played it overdriven or distorted for effect. I used to be able to fiddle with the EQ, say add in lot's of low end for a double bassy feel, but now I keep things flat as any variation seems to provoke distortion. Your impressions sought, ta.

I had the same problem and still spend plenty of time checking I'm playing with the bass drum. The bass drum sound can often get lost in a busy drum pattern or smothered in the mix on records. Part of the problem is the bass should be playing a note right on top of it. I often watch the front skin of the kick drum or if this doesn't move the drummer's foot. You should be looking to almost beat him to it. Imagine that the pedal's defective and you have to fill in for it. The good news is that as you learn how the bass and drum parts fit together you can judge your timing by the snare beats as well, although these can vary from drummer to drummer. When I concentrate on matching the bass drum it tightens things up, but not always. Sometimes the song requires a loose feel. When I started bass I would over-compensate, veering across the beats. The feeling you want is a tiny bit more snap. a tiny bit more punch, and when you're 'on beat' the bass drum can disappear like being in the eye of a storm. Part of it is developing an ear, not just for the drums but also bass sounds. Recordings have all kinds of clever cheats like using a synths or horns to carry the 1 swamping the drum and bass 1.

Swaying towards Roland, Ok there's no DI but the 6 amps are all useable while Line6's include 'grind' and 'synth' which to me are novelty options. Also the Power Soaker could be exactly what I need.

Ooh ooh ooh, Roland have reissued their bass cube's as XL versions, meaning improved modelling, CB-20XL looks good.

Ooh, getting very interested in the Line6 as there's really 6 models on tap; there's a synth bass and a 70s Marshall sound hiding away...

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, when I got home I tried the Laney and wondered what I was fussing about, but having just practiced for a while I am hearing that whiney ring again. Tried it with my backup bass which sounded fine at soundcheck last week but comes over shockingly hollow on the Laney. It may just be that over time my ears are demanding more bass less treble. The ring is subtle but needle-ing me...