Dood

I'll be interested if you decide to let the F1 go - give me first dibs on a price! - I'll be back later to give you a better reply re: Hartke gear - but a quicky, I have the LH1000 and no, you won't need a gain control as the heads are clean and juicey all the way up to 'OMG THATS TOO LOUD'

[quote name='Dandelion' post='1005877' date='Oct 29 2010, 10:55 PM']Note the winking smiley...[/quote] Actually, it reminds me of a story in Guitarist magazine (I think) were they had an interview with the guitarist from They Might Be Giants. He challenged all the great guitarists to play the [i]slowest[/i] solo ever. I like his style!

[quote name='Dandelion' post='1005877' date='Oct 29 2010, 10:55 PM']Note the winking smiley...[/quote] Indeed! ;o)

I think the tongue is firmly in the cheek there, cos that ain't tha' fahstest lick in da world.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' post='1004601' date='Oct 29 2010, 12:20 AM']I changed my trace's original valve for a [i]EHX 12AX7 electron tube[/i] - comes in a black box - and my sound improved a lot! The valve pre (named as valve drive) in my amp comes after the SS pre and has a on/off switch. Does your ashdown have the same switch? Try and turn it off to see if that hiss desapears...[/quote] The OP is refering to a Hartke head with hiss issues. - The Hartke unfortunately does not have a valve bypass, as the circuit uses the valve exclusively for amplification - as opposed to the Ashdown and Trace Elliot design of using the valve more as an 'effect' like drive.

[quote name='Wilco' post='1004369' date='Oct 28 2010, 08:56 PM']Many thanks for your posts guys. Dood - tried your process. Connected active & passive basses into their respective inputs (separately obviously!) & amp hissed way merrily. Put a good instrument cable in the effects return socket & the hiss went (mind you, doing that muted the whole sound - was that to be expected?).[/quote] Yep, exactly. Good stuff! [quote]Unplugged both basses & the hiss was still there. Didn't actually try it previously with nothing plugged in the front end - the hiss was quieter, starts getting noticeable at about 5 on the volume control, but to me, still way to loud at 7 (although will I ever need to have it that loud is another question.....). I think the basses are a contributing factor, particularly an active one, but as a couple of the other posts are saying their LH500's are silent I'm thinking I have a noisy pre-amp. As you say, possibly the valve is the guilty party. I've mentioned it to the retailer & he was going to get some advice from the distributor so I'll await their response & take it from there.[/quote] Ok, interesting stuff. Well in the design the master volume control is placed before the effects loop but after the valve. So if the hiss progressively gets louder as you turn the volume up without a bass plugged in - and the hiss is pretty loud, then I deduce you do indeed have a noisey lil valve! - It's a ECC83 / 12AX7 in there and very lilely to be one of the Sovtek rebadged valves such as 'electroharmonix' or you could even have a JJ valve in there - but any 12AX7 will be ok (though I'd recommend getting the best valve possible to go in that slot!) - The distributor is Korg and they are brilliant - it's likely they will pop a preamp valve in the post for you, which is dead easy to swap out. I and many others on the forum are here to help you should you need assistance

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='1004141' date='Oct 28 2010, 05:49 PM']One white haired, arthritic bass player says to the other; "Do you remember, before we started collecting our pension, there was going to be an Anglia bass bash" ? "Huh" ?[/quote] lol, sadly I'm not in a position to do the arranging for the immediate future so if you fine peeps in the Cambs area are able to rustle up some possible venues, that'd be reet greet. Anyone have any updates?

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' post='1003976' date='Oct 28 2010, 04:14 PM']Is your power chord connected to a socket with ground connection? 99.9% of the hiss and static cases are caused by this! Make shure you have ground anywhere you plug your amp![/quote] The UK mains supply is in general pretty clean and it is actually unlikely that 'hiss' is caused by bad earthing. Hum can be caused by earth loops or bad earthing in an environment, along with strip lighting near to the equipment. A quick tip for helping to isolate where the hiss is coming from:- With your gear plugged in normally (so that you can hear the hiss) get another good guitar lead and plug just one end of the lead into the 'Effects Return' on the back of the LH500. Does the hiss go away? If it does, then the hiss is caused by either the preamp or whatever is plugged in to the amplifier (e.g Bass). If this is the case AND the hiss doesnt go away when you unplug your bass - it's liable to be the preamp causing the issue, not the bass. The LH500 has a very simple preamp and I would then suspect a possibly noisey valve. If the hiss *does* go away when you unplug your bass, there's the culpret!

Infact, with decent earplugs in (like ERs) - I've been to a few gigs where you could hear how rubbish the PA mix actually was when the volume isn't tearing your ears to pieces! - I always wear my plugs at gigs, unless of course the volume isn't a problem!

Brilliant stuff Gareth!

It will be just fine! - What kind of music will it be used for? If you are using distortion pedals and the speaker cabinet has a tweeter, you might want to turn it off (or down) so the distortion doesnt sound too harsh.

'SVT' - You know the thread guys ;o)

Aha!

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='988228' date='Oct 14 2010, 05:51 PM']Was this the BBNE2 6 string like Nathan plays currently? I asked Nathan about it at Bass Day and he said that it was always meant to go on sale to the public but it never materialised. The only BBNE2 6 strings are Nathans Still, the 5 string is still an awesome beast. The finish quality is staggering... about as good as it gets. Of course, it sounds great too... its one of my favourite sounding basses... but when you look in it, the preamp is quite comprehensive![/quote] Ooooh! I didn't know that! Thanks, I'll go have a search for some pics! I only ever saw him with a TRB. I just noticed I typed IIRC instead of AFAIK too in my post! doh!