HowieBass

Bought my Genz Benz combo from GAK, good service and price, very smooth transaction and it was delivered safe and sound. I've also bought a new Squier from PMT online (which I think has some connection to Dolphin because that's what the paperwork suggested when it arrived) and again everything went well with no problems.

West Yorkshire entering a Weimar Republic phase of chronic inflation?

It's never happened to me either; I can't see how string vibration could be enough to work a neck screw loose, if it were all the other screws would be doing the same?

String through body... same with the bass...

That reminds me, Tom Hingley from the Inspiral Carpets had a clothes stall in Affleck's Palace in Manchester, think it was called Mad Dog. I'd met him a couple of times at low-key acoustic gigs he was doing then ran into him in Affleck's - really nice bloke.

Bizarre that the plastic ashtray's survived and still on it...

Wow, just... wow! Does the sound and feel meet your expectations?

I'll never have a YOB Jazz bass *sigh*

I'm not sure I can see how let alone why somebody wants to attempt to play something like that; might as well strap on a grand piano.

Without knowing the technology of how a multi-fx unit works it's hard for me to say exactly what's going on inside of it with regard to how individual effects are applied to the incoming signal, however I know that my Zoom unit converts if from analogue to digital, then applies whatever processing it's asked to do to that signal in the order you tell it to, within the constraints of what can be done with the chain and it obviously converts back from digital to analogue and spits out the effected signal (it's actually a hybrid device because it has a valve pre-amp stage too). Individual stomp box boxes may be purely analogue and others are digital or possibly even hybrids. As far as I can tell a multi-fx unit replicates exactly the same as a string of stomp boxes in terms of how effects are applied to the signal, in stages, one process at a time, even though they are likely handled by the same processing chip. If the multi-fx processor is well engineered then it will have a very low latency, or minimal delay between receiving the input and producing an output and I can't see how this would make it any different in performance to a string of separate signal processors, assuming the multi-fx chip is fast enough. I've read that some Boss multi-fx units are poor with regard to switching from one stored patch to another so in that regard latency is an issue; my Zoom unit is supposed to be pretty good with switching speed. There are many who will argue that separate stomp boxes are better, because they're engineered to do mainly one thing at a time and obviously there's still the argument of digital vs analogue but what you do gain with a multi-fx unit is reduced cost and the ability to have many different patches where each patch equates to a different pedalboard.

Well, if you don't possess a set of scales (bathroom or otherwise) I imagine it'd be a bit tricky...

Well now I wonder which came first, was it distressed finish jeans or distressed basses? I'll have that Fender P in a stonewash please...

When you put the new strings on the Jazz they were, ummm, obviously new and will have more 'give' than older well bedded-in strings on another bass. New strings clearly do stretch more than old strings and over time I suppose that could account for some of the change in feel. There will obviously be minor differences in how two instruments carry their strings (neck profile, fingerboard radius, neck angle with respect to the body, fret profile, amount of relief, nut slot depth, action) so that might also contribute to a difference in feel.

I sometimes use my index finger nail instead of a pick, downstrokes only but have found that if I play too much it can wear the end of the nail making it thinner (it obviously isn't as tough as a hard plastic or nylon plectrum) which could become a problem were I to carry on that way. I prefer the sound to a pick though I generally play conventional fingerstyle.

Well at least you've tried and I think it was worth doing (and why would the jack socket have a ground tag on it if it could do without a connection made to it) and it's certainly no worse than before... BTW did you check with Bartolini customer support to check that the 250K pots are right for the pickups? I guess they ought to be as I'd expect the Barts to be drop-in replacements for stock pickups.

I'd start by checking the jack socket, looking for any obvious signs of oxidation where there should be metal to metal contact, probably a good idea to spray switch cleaner into the pots just to make sure it isn't those; effectively work your way through the signal chain starting from least expensive components to the most expensive (jack socket, wiring, tone cap, tone and volume pot and finally the pickup).

From what I know of my Zoom unit there's only a certain amount of flexibility in how to chain effects and as already noted most multi-effects units offer the individual modules in what's regarded as a conventional order. If you can re-arrange them however you like then I reckon the chaining order will sound just as if you were using physically separate stomp boxes so it is indeed about personal preference.

I'd bet that more people are playing basses with too much rather than too little or optimum relief - it's the fear of adjusting the truss rod (and something bad happening) that prevents many people from doing their own set-ups. I think the majority of us know that some relief is required but it's those of us confident (or even obsessive) about doing our own set-ups in order to make a bass play as well as it can who end up getting pretty level fingerboards.

You should have an extra .005" per string (assuming the gauges are 30, 50, 70, 90, 110) than the strings you're downtuning where you perceive a problem and I think the .005" is what increments from light to medium, and medium to heavy so they might not be as bad as you fear. Secondly you might have a look at how your bass is set-up, specifically the existing nut slot depths (are they at the recommended depths - many basses from new have slots that are too high) and obviously relief and saddle height because they might be improved in terms of making the bass easier to play (fret).

cclowend: The quickest/simplest fix for you is first add a ground wire from the back of the tone pot to the jack socket earth tag. All other earths can be left intact as far as I can tell (it sounds like you have metal plates under the Barts which are connected to ground and the pickups are grounded to the plates - that shouldn't be a problem but I think I mentioned in your other post on the Barts problem that grounding plates can affect tone with some pickups as they can modify the shape of the magnetic field produced). Add the 'missing' ground wire first and see how that affects tone. Change one thing at a time - it helps diagnose problems better.

You're (and in fact all of us are) protected by the The Sale Of Goods Act regarding the sale of goods in this country and it clearly states you are entitled to a refund if the goods you purchased fail to be:[list] [*]of merchantable quality or [*]fit for the purpose described [/list] and I'd expect a new string snapping in the manner you describe to be an example of not fit for purpose. It's probably the case that more of us really ought to complain when this sort of thing happens but often don't and put it down to experience. Anyway, I'm glad Rotosound sorted it out for you!

It should improve the sound if it makes any change. Here's a thought; maybe the existing jack socket to control plate connection (through which we have to assume the ground connection is currently established) isn't particularly well made; poor electrical connections in a simple circuit like that might have a capacitance effect and that will affect tone. I had a guitar cable with solderless connection jack plugs on each end; there was no loss in volume and with active instruments everything sounded fine. I then got hold of my passive P bass and using the same cable it lacked tone - by chance I just happened to swap around a few cables and the P bass came to life. I believe that the poor connection between jack plug and cable offered by the solderless connection was actually introducing a capacitance (like turning the tone knob down); I then put a couple of old screw connector jack plugs onto either end of the same cable and it works fine. Your bass might be suffering because of a similar effect but I'm no expert... but it won't hurt adding that ground wire.

Well, you've got a massive earth tag on that jack socket just crying out for a ground wire... http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/dinggremlin/media/photo_zps861dcdf7.jpg.html

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1401788683' post='2466771'] Still can't see any resistor in your photos. Which legs of the tone pot are the live and the capacitor attached to? AFAICS the week point in the wiring is the assumption that the metal plate that the controls are attached to is making good electrical contact all the way to the output jack. I would run a dedicated earth wire between the earth side of the pots and the socket so there is a definite good connection. [/quote] Exactly what I was thinking, hence my post above showing a Jazz bass wiring diagram. BTW 'cclowend' is mistaking a capacitor for a resistor, it's a .050 mfd 100V cap...