NancyJohnson

Lakland. I don't own one (at the moment), but I enjoyed my DJ5 immensely.

[quote name='amnesia' timestamp='1455880245' post='2983195'] I like nice things. 'Want' and 'need' are two totally different concepts. Sometimes they align. [/quote] I honestly couldn't have put this better. My gear isn't a vanity project; i like the Thunderbird shape, so have pursued that course. I don't need five or six of them, but it's nice to have a choice.

I've been giving some thought to getting hold of an OB-1 500, it's the first rack head that I've seen in a while that has leapt out at me shouting 'Buy Me!' I'm a tad put off by the price tag, especially considering I'd need to factor in a 3U rack, plus a tuner of some sort. A few online retailers are doing interest-free credit at the moment, so maybe it's worth a punt.

It really saddens me how expensive Tech21 stuff is when it gets here. I bought my VTBassDI through Amazon and got it shipped to a mate in New England, who bought it into the UK on a business trip. About half price. I can understand the costs behind retooling the manufacturing for 240v units, but battery/9v stuff?

Gone!

For me, I always liked the Mustang/Musicmaster shape, so I got a cheapie Squier Badtz-Maru. It weighs nothing, it was easily customisable following a headstock accident, plays easier and sounds a bit more whumpy than an equivalent 34" scale bass and it's fun. Let's also not forget these are serious instruments too. Short isn't the remotest bit silly.

As far as I know, this is going to the dump the weekend of 20/21 February.

I had a 79 Precision for a long time. It was knackered when I got it and the pickup (s) and loom were changed several times during my ownership. Personally, I would forget repairing the pots, just change them for something new but at the same time keep the original units so they can move with the bass should you reach a point where you want to move it on. While basses from this period are slowly becoming 'vintage', from a monetary perspective they're never going to be worth as much as 50s/60s models. Just get it working, enjoy it and leave the duff parts in a box at home for someone else to worry about in a few years time.

A mate of mine offered me his old Peavey TNT160 combo, but it's got a fault...it fires up, but is a bit burpy and works intermittently. He asked whether I knew anyone who could make use of it, so I said I'd post up on here. If anyone is interested, shoot me a message. He'd like it gone in the nwxt week or so to free up garage space. Collection from Purley, Reading.

I put a Tung Sol 12AX7 in. There's a distinctive growl to the pre-amp now at low volume. It's more defined. While it's nowhere near the tone of the Samsamp, it seems different tonally and there's seemingly more response from the tone-slider controls and the three bass/mid/treble pots. Interesting. P

Motley Crue as well, strangely enough. Granted this was early on. They were really nice guys. Tommy Lee bit me on the shoulder for some reason.

Me and my wife used to follow The Alarm around and ran into Mike Peters a few times away from music stuff. He tried to get me and a mate into the backstage area when the Sex Pistols played Crystal Palace. A few years ago we were flying back from New York and he spotted me, said a cheery Hello and we stood up the back of the plane talking about gigs for an hour. Lovely bloke.

Just had a conversation with Derek at Watford Valves. It's just brilliant talking to someone who knows their stuff. I've said he should join Basschat to impart some of his knowledge. So I have two different 12AX7s incoming, which I'll test over the weekend. P

I decided to shoot Ashdown a quick email. They replied: [color=#1F497D][font=Calibri , sans-serif][size=2][i]The Valve Drive feature is not at the end of the chain and is only there to warm the signal up somewhat and mix a bit of drive to the signal. You could try a different valve, but I’m afraid you will be disappointed with change, if any.. You can use any good 12AX7 valve.[/i][/size][/font][/color] So I've shot Watford Valves a message. Change is as good etc. P

For some time I've been using a racked UK Ashdown ABM EVOIII; it runs superclean, so with this in mind, for the last couple of years I've been using a Sansamp RBI as my frontend and routing this into the effects return of the Ashdown. The last couple of days, I've been reading a lot online about swapping out the 12AX7 preamp valve for something different. As far as I can ascertain, swapping the valve is simply a case of taking the old one out and inserting the new one. No calibration. So, the question. Which valve? The Ashdown has a valvedrive option that adds a bit of fuzz, but it's far from the fuzz/dirt that I would prefer; it's a far cry from the Sansamp. This could be down to the circuitry on the Ashdown, it could be that the valve isn't hi-gain enough. I'm up for a bit of experimentation, especially where it could benefit others. Any help appreciated!

It's a weird one this, they're from totally different genres; it's like comparing Gene Simmons to Geddy Lee. Oh, and my answer is Chris Squire. Just prefer the tone, musicality, the material he played.

That's pretty horrible. Fender should just have gone a bit further and made a JagStang bass.

I've retro fitted two of my Thunderbirds with Babicz FCH 3-pointer bridges now. Happy to report that it took around fifteen minutes per bass to remove the old hardware, install and set up. The bridges are pretty comfortable if you play close to the bridge/palm-mute and while I'm unsure if it's my ears playing tricks, both basses sound fuller tonally. They look more traditional as well. P

I liked Terry Wogan. He was the polar opposite of pretty much everything I look for in a broadcaster/presenter, but he was just so damn likeable. And as I posted previously, Piers Morgan is still alive.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1454117544' post='2966723'] I'll tell you what tho, the 50's P shape is way cooler than the 60's, but the T Bird trumps them both, both ways round! [/quote] Woop.

The Thomann one looks like something K-Tel would have marketed as the future of home dentistry. The Tooth-o-Matic.