peted

I've had a Zoom H4 which I bought shortly after they were released. I've read the manual thoroughly and I'm still finding ways to improve the quality of the recordings. I would recommend that you play around with it as much as possible and record all sorts so you get to know what works best.

That is a gorgeous and eye-catching bass. Both the grain of the wood and the contrast between the paintwork and fretboard make it a real looker. Please post up some 'action shots' if you get the chance.

I got mine from my local Machine Mart.

I'm really looking forward to this. Much kudos to the organisers for evolving this from a simple meet-and-greet to what it has become. Hope to be able to thank you on the day.

[quote name='Gamble' post='280576' date='Sep 9 2008, 05:51 PM']I payed our chums in the Cellar a visit on Saturday with my good friend Peted and my sister.[/quote] That was a great day indeed! I still can't get that 2nd hand Sei Original black 4 string headless out of my mind. I was dreaming about it just last night and trying to figure out ways to get the money together to buy it I always suffer from the worst GAS after our days out window shopping in London. I couldn't believe how much bigger the Bass Gallery is now!

My Omni 10 has a Speakon socket, and I have a Speakon<->Jack lead. I don't mind bringing my Omni 10 and leaving my Hartke 3500 at home if there's no interest in the head, but the cab won't make any noise to show off on its own?

I have had success emailing Warwick a couple of times in the past for spare parts. If you tell them where you bought it from and how soon it happened after initial purchase then I'm pretty confident they will just send you a replacement screw for free. I would also slip into the email that you didn't receive the Warwick 'pack' with the manual, wax, and cleaning cloth as I'm sure the UK distributor would like to have words with the shop

My Warwick Thumb bolt-on 4 with 2 band MEC pre-amp has quite a low output (lower than another bass with a passive Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder). So this is normal and nothing to worry about. Why do you feel the need to increase the output? What scenario do you come across where the output becomes a hinderence? The only thing that I can think of is that you might be swapping basses mid-gig and you have to keep tweaking the input gain on the amp between switches. Please do explain how this becomes an issue? Thanks.

Keep one bass and take some time out from playing bass. If you find yourself yearning to play bass again you won't have to deal with the regret of selling all your bass gear. Marriage and a couple of bands can co-exist! You just have to remember to spend some of those gig earnings on your missus

I've just covered my home build BFM Omni10 with Tuffcab paint and it was really easy to apply, just time consuming to sand and layer half a dozen times. If you want to pay someone else to refinish your cab with carpet, then I can highly recommend Errol from Plugstudios (http://www.plugstudios.co.uk, based in Norwich so not a million miles from Cambridshire). He makes guitar and bass cabs and can also recover them in all manner of crazy/funky/fluffy carpets. I don't know his current prices but they have always been extremely keen and he's a great chap.

If it's going to be a permanent tuning, then keep an eye on the neck to make sure that it doesn't twist with the extra tension on one side...

If it fills you with more confidence, I changed my Thumb BO 4 nut from a JAN2 to a JAN3 and it's an easy direct replacement. I went through 2 JAN2s since I bought the bass as the ends did indeed keep snapping off. The art with a JAN2 is to remove the outer strings (E & G on a 4) first and then loosen the A & D strings simultaneously. Far too much faffing around for me so the JAN3 was a definite improvement. Be warned that the JAN3 is designed to stay in place using the tension of the strings - so take all the strings off and the nut will fall off! I don't have a JAN1 to compare, but I do have a brass nut on another bass and there isn't a huge amount of difference in the sound of an open and fretted note. Especially when the bass is buried in the mix of a band.

I wouldn't worry about not having any interest for a month. Trying to sell anything at the moment is very slow. It took me 7 months to find a buyer for my Ibanez SR900 and that was up for £300. People still have disposable income, but they don't seem to keep it in £500 - £1000 lumps (hence why everyone seems to have every new release of iPod/iPhone/etc). Personally I'm on the look out to buy a Warwick Thumb 6 in the next couple of years, but I'm in no rush and will definitely not be paying more than £1000. It's a buyers market and you just have to keep your sale advertised until a buyer comes along.

I spent a fair few years tuned to C#G#C#F# (drop C#) for a metal band and used 45-105 gauge without any trouble. Take note of people's advice on having to fiddle with the nut to get higher gauge strings to fit.

Does anyone else find the active/passive input a bit of a misnomer? I much prefer amps which refer to it as 'padding' as I have a passive bass which has a hotter output than my active basses. I would suggest one, or a combination of the following and see if they have an effect on the limit light: 1) Plug your passive bass into the active input, you might have a really hot output passive bass 2) Use any EQ on your amp to cut frequencies rather than boost them (if they center at 0, leaving the preferred frequencies at 0 to stand out) 3) Start with the volume knob at 75% and all other dials at 0%. Check each dial in turn while playing to see where the culprit lays.

[quote name='Machines' post='257850' date='Aug 8 2008, 10:11 AM']What gets me is that the Klystrons are specwise, exactly the same as the ABMs. The only obvious difference is the case. I wouldn't be surprised if they used the same internal components. So what are you getting extra for the cash ? The prestige of saying it was UK made ?[/quote] I've A/B'd the current ABM and Klystron heads and they have quite different sounds. The Klystron is a lot more lively and responsive, with the dials 'flat' it has a lot more top end and I get the impression that they have extended the frequency response of the head with greater lows and highs. Although they have branded it as the 'Classic' range I would say that the sound is anything but classic. The ABM serves a better sound for people after a more vintage/classic/thumpy amp sound. The Klystron can be dialled in to sound like an ABM.

My old covers band rehearsed for 3 hours a week for the first 3 months, then maybe an evening every couple of months when we were up to gigging speed. There was no reason to rehearse between gigs unless it was to pull together a new song. My originals bands would do 3 hours a week in a rehearsal studio. Though it would be a very 'relaxed' 3 hours. Probably only really half of that would be intense music playing, and the rest was just socialising, drinking beer, and being stupid. An originals band I used to be in sacked me because I wouldn't practice more than once a week. They now practice for 9 hours a week over 2 sessions and have a further pub meeting one evening a week to talk about the band. They feel that this is a minimum of effort necessary to get signed and that I wasn't willing to put in the time. They are very talented but my playing is a hobby and not a career choice.

I was taught bass by a guitarist, with him on his guitar and me on my bass. He certainly didn't play guitar parts during the lesson though, just the bass parts on his guitar for effect. I have absolutely no regrets about this as he taught me a great deal of fretboard theory. The tutor you had sounds terrible though. If that had been my first lesson I probably would have left before the hour was out. I will eventually have more lessons and I plan to try a few teachers before settling for one, I suggest you do the same.

Warwick Darklord strings are taper-wound at the bridge so they should fit most standard bridges (meaning that you won't have to replace it!). That'll give you a .175 string for the F# which Dood has previously endorsed.

Ooh, I'm moving to Chelmsford at the end of this month so I shall have to pop along. How do I find out if it's on a particular Thursday, and where's this Bassment place? Also, any PMs of good local venues and listings I should check out would be greatfully received. I grew up in Southend (18 years), but have spent the last 10 years in Norwich, so I'm a little distanced from the current scene. Thanks in advance.

It could be psychological, other people have said that it helps, but making sure that you don't have too much slack around the tuning pegs can improve string tension. On my Thumb BO 4 I snip my strings about 2 inches past the tuning peg and end up with about a turn and a half around the peg when they are up to pitch. Did the vendor tell you what gauge strings are on there? It could be that they've used a light gauge and that is causing the tension issues. Be careful if you are going to go to heavier strings as I believe that anything except the most rescent Warwicks need to have a tapered B string to fit the bridge. You can download the manuals for Warwick basses from [url="http://www.warwick.de"]http://www.warwick.de[/url] and they have very good instructions on how to adjust their 2-part bridge and do a setup. Are you using alternative tunings or concert pitch (BEADG)?

I feel the need to repeat myself! That fretboard has to be one of the best looking i've ever seen. Gorgeous.

Hi from a fellow Southender (well, Rayleigh now, but close). Make sure that your laptop input is the line-in and not the microphone-in (the mic pre-amps on stock soundcards are no good). Also try to find something to monitor the input levels with, I believe that Audacity has that abilit, and make sure that the input levels are not peaking into the red which will either sound distorted or muffled. For best results you can't go far wrong with investing in a good external sound card. I use a Zoom H4, which is a live recorder, 4 track, multi-effects, external soundcard all-in-one and I highly recommend.

[quote name='OldGit' post='255228' date='Aug 5 2008, 11:24 AM']Ha ha the effects are still happening then? That wasn't me [/quote] Sorry! I meant Dr.Dave. I can't give web browsing my 100% attention just in case I don't notice my boss walking in