Dan Dare

It would make sense from Ampeg's point of view not to limit their sales to those who have/use Speakons. Many still use 1/4" jacks.

You can get rubber feet that have sticky pads ready attached. Just peel the backing paper and stick 'em on. If you search for 'self adhesive rubber feet' on eBay, you'll find stacks of them.

Is that really the case, Bill? I always thought one had to be extra careful not to short the output on a tube amp or run it without a load.

Not as long as you ensure the speaker jack is properly plugged in before powering it up and don't disconnect it before powering down.

I've found few if any inexpensive 5 string basses that have a good low B string. The only one I did was a Lakland Skyline, which although "budget" in Lakland terms, was hardly cheap. It also had a 35" scale length, which accounted for much of the difference, I think.

If you're in London, try Clerkenwell Screws. I've got odd bits and pieces from them that you can't easily find elsewhere.

See my other points above. You have to do something quite extreme to affect the vibration enough for it to be discernable (which is why using "tone-wood" on solid electric instruments is a waste of time and money).

I'd be surprised if that was the case. The usual rule is 250k for single coil, 500k for humbuckers. As Squier are made by Fender (so follow original design specs) and there is no cost advantage either way, I don't think they'd do that.

Pickups are electro-magnetic devices, so measure the amount of movement of the string within a magnetic field (not vibration - that is what a microphone does) and convert it into (a very small amount of) electrical energy, which is fed to your amp and made larger (amplified). Most differences in construction, type of wood used, etc on an electric guitar or bass have no discernable effect on that. The job of the body, neck and bridge are to hold the string securely and allow it to vibrate freely. If you went to extremes - a bass made of cardboard with a balsa wood nut and plastic bridge, to be really silly - it would affect string movement and duration of sustain by damping it heavily, but a little shim under the neck heel has no effect that we can hear or measure. It's a matter of degree.

Agree re. the MB combo. PJB stuff ain't cheap and in terms of sound for the pound, you can do better, especially used. I borrowed a MB 102P combo recently and was surprised how much poke it had. Real kick in the chest sound and plenty of volume. They turn up used from time to time

A lot of sense in this, although it wouldn't make much sense for SD and similar companies to design an equivalent (or even better) sounding cheaper pickup to be made in the Far East. Nobody would buy the originals if they did. I don't generally like hot/overwound p/us either. With adjustable input gain on amps, it doesn't really matter anyway as you can compensate for variations in pickup signal strength.

Absolutely. Japanese audiophiles build some beautiful creations, such as this: .

Yes. Gator do a 3u shallow rack - http://gatorcases.com/products/racks-portable/molded-racks/grc-shallow-molded-racks/3u-audio-rack-shallow-gr-3s/. I use one. It's about 315mm front to back without the lids attached, so will take gear up to around 340mm deep. One thing I find worth doing is to use support for the amp, so the weight isn't all taken by the front plate. Something like this - http://cpc.farnell.com/pulse/rksu-1u/rack-shelf-universal-1u/dp/DP32725 (you want one without a lip at the rear) - attached to the rack strip at the back of the case helps spread the load. The rear of the amp can just rest on it.

Me too. Some appear to think that pickups are microphones.

You could gig with something like a PJB a Suitcase. I had the Flightcase, which didn't quite manage with other than acoustic or quiet amplified instruments in anything apart from lounge type venues in my experience. I sold it and got another PJB cab and use 1, 2 or 3 of them with my head depending on the venue/band.

And through rubbish Peavey speakers, too

Here's 2 of them running stereo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRt8CoZT35k. It's pornography, I tell you.

Wow. Supply rail at 2,500v? I'd make sure I had my transformers wound by someone who knew what they were doing.

If you do use jacks, Neutrik make a speaker jack that will accept thick speaker cables.

Single coil p/us, such as those on J basses, particularly older ones, do tend to buzz. You can reduce it, but you cannot eliminate it entirely in my experience. Shielding and grounding help, but single coils are very susceptible to rfi, fluorescent lights, etc, etc. I've shielded the pickup and control plate cavities on my 72 Jazz with copper film and grounded the bridge, but it still buzzes slightly, especially in some environments. Incidentally, it's worth using a small capacitor in series with the grounding wire for the bridge, so that if you get an amp fault and/or the earth to your equipment isn't working, you are at less risk of shock.

If go for Speakons, make sure you use genuine Neutrik ones. The cheap copies are not as good and some don't mate with the real thing, despite claims from manufacturers that they do.

Classic illustration of sellers not doing any research/homework. Good on you for spotting a bargain. I agree about LEDs. I have old world lights that get/stay hot and they are going as soon as I can afford replacements.

Fair points, Bill. I've been watching a lot of Matt Dillahunty's phone ins on YouTube recently, so my view is probably unfairly jaundiced. I do appreciate that the people who call him and try to claim the man in the sky exists are not truly representative. Alabama was very good news. Well done Doug Jones.

Some more than others. I think I'd favour my doctor's advice over that of the man in the pub...