skankdelvar

4, for medical reasons. Tried a 5-string once and came over all dizzy.

Thinking of shelling out for a software drummer...anyone use this Jamsticks app? Do you rate it? Is it worth £90 notes? Cheers Skank

I've seen worse and the guy's being honest about the shortcomings. And, remember, folks, from e-bayer's like the infamous 'tune-o-matic' or 'music outlet shop, you'd be looking at $5000+.

Clamped between my fourth finger and the palm of my hand. Instant, mid-song swappability. And spares on a bit of double-sided sello stuck to the amp top.

[quote name='matt_citizenbass' post='454672' date='Apr 5 2009, 02:00 PM']thansk for the links guys, i'm not sure about this whole matching thing! what is it all about?[/quote] Balanced valves give less hum, but other than that, no major benefits IIRC. There are variations in construction, output and character between the various mfrs and different types of EL-34, so I'd recommend you buy 6 of the same brand and type of el-34 - matched or unmatched. The most important thing is getting your new set of output valves biased. Unless you've got the gear and knowledge, you'll want to take it to a tech for that job. And (unless Thornybank already had it done) the amp may need a check-up anyhow - capacitors, transformers etc. If you've got a good amp tech, ask their opinion on which EL-34's they recommend for the task, then best put everything in their hands.

:wub:

I once had a tele body sent from the states and, unrequested, the guy marked it "Product sample" then told me he'd done this to save me the customs. Whether this counts for anything, I don't know. But I didn't pay any duty or VAT that time. OTOH, it's not worth shaving the stated value to get it in under the gift limit, as any uninsured damage or loss is going to outweigh the saving.

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='451375' date='Apr 1 2009, 12:28 PM']Mark King put me off playing bass for years.[/quote] Mark King put me off music for years.

[quote name='peteb' post='448152' date='Mar 28 2009, 03:47 PM']But is he right?[/quote] He may be right about the musicians that he's seen. My experience is 100% different. Most young musicians I encounter (and we really ought to agree an age range here) - are, on the whole, light years better than [i]we[/i] were at their age (that would be 30 years ago for me) and in many instances are more technically proficient and committed than we are [i]now[/i]. It may not be that they are inherently more talented humans - but they will probably have been better nurtured within the educational system (in 1975 I had a knackered violin forced on me without any instruction on even how to tune the b*gger), plus better quality entry-level instruments, instructional material, the InterWebz and a growing number of tutors and academies. I am profoundly happy that younger musicians benefit from the above and glad that they take advantage of it, even if their choice of material is, on occasions, soured by the 'covers' issue that, in truth, afflicts us all. I reserve my deepest concerns for the grumbling, pre-terminal old Bobs (like me) who will sally forth tonight to ruin a perfectly good evening in the pub with drab, inaccurate covers of classic rock hits, while flagrantly abusing 'the Hawaiian shirt rule'. Yours Sir Bufton Tufton Old Ways Little Zimmerframe On-The-Wold Sunsetshire

To clarify and expand on the above suggestions: 1. Do not boil your strings in meths - INSTANT DEATH 2. Do not boil coated strings, e.g. Elixirs* 3. Do not use the Missus's best Teflon pan. The strings will chip bits of the coating off* 4. Do not weight the strings down in the pan with a plastic handled knife* 5. When removing the strings from the pan, use a utensil rather than your bare hand* [i]* These I have done and regretted.[/i]

Approach 1: Pop the nut out. Cut some strips off a string packet to lay in the nut slot. Coat each strip with glue. Lay them in and press them down until you've built up 2 or 3 thicknesses. Try Leave to dry. Try the nut back in the slot. Put the string back in and check. Is it high enough now? If not - carry on with the strip / glue thing. When it's high enough, use a tiny smidge of glue and put it back in. Re-cut the string slots to the right height. Approach 2 :If there's enough nut left to file some off from a non-contact point (nuts are often usually excessively high between the strings) - do so, and collect the dust. Get a couple of very narrow bits of gaffa and stick them along both vertical faces of the nut, level with the top. Pack some of the dust into the offending string slot until level with the top of the nut and drip on a drop of superglue in (nail repair glue stolen from the missus works a treat). The dust will soak the glue up and the gaffa stops it all falling out. Should go solid. Leave for an hour or so. Strip away the gaffa and start cutting your new slot

Our drummer keeps pretty much perfect time - except when he turns up late. Which is 80% of the time. The other 20% he doesn't turn up at all. BTW, I don't have a problem with shifts in tempo - as long as it's planned and deliberate, rather than accidental or alcohol / adrenaline induced.

[quote name='The Funk' post='443336' date='Mar 24 2009, 12:57 AM']I think the threads in Off-topic which degenerate into conversations are probably the whole point of Off-topic.[/quote] Er...yes. That's what I thought too. (Plus, how do you differentiate between a sequenced dialogue and a conversation?) Happy to take the idea onboard, though.

Hi Erik and welcome to the forum. Nice rig...

[quote name='vintage_ben' post='441387' date='Mar 21 2009, 10:17 PM']Not really, my point was I think it's a very difficult task to for a multinational corporation reproduce an [b]identical[/b] guitar to one that was produced 40 years ago using 40 year old tools and techniques, this doesn't imply new instruments are substandard....[/quote] If they're not sub-standard, does this mean they're not sub-standard to the standard set by vintage instruments? So, (removing our double-negatives), that modern guitars are of comparable standard? Or might it be the case that [i]some[/i] vintage instruments, at a peak, are functionally 'better' than the majority of instruments produced today? IMO, out there in the world are some really good vintage items, a lot of very poor vintage items and a sea of relatively well-produced modern instruments, available at prices, which if adjusted backwards for inflation, would just about have bought a Mars Bar in 1958. While I love, covet and occasionally trade vintage instruments, I can't buy into the idea that 'vintage' status automatically confers universal functional superiority. In any case, the term 'vintage' has become utterly devalued, as various chancers take angle-grinders to seventies Fenders and flog them to wide-eyed herberts. (Funny how I don't see as many 'reliced' Gibsons) That said, I believe V&R usually carry a stock of pretty interesting gear at fairly reasonable prices (compared to the stratospheric idiocy seen on e-bay) and that their business practises are as good, if not better, than their competitors. Just an opinion.

I recall a pair of Shergold double-necks in natural, sat in Chris Bryant's shop off Charing X rd, about 10 years ago-ish One was a four + eight, the other a four fretted + four fretless. £700 a pop, unprovenanced but scraping association with Rutherford. Sigh.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='440597' date='Mar 20 2009, 08:08 PM']I'm off to see a band tonight, and the bass player will be totin' his Jazz that he bought new back in '63. Bosshog of these parts regularly gigs his '66 J. Mine go out the house too.. that's why I bought them. I never understood the 'retirement' philosophy.. they're for playing.[/quote] Oh, I agree, they should be gigged. Gig my 69 P (sorta 'vintage' - well, incredibly battered). Just assuming the worst case scenario, as usual...

[quote name='William James Easton' post='437315' date='Mar 17 2009, 02:26 PM']sod being favourite female player. shes one of my favourite players of all time. named my bass after her.... :wub:[/quote] You named your bass 'Weymouth'? By an amazing coincidence, one of mine is called 'Bognor Regis'. Any other basses named after popular English seaside towns? (But TW is, indeed, a fox, a fine player and, one assumes, in part, laudably responsible for the growing trend towards Lay-dee low-enders)

My only experience of V&R was when I unloaded a '69 Melody Maker on them 4 years ago. It's not a popular model, was missing the original pot knobs, wang bar and scratchplate and I didn't expect a great price. Nevertheless, their's was the best price on the street at £350 cash. Sigh. That said, there was none of this 'minute scrutiny', otherwise they'd have had the plate off and spotted the neat and huge mahogany insert where the chiselled out humbucker rout used to be. Vintage guitars is 99% a mug's game, because most of the value lies in the buyer's romanticized perceptions, not in the intrinsic quality of the instrument. On the whole, vintage axes play and sound no better than modern equivalents. What's worse, you can never gig them for fear of theft, so most end up gathering dust.

Fair play to Vintage Ben for sticking his head above the parapet.

In an ideal world I'd like something that ran up to 200w. Switchable output impedance like Marshalls used to do. No effects loop. Rotary pots and minimal tone stack - Vol, Bass, Mid, Treb, Presence. Non-master volume. No graphic equalizers. Relatively clean to about 85% then gently increasing 'drive' and soft compression. Round, deep tone. In black tolex, with a silver (not chrome) panel. Sort of like a colossal blackface Bassman with a hint of Ampeg Now, deliver that for £300 and we've got a deal

[quote name='leschirons' post='434046' date='Mar 13 2009, 06:53 PM']Fwee Wodderwick[/quote] He sounds like a notowious cwiminal

I regret I am cab free atm. Just a teeny 15" combo.

In fairness, the first time he asked, the question was: "Is it [i](ie, the proposed rig)[/i] loud?". This time, it's: "Will they (the cabs) go together?". There [i]is[/i] a slight difference, I s'pose.

But you're one of the good guys, Oli...