skankdelvar

Well, I went in there yesterday and told them I wanted to try some lightweight cabs. Not to play through, just to pick up and see how heavy they were. They had no problem with this and continued to talk among themselves. I wandered round, picking up cabs and putting them down again. Shortly thereafter, I made my excuses and left. These gentlemen have been represented as curmudgeons and gobsh1tes. I think they're just bored.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='326413' date='Nov 10 2008, 11:31 PM']Use it and don't worry about it. You'll hear it farting out from overexcursion long before you approach its limits, if it does, turn it down.[/quote] Er...if there's no info, what if it's 2 or 4 ohms and he's running it off an 8 ohm output? Always thought that was a no-no?

[quote name='josh3184' post='325020' date='Nov 8 2008, 10:16 PM']Just wondering what you do for a living, as I seem to remember you getting incredibly technical in a thread about status necks and whether they can be redrilled for different bolt configuration? You're a walking encyclopedia! [/quote] +1 It's always good to get the definitive view

[quote name='funnyfreddie' post='325139' date='Nov 9 2008, 09:38 AM']lol, just read your method skank....me too. must be a baldy thang :brow: it works though...[/quote] Not only free, but discourages people from borrowing your basses

[quote name='sgt-pluck' post='325278' date='Nov 9 2008, 02:04 PM']I don't mean to be rude, but are you sure you understand?! Running out of adjustment on the bridge saddles does not limit your options in the future - you just need to shim the neck. It's nothing to worry about - loads of Fender guitars and basses are shimmed like this from the factory. It's common to find fag packets, bits of sand paper etc in the neck pocket. If you try to fix the problem by over-tightening the truss rod, not only will you not fix the problem (as you're finding out!), but you might feck your neck! Pluck[/quote] +1. Admittedly, it makes no sense if you assume that manufacturing processes are consistent. But it's true; shimming is a good way round a lot of action issues, and it's a job anyone can do - no need for luthiers or techs.

If audience numbers stay roughly the same, tend to keep the settings the same, just play harder or softer as the set / song demands. If numbers increasing, usually just jack up the vocals a bit. For years, I used to like to play REALLY REALLY LOUD, then at one gig we got told to turn down, by a small but [i]very [/i]chunky landlady. Second set, we sounded so much tighter, and the audience liked it better. Weird, but good.

Re: Lubricant. Might sound a bit 'eewwww', but try rubbing your fretting fingers either side of your nose. Natural oils. Plus, if you're a baldie like me, there's enough up there to do your entire collection on a daily basis.

[quote name='Pissman' post='322068' date='Nov 4 2008, 07:22 PM']can i edit it to make butterscothc an option?..[/quote] Dunno mate, but don't do it just on my account! In any case, what some people call yellow (see above), others call blonde, so there'd be all sorts of args about what butterscotch looks like....

[quote]On the nose. On the money. On the button. But I still think Breckers pockets are a bit too tidy!!! What happens when there's a hole in the pocket?[/quote] * To avoid losing money, ensure there are no holes in your pockets * To keep your trousers up, use the buttons provided. * Your pockets should not be too tidy. Remove sharp objects, but always keep a couple of Kleenex for when you're "On the Nose".

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='322782' date='Nov 5 2008, 04:40 PM']In the pocket = good timing Deep in the pocket = also good timing, but even better than the previous guy, so I need a new superlative. It's a bit like A* at GCSE. S.P.[/quote] Check out funkmunky's stuff on his myspace. Exquisite timing. So down, he's in the turn-up.

[quote]I can't believe you have all been taken in by the Bass Cellar. It's not a real shop. (whispers a clue... Illya Kuryakin, Mr Waverley, Napoleon Solo ...comprendez?)[/quote] Nah, they must be THRUSH agents....

Sunburst - but only cos Butterscotch isn't an option

Very nice - and gold strings as well!! Blinged to the max, yet somehow understated. Good work, sir.

Substitute by Entwistle. Lots going on, but none of it too difficult for a beginner.

[quote name='Buzz' post='320625' date='Nov 3 2008, 01:06 AM']DHA spring to mind, all valve pre and effects (I think), coupled to 1 (yes, one) power tube which is can be easily overdriven to the powerstage crunch and harmonics if you want, that's then reduced to line level via a dummy load (internal speaker), which is then pumped into a 400w Class D solid state power amp. That's the rough jist of it.[/quote] ...which is sort of what Eddie Van Halen did for his live sound: Gtr>Fx>Marshall valve amp>Dummy load>Solid state Power amps>Cabs. So perfectly legit and clearly an acceptable sound. (If you like VH)

I like old Fenders. That said, they're no better than new instruments and there's an amazing amount of snobby b%x talked about 'vintage'. And if I was offered the choice between a 35 year old Woolies Kay and a brand new Warwick, I'd go for the Warwick. Gotta keep some sense of proportion.

I love valve amps. But one downside is the cost of replacing power tubes...some valve amps run as many as 6 or 8, which is expensive at circa £20 each. OTOH, if the amp's looked after, the tubes could last a good long while - depends how often you gig. At the risk of sounding desperately pose-y, the valve thing is something you 'feel' more than you hear. Kinda like the difference between CD's and Vinyl - just like a little extra indefinable 'something'. But it does make you feel good.

That's a strong price, given there's one just like that rusting in my mate's garage and ...(sound of screeching tyres).

Glad it's working again...funny about the JJ's, though - generally viewed as a pretty safe buy - as are Laney's. Have used JJ el-34's, 6v6's, 6l6's and 12ax7's, no problems so far. Will bear all this in mind if I'm allowed to buy another amp, ever..."but it's an [i]VC-30 [/i]and I haven't got one of those....whine, moan"

Don't know if the following also applies to the LC range. Cribbed off the web: [quote]The sockets in the Laney VC30 are wired up to accept only one type of EL84. They use a pin that has no connection on some valves as part of the circuit - however other EL84s do have a connection there - and pop they go when you plug them in. Not too hard to rewire the sockets if you have this problem. The advice is to get this job done before plugging in any new power valves except those Laney supply. While we're on the subject, a tech I know pointed out another issue on a VC30 he had in. He'd sorted the wiring thing, but still found that one of the power valves glowed red on the plates however many times he checked the bias. Then he noticed it was very close to the speaker magnet. The magnetic field was helping the current flow, overheating the valve.[/quote]

My standard response to "Can we share gear?" is "Fantastic! What have you got?". Plus, I only use a small combo these days, so it's not 'manly' enough for the size queens out there.

Agreed - as you say - roughly matched. That's my point. Given the usually minimal differential in tolerances between tubes of the same mfr type, matching is much less relevant given the balancing is done in amplifier in the course of the biasing process. Fair point, [i]too[/i] far out of balance (e.g. using different iterations of 6L6) and you start to lose the humbucking function of the push-pull pair. And sometimes in very powerful valve amps (like SVT's) imbalance can lead to instability. Biasing isn't strictly about increasing gain. It's the function of the front end of the amp - the pre-amp - to act as one or more gain stages. Here we're talking about the power amp section, where biasing is done to adjust the current that flows through the valve. Bias is a negative voltage that acts as a brake on the main current carrying the amplified signal through the valve (in a manner of speaking). Put simply, the more bias voltage you apply, the less current flows through the valve. Too much current destroys the valve as it can't dissipate all that heat. Too little bias voltage and it doesn't work right. But that's a process you control when you're biasing. NB - I'm no expert - just picked this up from my mate Steve. And it still doesn't solve the OP's question. Sorry about that.

You don't really need to replace in pairs - just buy one of the same type and get the tech to bias the set accordingly. All this matched pairs stuff is allegedly voodoo invented by Groove Tubes to sell more valves.