Harryburke14

Got meself one of the mains socket testers today and apparently all of the plugs are fine. Now I am confused. Going to ask if we can get a qualified someone to come and see what the problem is.

The first band I went to see were From the Jam. Very nice to have an insight into the gear of the man that made me want to play bass in the first place, although I am a tad bit surprised to not see him using the Rick as exclusively as he did backaday. Still, when you're Bruce Foxton you could probably play a cricket bat with elastic bands on it and still make it sound good.

Ah. So just noticed this is also the case on the 10w practice amp. A nice electric shock once again, this time enough for me to reel my hand away quickly and uncontrollably and into the shelf, and I now have a nice cut on my wrist. Fantastic. So it's both amps and all basses - so likely a problem with the plugs. I will dig deeper when I get our mains socket tester back (brothers had it since he moved out). And since I inherited his room I want to know whether it is a problem located to this room, part of the extension that the previous homeowners had done, or whether it's housewide. I do however find it odd that I've only noticed this since a few weeks ago, despite having the amp for nearly half a year, and not having any troubles with the old one ever until now (had it for 8 years)...

No Tom don't worry it's happening with all the basses mate. Definitely not a problem with the HB

Just got in touch with PMT and the amp is luckily still under warranty but they've discontinued selling this model. They said to give them a ring tomorrow and explain the situation to their amp tech and see if he knows where the fault lies. If they can fix it, they said they will, and if it turns out cheaper to give me the in-store credit they said they'd do that instead. Happy days! In the meantime, I'll do my practicing through headphones methinks, even if that means the neighbors don't get to hear it

And I will look into getting one of the plugin earth check things

Okay cheers guys. I've tried all combinations of different basses, cables, pedals, etc. The only change I can find is when switching from the 75 watt practice amp to the dinky 10 watt one (getting shocks from the 75). I don't know whether it's because the 75 watter is at fault or if the 10 watt one is just so small I wouldn't feel the shocks?

Also doubt it's a thing to do with the active electronics as only one of the basses is active, and they both give the same issue.

Happens whenever I use it regardless of clothing, and my floor is laminate, so It wouldn't be carpet static. Worst is when I rest my arm against the strings - usually results in loud inaudible gasps and many words beginning with c, f and b.

Hi all. I have lately been noticing myself getting small electric shocks from the strings and bridge of 2 of my basses (Sire M3 and Harley Benton Jazz bass). They usually occur when I've been plugged into the amp for about 20 minutes and in both inputs on the amp. The amp itself is Ashdown Vintage 12 for those interested. Does anyone know what would be causing this, and if so how to stop it?

Bought a Harley Benton Jazz bass from Tom for a very good price and it arrived yesterday, top bloke to deal with! Sent it next day UPS tracked and packaged it up well (albeit with poly balls everywhere xD ) and a great guy to deal with!

I'll throw my hat into the ring and say that the best sub-£300 bass I've played is the B-stock Sire M3 which is my current gigging bass. Aside from that I'd further what the majority of people here have said. Go to your local music shop (or shops if you're lucky enough to not live in Birmingham and have but one shop within 15 miles of your house). Play anything and everything there and see what you do and don't like, it will help you loads in deciding what to get. I for one had always wanted a Les Paul Bass until I played one at PMT and thought it wasn't as special as I had hoped. On the other hand I now really want the 63 Dakota Red Jazz that was in there the same day. Definitely go and play a few.

Only *almost* a work of art?

[quote name='Number6' timestamp='1468919998' post='3094255'] The band starts off being the Jam then rapidly turns into the Style Council. [/quote] ^I can relate^

Well if it sounds even half as good as it looks...

Hi all. We're looking for both a singer and a drummer for a startup band based in Birmingham. I can't say what type of music we play because we haven't yet. We're aiming to play rock, britpop, maybe a bit of punk. Get in touch if interested.

I'm now strongly considering getting a precision kit and maybe some Seymour Duncan's if I can find some on the cheap. Gives me some time between now and ordering it to decide on colours.

Does anybody have any experience with these? I'm considering ordering a kit for me and my cousin to have something to do/argue about for a few weeks. I'm not expecting them to be brilliant sounding but does anybody know whether they're decently made or is it not even worth bothering?

[quote name='flippyfloop' timestamp='1461067401' post='3031083'] Anyone using the M3 bass ? [/quote] I got one in the black finish. Looks good, sounds good. Love mine and so do the rest of the band

New batteries and sorted. Was shocked with how quickly the new batteries supplied died

I got a new Sire M3 last month but unfortunately Ive been very ill in the last week so haven't played it. I picked it back up today and noticed that while the bass works fine in passive mode, switching it to active removes pretty much all sound going to the amp, all apart from a faint crackling rumble sound. Could it be a case of the active preamp packing up or do I just need to replace the batteries? I mean do the batteries in a preamp only last like a month or is it not a case of batteries at all? If anyone knows any more than I do id appreciate it.

Bruce Foxton - first bassist I saw live with "From the Jam". Heard him playing Town called Malice and wanted to play bass. The rest, as they say, is history. Geddy Lee Flea Mike Dirnt John Paul Jones Paul McCartney Mani - Stone Roses John Entwistle John Deacon Jared Followill In no particular order