Zombie1965

Trypophobic nightmare

I used [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Watford Valves Kits to replace the full pre and power section in my Laney LC15 and then later on in my Hotrod Deluxe. After a chat on the phone about my requirements and going with what they advised; my Hotrod sounds killer!. Good prices too. [/font][/color] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]​10/10 from my experience. [/color][/font]

Back of a Stanley blade works fine to push them in, careful of cut fingers though. just lay the wire in the slot and use the blade to guide it down into the v

Rotosound swing 66 stainless steels are my favorite string by a huge margin! Ok they are harsh on the fingers but man they have some tone/ growl. No pain, No gain, you just got to man up.

[quote name='garry warrington' timestamp='1459604845' post='3018023'] I purchased of Ebay, somebody had done a bad job of installing a Jazz pickup. I decided to change the jazz pickup and pots while i was at it. The P pickup has adjustable poles, still cant nail a "forget me nots" tone though. Have seen a 63 fender pickup on sale, not sure whether it will give me an improvement. [/quote] Ah I see, your trying to bring this blazer back from the dead. 63' should be warm and round sounding with a medium output, The super P4 blazer pup (same as [url="http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/bass/standard-bass/dimarzio-model-p"]DiMarzio Model [/url]P) is high output with strong mids a growly sound. "Forget me nots" is Freddie Washington I think that sound is deep into jazz bass territory imo. Turn off the p pickup altogether.

[quote name='garry warrington' timestamp='1459593031' post='3017883'] seems to sound a bit better when blended with the jazz pickup, is it possible the bass has de valued by routing and adding a jazz pickup, i also put cts pots and a pio cap. [/quote] popularity comes in waves with these but, Yes. These basses are quite sort after in original condition. I have payed £490 for an original blazer in good condition and £160 for another one in good condition but with a few mods. Was there something wrong with the Alpha pots that come as standard? they are probably as good if not better than modern CTS pots Was something wrong with the cap? did you keep the old wiring etc?

[quote name='timhiggins' timestamp='1459448506' post='3016765'] Does a p neck really sound different to a j on the same bass ? [/quote] No. I have a MIM P bass special deluxe with the J profile neck, I also have a mid 90's P neck and have swapped them over and it sounds identical. just feels different. I prefer the nut spacing on the J so swapped back.

82' Blazer. Just chilling,

In my opinion that super P4 is one of the best sounding P pickups Ever created.Its a real growler! I am currently looking for another super P4 to replace my stock fender [color=#333333]Vintage-Style Alnico Split Single-Coil Precision [/color]pickup in my MIM P Bass special Deluxe series. (could do swaps?)

[url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/pro-iroda-solderpro-120w-gas-soldering-iron-n14ar"]http://www.maplin.co...ring-iron-n14ar[/url] 0r http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/pro-iroda-pro-150-30w-to-125w-gas-soldering-iron-n25ed Just got this a few months back, its brilliant, solder anywhere easily. Faster than electric too. Gas was an extra £5 but will last ages. look around though cos i got mine for £32

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1459262208' post='3014894'] Have you been at all the controls and sockets with some switch cleaner ? Effects loops need a good clean, even if you never used as they're wired to interrupt the signal path. I'd get the top off again and give it a good slow look over, check all connections, ribbon wires and the the like. Then get in with the freeze ray [/quote] Yep I spent all day yesterday, carefully cleaning all the jacks and pots with an airline and switch cleaner, I checked all the internal leads and connections then started poking around with a multi meter, trouble is I have no idea (apart from resistors) of what the values are meant to be Inside looks good, Not much dust and grime, no bulging caps, no signs of overheating etc. I'm sure I have an issue like a dry or loose cap etc.... its just trying to locate the thing. I think amp tech's in my area are like ninjas , I cant seem to find any that look at e guitar/ bass stuff. DJ stuff there seem plenty.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1459242821' post='3014625'] Really hard to diagnose with this distance, intermittent faults are always tricky anyway. One problem with the 3500's is the power supply, there's a separate set of caps and associated components for the pre-amps and the caps are just soldered into the boards with no support. Over time the weight of the cap pushes the track off the board and will also find out any poor solder joints. That's what caused the crackle in mine and when I went online I found a number of people with similar problems. The best way to find an intermittent fault I find is with a freezer spray. The nozzle will allow you to rapidly cool one component at a time. Cooling the dodgy component or joint will usually create the fault at will or even cause the amp to cut out momentarily. The other thing with an old Hartke is that there may be a series of faults. having said that once i cured my power supply faults mine has gone on strong. Good luck though [/quote] did your issue sound like the one on my video? [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4wL7u8B5tA"]https://www.youtube....h?v=v4wL7u8B5tA[/url] 4:05 - 4:20 intermittent on B notes and again at 5:03 - 5:15 ish again on the C and B Any idea what these caps were labeled as on the board? Are you talking ot the 2 big caps that are upright nect to 2 big transistors mounted to a heatsink? cheers

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1458740990' post='3010379'] After years of trying some of the most expensive strings, I have ended up with these on all my basses now. It's actually embarrassing how cheap they are, but they sound good to me! Very even, consistent response and nice feel under the fingers. Well worth a try and about the price of a pint of beer! [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_valuestrings_bassguitar_medium.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...itar_medium.htm[/url] [/quote] I tried the stainless version, they were OK. The small ball ends don't play nice with all bridges though. on one of my basses in particular they would pull through the hole over time.

From my experience, and what I like: Roto's swing 66 stainless steel - bright and growley last 3 months to a year before zing goes . D'addario pro steels - like above but a little less bright, love these. D'addario, EXP nickle plated- good all rounder, but don't last long before dull and thuddy Elixer nanoweb- Great all rounder, last ages then go furry, a bit costly DR high beams- Good sound and last well, to expensive though. la'bella...... yuck,not a fan of flats sorry

[color=#141414][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Ok so this issue started a few months ago around last september and is getting worse. My head is a HA3500 and is about 10-12 years old. Its been a great amp and is well used. When the issue started it presented itself as an intermittent low volume crackle that wold ride on the back of certain notes down the lower end of the fret board. At first It only seemed to happen with my passive bass plugged into the passive input jack and I put the problem down to the bass. I spent an evening replacing the Pots, jack and Capacitor (I thought this was the issue)and re wiring in my bass. and at next practice all seemed solved.... for an hour or so.....then the issue returned. I switch to another bass, an active one and plug it into the active socket and all seemed OK. Bamboozled by my issue, I continued playing that active bass for a few weeks while trying to solve the problem with the passive jack. I took the lid of the head and checked the connections on the jack, they all seem good. Just for good measure I cleaned out the inside of the chassis with an airline and changed the tube for a brand new 12AX7 Groovetube. [/size][/font][/color] [color=#141414][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Still the problem persisted with the passive channel. We had a few gigs over the Christmas period and I continued with the active channel and active bass with no issues then we had a long break with January and February off. First rehearsal this year first week of march, I plug in the active bass and noticed that crackle is present, much like when i first noticed it on the passive channel. I had another cab available, so just to confirm this is the head I plugged in the other cab. The problem persists. I also retried the passive bass, its that bad the amp sounds very sick indeed. I am 100% sure the issue is with the head. I have also noticed that when a loud guitar strum is played on a different guitar this can cause a low level crackle on my amp from across the room. The crackle seems unaffected by changes to ether the pre amp settings, compressor or EQ but is louder with louder volume settings. So i'm asking for help to identify where my problem lies. [/size][/font][/color] [media] [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4wL7u8B5tA"]https://www.youtube....h?v=v4wL7u8B5tA[/url] [media/] [color=#141414][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3] The issue is present on the above video at 4:05 -4:20 ish and again 5:03 Ish I'm guessing a bad solder joint somewhere, are there any known week areas? are theses prone to failing with age? A bad cap maybe? Dodgy transistor? Anyone Able to take a stab? [/size][/font][/color] [color=#141414][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]I have gigs approaching and really need this Damn think back up and running. I have a good working knowledge of Electronics, although troubleshooting them is not my forte, I have access to a decent multimeter that can do both resistance and diode checks and I don't mind getting stuck in. Are there any known test points and values I can use to test? [/indent] [indent]Last of all, can anyone recommend an Amp tech in the Herefordshire/South Shropshire area, that could likely get this amp back up and running fairly quickly? Thanks in advance. [/size][/font][/color]