MoonBassAlpha

I like to think of this hat as something like John lennon would have worn, circa Help. Probably look like a paedo in reality. And, yes, the guitarist is tall and I'm very short. Always have been. Even when I was little [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67TORLNAjhw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67TORLNAjhw[/url]

I've used Wembley Loudspeakers before, to re-centre the cone on an old Audax driver for my mum's Audiomaster speakers, and they did a fine job. I feel certain i SHOULD be able to make an adjustable jig to do this, I've just got little time at work to do it, though we do have the facilities. I will bolt the speaker to a plate, mount 3 sturdy pillars at 120degrees with tapped holes and long bolts to act on the magnet, or the plate holding the magnet. Ideally one of the bolts would be a spring-loaded plunger, but I don't think our scrap bin runs to anything suitably forceful. If the mounting plate has a hole in it I should be able to check the movement of the cone as I adjust the magnet, or could apply a signal and tune for best sound. I know it sounds like a lot of trouble, but it has become a challenge now, and I'm not quite ready to concede defeat yet. Also, Celestion don't seem to offer an equivalent in 4 ohm these days, probably a special made for Trace. What can go wrong?...

Could be the power amp chip thermally shutting down. Most chips have some sort of thermal protection. Might be worth checking the chip is still in good thermal contact with the heatsink, or chassis, if thats what it uses as a heatsink (likely)

ok, plan A didn't quite work, nearly though. Even though I got as much shim in as I could, the voice coil was still not moving freely after the magnet was glued up. Now to work out how to implement plan B

Ok, I've got a speaker that has had a bad jolt which has fractured the glue holding the magnet on. This has meant the magnet assembly has clamped itself off centre and trapped the voice coil. Everything else is in working order, just doesn't work as a speaker, very quiet and no bass I'm going to try to glue it back on-centre. I think the received wisdom is to remove the cone entirely and centre the magnet "plug" in the assembly by shimming it symmetrically in the hole and glueing (presumably with a slow setting glue to allow movement while aligning) I've a couple of ideas as to how to do it without removing the cone entirely, just the dust cover. The speaker is a small Celestion (K5C-30, 4ohm) which isn't strictly a bass speaker, but I'm hoping anything I learn will be applicable to larger speakers that have suffered the same fate. Plan 1: remove the dust cover, try to shim the Plug with the voice coil in situ while the glue sets. Plan 2: make a centring tool out of sheet metal with 3 adjusting screws at 120 degrees. This would fit over the back of the magnet, locating over a convenient hole in the centre of the magnet. If I get the geometry right I should be able to centre it visually with the dust cover removed. Could also centre it with a signal to the speaker to check it isn't rubbing. Sorry for the long post, feel free to chip in/shoot it down before I start! Hopefully this will be at least interesting to one or two folks!

If you only plug in to the send, won't it mute the signal to the power stage and tuner? Tuner out might be a better option.

Hi All Tried it again with amp and speaker. It's much mure noticable on headphones. I tried playing a lot harder, and the distortion got a bit worse, then suddenly.... it fixed itself and is now working correctly with no distortion. I can only assume it was someting to do with the pot wiper, and a bit more voltage going through it cleared the path. Anyway, result! (especially as the owner is collecting it this week!) Thanks for the help though. Jules

I was monitoring the levels into my Zoom HD recording thing and made sure it was well short of clipping, so "hotness" shouldnt be an issue. Being a semi-acoustic, the tone control isn't the easiest to get to, but that is a top suggestion - any idea what the value it would have been originally? I'm guessing 0.022 or 0.047uF ish. Thanks chaps!

Hi knowledgable ones. Has it ever been known for an old tone cap to cause distortion? As I wind the tone towards 10 (more bassy on Hofners!) a bit of distortion seems to be introduced. It only does it on the neck p\u and gets worse from about 6-10. The tone changes as it should. The pickups have been rewound this week. I listened on headphones and monitor speakers-sounded the same on both, even at low volumes. Bass is a '64 Verithin. Cheers Jules

I love the pickup routes too - what a nice touch. Who makes the bridge? It looks like a nice piece of engineerirng. I think there's a touch of Alembic in there. It does look classy. Good work!

Incorrect! It was a blatant excuse for me to show off my new old birdseye maple neck. Carry on scratching, nothing for you to see here.

some pictures and dimensions and details about ports and tuning of your speakers would be very useful here....

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1321899748' post='1444243'] I cant listen to that Beatles version, the bass is so out of tune its embarrassing! [/quote] It's a bit sharp, but that's rock 'n' roll, innit!

...and no faux ostriches were harmed in the making of this thread.

Ok it's a fair cop - the birdseye maple matches my ostrich skin handbag!

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1321809238' post='1443285'] Nice, very nice. Do you play with your back to the audience ? Garry [/quote] it has been suggested!

Well, this is the reason. I couldn't let a piece THIS nice just sit around not being used. I haven't seen many necks with more lovely figuring, and the vintage tint just makes it pop: [attachment=93411:Birdseye neck.JPG] Feel free to post any other nice birdseye eye-candy! sorry for the tease! Jules

Ah! you've met her then!

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1321788881' post='1442956'] Is the maple neck wider than the rosewood. Dave [/quote] Nope! they're identical, though when you see them side by side the darker colour does look narrower (hence dark colours make you look slimmer!) Shall I put you out of your misery?

[quote name='mercuryl' timestamp='1321725450' post='1442491'] And the point of reviewing lots of products that readers won't come across, or ever use (since I guess more than 75% of basses in action are Fenders) is what exactly? When all is said and done, since the majority use Fender basses, then there should be a lot of Fender content. At least one major review in every edition. Your one in every 100 comment is, in my opinion, worthy of ridicule. Bass mags struggle to succeed and I guess this one will be no different ... if it spends all of its time commenting on the obscure as you suggest. [/quote] Why would you want to keep reading about basses you've already got? This is not a rhetorical question.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1320946546' post='1433623'] Felt under the strings sounds different from foam. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwYoi9G67DU&feature=player_embedded#[/media]! [/quote] That's a brilliant double bass sound Owen, the clatter of the strings is very authentic. The playing is cool too! Can we see what the dampers look like? I never got foam to sound like this.

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1321716679' post='1442352'] You could always replace it with a pic of moonbase alpha! - Didnt Frank Zappa name one of his kids that! [/quote] You're thinking of Moon Unit. No relation BTW!