nick

[quote name='cm261' post='606843' date='Sep 23 2009, 05:08 PM']Finally got round to ordering a while ago, they didnt have any 4k99 resistors so got some 5k1's instead, that ok? Also got myself a 3PDT switch off of ebay, since that seems to be the best way to go, so all I need to do now is translate the schematic into a stripboard diagram, which I'm bound to get wrong at least a dozen times lol. Starting to think I may have bitten off a bit more than I'd bargained for, but I'll post my complete parts list (with prices) and a stripboard diagram when (or if!) I've come up with one, in case anyone is interested or is looking to do the same build.[/quote] Hi, Got the veroboard layout myself - it's an easy build. PM me your email address, if you want me to send it to you - no need to translate schematic mate! Cheers

+1 : massively underrated IMO. '24 Hour Party' people is one favourite basslines ever. Paul's now living in the States has a great new band 'Big Arm' , happy, sober & drug free by all accounts. his old bass, that was used on the Monday's first two albums. It's been on Top of the Pops, videos & several times round the World back in the day. If only it could talk, bet it would have some 'interesting' stories to tell

[quote name='burno70' post='598087' date='Sep 14 2009, 12:20 PM'].... I thought the micro Q-tron was decent too - although you could hear volume spikes.[/quote] I got round that issue, by modding mine with a volume pot on the effect output - tames the level spikes. [quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='602470' date='Sep 18 2009, 07:23 PM']I quite fancy building a mcMeat - a DIY clone of the LoveTone meatball.[/quote] That's on my to-do list also.

This a great thread, thanks to the OP for starting it. I think most of the points made are valid with good reason, & it just shows how different we all are - interesting. Myself back years ago when I thought I was going to be a rockstar in various indie bands that were going to 'make it' that never did, I went through a host of basses (Stingray,Fenders,Gibsons,Rickenbacker,Wal, etc...). All top notch instruments (IMO), that I economised & sometimes literally starved to afford. Loved all of them - wish I stil had some of them. Now I'm fortunate to have a fairly decent job & I guess being able to comfortably afford something boutique; it's ironic for me, that I'm finding I'm getting as much from a £90 Ibanez Blazer & a more pricey £200 Tokai. They're not hindering my playing or technique - I feel I'm improving all the time as long as I keep up my practice. Can't comment on cheap Westfields,Staggs etc, never tried them - I'm sure they're good for the money, but I don't think an inexpensive bass necessarily has to equal rubbish, low quality or unplayable. Cheers

A V4 recently sold on ebay for £600. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200372737909&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]Trace Elliot 300w V-Type[/url] Out of curiousity, would also like to know how much the V-Type (300H) hybrids generally go for, as I've got an old one myself, with the matching 4x12 cab in green carpet. A great sounding, but heavy rig.

[quote name='Wud' post='591479' date='Sep 6 2009, 04:11 PM']Hello Again, Another question about Pedal Mods from newbie Mr Wud! I'd noticed a thread on talksass regarding fitting knobs to bring the internal trim pots out on the Nano Bass Balls. [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=558116"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=558116[/url] I'd love to do this, but I don't feel confident enough about it to risk breaking the pedal. Does anybody here in the UK know somebody on this forum who's good at this sort of thing, or any companies who might be able to help ? I did search before posting but didn't find anything. Apologies if linking to other forums is not appreciated.[/quote] It's an easy enough mod, though not sure you'd have space on a Nano version for the two pots(?) Where are you based Wud? If in the same area as myself, I can do it for you.

[quote name='Wud' post='591337' date='Sep 6 2009, 12:32 PM']Hi, I've recently obtained an old Vox Tonebender MKIII - [url="http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/vox/colorsound/tonebender/mk3"]http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/vox/c.../tonebender/mk3[/url] Seems to be the later model with silicon transistors. I like the sound I can get with it, but was wondering if anybody here knew of any info regarding modding it for better use with bass? I was also wondering if it would be possible to add an LED or Power socket ? I'm handy with a soldering iron, but know next to nothing about circuits and components etc, but I'm keen to try something new. Thanks[/quote] [i]* Edit : Hang on, just read your post properly. If it's an old Tonebender, please leave it stock - quite collectable! If it's not for you, why not sell it for a good price & buy something more suited to bass or get someone to build you something. I would not mod it myself.[/i] Hi, To increase the bass on this pedal & most other fuzzes, you should look at upping the values of input, & possibly output caps to start with. [url="http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=68999.msg552269#msg552269"](Tonebender mods)[/url] There is a lot of info on [url="http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/"]DIY Stompboxes[/url] and [url="http://freestompboxes.org"]Freestompboxes[/url] To add a an LED, would suggest best way forward is to change to a 3PDT footswitch: [url="http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/diagrams/switch_lo_3pdt_tb_dcjack.gif"]True bypass switching LED & DC jack[/url] Cheers

[quote name='Bassassin' post='591233' date='Sep 6 2009, 10:17 AM']Did you snag it? It didn't go for much.... J.[/quote] No, unfortunately my £54 snipe wasn't enough to bag it. Nevermind

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='590711' date='Sep 5 2009, 03:13 PM']What the hell was THIS all about? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250490018326"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=250490018326[/url] I mean, yes, it's a nice enough fretless, but for [i]that [/i]price ...? [/quote] It's an old Tokai. From that period they're great guitars & certainly comparable to the good examples of U.S. originals. I've seen Tokais, along with Fernandes,Burny,Greco etc of that vintage go for more, & sometimes less. That price isn't that excessive IMO.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='590716' date='Sep 5 2009, 03:15 PM']And here's a bargain for someone: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-JAPANESE-MAYA-ELECTRIC-BASS-GUITAR-70S_W0QQitemZ230373110943QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item35a34eb49f&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-JAPANESE-MAY...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url][/quote] Yes, hopefully me!

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='587648' date='Sep 2 2009, 04:38 PM']I did a PCB for a forum member based on the Bronx Cheer. Layout from General Guitar Gadgets: [url="http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=80&Itemid=108"]http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index....&Itemid=108[/url] Wondering if anyone here had experience of using this effect - synth-like env-distortion sounds quite cool as opposed to daft wah-like farty raspberry. Is it worth a build, as I have all the comps necessary, or is it actually a bit silly? [/quote] Hi Al, Had a listen to [url="http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Tim+Escobedo+Bronx+Cheer&rd=r1&fr=yfp-t-501&u=www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/fuzz/snippets.html&w=tim+escobedo+bronx+cheer&d=EmAyYhlMTW6T&icp=1&.intl=uk"]soundclip here[/url] , could be wicked on bass. Would be interested to know myself. Cheers

[quote name='chris_b' post='587914' date='Sep 2 2009, 08:30 PM']Great news. You think something will be missing, but it won't. You'll find that a trio will be great once you get used to the lack of audio wallpaper and background racket. I play in trio's all the time and you just have to love the space and freedom that you get. Every note you play will become more important to the number, as will every space you leave. You can fill the spaces with all kinds of stuff, pedals, extra notes, whatever you want, but none of it is needed and most of the "stuff" will detract from what you are playing. Try it.[/quote] I've always enjoyed playing in three piece or at least bands with one guitarist bands more. Love the the space; everything seems (to me) more defined, better dynamics. Never understood the need for a rythmn guitarist clogging things up. Having said all that, one of the bands I'm in at the moment has twin guitars... Fuzz & Octaver can sometimes come in handy as far as effects go.

Ibanez Blazer at the moment.

[quote name='ezbass' post='585744' date='Aug 31 2009, 01:23 PM']+1 Added one of these to my 50's RI for some P/P action and the tone is spot on.[/quote] Another +1 for SPB1, nice vintagey tone on my old Tokai with flats. Though I do also want to try Wizard pickups myself next time, I need to upgrade a bass.

I've got an old Qtron. I like it, think it's pretty good especially considering price of them. Nice going into a fuzz, quite a variety of tones - not subtle , though not all them useable on bass IMO. There is the well known issue with a bit of a spike in volume when engaged & (for me) the annoyance of not having an LED to indicate when effect is on. Some people get round this with use of a limiter afterwards, however modded mine with a volume control to tame it a bit and an LED on the switch to let me know when it's engaged. It's not a Mutron, but it's a good introduction to the world of envelope filters. If you get one for a good price, why not try it. If it's not for you, flog it on...they do seem to be popular.

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='579811' date='Aug 25 2009, 07:59 AM']Nick - did you mod yours at all for bass freq's or use standard component values?[/quote] Hi Al, First two I built with the 'stock' 68nF. Second pair I used 1uF caps, because I didn't have any of the former in my bits box at the time. So I guess I had inadvertently modded them Though to be honest, didn't notice a massive difference between the two values of input caps, found enough bass getting through either way - the next one I build for myself will have the 'Al Heeley phat /norm mod' switch in it, as per yours. Cheers

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='578439' date='Aug 23 2009, 07:26 PM'].....Green Red Llama with my Phat Norm mod, which switches out the 68nF cap of the original for a 1uF cap to let the bass tones breathe a little more. Superb pedal for bass or lead, even better than the Tubescreamer, more high end bite and nmuch higher gain range. marvellous! Again, can be used to boost fairly clean or shockingly dirty[/quote] Love the Red Llama pedal, it really is a great overdrive IMO - a classic. Built four of them so far, everytime I've lent one to someone to try, they've also loved it so much, I've ended up giving it away! Got to get round to knocking up another one for myself, this time to keep.

[quote name='ritch' post='578609' date='Aug 23 2009, 10:07 PM']I'm trying to make a Sovtek Big Muff from a tonepad board/project, and I've soldered it all together. The true bypass works, as sound goes through that way, but nothing when I click the switch. Currently it's not assembled in the case, but should it work if I just plug in all the cables without it in the enclosure, or is there some kind of grounding issue that could cause it to not work? Thought I'd ask incase that's something I should try! It all appears to ground to the input jack socket - one from the board itself, one from the switch, one from the output socket and one from the DC socket. Rich[/quote] Hi, Ummm.....should all work OK outside of the box, albeit probably with some noise due to it being unshielded. Could be any number of reasons, why it doesn't work. Off top of my head, obvious things first; are the polarized components (caps,diodes, transistors) right way round?, power getting to effect OK?, DPDT switch wired up right....etc Whereabouts are you based? If you're near me, I can have a look - might be able to suss it out.

The Digitech Bad Monkey is cheap, has not a bad sound & not too extreme .

'82 Tokai Hardpuncher (Webstrings flats 50-110) 2.5, 4, 4.5 - another bass with 'man action'! er medium(?) '81 Ibanez Blazer (Elites Nickels 45-105) 1.5, 3, 4 Low 60's Commodore semi (32" scale d'Addario Chromes 45-100) 2, 3.5, 4 Low

Brilliant idea - very innovative.

[quote name='Mickeyboro' post='569473' date='Aug 14 2009, 08:40 PM']I play in a functions band and dep with a party band. They have two or three duplicate numbers (eg Saw Her Standing There, Ruby) which are played in D (one band) or E (t'other) depending on the singer's ability to hit the high notes. I have to engage brain before moving fingers, not an easy thing to do at my age...[/quote] I have the same issue, with couple of bands I play with. I note the keys on the setlists, though even then still manage to cock it up occaisionally

Hello Mate, Can't think of any bands off the top of my head, but can tell you of a couple from previous audition/debacle experiences to avoid! Could be worth trying an advert in Gumtree & [url="http://www.bristolrock.co.uk/Pages/MusiciansWanted.htm"]Bristol Rocks[/url] ; bassist wanted ad there at the moment which could be of interest(?) If I hear of anything, will give you a shout. Good luck with your search.

Nice looking & fairly decent [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Kay-Bass-Guitar-Thru-Neck-Epiphone-style_W0QQitemZ280380283913QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item4147f79c09&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]Kay[/url] Mate of mine has 6-string version of this & it's not bad. Not the usual Kay crap.