T-Bay

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1490522987' post='3265626'] It had a richness back then. I think we've got used to a much richer sound and listening back, a lot of Futurist music now sounds quite thin. [/quote] I had never thought of it that way, but it does make sense. And quite often nothing sounds or looks more dated than something that was originally intended to be futuristic. If you look back at old sci fi programs they are almost laughable now but seemed amazing at the time.

Hmmm, Eva Cassidy, leaves me cold personally. Just singing a song slowly never improves it to me. If you want goosebumps it would be something like Johnny Cash Hurt for me, an awesome track when NiN did it but taken to another level by Cash.

Nope, I have the smooth hound on its own supply and the same with the Zoom. It's a pain having three plugs in total but a necessary evil. Just got bad white noise when I sue it with the Zoom, it's fine with my other pedals but I use the B3 a lot. Sorted now with a bit of fiddling as mentioned. It does seem that the B3 is a bit dirty in its operation and what you say would bear that out as well.

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1490470226' post='3265394'] Billie Holiday for me. She had a very narrow vocal range but her delivery and feel can make me cry. I am sorry but Whitney Huston's yodeling just makes me cringe. I can admire the skill involved but you are not required to put every vocal chop you know into every song. Less really is more, sometimes one note at the end of a word will do. Apologies but I had to get that off my chest. [/quote] +1 on winey Housedown, awful and very annoying to me. I used to like Kate Bush but she must have been sniffing the Ajax of late as she has completely lost the plot in so many ways. Tracey Chapman takes some beating.........

A lot of it comes down to age. I loved both of them when I was about 10-12 and they were at their height, then I found metal and alternative stuff and never looked at anything with a synth again. I still like it though, nostalgia I guess. If you look through the years there are always a few acts that are 'big', some stand the test of time better than others and even the most popular will split opinion, I still can't see the Beatles as anything better than a pop act with a couple of ok songs, some people would have me hanged for that sentiment.

We have an ashdown at work of indeterminate model (1x12 combo of some sort), it is unreliable, heavy and sounds poor at best and terrible when really pushed. I see people on here with Ashdown rigs who are happy with them so presumably some of their stuff is good.

I sent mine back to Chris on Thursday and it was back by return today, superb service as always. Unfortunately the fix was not a magic bullet as hoped but certainly improved the situation. I have spent an hour messing about with settings, cables, filters etc etc and have sorted it. The length of cable had some effect but very little, the location had no effect at all. Next to it or across the room made no difference. Using the active setting on the zoom made a significant difference and chucking in a filter plus a few settings adjustment on the amp has it back to the close to zero level I wanted down from an annoying buzz. I have worked out why I hadn't noticed it before - I had only used it with the zoom at home so the volume is very low and you just don't notice it. The smooth hound through any of my other pedals is perfect so there is some issue with the zoom. But all sorted now so I am happy. Thanks again to Chris for the quality and speed of his service, a lot of suppliers could learn from him.

I bought a Yamaha lead guitar (just to noodle on a couple of bits) and it was described as needing work as it wouldn't stay in tune so was a price reasonable for its condition. The tuning was simple to fix and turned out to just be loose tremolo springs allowing the bridge to rise as you tuned it. But the fretboard was something else, each fret had six dimples in a sea of grot. It must have been a couple of millimetres thick in places and you could see a line in it where the string touched. It was gross. I used a spray foam cleaner designed for car dashboards. It worked a treat but the first couple of sprays went from white to brown in a quite revolting way! As I said it was cheap so I was happy to do the work and with a quick dress down and a good reoil it is looking as good as new, if not better.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1490387359' post='3264870'] I think he had just a touch of overdrive on it [/quote] I love it, looks superb and has the sound to match. I really do need to save up some cash and talk to you about one.

That sounds fantastic, a lovely tone. Was that clean or any effects on it?

There is no accounting for taste with a lot of people. We play don't look back in anger as it's very popular but we are dropping it when we we overhaul the set after the next round of gigs is done and we have some time. It's is just so dreary. It goes on for 4 1/2 minutes but feels like hours but again everyone in the audience seems to love it.

I am genuinely gobsmacked that a 'quality' maker would send a response like that. The idea that they are using AliExpress/ eBay type suppliers from China is appalling. The Chinese are very capable of making high quality stuff to a decent spec but it needs to be done by a buyer who stipulates exact quality levels and checks they are adhered to. To reply that 'Chinese stuff is a bit variable' shows it's not happening and is disgraceful. One make that I wouldn't personally go near if that is the way they work. Where else have they saved money on buy in bulk Chinese parts?

I wondered that myself but we tried three different leads, all worked with the passive but not the schecter, one had worked with it fine the day before and worked ok on my amp when I got home and checked it. It's really strange, the amp May well have had it's settings twiddled with in the intervening time but can't be sure and we had a damn good fiddle with and couldn't get anything. I was going to gig the schecter on Wednesday for the first time but now just have this little niggle at the back of my mind.

No experience of Gibson but my epiphone was much better than that, I still completely rewired it but I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to wiring. Something like that will give hassle sooner or later.

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1490300683' post='3264176'] on a bass that expensive it should be spot on looks like a two year old soldered that up very poor [/quote] Exactly, it would be poor on an Encore, let alone anything top end.

Weird one this but wondering if anyone can shed any light on it. There is an Ashdown amp where I work and I have been using it for our band practices in recent weeks. Yesterday it worked fine with my Schecter (active) it was also working fine this lunchtime with an Ibanez (passive), then this evening I could get nothing out of the schecter, I tried a new battery but nothing at all. I had a spare bass (epiphone passive) and that worked fine. I tried the schecter at home and it's fine. Any ideas what could be happening? I am guessing it's something to do with the active aspect of the schecter but no idea how or what.

The soldering on the bottom wire is very poor as well, if one of our lads did that they would be practising a lot before being let loose on anything.

Personal taste and all that but for me the only way mustang sally ever sounds good is when I am not in the room. It's one of the few songs that would be a deal breaker for me, I despise it so intensely that I just couldn't play it. No idea why but it just hits some nerve or other. Out of our set about 1/3 are tracks I love, another 1/3 are ones I quite like and the other 1/3 are stuff I wouldn't personally listen to, but oddly a couple from there are ones I really enjoy playing. I have found there is not necessarily a link between what I like listening to and what I like playing but still sure mustang sally wouldn't be one I would like playing.

[quote name='rushbo' timestamp='1490216065' post='3263397'] Get in touch with Chris at SH. He sent me out a new receiver which works flawlessly. [/quote] Thanks :-)

[quote name='rushbo' timestamp='1468439055' post='3090985'] I'm delighted to say that Chris at Smooth Hound went the extra mile and a half to sort this for me and it now works brilliantly with my Zoom. I don't know what he did, but I'm glad that he did it. Absolutely first class customer service and a first class product. [/quote] Does anyone know what the solution on this is? Just updated my pedal board and ended up using a 2m cable as the noise was horrendous, never had a problem before. The smooth hound is presently next to the zoom on the board so I could shift things around a bit but would probably only get a 15-20cm separation maximum.

Out of interest, what sorts of music do people think particularly suits fretless? (Asking as have absolutely zero experience of fretless).

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1490131858' post='3262551'] I can't speak for UK functions bands. In the States if your an adult looking at joining a functions band to make money you'd have to your own car. It's a must. Blue [/quote] The USA is somewhat larger than the UK, my brother thinks a long drive is from Boston to Tucson and anything less than a day's drive is 'close', over here anything more than a couple of hours drive is 'far away'.

Hmm, just coming up with upload fail whenever I try..........