prowla

1 hour ago, police squad said:

is that an HW or real one?

They look good in this colour

It's a real one.

My Jetglo says hi.

Bunged a few quid - hope it works out!

37 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

A 15 year old Merc C350. The Saga quote would seem to be for an Aston though. About twice the next highest quote. 

It is turning into a bit of a saga.

31 minutes ago, jay bass said:

Does anyone know of a suitable hard case for this bass

i dont want to use a full size bass case, i have a decent gig bag but would prefer a hard case

thanks 

Regards

jay

A gun case might be suitable - there are some large plastic rectangular box with a handle type ones.

8 hours ago, chris667 said:

 

 

I really admire your attitude, but I think you have to temper that with having policies in place that protect your business.

 

Asking for a refund and a further £50 compensation is not reasonable. Nor is claiming a fret buzz on the 19th fret makes an instrument "unplayable". You'll never make this buyer happy.

 

If you offer to put things right or offer all the money back, that's perfectly reasonable and you've passed your tests.

 

You shouldn't offer to fix things on a 24hr turnaround though. What if you can't do that? 

It's entirely possible that he's on this forum and realised that people who know him might see what's happened and realise he's a bit of a tool.

Maybe not a complete tool - it's entirely possible that he is hacked off that he can't play a song because one note is unplayable.

For illustration, my go-to bass developed a worn fret at E on the G-string, which meant I raised the action a bit but then found it less enjoyable to play and drifted towards another bass (try playing "Born To Be Wild" without that E!); it's now had a re-fret and normality is resumed.

On the question of "compensation", whilst he's put effort & cost into collecting the instrument, but I don't think that is recoverable on his part, so the compensation question is unlikely going to get him anywhere.

If I buy a pair of shoes and the soles fall off within a week I'll go and get a refund, but I won't expect them to also pay back my bus fare for both journeys there and back.

1 hour ago, Gank Bass said:

Could you talk me through the Morningstar? I'm seeing them more and more these days but I'm totally uninitiated with midi

I've got it to augment the C4 synth pedal, as its paltry controls aren't sufficient to realistally do much with; effectively it's adding 6 buttons to the C4 (MC6 = MIDI Controller with 6 buttons).

The C4 has a MIDI interface box but its connectors are non-standard so I connect them via an interface (a box with standard MIDI DIN connector on oneside and the C4's proprietary connector on the other) called a Neuro Hub which sits on the underside of the pedalboard (they now do a smaller interface called a MIDI Adapter).

MIDI is quite straightforward: you can think of it as a simple network addressing system where:

• Every attached device has an address (called a channel, a number 1-16).
• Each attached device (could be a synth, a pedal, a lighting controller) has a pre-defined set of messages it can accept, such as keyboard notes, control-knob settings, selector switches on/off.
• You can send a value along with the message (a number 0-127), which could be the note on a keyboard, the value of a volume slider, a switch on/off, which effect setting to select.
• Typically synths allow you to save a setting of your choosing to one of 127 memories (eg. 0=moog sound, 1=80s synth bass, 2=the sound they used on that hit in the 90s, etc.); these are called "patches".

A programmable MIDI Controller like the MC6 allows you to program each button to send one or more messages to a given MIDI channel (and set what's displayed on the LCD panel next to the button); typically these could be to choose a given sound you've configured on the synth (a "patch") or to step up/down through the patches.

In my case I've programmed two of the buttons to send the messages to step up/down through the C4's patches.

Note that the 16 channels and numbers 0-127 may seem limited; this is because MIDI is based on 1980s technology (ie. 8-bit computers).

However, you can send multiple messages to the same unit, eg. play a piano sound at middle-C with vibrato at 50% volume (ie. that is 4 messages), so it really is quite powerful.

Imagine you walked into a room with some kit and the producer said "play me a piano sound at middle-C with vibrato at 50% volume"; you'd press a few buttons, twiddle the Vol control, and hit a white key half way along the keyboard; curiously similar to what the MIDI controller would do.

The manufacturers of each unit typically publish a list or table of the messages you can use to control its features; all you need to do is look up the sequence of commands you need to send to make the target device (eg. the C4) do what you want..

59 minutes ago, Gank Bass said:

That looks incredibly fancy! Nice board!

 

I'm looking for that orientation but just wider - which is probably not the most desirable 

Cheers!
With mine the Stomp supplementary switch is as wide as the gap you want to leave to the next pedal.

Actually, for a Stomp, the two switches are just momentary press going to a TRS jack, so making one into a project enclosure (you can get good quality aluminium ones for a few quid) is a pretty simple job.

The one I bought lights up too, so it's got that "essential" extra featurette...

On my board the MicroBass 3 preamp is the hub and the switcher along the front just connects to its fx loop and switches the 4 supplementary pedals in/bypass at the touch of a button.

That means you can switch out a pedal (eg. the Stomp), silently change its setting, and then switch it back in when ready.

My board has this one from NinjaFox.

1 hour ago, Cliff Edge said:

I have astigmatism and I have always been very short sighted, plus advancing years have buggered up the close reading. I wear varifocal glasses most of the time with no issues. I’ve used contact lenses for over 40 years and currently use multifocal Purevision2 from Bausch and Lomb, bought online from Vision Direct. Best contacts I’ve ever used. 

And there y'go - there's no solution which suits everyone!

1 hour ago, Silky999 said:

Thanks folks, the first thing I did was to apologise and offer to sort out the issue for free including picking the bass up the same day the buyer messaged me about the fret issue and them collecting the next day when it was sorted. I suspect the offending fret just needs a tap down and/or spot fret level and dress. I genuinely believe that this is a fair starting point before a refund is discussed. 

 

Again this is just about me trying to find my way on my bass building journey whilst being open, honest and ethical about my abilities and the level of my builds as I start out……

I think the comments here fall into the category of advice rather than criticism; everybody has to start somewhere.

The key thing is knowing consumer law.

As a buyer I'd typically go for the refund, so as to avoid a saga of follow-on remedial action(s).

But offering the fix is a good starting position.

2 hours ago, JoeEvans said:

Yes, but you might want to offer something over and above your basic statutory responsibilities. 

Oh yes - that's allowed! 🙂

2 hours ago, JoeEvans said:

I would write a short, clear returns policy, and when you sell a bass, give a printed copy to the buyer and briefly talk them through it. That way everyone knows where they stand.

If they're operating a business then consumer law overrides any policy restrictions.

4 hours ago, la bam said:

OK hold on... there seems to be some people waking up angry this morning for no reason.... vain seems to be being mentioned a lot....quit playing etc etc.... I'm the least vain person out there

 

I wear prescription glasses for driving as its my longer vision that is slightly off, so that takes care of that. I can then see perfectly. 

 

Close up I'm absolutely fine, what I'm not fine with is tiny small pedal displays on my zoom ms60b+ which is the size of a normal boss pedal on a dark stage with awkward colour contrasts, and the angle it is shown. So I have the juxtaposition of the glasses would probably be fine for reading the pedal and set list, but absolutely awful for playing the bass, as it would look all out of perspective, ie a lot closer to me and larger than it actually is. 

 

The question is/was relating to what ideas/tricks/methods do people use when father time starts catching up. Ie larger screen displays, higher screens, audio cues, different straps.. .. Etc

 

You could get a really long strap so the bass hangs down near the pedals; then you'd be OK with the glasses! 🙂

Some other options:

1. Use bigger writing.
2. Get a tablet on a stand and pretend it's controlling an instrument.
3. Investigate autocue.

Regarding specs, maybe ones with a heads-up display could be an option - they might even become a "look"!

7 hours ago, Wombat said:

You can get varifocal contact lenses now too…

I tried some varifocals spectacles and they were awful: the edges of my 32" 4k monitor became curved and I couldn't read things by moving my eyes but instead had to keep them still and move my head to read; I also couldn't use my peripheral vision.

I really couldn't recommend them less..

As for contact lenses: I was recommended not to have them for astigmatism, as every time you blink you slightly shift them.

I think that varifocal contacts would exacerbate that issue and you'd be looking at the world through a wobbly fish-eyed vision.

Someone buying a used bitsa for £200 can't expect too much, but OTOH they could get a used Squier for similar.

If the seller enthuses that they've put a lot into the build, set it up, and so-on, then perhaps the buyer could take them at their word.

It's possible that the buyer got GAS and then someone else looked at it and went "hang-on, it's got issues".

Given that you mention "customer satisfaction", it is possible that the buyer took you to be a business and is therefore viewing it as a fault with a retail purchase.

They might've become disillusioned with the whole thing.

I'd be wary of buying Chinese parts and tarting them up, as their quality can be questionable - I've had a couple of howlers.

Mostly "yebbuts" from my side, but I do hope it gets sorted satisfactorily for both sides!

Original.

Nilsson.

Original.

Slade.

It's a no from me.

7 minutes ago, paulmcnamara said:

Apparently Hobgoblin in London is Paul McCartney's favourite music shop....... it's spitting distance from his MPL Offices in Soho Square. Maybe he'll invest in the company?

I didn't even know there was one in London.

How's things in the USA?

3 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

That's a shame  - a lost sale for them, and off-putting for you.

 

About 20 years ago, I visited Hobgoblin in Rathbone Place, with my 7 year old daughter.  They let her try every instrument in the shop (even a Low Whistle  - the holes were so big that her fingers went inside them!).

 

She eventually settled on the violins, and told me that her two favourites "played good and sounded nice". They happened to be the two most expensive in the shop, and the chap behind the counter was so impressed with her technique and her ear, that he offered to let her borrow his own personal violin while we were looking for a ¼-size instrument for her. 

 

Hobgoblin - YMMV.

I went to Canterbury a few years back and had a look in the Hobgoblin shop.

If I were to go there again I'd give the shop a miss.

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Why RMS?

 

As most AC signals are symmetrical around zero, their mean value is zero.

 

As 'a minus times a minus is a plus' the process of squaring a negative value then finding its root makes it positive.

 

So RMS effectively means 'flipping' the part of a waveform below the zero live and then averaging all the values.

 

If this is reminiscent of calculus, that is because it is. Theoretical RMS values are easily calculated. 

 

True RMS values are more tricky to measure. Most meters assume a sine wave. True rms meters are more complex and costly, although for audio signals a good moving iron meter will do the job.

 

Aye - it's a means of saying there is push energy and pull energy going to a speaker; whilst it naturally goes back to its zero position, we want to measure the energy expended on its travels.