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basstone
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Posts posted by basstone
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It is held in place with velcro tabs and is fairly tight. Probably the best bet is to remove the preamp from the front (not fully as it will be held by cables to the power amp) which should give you enough room to pull the front fan panel off. Alternatively rather than remove the valves it may be possible to get a stick from the rear to push the panel off?
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Not yet. I’ve been using it as a test cab in my workshop but still available to buy!
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Happy to be a supporter - what a great forum!
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1 hour ago, mattjones_81 said:
For anybody in need of Amp repair I would thoroughly thoroughly recommend Hurstbatch Services near Wells which is run by @basstone from this forum.
My Marshall VBA 400 died in a practice session. Tony was so friendly and super knowledgeable about it all. Talked me through everything, got a deal on a new valve for me, was very very reasonable on rates and got it all up and running in less than a week.
I feel much better knowing he has looked over the whole amp, checked everything, done some repairs that needed doing and has rebiased all the valves. Excellent value for money for that peace of mind.
Highly highly recommended - thank you @basstone for everything!
You're welcome Matt.
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Ok it will probably still be around. What date did you have in mind?
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I'm very surprised that this lovely bass has not sold yet, particularly at such a good price! I'm still interested if you change your mind about posting 🙂
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Sorry I won't be able to make it this year as I'm away that week. Gutted!
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On the amp front, I've used a Gallien Krueger MB500 for several years, now. Very light (3Kg) and compact giving 300W into 8 ohms. I use it with a GK 210 neo cab most of the time. The cab is probably still too heavy for you but the MB500 would work well with a BF cab I think!
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5 hours ago, geoham said:
The only thing I've been able to find myself is the dual-concentric pot, which also has a 4 pin connector. I know the basics of how a potentiometer works, and can't quite figure out what a 4th pin would do. (From https://cs.hoshinogakki.co.jp/pcw.nsf/item.xsp?documentId=0C425671AE1BCBD449258A580032410A&strItemKey=3VPVM44A__5C_01&curSuffix=5C01&curFromYMTX=&curToYMTX=&strMode=newpage#)
What I though would be a straightforward mod may be a little more complex.
That little crimping set does look like a useful tool though, it would also make swapping the pickups a much easier task - thanks.
From the picture, I suspect that this is a dual gang 20K pot(C taper) and a single gang 10K (B taper). That makes some sense as often variable frequency middle controls use a dual gang pot for the sweep and a single gang for the level.
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Does anyone out there have a schematic or even a simple wiring diagram showing how the controls connect to the board? The 3 sig and ground is probably fairly straightforward but for the middle frequency with 3 sig plus bias it is not obvious how to add this in. Maybe someone with an SR Ibanez with mid sweep could trace it out. It would be a really good asset for the Ibanez owners on the forum. As for the connectors, they are readily available from multiple sources including:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134781932915?var=434274031445
It pays to get the correct wire size and a good crimping tool to make reliable professional quality pin connections.
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Shame I'm not closer to you. I would be seriously interested in this bass. GLWTS and let me know if you have a change of heart regarding posting.
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8 minutes ago, lewiswhitebass said:
Thanks for the responses guys. On recent gigs I haven't had any issues with the amp. In regards to a leaky cap hopefully this is the sort of thing a decent amp tech would check during a service. I will enquire with sickamps
The cap in question is the dc blocking capacitor in the power amp feedback ensuring that the power amp has unity gain at dc. If this fails any small dc offset in the circuit will be amplified and presented to the output. It will depend on the particular amp design and is not a common failure but worth checking!
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A small DC offset will not significantly affect amp headroom but is not desirable as it will increase the possibility of noise and hum on the output as well as a small increase in heat dissipation and a thump or click when the amp is switched on and off or the speaker connected. Also worrying is the possibility of a leaky capacitor in the feedback circuit which if left will gradually allow the DC offset to increase to the point where the amp and or speaker will be fried through thermal overload - I know from personal experience! Glad to hear it's now fixed and sounding better.
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As already noted, it's quite likely that a pot connection has made an unintentional contact with the screening foil. I always put an insulating layer of clear plastic sheet between the foil screen and the pots to avoid the possibility of this happening. Screening foil is far more effective than conductive paint in my experience and well worth another go.
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It's hard to tell the quality of these enclosed barrel jack sockets. Switchcraft branded should be as good as any available. I've replaced quite a few including Warwick basses. 27 years is good going and the new replacement will not likely last as long! You can't open them up to inspect or repair them and peering inside with a torch, it looks like the contacts are very narrow and likely loose their springiness over time which results in intermittent connection. Access to the barrel securing nut is usually the biggest issue, finding a suitable spanner the correct size that you can actually get in the control cavity. Make sure the soldered connections are good and some insulating sleeving is a good idea which also provides some mechanical strain relief, especially for the wire going directly to the battery clip.
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Getting a decent bass monitor level is not easy particularly with acoustic upright where feedback is often an issue even at moderate sound levels. As already noted putting a high pass filter to reduce the bottom octave helps and often cleans the bass sound up nicely as well as allowing the amp and speaker to go to higher volume levels without distress! I tip my floor monitor amp/speaker back about 45 degrees and try to position it pointing directly at my head if possible ( much easier if sitting as I most often do playing electric beetles for jazz and big band). Putting the amp on a speaker stand is a good option but it’s more gear and needs a cab with a pole mount. Using a separate preamp and an active pa speaker is a good option as well. In ears is worth looking at but as well as good earphones you need to get a balanced mix so you can hear the other instruments and the ambient sound. This is fine if you have the luxury of a full pa with everything going through it and either a decent sound engineer or the ability to control your own mix. All this is not often available on smaller gigs! It would be interesting to hear if anyone has tried a simple 2 way mix of di bass and an ambient mic?
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On 04/08/2024 at 21:39, mybass said:
What is the blend pot value used in the picture? I think these blends were meant to be 25k. Could be interested.
The schematic in the link says the blend is 50K.
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Perhaps think about making a switch to a digital mixer and doing either CAT ethernet cable to FOH or even wifi to a tablet etc. There are lots of reasonably priced options about now from Soundcraft, A & H, etc... they have the added advantages of each band member being able to manage their own monitor mix and lots of onboard eq, effects, compression etc.
Snakes are big and heavy.
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12 hours ago, Richard R said:
Very neat. 👍
How big is the stand? It looks quite small, and I'm thinking if it was too small then the cab would just tilt over backwards as the centre of gravity must be near but above the middle of the speaker
Thanks! To give you a bit more insight into my thinking - It was made specifically for my own build combo as shown in the photo, which itself was designed to be a compact as possible. I use it for jazz and big band rehearsals and gigs. I also wanted the stand to fit inside my cable or music bag so decided when dismantled it should fit within an A4 page footprint. The dimensions are: 28cm L by 21cm W by 16cm H, 10mm thick MDF. I have not had any problems with stability, most of the weight in the cab is the driver (Faital pro 10PR320 at 3.2Kg) and the amp is a very compact class D 300W amp which weighs about 2Kg, overall cab weight is about 13Kg.
This design could easily be scaled to a bigger size to suit a different or bigger combo or cab and the angle of tilt changed also. I have found the two different angle options to be very useful for different situations. My initial thought was to fit some Fender cab tilt back arms to the cab, until I saw the price of them! This stand cost me nothing but about an hour of time as I already had scrap MDF sheet and some furniture wax polish.
One other point worth noting is that the slots need to be quite accurate otherwise it can come apart a bit too easily! The fit did become slightly loose after a few weeks of use so I added some clear gorilla tape to shim the slots and it adds some grip to the assembled fit which is helpful. Overall I am very pleased with the functionality of such a simple and inexpensive bit of kit.
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I needed a simple lightweight and compact tilt back stand for my 1 x 10" Combo so that I could hear myself better. After a bit of thought, I made the stand shown in the photos from a piece of scrap 10mm MDF. The "v" is offset to provide 2 different tilt back angles to suit the stage layout - which is usually very cramped in a 20 piece big band or the corner of the bar for a jazz gig so my amp is usually tucked quite close to my side. It fits easily into my cable bag when dismantled and is stable when in use. The finish is furniture wax applied with fine wire wool.
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On 24/03/2024 at 16:34, damien b said:
Dear friends,
I burnt both 10 " bass speakers in my ashdown combo. Too much input. Which reliable and cheap replacement speaker should/could i equipp my combo with?
Thank you
Damien
Check you've not got any DC on your amp output before connecting new speakers. It is an uncommon but known fault that can happen on Ashdown amps - I know as it happened to me!
Replacement 10" speakers from Ashdown will retain the character of the amp and are not expensive.
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Sorry its now sold. I will edit the post title accordingly
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Another, maybe worth looking at. With the two cabs a few options for power / loudness are available. May be open to offers as no bids yet?
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How about this? Certainly cheap and Cardiff not too far from Somerset.
Or this one, a bit further away but maybe?
jazz pickups - noiseless recommendations wanted!
in Repairs and Technical
Posted
I've had good improvements by screening using copper tape. As well as the control cavity and pickup cavities, it might be worth screening the PU covers, fiddly but does help. Also ensuring that the Pickup pole pieces are grounded helps. A strip of copper tape across the back of the pickup should do it but I've found that to get the best connection I used some conductive paint to join the pole
pieces to the tape. All a bit fiddly but gets worthwhile results. Having said that, using both pickups usually is hum cancelling, combined with a mute switch between musical numbers works well, but remembering to unmute before the music starts!!