~tl

[quote name='paul h' post='491614' date='May 18 2009, 05:25 PM']Okay, get yer wood out. [attachment=25470:layer_mask_01_copy.jpg] Make a selection of the bit you want to keep....body shape, headstock etc. [attachment=25471:layer_mask_02_copy.jpg] Press the layer mask button. [attachment=25472:layer_mask_03_copy.jpg] Hey presto. It's even better if you use the path tool.[/quote] It's even easier using clipping masks in Photoshop. Just have the wood in a layer above the body shape, right click and choose "Create clipping mask". The body layer will be used as a mask for the wood and you can move the wood layer about like normal – which allows you to play about with the grain pattern etc.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='490711' date='May 17 2009, 05:51 PM']Nice cover. Just had an idea... OK, how about this... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/305mm-x-200mm-CARBON-FIBRE-Sticker-Vinyl-A4_W0QQitemZ350198595640QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item350198595640&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/305mm-x-200mm-CARBON...93%3A1|294%3A50[/url] or [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/A4-SHEET-CARBON-FIBRE-EFFECT-SELF-ADHESIVE-VINYL_W0QQitemZ170327698984QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Crafts_StickersScraps_Decoupage_SM?hash=item170327698984&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/A4-SHEET-CARBON-FIBR...93%3A1|294%3A50[/url] Faux carbon fibre cover?! Apply that, lacquer over the top... Looking good dude. Nice update. Short and sweet![/quote] ...or how about getting a real one made? There was this thread a while back: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=32592"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=32592[/url]

Looks fine. Is your speaker lead working?

...and make sure you use a good RCD circuit breaker!

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='486199' date='May 12 2009, 05:58 PM']If you don't mind me sticking my oar in (as a pro web designer), but your new site will gain better google juice by having real indexable text on the front page and on the headings on the inside pages instead of the pictures of text you currently have. Also it would help to separate out content from presentation by using css rather than tables to position elements.[/quote] I didn't notice that... agreed wholeheartedly. Text should be presented in the browser as [i]actual[/i] text where ever possible – not only is it better for SEO, it's better for people with disabilities, etc.

[quote name='paul h' post='483303' date='May 8 2009, 08:57 PM'][quote name='alexclaber' post='483240' date='May 8 2009, 07:34 PM'] Well I wasn't asking for the opinions of every web designer on basschat, just that of the average bassist! My apologies if I've wasted anyone's time, I simply wasn't expecting those kind of responses, just ones like "more pictures, less confusing menus, less text, etc". Alex[/quote] I don't think we are wasting our time. It's quick to bang up a quick idea and we only do it because we are genuinely interested. Funny how my and ~tl's ideas are so similar. P> [/quote] Agreed. I enjoy mocking up websites – for some reason it's infinitely more enjoyable than working on websites that I actually have to get done! The new site looks great Alex, certainly a vast improvement over the current one.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='484100' date='May 10 2009, 12:25 AM']True... but a pain in the arse for me... I have these... [/quote] Ah yeah, those sort of things make life difficult...

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='484094' date='May 10 2009, 12:13 AM']Good for powering the EBS pedals... not so good on the bass front - it's a pain in the arse rewiring your basses...[/quote] You can get away without re-wiring your bass. Just get a [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=44392"]PP3 battery header[/url] (or two if you have an 18v bass) and connect the two leads coming out of it together. Then you can just replace the battery in your bass with it when you want to use the phantom power.

I like the idea of the cab pic in the above pic, but here's one I chucked together: [attachment=24956:bfb.png]

I think the primary thing that needs done is for the website to be "professionalised" somewhat. Not so much in terms of the content, but in terms of the look and feel. First impressions matter, and black text on a white background just seems a little unprofessional and would certainly put me off if I was a new customer and hadn't heard about your cabs before. While I appreciate that it's easy to update like this, just because you have a fancy layout doesn't automatically make things hard to update. There are some great content management systems out there that help you keep the site updated without having to wade through the layout. Good design practices when it comes to HTML/CSS/Javascript help enormously too. I agree with what people have said about having some sort of size comparison for the cabs and having an overview of the products on one page. You could always have links from that to a page for each model where you flesh out the details. Some more professional looking photos would be good – try and get them against as plain a background as possible and without too much else in the photos (little bears excluded, of course). As others have mentioned, the technical/FAQ pages could be merged. How about having just the question of the FAQs displayed by default, then when you click on them the answer is shown (pretty easy Javascript to achieve that). That helps people skim through for the answer they're looking for. As has been mentioned previously, get the logo on every page. How about a contact form that people can just fill in and that gets sent on to you by e-mail – having that instead of a published e-mail address will decrease the amount of spam you get in your e-mail account too. I'd be happy to help you out with any HTML/CSS/Javascript, or even do some site mock-ups for you (web-design is a bit of a hobby of mine). Shoot me a PM.

I don't think you can go far wrong with a Hartke LH500. They're not as cheap as they used to be, but you can still pick them up for the £320 mark. Couple that with a 1x15 or a 4x10 cabinet and you should be away...

EMGs are unusual in the fact that they are special low impedance pickups with built in pre-amps that are then fed through a normal-ish passive volume/tone circuit (unless you also have one of their "systems" installed which give active treble/mid/bass controls as well). "Normal" active systems use standard, high-impedance, pickups (the kind you get in a passive bass) coupled with an active pre-amp and active tone controls on a board that's separate from the pickups. There is more choice that you can shake a proverbial stick at when it comes to pre-amp/pickup combinations – so as you can imagine the range of tones available is pretty vast. The quality of pre-amps varies greatly, but most of the after-market ones are of a high standard. Most pre-amps are either have treble & bass controls (2-band) or treble, middle & bass (3-band). The exact sound of each control (i.e. the exact frequencies they boost/cut) and what extras you get (bright switches, passive modes, semi-parametric mids, etc) vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. [url="http://east-uk.com/"]John East[/url]'s designs are highly praised and he also makes Alan's [url="http://www.acguitars.co.uk/"]ACG EQ 02[/url] which is a strange beast. Rather than the traditional layout it's a "filter" based design that's hard to explain and gives rise to some interesting sonic possibilities (but takes a bit of getting used to). I have the ACG in my Precision V and it's a truly versatile beast. The [url="http://sadowsky.com/"]Sadowsky[/url] pre-amp also gets good reviews and there are many others to choose from ([url="http://glockenklang.de/"]Glockenklang[/url], [url="http://www.audereaudio.com/"]Audere[/url] and [url="http://www.bartolini.net/"]Bartolini[/url] spring to mind). Of course, you could couple any of them with any type of pickups – so the choice is not even that simple. The first thing to decide on is whether you want a 2-band or 3-band layout (or something in the middle like the ACG), what sort of price you want to spend, and go from there.

How about getting in touch with Andy at Wizard Pickups and seeing whether he could wind some to your specs: [url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/"]http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/[/url]

Does it buzz all the time or just when you touch the strings or a metal part? If you have a bridge earth wire, the other thing to check is that you have the wires on the jack socket connected the right way round. If they're the wrong way, all the metal parts of the bass will be "hot" and touching them will produce a buzzing sound.

If you were planning to teach it may be a "selling point" for your services. Aside from that, I can't think of many cases when you would need it.

Interesting! The only downside I can see is that according to the specs it's limited to the standard guitar range of notes, so won't work with bass or any sort of alternate tuning. Nifty product none the less...

Have you made sure there is an earth wire from the bridge? Miss that out and things can get very buzzy...

Looks like it uses a stereo jack for the 3-buttons. Bit more searching came across [url="http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=45094.0"]this[/url]. Basically, according to that page all the switches are momentary (i.e. they connect when pushed down and disconnect when released) and are connected as follows: [quote]"Mode" button – tip connected to ground. "Down" button – ring connected to ground. "Up" button – tip and ring connected to ground.[/quote] According to [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3574010&postcount=39"]this post[/url] over at T.B. the Eden needs a latching footswitch, so I think you're out of luck. While it probably won't break anything by plugging in the Digitech one, it will only stay muted/bypassed while the buttons on the pedal are held down, which would be a little inconvenient! You should be able to pick up a latching footswitch pretty cheaply elsewhere though.

[quote name='WinterMute' post='478294' date='May 3 2009, 03:46 PM']Yup, all the Geddy Lee's (and some of the other signature models like the Jaco) are made there. I've contacted the vendor, he's happy to let me have it for the BIN price, but I want to be sure it's a Geddy Lee, the bridge doesn't look like a Badass in the pics. He'll be back in Scotland on Tuesday and he's gonna have a look at the bridge. Wateroftyne was right, he doesn't know what it is.[/quote] It looks like a Badass II to me, but it's not very clear.

[quote name='boabskiboab' post='478197' date='May 3 2009, 01:17 PM']ok, bad example. Lets say another set of passives.[/quote] You would run in to the same problem with any set of passive pickups if you were planning to swap them with EMGs. EMGs require 25kΩ pots to work correctly, whereas almost all passive pickups require 250/500kΩ ones.

I have one of these: [url="http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90122498"]http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90122498[/url] Has been great so far...

[quote name='fifeq' post='474569' date='Apr 28 2009, 08:47 PM']sorry for OT but: do you know if there is any place which sells pre drilled cases?[/quote] Banzai sell them, but only in a "typical" effects pedal configuration: [url="http://www.banzaieffects.com/Enclosure-BB-Predrilled-pr-25128.html"]http://www.banzaieffects.com/Enclosure-BB-...d-pr-25128.html[/url]

Tort...