Longwheelbass

On 12/08/2020 at 15:46, barrycreed said:

@hooky_lowdown good to know, so there would possibly be some small gaps if I fitted a j neck. 

Huge gaps

I've had two Mocha or Walnut finish 74 P Basses since I moved over here in 2018. Both were killer, and instant regrets when the bills came a knocking. But the second one came back a few weeks ago after doing a bit of a tour of the countryside from South to North and back again after I covid-sold it...

At almost 8 lb 8 oz with a B neck and that lovely tone that drips out of the factory windings, it's cool to get a second chance at keeping it.

Water damage.

It's a 74, but no-one likes to be 86'd...

On 14/02/2024 at 17:14, ossyrocks said:

It might be just me, but I can't bring myself to pay big money for a refinished guitar, although I'm sure it's lovely. 

 

Off topic, but their lack of detail in describing their basses is frustrating. Some of the vintage Fenders have  not a single word!

Example - https://thebassgallery.com/collections/bass/products/fender-jazz-bass-197 

 

Also, all original? Answers on a postcard please: https://thebassgallery.com/collections/bass/products/fender-precision-1986

All original except for the £10 Chinese made pickguard. The link above says 1986 but the ad actually lists it reasonably accurately as a 78 - but the S8 serial numbers could be found on headstocks up to 1981.

Sending this to a store before the week is out so if anyone is interested, I've dropped the price to 3300.

Still free shipping in UK

On 25/01/2024 at 18:54, Reggaebass said:

Yeah that’s what I was thinking, I know they did code lots but didn’t think they dated them there, the earlier bodies were dated in the pickup cavity 

The dude is a frickin conman. It's a 74 neck. The body MIGHT be earlier than 74 due to the stamps in the neck pocket which were definitely not in any 1974 neck pocket but more likely 1968/69/70, in fact I have owned a couple of 1968 Telecaster Basses with the 42909 stamp in the neck pocket, and the almost totally faded out red band being very common in the 68-72 P basses, attributable to a specific paint supplier - by 72 Fender had sourced a much more UV resistant red paint which was less susceptible to fading from exposure to sunlight. As a parts bass maybe 2.5k max.

No problem Paul, will do.

10 minutes ago, BassmanPaul said:

You're not looking for the normal glow of the heaters but a faint blue glow within the output tubes themselves. It indicates that current is flowing normally. Do you get any hum out of the speakers?

 

No hum, no faint blue glow in output tubes.

3 hours ago, sandy_r said:

 

Could the "too big" msgs be due to having exceeded your total upload limit?  ...just an idea...

 

Sorry to hear of 4-legged friend health issues - hope recent op has good outcome!

 

Thank you Sandy.

And yes I should check my total upload count. I'll bet that's it...

On 20/01/2024 at 19:09, BassmanPaul said:

Nothing made is more important than the health of a treasured pet. I hope your girl recovers swiftly and with no issues. We miss all of the many dogs we've owned. Usually we've had two at a time. The last pair were a Shepard/Husky cross called Bailey and a Chihuahua named Tia.  We brought Tia home in a basket covered with towels to keep the tiny puppy warm. Bailey always liked to check every bag we ever brought home. Her tail would wag and her nose would disappear into each new item.

 

We put the basket down and told Bailey that this one was for her. She knew something alive was under the towels and she ever so gently moved the towels until she found Tia. The look of joy on her face was a picture. She took that little dog as her own and cared for her and taught her the rules of the house as Tia grew up. 

 

When I picked a chicken carcass at the sink there was a dog sitting each side of me with their 'can I eat that?' expressions and their two tails wagging. As I pulled a bit of leash I offered it to them. Bailey would just sit there and eat it. Tia would rise up with one leg against mine as she got her titbit. Instantly after she plonked herself down into the sitting position again. We call this "Two tails wagging" a very fond memory.

Doggoes are family!

I can't get any images to upload on this site any more for some reason, no matter how small I shrink my images to I keep getting "too big" notices, but anyways, the tubes are all glowing normal, they're all new and all look good but there's zero signal getting through to the cabs.

8 minutes ago, BassmanPaul said:

Hello @Longwheelbass are you there??

 

I'm trying to help you here! 

Sorry dude I've been out of town for three days - our vet is over an hour's drive from us and one of our dogs has just had a massive surgery, we had to stay closer to the vet and we've just got her home with a 10 inch long scar in her belly.

The amp issue has gone on the backburner, but I will have a closer look at it tomorrow. I appreciate your offers of assistance, I'll fire it up tomorrow morning and check the visuals on the tubes. I did fire it up a few days ago after you initially asked and noticed that there is zero signal of any kind getting through to the two 15's. No hum, nothing. But did not look at the tubes. From memory last time it ship itself the tubes were a-glowing.

20 hours ago, BassmanPaul said:

I assume, being an Electrician, that you have a Digital Multimeter.

 

In case you are without:

 

bassman_135_sch.pdf 99.45 kB · 8 downloads

Thank you Paul. Will run some checks. I should mention I did check the fuse when it quit a few months back, and the fuse is fine.

Well the 73P and the 66J were my two best. The P came in one piece, the J took a couple of years and came in seven pieces from seven different donors. If I don't get back into the workforce soon, the 73P may become the worst purchase!

3 minutes ago, spyder said:

I've used Darren at....

RetroAmps 

Unit 1

Lambert building 

10 Seale Hayne

Newton Abbot

TQ12 6NQ

 

07565162066

 

Thanks Spyder! That's two for Darren.

12 hours ago, BassmanPaul said:

These amps have a very simple schematic - pretty much standard Fender through much of their tube offerings. For interest what seems to be the problem with the amp?

 

Hi Paul, yes they are pretty basic, and I'm an electrician by trade, but don't have enough amp knowledge/schematic experience to trust myself, nor do I have a cap discharger and all the other tech tools the amp men have at their disposal, plus the 135's have the extra twist of the ultra-linear output transformer, which isn't much of a difference I guess, especially not to the guys who work on em for a living.

What it did initially was simply stop volume-wise. It remained powered up, tubes getting juice, standby still engaged, it just stopped converting bass signal to dB's. So I took it to this guy's place who I'd been recommended to, with a cab and a P Bass, set it up in his lounge and it worked perfectly. He had a fiddle with it, we couldn't get it to fault. So I took it home, continued using it at home for a few days, then it quit again. Back to his place, this time DOA. So left it with him, and it dragged on for two years, him trying to get it to fault, then eventually he just started changing out parts as he couldn't get it to fault. In the end, it sounded amazing with fresh caps and a new set of tubes, but like I mentioned, a few months after he'd finished the job, it quit in exactly the same fashion.

I found from Reggae's link that Steve the Ampman is a 45 min drive from me and he seems to speak my language. I'll give him a bell and see what he's got to say. The last tech replaced a ton of caps and seemed to know what he was doing - I did spend time at his place, but he wasn't exactly well set up and his health wasn't the greatest.

6 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Nice amps and basses, I don’t blame you for not taking it back to that guy, have you had a look through here to see if there’s anyone near you 

 

Wow cool man, thank you! Will trawl through that list.

So for brief periods over the last couple of years I have revelled in the luxury of owning two 135 Bassman heads. I only ever run one at a time, one is more than enough with two single 15's - it will shake ship off the shelves if you dial channel and master vol up to 5's. But about 2.5 years ago the silver grill cloth one in the pic above up and quit on me stone dead. I was recommended a tech north of me, I'm in Exeter, and it took him 2 years to actually repair it. I must have driven the 45 minute trip to him around ten times over that timeframe and every time he had a new reason for it not being ready - after calling me and telling me "it will definitely be 100% done on Wednesday/Thursday/Friday..."  you get the picture? Finally around 6 months ago he had it finished. I picked it up, took it home, played it for 5 minutes and it quit again. he came out to my place a couple of days later, I fired it up and it ran perfectly, he hung around for an hour and it was absolutely fine. He left, promising to fix it again if it ever shipped itself again.

Of course, three months later it came to a dead stop AGAIN and now I want to find someone with their act together who can diagnose it and fix it - I'd even drive to Bristol or Plymouth if there's no-one else close by in/around Exeter.

Anyways, it aint going back to that guy...anyone have any recommendations for guys experienced in CBS era Fender tube amps in East Devon/Bristol/Plymouth?

On 13/12/2023 at 22:58, mr4stringz said:

I’ve not bought much at all year by previous standards, but the best is definitely this. Epiphone Vintage Pro T-Bird. Stupendously good for the cash (especially second hand with a case, as this was). I’ve replaced the knobs for black/chrome and, when I get round to it, will get a black scratchplate on it too.

 

Worst purchase? I’ve yet to find a use for the Stone Deaf PDF-2 pedal that I picked up to try with my octave up sounds. Nowt wrong with the pedal, just not what I’m looking for.

The 'bird is badass, will look even more so with a black guard.

On 08/12/2023 at 18:21, Reggaebass said:

From my understanding late 73 was when they started changing from tort to black and both were around in 74 , with most of the black guards having the thumb rest E side, haven’t seen a 75 myself , I suppose it’s possible there was still a few lurking around 

Those guards are the short-lived printed tort guards that started showing up mid to late 74 and ran on through to 75, they didn't get a lot of them but they did go out on quite a few P's over those two years. If you ever get to see one up close you can see the primitive pixellation pattern they used to create them. I don't think they were that appealing so the bulk of sunburst P's in those two years ended up with black guards.

On 10/01/2024 at 18:01, nilorius said:

Interesting, is it an advertisement ?

That "65" Jazz decal looks a little Letraset

Here's a 66

Nice 2021 Roadworn P Bass neck - with a genuine ciggie burn from a previous owner!

Great neck, vintage size frets still good, truss rod works, ready to go. I had it on a 68 P body with a gold guard, and it was fabulous! (check pic 3)

Free pickup in Exeter or £10 shipping UK wide.

Hello bassheads,

Here's a nice classic from the late 70's or early 80's, a vented single 15 cab with the original 8 ohm JBL D140F driver. Clean grill cloth and emblem still attached.

It appears to have been re-coned at some point before I bought it, after having this pointed out by a member on this forum, it would have come with an aluminum dust capbut still sounds huge playing any of my old P J or Tele basses through it, it picks up faithfully every whisper of the roundwounds I use, ample top end bite and an absolutely room-shaking bottom end and rich throaty mids.

£375 is a great bargain for a classis sounding vintage cab.

Sounds great, in really good shape, the cone is still pristine, the frame is done in a fetching orange, it's perfect for any stage rig or home/pro studio setup.

Free pickup in Exeter. It's advertised elsewhere at £500, here for 10% less for my in-house homies.

Stunning are mega rare finding one with the orig pearl guard. And that burst, wow...

Damn, I've been after a late 60's B width J neck for years...unfortunately I have no P neck to offer...but re-reading what you have it appears this an A neck. Bummer.