silverfoxnik

[quote name='WalMan' post='56668' date='Sep 6 2007, 07:49 PM']Nik Until you said that I was going to say no problem but.........its no problem really. The WD bridge was just an idea - and its not hugely expensive, if overkill as Chris says. I sent MM an email & included an address in the vague hope they turned out to be one of those companies that would just stick a load of screws in an envelope and post them I think a quick toddle to the top of Guildford tomorrow for a better selection of keys is still in order. I seem to have a huge number of keys all roughly the same size just never quite the right size DOH! Some fit one side but not the other - wierd Still it sounded nice at the quiet r/h at our sound guys house Tuesday so I have no great qualms about the bass, and was certainly not having a dig - though again with the kwalidy of that pun perhaps I should [/quote] Phew - for a moment there Al, I thought I'd gone a bridge too far! On a serious note, please let me know if it gets to be an expensive problem to sort out.. Just a thought but Mervyn at Amps-n-Nits in Worthing deals with MM's importers all the time and I wonder if he could help by asking them directly for you? Nik

[quote name='Beedster' post='56559' date='Sep 6 2007, 03:25 PM']Truly awful Nik [/quote] Thanks Chris - always knew comedy and wit were not my forte.. Still haven't worked out what my forte is either ! Certainly not bass playing, that's for sure

[quote name='WalMan' post='56480' date='Sep 6 2007, 01:08 PM']Got it back yesterday & he has adjusted it by resting the saddle on a washer at the mo. Looks OK though, but I had no chance to check it out last night. Subject to a response from MM I think I shall probably just get a [url="http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/shop/products.php?category=206&product=2281"]WD replacement MM5 bridge[/url] and try to slide out the current B saddle and insert one from the WD temporarily. The Elixirs have only just gone on and I do not want to keep taking them off & putting them back. It looks like it should be easy enough to slacken the string and swap the saddle assembly over. I can always put the whole thing on when I next change the strings, but that will probably not be for a while now [/quote] Hi Al, I used my Wal allen key to raise/lower the B string which worked OK. You're welcome to borrow that if needs be.... Seems like you have a solution but I'm concerned you've got extra expense on this so we need to talk as I wouldn't have wanted to 'saddle you' with a problem!! Will call you on your mobile later, Nik

[quote name='outsider70' post='56411' date='Sep 6 2007, 11:09 AM']Hi Same thing happened to my BLX 210. Luckily it was still under warranty and the shop has agreed to repair it...................that was two months ago, they're still waiting for a replacement speaker from Gallien Krueger! Thing is now I dont need the cab and will sell it once it's repaired, they have offered to put an Eminence speaker in there but I would prefer an original (be it better or worse) as I think that would give me a better resale chance.[/quote] Sorry to hear that though it's good you have the warranty in place! Sounds like this might be a fairly universal problem caused by quality brands like GK using cheap components to create budget range gear!

[quote name='alexclaber' post='55728' date='Sep 5 2007, 09:03 AM']That would be unlikely to blow the speakers unless you were constantly clipping the amp (causing increased average power and thus thermal damage) or expecting too much bottom from a small cab (causing overexcursion and thus mechanical damage). As you were using a single 2x10" with a 200W head for what looks like a fairly rocking covers gig, both problems probably happened. It wasn't really an issue of too much power for your cab so much as an issue of not enough SPL (power x speaker sensitivity) capability from your rig resulting in pushing it too hard - like driving a car permanently in the red. The speakers in the Backline are unlikely to be as good as even Eminence Alpha 10s (their cheapest 10" woofer) which cost about £25 each from Blue Aran. Will the resale on the Backline even justify that cost? Dubious, methinks... --- Here's some good info from Jerrold Tiers (ex-Ampeg engineer) to help you diagnose what went wrong: "If the head is rated anywhere within reason of the speaker power rating, there should be no problem. That would be within say 2x the speaker rating, maybe 3x. DC certainly can be an issue for speakers, as it pushes the voice coil out of the magnet gap. That leaves part of the coil un-cooled allowing it to overheat. In a gig situation, you'd not notice anything until the speakers fail. As I recall, some Hartke amps had an odd protection scheme that could potentially produce DC if it was not working right. If you still have one of the dead speakers (the actual driver) you might look at it. Cut around the outside of the cone, and also cut around the threated cloth "spider" that is cemented to the front of the magnet. Snip the two wires and lift out the cone (if it will come out, it may be stuck in the magnet). Now, look at the voice coil, the coil of wire that was sticking into the magnet. if the coil is over-heated or burned-looking, possibly has shed some wires that are now loose, it was probably over-powered. If there is a blackened ring around both ends of the coil, it likely got a lot of lows, and was over-powered. If there is a pretty clear blackened ring around ONE end of the coil, where it is blackened etc, then I would tend to suspect DC that pushed the coil out of the magnet "gap" on that side. If it looks perfect, except for loose wires at the end, or other damage to the end, then it probably was hit with lows it could not handle, and the voice coil was banging on the magnet backplate." --- Actually, I've just thought of a good option. Buy a couple of Eminence Beta or Basslite 10"s and put them in your cab. Whilst that's keeping you running build a BFM Omni 10 cab and once complete then shift the woofers over to that. Then throw away the Backline (firewood?) Alex[/quote] Hi Alex Thanks for the detailed post... Your comment about 'firewood' is probably the most sensible approach to take with this really, all things considered. Going off topic slightly, having just read the '3 daft Geordies and a whole bunch of gear' thread in Amps & Cabs posted by Warwickhunt and re-read my own comments here about how an old 1x15 cab that cost me less about £50 sounds great to my ears, it makes me wonder about what we're all chasing in terms of the perfect sound from our rigs? Especially as we all intermix technical info/data with subjective adjectives to describe what we like and hear - e.g. SPL and 'punch'. As we all differ so wildly in terms of what we think of as a good or great sound and because most of the venues we play in with our gear have really bad sounding rooms, isn't it almost impossible to achieve any consistency and define what is really good? Anyway, mad musings aside and going back onto topic, I'm going to put in some cheaper 10" drivers and sell the cab, along with it's companion GK 1x15. Then, I'll continue with my old 1x15 for the immediate future because it sounds 'good' to me at the moment. And i'll try and do some proper research about what I really like/want from a speaker but that may take me some time.. Hi Al, had a chuckle at your last post about Graham and Drum & Strum etc!! Has Graham set it up now and if so, how is it (going off topic again...)? Nik

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='55693' date='Sep 5 2007, 07:18 AM'][url="http://www.bluearan.co.uk/menu/index.php?category=Speaker_Components&masthead=Loudspeaker_Drivers&subheadnew=10_inch_Drivers"]Blue Aran[/url] have a good stock of cones although mostly Eminence, Fane or P-Audio. It might be worth looking on Ebay for other manufacturers like Celestion or JBL? Maybe other members can suggest good suppliers as well?[/quote] Thanks Steve - I'll have a look and see what's what... I'm quite looking forward to seeing how the fairly low-budget GK cab can be improved upon with better drivers. Nik

[quote name='WalMan' post='55680' date='Sep 5 2007, 12:29 AM']Sorry to hear of your problems Nik. I nearly came over myself on Saturday, but #1 son was home for the first time in 7 weeks so family duties & a curry took over. BTW Plan C may come to fruition over the weekend Of course none of that is of any use in your speaker problem. If you do not get it sorted my sound guy certainly used to have a good reasonably priced contact for recones & I could check with him for you May see you on 15th Al[/quote] Hi Al No problem - family comes first! Good luck with Plan C...exciting stuff.. Funny enough, because I had this problem, for a gig on Sunday night and instead of my GK Backline 1x15, I decided to take out my old hand-made 1x15, which I bought along with an old Peavey Mk IV amp for £100 about 18 months ago from someone on Bassworld. It's the cheap rig I used to get started with after I decided to start playing again after my 12 year sabbatical.. Anyway, the cabinet is tatty as anything but inside is a really good 1x15 driver with the aluminum center cone (is that a black widow?).. Anyway, it sounded brilliant - even made me like my Hartke head again??? The combination of the DJ5, bit of compression and that old 1x15 was just great...So, apart from changing the Hartke for a GK 700, I might just have found a sound I really like that is also fairly compact for carrying around.. So much happier now.. Looking forward to the 15th - how's it going with the Sub 5? Nik

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='55397' date='Sep 4 2007, 05:04 PM']GK drivers don't have a spotless reputation unfortunately and have been known to go. I've played an RB400 with an Eminence 15" cone in it and the sound was pretty good. With a pair of neo 10" cones in, your cab might have yet more midrange punch.[/quote] Thanks for the replies... That sounds like a plan Steve - can you buy these neo 10" cones from anywhere, or do I need to go to a particular manufacturer? [i]"i'd say there's not much point replacing the drivers until you know why they went..."[/i] Cheers ahpook - I think the answer to that is I put too much power into the cab.. The cab is an 8 ohm cab rated at 160w and I think, using it with my Hartke on it's own, I was putting more like 200w into it! Pretty stupid really, to say the least... Nik

Hi Folks My Gallien Kreuger Backline 2x10 self-imploded on Saturday during a gig, which apart from being a pain in itself, just so happened to be at a gig when Bass_Ferret came to see the band.. Most embarrassing when there's a fellow Basschat member in the audience!! Managed to get through the gig though (which went really well) and resolved to look at it the following day..So Sunday morning I opened it up and checked it out and though there's no visible signs of damage to the cone or coil, one of the driver's has definitely gone and the other sounds like it's going to follow suit. My first thought was to get rid of the whole thing but then I got to thinking it'd be worth repairing it and either keeping as a back-up or maybe selling it on? Any suggestions as to which way to go; should I get cheap drivers and shift the thing or get some really good ones and keep it? And where do I get them from is the other question... Thanks, Nik

Hi Alan Crete is a gorgeous island - enjoy it whilst you're there is my advice. If you get a chance try and visit the mountain area as there are some beautiful villages there and it'll be a bit cooler too (if you don't like the really intense heat..). My advice is don't worry about the bloke depping for you; he must be the 'former bassist' for a reason?? It's not always about how good someone is musically. It's also about how everyone gets on and interacts in a band situation, which is much more important sometimes. Anyway, have a good one and post some photos when you're back. Nik

[quote name='Sibob' post='54187' date='Sep 2 2007, 02:07 PM']New amp time is it?? Yeah the P-Bass should be real interesting when its done, i'll let you know when the thread is up. I'm gonna post the whole process and pics together so people can read it start to finish i think . Neck's arriving on Monday w00p Cheers Nik Si p.s. Theres some live vids of my originals band up in the recording sections if you're interested[/quote] Ok - I'll have a look. No - it's new rig time!! More expense.....

Hi Folks, Just sold my MM Sub 5 to Alan, who is great to deal with and even bought me a pint!! You can't say better than that really.. Very easy to deal with, knows his stuff and good company too! Look forward to seeing you on Sep 15th for the Sub 5's first outing with you and that gorgeous Wal 4 Cheers Nik

Just want to say thanks to John (Bass_Ferret) for turning up last night - living proof that these posts do work!! He had to watch me suffer with rig problems (210 going down!) but was very helpful in general talking about gear/sound etc. Cheers John, many thanks for the support and the feedback and I hope to return the favour sometime... Nik

[quote name='Sibob' post='53916' date='Sep 1 2007, 05:29 PM']Hey dude, yeah i'm good cheers, busy putting together my Precision Project (thread in build forum soon). Hows the DJ5? The fox is the worst venue we play, i honestly don't know how they stay open let alone put bands on, literally 50 people or so in that HUGE pub on a saturday night? nuts!. Although its a lot smaller, i prefer Inn On The Green in Palmers Green for crowds. Si p.s. Whos about in Milton Keynes tonight???? Playing in City Limits![/quote] The DJ5 is fantastic, thanks...really pleased with it.. Having rig problems at the moment though so have to concentrate on that now!! Yeah - The Fox always was crap and probably always will be.. I'll check out the build section for your P bass project... sounds interesting? Cheers Nik

Hi Folks, Thought I should finally get around to promoting the band i'm in , which is called [b]Burning Organ[/b]. [b]mr_russ[/b] did a great job in the band before I joined, but he has moved on to do his own stuff, which is really good by the way! Burning Organ info can be found here: [b]www.burningorgan.com[/b] We do everything from Sam & Dave, to Stevie Wonder, Bowie, Queen etc, right up to presnt day stuff like The Killers, Snow Patrol, Coldplay etc. There's also some great 80's cheese in there too Suffice to say, the other guys in the band are great to work with, very talented, very professional and have a great sense of humour. They even help me in and out of the gigs with my zimmer frame from time to time! Anyway, here's the public dates from now until New Years Eve - we do a lot of other gigs like weddings etc, but obviously, they're not open to all. Anyway, it'd be great to see any fellow BC members if you fancy coming along for some good music, a pint and a chat: [b]September[/b] Sat 1st 4.30pm - Rockin The Barn - Southwick Sat 1st eve - The Elms - Worthing Sun 2nd - The Six Bells - Chiddingly Fri 28th - The Prince Albert - Eastbourne [b]October[/b] Sat 13th - Booked Fri 26th - Bar Nun - Haywards Heath [b]November[/b] Sat 3rd - The Crows Nest - East Grinstead Fri 9th - The Prince Albert - Eastbourne Fri 30th - Royal Coach - Shoreham [b] December[/b] Sat 1st - The Elms - Worthing Fri 7th - Mullens - Eastbourne Sat 8th - The Hampden - South Heighton Fri 28th - The Prince Albert - Eastbourne More dates being added all the time, which I'll try to remember to add here. It'll all be there on the website though so check it out! [b]Thanks for looking[/b].. Cheers Nik

[quote name='Sibob' post='24233' date='Jun 28 2007, 12:47 AM']So as above i decided to compile my covers gigs for the rest of this year (well the public ones anyway) if anyone is interested in coming to hear our take on some tuuuuuuuunes Sept 1 Milton Keynes City Limits 8 West Hendon Claddaugh Ring 14 Wycombe O'neills 15 Ealing Spinning Wheel 20 Richmond O'neills 21 Palmers Green Inn On The Green 22 Palmers Green The Fox Oct 4 Oxford O'Neil's 5 Ealing Spinning Wheel 6 Reading O'neills 12 Inn On Green 13 West Hendon Claddaugh Ring 18 Richmond O'neills 19 Wycombe O'neills 26 Palmers Green The Fox 27 Islington The Quays Nov 2 Harrow Spanish Arch 9 Ealing Spinning Wheel 15 Richmond O'neills 16 Wycombe O'neills 23 Palmers Green The Fox 24 Harrow Spanish Arch 30 Inn On Green Dec 1 City Limits 7 Ealing Spinning Wheel 8 West Hendon Claddaugh Ring 13 Richmond O'neills 14 Wycombe O'neills 21 Palmers Green The Fox 28 Harrow Spanish Arch 29 Islington The Quays 31 Ealing Spinning Wheel Cool Si[/quote] Hi Si, Can't believe you play The Fox in Palmers Green - that's my old stomping ground from when I was a kid!! Spent many a night in there.. How's it going by the way?? Nik

[quote name='paul, the' post='53698' date='Sep 1 2007, 03:24 AM']Reminds me of Brazil.[/quote] LOL But at least Brazil had some intelligence behind it all..

[quote name='BassBunny' post='53412' date='Aug 31 2007, 03:20 PM']I play in 2 bands and the Corporate one is now increasingly being asked for PAT Testing Certificates and Public Liability Insurance. Anyone else having the same issues? The Pub Band don't seem to have the same problem, (but as all my gear has been PAT tested it isn't a problem anyway). Would it be an idea for a pinned topic with a list of testers in areas around UK as I have a feeling it WILL end up being mandatory at some point? We had a hell of a job finding someone to our gear as most companies deal with large institutions and not a 5 piece band.[/quote] Lot of common sense replies here, especially those that point out the absurdity of the 'box-ticking' culture we now find ourselves living and working in! The MU does provide members with Public Liability Insurance (PLI) up to £10 Million via it's insurance company partners, Hencilla Canworth. For a cost of £125, I joined the MU again recently (after not having been a member for 12 years) because I needed to get the free PLI and because I wanted to get the equipment insurance benefits the membership offers as well, which is free insurance for £1000 worth of gear. I then paid an extra £95 to Hencilla Canworth for insurance on another £4000 worth of equipment. To put that into context, I asked my present home insurance company to insure my equipment outside of the house and they wanted £300!! To buy PLI for myself would cost anywhere upwards of £200 I expect.. So, joining the MU has saved me hundreds of pounds and I'm fully covered now, which is a relief... ..All except for this ridiculous 'jobsworth' PAT testing fiasco! And it is a fiasco because it is encouraging people not to be more safety conscious, but to find ways to buck yet another system. I agree that making a 'sticky' around this topic could be very useful, especially as it will get worse rather than better.. What P***** me off most though is the fact that musicians are always being treated like brainless, second-class citizens... You only have to analyse the pathetic reasons why most insurance companies refuse musicans car insurance, to find absolute proof of that blatant discrimination! Must calm down now and get off my soap-box. Nik