invertigo

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/schecter-p-4-exotic

No info on the page yet, but the pre-order page seems to be up on PMT

I mean, to be fair my Gibson Les Paul with 2x humbuckers buzzed like hell when it was cranked up before shielding, albeit probably not helped by Gibson claiming its not needed and not shielding anything in their guitars these days. Remember that humbuckers cancel out the 60-cycle hum but they can still pick up electromagnetic interference (which shielding then minimises).

Amazon copper tape is what I used on my buzzing Les Paul, does the job nicely and its got a conductive adhesive so no need to bridge the faces of overlapping strips. Got a massive amount left over, but it'll find uses in other jobs. Apparently it's also good for keeping snails out of planters, so my dad might find some use for that in his allotment.

From what I read, paint is easier to get into all the awkward bits but tape is far faster and more convenient for most of the job.

So the current Players in Tidepool look pretty tidy with a black pickguard instead of the factory parchment one

Had mine delivered yesterday too, certainly adds a different vibe to the instrument but I think I like both pretty equally, neither better or worse just different IMO

The amount of time I lusted after one of these years back when I started playing, if only I could justify the spend now when I'm saving for other upcoming expenses...

Good luck with the sale!

Just ordered a black plate for my Tidepool Jazz too, same colours as the P above. Good to hear they're a direct fit!

So I figure this might be the best thread to ask in - I can setup my action reasonably low and get no buzz, until I go past the 14th or so fret when buzz starts to happen, all strings are the same in this. So is this a case of tightening the truss rod a bit and raising the saddles? Or is it most likely just a high fret at the upper end?

For perspective I have it set now to about 2mm E and 1.8mm G, any lower and I get buzz past 14th

I can only imagine this change must have been implemented a while ago, one large store had 10% off everything including Fender products over Black Friday, and their prices were already the lowest online for the bass I was looking at.

1 minute ago, nilebodgers said:

Interesting that the fretboard has rounded edges, my MIM Standard precision from 2012 had very squared-off edges to the point that it was uncomfortable to play until I had rounded it off a bit. I was vaguely looking at getting a MIM Jazz, but was shying away from maple fretboards as the finish means that a simple round-over isn't possible without lots of hassle.

I swapped the tuners on my MIM P to HB7s too (very easy, didn't even need to change the bushings), the gearing is a bit low on the standard machines making it hard to tune precisely and they also creaked a bit when first moved after sitting around.

Now, when I say rolled edges, they're still a long way off fully rounded like you might see on a Custom Shop level, there is still a definitive edge, its just moved inwards a bit and, for me at least, never gets touched by my fingers or hands. Best to give one a try in all honesty.

I've had one since October in Tidepool/maple and I'd pretty much echo the above; electronics and pickups are good, tuners do slip out of tune a touch but by no means are they bad. Neck feels great, fretboard tidy i.e. rolled edges, no sharp frets. Might benefit from a proper shielding as the pickups do tend to pick up EMI if they're near anything emitting.

As someone who currently has no pedals (got back into playing a few months ago, bass and amp costs were priority!), this seems like incredible value for such a variety of sounds, amp emulation, effects etc. Am I missing something or are these Line6/Helix/Kemper units seriously good value propositions these days vs traditional pedals. I get that a bespoke pedalboard setup will likely be better, but on a cost to sound quality ratio, not so much?

On the topic of CC, I've just seen a 54 P bass on their website for north of £12k... I don't see that selling anytime soon...

Just had a nosey and they have a MX19 serial Jazz bass for £320 near Liverpool... seems a pretty solid price for a Player Jazz, looks good nick too.

On topic, white T Birds are a beautiful bit of kit, sounds like a bargain with a hard case too.

What started as a simple question has evolved into an interesting discussion. Certainly a lot more knowledge here than I expected, and its very interesting to read and understand.

I'm in on this. Bought a new bass last month and a new amp and cab are on the way to me right now, so lets call it done at that... at least for a year anyway!

Ordered all my bits and cables from Thomann, the speaker cable looks to be about as thick as a rope so I don't imagine it'll be getting mixed up anytime soon. Jack plugs significantly larger than my instrument cables too. Failing that, I'll be wrapping the plugs in a coloured tape anyway to see at a glance, all my instrument cables have a white heatshrink-type plastic round the jack plugs.

Cheers all. Ended up going for a bit of a compact rig with the tc electronic BAM200 head and 208 cab, it has dual inputs so nice and easy to expand with another 8ohm cab if required in future.

On a side note, quite impressive the amps these days and how small they can be. Back when I first played before my hiatus just 12 years ago, even small combos seemed to weigh a ton!

Well, that pretty much sums up all my questions. Thank you all for the very quick responses and detailed answers, I feel like I have some idea of what I'm looking for now.

8 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

Using the two sockets on the back of a cab will create a parallel circuit.

 

You'll want to use something designed specifically for speakers due to the higher currents involved.

Now that makes sense in my head a bit more, I imagine something like this: http://www.pulse-audio.co.uk/product/nl4-split/

Would be a product designed to split speaker outputs to 2 cabs parallel?

One final question, lets say you have a head with 300w at 4ohm, and two cabs that are rated 200w 8ohm, is the amp going to end up sending too much power to both cabs or will it be split?

Cheers folks! So for clarity, the comment about cabs having in and out was more hypothetical - I assume a speaker cable splitter would be parallel by default? And if the cab has an in and an out socket it effectively creates a parallel circuit for the second cab?

It is indeed a Class D solid state amp so no tubes to keep happy.

Cheers again, first time delving into the world of separate components and it's a bit daunting at first!

So, rather than looking at large combo amps, I'm looking at considering a head and cab pairing that gives me something I can use at home but also room to grow. Specifically, the TC BQ250 head in this case.

Now, I understand that the 250w power is based on a 4ohm output, and using an 8ohm cab is fine but power is reduced somewhere around 40-50%. My question is, specifically, if I were to need a bit more kick and, lets say, wanted to run both an 8ohm 2x10 and an 8ohm 1x15 off of this, does that work considering it has one speaker output and not 2 like larger heads? Can you use a splitter to break it into 2, or would it require a cab with in and out speaker connectors?

Also, another question. The above head has a dedicated headphone output. If I were to want home silent practice, would the amp still need to be connected to the speakers if the headphone output was in use, or does this effectively disable the power amp stage?

Spent an hour really going over my new Player series at the weekend, so it's now strung up with DR Hi Beams, action nice and low and perfectly intonated. Effortless to get that lovely twang from a slap now. In fairness it was very close from factory, the nut in particular is cut excellent. Could maybe shave a fraction of a mm off if you wanted to, but its very, very close to perfect. Action was a bit high and neck had a bit too much relief but I'd almost expect that from any brand new bass shipped half way round the world!

... well thats stunning!

Might have to try out a black plate myself now, and here's me thinking I was done spending for a while... 😅

16 hours ago, grayn said:

Looks nice but not very turquoise👀

It really doesn't come across very well on camera, probably not helped by the very yellow lighting in my lounge. In some lights its blue, some lights it looks green-ish, some lights it looks almost grey-blue.

Either way, its a lovely colour in the flesh and I'm loving the sound and feel from the instrument. Certainly a noticeable step up over the Ibanez GSR200 I had.