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Obrienp

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Everything posted by Obrienp

  1. Obrienp
    Thomann sort that, or at least they did when I bought a bass from them in January. I didn’t have anything extra to pay but I did have to be patient.
  2. Obrienp
    If my experience recently is anything to go by, 3-4 working days is optimistic. At least Thomann sorts everything for you. You are not suddenly going to get another bill for customs duty. You need patience ordering from Thomann these days! Deep joy!
  3. Obrienp
    I always say that 🤣. Also try to stick to a one in, one out rule. Succumbing to GAS means that I have to sell something I would rather hold onto and then I regret the sale, get fed up with the bass that replaced it, and start the whole cycle again.
  4. Obrienp
    Nice one. I like an umptee-bumpty in the set😀.
  5. Obrienp
    Yeah, that is the problem but that Brice looks a lot of bass for £300!
  6. Obrienp
    Bass Direct have a 32” Mensinger Cazpar 6 string. I am sure you can order a 30” version on the Public Peace website, or via BD.
  7. Obrienp
    Replied 👍
  8. Obrienp
    Not as far as I am aware. The diameter of the bolts holding the strap buttons on is much larger than standard strap button screws and they also secure the outer ABS moulding to the inner (wooden) body. I think @scrumpymikehas come up with a way of fitting standard locking buttons using a metal extension. I just use those rubber washer strap locks: a bit awkward to fit but they do the job. The location of the original buttons may look odd but they work well and balance the bass nicely.
  9. Obrienp
    Just looked at the Vox UK website to check out a claim made by somebody selling a Vox Starstream bass on a FB forum. He said they were no longer available and rare as hens teeth. It turns out that all 4 models are available on the Vox website and furthermore they have a sale price of £299 on both the passive versions, which seems like reasonable value to me. The active versions are both £799, which is a different proposition but still reasonable given the quality of the hardware. They have also got the teardrop basses greatly reduced but still pretty expensive IMO for such a niche product. Anyway, no vested interest, apart from owning a passive 1H, which I reckon is a pretty good bass in the ‘Ray mould. The sale price smarts a bit though!
  10. Obrienp
    Played our third 3 hour gig this year in a pub in Dereham yesterday, with the blues band I play in. They had a remembrance event and lunch for the Royal East Anglian regiment beforehand, so I wasn’t sure how we would be received but it turned out with enthusiasm. We also had enough of a following locally to get people to turn out on their Sunday, which was gratifying. I noticed a few members of other local blues bands checking us out. For this one we had the benefit of a sound man, so it sounded great out front. The singer/guitarist has recently got himself a wireless system and has taken to walking around in the audience, which seems to go down well. As we all have wireless, we are thinking of doing a 3 man conga at future gigs. All in all a good gig.
  11. Obrienp
    No worries. Unfortunately, I only spotted the WD Music machine heads after I had pulled the trigger on the Wilkinsons. I can’t comment on whether they are better, or worse than the OEMs. They look as though they are a direct swap though.
  12. Obrienp
    Yes, I had to make new holes for the Wilkinsons. I filled the old holes with toothpick ends glued in with wood glue. I also had to enlarge the post holes as the Wilkinsons required a larger bore.
  13. Obrienp
    Agree entirely. Somehow it is even more irritating when they are just out enough to require some woodwork but so little that you have to be really careful how much wellie you give it.
  14. Obrienp
    OK, so I started doing the re-wiring to accommodate my 4 conductor pickup. I decided to push the boat out and use CTS pots, Sprague cap, a decent 3 way DPDT switch and a Trutone jack socket. For some reason, I really can’t think why, I had a spare Jaguar control plate, so I didn’t even have to drill the original (to accommodate the switch). That is where the good luck ended: I hadn’t bothered measuring the size of the control cavity. It turns out it is too narrow and too short to accommodate full size pots. I don’t really want to enlarge it, as I don’t have a proper router and using chisels isn’t that easy in cheaper woods: very hard to get a decent finish (with my woodworking skills anyway). I now have some Alpha mini pots on order: tricky to solder ground wires on the back of them without damaging them, in my experience: they overheat quickly. While I was on fleaBay I spotted a Warman MM pickup for £25. It has a four conductor lead and is hot at 12.5 k ohms, so I took the plunge.
  15. Obrienp
    Yes, I opened it up yesterday to shield the cavities as it was really noisy. Mine is a black one and it only has the two conductor pickup, in fact just a white one and the braiding shield, which they are using as the ground. The pickup hasn’t been potted completely. There is a mess of resin at either end, which I guess is hiding the start and end of each coil. I thought about trying to chip it off to get at the other conductors but the chance of damaging them in the process would be too great. I have a no-name 4 conductor Ray pickup that I took out of another bass. I might try using that for the extra switching options to start off with, before I decide to take the plunge on a Bart (if I can work out which conductor is which). The thing is I like the tone of the stock pickup in series and I don’t think I am going to get that from an exposed pole piece cheapo.
  16. Obrienp
    Brilliant! Thanks very much. Very tempted to go for it just to be able to use those extra conductors to do single coil/parallel/series switching but it’s about half the cost of the bass. Decisions, decisions!
  17. Obrienp
    Hi. Interesting mods and the bass sounds great. Just a couple of questions, if you don’t mind: 1. Which model Bartolini pickup is it? I couldn’t quite spot it when you held the box up to the camera. It seems there are 3 options: MMC 4, MM4CBC & MM42CBJD3; 2. How is the Bart volume wise compared to the original (which is pretty hot IMO)? Thanks.
  18. Obrienp
    Selling my Hofner Ignition Violin bass in excellent condition. Only about 6 months old and without any dings or scratches. Fitted with LaBella Beatle Bass flats 50-100, replacement more robust machine heads and traditional “tea cup” knobs. You will get the original machine heads, knobs and round wound strings, in case you want to revert. Also benefitting from a professional set up from my friendly local luthier, who sorted the nut and a few of the frets, plus neck relief, bridge height, intonation, etc. The replacement machine heads are better than the originals and use the same screw holes etc but still feel a bit vague, although they do seem to hold tune. With the benefit of hindsight, I should probably have gone for the even more expensive Hofner Germany machine heads sold by Thomann but they cost about a third of what the bass costs. I suspect even then they are not that brilliant: the guitar style machine heads are a design flaw IMO but they are part of the vibe of these quirky basses. You can look up the specs on line but the basics are: full hollow body, “staple” humbucker pickups, idiosyncratic pickup selector and preset tone options, 30” scale, quite narrow string spacing. I think it sounds really good for that 60s hollow body sound and of course for early Beatles stuff. In that respect I think it sounds more genuine than the contemporary range with the centre block. So why am I selling it? Well, I find I am just not playing it that much. I took it to a couple of gigs as a back up bass and used it on a couple of songs. I was expect to use it more, as I play in a covers band that does a lot of 50s and 60s stuff but it hasn’t really happened. Now I am gassing for a medium scale solid body and I need the money to fund it. The cheapest I have seen these online is £290, so £220 is pretty keen, as you get £125 worth of strings, machine heads, knobs and set up thrown in for free. You are welcome to try and buy in Fakenham, Norfolk. I have a box, so I can ship at buyer’s expense. I will also meet up within a reasonable distance, say 60 miles, or so. I am also selling a genuine Hofner Violin Bass Hard Case, for £45, or £40 if bought with the bass. The case has a few light scuffs but nothing that has gone through the tolex. Obviously open to reasonable offers but I need the money, so not looking for a trade..
  19. Obrienp
    Hi, Welcome. I’m originally from NSW but I’ve been living in the UK off and on since I was 7. Nice to have another antipodean on here! Trying to remember the layout on my EHB1000S (let it go a few months back). I think you are referring to the mids control, in which case, there wasn’t a detent on the sweep part (lower part of the control stack). That makes sense, as it would be difficult to decide on a factory default frequency range. You watch , somebody will correct me😏. Enjoy anyway. Great little bass. Only let go of mine to help fund a Nordstrand Acononyx.
  20. Obrienp
    I usually get that once they’ve heard me play. 🥴
  21. Obrienp
    @fretmeisterThere are two Jazz configuration Vox Starstreams: https://www.voxamps.co.uk/collections/bass-guitars. Pretty good value for money and they certainly meet your weight criterium. I have the passive single humbucker version and they are pretty well made. Also very ergonomic and comfortable to play. If you can stretch to the active one you get loads of quality parts: I can’t imagine anybody needing to upgrade it. Heck, I am getting a feeling of deja vu: have I already posted this? Old age I am afraid. Apologies if this is a duplicate!
  22. Obrienp
    Hi, They were off a 4 string but they are pretty long. Dimensions are 10cm length, 3.4cm width, 2.2cm depth. They might work on a 5, depending on string spacing but I don’t know how long the bar magnets are under the cover. Best wishes, Pat
  23. Obrienp
    I wouldn’t be without mine. I got the Boss offering: a bit more expensive than some but it’s still going strong 3 years on: it has great range and a charge lasts more than 6 hours. It automatically choses a channel based on what else is operating in the environment and to date, I have never had issues with radio interference (hope that wasn’t tempting fate). It doesn’t seem to alter tone and there is no lag that I can detect. Being able to walk around the room during soundcheck is a real bonus both for setting the mix and for getting your bass tone right. I don’t know whether this is unique to Barefaced cabs but what you hear on stage is very different to what the audience are hearing in the middle of the room.
  24. Obrienp
    All good points and I agree with you that tone is very subjective. My ‘51 P with the 1/4 pounder certainly cuts through the mix! I don’t have the Bronco anymore, otherwise I would measure up how far out the ‘51 pickup would be on string alignment. I wonder whether the poor string alignment would make it sound even more unbalanced? Anyway, @barrycreed I would certainly check out the Creamery pickup. I wish I had known about it when I was modifying my Bronco. It was quite a lot of hassle getting the split P pickup to fit but it did sound good.
  25. Obrienp
    I know this wasn’t directed at me but having had a Bronco I was upgrading and a spare ‘51 P pickup, the answer is no if you keep the original string spacing (i.e. the original bridge or replacement with the narrow saddle spacing). You would need to angle the ‘51 pickup to line up the pole pieces with the strings properly. ‘51 P basses had pretty well 20mm spacing at the saddles. On the Bronco you may have to do a little extra routing to get a ‘51 P pickup in at the correct angle and you would need a replacement pickguard cut appropriately. I have the Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounder ‘51 P pickup in my ‘51 P bass (self-build). It’s got a lot of gain and as Baloney Balderdash said, a lot of mids. In fact it sounds very bright and nasal generally. I only use it with the tone rolled right off and even then I find it lacks bottom end. I am not sure I would recommend it.
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