andrew_actium

That is a most peculiar fault on the 12AX7 and if the HT is indeed 390V then that is not too great. I've designed a few valve amps and tend to have the voltages down at 240V max on the ht. As I have an M-Pulse 600 I will check this and modify the ht voltage if necessary which is a very easy thing to do. I have had one fault with mine in the past which was embarrassing as it was a paid bass dep job I was doing and ended up going through the bands PA. The fault was pretty fundamental as it was in the power supply relay cct which switches in after the valve heaters have come up. There is a capacitor after one of the voltage regulators in this section which is underrated on working voltage and failed and in doing so blew the regulator too. Bearing in mind these amps were pretty expensive cost cutting on a 30 pence component seems stupid. All updated now so won't happen again. These amps are otherwise very well made and really easy to fix, I have a D800 aswell which wouldnt be as easy if the PSU or Class D amp went. The tone ccts for you electronics guys are opamp gyrators which is a nice touch.

The tech will find out where the reverb signal disappears and should be a straight forward fix. The valves sound a bit of a mismatch and you will probably hear a distinct improvement when a correctly biased match pAir are fitted and set up Best andrew

I would buy an ernie ball stingray 5 ( I have one I bought from ebay a little while ago)1989 one with worn frets. £600.00 I got the neck refretted and levelled £145.00 and replaced the alnico pick up with a used ceramic seymour duncan basslines. That was a work swap for the pickup. Total £745.00. Practise practise and now amazing tone. Also try and get some electronic/wiring skills you can save a packet. Leave wood working to a good Luthier though. I wouldnt swap it for anything despite having funds to buy much more expensive. (I am in the 50-60s bracket.) I think early Stingray 5s are going to appreciate too as they are better than the later ones in my humble opinion. They are certainly becoming less common.

I would check out Farnell for threaded inserts. Have you a scope to look at the spring reverb input/output? The way these work is (referring to fender eg)the reverb i is generally matched in with a small transformer at the input and goes directly to the grid of a valve on the output of the reverb spring transducer where the signal is blended with a parallel clean signal. It could be the input valve cct, reverb transformer or the reverb or output circuit or the cables connecting the reverb (twisting the plugs gently may resume contact). Reverb unit is most likely as it is a fairly fragile mechanical assembly and prone to damage. Easy to find replacements if you have model number

Personally I would check out how good the tone is from the bass itself. That would be completely un coloured by any tone controls. I once had a very expensive hand built where the resonance of the wood (or lack of it) was masked by the active circuit which is not good. Less is more in my book and having controls akin to the flight deck of the starship enterprise may be compensation too far. BTW Money spent on some tuition from Paul Geary gave me the tone I needed from my fingers. That is what I would consider first.