warwickhunt

Few years ago I was in a large music store (mid-week, early morning hence quiet/dead) and I asked to try a top of the range USA Fender (not sure if it was CS or just one of the many expensive reissues etc). It had an awful set-up so I asked if I could borrow a couple of allen keys and a driver so the I could give it a quick tweak. It seemed a reasonable request (or so I thought) but the assistant was horrified and stated categorically that I wouldn't be allowed to change anything unless I bought it first. I pointed out that it was set up horrendously and I'd not know if I wanted it till I could tweak it. Categoric 'No!' because I might break it... but if it broke that easy after I bought it then I'd be returning it for a refund, so it made sense to do it now! 'No!' I then asked if someone in the shop could just drop the bridge saddles and/or up the pups; no truss rod tweaks (as that seemed to be his greatest fear)... 'No!' So I walked. IMHO no excuse for expensive instruments to be badly set-up if the staff have half a clue what to do and they are sitting/standing around scratching their ar5es at quiet times.

You know it Dave... the sun barely rises above the horizon up here in the North!

Oddly enough I had a Metro PJ and sold it to find something that sounded better in passive mode; much like yourself. I subsequently bought a 2009 USA P bass with Nordstrands (added J pup) and it mops the floor with how I remember the Metro sounded 'in passive' BUT I now realise I just happen to prefer active basses; I'd happily have an active bass over a passive and I'm not so hung up on ensuring that I have a passive bass for my band. In fact if my P bass doesn't go at the end of the month to someone who's showed interest, then I'm considering sourcing a 2nd hand Sado or similar quality circuit and dropping it in the P bass.

Really tidy that like! Had I known Barrie had it and it was available I'd have been talking to him myself.

Withdrawn/sold... who knows!

Never seen or heard a Demeter cab. Is it fairly new and Neo equipped?

[quote name='EvilSmile' post='889522' date='Jul 8 2010, 02:05 PM']Thanks for the replies. As for budget well it really depends on the bass, i could quite happily fork over £1000 if the right bass came along and it justified the price tag. Ideally though somewhere in the second hand market around £500 - £800 would be more my comfort zone but i'm fully aware a good bass might set me back a little. So in this respect i'm all about the bass i'd rather get it as close to or perfect first time. Its also highly likely that i'll be putting in a nordstand p pickup into it as i've got a set in my buzzard and they are fantastic. Lets say i'm just going to focus on an American standard. I hear that fender have vastly improved their quality control, has anyone had a chance to play a few of these? Is i best that i go out an try every single bass i can get my hands on or would playing a couple - and maybe a few different models be sufficient. Is there anything besides the normal checks for buying a bass that i should particular look out? Also limiting myself to just fenders - should i look elsewhere into the higher end fender copies?[/quote] Is this not what you are looking for (OK board is rosewood!)? - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=91149"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=91149[/url] Saves you money straight away as the Nordstrands are installed!

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='889401' date='Jul 8 2010, 12:01 PM']I asked in the Hartke subforum about how to rewire the 410 cab as a 4ohm to get the max push out of the amp and was told it could not be done.[/quote] I'm confused (doesn't take much)! Are you talking about wanting to rewire your Hartke 4x10 to 4 ohms from the 8 ohm it presently is? As OBBM has said it can't be done but more importantly 'why' would you want to (unless you were downsizing)? Utilising your pair of 8ohm cabs with your present amp, you are getting the max out of your amp; even if you changed the drivers in your 4x10 so that you could achieve a 4 ohm load you would then be unable to run your new 4 ohm 4x10 in conjunction with any other cab (your 1x15 thus rendered redundant). Worst of all you'd be getting less spread out of the single 4 ohm 4x10 than you would out of the pairing of 8 ohm 4x10 + 1x15 AND at least your 'stack' will be closer to ear level so that you perceive more volume.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='888814' date='Jul 7 2010, 06:47 PM']Electrically both methods are identical, a parallel load. The only potential advantage to running the cables each separately to the amp is then the current flow and cable resistance loss is divided between them. That's only an advantage if the cables are shy on current capability and have high DCR from being under gauged.[/quote] To add to Bill's reasoning for preferably running two leads from the parallel outs as opposed to daisy chaining is that if you are daisy chaining cabs live and the lead from head to cab #1 fails then you have zero output going to both of your cabs; however, if 1 lead fails and you are running parallel outs from your head then at least 1 of your cabs will still be running. Ever the pessimist I always like to cover the options for that dreaded 'silent moment' whilst performing!

[quote name='D-L-B' post='888815' date='Jul 7 2010, 06:48 PM']How difficult do you think it would be to sand back through all that horrible blue?[/quote] If it is a factory High Gloss finish then it'd be a swine to do (personal experience ), chemical peelers/strippers barely put a mark on these finishes; the curves and concave/convex contouring also make it difficult to do well with a flat sander... being a NT doesn't help either! It could be done though.

How light are we talking for the bass that you tried out?

[quote name='Musicman20' post='886785' date='Jul 5 2010, 10:36 PM']I suppose there will always be buyers for it on Basschat should I want to move it on.[/quote] Maybe even a very local one if it happens to be a sunburst bass and the weight is nice and light...

Watch out for BigAl his slobber is notoriously corrosive. If by any chance you can't do a gig (broken arm/syphilis/trots) me or Al could probably fill in for ya! Oh and welcome back to the NE gigging scene.

Loads of options available to you but for a blanket reply I'd say you'd be hard pushed to beat Peavey stuff for anyone wanting a bit of quality on a budget.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='884184' date='Jul 2 2010, 05:55 PM']maple bodied thumb? thats not normal is it?[/quote] Not normal at all but you can order pretty much any combination you like on a Warwick Custom bass. That does lead me to believe that his quoted original purchase price is just for an off the shelf Thumb. I'd also prepare for the worst and assume the LEDs are kapput because it'd take nothing to fix if the problem is simply a battery wiring loom, you'd get it fixed if it was that easy... well most people would anyway!