4-string-thing

Not sure if this is relevant, but any electrical wholesaler such as the one I work for, will be able to sell you all sorts of fuses and give you good advice on slow blow and time delay fuses etc.

You could try glass fuses instead of the ceramic ones you normally get for 13a plugs, these are obviously see-through and allow you you to see if the fuse has melted or blown. If there is still fuse wire visible inside the fuse (just broken in the middle) then the fuse has melted, usually caused by overload, ie, the fuse is rated too low for the current drawn. If there is no visible fuse wire and the inside of the glass looks burnt or brown in colour, then it has blown, usually due some kind of short circuit.

If it's just melted, you could uprate it by a couple of amps and try again, if it's blown it would be best to get it looked at.

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='834199' date='May 11 2010, 01:32 PM']Resistance and impedance are not the same thing, and what you are measuring is resistance. Impedance varies according to, among other things, the frequency of the signal sent through the speaker.[/quote]

I also believe sticking an ohmmeter across a speaker is not a good idea (I stand to be corrected on this though)

Years ago, bread used to come in poly bags with a plastic tag to seal it...they worked a treat, think I still have some in my bass case....

I'd definitely be up for this provided the date fits in with work etc, or there was enough notice to make arrangements.....

maybe you just hit that perfect combination?

My band usually rehearses in an expensive large complex in Leicester that has all sorts of expensive rigs (Ampeg and Markbass) Last week, we couldn't get in there so ended up using a little place in Coalville. The last time I went there they had a crappy Peavey combo that kept cutting out and I feared the worst, so took my "spare" rig (Ashdown) Anyway, we got in and they had replaced the Peavey with an Ashdown combo and 4x10 extension cab. What a brilliant sound, way better, in my view, than either the Ampeg or Markbass rigs I had used in the other place! Probably just the combination of bass, amp, cab, room etc.

I've not really had chance to use my own Ashdown yet, but at least I know it'll give me the sound I want, when I do.

could you not install a new pup, pre amp and pots onto a new scratchplate then fit the whole thing to the bass, thus leaving the original intact? To be refitted if you ever do sell the bass.

I'm toying with the idea of using both of my Acoustic cabs together (a 1x15 and a 2x15) this would give me 3 aligned 15's and 2 ohms. My Acoustic 220 head runs at 2 ohms ok (according to the Acoustic forum) so, the only problem I can see is that I may need a step ladder to alter my settings.

Ah, go on...name and shame, go on, go on.....

Some other poor sod on here might get the same treatment if you don't.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='819433' date='Apr 26 2010, 02:35 PM']Can't believe this isn't up already:

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At last, something with the name Ampeg on it that I would actually want to own! (Ducks and covers head with hands)

I was in a band in the mid 90's and we paid well over £200 to play a gig in London. The promoter gave us the gig on the proviso that we brought a crowd with us. We hired 3 mini busses and got all our mates to go (monday night, 100 miles each way) The deal was, we would get any door money if they handed in our flyer, of course they all forgot to hand them in. We had to buy our mates beer all night and then pay £25 for the engineer!

Great gig though, in front of the same 20 mates we used to play to in Leicester most weeks!

I now play in covers bands.....

Ashley Hutchings, Dave Pegg, Danny Thompson, Jack Bruce, Greg Lake and practically every other bass player I've ever seen playing live!

Richard Thompson, Captain Beefheart, David Byrne, Tom Waits, Tom Verlaine, Bob Dylan.

Yup been there...in fact am in that place right now!

I left a folk-rock band that I started after 4 years due to various reasons. After a while it was pretty obvious that There weren't many people around that were into this sort of thing, so I decided that any band was better than no band.

I'm now playing in a sleazy/glam/ 70's rock 'n' roll outfit called Iron Python, and I have to say, I'm loving it! Not the kind of thing I would ever listen to out of choice, but I love learning songs I've heard before but never played. And we don't take it too seriously, so its all good fun.

My thoughts? Try it, you might like it!

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='817566' date='Apr 24 2010, 08:42 PM']And what about this one?

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I've seen Richard play this live loads of times and its really good, just goes to show that any song can be made to sound great if you mess about with the style its played in. A good song is always a good song.

Anyone seen John Otway do 'I will Survive' in a Bob Dylan stylee? Not only hilarious, but it actually sounds like Dylan could have written it!

Been with "Blondie" for over 30 years, but last year met a younger, leaner model.... despite the excitement, I keep coming back to my first love!

I have to say I don't like the sound of new strings either. I recently changed the strings on my P and the previous set had been on at least 10 years, probably nearer 15 (I can't actually remember when I last changed them) On hearing the bass for the first time, our drummer declared it "the best sounding bass I've ever heard" It took about a month before the replacements started to sound anything like what I want.

I say, if they sound and feel ok, put 'em back on!

I'm still trying to get my head round the concept of cleaning a guitar.......

In my (limited) experience, harsh is the only word I could use to describe Trace gear. But, they do seem popular, probably due to those tempting prices!

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='809644' date='Apr 17 2010, 06:14 PM']They've gotta be good for something I suppose!

[/quote]

Damn! Beaten to it....

[i]I've gigged for almost 10 years with a 150w 1x15, now I'm using a 320w 2x10 and it's probably not even as loud as the 1x15.[/i]

Agreed, I've used my Acoustic 220 (125w @ 4ohms, 175w @ 2ohms) for 30 years and its always been plenty loud enough with the volume control never above 3 or 4! Mind you it was built in the days when 125w really was 125w.....

My 300w Ashdown, is certainly not any louder.

A smaller amp into more efficient speakers will always sound louder than a bigger amp into rubbish speakers, IMHO.

ooh....how do I get one of these?

I wouldn't get too worried about being 'cursed' or anything, it's a well known fact that 99% of guitarists and drummers are ars*holes!

I spent 4 years in a folk-rock band and I lost count of people that came and went (mostly drummers) just keep plugging away and you'll get there eventually.

I suspect the same thing applies to covers bands as much as originals.

Oh Yeah.....Danny is the man!!!!

I'm sure you all knew that anyway.....

Its followed by "A skin too few" the Nick Drake documentary, also worth another look.

A Top Twenty bass, cost £25, which was short scale, vaguely P like with a telecaster head, and a pickup that stopped working after a few weeks. A CMI practice amp that I blew the speaker in after a couple of days, soon to be replaced by a Selmer 50w combo (a select-a-tone, I think) given to me by the guy across the road. It was 1977, the summer of punk!

Wish I still had the Selmer!

[quote name='Mykesbass' post='807530' date='Apr 15 2010, 07:41 PM']That's working on the Retail Price Index - if you go for how long it would have taken the average person to work to pay for it, today's price would be £2,600. Sorry, but the £1,200 struck me as a bit low so I went of and became an anorak for a few minutes [/quote]

Using spinynormans widget, my P that I paid £240 for would now be worth £910, quite a bit less than I would hope to get should I ever sell it.

I'm still in love with my 77/78 P that I've owned since 1979! I own a few other basses, but always seem to come back to the P. Never compared it to another one, so don't know if its a good one or not, but it suits me.