cameltoe

Cheers guys. I'll use these guides and advice and give it a tweak today. If I can't get on with it then I'll nip it down to a pro.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='861487' date='Jun 8 2010, 09:11 PM']Does this have lighter strings? They move more. Also, is your plucking position moved due to shape of the bass?[/quote] Not sure about the strings, they didn't feel too different. On the Fret King the plucking position was the same, but as I use the pickup as a thumb rest then it probably did shift about on the others. [quote name='thepurpleblob' post='861521' date='Jun 8 2010, 09:29 PM']Are you absolutely sure the truss rod adjustment is correct? I understand your reluctance to move it too much but if it is wrong it is wrong and you'll never achieve a low action.[/quote] I'm not sure I've ever got it spot on- I've followed Fenders guide in the past and got it as close as I can to the .35 they recommend on the feeler gauges even then I'm not convinced that it can be set in stone for a particular bass. Pretty much every budget and midrange bass I try always seems to have too much relief in the neck, if you follow fenders guide anyway. The G&L, Musicman, and Fret King all had a lot straighter necks than some of the cheaper basses I've tried in recent weeks, notably Squier Classic Vibe Precision and Jazzes (including my 50's P) and The Classic 50's MIM Precision. These are usually set up fairly well out of the box aren't they? I would put it down to personal preference if I hadn't; a) set up a few basses to fenders specs and seen how straight they recommend the necks should be and; tried more expensive basses with much straighter necks that are consequently much nicer to play. In all the more expensive basses, the action doesn't seem to get any higher or lower along the length of the neck, which to me suggests not much relief. On the others you can see the action is higher in the middle of the neck. Maybe I'm just making a complete pigs ear of it all! There's probably a very small 'sweet spot' in the truss rod adjustment that so far I've been incapable of hitting.

I'm trying to get a nice low action that doesn't slap against the frets when I play. I'm still a bit of a beginner and actually find it quite physically challenging if my action is too high. I recently traded a Fret-King perception that had a lovely low action and didn't slap at all when I played it. The guitar itself was too awkward feeling for me so I had to pass it on. I've also recently tried a Musicman Stingray, and a G&L L-2000 that both had really low, flat actions and neither of those slapped against the frets either. My Road Worn Precision, which currently is still in the shop waiting for my girlfriend to pick it up, also has a lovely low action that doesn't require hardly any strength to fret the strings, although there was a bit more fret slap when I really dug in. I also used to use my girlfriend's brothers Rickenbacker, which had a lovely low action all the way up the neck and never slapped at all. How is this acheivable? I like to set my guitars up myself, but I'll only make minor adjustments to the truss rod, and I can't figure out how to get this low action without it sounding like I'm playing slap bass when I'm just using fingerstyle. It sounds horrible! I find too much relief means I can't get the action low enough, and too little relief means it slaps like mad. Obviously I need a little relief to allow the strings to vibrate, but I usually find the strings are slapping at the last fret which means the saddles are set too low- but then how have I played guitars in the past that have had a really low bridge and not slapped? The only thing I can think is if the neck angle is different. The Fret King did look as if the neck very slightly lent backwards, and I've read before on Fender's site that if you can't get the action as low as you'd like then use the Micro-Tilt (which I don't have ) The G&L and the Fret King necks felt absolutely identical, btw, and maybe it's more than coincidence that they have the same headstock? Could JHS be buying up surplus stock? I will send my guitars to be set up by a pro, but ideally I'd like to figure out what to do myself. One of my guitars is a £40 Aria Jazz that I keep knocking about so it's not really worth the £50+ to have it worked over. Yes I've follwed Fender's setting up guide word for word

I wouldn't care, if the gold hardware didn't over campify it. My fiesta red road worn is pretty much pink. Man up! Pink is for real men.

Ok guys, thanks for the advice. The combo IS loud enough for my smaller gigs, which is all I really need to use it for, but I had noticed that at a couple of recent gigs I didn't have the headroom i'm used to. Not a problem though, I'll take the Hartke out for the larger gigs. My little AC Euro 200w combo never really needed to be pushed above 4 or 5 on the master volume, BUT this amp didn't hava an input gain like the Trace does, which obviously needs to be set at optimum each time it's used. The input gain has been freaking me out a little bit too, I don't know if there is a problem here, but last night (and the gig I used it at on Thursday) I ran the input gain (at first) up around level 8 without the clipping LED coming on hardly at all, but as the gig progressed, I had to turn the input gain down a bit more each time as the LED kept flickering on more. This isn't me just digging in more as the gig progressed- I made sure I gave it a really good clank when initially setting it up, but last night it went from 8 to begin with down to almost 2 or 3 by the end of the night! and The LED was still flickering! I had to ignore it in the end. Any ideas here?

As above, easy guy to deal with, hassle free, no problems here. Recommended

Ah so not such good news then. Bringing another cab is what I want to avoid really, as the Hartke will be the easier (and louder) option then anyway. So with the RMS output almost doubled from going 8ohm to 4ohm, through a speaker that can handle the power, I'd really see no extra (real world) volume?

I posted another thread up about adding a cab to my newly aquired Trace Elliott GP7 SM combo. It's 150w RMS, with a 1x15 driver. It has two speaker outputs, with the print 'SPEAKER OUTPUT 4ohms' between them. I was told on the other thread, that currently the combo will only be kicking out about 80w (ish) using just the internal driver, (which I was told would be 8 ohms) and to get full power from the amp I'd need to connect another cab to get 4 ohms and the full 150w power output. I gigged it last night, and it was just loud enough, but I didn't have much headroom to be honest, and the venue wasn't that busy. I have a Hartke vx3500 combo amp for my big gigs, so really if I was going to bother to buy a cab to go with the Trace, I might as well just take the Hartke. However, knowing absolutely nothing about amps, I wondered if it was possible to get the full 150w from my Trace WITHOUT adding a cab? Could I, for instance, swap the 8 ohm driver for the appropriate 4 ohm driver to acheive max volume? My AC Euro 200w 1x15 combo is quite a bit louder than my Trace. This amp, though, doesn't have any speaker outputs. I'm wondering if this amp has a 4 ohm driver already and hence puts out the full 200w? I would think the Trace with it's full 150w would kick it's ass though!! Anyway, If there's a way to do this and someone could point me in the right direction I'd be grateful!!

Hey good idea! I might use duck tape to find the sweet spot- Cheap instant punk vibe!

I've got a Classic Vibe Precision 50's, and the thumb rest is currently sitting in an era-correct tugbar position below the strings. The single coil pickup doesn't allow me enough headroom above the strings to use it as a thumbrest, I end up curling my hand in a weird claw-like grasp so I don't over reach the strings. The obvious solution is to move the thumbrest from it's frankly now useless position under the strings and reposition it on top, but I didn't want to do this without first checking on here for anything that may go wrong! If someone could be kind enough to also describe/post a picture of roughly where it should go and how close to the strings (to be factory correct), as I just know it's either going to end up looking wonky, or I'm going to have to reposition it over and over as I realise it's still too close to the strings/ I can't reach the strings.

Haven't owned enough to add my 2p to this discussion, but it is encouraging to see a few Squiers take their place here

Almost new American Standard money, so it would have to feel damn good. Better, even. There are some damn good second-hand Jazz basses for £750. A JV Squier wouldn't be the top of my list, but I'm not a collector. Their prices seem to have increased a fair bit in the last couple of years on ebay. I'd go with what felt right to me. I bought a Road Worn recently, which some people would say are expensive for a Mexican made Fender that someone has dragged across the shop floor and spat on, but the thing that sold it to me was how it felt. It felt amazing. If I was looking to invest or buy a piece of history I'd be looking at vintage American's. Otherwise I'd find the best feeling instrument I could get for £750, and there are a lot of really good Jazz basses for that price. This JV might be one of them, it might not be. It's up to you to try out as many as you can.

[quote name='dan670844' post='854942' date='Jun 2 2010, 02:52 PM']I would assume that the internal driver is 8 ohms in which case you can connect another 8 ohm cab this will give you 4 ohms and max output. sometimes combos have a 4 ohm speaker already fitted so you cant add another cab. If your Trace combo has two outputs for speakers on the back then you can put 8ohm cab on it. I would be careful connecting the speakers from the Hartke as it might be a 4ohm cab already, in which case..............bang. Better of getting an old 1518 trace cab me thinks[/quote] It says speaker output 4 ohms on the Hartke too, if this makes a difference. I have an old Ampeg 1x15 combo which i think might be the same Ohmage. I just want to see what kind of noise it kicks out with extra speakers, to see if it's worthwile biuying a cab.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='854341' date='Jun 2 2010, 12:00 AM']Strangely, I've got the very same bass and I didn't find anything wrong with the tuners on it, yes they are cheapo but they do work as expected. I have only tighten the big screw on them and now they hold in tune perfectly, try to do the same see how you get on before you buy a new set.[/quote] I'll try that, cheers!

[quote name='Merton' post='854410' date='Jun 2 2010, 06:46 AM']It's the RMS figure you should concern yourself with, peak power is nonsense. So you have a 150w combo, which gives about 80 to 100w into the internal driver and with additional 8 ohm cab you'll get the full 300w [/quote] Should I be using an 8 Ohm cab or a 4 Ohm cab? It says 'speaker output 4 Ohms' I might connect up the 4x10 Hartke drivers from my combo just to see what it can do, but I don't want to blow anything up by connecting the wrong Ohm cab

Hi, Just a quickie. My newly aquired Classic Vibe 50's precision is a joy. It does have a couple issues, but I was expecting that. One of which are the tuners. They're not great if I'm honest. I'd like a decent set to upgrade them with, but I don't want to spend a fortune. Can anyone recommend cost effective replacements? The tuners on my Mexican P are significantly better, so even they would do fine.

I got to figure out how I can apply for the governments 'take it away' scheme behind my GF's back to buy this beauty! Oh, we love finance! Aren't the necks skinny on Jags? Could be a problem..... one I can live with though. CRAMP!!!! Seriously though, what with the whole Classic Vibe range aren't Fender going to put themselves out of business?

[quote name='Merton' post='854066' date='Jun 1 2010, 08:25 PM']Er, if it's a 150W combo it'll kick out 150W with a cab connected, and about 90W without. If it's a 300W comobo it'll kick out around 180-200W without a cab, and 300W with. Nice simple combos these were, always sounded great to my ears [/quote] This is where I'm getting confused. It says "150 watts RMS" "300 watts peak" Speaker output 4 Ohms. What does this all mean? Yes, it's loud enough, it will cover nearly all the gigs we do in local pubs, but it wouldn't be loud enough for some of the beer festivals we're doing this year, most of which are in huge marquees with no wall or corner to place my amp in. I can line out, of course, but our PA has no bass bins so it would probably sound better if I didn't. It's an SM combo, yes. The front says GP7 SM 150. At the moment I'm avoiding using the EQ too much, it has the Trace 'shape' button on the front, shape 1 and 2. Apparently shape 1 is the classic trace sound, but it's been a bit muddy so I've been using shape 2 with just a touch of low mid boost.

Woah a Squier Jaguar!!!!!!!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!! I've wanted a Jag for ages, she will be mine!!!!

Yeah! that sounds awesome. I've seen a 1048H cab for sale here. Tight and punchy is exactly what I'm after. Not sure what year mine is, it's got 2 front tuning ports and has the red stripes behind the grille.

I have just managed to pick up a Trace Elliott GP7 SM combo locally. It's a 150w with a 15" driver. Sounds great! I had been toying with the idea of changing the speaker on my old combo, but I ended up getting this combo for a great price and it seems like new.... Anyway, I really don't know much about amps, cabs, how they work or anything really. I usually just hit random buttons til I get the sound I want. This combo will be my main workhorse, but for the bigger gigs I have a Hartke vx3500 combo. As I was reading through the Trace manual online, it mentions something about being able to connect a cab, and doing such increases the power output to 300 watts. I don't really understand the whole Ohms thing, so I don't know if this means the amp will get significantly louder when I connect a cab, or if it will just spread the volume a bit. The aim of all this, is to find out if I still need the Hartke combo. If, with a cab connected, the Trace will kick out 300 watts (Hartke is 350w) then it'll be fine for the bigger gigs. There are a lot of good cabs on the second hand thread that I could buy, sell my Hartke, and end up with more room in my house and maybe a bit of money in my pocket too. Apologies for my ignorance