Spartacus

[quote name='bythesea' post='539635' date='Jul 13 2009, 07:54 PM']But for some reason I just picture a 12-year old who wants to form a metal band with his mates and gets given this by his mum [/quote] 'Here you are Nigel, Happy Birthday' 'Oh. thanks mum. A lot. Really' 'Your dad and I were going to get the bands name engraved on the neck plate, what are they called again?' 'Vaginal Wind, mum'

[quote name='Hot Tub' post='539530' date='Jul 13 2009, 06:14 PM']Erm... If an item displays an incorrect price which is LOWER than the correct price, then the retailer MUST sell it for the lower price. They are then quite entitled to amend the prices of any other incorrectly labelled items. It's the Sale Of Goods Act, and it's the law. I'm guessing this probably doesn't help. [/quote] Not true im afraid. If they price it incorrectly you cant force them to sell it to you at the lower price. The precision had a Jaguar price ticket on which is different to being deliberately misleading, in which case its a case for Trading Standards.

[quote name='BOD2' post='539423' date='Jul 13 2009, 04:06 PM']1. MM pickup coils in parallel The black/yellow combination on your pickup would be equivalent to the black (grounded) wire on the Jazz bass diagram and you would then join the red/white wires together to be equivalent to the white (hot) wire on the Jazz bass diagram. The rest of the wiring would be the same as on the Jazz bass diagram. 2. MM pickup coils in series Put insulation tape over the black/yellow join to cover any bare wires then leave this "floating". Wire up as the Standard Jazz bass diagram using the MM red wire as the Jazz bass white (hot) and the MM white as the Jazz bass black (ground). Make sure you wire both pickups the same way. The second combination should give a higher output.[/quote] Bod2, if blac & yellow are grounds then your instructions for series are incorrect as that would wire the pickup series but out of phase giving a weak scratchy sounding output. Red and white are rarely used as ground colours, their usually hot outputs so im assuming yellow and black are grounds.

Im pretty sure Black & yellow are the grounds for the coils. Red & white are the outputs. It doesnt matter if you reverse them as long as your consistent with both pickups. Follow the above diagram and substitute Black/Yellow for the black jazz pickup lead, and substutute Red/White for the white jazz pickup leads. That will give you paralel humbucking which is how MM basses are wired. If you want series wiring wich is much louder and heavier sounding then you need to check which wires are for which coil with a continuity tester. lets say coil 1 has black as ground and white as the output and coil 2 has yellow as ground and red as output. Youd solder the white and yellow together, the black to ground on the back of each pot and the red to the center lug of each pot.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='539032' date='Jul 13 2009, 12:45 AM']Nothing to do with the jacks shorting, was the wires in the speaker touching.[/quote] OK so your experience is irrelevent to the thread in this case. [quote]The speakon thing is taking time to catch on because outside of pro audio (which bass has increasing amounts in common with) the disadvantages for jacks don't often become apparent. I don't know of anyone who has had difficulties with jacks breaking things (although its likely they did and didn't know), I have heard of troubles with being stuck with no spare speakon because everyone else is using jacks when they've forgotten (combi-sockets for the win).[/quote] The 'speakon thing' is something ive used for 5 years or so after hearing farting noises from my jacks Then i looked at the electrical advantages. We are bassists not guitarists and work to a differnt standard, and as long as you carry a spare for what you normally use then all will go well. [quote]Most stuff is made for guitarists first of all, and guitar rigs don't push the sort of power that it really matters. This is why jacks are still the standard. I have XLRs on my nicest amp and jacks on my others.[/quote] Guitarists and bassists have diferent needs. That sort of thinking keeps us bassists in their shadow. Go for speakons, you know it makes sense. Youre a bassist, you dont use a guitarists gear. Ok, use XLRs if youre an old Trace diehard

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='539021' date='Jul 13 2009, 12:14 AM']Meh, more of a hum then silence, done it loads. Just a fuse change. Not like a blown ouput transformer.[/quote] Ah so youve done it yourself then and still use jacks or instrumemnt cable? Mostly true but can still short out a mosfet or tranny output stage in that failure mode which means more than a quick fuse change. Valve output stages can fail open circuiit too, remember. Jacks are fine for instruments but speakons and xlrs (to an extent) are far better for power transfer without doubt.

You need a fodera. problem solved

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='539000' date='Jul 12 2009, 11:41 PM']If your SS head melts a cable, you'll just get no sound, and the amp is happily not plugged in to anything and won't kill itself.[/quote] unless it shorts between sleeve and signal cable momentrily? dead short. bang. fizz.

Most jack plugs leak at high pressure which means 'loud' cabinets. Their not 'sealed' against atmosphere. Also their developed from old GPO sockets and have high contact resistance which means they limit the way your head trabsfers power to the cabinets. Using decent thick cable and speakons makes a hell of a difference as anyone whose tried it in real life will tell you.

[quote name='Finbar' post='538989' date='Jul 12 2009, 11:34 PM']I lost interest a little after the first two albums though, I have to say. Felt a lot less organic.[/quote] I followed them from before 'Showbiz' & now find it hard to liten to that and 'Origin of Symetry' and see much of the same band. They evolved. YMMV

[quote name='the-bass-man' post='538961' date='Jul 12 2009, 11:04 PM']Right, so Nitromors followed by sandpaper to take it back to the wood. Then the oil - what's the best way to apply this? Brush, pad, cloth?[/quote] Do the first sealer with a cloth of 50/50 oil and thinner. Then Pour on a small bit of neat oil directly to the wood and sand it in with proggressive grades of wet and dry.

if your after clarity and punch then IMO dont 'upgrade' to Ashdown ABM EVO if you dont like the MAG stuff. The Ashdown amps are the weakest link (goodbye!) so you could try the Harkte HA3500 as mentioned above, which is a great head with your cabs and very versatile. You can change the preamp tube to suit your taste and mix it with solid state preamp, graphic and shelving EQ. Youve got a head/cab/cab setup so have the benefit of being able to change one bit at a time. Id start with the head and see if it improves things, and the HA3500 is a great head.

[quote name='the-bass-man' post='538928' date='Jul 12 2009, 10:41 PM']Right, Nitromors is easy enough to get hold of for me. Should I sand it by hand or use an orbital or mouse (small hand-held) sander? And I was thinking just a Danish Oil finish, but would Teak Oil work too? I'd like quite a dark finish, but I'll have a look when I'm next at work to see what's available. Oli[/quote] By hand! or you'll get little flats everywhere and end up doing it by hand anyway. Danish oil gives a semi matte finish and teak oil gives a glossier finish. Mix the first coat 50/50 with a thinner to sink in and leave it to set and dry. after that oil it and rub it in with wet and dry sandpaper to fill the grain and even up the finish. Start with 400 grade and end up with 1200 or 1600 garde for a really fine finish. Make sure you let each 'grade' dry for a couple of days before moving to the next finer one. PS if homebase dont do 1200 or 1600 grade then Halfords do

Nitromors. its probbaly a think polyester finish so slap it on for half an hour and wipe it off then use proggressive grades of sandpaper to finish it down. if you start with sanding youll spend weeks getting into the cutaways and probbaly take off too much on the curves and contours.

Umm is it ok to have no real desire to slap at all? I got told off for it once and it was only becaiuse i was hitting it so hard fingerstyle taht it was clanging off the frets.

Theres a few standards I run thru like The Jam's 'Down in the Tube Station', RATM 'Bombtrack' and muse 'Falling Away With YOu' and other than that i just fiddle around with some standard chordal/modal progressons and fiddly finger stuff. Very rarely slap as im so sh*te at it Was nice yesterday as tried out an ibanez that ill probbaly end up buying and ended up with the shop staff and customers watchinga and asking how id learned to do some of the stuff. As soon as i knew i was under the spotlight i clammed up and playing went to pieces edit. was playing through Phil JOnes and Ashton amps, not played either before but got a great sound out of both.

Didnt you ask the same question [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=54123&st=0&p=537146&#entry537146"]here[/url]? Wondering why you didnt just send DHA a PM?