LITTLEWING

What the hell is anyone doing storing guitars in an attic anyway ?? Have you been up there in the summer - feckin' hot like an oven, and winter - like a bleedin' walk in freezer. You want to shag your prized instruments to death, then carry on. You've only got yourself to blame when they're split, rusty and warped. 'Kin hell !!!

I'm looking at somehow tilting back my combo to hear better when we're playing but can only find stands for sale which will raise it off the ground. I know the normal practice is to have a cab as much on the floor as possible, but is there REALLY any discernible loss in bass and 'good' tone if it's up in the air somewhat ?

Absolutely spot on.

Now THERE'S another thing.....Fender and the Haynes Fender manual say about setting up the heights but is that at the 17th with a capo at the first fret or without? I set my P and Jazz without a capo at 7/64" at the E at the 17th fret gradually sloping to 5/64" at the G and that gives me a nice relationship between finger/thumb and plectrum as long as I don't get too enthusiastic.

Just a quick update, I took the speaker out and found a large lump of 40 x 40cm wood pinned diagonally across the back panel which looks like there were vibration problems with the cabinet at some point, so as an experiment I screwed a fairly large piece of hard foam to it effectively raising it off the rear panel aiming to kill some box-ey sound waves. Slap me hard and call me Doris, but it actually sounds like a bloody good quality combo now. Used it yesterday at praccy and I was smilng like a dog with two wotsits. No more bare wood cabs for me in the future. (Notes to Rumble 100 owners - 1/ disconnect completely unnecessary tweeter, 2/ disconnect completely unnecessary red led's, 3/ fix a lump of foam to rear internal panel, 4/ snip the spade connectors off the speaker wires and SOLDER them on. (You will now have a sensible combo).

Cheers, chaps. Happy New Year.

Does anyone find sound deadening inside bass cabs good or bad? I use a Fender Rumble 100 with a 15" speaker in our rehearsal space (disconnected the tweeter-yuk!!) and the stupid red Leds. (yuk again!!). Anyhow, its always sounded great up to about half volume and then after that begins to sound too harsh as though the bass is 'fighting' itself. The cab isn't exactly very deep so could the waves be reflecting off the back too much? I was thinking about damping the inside just on the back with something or other to possibly 'tame' the middle boom.

Cheers B-B, What great reviews, guess what I just may be purchasing!!

Had to resort to my trusty old Westfield back up bass recently and as the drop in clarity etc was a bit of a bummer, I've been looking at not-too-expensive replacement P bass pups. I found Wilkinson's MWPBs, ones from Axesrus and ones from a guitar chap called Entwistle all sub £30. Any recommendations please, guys (and gals) ?

Point taken Dave bass5, thing was I was just amazed after reading over a dozen or so posts about the poor quality of DR's that some people actually defend them. I was simply stating that the price of so called super strings on the market is WAY over the top just to hammer away and sweat over them at a gig then bin them once they've died. I'd rather buy cheaper decent sounding strings and not think twice about the prestige/brand name/colour. Your opinion is yours and probably loads will agree with you, but hey, we're all different and the world spins around nicely for that reason. All the best, old bean.

Well, excuse me for trying to help. You just carry on shelling out £40 a time for strings that the paint peels off, you have to make a dozen phone calls or emails and wait for replacements for dead//broken strings and all the while you can't use your favourite bass till they arrive. Personally, I'd give DR the biggest sod off tablet I could and find listen to people giving good advice on decent affordable smile-making strings and carry on with un-interrupted playing. Just can't help some folk.............

Chaps, do yourselves a favour and check out LEGACY bass strings from Strings Direct. They're nice and tight and don't go sharp when fretted, don't flop about like some limp d*cks and consistently sound and feel damn nice. I can't think who's make they feel like, but here's the best bit. Set of four 45/105's = £7.99 Set of five 130's = £9.99 Yes, you read right. I got them on my Aria Pro 2 and my old trusty Precision and gig regularly with them. I'm in no way connected to the company, I just want to pass this on. I hate seeing and hearing people getting ripped off with all the hyped up crap out there.

I tried Prosteels once, great strings at first, died dramatically after three gigs and two four hour rehearsals. Bought a set of Nano's last summer, still on now. Maybe a smidge less zing but nothing as dead as them dead 'Steels. Sure, they get a little feathered with a pick but what the heck.

[quote name='M-Bass-M' timestamp='1392995709' post='2375088'] Yup, full or off for me too. If I generally need more volume, then I turn the amp up. If I need more volume mid-song, then invariably I'll create dynamics by plucking softer / harder. Only exception to the rule is using a Jazz style V-V-T setup, and I want to bring in a small amount of the bridge PuP to add a bit of bark... [/quote]Yup, same here. The only issue though is any bass I've owned with two pups and volumes, (I'm using a Squier VM jazz just now) there only seems to be any appreciable difference at the last 20% of each pot. You say you add a small amount of bridge to the mix, I assume this isn't from 'zero' upwards?

I play in a 3 piece covers outfit and if I didn't venture up the neck we'd sound a bit bland. Plus there are times (during a guitar solo) when you really have to fill in the space if you're *musically able. *this part is VERY important. It never hurt that old Cream band........

Anyone know where I can buy a new 'centre detent' pot for my 3 band EQ ? Switch cleaner/lube isn't doing it. Can't seem to see one on the usual parts sites.

I just acquired an active Aria Pro 2 IBG four string which laid in a case under a bed for years ( the battery was dated 9/2008 and STILL worked, no corrosion or anything!) Apart from a dodgy crackly socket (new one on it's way as I write) it sounds, looks and plays fantastic after a small relief and action tweak. (oh, and a small shim to tilt the neck to get decent saddle height). However, I couldn't move the truss rod nut at first and after a while would only go about 10% of a turn either way before going dead tight. I've 'smidged' a spit of WD40 down inside the nut to hopefully reach the thread to soak for a few days. In people's experience is WD good for the job or does Duck Oil perform better. Any other tried and tested fixes? I'd just like the relief to be nearly flat and go from there.

[quote name='Jellyfish' timestamp='1387230591' post='2309750'] Out of curiosity, what sort of bass is it? Never had that much luck with 34" scale basses under a certain price in regards to a great feeling and great sounding B-string without having to put a hefty gauge string on it. [/quote]One's a Squier VM Jazz fiver with the BBOT and the other's a Yammy BBN5 II. The only other bass I owned which sounded good on a B for ages was a Yammy 775 with five separate individual saddle/bridge pieces. I always have my relief about .012" and action at 5/64 on the B to 4/64 at the G. I might just change the B more often with a cheap make and keep it clear that way. Humbug.

Why does my bottom B string always begin to sound like a wet dead fart on both my guitars? I make sure they aren't twisted when fitting, do the usual little 'press' thing over the saddle and nut and always make sure they're clean after gigs/rehearsals but they still end up sounding like a boomy dead elastic band type 'flumb' on all frets. One guitar has a high mass bridge and the other has a BBOT. I don't have the pups too high on that side so I can't see magnetic pull doing bad shiz. I even shelled out on Nano's to keep things fresh but even they eventually end up like a flubbery rubber band sound. They're already a 130, maybe a heavier string would sort it??

You've heard her so many times without even knowing. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9idtdWAAEA&list=RDAIApLbP3r-w"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9idtdWAAEA&list=RDAIApLbP3r-w[/url]

Experiment with pup heights to get a great tone by all means, but check out the video from 3.10 to 3.30 to be shocked! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6dlN93MGgw[/media]

[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1386197582' post='2297227'] Said it before, Legacy Strings from Stringsdirect.co.uk - £7.99 a pop and do the job jus' fine! [/quote]Yeah, I saw your post the other day and was looking at them only this evening. £9.95 for a five set of 45-130 can't be bad even if they stay reasonably bright for ten gigs. Hell, I'm gonna order some right now.

I was about to buy a couple of sets of 5 string Elixir Nanowebs to replace my 6 month old sets as an Xmas treat on my two regularly gigged basses (yes, they DO last that long and are only just starting to dull a little) and did the usual gander on Amazon and the 'bay first. Whoah momma, who decided that they should put nearly another ten squids on top since the last purchase? Even Earnest Ballbag have gone up too. Obviously over time they've got us hooked with the great feel, sound and longevity and I guess they think we can't do without the 'drug' now and willingly hand over extra hard-earned just to keep that 'high' going. Admittedly. 40-odd notes just twice versus 25 about six times a year isn't too bad I suppose, but come on chaps, play the game. It's a coat of plastic, not gold. The robbin' b*ggers!! Hope their turkey gives them the squits.

Try this out, it's stupid cheap and incredibly jaw-dropping. Finest wire wool, rub up and down the entire back of the neck including the fretboard edges. (Mask off the pups first, they'll only collect all the bits). Wipe off everything with a cloth and then give it a quick polish with decent guitar stuff. Run your hand up and down and be ready to catch yourself before you fall. Do this to a cheapy first if you don't believe it. You can thank me later.

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1385925159' post='2293726'] Suggestion wasn't that bad was it? [/quote]