bumnote

I had a skyline jo which was great but weighed in at over 11lbs. I read Dan had later put controls in to prevent over heavy basses being made. A Skyline 55 02 which was beautifull, preferred it to the stingray 5 I had before and was marginally lighter. Sold only because I decided to play 4 bangers. A Skyline 44-02 I sold this to buy the fiver, wish I hadnt, gorgeous cherry sunburst. let down by cheap feeling pots A Jerry scheff in shoreline gold, great bass, still have it. Apart from a small paint blemish, about on a par with my stirling for quality I think we really use the wrong terms for these basses. With all respect I dont beleive that just because its made in the US its superior to stuff made in another country. All woodwork is done on a cnc machine, and I think the US ones are made outside. The pickups are i think the same, its only the hardware that may be different. I think what we should be saying is that they are made to a price, not made in a country, and so to my US Jo Everything about this is about attention to detail. flawless finish, neck feels perfect. maple fret markers! light in weight, you can just tell its a class item. The woods are of superior quality. A US one will probably cost near double what a skyline costs. Is it twice as good. No. Is worth it, its down to the individual.

[quote name='Stewart' post='463088' date='Apr 15 2009, 03:39 PM']And you used to be able to X-ray your own feet in shoe shops... [/quote] Blimey you must be nearly as old as i am

[quote name='Stewart' post='463024' date='Apr 15 2009, 02:30 PM']Jack connections are entirely bad news for high-current applications (even when using 'high-current' jacks and sockets) - they pit quite badly in no time, and require frequent cleaning, twisting and reseating. If you only have jacks at the amp end, then get a jack-speakon lead (and avoid any possibility of being able to use an instrument cable).[/quote] Im not sopporting or condeming either, I dont have the technical knowledge to do so. Im suggesting giving people the choice. In fact I like speakons because you dont need a soldering iron if you have a lead problem. For all the concerns expressed about the 1/4 jack its been used in guitar amps for what 50years? [I wonder how many that is] and is still being offered in brand new equipment today so although no doubt it can be bettered, it cant be all bad.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='462349' date='Apr 14 2009, 06:10 PM']And regarding a 1/4" socket, I'd really rather avoid them - seen far too many instrument leads used as speaker leads, plus the way they short on insertion/removal is an excellent way of killing amplifiers. Alex[/quote] Er What about customer choice While it was not uncommon to see guitar leads being used as speaker leads in the 60s and 70s, [i dont recall any lasting problems although my memory may be blurred at that time] most people today know not to do it. As far as the shorting goes, of my 4 amps only the ashdown has a speakon the rest are 1/4 jacks, as is the new Hartke LH 500 so even if you eliminate the problem at the speaker end, you have it at the other Surely the best compromise is to offer the choice, why not use a speakon combo?

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='459898' date='Apr 11 2009, 12:45 PM']there was someone selling one of these combo's a while back, started out asking £350, after a few weeks was offering it to me for £100, he was moving house and didn't fancy taking it with him! Wasn't in great nick, and funds were a bit tight at the time....[/quote] I suppose it is long gone?

[quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' post='280072' date='Sep 8 2008, 11:32 PM']Favouroonie places: Exchanges in Birmingham was incredible 20 years ago![/quote] I used to drive up from portsmouth once or twice a year just to go in there Incredible admosphere with all the tunnels and stuff

[quote name='Ray' post='457078' date='Apr 8 2009, 08:48 AM']I still do this regularly!![/quote] Oh my Gawd although the sound of a hammond always sends shivers up my spine

I struggled a lot initially with the big neck on a precision, particulaly as I came originally from 6 strings, and to me, it just feels so right before you even turn the amp on. I would actually like to reverse the duck dunn idea and try a jazz with a precision neck

[quote name='Linus27' post='454909' date='Apr 5 2009, 08:56 PM']Well I got the devil bass back from my Luthier who changed all the electrics (pots and wires) in the bass but alas, no difference. He copied a standard precision setup and also set the pickup height to what Lakland recommends and despite being slightly better, overall, its not that different and the problem continues. However, he did notice that the coils are vibrating like crazy and Lakland have offered to replace the pickups free of charge which I thought was rather superb of them. So this is what I will do and fingers crossed, will solve the problem. It has to really as everything else has been changed already.[/quote] Im not totally surprised, Laklands customer service is awesome. Very few companies would go that far.

[quote name='OldGit' post='455627' date='Apr 6 2009, 04:20 PM']During Stand by your Man I try to work out why [url="http://www.last.fm/music/Lyle+Lovett/_/Stand+By+Your+Man"]Lyle Lovett [/url] covered it ... What with Lyle being a guy, and all ...[/quote] This was probably done in my drinking pints of special brew phase

[quote name='OldGit' post='455517' date='Apr 6 2009, 02:52 PM']There's always something in every tune that you can work on to help you improve yourself as a player. And once you've learned to fake sincerity you have it made as a covers artists .... [/quote] +1 I had 1 year playing with a country band, which I did for money, and also some years ago playing waltzes and quicksteps when Id rather have been doing Yes and Deep purple. In both cases I improved as a player more than I would have done playing what I wanted to do. Also, if you dont look as if you are enjoying yourself, sure as hell the audience wont.

[quote name='YouMa' post='455083' date='Apr 6 2009, 01:03 AM']You mean robbie mcintosh i think,awesome drummer,im a huge AWB fan.Schoolboy crush and there version of work to do is brilliant.[/quote] We backed Alan Gorrie and Onnie Mckintyre wjhen they played in a band called Hopscotch, Ive always thought he had a great voice, I was never too taken with Hamish falsetto

[quote name='Linus27' post='454890' date='Apr 5 2009, 08:31 PM']Well, just got an email for the band saying it was great playing with me yesterday and would I like to join the band. WOOOHOOO, so looks like I did an ok job Once again, thanks for all the help and support guys.[/quote] I missed all this well done and I hope you enjoy it. Preparation and the right attitude goes a long way.

[quote name='Stingray5' post='454658' date='Apr 5 2009, 01:40 PM']I recently played a gig with my function band for a local Royal Naval Association dance and I'd say the average age of the audience was about 70+ (I kid you not). [/quote] One of our favourite clubs has a similar age profile. The secretary says the memberships declining because they are all dying off Having said that, they are up on the floor from the start. One of the things I love to see is a floor full of people dancing.

[quote name='OldGit' post='454734' date='Apr 5 2009, 03:43 PM']100 Watt Marshal stacks in pubs and clubs? and before Master Volume amps, I suspect. We used to get the "turn down or F.O." message on a regular basis with just an AC30 for lead.... I bet they died when you turned up with that lot.[/quote] I hadnt twigged about amp distortion, i used to think I would break it if i turned up too loud, wondered why I could never sound like EC

[quote name='beerdragon' post='454738' date='Apr 5 2009, 03:49 PM']I remember playing on the same bill as the Herd with Peter Frampton, it was a large hall in shrewsbury i think. i just a had a fifty watt Marshall and a 4x10. mind you that would have been a valve head.[/quote] We backed them in Bognor or brighton or somewhere The bass playewr only had three strings and no spare Peter Frampton was rifdiculously young and ridiculously talented

[quote name='leschirons' post='454492' date='Apr 5 2009, 08:23 AM']Great pic and cool strides, vocalist looks like he's going to be asking "Do you want fries with that?" someday. Some gear investment there too, did you have wealthy parents? Pretty ground breaking covers for the time what with 8 miles high and R & R star. You must've been pretty good. Nice one.[/quote] I lost touch with all bar one of the guys. I met the singer 35 years later. I got the job looking after a warehouse. When I was introduced round, this little semi bald old bloke [ and Im no better except Ive still got hair] said 'you dont remember me do you' and it was the vocalist Cliff. No we didnt have rich parents, it was all on the never never, or a provident cheque. Im just tring to remember how much my Marshall cost me, about £300 if I recall which was about 4 months wages. Gear was relativelyexpensive, I remember seing my first pink strat in 1960 ish and it was 157 gns [about £165] and i think my dad was earing about £8 a week. Gig money wasnt very good. I remember with another band doing 2 nights in Birmingham in the elbow rooms [where our agent assured as we would meet Robert Plant,] and the Belfrey [where we were going to back the Who, but it turned out to be Julie Felix] we cleared £2 each after van costs. However, I wouldnt have missed it for the world. Ive had 45 odd years with a 6 year break, gigging round. Ive met some nice people and some a...holes in that time, and music has really added to my life.

This is the earliest picture I can find from about 1967 I am playing a danelectro belzouki 12 string [for the birds so you want to be a rock and roll star and eight miles high probably] through a marshall 100 watt stack. I also had a jaguar or a tele Note the home made trousers from curtain material and shoes which were hand painted. I was a crap lead guitar but a good rythm player.

Strapped on my hofner president later a fender jaguar in 1963 later progressing to an epihone rivioli, then an EBO before aquiring the 64 precision i still have. We have forgetten the linear concord valve amp, 15 watt IIRC powering a 15 or 18 inch speaker in a home made box the size of a wardrobe with a breeze block in the bottom to weigh it down, The hammond organ up 4 flights of stairs. The dormobile and thames van with the air operated windscreen wipers which slowed up the faster you went. Wow and then the transit, if you had the 6 wheeler you were certainly something. The sight of the early Marshalls behind The Oo, Yardbirds et al Moonie at the top of the stairs at kimballs ballroom trying to score er aspirin or similar. top bands playing to only a few hundred people for not much money. Argent and Thin lizzie used to do the tricorn in portsmouth for about a tenner. People look back on the 60s, and Pop/Rock/ really took off in that decade, not least as communication improved. Imagine a time where there was little radio or television exposure untill the pirates and then radio 1. At the end of it, whatever decade you start growing up in is going to be pretty special.

If it had a 'PROPER' precision neck, i would have given you a couple of hundred for it and taken a chance

[quote name='Linus27' post='450032' date='Mar 30 2009, 10:12 PM']hahaha hiya, the Lotus is great, got back from a track day at Snetterton the other week. Thankfully, my Loti has been pretty reliable and thats after 4 trackdays and 10,000 miles but I do know what your saying though :) Not sure i could afford it if it kept breaking down. I know my pickups are the Lakland own brand. If the pots were wrong then, could it be possible then that they are too powerful and causing this problem. Is that a possibility? The pickups could be a little high, especially the E string but you only really need to play the string softly for the input needle to go off the scale. I would think that lowering the pickups would not reduce it that much. Maybe I am wrong on this.[/quote] I didnt realise they were lakland own I know they changed to their own make. Lakland customer service is absolutely first rate, 5* super terrific, why dont you send them an e mail, outlining your problem. Bet you will get a response within 24 hrs

[quote name='Linus27' post='449912' date='Mar 30 2009, 08:56 PM']I'm sure this bass is cursed as it seems to have had problem after problem When I play my Lakland Duck Dunn, at times it makes a horrible distored crackling sound. Not like an electric crackling sound but like a nasty clipping sound, as if the speaker can't take it. I play through an Ashdown MAG 300H connected to a Ashdown MAG 1 x 15 and Ashdown MAG 2 x 10. So I am getting the full 300 watts yet the input dial is not even on quarter full and the needle goes off the scale. The output volume dial on the head is also not even on a quarter full and its very loud. When I play my Stingray and Jazz through the rig its so much quieter and despite thrashing as hard as I can on the strings with a plectrum, I cannot re-create the clipping distored sound with either of those two basses. The bass has had problems with the potts and wiring in the past from previous owners and has had either one or both potts replaced. Is it possible that the output from this bass is to much and causing the clipping/distortion? The reason I ask is the bass is very loud and with the input dial on really low, the needle goes off the scale. Any advice is really appreciated.[/quote] Hi Hows the lotus The duck IIRC is a precision body with a jazz neck I have fralins in my precision and also my jo osb and they are not as powerfull as a musicman. Logic says that a standard pick up wont be as hot as a guitar with a preamp such as a stingray Have you checked the pick up height relative to the strings? If the pick up is very close to the strings it might want lowering a bit to prevent you getting too strong a signal. If you driva a lotus you must have to rebuild it every other week, so you should be good with your hands Have a look under the scratch plate and make sure all the wires are fitted properly. Go to the seymour duncan site or the fralin one a get a precsion wiring diagram, see if its connected correctly. Its very simple, it really is only a few wires. check the pickup height. If its had new pots fitted, check they are the right ones, again, you can get that from one of the sites. They are 250K if I recall correctly. Good luck