flyfisher

The fuse in a 13A kettle lead is to protect the lead, not the equipment it's plugged into. A kettle lead is a component in its own right and can be used with a whole range of other components. The mains plug, the cable and the IEC connector are all specifically designed to safely be used with any compatible devices up to a limit of 13A - including, er, kettles. If an amp (or anything else) only draws, say, 2A but has a kettle lead connector then the designers must allow for the very likely possibility that someone will use it with a kettle lead containing a 13A fuse - especially in a band environment where all the kettle leads are typically thrown into some sort of box after a gig.

Do you know the required specification though?

All good points above. If it were mine, I'd undo the transformer fixings (usually a single bolt through the middle with a large washer) and prop it up on a bit of foam rubber or similar, then check if this makes any difference to the hum. If it's still noisy then it's probably within the transformer itself (loose windings etc, as mentioned above) but if it's quieter then it's probably the fixing arrangement, e.g. a bit too loose, allowing the transformer hum to resonate against the chassis. Re-fit the fixing and ensure it's really tight (thoughj not too tight to damage the windings).

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1207160' date='Apr 21 2011, 03:19 PM']Guy Garvey from Elbow used to host a BBC R6 show and he was great.[/quote] Well, if we're digging up old shows with pro muso's as presenters then I'll have to nominate Alexis Korner's Sunday evening blues programme, which used to be on Radio 1 just after Pick Of The Pops, or whatever it was called. It was, er, a few years ago though and AK is sadly no longer with us, but otherwise I can't see a problem. Well, there was just one problem. Whenever I tuned in a bit too early, I would catch the closing bars of whatever pop ditty was at number one that week.

Isn't it the point of Later to be an eclectic music programme? Eclectic, pretty much by definition, means not everyone will like everything on it. So a few people moaning about Hugh Laurie merely reinforces the fact that Later is doing its job. I'm just surprised there's not more jazz on the show.

I bought a pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones for business trips and they do a great job of reducing airplane noise. A bit pricey in the UK, though I bought mine in the USA many years ago for $149 with a free portable CD player thrown in. It also helped that I had a generous expenses account at the time. The only problem I have with them is the argument over who wears them when we go on holiday - my wife always wins!

Would that work with an AC waveform though? Could easily add a bias circuit I guess but that moves things away from a passive solution . . .

Hmm. Interesting question . . . it would be helpful to know the application and where the 8 piezo mics are going to be placed. I've never heard of connecting multiple mics together, except via a mixer of course, and my immediate concern would be how they might interact with each other. If these are the devices I think they are, then they are basically the same as those piezo "sounders" often used in cheap products that need to make some sort of noise. Basically, if mechanical energy is applied to the device (e.g. sound vibrations) then you'll get a small voltage waveform out (i.e. behaves like a microphone), but if electrical energy is applied to the device (e.g. an audio signal) then the device will vibrate and emit a sound. So, if you connect a number of devices together (in parallel) then the mechanical vibrations applied to one device will "energise" the other devices and cause them to vibrate. With eight devices connected in parallel, there will be all sorts of complex interactions between them as they are simultanously energised by the vibrations from the sound source and the electrical outputs from the other devices. I'm not really sure what will happen (without a bit of experimentation) but I don't think I'd be holding out much hope for a quality audio signal being picked up. I'm not sure of the impedance of these devices but I assume it's pretty high. If all the devices are the same impedance then eight in parallel will have an impedance of 12.5% of the unit impedance. But, as mentioned above, I don't think this will be the real problem. Still, it would be a simple thing to try.

We do it. If, as you say, the originals are in the same spirit as the covers you play then it'll be fine - as long as you're not billing yourself as a tribute band After all, depending on your covers, it's quite likely that some of the audience may not have heard all your covers anyway, or perhaps you play a version that they've not heard before. For example, we play 'Call Me The Breeze' in the original JJ Cale style and not the generally better known Lynyrd Skynrd version, which always seems to go down well, so even with the covers the audience gets used to hearing something different. From there, it's a short step to introducing an original into the set if it's in a similar style. Having said that, we've now got about 50 mins of original songs and we're constantly debating how to spread them over two sets. We recently played our first originals-only gig (one set only) and for our next gig we're thinking of all-originals for the first set then all-covers for the second set, on the basis that the audience will be more lively by the second set. But who really knows, so we'll just try it and see what happens. Still, it's only the local cricket club so it's hardly going to make the front pages if it all goes wrong!

I use one of these for home practice:

[quote name='gelfin' post='1198783' date='Apr 13 2011, 10:01 PM']I tell these to spend their money on more music.[/quote] Amen to that. Each to their own, of course, but hi-fi is just a tool I use to listen to music, not a hobby in its own right.

OK, you win. I thought my £1000 mains cable was the ultimate p*ss-take, but it's clearly just a rank amateur. Bl**dy hell - who actually buys this stuff.

All very amusing stuff, but while there are products like this being promoted then there's little need to make up ridiculously far-fetched nonsense: [url="http://www.merlincables.com/index.php?app=gbu0&ns=prodshow&ref=dragonmains"]http://www.merlincables.com/index.php?app=...ref=dragonmains[/url]

Sounds like a "let's dream up a scam" sort of thing. As already mentioned, it sounds like a lot of effort for little reward. Plus, as mentioned, serial numbers would quickly reveal the scam. Another thought, I believe fixed-voltage appliances tend to have fixed mains plugs, whereas universal ones tend to have IEC connectors and are supplied with the appropriate 'kettle leads', so a fixed-voltage US amp would be rather easy to spot. The whole premise sounds daft to me.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1194881' date='Apr 10 2011, 06:30 PM']I have very fond memories as a kid of curly-wurlys and a copies of 2000AD therefore to me they are next to priceless, I'll give you one of each [b]plus[/b] I'll bung in a roll of caps to sweeten the deal. You win out big time - a bunch of priceless item vs a mere bass. That's way better than Pete's cheeky offer.[/quote] Well, if you happened to have the one edition of 2000AD that someone out there might need to complete their collection, it might well be worth the bass of your choice to them . . . .

[quote name='andy67' post='1194450' date='Apr 10 2011, 11:45 AM']Bass sold in shop for £1000 (some Fender bass in this price range) now here's the rub and I'll probably get told off for this again... Mark up on mainstream musical equipment is in the region of 40% in some cases, I have been reliably told, is at most 53%. So, suddenly, a £1000 instrument is in reality worth £570 - £600 but the mark-up makes it worth more but ... is this the case, is the bass worth this mount due to the mark-up?[/quote] It's irrelevant. You could extend the same argument to the manufacturer. So, you say the £1000 shop bass is "in reality" only "worth" £570, but what about the manufacturer's markup? By this reasoning the bass might only be worth, say £250 "in reality". It's a futile process trying to put a formulaic price on used items, unless you control the market (which manufacturers can do but sellers of used items cannot). In fact, the varying opinions of this thread only go to prove it. You can believe something is worth whatever you want, you can invent all manner of reasons or formulae to support your view, but if you can't persuade someone else to pay the price then you'll never be able to realise that value in hard cash. You're just fooling yourself. It's like buying a new car. The buyer thinks they've just bought a £30k car but the reality is that it's suddenly worth a great deal less, simply because (unless it's particularly collectable) there's no one in the world that will buy that car for anywhere near £30k. There's no scientific rationale for this, it's just the way a free market works.

"No User-Serviceable Parts Inside" is a common sticker on all manner of consumer products these days, presumably to absolve the manufacturer from any liability arising from people trying to replace faulty components when they don't know what they're doing. Perhaps this is a new initiative to make products that actually can be economically repaired instead of just being treated as disposable items. I wonder what the H&S police would have to say about such things?

[quote name='apa' post='1193599' date='Apr 9 2011, 10:37 AM']Yep thats a mains transformer all right!! I think its a bit bad form for them to expect you to dismantle one of their units for them!! What if you cocked something up? who would pay for THAT repair??? A[/quote] +1 Bad form indeed - especially when, presumably, they expect you re-assemble the repaired parts as well. Ludicrous. Imagine a car company that required you to remove a faulty engine and return it to the manufacturer for them to fix under warranty and then you have to re-install it in your car. We'd laugh them out of the showroom for taking the p*ss.

[quote name='dougie' post='1192465' date='Apr 8 2011, 12:42 AM']IMO,if i ask £1k for a pair of my skidmarked y fronts thats my prerogative,wether anyone wants to pay that amount is theirs....isnt that the way selling/buying has always worked?,last thing i`d imagine is any mods/admins wanting to even get involved in anyones debates regarding cash sales.[/quote] Exactly. The mods/admins would be on a hiding to nothing. There might even be legal ramifications if they were 'influencing' prices. Besides, how could anyone, except the potential buyer, put a value on a year-of-birth instrument? Caveat Emptor - t'was always thus and t'will ever be. As for the skidmarked-fronts that Dougie is so generously offering for a mere £1000, they could be a sound investment if he turns out to be the next Jaco.

Does Paypal really simply refund money on a verbal-only basis? Surely they would also want some evidence of the problem, or at least wait until the goods have been returned?

[quote name='Dropzone' post='1191883' date='Apr 7 2011, 04:08 PM']Have yet to look at the damping. Once I have the monitors and the room set out, that will be my next task.[/quote] I've never tried it but have read that old quilts (or new if you can afford it ) can be very good for damping. Easy to move around as well while experimenting for the best results.

Probably illegal but, in practice, where's the harm? My understanding is that UK law does not allow for punitive damages, unlike US law, so (I believe) you can only be sued for actual damages (though happy to be corrected on this by a real lawyer!). So, a song is covered in a recording studio (hardly a commercial 'performance' where money exchanges hands for the privilege of hearing the song), and the CD is played to a few dozen venue owners (again, not a commercial performance). I can't see how the original artist has been disadvantaged by this whole process, so what would be the point in suing? On the other hand, if the promotion is successful and the band get loads of gigs then they'll attract paying audiences and money will flow, via the PRS, to the original artist. So, again, what would be thge point in suing?

I bought a mixer flightcase from them last year. I was expecting it to be a couple of weeks for a custom build but it turned out to be in stock and arrived in a couple of days. Looks pretty solid to me, with good solid locks and handles - though I haven't given it the 'falling dow the stairs' test yet. I'd certainly buy from them again.

Blimey - I haven't seen one of those for a while. I definitely second the safety concerns. In fact many years ago when I was about 15 (er, early sevCOUGHenties) and didn't really know any better, I built a 100W PA amp from some modules and thought it would be a good idea to have a spearate mains lead. At that time, as pointed out above, these Bulgin connectors were fairly common so that's what I used. Except I got the 'sex' of the two connectors the wrong way around (well, 15 can be a confusing time of life ) and bought a female chassis socket and a male cable plug. Anyway, it was more-or-less safe as long as the mains cable was plugged into the amp before the 13A plug was plugged into the mains, but if it was done the other way around then the other end of the cable had about 240Vac across the [u]very exposed[/u] prongs of the Bulgin plug - as I once found out. Happy days!

I'd go for a wristband or two. Definitely an embossed one for durability, perhaps with some bass clefs as well?