Dronny

I bought Dave's Spector Euro LX4 off him, very smooth and pleasant transaction, no dramas, would happily deal with him again. Nice bloke, very prompt and excellent communications.

Just sold my Genz Benz rig to Lee, lovely bloke and very smooth and straightforward transaction. I'd be more than happy to deal with him again, highly recommended!

Have to agree, I bought the new self-titled album hoping to like it, but it just leaves me completely cold. More than anything, I find Labrie's voice really grates on me (and as a huge YES fan, I've heard plenty of people say the same thing about Jon Anderson -- but I love him). He's either all "fake emoting / ballad voice" or "screamy / metal voice" and nothing in between. Whilst the rest of the band are obviously highly trained, massively technically gifted players, the music they make together just doesn't "move" me. About the only album of theirs I can listen to these days is the 2nd (?) one "Images and Words" (the on with Pull Me Under on it). The new one... frankly I wish I hadn't wasted my money.

I also recently acquired an Electra TT4 (Jazz) and for my money, it's spot-on. Neck screws are in place, no issues with the vol/tone pots, scratchplate screws are all perfectly aligned, and the machine-heads appear to be equidistant from each other :-) It also plays beautifully, has a good tonal range and is on the lighter side. Gigged once only so far, but I got some nice feedback from our sound guy. Ahem. You know what I mean ;-)

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1380315558' post='2223865'] Silly question from someone with far less knowledge of these things than the people who've helped you so far but have you tried putting it through a different amp in a different room? Just to make sure it's the bass and not the amp or acoustics that's causing the problem. [/quote] Not a silly question at all, but in short, yes. In the time since I noticed it, I've played in a couple of different rehearsal rooms, through a few different amp/speakers, and it's definitely the guitar. However, after reading all the comments here, and trying it again, I have to say that it's actually nowhere near as bad as i was thinking at first. I was trying some of the suggestions (in particular, de-tuning it a tone), and noticed that the so-called dead-spot was actually quite subjective, and not as pronounced as I thought, in the cold light of day. So, thanks again to all the BC'ers who have helped me see this as a minor quibble rather than a major problem. Much appreciated, chaps!

Wow, thanks to everyone who replied, Dingus especially (love your avatar by the way ;-) ), it's made me feel a whole lot better about it! Just to answer a few specific points, I have tried a couple of different sets of strings (currently Overwater nickels, previously Elixirs and before that Rotosound swing bass steels), all have exhibited the problem to some degree. I also thing Dingus you are spot-on that I as over-whelmed by the bass when I first got it, and didn't notice, it's only when familiarity set in that I started to hear it. Re CHRISDABASS suggestion about the frets, well that was what they did when I sent it back to Overwater a couple of months ago, so I don' think it's that. I tried dropping the string tuning by a semitone, as per 'Machines' suggestion, and true enough, the dead-spot seems to move with it! So it does seem to be resonance related, I guess. Thanks again to all who offered their advice, cheers!

I will try the G-clamp technique this weekend, if I can find one in B&Q... that seems to be a common suggestion in the other posts on similar topics.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1380151501' post='2221697'] Just to be clear, by "dead -spot" you mean a noticably quieter note with less fundamental to it ? And when you say the bass developed a dead- spot, are you sure that the problem wasn't on the bass when you got it and you just didn't notice it? If you could describe the perceived problem a little more specifically that would help clarify things a little. [/quote] Good point -- I suspect (but of course cannot be sure) that it was there when I bought it, as I explained it was generally so much better overall than any other bass I'd ever played, I reckon that kept me happy for a long time! The "dead spot" is as you describe -- quieter / weaker sounding notes at those frets (and also the octave above on the D string, which tends to suggest a resonance rather than fretting problem). Certainly, at higher volumes it is less noticeable, it stands out to me when practicing at home, and particularly when playing with my current band, who rehearse in someone's house and hence tend to keep the levels lower than we might in a bigger rehearsal room. [quote] Dead spots can be a bit of a bastard to cure and are not uncommon in the scheme of things, but unless the problem is particulaly chronic, it shouldn't affect the resale value of the bass unduly, unless ,that is ,the dead-spot is due to some kind of extraordinary mechanical or structural flaw in the bass's construction, which is very unlikely if Overwater have serviced it recently . Dead spots, to a greater or lesser extent, are part and parcel of wooden instruments and there is a certain element of let the buyer beware. It might bother the heck out of you, but another player might not even notice it or even care that much. It can be a very subjective kind of fault, again , depending on how extreme the apparent problem is. There can be a bit of a grey are between "fault" and "inconsistancy" in respect of this kind of a thing, and many or even most basses have inconsistancies to them , so you wouldn't neccesarilly be comitting any kind of an underhand or dishonest act in putting the bass up for sale and letting the potential buyer use their best judgement. [/quote] Well, that's encouraging, thanks very much for that, I think I have got quite "wound up" over the thought of it being a big problem, and maybe I am over-reacting. I still wonder whether getting someone else to look into the problem is worthwhile, but I feel like I really need to move it on and find a replacement for my "sunday best" bass. I'm not a hoarder of basses, I only have this one plus a backup (a Vintage) that I keep around just in case, so I'd have to find a replacement before I could think of selling this one. Interestingly I've never seen anyone mention "dead spot"s in for-sale ads, so I'm not sure how I'd go about advertising it! As you say, it would be best if the buyer tried it first and used their best judgement. First-world problems, eh? ;-)

I have an Overwater Perception 2006 4-string bass, and it's developed a dead-spot around the 6/7th fret of the E-string, and I don't know what to do!?!?! I bought the bass second-hand off BC about 4 or 5 years ago, and didn't have any problems for the first few years. To be fair, it was so much better than any other bass I've ever owned (by a country mile!) that I was quite happy with it and never noticed any issues. That is not to say that the problem wasn't there, just that I didn't notice it... Then, about a year or so ago, I began to notice the "dead spot" around the Bb/B on the bottom (E) string... at first I just played through it, then it started bugging me. I bought a compressor, hoping it would even out the sound, but TBH it didn't really help. Recently it has started to really stand out to me, and at the suggestion of a mate, I contacted Overwater rather than take it to a local shop. They (Chris May, in fact) were very helpful via email and over the phone, and suggested I send it to them for a "service". I did, but it hasn't really made much difference. Not only that, but[size=4] it set me back a fair bit, compared to the "local shop" prices, I think. However, I'm not knocking OW, I'm sure they did their best, but the reality is it's really no better w.r.t. the dead-spot.[/size] So, fellow BC'ers, what should I do now??? I really don't want to make this in any way about Overwater, I think for the age of the instrument (made in '96) it's well out of its warranty period, and I bought it second-hand in good faith, but I really need to do something about it! It has crossed my mind to try selling it, but I just could not bring myself to potentially deceive someone else about the problem. I could try selling it as "known faulty" but what are the chances of anyone wanting it? Options I can think of are replacing the neck, selling it with the existing "issue" (which would reduce its value immensely, if not making it completely worthless?), getting someone else to take a look at it... I don't really know of any local luthiers to try (Swindon, Wilts area), but I wonder if that might be my best bet? I'd really appreciate any advice... Dave.

David bought my old Yamaha BB414, very nice chap to deal with, absolutely no problems.

I bought a Mark Bass "Compressore" off Kevin, everything went very smoothly, a lovely chap to deal with, highly recommended.

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1363106665' post='2008620'] For one, I've never liked the tuners on multi-effects, the displays just don't work for me. [/quote] Ha, funnily enough that was one of the things I liked about the idea of a multi-fx pedal, the fact that it has a built-in tuner :-) Thanks to all for the advice, looks like separate pedals is really the way to go, as I suspected. Even so, if a Boss ME20-B pops up for sale, I might still be tempted. TBH its the amp-modelling, cab simulation, etc, on the Zoom that was just wasted on me. Compressor / chorus / OD / etc I can see the point of, but the other stuff is just too much. IMHO of course So... I'll be looking out for a compressor (mainly), possibly a chorus, and I don't need another tuner 'cos I already have the wonderful Korg "Pitch Jack" which works a treat for me.