northcountrybob

Cheers mate. That’s who I found the spring idea from. That chap and that 60 Cycle Ryan Bruce fella. Although they went the route of machining the old perch in a lathe. I don’t have an immediate access to a lathe so tried to find something off the shelf. The thumb nut is what I’ll experiment with before finding a lathe. Ive had a read of mikes articles on the Bass VI mods. It’s really helpful.

My springs and stuff arrived. The yellow and blue springs are 16mm outer / 8mm inner diameter, 25mm long uncompressed JIS die springs. The blue one is pretty stiff. The yellow I can compress a bit. Not compared them to the stock spring yet. Waiting for some more things before taking it apart. I spent ages looking for “articulating spring perch” parts, which I think is what the usual brass thimble is. Looks like a suspension part but I couldn’t track anything suitable down. I thought maybe model car suspension part or something… meh Anyway… I got a brass thumb nut with a high shoulder. 16mm wide outer, 8mm wide shoulder. M4 threaded. Also got an M3 version which is proportionally smaller. The fit is pretty loose. Not sure what the thread is on the stock screw but it’s easy enough to find M4 bolts. I’m assuming it’ll be metric rather than imperial????

It's arrived! Definitely needs some work. The break angle over the bridge is as low as people point out in other posts. The bottom E isn't sitting in that bridge slot very securely. The neck relief on this thing is pretty savage so the action is high even though the bridge is sat low. Hopefully all fixable! Needs some new pots. The pickups vary in volume quite a lot in the different combinations and the strange switch is a bit meh.... might research some electronics options. I really want to make this thing a cool unusual gigging bass! Might keep a bit of a diary here and I imagine it'll take some learning and assistance to sort it all out!

Awesome. I'm picking up the Bass VI at the end of the week. I've got a bit of a deal on a mastery bridge which I'll probably go for. Not much more cash than the Staytrem and without the 20 week lead time. If it's overkill I can always put that on my jaguar down the line so it's not really wasted on the Bass VI. I also stumbled onto Ryan 60 Cycle Hum's video about problems with springs on the Jag/Jazz American Pro II Panorama Trem. Fender changed the pivot point on those, and that means the standard spring compresses a lot more making them rubbish with heavier strings (10's and 11's up). Their fix was to use a die spring, heavier duty, rectangular wire. It's not a drop in replacement as those parts won't sit on the stock spring perch, but there are lot of options for spring strength in those. I'll probably move the trem from my jaguar onto the Bass VI, and I've ordered a couple of die springs and an couple of knurled brass thumb nuts which may work instead of the stock perch. Again, if it's OTT on the Bass VI it'll eventually end up back on the Jag, so nothing really lost. But maybe it'll help the Bass VI trem stability. I do worry that if the forces are enough between the spring and the strings, the trem arm will just bend itself all over the shop!

Yeah I do plan on using some bushings on the bridge, either on the stock one or whatever ends up in there down the line. I have a tele that has an offset bridge and bigsby. The bridge is held by copper tape wrapped around the posts up to the right diameter. I have a digital caliper somewhere so that's easy and cheap enough to do. Shame it seems to affect the trem so much! I'd quite like to use the trem. Maybe I can see how it goes, or find a replacement spring or something?

Awesome. I didn't know of the Newtones. Fender do a set which are 24 , 34 , 44 , 65 , 80 , 100. https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/strings-c1/string-sets-c865/bass-guitar-c34/fender-super-nps-250-bass-vi-strings-24-100-ball-end-p14790 I've played guitar (questionably) for 25 years at this point. The past few I've been playing bass more in bands and that's really got me excited about music again. The idea for this bass is exactly what you mention about it being fun and some kind of idea machine. When it comes to more strings, I think I'd rather go this way than a tradition 5 or 6 string bass.

Yo! I just made a crazy purchase of a Bass VI. I know the intonation is likely going to by wacky, so I’ll be shimming the neck and getting some heavier strings. I wondered if anyone else here had modded one. I have an old USA Jag I can borrow a trem off. I was debating the staytrem bridge (20 week lead time!) or a mastery, maybe… down the road maybe some jag quarter pounders. A mastery seems like an expensive part for a squier. And I’m not sure if I can get up to 100 gauge strings through a standard jag trem. anyone got any thoughts?

Orange AD200B. There are a couple or revisions of this amp. The earlier ones have lower plate voltages and push about 160W clean. Slightly later versions like the one I own will do 200W. The later ones also have a centre tap on the filament wind that is grounded. Early units use 2x 100 Ohm resistor faux centre tap on the PCB. It sometimes causes a kind of ticking noise and the way to get rid of that was to ground the unterminated centre tap wire from the power transformer. The faux centre tap resistors are prone to burning if there is a power valve failure where the high voltage shorts to the filaments. Shorts can also cause the resistors on the valve failure LED's at the rear to get really hot and burn the PCB. I've taken those out of my amp. Another trick is using a tiny bit of heat shrink on tops pins 2 and 3 of the power valves, just to put off the plate voltage from arc'ing across the valve base to the filament supply. I like valves. It sounds good. I don't really need to use any pedals with it. It's not as heavy as an SVT. It's easier to maintain and service than an SVT. Replacing valves is a bit cheaper than with 6x 6550/KT88 amps, which is where some people cut corners and end up having reliability issues. There's no wacky extra gubbins like "auto bias" circuits and stuff to go wrong. It uses commonly available parts. It's loud enough for me for any gig I've played and I could probably have a good go an repairing one on the road if I took a couple of spares (which I do). I've played a bunch of other bass amps. Various Ampegs, Ashdowns, HH, Trace, Darkglass, Mark Bass, other Oranges... AD200 is my fave.

As for a supply. An email to origin may be worth a shot. I think any reasonable 18V supply should be fine. The filtering inside the pedal is pretty belt and braces iirc. I have had a look at that in the past using an MXR and Boss 9V suppy. But only 18V from an old DC5 Cioks.

Do you have a spare 12V output? that’d give you some benefit over 9V.

Made some changes recently. Replaced my old Turbo Tuner with the Turbo Tuner Mini. Replaced my ODB-3 with the MBD2 (I love this pedal!) That created enough space to add a Carbon Copy as a little temporary fun extra. I've been thinking of getting hold of a Walrus Julia to use instead of the CE-2B. That'd make space for something like a Meris Polymoon where the CC is. Open to suggestions about good chorus', they just need to be in an enclosure along the lines of the MBD2 ideally. Seems like the Walrus Julia, EQD Aurelius and JHS Emperor are the main items that fill the bill? I like the idea of the Julia and the Polymoon or Red Panda Context 2 as I've been thinking of putting an "ambient" "adjacent" guitar setup together.

I have one. I run it at the end of my chain. Tuner > Comp > Drive > Chorus > BassRig. I run the blend at max. push the treble and bass a little. cut the mids a little. I set it so there's always a little bit of breakup going on. Once it's plugged into an amp + cab I use the little LF and HF controls and the switch at the bottom to dial in the sound through the amp and cut high frequencies out if the cab has a tweeter. Those three controls don't effect the DI output. The amp output can't have the cab sim on it. Only the DI can. So if you use the DI for gigs ideally you need to hear that output somehow. Routed to stage monitors for example. For me that's not ideal. My band doesn't own a PA and I don't own anything with a balanced input at home that I can use to really sit and listen to that output to dial everything in. I just have to trust sound guys and my ears listening to the room during soundcheck. I sort of found a "workaround" by running the BassRig amp output into an HX Stomp with only an 8x10 model selected. Listening on the HX Stomp headphone output. From that I found a happy starting point for the main controls that gives me a wacky approximation of what the DI output should sound like.

Rig from the weekend. Mostly borrowed backline. My bass and pedals though! Hadn't used the MBD-2 prior to soundcheck but I love this thing so far.

I can't remember how I came to the ODB-3. I think because it was cheap and relatively available second hand. Steve Queralt of Ride has one on his board. I does one sound I happen to like, but I wouldn't say it's versatile. I'm going to try a pork & pickle as soon as I can get chance. I did however just order a damnation MBD2 (which I think was being sold on this board a while ago) off Reverb. Saw some videos I really liked and thought I'd risk it since the price wasn't far off a new Pork & Pickle. I need to try the P&P too. I like having ready available options in case my pedals get kicked across a room and something gets broken... New ST-300 Mini Turbo Tuner arrived today! So with a chorus and distortion pedal change I should be able to fit a "wild card" pedal on the board.

Nice! How do you like the Bass Rig compared to the B7K?

Oi Oi! Just wondering what y'all make of the Way Huge Pork & Pickle? I'm trying to squeeze another pedal onto my Nano+ by going to pedals with top mounted jacks. I've been using the ODB-3 for a while. I run the Gain almost at min, and the Balance up at 2 o'clock. I boost bass with it a bass too. I find it gets very saturated quite quickly with gain much higher. I like how it sounds but pretty much only when dialed in one way. Also, as it's a boss pedal with side mounted jacks it takes up a bit of space. I'm looking at alternatives to add a bit of hair. Top mounted jacks. The Pork & Pickle popped up. Just wondering if there is anything else compact out there. I was looking at Earthquaker stuff but not sure if any of their drives are ideal. Not sure if a clean blend is essential.

Tonight’s rig for Nashville, TN. Borrowed the P-Bass. Put stringjoy 45-105s on it and it really helped the sound of the thing.

I gave Allianz a call and they were helpful but it's too last minute to get everything together. Anyway... don't know why babysitting everyone... For anyone wondering, they sent me a spreadsheet to list all the gear I want insured on. Seem pretty flexible and helpful. I should revisit when I have more time, or get the others to do it themselves.

not a bad plan!

Yo! Off on tour end of this week and need to pick up some musical instrument insurance for those in my band that don't have it. I already have it... and will only be flying with my pedals. Mine is through the Musicians Union but it's a bit of a pain sorting the same cover through their broker for non-members. Any tips or recommendations?

I thought I was a bit out there using a single chorus pedal, but I'm firmly in the dark ages looking at some of these setups. 2x Colliders!

On the more modern models, Last 4 digits are normally month and year of production. The first number is usually the number something came off the line. Maybe batch too. 60610-1016 would be made october 2016. i used to own the second Crush20rt off the line. 00002-(whatever month and year, can’t remember off the top of my head) older serials are a bit harder to decipher I think. Edit: there’s a couple of variations within AD200Bs, and I’m not sure what year or run that changed at. But early units do about 160watts.

It's a bit slow in work, so here is my board. I must have had that ST-200 tuner for close to 20 years or something silly now. Debating replacing at least the ODB-3 and CE-2B with my HX Stomp.

Line up looks interesting. I'd check out Descendants. Karl Alvarez is a great bassist. Coughin' Vicars, The Chisel, Chubby & The Gang... Ruts DC are always on point. Good Riddance. I'd drop in on HR out of intrigue.

I really don't like the little crAshdown bass amps in pirate. I seem to recall they have those detent pots. terrible. I once leant an old marshall JCM900 to a chap at a gig. Also had to tune his guitar for him before he played. Their drummer played so hard a pint of water vibrated off his drum monitor straight into me amp. Not ideal.