Ancient Mariner

[quote name='fumps' timestamp='1357827803' post='1929086'] knowing my luck this one will be the Friday guitar built by the incompetent who forgot to put his nappy pants on & was in a rush to leave for the day. [/quote] That was their standard build quality. If the pickups have hex screws for pole pieces they're almost certainly Dimarzios, but as has been said, if they have a chrome cover then they're dustbin (well, ebay) fodder. There were a lot of guitars like this around when I was a teen: Kay, Satellite, Shaftesbury etc plywood bodies, bad hardware and all nasty. I had a columbus Les Paul, which was made with solid woods and a set neck, but still had an unbucker (the previous owner replaced the bridge unbucker with a super distortion) that wasn't exactly wonderful either. No reason you shouldn't mod and fettle, but turd-polishing and all that - it could just become a money-hole.

Stacking distortions tends to create a flubby, muddy and indistinct mess, at least it often (though not always) does for guitar: I'd guess that's why the guitarist said that. OTOH that's the kind of thing some bass players revel in, so if that works for you then enjoy it. I'd have thought that if you're seeing warning lights on the amp then you're just hitting the front end too hard.

Sorry to hear that Fretmeister.

From the OP: [quote]I can learn a song pretty quickly just by listening to it, and working it out myself[/quote] I think this is what tells me you're a musician, rather than a technician who can remember a few notes & phrases. This tells me that you can hear and interpret music, rather than just reading notation or tab. [quote]I've heard this before a few times. Classical musicians are trained to read and understand music to a high level, and play perfectly in unison with 20/30/40 sometimes more, other musicians. I think being able to play an entire composition perfectly (remembering the emphasis on dynamics in classical music) while reading the sheet and watching the mental guy flail his arms about which somehow tells you when to play and when not to, is a far harder thing to perfect. Improvisation is an entirely subjective thing, so nearly anybody could improvise something and somebody would think it was good. Not the same for classical music.[/quote] I've done both, though neither to a tremendously high standard. Both forms are valid, and both forms have a natural tendency to mediocrity for those who are less than truly excellent. The one that is easier is the one that tends toward whatever you find requires less effort (I know it's obvious, but often overlooked none the less). For me, playing brass was purely technical: hit the right notes at the right volume following the guidance in the notation. Brain a little involved, heart not really. When I'm improvising and flowing well when playing guitar, brain, heart and body are all working hard and deeply involved. However I can also often 'feel' the changes in many songs, and to just play along would not require much involvement at all, even if I've never met the song before, and can play at nothing more than a technical level.

If you can't get the sound with 300W then another 200W won't make any difference. Unless you're playing in a stadium.

Ah, sorry - I thought you were talking about the real thing.

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1357175523' post='1918838'] I know the B9 does midi , but if I plug a midi keyboard ( tecnics digi piano thing with general midi etc) via 5 pin din into the B9 , will it send the midi signal through via the usb into my computer? . I am struggling a bit with this totally as I can't make it work. however , this piano has plenty of virtual sounds , instruments , drums and stuff already , and I can record audio piece of proverbial . Do I need the midi ? I think i do, but what am I missing regarding the signal chain? [/quote] I think the MIDI is to change patches and settings on the B9 - not to provide MIDI out to control a synth module or software. MoJo - I can't see a reason why you should not be able to use some kind of booster with an amp model in the same way you would with a real amp. Not so different in many ways from using an active bass, boosting the signal, only with some dirt.

If you want to try a limiter, which will do a lot of what the compressor does, permitting a higher basic volume because it prevents volume spikes while retaining volume dynamics below the threshold - I've got one I'm selling cheap. However your comment about a passive bass sounding sweeter makes me think you DO want to colour the sound. In that case it might be work looking at a Joyo/Harley Benton American Sound pedal. It's a guitar pedal to simulate a Fender Bassman, and it really does some very nice things to a bass's tone used in front of an amp. However, and it IS a big however, what ever you do, if you want to add a pedal to fatten or sweeten the tone, you're going to have to twiddle some knobs to make it sound right - it's almost unheard of to set all controls to max or 12 o'clock and have a great sound, and that would be true of an active bass (even more so) too.

Glad you got it OK. I'm debating buying a bunch of other pedals right now, and trying to not spend money.

OK, my first guess is that the buffer circuit in the MM is dealing with the buzzing (probably a ground loop) and that's why it goes away. It sounds like the 2 9V supplies are good, since they (mostly) play alongside each other, so likely that the problem is the current 12V supply you're using. A possible solution would be to find a buffer pedal (or a cheap pedal with a suitable buffer in it) that can be incorporated in the rig to silence the buzz, though a better solution would be to replace the dirty power supply (assuming it's not caused by the VT1 itself). But I'm no guru

Maybe it's 2.5 then - thanks. Must look a bit harder if they're readily available - I bought a correct sized plug from maplin, but it literally fell apart in a couple of weeks. Also tried drilling out an existing plug, but that wasn't helpful either.

Can anyone recommend where I can get a power connector cable with an internal hole dia of 2.3mm? All the standard ones are 2.1mm, and won't fit my Rocktron chorus pedal. Thanks

On the upside, PMT in Cowley Road, Oxford have been good when I've asked to try gear. They've taken it into the soundproof room, then pushed off & let me fiddle with occasional checks that I'm still happy. It's exactly what I wanted.

I think the Zoom set up method suits some more than others. TBH I needed to use the manual before my B2.1 made any sense, so I can only suggest a session of RTM while twiddling.

It sounds like a loose wire or something. Seriously though, it could be a lot of things - if you open it up & see a lose wire then fine, but if you don't then you'll need to go probing.

It might be that the 'hot' mode also lifts the treble & drops the bass a bit, hence it works less effectively for bass. I'm still debating some of these, but trying not to burn more cash.

They're all essentially the 112, but with a prettier finish on the 212 and 2 humbuckers on the 120 instead of single coils. Personally I'd take the 112 as a basic instrument to learn on, or the 212 if you'd fallen in love with the finish and didn't mind spending a little more. The mix of humbuckers and single coils is good for learning, since it will give you a taste of both pickup types, and will help you work out what you want. All of those should be good enough for pro-level gigging, and I'd be happy to play out with a good one.

I sold the A15 to help partially fund the Gibson V. Which (of course) I regret, because it was substantially better than the Gibson.

TBH the Epi VJ & similar aren't really practice amps, and if you crank one loud enough for overdrive it will be too loud for most households.

I have the combo version of that Laney DP150 4X10 - farts like it lives in the Heinz factory, but there's a lot of flexibility in the head for different tones.

You mentioned 12AX7s in the original post - those are preamp valves. As for valves lasting years, this depends on many factors including how hard they've been worked. If the amp has been driven hard and loud a lot then the power valves (those 6550s mentioned in the OP too) will wear, but if it's been put away then the valves will normally be fine, even if they're 50 years old. Preamp valves don't usually wear like power valves, but they do sometimes become loose inside and go microphonic.

If it's not too cheeky, I have a GLX limiter for sale like TRBboy's - still boxed and almost like new - £22 shipped if you're interested. I used it just a couple of times at home, but have a Zoom B2.1U that gets used instead.

Nice super strele. Joking aside, the neck join looks lovely and there's some gorgeous wood in there too. Somehow it looks much less 'furniture' than a PRS.