Ancient Mariner

I'm really trying for a bit of anti-GAS right now, as I've not had an income for >1 year, and need to make things last. May well be trying to move a few guitars on, although I still want to build more amps (another hobby).

On the bass front, I've not been playing long enough to know what I'd really like yet, but I'm really grateful to own a (cheap) example of THE 2 kinds of bass: jazz and precision. No doubt if I make reasonable progress with them there'll be upgrades, a bigger amp and possibly a nicer model or 2, but we'll have to wait and see.

I'd suspect the new jack socket. With your swapping around did you plug the guitar in direct and have it sound OK, then unplug the guitar, connect the amp with the cable already plugged into it to the Boss and then cable from the boss to the instrument?

Effects send or monitor out. The headphone socket should mute the amp and the extension cab is for speakers only.

Tricky.

Not that I don't have instruments that are special, but I've learned that nothing is so important that I could never part with it under any circumstances. Neither of my (very cheap) basses qualify, but the time may come when I have a decent one. I do have 5 guitars I don't want to let go: my MIJ strat (bought new in '89) a MIM strat, Tokai Love Rock (LP '59 replica, Japanese market only) Washburn A20V (Matsumoku original) and a Dynelectron (70s copy of a Danelectro guitarlin longhorn) that I've owned since I was 18. Only the one pic because this is a bass forum.

It's amazing what slips through the net: in both directions. I've had the odd ridiculously cheap guitar (£25 + p&p new) that's been giggable and I've gigged it. But sometimes everything is just wrong, like the Woody Customs Tele that was simply not worth any kind of fixing up.

[quote name='drewm' post='740167' date='Feb 9 2010, 05:16 PM']In principal I'm happy to ship to Europe, but having looked into it for someone else, it gets very expensive.[/quote]

I've used Fastlane international couriers for shipping (washburn to Norway and importing from the US). They can be surprisingly reasonable.

I've got wire specifically sold by a PU maker for wiring guitars at home. When I get back tonight I'll have a look. TBH though I don't believe gauge is critical: I've seen a very wide variety used in instruments, all of which had perfectly acceptable tone.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='739236' date='Feb 8 2010, 06:38 PM']I think £200 start's a bit steep for that, been watching it just to see if anyone would.

Worth pointing out, it's a Maya, not an El Maya. The two brands were owned by the same company (Rokkomann) but El Maya was the upmarket iteration while Maya was somewhat more cheap & cheerful - for example this one is sporting big black oversprays on the contours, which is usually an indication of ply construction. It's a nice bass but I'd say £150 would be much more realistic.

J.[/quote]

Well spotted that man - and thanks for pointing out the difference.

You mentioned in the original post about trading + cash for a guitar. I have a '97 Heritage H150CM with vintage Gibson pickups (1 patent number, 1 T top) that I'd trade but I'd want about £450 on top. Also you're in Plymouth and I'm in Oxfordshire, and I'd much prefer we could try each other's gear before trading.

[quote name='The Burpster' post='738252' date='Feb 7 2010, 05:53 PM']Hi and thanks for your thoughts. This was the root I was thinking of going down but dont really have an idea what product(s) to try out and dont really want to start buying pedals to try out and then find out they aren't suitable.

As for signal I think that the Utube vid is cack - its nowt like that in real life. The sound is instant so I guess its a Piezo but I may just have to whip the end off to find out now..... [/quote]

For a good clean boost with EQ control you could try one of these: [url="http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=BEHEQ700&browsemode=category"]http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=BEH...semode=category[/url] (about £25 shipped) or try to get a used Dano fish'n'chips.

You should do a compressor - no bass player should be without a compressor.

You could use skinny mic shielded cable - this kind of cable is common in Les Paul types. Also some 'cheap' headphones come with a twin+screen cable, so if you've some old walkman type 'phones laying around you can cannibalise them. Failing that, twist the 2 single strands tightly together for greater resistance to EM interference.

El Maya here for £200 with only an hour or so on it:

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130363782064&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url]

I'd absolutely love it (had an El Maya guitar in the early 80s and it was fantastic) but no mun mun right now.

The MESA is single channel? Keep it for bass only.

I'd boost it and run it through the monitor in your situation. If you wanted to have a drum machine too then you could put them through a small cheap mixer, like those from Behringer.

Out of interest, is there a noticeable delay between stomping and sound being produced like there is in their video? I'm mildly intrigued as to whether they use a mic or piezo pickup inside the block.

FWIW I've been running a processor since the mid 90s for guitar. Although the units can be complex, what makes them nice is that you can have any combination of effects that you want all available at the press of a pedal. I don't HAVE to use everything at the same time, but if I want several different sounds with compressor, EQ, chorus and reverb (and I do) then they can all be programmed in and are just a maximum of 3 pedal presses away. And they're always the same every time.

Separate pedals will still usually sound better when set up exactly right, but a processor will let you just get on and play instead of fiddling.

[quote name='tom1946' post='738213' date='Feb 7 2010, 05:10 PM']Thank you all for your replies, it's a marvellous friendly place this!

I was told by my osteo feller not to play the bass as it is exacerbating my lower back problem.

Right then.

I like the sound of the Fender Lyte, that would probably do it for me. Is there a maple option I wonder.......

Hohner B2A, I tried one and couldn't get away with the smallness of it,

what's a Jack bass? [/quote]

I've no experience of the bass versions, but in the guitar world pretty much all Line 6 modellers have a high frequency fizz/hash that can't be dialled out for live use. They sound fine recorded however.

I've heard the GT 10 for guitar and it's good, so hopefully the same characteristics carry through to the bass version.

Rehousing is quite popular, particularly with those pedals that sound good but come without true bypass and in odd shaped cases - like some of the behringer and Danos. See here for examples: [url="http://supervelcroboy.wordpress.com/"]http://supervelcroboy.wordpress.com/[/url]

If you want to try building then have a look at OL Circuits too: [url="http://olcircuits.com/olckits.html"]http://olcircuits.com/olckits.html[/url]

And if you'd like to try rehousing something that was never housed to begin with then have a look at the GFS modboards: [url="http://store.guitarfetish.com/modboards.html"]http://store.guitarfetish.com/modboards.html[/url] Originally designed to fit inside a guitar or bass, they can also be built into a housing like you describe (check out their pitchblack style tuner too, in the pedals section).

If you hadn't required it to be a maple J type I'd have suggested either a 'Jack' type or that Lace that was up for sale in the classifieds. A Dano bass with J type PUs might also work well, or for a maple neck, how about a bronco routed for J PUs?

Couldn't you get something from Warmoth? Specify a light weight body (swamp ash/sugar pine/Pawlonia/basswood) and a maple neck to your size requirements? You might need a set of lightweight machines to stop neck-dive, but as it's a custom build then no probs.

Did anyone click 'Enlarge', and if so, did it get any bigger?

It's likely to be a good all round guitar, but won't deliver vintage strat tone o behaviour. You may find you like the tone or you may not, so you should try first before buying. Personally I don't like noiseless pickups as the lack the sparkle and solidity of true singles. Also the roller nut and floating bridge will affect the tone somewhat, which again my be good or bad.

If you play with a little dirt (or a lot) most of the time or use a modeller then it'll be fine. If you play clean through a decent amp and not a modeller then think at least 3 times to make certain before you buy.

I had an Avon badged version of that ^ in red in the late 70s. Came with flats on, and the expression mudbucker covered the tone very accurately. PX'd for a guitar and no regrets.

I have a pair of these - they're nice for such compact speakers.

There are many reasons for trivial to critical why a fuse might blow. Certainly revisit the amp (and make sure the seller hasn't put a nail/alu foil across where the fuse should go). If it keeps blowing fuses then it needs fixing - you could negotiate to buy it on condition it's fixed to your satisfaction.

[quote name='redstriper' post='736545' date='Feb 5 2010, 07:00 PM']I just watched the youtube demo of the redeemer and it seems to do the opposite of what I want.
It retains the tone with the volume on full, when you decrease the volume.
I want the muted tone with the volume turned down to be retained with the volume on full.

Unless I'm missing something............... ?[/quote]

Sounds like you just need to roll your tone pot back, or maybe acquire a bass EQ pedal if the tone control doesn't go far enough. You could also solder in a bigger (say 0.1uF) cap tp the tone pot.