Ancient Mariner

It's been a long time since I listened to any Purple: IIRC Stormbringer was the first album I ever bought. All good stuff, I even liked the Royal Philharmonic album, even though that definitely doesn't qualify as having a good guitar tone.

TBH it's only worth replacing parts if they're faulty or worn out unless you have very specific pickup requirements. Best thing to do is take the strings off, clean it carefully, especially the fingerboard and around the frets & check for damage & wear, then re-string it & let it settle overnight. Go over it the following day checking relief, action, intonation, fret buzz etc and give it a good setup. Then enjoy.

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1427143169' post='2726449'] Interesting point - as I've always felt less able to post, since Kiwi asked me to help out. There's an element of "the shadow you cast", I'm sure, but my posting has dropped off. [/quote] This point is an interesting one. At the last major round of moderator appointment (over which IIRC one or two left because they weren't 'promoted' ) a couple of people who had edged previously into poacher territory became game keepers, and much better forumites as a result of their need to post more carefully. There will always be people in and out of forums. It's often good to take a break if one has been part of something long term, but it can also be very difficult to return afterward, and most of the time it's better to move forward than look back. To be honest, the days of forums being THE way communities network are mostly over, and Facebook has taken their place - I'd say basschat has fared better than many comparable forums. I joined in Dec 2009, and the impression I had was of more older, gentler members and an atmosphere of gentle tolerance & self-regulation. Since I've seen the change take place after joining. I assume I must have, at least partially and however reluctantly, contributed to this change, and certainly can't blame the newbs.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1426531701' post='2719008'] Now that's a real mans action! None of this "I like my action to be 0.5mm at the last fret because I play so lightly my fingers are like a butterfly landing on a lovely flower" crap. [/quote] That made me chuckle a bit. Just checked my P-type, and at the 12th fret it's about 3mm at the G and 4mm at the E, and that feels neither low nor high.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1426092333' post='2714298'] Don't worry about 'earthing' the current. You're trying to stop a dangerous voltage difference happening. When a bird perches on a high voltage line it's voltage rises to be the same as the high voltage line. It's not a problem until it somehow manages to have one foot on the ground and the other touching the live wire. Which is impossible for the bird. [/quote] Exactly this. And if you're standing on the flat wooden bed of the truck, itself a good insulator, then it won't matter if the strings carry a potential difference of 240V because there's now way for the electricity to flow. IIRC the generators I've used on carnival floats in the past (designed for industrial use) all had RCCD circuit breakers built in. Don't earth the genny in any way and all will be fine.

[quote name='Bottle' timestamp='1425934037' post='2712545'] I'd like to keep mine simple so I'd plump for the single-ended design that looks straight-forward enough - one preamp and one poweramp valve. I'm quite sure I understand the topography of the above amp - what does the phase inverter do? (OK, that might sound a bit silly as I guess it's self-explanatory, but I'd still like to know ) [/quote] Single ended is only really viable up to around 30 watts and even then you're pushing your luck as the output transformers get really heavy and expensive. Push-pull (also known as PP) works a bit like 2 guys cutting a log with a big saw, and is much more efficient. You're aware of the idea of the output signal being in a wave format with voltage swing above and below zero? 2 output valves are used, with the first driving the output when it's on one side of zero and the second driving when the voltage swings to the other side. These have to operate in 'opposite' directions, 180 degrees out, and the phase inverter is the stage that splits the signal, inverting the wave form for one of the valves. Output transformers for PP are much smaller and lighter (and cheaper). PP sounds a bit different from SE, and all things being equal (which they never are) SE sounds a bit fatter and squashier, getting a little mushy when driven, while PP sounds a bit thinner & crisper, going crunchy when driven. I did build a SE amp with a single 6550 for guitar, and it was quite dark-sounding & loudish, probably putting out around 18-22 watts through a Hammond 125ESE (rated conservatively at 15W).

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1425933314' post='2712526'] Am I missing something? Joe Bonammasa is good! [/quote] Irony is best mined in the Welsh hills.

[quote name='VTypeV4' timestamp='1425861023' post='2711667'] I'd love to build my own one day... 100 - 200w Class A/B output stage (4 x KT88) SS rectifier User adjustable bias 4 and 8 ohm operation All valve pre-stages ( a number of ECC81 and 83) Passive EQ (Fender style) Input gain and Master volume FX loop Compressor w / threshold + ratio Balanced DI out Muteable output stage with no-load-safe studio operation It'll never happen but the V4 has most of the above. I understand the theory (mostly) but have zero experience at a build level. I've changed caps, resistors, fuses and valves but thats as far as I've got sadly. If they break and things aren't apparently black it gets more in depth, I send the amp to a pro.. [/quote] Most of the more complex stuff would take away from the point of a valve amp. Sure a DI output would be useful, but then you might as well just use any of the small valve-based preamps around instead of carting in 25Kg of 100W+ head, because without the output valves it will sound just the same. Lots of outboard compressors etc too. However the SS rectifier would be pretty much a given, and nice & easy to implement. Realistically you'd be looking at an amp containing 6 valves: 4 output, 1 pre-amp and 1 phase inverter - certainly not a complex build.

[quote name='Jenny_Innie' timestamp='1425928251' post='2712426'] From a moderator? Really? Should I just quit here? [/quote] No. You're on the inside, rather than the outside, and none of this is aimed at you in a sexual way. Just like many women, men also share a bit of coarse innuendo between themselves and here you're 'one of the lads' as far as that goes. I suspect Dad3353's video is just to show a bit of balance.

[quote name='Phil Adams' timestamp='1425899966' post='2711885'] Well I think it's a credible and interesting reworking of the Thin Lizzy classic. [/quote] Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed the lyrical rhyming qualities akin to Ireland's finest rock band, with a large dose of Paul Simon thrown in for good measure (he should have stayed on the bus, Gus). It fits the spirit of the competition and suits the British zeitgeist of retro-mashed-into-modern, though it's not really banal or brainless enough to sell well to Joe public. I wouldn't buy it, but then the last album I bought was by Joe Bonamassa.

I wonder if you can use any external synth or if it's restricted to just what's on board? Some of the clean sounds seemed OK, but the electronic sounds were a bit nasty on the vid. It still smacks of EZ-EG and the earlier Casio version, though hopefully done better than either.

Another vote for Barry here - when I was building regularly he supplied most of the parts, and was always really helpful. Trinity amps were also good, but are US based. Both Barry and one of the guys from Trinity used to be regulars on 18watt.com

Excellent find. If you want a bigger sound out of the same cab then consider a replacement speaker - Emi Ramrod or Ragin Cajun would probably be a straight swap and be more efficient.

Replace the nut first and foremost, or better still, as suggested already you can lubricate (or even slightly widen, using the next size up string) the slots. I've owned a few guitars with tuning problems at first, and it's always been down to a badly cut nut. Before they started using PLEK to set up their guitars, Gibson were notorious for sticky nuts ( ) so at least your copy is trying to be authentic.

I don't have time to read through all the posts, but can make a few comments: Much of the tone from a valve power amp comes from interaction between the speakers (impedance load) and the amp, so running DI will not produce the same behaviour as running through speakers. The heat produced is power dissipation, and the heat from the valve heaters is just a small component of that. Those who have seen valve grids glow will know what I mean! Transformer design will affect tone - TANSTAAFL. You want tiny transformers, then that will change the tone and particularly, the desirable behaviour of the amp. Session solid state amps - I tried a couple for guitar use, albeit a long time ago, and was very very underwhelmed. Some SS amps are reputed to be good, and I own a Tech 21 Trademark 60 which was a serious amp (sounds like a very well made Marshall MG30) but they simply don't behave the same as a half decent valve amp. I have only been able to get good tones from a SS amp using compression and heavy EQ externally.

I'm happy to buy the clone of the clone at £20-£25 a time. They seem to have been breaking ground a little with some of their odder pedals, but maybe they are just copies of other strange and little-advertised effects that I don't know about. As much as anything I'm buying them for the form factor, but I definitely wouldn't keep them if they sounded bad.

I had an original V-Amp and a Pod Pro at the same time, and the V-Amp was distinctly better sounding. Having said that, this is now 10+ years old (assuming it's the original version) and modeling technology & sounds should be a LOT better.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1424816298' post='2700896'] The problem with the shimmer is that for some reason they set the pitch to a fifth and not an octave. So chordal stuff would sound pretty nasty pretty quickly. [/quote] Yes, that's what I recall too, and agree about the price to a degree - they might have got away with £35-£40 but not £45-£60. Which is curious, because we'd happily spend a lot more on a pedal from someone else that sounds good, and if these don't sound good to us then why are we using them? You've got me wondering now if I should try to shoehorn the Jekyll and Hyde back on my board.

Very, very good guys. 3 clear standout tracks for me, but some great music all round.

Really nice idea, but a shame it's not metal. I built a board a couple of years ago from an Ikea shelf unit, and the darn thing turned out HUGE.

IIRC the hustledrive is also an OCD clone. You could try on Eno ES9 tubescreamer clone (it's NOT a green mile clone BTW). http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ENO-ES9-Overdrive-Effects-Pedal-Tube-Screamer-Green-Mile-Clone-/261757698977?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cf1f983a1 There's a Rowin pedal which I'm pretty sure IS a green mile clone: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rowin-LEF-602B-2-in-1-Overdrive-Guitar-Effect-Pedal-with-True-By-Pass-/201278867336?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2edd27c788 IIRC the baby tuner pedals don't work for bass. I had one (Eno) and it wasn't particularly good for guitar either, but I'd be interested to hear if it worked for you..

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1423760780' post='2688764'] For my money, the shimmer on the shimverb was unusably crap The normal sounds on it were pretty decent though [/quote] This, really. I had a Shimverb and an Ensemble chorus a couple of years back when they first appeared: the reverb side of the shimverb was good, though with high frequency artifacts, but the shimmer could be really off key. Wish I'd kept it for the ordinary reverb though. The chorus was OK, but was too lush and lacked transparency for my preferences. I also bought an Elec Lady, and it's pretty good as flangers go, but won't go quite as deeply effected as my Boss FL2. There's a whole bunch of pedals out there now with the same circuits, all cheaper than Mooer: Donner, Rowin, Aroma, Eno and Movall. I have a bunch of Eno pedals on my board (ES9, OCD clone and M-Audio crunchbox clone) and they're all great. I've just found a vendor selling the Eno version of the Trelicopter and have ordered that - £20 - and would quite like a version of the Ana Echo, though I don't need it. The Rowin versions look very attractive and they seem to be internally the same as Mooer, even down to sometimes putting Mooer instructions in the box according to Sibob.

Assuming the transformers are substantial enough, the only different between a bass and guitar head need be a couple of capacitors, maybe a resistor, as Dood said. Very small changes to pass or attenuate certain frequency ranges and shape/control tone. Sometime I should build a 30W valve bass amp - I already have a slightly nasty 1X12 Carlsbro cab to run it through.

I can do that with my guitar synth - assign different voices to different strings. TBH it's not *tremendously* useful unless one wants to carefully prepare set pieces to play, which is not often how I want to work.

Alternatively try www.wedelivertheworld.com - used them in the past for shipping instruments without trouble.