Uncle Rodney

Fascinating.. I can only think there is some kind of insulation fault on that half of the PUP. I'm sure your Tech guy did all the necessary tests. Mine would be to check for continuity between any part of audio circuit and the pole pieces. It's highly unlikely that will be the fault but... that what shouts at me From what I gather about that type of PUP there is no metal contact with the pole pieces, but I do know the enamel on the verrry fine PUP wire corrodes. .. Fascinating

9 years... anyway. Yeh to make it worse, I wanted some scores for Queen songs, so I went to Hal Leonard (well known music publisher) when the song book arrived I was very disappointed to see they had rearranged the music to the point of it being almost worthless! Crazy Little Thing is as we all know in D and Hal Leonard score has it in C (not just a transpose as the chords were modified also). Other scores have being re-arranged as well. I wanted Seven Seas Of Rhye, only to see it had been "adjusted" - so it was back to the usual way of picking it out. I know the reason why, for a specific instrument, I got the one for piano and it was rearranged for home playing not as per the record. So now I have to see the score to be sure it's the correct arrangement before I buy (online). The "Band scores" seem to the best when available. Those where there's a score for every instrument. There are a few places online that sell scores, with a preview but I can never be sure if they are genuine (authorised) sellers or just a scam. I've just had a quick look at Stretta Music - then a Queen book, that looks more like it! Seems I need Faber not Hal Leonard

Guys, let's move off the "sh!t sandwich" debate, it's not my style anyway. I've had a chat with my singer friend. Did a bit of fancy footwork founded on trust and respect. I suggested that I do not get involved with his existing band with a list of "passive" but truthful reasons and resurrected the idea of setting up a separate band. He seems very pleased with this idea. I came up with a band name which he seemed to like. Now looking for band members...usual nonsense looming. 🙄 Thanks for the opinions, quite varied really, some gentle and some brutal. I can take what might work and apply in context Sean's suggestion reminded me of "it's about you not me" which I think works the best in my situation. Gentle souls don't deserve to be kicked, just because the kicker is low on skill. Besides, bands should be fun not a bruising experience, some would say, if it's not fun why do it? A little off topic maybe, I've found if a really caring chap has been though a heavy divorce, lost a child, living with serious long term illness it brings a heavy burden. I don't know if my friend has these (I care not to enquire) but I detect there is something. Be nice, if you can't be nice then f**k off! 😆

As a bystander, with no agenda. My band had similar situation with our singer, a large robust man. He said, the equivalent of "..I’ve got a lot going on and I’m not in a good place." I was shocked, this was unexpected, however I knew not to press the matter, rather I stood back, so to give him "space". I stayed in the background. I see this as a stress reaction: "I’m off on holiday tomorrow... because this isn’t going to hang over my holiday" - ya need a holiday dood! 🤗 A part of that process is forcing the brain to switch off regarding domestic matters. It's not easy if the brain has been overworked for a long time. *holiday mission statement* I must ignore events at home... pass the sun cream, this sun is hot..😎 I'd like an ice cream.🍦 And this is a pressure relief valve, when the stress gets too much, or a person has lost interest in the band, will issue this stock reply: "..several dates and times, but the singer couldn’t make any of them." Stress is a monster. I think the singer needs time and no pressure. Maybe just a "we're here" type of message. Keep the door open. Prepare for the fall out, if the singer has to leave or perhaps they just need a few months off. Venting frustration with sharp actions tends to be counter productive. As mentioned, turn the phone off and tune into... BTW: I like "Hanlon's razor" not heard that before.

I went to see my friend's band last night in a pub. He would tell me how great his lead guitarist is, how almost famous the drummer was.. etc. He's not a bad singer himself and a really nice guy. So I was interested, in a nut shell, even after the first song... terrible 😝 They are all experienced players but.. awful, obviously people were leaving, I could feel those who remained of the audience were gently mocking them. A band that can empty a pub. 🙄 Asked what do I think... erm.. what can I say? I tried to find good points but there weren't any. What can I say to the guy?? 😳 I really don't want to upset him. My view was: 1.this "great lead guitarist" was just another standard noisy power chord+fast meandering solo type, usual standard for a pub band. 2.drummer's kit sounded floppy, snare was saggy and his playing average at best 3.singer (my friend) - vocals mostly not good, some was truly horrible, thing is I know he can sing really well. 4.bassman was average, just plodding away with no real expression, as in, every note was a full length 8th, his sound was ok. 5.the song set was an odd mixture of pop and rock covers, I know some bands do their versions and usually "murder" a song I was thinking of doing guest appearances in their band but having heard them, I wouldn't want to ruin my reputation 😄 - I could do the "musical director" role but again that would appear out of place. I think they are too stuck in their way to want change. One suggestion was just to form a new band with my friend the singer, I could then steer the ship without offending anyone. I'm sure many of you have seen similar situations, any suggestions on how to approach this sensitive issue? The easy one is just to stay away, keep out of it.

Doing this from a distance rather than being hands on the thing. I think that PCB is the culprit. It is probably going to be what's called "surface mount" electronic components which are mega fiddly to do anything with unless fully equipped with big eyes (magnifier eyepiece) and a suitable soldering set. So not really fixable for most people. The "problem" is a well known effect in circuit design, so I would be tempted to investigate the options, see what Cort have to say, because... if this is a one off fault, they should offer a replacement, it looks to be an easy plug connector. But if it's an oversight in design, custard pie in face is called for, because... if this is a Mark Bass EQ or any well known designer, this is such a basic "design out" problem. One of the first tests any designer will do is to check for this power on/off glitch. Ask Cort for their opinion. The big clue is, BG volume set to 0% and there's no problems.

I've had a look at that schematic, what about turning the BG's Volume knob down to 0% as in fully off, does the problem still appear then? This assumes the BG is causing the problem and could be acceptable procedure, turn BG to zero then switch on/off. I notice the drawing suggests the EQ board is a Mark Bass product, I may have misunderstood that.

Luv 'em or hate them, I bought one of these from the big Az, was £20!? I was wanting a pre-amp so I could plug my BG into the line level computer interface, this does it. I also use the XLR into my mixer desk which is also connected to my computer audio interface at line level. For my purpose there is a lot of tonal variation to be had 🙂 I can get all kinds of BG tones. There is some "distortion" available when Drive is >90%. There's so many variations of distortions, this is just one. My BG is always very boomy bassy on the E, I can easily "correct" that with this unit. I'd need to measure the current drawing from the PP3, anyway I now use a mains PSU. By using this unit, I am trying various VST fx to see what works for me, knowing the impedances are correctly "matched", so even in bypass I believe this unit still presents the correct Z to my passive BG.

In my last band, I just happen to pass (sorta) a car-less band member's house enroute to the rehearsal room. I couldn't bring myself just to drive past.. It worked most of the time. I was driving a very long way, he was just crossing town and sometimes got "itchy" when I got stuck in traffic and not on his doorstep at the agreed time. 🙄 When it came to gigs, it would depend where it was, if I was passing I would pick the guy up, if not he would ask another band member. He would always offer ££, I tended not to take the £ as "I was going that way anyway". My current band, just at the last weekend I picked up our car-less singer. Again a long drive for me with an insane journey 2 miles across town after picking the guy up. He helped with town knowledge getting around the many "road closed" signs. And a band years ago, I would pick up the drummer as he had drink driving ban. Sadly, although being a nice chap, once the ban was over he got a car and no surprises for what happened next. 🤡 Maybe foolishly, I tend to see it as part of the team effort being in a band. It can go wrong, being mindful what is being said in the car matters. For me it was, be respectful and courteous. As in, don't make demands on the lift driver, be ready when the lift arrives. No smoking, drugs, faffing about, farting, politics in the car.. etc. ..and don't sit on my driving spex. Before -> 🤓... after->🧐

Thanks guys for your comments. I've seen one on ebay and another on Fb Market place but currently too many miles away (>100), plus some I know will have horrible little roads. I will keep my eyes open then. Thanks too for the "active only" comment, I did wonder.

I like to buy this kind faulty kit and repair it. It's part of the fun. I've had Ashdown amps, did a bit of fixing and they sound great. It's also good because it can put back into circulation otherwise decent kit.

I have done some experiments with Z (the load the pups see) - and found there can be all kinds of changes in sounds as a result. However, I found, deciding which is "the best one?" an difficult choice- it's possible to make 20 modifications, each yields a different sound, the obvious one to go for is not always that obvious! So for me, end result, just don't waste time experimenting. I connect passive pups into a hi Z preamp/interface (>1Mohm) using a short good quality lead. If I want fuller/cleaner tone I go for active pups. One test was to have little capacitors across the passive pups at the socket on the guitar, using a selector switch, say 20pF, 100pF, 220pF, 1000pF I could switch between. They did seems to have an effect on tone, which directed to me think, I need a short good quality lead (low C) - but then a radio link which has a high Z input, all sorted. So now I don't do anything - I take it as-is. Just my MO.

My suggestion, open the unit up, take a good close up photo of the "pot" (potentiometer), we need to see how it is mounted to the PCB and to the front panel, from that it's possible to guess what it type is going to be. We also need to see its resistance value (and taper) so look for something like 200KB, A10K it's usually printed on the "pot" in black or white ink. I would have thought Music Tribe would direct you to their Service Centre, but I know sometimes that doesn't always get a result.

These seem to be well specced and not too costly - CX100 -with bubinga top I like the idea of active pups. Opinions? I will use it for home recording, doing slap and classic rock, maybe softer stuff like country. No metal.