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Alpha-Dave

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Posts posted by Alpha-Dave

    Weird & Wonderful Basses

    in Gear Gallery

    Posted

    [quote name='BigRedX' post='84602' date='Nov 6 2007, 08:37 PM']It looks like David King is pretty committed to the headless concept for the D bass, although there are a couple with faux headstocks [url="http://www.kingbass.com/bassimage/bill.JPG"]here[/url] and [url="http://www.kingbass.com/bassimage/zak.jpg"]here[/url].[/quote]

    Personally I love headless basses, the practicality of having a shorter length wins it for me, and therefore the principal those faux headstocks go right against the grain for me on gut-instinct as they should have all the disadvantages of both.

    ... yet this one I really really find more aesthetically pleasing than I would ever have thought! Without the head it would look so wrong!

    Did I miss a Bassbash?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    No, (un)fortunately you didn't.

    The excellent organiser of the last few declined to do the September one due to non-bass commitments, and BC mods volunteered to take it over with an eye I think to making it a bit more structured.

    Unfortunately it didn't get organised, possibly because the mods themselves went to the South East bash, so didn't see the need for another one.

    DHA VT5-400 Yes indeed a custom Bass amp. Intial Review / Pics added

    in Build Diaries

    Posted

    Hi Sugden,

    [quote name='DHA' post='74678' date='Oct 15 2007, 05:24 PM'][attachment=2884:PICT0007.JPG]

    The paint job is a custom one as requested by Sug.

    The final production models will be silkscreened and have an input and output LED VU meter, all the other features will be the same. There will be a blue backlight showing one of the five valves via the vents. The footswitch controls the compressor and Fx blender off and on as well as the Tuner mute.

    The colour of the LEDs matches the knobs which are different for different functions, i.e. pre-amp is red, blender yellow, etc.[/quote]



    That looks nice I suppose, but to be honest it's not really my thing, what with having a VT-twin and valve compressor already in my rig :) ...













    ... which is why my VT?-400 will just have the basic by-passable tone controls, the valve power amp and the 400 watt output. :huh:

    Hopefully it'll be ready for Dave to bring to Bassday so we don't have to pay shipping. :huh:

    My First Custom :)

    in Build Diaries

    Posted

    That cocobolo really does make a stunning top, it looks great up close too. :huh:

    While I was up at Alan's I has a sneaky look at your fingerboard too, and the colouration of the spalt/flame really matches the body really well.

    Getting your hands finally on it really does make up for the wait. :)

    6 string custom suggestions

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    If you do decide to go for a matched back, then get Jon to use his CNC machine to cut the battery box and control cavity covers from it for a uniform look. Only luthiers that have on can do it as it need <1mm accuracy for the entire length of the cut (not possible by hand), and as Jon has the facility there I really don't know why he doesn't make a bigger thing of it as he keeps putting those bits of black plastic on matched backs!

    It may be possible for him to do the same with the ramp, but it may loose it's look as it needs to be sanded more to match the radius of the fingerboard.

    6 string custom suggestions

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    [quote name='Bigwan' post='73941' date='Oct 13 2007, 09:29 PM']I've been speaking to Jon about a custom 6 string over the past few weeks.

    I'm currently thinking of the following spec:

    6 string bolt-on
    All wenge neck (pores filled for a smooth satin finish)
    Birdseye maple board with matching birdseye head veneer
    Solid bridge (probably Schaller 2000 on Jon's recommendations - to allow adjustable spacing) with 18mm centre spacing
    Wenge body (35mm thick to keep weight down)
    Quilted maple top with tiger eye gloss finish
    EMG DC pickups
    ACG/John East filter preamp (the one thing I miss about my Wal!)
    Ramp (quilted maple to match body and finish)

    Jon does a 20% discount for multiple bass orders at once... I've thrown the idea of an additional stingray style 5 string (maple neck, ash body) at him and he's putting together a spec for that and he'll be coming back with prices in the next few days... Now Jon accepts plastic as payment there could be a big bill on the way!!!

    Edit: The following pic is the inspiration for my specs...[/quote]

    As with the Sei thread, I'm pretty sure that Alan is happy to supply his pre to the US custom builders, but not the UK ones as they are his direct competitors. Still, his work is superb!

    Also, I've met Jon many times and would have been very happy to go with his work, but it was the ACG pre that particularly swung it for me.

    D.

    Rechargeable 9v

    in Repairs and Technical

    Posted

    I tried using rechargeable batteries in my power-hungry basses, but they didn't last very well. Then I found that there are various sources of lithium PP3 on ebay. These things are £7-8 in Maplin's as they're superior to Duracell's, but if you put in an offer here, then you can get 10 for £1.20 each.

    I've bought 2 lots so far, and they've both worked fine.

    [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-x-ULTRALIFE-LITHIUM-PP3-9V-BATTERYs-FREE-UK-POSTAGE_W0QQitemZ290165796505QQihZ019QQcategoryZ50615QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-x-ULTRALIFE-LITHI...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

    DHA VT5-400 Yes indeed a custom Bass amp. Intial Review / Pics added

    in Build Diaries

    Posted

    [quote name='DHA' post='66379' date='Sep 27 2007, 12:32 PM']here is the 2U rack. Just the VT1-MK3, VT1-compressor, VT1-Bob-the-blender, 400W power amp, power amp power supply and few other bits to add.[/quote]

    Ah, that makes sense of course. :)

    While trying to hold a strainght face: is there any reason for the massively long shafts for the control knobs? On the previous rack pre, I thought you used normal sized ones, with lots of wire connecting them to the main board, do you intend to mount then directly onot the boards this time?

    Weird & Wonderful Basses

    in Gear Gallery

    Posted

    [quote name='BigRedX' post='65781' date='Sep 26 2007, 11:32 AM']Alpha-Dave, any more info on that Roscoe? Is that real marble or just a finish? Ritter do marble finish basses but it's just (just?) a paint job and normal wood underneath. Someone posted a pic of a supposed marble bass on TalkBass a few weeks ago. I'll see if I can find some more info...[/quote]

    No sorry, I just googled 'Stone bass' and didn't come up with anything useful, so tried 'Marble bass' and that popped up. It looks like it's just someone's pics from the Namm show so it has no other info attached. There's nothing on the Roscoe site that I found after a quick look, and Google didn't help with the terms 'Roscoe marble bass'. I figured that it may be a relatively new thing (Summer Namm perhaps) that hasn't had a full update yet.

    I'd email Roscoe if you're really interested.

    The idea is quite appealing to me, but I wonder if it might be a little cold to hold/play, and I think it would chip quite easily if you knocked it as it has so many edges: I reckon that a 1 cm across, 1mm deep knock on an ash/alder body would equate to a 2cm square chip off of the marble as it would fracture rather than dent.

    Weird & Wonderful Basses

    in Gear Gallery

    Posted · Edited by Alpha-Dave

    [quote name='OldGit' post='65709' date='Sep 26 2007, 09:33 AM']... snip ...
    :)[/quote]

    Ah, fair point.

    To take the idea further, I have to wonder if anybody has ever uses stone to make a cap (obviously not a whole body) for a bass?

    Edit:
    This Roscoe might be yes! Although I couldn't find any more info on it.

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