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When I am short of actual bass parts to learn I practice the classical guitar piece Asturius on my Fender Jazz, that way I can be just like Jeff Berlin ficelles

[quote name='chrisd24' post='1313640' date='Jul 23 2011, 11:10 AM']My phil jones briefcase started making a popping cracking noise,as i brought it second-hand and it was out of warranty I took it to an amp tech who found out it was something in the digital power phase, he could probably fix it but phil jones wouldn't give him the schematics and do all their repairs in house so i have to send it to their distributor for repair..... apparently about £200 - £250 so I'm not sure if I'm even going to bother. The moral of the story is a lot of manufacturers wont give out these details so a lot of gear will ALWAYS have to go back to them for repair which will undoubtedly always be expensive.[/quote] Old TL Audio kit has a similar scenario... there is apparently a single technician in posession of the schematics and tech manuals and he won't hand them out to anyone. When my FAT-2 needed recalibration my local amp guy couldn't do it as he couldn't get the info, so it ended up going to the official guy who charged me £135 to adjust some trim pots Given that you can pick those particular units up for £150 or so on fleabay fully working, if I'd known the "repair" cost in advance I'd have just bought another and kept the old one for spares... ficelles

[quote name='spinynorman' post='1310964' date='Jul 20 2011, 10:57 PM']Short scale 2 pickup Tele shape with spalted maple top [url="http://www.bachmusik.com/en/bach-btc-bass-mjbs_p1765"]http://www.bachmusik.com/en/bach-btc-bass-mjbs_p1765[/url][/quote] Now that I like... great price, even shipping is cheap, but bank transfer only? I guess they aren't too far out of Prague if it all went wrong... ficelles

[quote name='fatback' post='1304902' date='Jul 15 2011, 05:18 PM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKZghKZSvNY&playnext=1&list=PLEDB157DB91A7D599"]Gajdos[/url][/quote] I loved it! And yes what excellent technique, and German style bowing... I'm probably more likely to listen to Esperanza I have to say ficelles

Up for grabs is a set of steel violin strings that came with my electric fiddle (now proudly wearing an octave set that cost as much as the violin did!). This is a perfectly good and virtually unused set for 4/4 violin, free to anyone who wants them. ficelles

Rufus Reid's bass lines - transcribed from his recordings apparently. If you don't read music this won't be much use but anyway it's free to anyone who wants it... ficelles

Erykah, Otherside of the game live: I love the way she goes for some insane notes at the end of the track, doesn't guite make it in one bit, then hits an impossibly high one pitch-perfect and laughs out loud... headwrap or not, she's unique. Great bass as well. ficelles

I have been jonesing for an omni for a while (sans frets obviously)... that and a really good bow. If you try or buy one, report back! ficelles

[quote name='Dave Vader' post='1308383' date='Jul 18 2011, 08:31 PM']So once again I have abandoned a group of people who believed themselves to be better than they were.[/quote] A long long time ago I was in a north Devon band who did Fairport Convention covers, and honestly, really believed themselves to be better than Fairport at their own material. There is no communicating with people who think that way. ficelles

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1307139' date='Jul 17 2011, 10:05 PM']Unlined and no side dots fretless: I'd like to see Berlin on the last one.[/quote] The best ever guy I saw on one of these was a support act for Kevin Bloody Wilson at the Hexagon in Reading some time in the 90s... forget his name but he was an American comic telling the bluest jokes you can imagine while not only riding a unicycle but at the same time juggling an axe, an egg, and a giant dildo. Had to be seen to be believed. ficelles

[quote name='Clarky' post='1307205' date='Jul 17 2011, 10:58 PM']The other issue was that I got cramp in each hand near the end of the set and my left hand curled up like a claw - I had to really use ingenuity to keep playing (used the side of my right hand thumb to pluck for most of a song and to use one very mobile left hand finger to keep the riff up!) Managed to stretch my hands after the song and just about got through the rest of the set. I obviously need to do more hand conditioning if we are going to play longer sets more often.[/quote] Intrigued, was that particularly from the Baby Bass? ficelles

No less than 3 gigs yesterday: Bristol zoo in the morning, got rained on. Glastonbury FM lunchtime, got baked (who paints a portacabin black ferchrissake?). Bristol street party in the evening, very windy. It's all go round here... ficelles

[quote name='spinynorman' post='1304024' date='Jul 14 2011, 09:38 PM']Culture is a massive factor obviously. For example, blue men can't sing the whites.[/quote] Wud that be yoof culcher ou le couture d'un autre mode? Un homme blue est un homme en glace [Confucious]. ficelles

[attachment=84711:smallbasscab2.jpg] [attachment=84712:smallbasscab1.jpg] [attachment=84713:smallbasscab3.jpg]

I have owned two German-made fretless Corvettes... only just parted with the last one and already missing it A friend has a nice early fretted Streamer which is great to play although I find the Streamer body a little small. Warwicks are nice basses if you don't mind active electronics and want something a little less weighty than a real J or P, but most definitely buy s/h - new prices are insane. I've also owned a couple of Rockbasses, not unplayable by any means but not in the same league as the Warwick-labelled versions. ficelles

Ok still no pics (sorry!) but some progress. In the event I decided to cover the cab with some blonde tolex I had lying around from my previous "big" cab build, so have been hard at the glue-sniffing exercise ever since. I got some Marshall-style basket weave off fleabay for the front and additional bits and pieces from Homebase. Well today I finally finished glueing and clamping tolex and fitted the front and back panels plus the 12" Celestion Neo speaker after lining inside with some acoustic wadding also left over from the previous build, plugged in my SWR Electric Blue head and fired her up... So with flat EQ and my Fender Jazz straight in, the sound is quite simply awesome! I've not made much use of neo drivers before but just can't believe the response, the note seems to come out almost before you hit it. So fast and punchy in comparison to the big cab with its rear vent and Eminence ceramics. The 9mm beech marine ply cab is rock solid and seems to be vibration and resonance free - with no internal bracing - but then I haven't gigged it yet. The front ports are just holes, I have some port tubes but didn't use them as I am always a bit wary of port whistle and I think the cab sounds fine just vented. Anyway so far so good, will post some pics & dimensions if anyone's interested... ficelles

I listened to some of Jeff Berlin's playing earlier from his rather mememe website. At first I thought I was listening to Juan Martin or John Williams on the wrong speed, as I seemed to be hearing someone playing classical guitar but slower and deeper in pitch. The I realised it was just some tosser trying to be overly flash on a bass guitar. Why not just play classical guitar Jeff? No-one's interested in you trying to pretend a bass isn't a bass... Anyway he is wrong, fretless bass is totally radical, and I have proved it myself by trying slap fretless along with Erykah Badu's very coool album Penitentiary Philosophy without sounding even vaguely like Jaco. More like Harpo or Groucho I'd say. If anyone wants to hear more un-Jaco fretless, I am at Bristol Zoo (no really) on Saturday at 11am. ficelles

Ok here's a little tale from the 80s for y'all. Names changed to protect the innocent etc. So I was on tour in the position of tour manager for the support act, a NWOBHM outfit who had bought on with one of the old school rock industry acts. We are up somewhere in the north on the tour bus after the gig, all the band and crew minus the bass player, who we will call Mario as he was a bit of a looker in an Italian sort of way. Anyway there we are chatting and Mario appears in the rear bus entrance with female companion, for lo, he has pulled. Installs said special new friend in his bunk then being a bloke comes down to the front of the bus to brag about how he is the only one who can attract the ladies. After a few minutes of said bragging from Mario, the drummer - who we shall call Jock as he was of Caledonian origin - quietly slips from his seat out of sight of Mario and installs himself in Mario's bunk where he begins to entertain the young lady. The tour bus starts to sway gently. Mario meanwhile continues to extol his prowess with les femmes, then suddenly notices Jock's empty seat, the swaying tour bus, and the heavy breathing of more than one person emanating from his bunk... Think I'll stop there ficelles

[quote name='yorick' post='1299289' date='Jul 10 2011, 09:26 PM']Change the stock 12AX7 valves to 12AU7 valves, which lowers the gain on the pre-amp stage. Did mine yesterday and the change in gain is very noticeable. Was talking to the amptech who sold me the valves, and he told me that 12AX7 valves run at about 93% gain and 12AU7's run at about 73%. Hope this helps.[/quote] I have some 12AU7s lying around, also some 12AT7s, can't remember which is lower gain. I actually have original Mullard versions of both, plus a Mullard 12AX7 (Now someone will probably tell me the correct designations for Mullard are ECC83, ECC82, ECC81). Goes back to my days of bass through a THD Flexi ficelles

Just wondering on the Bass Terror, is it really overdrive only or is there a reasonable amount of clean headroom? ficelles

[quote name='alexclaber' post='500053' date='May 28 2009, 05:11 PM']I wonder how they're doing that - lower rail voltage and higher current limiting for 4 ohms? GB and Mesa do something similar for 4/2 ohms on some of their heads so it's certainly possible but require a bespoke power stage. Alex[/quote] Different taps on the output transformer? ficelles

[quote name='pickle' post='1298000' date='Jul 9 2011, 09:47 AM']Just a quick rant... SO yeah i was uber happy today after writing my first ever bass line that i stood up and put my bass down so i could get a drink, nt realising it wasnt secure. You can guess what comes next, it fell over and has bent a tuning key... Bitter-sweet day indeed lol[/quote] I have some spare Fender-style tuning keys, feel free to have one if it might fit. I bought a set when I did the very same thing with my old Stagg EDB. They are P/J style open gear tuners. ficelles