ShortScale.org

hahaha

You're living the dream, James.

Mike wrote:Probably.

like I said, it might just stay blank.

It's been mentioned for pretty much every fender type project on here, but just the 'Fender' big of the decal always looks pretty good. But, I know what you're saying about leaving it blank though, neither the body or neck is fender, it is a bit of a lie to put on a logo that says it is.

My Rob(og) project will probably stay blank. Depending on how it looks hwen it's painted I might make or order something for it. No idea what though.

The more I think about it the more I think I'm just going to leave it. It's not a Fender guitar, they wouldn't have made all the clever design decisions I made.

Two birds with one stone post:

Offset: I do have an affection for the place, and I was there before I was here (and was grudgingly at the FDP before that), and can't be doing with any inter-site spats (other than for comedy value) - it's the interweb, not West Side Story. I can find offset to be a bit po-faced and a elitist at times, but at the same time there are some lovely posters there (Hello thetaman, zhiv, idiotbear, sonik and sumlin), and some dead impressive projects. Yes, some of these projects can be amazingly obsessive (amber switch tips etc) but that sort of spend and attention to detail is driven by obsession anyhow.
Conversely, shortscale.org is probably the site I'm newest to, but post at most: if I had to nail my colours to one mast, it would be aboard the SS ss.org; there's a real sense of community here (hello true bro-deals, robog bodies, Miek's pedals, doogfest and demos) that really gives something back, man. But this is tempered by the fact that there are a few people and things here that I don't like.

So if I was to fuck offset, it would be a loving, sexy fuck. Then I'd fuck shortscale.org for good measure. Then I'd fall asleep, between them both, smiling. (I would wash my genitals first, though).

Headstocks: I fucking loved the fact that my Tokai was: a) loads better than a Gibson b) had "Tokai" written on the headstock, and: c) had "Tokai" written in a Gison-aping-in-your-face font.

You don't have to choose.

I know that, really.

Pedal reports:

Rat2 - I don't like this much so far. It's a candidate to be the first on the 'for sale' list. Will hold out a bit, it sounds like it might be good in a band situation
Mudhoney - This sounds a lot different to with my shitty solid state amp. With the gain up high, it's marshall territory. The boost modes are ok but I haven't played with them too much.
Salt Boost - I'm surprised I can't push any dirt out of the amp with this. It does make the amp go fucking loud though. I blame the jazz box and I'm sure a solidbdy with reasonable pickups can get some crunch. The slight tone change is great though. I like the fender sound, and it's just another option for clean tones.
Mudhoney + Saltboost: [youtube][/youtube]

James wrote:Rat2 - I don't like this much so far. It's a candidate to be the first on the 'for sale' list. Will hold out a bit, it sounds like it might be good in a band situation

If it ends up anywhere near that list, can I try it with my vibrochamp? Had a Rat years ago that I regret selling.

For sure. I'm currently looking at keeping the ultrafuzz, but you have dibs on that and the rat should I sell either.

Cheers James - wouldn't mind having a go before I bought (or even if you weren't selling) too see how my Champ took to it, if that's OK. Would do you a swap/lend thing. Have got a Dano fabtone that's meant to be quite ratty, but with huge amounts of bass; my TT loved it, my champ's not so keen.

yeah no prblem. Next time I'm over your way I'll happily bring a few pedals to lend you for a while, or you can pick some up if you're near me. I'd be interested in borrowing a couple of yours too. Of course if you're in Gloucester or fancy heading over specfically, you're welcome to have a bash around on the bassman too. Not this weekend though, I um, 'have plans'.

benecol wrote:Cheers James - wouldn't mind having a go before I bought (or even if you weren't selling) too see how my Champ took to it, if that's OK. Would do you a swap/lend thing. Have got a Dano fabtone that's meant to be quite ratty, but with huge amounts of bass; my TT loved it, my champ's not so keen.

If you could turn the treble and gain further down, the Fabtone would be pretty good- I used one for a few years in my GRUNGE band.

Doog wrote:

benecol wrote:Cheers James - wouldn't mind having a go before I bought (or even if you weren't selling) too see how my Champ took to it, if that's OK. Would do you a swap/lend thing. Have got a Dano fabtone that's meant to be quite ratty, but with huge amounts of bass; my TT loved it, my champ's not so keen.

If you could turn the treble and gain further down, the Fabtone would be pretty good- I used one for a few years in my GRUNGE band.

Yep, I know: great pedal, with loads of cool settings in odd places. Mogwai in a box too. It's just my champ doesn't love it like my tt did.

9 months on and I still love this. It has become a little noisier than it should be, however. I'm not very good at describing these things but it basically sounds like the sort of noise it should make while turned on, but at a much more audible level. It doesn't really hinder playing and it sounds as it should otherwise. I figure if something is on the way out or just not doing quite what it should i's best to get it looked at now rather than after things get worse.

I work in a place full of engineers. Some of them are not much better than the more experienced machine operators and some of them will walk up to a slightly mis-aligned conveyor belt and tell you that bearing 27 is slightly worn and on of the cog teeth is past it just from a smell in the air. One of the latter wears his ID card on a Marshall.. I don't know what those things are called. It's sort of like a shoelace that has a clip on the end. Some people use them to hold their mobile phones. After asking in local guitar shops if they knew anyone who serviced amps and frankly not trusting what they came back with, I figured the engineer with the Marshall tag was the guy to ask.

It turns out that he works on amps a little himself. Mostly as a bit of a hobby and for fun, but he's quite interested in how it all works. I told him which circuit number I had and he came back to me after printing the schematic and went over what each section did and in places talked about what the component values will do to the sound. He isn't overally familar with Bassmen, but the principles are much the same as amps he knows better.

He came by today to pick up the amp. He's going to check over each component, see if any need replacing and check if the grounding is up to scratch with modern electrical regulations. I mentioned that I wanted to buy a new speaker cable and he said he could make me one from some electrical cable they have at work. Rock on.

While discussing it, I brought up the inevitable question of 'the benjamins'. He said he'd do it 'for the love of amps'. If it comes to components I'll of course be paying for them, but there are no 'bench fees' or whatever.

Mike/Tim - this is the guy I briefly mentioned during the car park farewell on JCM day.

Bloody hell that's awesome, and proper useful. Finding a good tech man is very tricky.

good to find someone who's doing it out of love. you know he's going to put that little bit more into it.

I'm half expecting to get it back and plug my guitar in to find he's converted it into a Plexi.

He sounds like a handy man to know, but does he know that one of these things:

James wrote:One of the latter wears his ID card on a Marshall.. I don't know what those things are called. It's sort of like a shoelace that has a clip on the end. Some people use them to hold their mobile phones.

... is called a lanyard? Eh? Does he?

Amp tech - 0
Benecol - 1

Looks like the power tube sockets are newer. The transformer isn't the typical export model I am used to seeing. I realize you guys run 220v/50hz, if I am not mistaken. You might take a page from Eddie Van Halen on this one to achieve the right sound for your amp (i.e. a little more breakup). Eddie used a Marshall Super Lead with a variac to lower the voltage going to the mains of his amp from 120v (US wall voltage) to about 90v. If I am not mistaken the only power tranny tap that is close on the Super Lead was a 100v, so the variac brought the voltage more in line with what the designers intended. The result was a lower tube plate voltage which resulted in the amp going into distortion sooner and achieving the "brown sound". Amps that make the trip either way across the pond sometimes suffer from the voltage change. You can find variacs on ebay all the time. I thought at one time that I would need one for my Hiwatt, but it has a 115v tap on the power tranny which is close enough to wall voltage that there probably would be little difference. All that said, you have a nice amp with a rare circuit! Now you need to find someone with a 6G6-A circuit and do a head-to-head comparison.