Advice Needed - Enlarging Oval Pickup Cavities...

Thank you! I actually own two routers, a regular one and a small trim router. I haven't gotten brave enough to use the large one, and the one time I used the trim router does not bring back fond memories.

What you said about avoiding the hand method was my gut reaction upon first reading his email. I just couldn't imagine anyone being that good with no prior experience and no examples. Way too scary.

I really like your idea about contacting the wood shop teacher. There's a h.s. not far from my house. Excellent suggestion, thanks for that!

I appreciate receiving supportive comments from people who actually know what they are doing.

Bud

Come on, Bud. If you are going to continue messing around with basses, and you already have a router, then you should learn how to use it. Enlarging a pickup opening is a simple basic operation with a router. It's not difficult or risky, if you get some instruction on how to do it. Rout a couple of cavities in some scrap wood first, for experience.

We have many, many threads here on Luthier's Corner that go over the use of a router to cut pickup openings. Including different ways to make the routing template. We'll talk you through it.

I broke the Golden Rule....

Well, I'm the band leader and my wife plays keyboard in my band, so we are the proverbial H/W team. We both are not young anymore, and I daresay we gathered some wisdom over the passed years, so there's virtually no drama in the band... but sometimes I still wonder what our bandmates are talking about behind our backs. ;)
This gives me hope... that there are more exceptions to the rule than first appears!

I'm glad there's no drama in your band (truly and honestly). I wish there hadn't been any drama in the band I was in... A band without drama is a great thing. I was in one of those in my 20s. Just 4 mates making music together, and audiences that enjoyed it!

Mesa Boogie Big Block 750 problem.

Thanks man, I'll do it today. I hope the Dutch Mesa repair centre (West Amp Geluid) knows about this. I'll refer to you! Earlier I was trying to find an alternative pre-out (so not the balanced one) and did try the effects send and inmediately got a immense smell like something really got hot and switched off the amp right away. So there's indeed something going on with the effects loop like i'm reading in this and older posts (where you also commented). Ciao!

Issues with ALL the Ibanez SR300E's I've purchased, tuning key related ?

I know this is an old thread, but I'd figure I would share my experience with the Ibanez SR300Es through SR400Es (pretty much the same bass). I think they sound great, but you're right, the tuners are horrible. I've also never had an SR300E that didn't need fretwork. The frets are always uneven and the necks are not stable even in Louisiana where the humidity is usually the same for most of the year. Mind you this happens on EVERY SR300E that I've owned which is a shame. The tone of the bass is amazing and it sounds great, but I would never recommend them, due to the spaghetti necks that they have. I do have an older 2006 SR500 that is amazing and the neck doesn't budge, but it's also a wenge neck with bubinga stringers. Heck even the GSR100EX that I own is way better than the SR300E. Neck is very stable and the fretwork on mine is great.

EBS MultiComp Blue Label or Keeley Bassist Compressor?

Btw, is there a concensus on whether the Keeley Bassist or GC-2 is the best option for bass? I definitely don't want a compressor that "overshoots" on low notes. Does that mean the GC-2 would most likely be the better choice for me?
No, I don't think there is a consensus.

On one hand, some claim that GC-2 is less sensitive to lows and, hence, a better comp for bass guitar.

On the other hand, many others are happy using the Bassist...

I am in the latter camp.
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Genzler Amplification Club

Feeling depressed and defeated. My three month old Genzler Magellan 800 stopped working. I used it once at a gig in July and since then I have been using it at home to practice with headphones. A couple of days ago I flipped on the power switch and nothing happened, no LED's, no power, nothing. I unplugged the power cable from the unit and the Furman SS-6 6-Outlet Pro Surge Suppressor Strip (SS6d1) Then plugged it back in and the unit turned on with no problem and I was able to practice for an hour. Yesterday the unit didn't turn on at all. I tried other outlets and still nothing happened.

I'm so bummed. I think I'm done with class D bass amps. I came to Genzler by way of bad Darkglass experiences. Their customer service is pretty bad and I had to deal with them through not one, not two, but THREE defective heads. The first one had fan issues and the amp would overheat. The second was DOA, wouldn't turn on. And the third crapped out on me halfway through a gig.

I was so fed up with unreliable amps and horrible customer service that cost me a little over a year. When I told them to just give me my money back I had my eyes on Genzler and heard nothing but great things about their amplifiers. From the sound to how reliable they are everyone has nothing but praise for them. And I totally agree with them about the sound. The Magellan 800 is the best sounding amp I've ever used. But as per my bad luck win Class D amps goes this is my fourth Class D that will cost me gigs and money I would've made from playing those shows.

Three months with almost no use and my brand new Genzler is a glorified paperweight 😒😢
@jeffgenzler

Boss GT 1000Core

The manual says for the Direct Mix, “adjusts the volume of the direct sound.”

So in that case you would say that it is the same as blend. Since that’s how mix knobs normally work. But setting direct mix to 100 doesn’t sound the same as 100 % dry (clean without any compression). So my assumption is that direct mix at 100 means 50% dry/50% wet. But I am not sure and it is not logical to me.

edit: I also notice that setting direct mix to 100 results in a more hollow mid rangy sound, like it's a phasing problem. That's why I always leave at 0.
Especially noticeable on X comp and X bass comp.

Someone else have a final conclusion on this direct mix 'knob'?
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Can I leave tube pedals plugged into the mains, but bypassed when not using?

I did a test running my Jazz bass directly into a Tech 21 Deuce Deluxe (so no added flavor), with the Jester on clean boost. After a couple minutes switching on and off, it seemed that the Jester was taking some of the low end fluff off, just a little bit of the attack edge I love so much. I could be wrong, and I'll try again later. I do already have a Sushi Box More on my regular pedalboard, and that's 2 tubes that do nothing but add thwapp or whatever you want to call it! I leave the Jester for guitar, where it is amazing with the Maiden D preamp.
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Did I f%¤ck up my amp?

Most modern amps have protection circuits so situations like overly hot signals will not cause the amp to damage itself, so I would assume you’ll be ok there, but having a small and inexpensive backup amp is a good idea, just in case.

In this situation I’d be more worried about inadvertently cooking a speaker, especially with a distorted bass sound (I assume your using a Darkglass head is to get heavier sounds) you may not hear that a speaker is telling you it’s not having a good time.
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Guitarist looking to get into bass and get simple rig

I’ll second (third, really) DanAdams and Shenron’s mentions above that pedals aren’t so important on bass as compared to guitar, at least in general. Of course, specific situations can call for a pedal or pedals, and some bassists regularly use a lot of pedals or rely heavily on a few pedals, but for most of my playing, I’m more than fine with going with no pedals at all except for a tuner. Just the bass on its own sounds great.

Of course, pedals can be fun though

Boss GT 1000Core

I see what you mean about it being a blend. The way I thought it was, is the Direct signal being mixed into the effected signal, which is being attenuated from 0-100. The effected sound is always at 100. The manual says for the Direct Mix, “adjusts the volume of the direct sound.”

I am still confused by this. I thought direct mix was the same as blend. So direct mix at 100 is 100% dry and direct mix at 0 is 100% wet. But it isn’t?
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Did I f%¤ck up my amp?

Last night at rehersal, while playing the first song, my amp was acting up. Amp is a Darkglass microtube alpha&omega 900. Sounds was coming and going. It sounded exactly like a bad cable does. I tried running bass directly into the amp with different cables, but the problem persisted. Also tried different speaker cables. However..

I took me 2 min to realize my buddy had moved my amp and accidentally changed the settings. The gain (one gain for both channels) was set at 7/10 (I usually have it at 3/10) and the passive mode was engaged. I use an active bass and have a preamp on my board as well. I think the signal was just way too hot. Master volume was a 5/10. We started of the rehersal with a very loud and aggressive song, so I just didnt notice how hot I was running :(

After I dialed the gain down and set it back to the active bass setting, the amp behaved as normal again. We played through our 30min set twice with no issues.

Does it make sense that a very hot signal would cause my amp to act up like this? If yes, is it likely I did some lasting damage to it?

I have a gig coming up this weekend and I am now super worried that I cant trust my amp :( Should I worry about this?

I dont know much about amps, so was hoping someone could make some sense of this and give me some advice on the gig. Should I borrow someone elses amp until I feel reassured mine is ok?

Boss GT 1000Core

My understanding is Direct Mix is a side process to the X-Comp. I like it because I have overdrive and distortion before compression. So the OD signal is going through the Direct Mix with no Compression. Or it it could be purely a clean signal. There's so many combinations with the GT 1000/Core.


View attachment 7086482

I am still confused by this. I thought direct mix was the same as blend. So direct mix at 100 is 100% dry and direct mix at 0 is 100% wet. But it isn’t?
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