Recent content by ranjam

I've done it many times, and been satisfied. It's up to the PA, of course, but at a certain age and experience level you somehow realize you don't need a million watts blasting the front row. Even decent Motown gigs, a simple Sans Amp into the PA worked well. And somehow everyone in the band...

I'm still feeling this way, and at 50+ :bawl: I've had more than one wife 'force' me into selling gear I took what seemed like a lifetime to accumulate. Heck, wives come and go; just ask me. But that gear you miss? Irreplaceable, especially with eBay prices these days. And I've gone through...

For wah pedals; [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] If you don't want to remove the feet; thick 'velcro' is available from people like 3M; Invalid Link Removed

On the one hand, unless you play all open strings all night, you won't 'hear' the nut. Any note you finger; your finger becomes the nut. Playing Devil's advocate, you can try graphite, tusq, teflon, or ebanol. Whatever floats your boat. All available from AllParts, and all about $12.50 each to...

You know how some guitar players have an overdrive and a fuzz on their pedal boards? I thought that was redundant. But they aren't the same, and neither is the Sadowsky and the SansAmp. The Sadowsky should be a clean preamp (I don't have one, but this is a guess from 2nd hand information), and...

Yeah, it's not intuitive to record a mono bass signal (or any signal) as a stereo track. At least not for someone with my limited intelligence. But overall, and I could be wrong, a real DI is a low impedance output device, with a balanced XLR output, meant to go from your bass to the house...

I use the Fast Track Pro, and a Jazz bass 'straight' through to my PC actually sounds quite usable. Not the gnarly growl you might like, but a mild mannered 'Clark Kent' tone. It depends on the song. You need the interface, because you disable your PC's sound card and use the interface as a...

This sort of reminds me of my son. As soon as he gets a new video game, he's online looking for cheat codes. Spend time learning the game? That's for sissies. It's far better to spend time, making mistakes, and get to know what makes one pedal 'better' than another. Because what is 'better'...

Loosen the truss rod, all the way, carefully counting how many turns you make. If it takes a lot of turns to get completely loose, then you are at the end of the threaded portion, and may be in trouble. A few turns, and you're OK. If it's tough to loosen a truss rod, you may have some lacquer or...

You should put a compressor first in line. Well, second after the tuner. But at the end of the chain invites noise, especially at higher compression settings. And it will only amplify the noise of the effects in front of it.

I'm not saying I am any type of expert, but I have made a ton of mistakes, and learned from them all. First, firewire can be picky about the chipset in your PC. Texas Instruments seems to work well, but rather than fight that demon, I went USB. I always want to record with compression, to save...

That's not very smart of your tech. Capacitors do go, but not as often as everyone thinks. But with DC circuits, if the SWR is as I suspect, you can have drivers go as well. Emitter resistors also like to open up. No, you need a solid state tech, and not a tube jockey who knows a little about...

I'm gonna say if it works, it'll sound like !#$%. Most internal soundcards cost 9¢ and sound like it. The latency will be brutal. You didn't say what recording software you're using, but other than those who use Audacity, everyone gets their 'Lite' version free with a purchase of anything other...

That's a big can of worms. I do a lot of 'tech' work for friends, and I charge. However, if I can't fix the problem quickly, I certainly don't charge anything. If I ordered an expensive part, I reinstall the original part back inside, and hopefully use that expensive part somewhere else. Cheap...

What kind of tech doesn't make an extra dollar selling tubes? He would know the amp and measure the B+ in that amplifier. KT88's or 6550's can take more B+, and have the most clean headroom. EL34's have much less headroom, and cannot take as much plate voltage. But the 'tech' should also know...