Recent content by sproing

Check out the grain on the back of that body, they don't make trees like that anymore. The way the finish is flaking off along the checking lines is really attractive, but imagine how quickly it would fly off if you actually played this bass regularly. The little copper studs on the pockets of...

Heh, I've watched that youtube clip about once a week for the past three months. I cannot supply an adjective for his playing from 2:20 to 2:50. Off topic, but anyone agree that the bass in this video is NOT the '62 funk machine?

I had a lot of trouble keeping Rubys going for very long in my amp until I replaced the bias capacitor and diode. I do prefer the Sylvania long-plate 6SL7s, but you have to weed through the microphonic ones. I've also had great luck with Philips 6188s, these also have the long plates and tend...

Nice find! My preference for this amp is NOS preamp tubes and rectifier, mixed with new-production Russian 6L6GCs. IMO, the prices for US 6L6s are not justified for this amp, keeping in mind that these will need to be replaced every couple of years. I'm currently using SED, aka "Winged-C"...

I've always thought the metallic greens (ocean turquoise metallic, teal green metallic, sherwood green metallic) looked great with a maple fingerboard. That turquoise metallic/maple board strat on pg 140 of the gruhn book is spectacular!

Sounds like you're talking about the oval tuners, which didn't appear until '65 or '66. For a '60 bass, he wants a set of kluson reverse, and the reissues would be my choice for a bass like this.

The Nash basses appear to have the bridge pickup located closer to the bridge than the '64 Jazz. Is that right?

For the 12A*7s, it would be worth your time to seek out some old US-made tubes. Try GE, RCA, or Sylvania, and they don't need to be NOS, used is fine. Get a handful and keep the ones that sound good. For a 6L6, I think the SED (aka "Winged C" brand) brown-base 6L6GC is the best.

+1 I had one of these for a couple of years, and there's a reason that when you do see these, they are often in VERY good condition. I really wanted it to be a poor-mans 59 bassman, then I passed it on to a guitar player, who really wanted it to be a poor-mans super reverb, but it's neither.

GE 12AX7s are great tubes, but they weren't packaged in Mullard boxes. Check ebay for the market value of these tubes, but be aware that there were several different eras for these tubes (sort of like Fender basses!), and that can make all the difference in value.

Don't worry about the 5-pin tube in an 8-pin socket. All guitar amps use 8-pin and 9-pin sockets for everything. If you opened it up, you would see that only 5 pins are wired up on that socket. The 5U4GB tube is the rectifier tube, which means that it's responsible for converting AC voltage into...

My CTS has that silver sticker, too. Near that sticker should be an inked 6-digit number in white, that starts with 137. Mine is 137628. 137 is the manufacturer's code, in this case CTS, the fourth digit indicates the year, and the last two digits indicate the week. So mine is the 28th week of...

Not exactly sherwood green, but this might help you visualize the tortoise guard: Invalid Link Removed Now I have a craving for watermelon...

Body: Precision Color: Dakota Red Fretboard: Rosewood Hardware: Nickel Pickguard: Mint