Friday, November 11, 2011

Out with the old, in with the... well shit

Today I sold my trusty Fender TB-600 rackmount to Heather Webb of Adrian and the Sickness.

It had to go, as it's too powerful to use with my 400w main bass cab. So in a sense I've been lugging it around for nothing for quite some time. And since I was dealing with "family" I gave Heather a really good price on it. Has served me well in The Mother Truckers and Eric Tessmer Band. But time for it to move on to someone who will use it.

So I then went and bought a voltmeter so I could attempt biasing my SVT-II in the garage. Success!!! Very simple procedure. Sounded great, non of the snap/crackle/pop from when I first fired it up un-biased with the replacement tubes. OMG!!! Is this amp finally going to be back in service? Will I not have to use the money Heather gave me for the TB-600 on a suitable backup now?!?

Fat fucking chance. Stuck it into my rack case with power conditioner and wireless unit. Thing weighed TWICE as much with the added tonnage of the SVT-II. Fired it back up and...

DAMMIT

Started making that same Goddamn crackle noise which originally grounded the amp from gigs a few years back and resulted in numerous fruitless tech visits. Shit shit shit. Unless there is a miracle, that thing is officially a doorstop once again. *sigh*

Day wasn't a total loss. Passed on a very good amp to a very good friend. Finally changed strings on Cate Blanchett and woodburned fret markers onto the neck with a soldering iron, like what I did with Minnie Pearl a few months back. Makes the fret markers easy to see, they can all but disappear in certain stage lighting conditions.

Now to find a suitable rackmount backup amp. And to buy a new tire for my van, which will cut into funding for said backup amp.

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