David

Duncan Stag Mag has now been sold.

It may sound daft, but first double check a few of the painfully obvious but easily forgotten - check everything works bypassed so you know it is definitely the pedal at fault (not a patch cable or something), then check/replace the battery - I have done similar work, and gotten very worried over a now non-functioning pedal only to find I had forgotten to replace the battery. Did you reverse the polarity of the LED when you moved it? Have you shorted something with your moving/wiring - no new bit of wire is touching something it shouldn't be, a blob of solder bridging a connection or similar. Also double check that when you were working on it you haven't damaged something else - a broken wire on a circuit board from moving it or something else knocked out of whack.

I would be interested in the DDR2 if it is still available.

I can definitely recommend one of the American made SUB series basses - I have the Sterling model and it is an absolutely stunning instrument. When I bought that I ended up choosing between that and the G&L L2000, and in the end went for the Musicman mainly for the fact the Sterling has a jazz style neck, while the L2000 has a fatter precision style one, and the being made in the US factory alongside the multi thousand pound instruments is always appreciated. So despite my eventual choice, the G&L still comes highly recommended too.

Quick bump for any interest?

I always come back to the fact that the vast majority of the audience for any gig won't be musicians, and would be hard pressed to tell you the difference between a Strat and a Les Paul, let alone being able to hear the tonal difference between a stock Epiphone humbucker and the fancy new Seymour Duncan you installed... Anyone who can actually hear the difference will inevitably be standing grumpily commenting about how their own rig sounds far better anyway As for what is worth it, I would have to agree with the previous comments on the amp being a far bigger part of the tone than the guitar - The amp (and indeed pedals) has far more power over the signal and how it is processed, so will have much more of a bearing on the end result than the guitar. A cheap guitar through a great amp is always going to sound better than a great guitar through a cheap amp (though obviously neither will sound quite as good as a great guitar through a great amp). The fact is though that while the amp may have more of an effect on the 'sound' you have, the guitar is your physical contact to the music, so how it feels in hand will have far more of an emotional response and change the way you approach and play music. So that high end LP may be lost on most of the audience and nowhere living up its potential through a wee amp, but if the guy playing it thinks it feels and sounds better, then his playing will be better than when playing the naff strat knockoff that you have to fight to play well and are always questioning whether it has slipped out of tune yet again.

I would have figured the opposite - the less mass, the better a high output pickup like a Warpig will be as it will overpower the natural tone of the guitar somewhat. Got a Duncan JB sitting here that could be yours for £35 if you want another option?

I have a spare Seymour Duncan JB if it is of any interest?

I am going to be gutted if One Up close their doors. I seem to very much be the minority nowadays, but I am just not a fan of downloading - I just much prefer having something physical for my money and am happy in the fact that the cd I buy will work equally as well on my ipod and computer after ripping them to digital (at my chosen settings too, not whatever the company deems suitable), I can take that disc downstairs and play it in the cd player there, I can stick it in the cd player of my car or hand it to a friend for a listen (or play it in their car/house). Sure most of that may be just as easy with downloads using USB drives and ipod docks, but I just prefer using cd's. I may also be something of a luddite in that I enjoy listening to albums - I want to stick on a disc and listen through it all, not just skipping back and forth between my current favourite tracks in an endless array of playlists. Do record stores have a future? Unfortunately I can't really see it as they stand, but I really do have my fingers crossed that they can diversify and remain profitable before I am forced to resort to Amazon and downloads for music...

Dunlop wah, bluesbreaker and MonkeyFuzzle3 now sold, still got for sale: Vintage Jen Crybaby - £70 MXR M109 6 band EQ - £50 Zoom PS-02 Palmtop Studio - £30

Camera now sold.

No other interest? All are still available.

£35 and you have a deal.

Indeed it is sir.

Any reasonable offers?

Also: Zoom PS-02 Palmtop Studio - £30

What is in it for the company? If you can give them enough reason to think that endorsing you would be beneficial to them then I see no reason why you couldn't sort something out. If you are a small scale local band with little press and only a local following though, then they won't exactly make too much from having you on their roster. Even if they don't decide to create your own signature drumstick, you may be able to get a few freebies or discounted prices for promoting them.

An EQ won't really be a huge volume boost as such - the MXR 6 band doesn't actually have a volume control for example - but will let you tailor your sound to better cut through the mix and stand out. So by boosting certain frequencies you can make your guitar much more prominent without screwing with the volume levels too much. Of course ramp all the sliders up simultaneously and you will get an uncoloured volume boost (though in that case, why buy an EQ rather than just a clean boost?). For a clean boost the Zvex will do it in expensive boutique style, or something like the EHX boost will give your volume a kick up the rear for less. I have a Marshall Bluesbreaker II which has a decent clean boost setting and can be bought pretty cheaply. Cheeky sales pitch: I have the MXR 6 band and the Marshall Bluesbreaker II for sale in the trading post at the moment

Canon IXUS 220 HS compact camera - £80 Comes with spare battery and Lowepro hardshell case Less than six months old, so still under warranty (bought in Currys) 12 megapixel resolution 5x (24-120mm equivalent) zoom full HD 1080p video Tiny chip in the paint on the battery door, otherwise in perfect condition. Any questions, feel free to post here or send me a PM

As the title hints at, I am trying to slim down on a few pedals I am not using so much any more: Jen Crybaby - £70 - a vintage 70's model (310.001 to be exact) made in Italy. I replaced the original scratchy pot with a new crybaby specific one (while I can't remember the name, possibly one of the 100k ICAR taper ones you can find online) so it works as good as new. Comes in a crybaby carrying bag that doesn't seem to want to close properly. Dunlop GCB-95 Crybaby - £40 - The standard model crybaby. The clip on the battery door broke so it is currently taped shut but otherwise works perfectly. Boxed MXR M109 6 band EQ - £50 - Great condition with only a couple of small marks on the finish, works perfectly, boxed. Marshall Bluesbreaker II - £30 - Used, some marks but perfect working order. Boxed MonkeyFx MonkeyFuzzle3 - £70 - Boutique fuzzface style pedal made in the UK, Enclosure pretty badly chipped but sounds absolutely fantastic and works as new. Boxed. Any questions, requests for pictures and so on reply here or send me a PM

If you are looking into a new amp, I would get that sorted before looking into distortion pedals - The sound of the amp you choose will affect how the distortion sounds and whether you will want an onverdrive to boost the amps sound, a separate distorted sound or something completely different like a fuzz. There is also the fact that depending on the amp, you may not need a distortion pedal - why buy a nice Marshall or Mesa (both known for the awesome distorted sounds) then use a cheap pedal instead to provide distortion? As for amp footswitches, sure they can break, but so can the switches in pedals - My Rat needs fixed at the moment as the switch in that has gone intermittent, and pedals also come with the extra faff of having to power them reliably. If you are worried about amp switches, the basic one or two switch pedals are also pretty damn basic, so it is easy to build yourself a heavy duty version if you feel the need. If you are after a distortion pedal, the best advice I can give you is to try everything you can get your hands on and see what works - go visit RnB or Bruce Millers, tell them what you are after and spend some time trying different ones. There is such a huge range of sounds available that it is impossible to know what will suit the sound you want and the gear you already have. I personally love my ProCo Rat (when the switch works - a bit too much stomping methinks) and old Marshall Guv'nor, but they are quite likely completely unsuitable... Phasers I am not so practised with, the MXR Phase90 does seem to be a popular option, plus check out pedals from the likes of Boss who make some pretty solid stuff.

Swapping to something completely different would be a pain int eh backside - you will need to remove the floyd, fill in all the empty area where it used to be (a nice big hole through the body), then reroute as needed for a new model, plus repainting the guitar to cover where wood has been added/removed If you don't use it the easier option is just to block it off - pop off the back plate of the guitar, and use a few bits of wood to fill the space either side of the metal piece coming through from the back so it cannot move - bingo, you now have a hard tail. It takes a while to get them to fit well and not leave any room for the bridge to move, but it is doable.

Should be a pretty easy DIY to move the guts of a crybaby or similar to a normal stompbox...

It is awesome to see a Scottish band's tour featuring a whole one Scottish date... and hell, if they can be arsed going to Inverness before, why no Aberdeen dates then or now?