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I remember reading a thread about pre-EB MusicMan basses on Talkbass and one poster who played bass during that era was recounting how when the first Stingrays hit the shops they were a revelation in terms of quality compared to new instruments from established names like Fender, Gibson and Rickenbacker. He also emphasised that at that time, MM basses were considerably more expensive than a Jazz Bass, P Bass or 4001. I had an '82/83 Charvel-era Stingray and it was pretty well-made, from what I remember, but the EBMM basses were a level above in terms of overall quality. Over the years I've not encountered many people having problems with pre-EB basses due to construction issues originating at the factory. Vintage MusicMan basses are all pretty sought-after and I've never heard of any production eras to be avoided. Maybe the bad ones didn't make it to the shops.

I found a little dab of clear nail varnish on the stop screw helped lock the thread to keep it from drifting out of tune. A bit of graphite (pencil lead) or other lubricant in the nut slot will help with tuning too, allowing the tension to equalise both sides of the nut as you switch the lever. These days I play a 5er though

To All - Cheers for the great feedback - Very much appreciated - - I also did contact Chris at Overwater - Jay

The Agi DB680 doesn't break up - it's surprisingly clean, and surprisingly tame (IMO) in comparison with the pre in a DB750. Great for fine sculpting but not for grit or break-up in my experience. The Millennia TD-1 (half rack I think) doesn't break-up either.

Be interested to hear your thoughts, does it have a proper Ashdown personality, and just how loud is it?..

Touch too much- AC/DC

Looks like a nice Ampeg B15 she's using in the background as well

Touch Me I Flick - Mudhoney

Jizzlobber - Faith No More

I must admit that uniquely amoung basses that I have used, the detuned E seems a bit too loose on the ric, which is a pain as they have such odd specific sizes (which it didn't have when I got it, it had 100-80-60-40, which didn't fit well), and I think the E is snug enough that I doubt I could get a wider string in there.

I'm revisiting my Battalion after a little time away from it, and discovered the internal trim pot for the compressor. It was adding heaps of gain before but I'm happier now I've tamed it.

i disagree. I have a lot of guitar pres (and full amps) that deliver a very nice bit of clipping with preamp tubes alone. Ever tried an Orange AD30? But sadly most of the guitar pres are all oriented towards high gain applications. I have a few of them. The answer may lie in a tube pre aimed at mics so I'm busy researching those too (although they can be very expensive). I'm running into a mixer so the tone control section is not crucial, although I love the SVT tone shaping versatility

@rainbowreality In terms of just finding high spots that might be causing buzzes, unless you do lots of string bends, the only place you need to check is along the actual string runs. For a 'quick and dirty' I check with the strings fitted and literally run the rocker alongside the strings at each fret triplet. If one rocks, I check on the other side of that same string and if that rocks too, note that position for attention. (Clearly this method doesn't work if frets are actually worn into a groove...)

That kind of distortion you are after is the power amp distortion, or at least, that of phase inverter. It's impossible to get such one with preamp. You might like to give Origin Effects BassRIG Super Vintage a try.

She was supporting Pink when we saw her in the US 18 months ago - she was great live

Looking forward to giving this a whirl at practice later. I mainly need a couple of drive options, but I just can't leave home without an octaver of some sort! Broughton BBA and a power bank underneath, but I'm most pleased to have found a new home for the broken watch I found on my desk!

Hi all I've been running Ampeg SVT 4 and the related SVP Pro for a long time, both for guitars and basses, primarily in recording. BUT I can't get the SVT/P pre to break up, even with the gain on full using passive pickups. Yes, the SVP Pro has a "Drive" knob but honestly it sounds crappy and I suspect it's just diode clipping. I'm looking for natural tube clipping. I get annoyed using dirt pedals because they always fundamentally change the tonality of the sound. Are there rack tube pres that will break up a bit? I'm not looking for much, just some crunch. Never had the chance to try a Demeter, TBP-1, Aguilar etc. so I'm looking for recommendations. Thanks