Leaderboard

According to what I believe is a trustworthy source on social media, this is the new Flea American Artist series active bass. As lots of us commented a while ago, it’s the signature bass we thought fender should have released. No news on preamp and pickup but is looking good.

Hmmm - interesting... Anyway, I'm promised they are on the way so I've been doing the final fretboard pre-glue jobs so that I don't lose time while I'm waiting. Truss rod installed and demarcation veneer applied: The smaller luminlay dots for the over-body dots (the main dots will be the larger ones) which are best done before the fretboard is on - because, trust me, these particular ones are a beggar to do when the fretboard is already fitted: And - as you may have noticed, I've decided in the end to do a 24th fret block. It looked a bit bare at the dusty end without. This looks better to my eye: I'm hoping the replacement pickups will arrive tomorrow so I can rout the chambers then get the fretboard on

So am I. Shame I'm 46 though...

Yes, good advice that. I have made a couple of stupid mistakes recently which would have been easily avoided, all luckily simple to get round. The nut I bought was too wide so I bought a blank, the machine heads I got got delayed so I got some more and I remembered last night I needed to get some knobs and springs for the pickups! I was lining up the bridge rails last night (which is what the red string was for, using the scale length from my other basses to work out the range of positions i need for them. I don't really need that angle but I think it looks quite good and covers the positions I probably will need. I still have to wire this up: Everything actually gets harder now I have got to the easy bit. Before it was a couple of chunks of wood and if I messed it up, well, it wasn't expensive wood. Now it is cheap wood, cheap components and many hours of work!

Haven't been here and done this as often as I'd like, but had an hour going begging, so here it is. PS: There aren't any 'wrong' notes of course - it's Jazz.

Warm up? Oh that must be a really old model when we used valve preamps in active basses

Well, they've been flying all the way from South Africa and only just arrived...I suspect they are kn******d

Due to a muck up ordering the Mother of Pearl inlays I'm still short a set so I can't proceed with the Rosewood board until they come but I did a bit of routing on the Ebony one. For my inlays I routed close to the line and then pared to the line with a sharp chisel, apart from one little bit shown below where I made a slight wonder over the line with the router. My excuse is there was too much dust around the cutter LOL. After that I put a bit of masking tape on the cutter to blow it away and it never happened again. Chiselling was the first time I really found a difference to real wood, I don't really know how to describe it but paring Ebony, it's a clean forceful sort of cut, the Ebano felt more like paring balsa but harder, that said it cut very cleanly, certainly good enough for me. Anyway, the inlays fitted a treat with no stress at all other than that one little incident of my own doing. It cut so cleanly I'm thinking I may get away with no real need for edge filling with glue and dust (apart from that one bit shown again with the inlay). The good news of the day was I got my sander back from being repaired at Festool, the switch broke and it needed a new set of gears but bare in mind it is 25 years old and has had a very hard life and this is it's first repair

Don’t get it: why is @mrtcat wrong? Poor customer service is bad PR, regardless of the customer’s intention.

They know and recognise me as someone who has spent a lot in there over the years, probably £5k to date and I've also sold stuff to staff. It was reasonably busy but it's not a customer's job to convince a shop and it's staff that they're worthy of being welcome. Everyone is a potential customer when you are running a business whether they spend today, tomorrow or years down the line. If they're having a bad day then they need to be professional and suck it up a bit like the rest of us in our professional lives.

I think what the comments in this thread boil down to is not whether analogue is better than digital but what are you favourite effects and what compromises are you personally prepared to put up with. Sound/tone is entirely subjective, and IME a lot of it is to do with familiarity, rather than actual quality (if that could even be quantified). I also think that term "modelling" does a lot of multi-effects (even the very best ones)a complete disservice. I don't know how close the emulations of the various effects, amplifiers and cabs on my Helix are to the originals (because most of the time I've never tried the originals), and in all honesty I DON'T CARE. All I do care about is that amongst the various different distortions/choruses/EQs there is one that will give me the sound I am looking for to fit into the band mix of a particular song at the particular point. Everything else is irrelevant.

Two too many knobs? It's supposedly like a Stingray - one knob for volume and two for active EQ. It's as simple as you can get for an active bass.

Not this so much, but the guitarist in my old band ran a 20 year old Les Paul into a 30 year old Peavey; soundwise he'd be on the money, but not before spending an age knob-tweaking to actually get there. I could never understand how he would sound brilliant on a Friday gig and so utterly shite 24 hours later. And yes, tweaking happened between songs.

And of course, when you inevitably sell it on here, you can claim that it "plays like buttercream"...

Too many changes of electric guitars, then having to fiddle with his amp to get the desired tome. While I appreciate different guitars sound differently (i.e. Strat v Les Paul) there has to be a degree of practicality to keep the momentum going (I.e. chose a guitar that has both SS and HH pickups if you must). Our rhythm guitarist just uses a tele all the way through the gig and its sounds great. I usually being 2 basses to a gig but what ever I decide to play, that's it for the gig unless i have a catastrophic failure or unless a song 'really really' needs a fretless or upright bass, and I've never had this situation.

I think I have finished the finishing now, so I just need to bolt it all together (and wire it etc)

Today I cut the fret slots into the fretboards and scribed one of the neck joints to the body. I also played around with the Rocklite to see how it worked compared to real wood, in short, easier but I'll update the Rocklite thread with that The fretslots look as if they don't line up in this photo but they do (honest ) Marked out one of the fretboards for the Mother of Pearl markers. Here's what I did: Stuck a bit of masking tape over each fret gap to be inlayed. Marked the centre line of the board, marked the centre line of each fret gap. Marked the fret number on each inlay and the centre lines of each. Stuck masking tape to the bottom of each inlay and cut off the waste with a scalpel. Marked the position with a pencil of each inlay on the fretboard. Put a blob of superglue on the masking tape and put the inlay masking tape down on the fretboard and squared it off with a set square. Marked the fretboard with a scalpel very carefully. Peeled off the masking tape, the inlay and removed the masking tape from the bottom and put t hem carefully to one side. Tomorrow I'll rout out the inlay holes, I ran out of time today

Here is my contribution to the June 2018 Basschat Composition Challenge, inspired by a picture chosen by last month's winner: Mornats. Not a good month for me; there are only strained, tenuous links to the picture (the 9/8 rhythm and the virtual 'cats'...). All Kontakt stuff: a 60's drum kit, a nice nylon guitar and some Blue 'singing', created in Reaper with minimal treatment, and mastered with AAMS, 'Country' preset. Modest; it is what it is. Thanks for listening, if you already have; if you're about to, enjoy.

Well, quite, but I came to this thread to watch/listen to a band I knew nothing about, and so gave it a go (otherwise why post these topics at all..?). It turns out that, like Lenny, I was, let's say,.. unimpressed, and chose to post in that vein. It's just my opinion, and for my part I have no wish to change the view of anyone at all, but it's comment on an open forum on a subject of interest to several. I'd have thought that all loyal views would be welcome, whether for or against. I'll post again in the same spirit on any similar subjects if I feel inspired to.

Have you ever bought any bass gear which you expected to be good, but turned out to far exceed expectations? For me this would be my Epiphone vintage pro bass. I've owned a bolt-on epiphone thunderbird before and still have a pro-v 5 string, and I expected the vintage pro to be prettier version of something between the two. I've not used roundwounds since the last century, but after receiving the bass I played it for a few weeks with the stock strings and apart from the abrasive roundwounds on my fingertips I loved the feel of the bass - the 'oval' narrow neck with a slightly rounded fingerboard edge and the well finished fret-ends make it very comfortable to play. I was not prepared for how good it sounded though - the pro-bucker pickups sound huge and are dripping with tone. It is possible to a massive range of usable tones with just the three knobs and it is sometimes hard to believe it is a passive bass. The roundwounds had a little too much zing for my taste when they wrre new, the bridge pickup was on and the tone pot was open. I didn't enjoy the feel of the strings as much as I enjoyed the sound so I decided to get some La Bella 750T white nylons, hoping for a brighter variation on flatwounds, but not really knowing what kind of tone to expect from them. Once I had the strings on the bass, the smooth feel was even better than my previous favourite strings Thomastik TI-344, but what I liked about the bass's tone with the stock strings on was preserved, perhaps with a little more low end punch and without the excess brittle zing. I don't know whether the La Bellas would work this well on every bass, but they are perfect for me on this one. So this bass which cost me £450 (b-stock for a near-invisible minor cosmetic issue) and a set of £30 strings (it pays to shop around) which I originally bought mainly due to the super-cool vintage looks rather than for it to become my main bass, has replaced my CIJ mustang as my go-to bass for rehearsals and recording, it's the first one I grab to play at home, and I used it on my only gig since I bought it. What has anyone else bought - perhaps a combination of bass/amp/strings/fx/etc which was expected to be good, but far exeeded those expectations?

...about your band. Apologies if this has been covered in other topics but I searched and couldn't find anything. I'll start things off with a few... Our male singer never turns up for rehearsals (it's his band and he books most of the gigs...) The band spend hours practicing a new song at the rehearsal the singer never turned up for to play at a gig the following weekend then the singer decides he doesn't want to sing it because he hasn't rehearsed it... During every gig our drummer always asks "what's the next song?" despite everybody having a printed set list (which is more or less the same every time) and he's supposed to start most of the songs... Our lead guitarist always plays a bit of the next song before we start it - he says it's so he can remember the key - which means every gig is like "name that tune"... Our female singer sits drinking a bottle of white wine playing sudoku before each gig whilst we're setting all the gear up... She sometimes drinks too much white wine and forgets where she is in songs and sings the chorus during verses and vice versa (not helped by being as blind as a bat but refusing to wear her glasses so she can't read her songbook...) Our rhythm guitarist has the most expensive gear in the world (Taylor acoustic, AER amp, PRS custom electric) but still needs to read the chords off his iPad despite playing 75% of the same songs from when he started the band nine years ago... The bass player (me) strolls in 5 minutes before soundcheck and tries to sneak away as soon as the gig finishes to avoid helping with the PA and lights...!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-Bass-American-Loafers-size-10/273286885699?hash=item3fa12af143:g:wSYAAOSwt5VbH3~6 So the question is - are these better than Mexican ones?

I had two made by Jon Shuker to my/his specs. And both were/ are for sale on here. Incredible basses! Shell pink is outstanding!

Yeah but its not a Jazz Bass in the true sense. When was the last time you saw a Fender Jazz with a Stingray pickup in that position.? How is it going to sound like a P Bass (under that pickup cover) in that position anyway.? Im just saying for Fender its a bit Leftfield. There are only so many things you can do with an Electric Bass, radically new bass design is just a pipe dream when it comes to an instrument like the bass, its all been done imo. The last radical design on the bass was a Dingwall. but since then its just minor tweaks.. I do wonder if on some Piano forum there are people moaning because makers aren't doing something radically different or groundbreaking with the piano.. ?

Good to know, one assumes he's had them fixed otherwise he would be facing another return situation?

"Made in Dominican Republic"

Thinking about it (I do this occasionally, though it doesn't always help) the Multiamp is pretty long in the tooth now, so I shouldn't be surprised that other things are overtaking it. I've already decided that when it can't keep up quality wise, I'll switch to the ipad for everything, including live. Amplitube max just blows me away, you can make choices based on what you think the amps will sound like and you get the sound you want - ANY sound you want pretty much - really quickly. In fact, by the time I get bored with the multiamp it'll probably all run on my phone, or we won't have phones any more. I think the software and the hardware are converging more as well, so you can have a dedicated unit with pedals etc and a bit of resilience to have on stage, but work on presets and setup on a tablet or PC and then just load them up. I'm guessing some stuff already does this pretty well, but in future it will be the gear that has a good software interface as well as good sounds that wins.

It has advantages over the lego, that's for sure.

great point, it's not whether the digital ones sound exactly like the analogue originals, it's whether it's the sound you want. It's all subjective. Two amp modelling examples. Playing the guitar in an old band, I had a really old, 1970's Marshall valve combo which was completely uncontrollable, until i put a Sansamp in front of it doing a Mesa Boogie impression. Sounded brilliant, just like a Boogie... Then i got some money and tried an actual Mesa Boogie...the difference was very noticeable. And I bought the amp as i much preferred the real version, but until that point I'd been very happy with my Sansamp version, and nobody had ever made any negative comments about my guitar sound (only my guitar playing) For bass, I've had an SVT 2 Pro for a while now, but rehearsing at studios in London where the backline is provided, there's not much incentive to bring the Ampeg on the tube, so I got a Bass VT pedal. Does a great, if not 100% accurate SVT impression. So much so that I haven't brought the SVT to a rehearsal or a gig in over five years - it a back breaking hassle, the sound man is going to want to DI me anyway (although the SVT does allow that) so I just bring the Bass VT pedal. never had anybody make any comments about the sound not being all it should. If i was providing the backline I'd probably dust off the SVT, and i won't be selling it any time soon, but I don't care enough about the "authentic" sound to worry about it.

Enough scripture-talk please, gents.

Clearly your eyes are not as uneducated as all that then are they! What isn't obvious on that diagram is that the red wire is actually a joined red / white wire, which is the join between the coils, hence why there are only 3. Yes, that is what it is. It has active passive on the volume knob (need some resistors on there to prevent thumps), the 4pdt switch is overall series / parallel (which takes the blend out in series) and a dpdt for single coil mode for both pickups. I find the series parallel quite useful on my G&L, although not as useful as I found it on my geddy lee jazz bass when you really wanted to cut through.

So much for the combined knowledge of the BC Collective!!! Next time I have a question I need answered I'm going to ask BassTractor's Mum...🤣😂😆

I just bought a Jazz Bass from them over the phone on Monday. All went very smoothly and I had the bass the next day.

Sold Richard an amp. Clear communication, quick payment and understanding of my novice shipping skills! I'd have no hesitation in dealing with Richard again.

I've always felt that an audience appreciates a good gig with real momentum and excitement, more than they give a monkey's about tiny differences in tone. Maybe it's because i play bass and acoustic guitar, both of which involve just one sound thru the whole gig (fingers/pick and tone control etc doing the rest of the variation).

Thank you. You took the hit for me by responding before I had the chance to say "Peppa Pig". That would have been seriously embarrassing. IOU 1

Agreed! Close to Ocean Turquoise, but not quite...looks superb with the maple neck. If I didn't have an OTM Jazz I'd get one of these just for that colour

Punters who try to start a conversation or ask if you know a tune when you're still in the middle of playing/singing the previous one and can't hear a word they're saying anyway.

Gigs where the organiser/agent etc has made a big deal about you turning up early, and youve left work early/rushed to be there. Only to find the event is running late and you end up sitting round for hours doing nothing. (ie every wedding gig I've ever done!)

This site edited my 'S H I T E' to 'stinky poo!' - I've been censored!

Very quick response from Bass Direct who have put a replacement in the post immediately. They pass the test - great service

Solved! 🙂 Before registering on Noteflight, I called my mother, and "sang" it to her. "I hear it in French", she says after filling in the rest of the melody for me. Then, after some more singing and thinking, she continues: "Cent mille chansons", and after a pause says "Frida Boccara". My mom is 86 years old, and claims she hasn't heard this song for decades, but used to love it back then. She was also in a choir singing Bach cantatas and the like. Wonderful. I love this stuff. BC to the rescue again! Er... sorry, mom! Mom to the rescue again! 🙂

I'm with the shop on this. You bought it in person. They don't have to give you any return time at all if you decide you just don't like it. The Cooling off period for online sales is because you don't get the chance to try it before you buy. I'm still amazed that clothes shops allow changes for so long after purchase - the amount of people they must have buying stuff and wearing it for a party and returning it must be mental.

Right here we go;

You've got to hand it to them. They are very supportive of this forum, but not in an in-your-face-buy-me way, and their service support is legendary. This has to be applauded in an age where many companies think that a website FAQ can substitute for friendly and knowledgeable support staff. I can't imagine there are many bassists who haven't used their products and some are better than others, but I'm currently very happy with one of their amps.

I said I'd get a bit of last week's jam up. Seaboard is connected to my iPhone via bluetooth. iPhone is connected to my bass rig (it has 4 inputs, each with their own pre sections). Moog Model D app provides the sounds. Excuse the wonderful singist & over enthusiastic snare drum playing. No noticeable latency & never lost connection. I don't know that I'd use the iPhone setup for gigging in the local pub, but connecting to the Macbook isn't an issue.

[quote name='hitchy64' post='855559' date='Jun 2 2010, 11:47 PM']I can see why he wears them, but it's not very rock n' roll is it. You'd look a bit of a twat playing in them really lol[/quote] Nice to see we have some open minded people here... I interviewed Etienne recently and he's a lovely guy and really not the sort of person who would wear gloves for any other reason than he said that within three songs the sweat from his hands kills his strings dead - and as for the logic of this - inspite of what they might look like - is that the gloves will give you the perfect 'dry' tone and if anything extra punch and nice muted attack - like he gets here (nice bass llines at the end of this clip): Mike