Leaderboard
Popular Content
Showing content with the highest reputation on 23/09/21 in Posts
-
JEDSON TELE.... the worlds worse bass, short scale or otherwise, and I love it! Barely a bass at a 24" scale! Jedson took it's tele guitar and just slapped on some bass hardware. The body is plywood and the neck looks like oak but I'm sure it can't be. Swapped a cheap Ibanez I wasn't getting on with for this just for a laugh as it was so different. It's such a bonkers thing to play that I find myself inventing new lines on it everytime I pick it up, it's quite the inspiration machine. However, looking at it critically for it's craftsmanship, it is truly appalling! I'm not sure what strings were supposed to be on this but the only way to make it work is to use either short scale nylon or baritone bass six strings, then run the strings through the body or there's too much to go on the tuning peg (the original string anchor was a hideous piece of bent tin). And because of the scale length it has a solo tuning of F# or there's not enough tension. The pickups were knackered but I had a EMG MM pickup lying around. The resultant tone actually massive! And having said all this it's great fun to play!8 points
-
Hi folks, I thought I'd post this up to track progress over the coming months. After far too long flirting with the idea, I finally pulled the plug on an ACG. I've had a lust for one since selling (and regretting it) my custom 32" scale Roscoe some years ago. These days, the cost of getting a Roscoe made to the spec of my old bass and shipping it to the UK is... astronomical. Something about 32" scale just works for me so well and despite trying to get back to playing 34-35" scale basses, it just wasn't working out for me. As such, I needed to turn my eye to other 32" scale options the wouldn't disappoint, so of course, I instantly turned to ACG. I'm a big fan of single cut shapes, so when Alan told me he had a Salace E Type currently in production that wasn't yet claimed I got quite excited. Add to this that he called it a 'test to see just how light that body shape could be'... colour me very interested. After exchanging some thoughts and spec discussion, I pulled the trigger. So, here is the spec... Salace E Type Headless 5 string (strung E-C) Paulownia body with Indian Cedar top 5 piece Ash/Purpleheart bolt on neck Wenge fingerboard with 30" radius Hipshot hardware (18mm string spacing) East Uni-Pre 4k preamp 2x ACG FB pickups, with a Wenge (to match the fretboard) ramp between them The body is well along and looking stunning. This body is currently sub 3lbs, meaning the final weight of the bass likely to come in far lighter than most basses I've ever played. As someone who has long term neck and shoulder issues, this is nothing short of exciting. Here is a pic. Note that it is the bottom of the 4 fretboards that I'm going with (the Wenge one). I'll post more updates and images as I have them over the coming weeks and months.6 points
-
Well, here goes...didn't think I'd be selling this but I just prefer the sound of a Jazz. So here is my Limelight P Bass with a jazz width 'C' neck, this was made for me last year by Mark down at Classic & Cool Guitars. This one is in Charcoal Frost colour with a medium relic finish, lovely hand rolled edges, custom wound pickups and lightweight tuners. It weighs in at a very manageable 8.4lbs. Also comes with a hard case. There is a Limelight thread on the forum for further details about these, or have a look at the website www.classicandcoolguitars.co.uk . Would prefer collection/meet and am prepared to travel up to an hour from Milton Keynes to meet if required. Trade Possibilities: Decent quality Jazz Cheers6 points
-
6 points
-
I got a Laney R500H Amp and it's decent (it's nothing special, but has been reliably pushing out quite a loud clean sound and has a decent EQ) so I didn't hesitate too much to get a Laney Digbeth Preamp which I'm impressed with: It has an aux in and headphone out, FX loop, XLR (pre/post and ground lift), jack output and link output, foot-switchable 2 channels (A/B/A+B) with clean channel and a decent sounding tube drive channel (reminds me of the BDDI - but it has been a few years since I owned one), good EQ, no crackly dials or hissing. Looks good and seems solid and well built. If was trying to pick faults: It is quite big, the dials look cool but are a bit tricky to read, and a specific volume control for headphone out could be handy. Considering the features and the £150 competition I'd say it's a winner.6 points
-
Just stumbled across this cracking selection of isolated original basslines. Interesting to hear the original recorded tones and playing behind some iconic lines: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEsDszgMi-LZBRKgKUeS6vg/search?query=bass Click on the 'Videos' tab to hear ALL the other isolated vocal, guitar, keys, etc etc audio files5 points
-
And there you have it - just a quick project really, to get this bass up and running again. The body was a bit thicker than the old one and I realised the screws wouldn't actually be going very far into the neck - so rather than getting longer screws or reshaping the body, I decided to use ferrules instead because I happened to have four spare ones. I sometimes find impatience to be the mother of invention (not that I invented ferrules, of course). Anyway, I love it - it looks so 70s to me. If I was Matt Freeman I would have had it sold like this from the start!4 points
-
4 points
-
4 points
-
4 points
-
Am amazed he’s still in the band to be honest. Maybe you should try suggesting vocal lines for him, the higher parts should become easier with your bass up his ar*e....4 points
-
4 points
-
Guitar now SOLD !, 26 Sep 2021 Thanks to all who've expressed interest 😉 Neck date of late Dec 1982 Fender Jazz Bass, 3 Colour Sunburst Finish (62 Vintage Model), serial V003173. Weighs in at 9.5lbs and is in nice condition apart from a few minor lacquer blemishes on the back of the neck. Comes with a hard case (not Fender) and was recently authenticated, tested and valued by Andertons in Guildford where I bought it from in the early 90s. It's hardly been used in the last 20 years due to increasing neuropathy in my left hand 🥵. It's priced to be mid range of the valuation given by Andertons, so no daft low bids please ! Also please expect extra £30+/- for courier to UK or £75 +/- for overseas. This is a private sale.3 points
-
I'm now the owner of a Sandberg Custom 5! My wife, the guy at PMT and me all came to the same conclusion: there was definitely a sound in the MM soapbar pickup found on the Sandberg Basic that just couldn't be replicated with the XTenders in the Custom, but the XTenders have a very nice tone, and are much more versatile, and so overall the bass you see in the picture is the one I took home. It responds very well to tweaking, and the default sound suits my style of playing, which is to sit back in the mix rather than cut through it, although with some tweaking you can get a really nice honk out the bridge pickup. My wife said that the XTenders had a much smoother sound, and that the low B string had much better note definition. Listening back to the recordings I made, there were far more mistakes using the Basic. At this level of craftmanship it's so subjective, but it's probably not controversial to say the Custom's form factor suits me better. Surprisingly Sandberg never got back to me after I asked them a few questions, but the bass spoke for itself, and PMT got the sale. Just for the record, the main question I asked them was what type of pickup was in this Custom. There are actually two types of XTender. I have my suspicions I know which one it is, but wanted it confirmed.3 points
-
How to disappear down a rabbit hole for a whole morning: I find these fascinating and there are lots more.3 points
-
Now £200 including UK delivery. This is a version 1 Thunder (hence the 'script' logo) made at the Matsumoku factory Japan in 1982. As a consequence it is proudly displaying some battle scars! Not entirely original as it now has a Bartolini 8S pickup. This Thunder has an ash, maple & walnut laminate body (the solid colour models were solid maple), with a dark ash finish. There's a bit of the finish missing on the side of the body where you can see the laminate construction (see pic below). Other than the general wear to the body, there is a nick out of the edge of the fretboard at the 1st fret but it doesn't interfere with the string and in that respect is cosmetic only. The original pickups and electronics are truly hideous, so although the bass was in original condition when I got it, they got shown the inside of a bin and a Bartolini 8S was loaded. I use external pre-amps, so like all my passive basses the pickup is wired straight to the output jack. The pots and switches are original but they're not connected to anything. Other minor alterations; the knobs are from a jazz set (the originals were large brass) and I put in a neutrix locking jack. So, as the separate basschat thread asks, are Westone basses any good? Well, back in the day Matsumoku used to make the Aria pro ii series, so yes I think the craftsmanship is good but it does feel like a bass from the 80s. The neck is chunky (not necessarily a bad thing) and the thing is HEAVY! My first bass was a thunder so I like the neck shape, it's a sort of flat U shape near the nut and a rounded U shape the higher you go. Different to most modern basses. The electronics I thought always let it down but that's easily solved and I think the Bartolini has an organic sound that suits the Thunder. It does come with a hard case but to be honest it's knackered (the handle is missing and the finish is peeling). It'll do the job for postage but not much else. Collection or £20 postage in the UK.3 points
-
3 points
-
I'd never thought about this before but on reflection most of my non Fenders are natural finishes and the vast majority of my Fenders are sunbursts with tort. 3TSB, tort and dark, dark rosewood is my favourite.3 points
-
3 points
-
True, but in the case of the Spectorbird (X model) they already have the templates from some custom orders they did a few years ago at the Czech factory.3 points
-
3 points
-
I only own the one Spector (Euro LT), I couldn't ever see me expanding on that model and I'm feeling (sorry, Gary) that pretty much everything new from Spector is still being based off the same NS body shape. Surely this will ultimately lead to a degree of apathy from the customer-base; they look great, but we're getting mighty to close to Fender approach whereby they're just sticking to the core models and dressing them with new guts as if they were something new. Spector could, as I understand it, make a 4X/Thunderbird model out of the Czech Republic without any crap from Gibson as the body design patent has expired in Europe, so feasibly they could make them by the busload. There's does seem to be a queue of people here who have shown interest. I do wonder whether there's a minimum order quantity required, you'd think that if they had to make 500 they would easily be able to sell these in the European market alone so long as they didn't get stupid with the pricing; there's no reason why they couldn't bring this in at c.£2K a pop.3 points
-
First impressions are that it sounds excellent, ive never had the ultra... Ive only got the B7k and B3k to compare it to so dont know if its supposed to be slightly different sounding 🤷♂️ i know the mid EQ points aren't matched with the ultra and B7k anyways. This pedal definitely has a similar sound but is a bit different ... More smoother ssounding distortion (less high focus) Its not exactly like my B7k but overal decent for the price. I think i prefer my B7k, but if it broke this would make the grade as a replacement 👍3 points
-
3 points
-
Getting oiled up - the light in the garage wasn't great but it's looking pretty nice I made a couple of knobs from the offcuts too - I think they'll look pretty nice on the black scratchplate3 points
-
3 points
-
That can't have been easy to play with the neck joined in the middle like that..! ... ...3 points
-
This, on the other hand, is a thing of beauty… Les Claypool’s ‘Rainbow’ 6 string fretless Carl Thompson.2 points
-
Had my first big success with the Stomp last few days. 13 songs recorded in 2 days in sessions for a singer songwriter. I took the Stomp to the local studio expecting to use a ‘recording signal chain’ I designed to monitor myself and send a dry signal to the desk for them to process. As it turned out, the sound was so good that the engineer simply took the effected signal just as it was. It sounded great in the mix. I used a Stingray for 2 tracks and a Precision Bass with flats for the rest, and it sounded super with both, no tweaks needed. Chain was Zero Bass DI for a very light touch of grit, Rochester Comp with gentle 4:1 compression, the LA2A clone as limiter for peaks, and Noise Gate. Really pleased. I see no need for expensive DIs. Sounds to me like digital has caught up. Edit: I also have to give big props to @krispn for turning me on to TI Flatwounds. They sound great, and recorded great. Thanks mate. Also, the beers you made were nice 😊2 points
-
Again the usual interesting assortment of tinny, scratchy, driven, fret-buzzing bass-lines that end up sounding so good in the mix. I don’t think I’ll ever be not amazed by this.2 points
-
So, I lost my mum at the start of June the year, and wanted to be with my dad more often, at this time. His heart attack simply added to the urgency. I think that dad would appreciate my being with him, so, that feels like the right answer. I only joined the other band to stretch my musical self a little. But right now, that it not the priority.2 points
-
2 points
-
2 points
-
I was more surprised at the fact that they weren't a group of goats.2 points
-
2018 tolex peeled and as of 2019 Alex apparently had no way of fixing my cabs, so I sold them as is. Not sure if the glue has changed since then. I would avoid the tolex finish and ask for the painted finish, that's solid and easy to touch up too.2 points
-
2 points
-
Iove just brought a new ipad as im getting more and more in to using soft synths.. its amazing how things have come on since the old days. Quality is right up there with hardware synths now. A cheap midi keyboard and an iPad is more than usable as a gigging rig if needed. Got 3 gigs in Nov. This will be my first time on keys since around 1993. Ironically the last time was with a Yamaha keyboard, and this time will also be with one.2 points
-
Lovely American Special P bass, that was converted to fretless with a thick slab of ebony by a previous owner. Finish is the ‘hand-rubbed’ nitro satin honeyburst, that I believe there was only a short run of for Guitar Center in the US. The fretless mod was done (I think) by Brook guitars in Devon (that’s from memory - could be wrong). It was done really nicely, onto the original neck, even preserving the original nut. As well as that mod, I’ve done a bunch of upgrades, to try and get it close the Tony Franklin signature fretless. It now has a Hipshot Kickass bridge, Hipshot USA Ultralite tuners, a Jazz pickup, DiMarzio DP126 pickup set (that’s the Model P and Model J - Tony has the Model J in his original I think) and Dunlop strap locks. It has the original volume and tone (tone is Greasebucket as far as I know, which I really like), plus a 3 way switch for either pickup or both - again functionally the same as the 3 way slider on the TF. All work done by Chris McIntyre here in Edinburgh, so top quality. I don’t have the weight right now - will add later - but it’s not heavy. Around 9lbs I think. I’m told the body is 1.8” thinner than a usual P, plus obviously I have the Ultralites on there, which also means it balances perfectly on a strap now. Good opportunity to get something very close to the Tony Franklin signature fretless P bass, for a fraction of the price, in a great finish. It has a few little marks on the body (that finish makes it a bit easier for that to happen - can do closeups for anyone interested, plus a bit of wear and 1 scratch on the scratchplate (that is what they’re for eh?) - but condition excellent other than that. Neck is immaculate. Only selling as I have a case of GAS for something else. In an ideal world I’d have both!2 points
-
I had an Avon Grabber a few years ago, given that Avon had a reputation for being the cheap & tatty end of the market, this was a really good bass & a very accurate copy. Could almost have been passed off as original, with a few hardware swaps & a new headstock sticker.2 points
-
2 points
-
Sounds a bit like my singer... he likes to sing bass parts to me! We're a covers band, and he'll occasionally throw in a suggestion at rehearsal of a song he wants to do that very minute with a view of gigging that weekend. Some things you can muddle your way through with root notes and watching the guitarist and keyboard player. Others are a bit more tricky and I'll say I don't know it, but can learn it for next time. For example, I explained The Beatles - Don't Let Me Down has quite an important bassline and I'd need to spend some time to get it right. He proceeds to try and sing the part to me - "You do know it - it goes dooo do doo dodoo...". He's tried it a few times mid-gig to, to accommodate requests. As much as I'd like to do that Thunder song to make that punter happy, I've never even heard it before! "It's easy, it goes..."2 points
-
While I love a black bass, Spector do seem to be knocking it out if the park with the finishes. That Sundown Glow. Mother.Of.God. Now, yes. If they did a 'bird, with that finish? What is wrong with Korg? They can do these in Europe without any interference from Gibson, why won't they? Bad Korg. Bad, bad Korg.2 points
-
Can’t say. Might pee my pants. And Mrs T has sorted some financials so my mad plight of “need to sell” went bang out of the window. let’s just say there are 1600 reasons I’m excited2 points
-
To resurrect this thread - I have an ANT! Bought it a week or so back from fellow Basschatter PaulHornBass. Alas I have yet to take it out on a gig, but that will hopefully change soon, or at least with an orchestra rehearsal. Tone wise I'm diggin it - it's just nice and plain and simple - does what it says on the tin. One concern I have is that the fan is very loud indeed. Loud to the point of definitely not using that in the studio, and possibly not using that on theatre gigs. I've written to Ashdown asking if this is the norm or if it can be tamed in any way but am still waiting for a reply. Other than that I can see this amp getting a lot of use.2 points
-
Holes drilled and cavities shielded, all ready for final assembly. Unfortunately I’m going to be away for a few days now so it’ll have to wait until I’m back next week. Nearly there now.2 points
-
2 points
-
I love my sunburst P bass. However, when I got a little bored of the look I just do a little bit of redecorating. I swap the pickguards from black to tortoiseshell and the hardware from chrome to gold and the strings from rounds to flats to black tape wounds.2 points
-
2 points
-
2 points
-
Nothing wrong with a nice sunburst. Rather than seeing it as being dated I'd say it is a timeless classic.2 points