mcnach

This sounds pretty decent too... Ok, I'll stop already

Never underestimate the ability of humans to get confused Remember the Squier Jazz Vintage Modified series with the black block markers? Initially I heard people moaning that they were stickers and would come off. I had one myself and could not see how anybody could think that... but someone out there did. That guy certainly got a good sound out of it. The question is how much he processed the signal! But judging by other videos, even the live ones with poor sound and my experience of EMG pickups... I don't expect to be disappointed. Weight, however, is something that I'm a little concerned about. It's not a deal breaker for me... after all, my USA EBMM SUB is one of my favourite basses and it weighs just over 10 lbs. But I do prefer lighter instruments. Judging by reviews online, it may not be very light... however it's sometimes difficult to say which Model T they were talking about. I'm getting pretty excited. It should arrive on Tuesday... but on Tuesday I'm away all day... in prison Not as an inmate but doing a bit for a science teaching programme. Regardless, I can't just escape when I want to (even if it's 4 minutes away from home by car!) and I can't even have my phone with me. So I'll miss the delivery. If I'm lucky, they'll leave a card and I could call them in time to cancel the next day delivery, so that I could collect from their depot on Wednesday. If that works out... then I can take it to my band's practice that evening... but I don't want to bring my hopes up as there's so many things that can go wrong from past experiences.

And what's with the 'painted' fret markers comment... he says they even go over the side of the fingerboard... They are ebony *blocks* and yes, they are inserted from the side so that they're visible. Some people...

No MM pickup, it's the stock EMG J/P pickups (you can see the logo sometimes), but he's made some kind of ramp indeed.

This is pretty cool too. Nice deep slapped tone and fingerstyle examples. It covers low and some pretty high notes, sounding all pretty good... The section around 2:30 has a very 'girthy' but well defined sound. At 3:00 it has a really cool break covering slap/fingerstyle that sounds great... hmmm. I like!

[ double post]

This is more my thing... it has a nice mildly overdriven tone which sounds great fingerstyle and slapped too

I spent a little while looking for YouTube videos (yes, I know) and I came across some cool sounding examples... at 00:20 or so there's a section that caught my ear, although in general it sounds good. and something by the same guy, including a bit of slap in a more 'metal' setting, not bad...

similarly here... I let a Mojo Mojo go, and got and loved a Soul Food for a while. It was pretty good with my Precision for low gain kind of sounds.

I think it would be best to start by watching a few videos showing you the various adjustments one can make, to get you a good idea of the 'mechanics' involved. This guy has a series of videos that are quite good. There are others, and you'll find that some people have different approaches but if you watch a few you'll quickly understand what's the goal, and you can attempt a lot of the adjustments yourself with just a couple of basic tools and a bit of patience. To get the best setup you may need to consider the nut slots, fret levelling... which are not that complicated but not the thing I'd advise someone to start with, so if after watching the videos and adjusting the bass yourself you determine that the nut slots are too low and need a new nut, or that there are some uneven frets... I'd take it to a reputable local tech to get the work done, and if you can... watch, ask him, and see what he does. I learnt a lot that way.

That's a beauty, and it looks in great condition when you think it's 43-44 years old!

That one says it's 12.8 pounds... That can't be right, surely?

I find the Vanderkleys the classiest looking cabs there are at the moment. And they don't sound half bad either. I do like a bit of colour. I had a pair of bright red TKS 1126 cabs, and when I decided I no longer wanted them I got a few people commenting "I'd love those, shame they're red"

I expect the usual suspects[*] on any thread using the BF word. [*] and shenanigans, but at least this time they were mildly entertaining

Not really... my two cabs are not going anywhere, their value is locked. Now, if this had happened just before I sold my pair of BB2...

Trigger was pulled indeed. I had some good (financial) news from work this morning and I decided it was a sign Greatness? If it's me playing it I very much doubt greatness is the word with which to describe the results... but I'll do what I can I'll report back when it's in my hands.

well, what do you know? It does indeed say Standard on the package! (I have one set in my possession and I had never noticed!) No question... Rotosound standard will be 45-105, then! I guess the thing is there is no 'universal' standard with each company calling their sets something different, so presumably the sales guy wasn't familiar with the naming convention for the Rotosound strings, rather than being deliberately obtuse... but if you're saying "the ones that say standard on the pack", there really is no argument there, right?

True. But sometimes one just have to take a leap of faith and risk it. If I don't like it, back it'll go, I'll lose postage costs but that's the only way to try one around here it seems. It's all because of this damn snow... it's given me far too much time to think about toys! In fact, if it weren't for the snow... instead of clicking "buy now" I'd have been driving to a gig! But it has been cancelled due to the weather. I'll call the bass "Snow". I should receive it on Tuesday... but I would not be surprised if there are still some delays as there must be a huge backlog with just about every courier.

Some people are extremely picky too. I often look at the 1-star reviews of something I want to buy... and often there's a bunch of very unreasonable comments there. Reviews are tricky. It's come to my attention that there is a market for made-to-order amazon reviews (I'm sure other places too). A friend of mine has written a few for a wide range of items. She'd be asked to produce x number of 5 star, y number of 4 star, etc... for a given item, and she'd just sit, write them, and submit them to the company, who would then use other accounts, real and fake, to place the reviews online. It's a jungle out there

but what's standard? 45-105? 40-100? Both are pretty 'popular'... Still, if I were the sales guy I'd have probably offered you to choose between them if I had both...

My local one was open this afternoon...

12.8 pounds! what kind of alder is it made of??? It lacks the 'sexyness' of the natural "Session" model... but I probably like those pickups more.

One review. Terrible review, but one review. He says he liked the sound and he could set it up nicely no problem... but complained about finish flaws and that the fret markers were painted. I'm happy to take my chances, I've read worse reviews about a Stingray

Oh... outboard preamp! Then scratch the J-Retro... I misunderstood.

John East J-Retro preamp... no question. And for pickups... I personally love the DiMarzio Area J. They're humbuckers but retain a lot of the classic Jazz bass spirit. They work very nicely together with the J-Retro (I have the same combination in 4 strings, after trying quite a variety of pickups)