mcnach

I have a similar case, one for bass and one for guitar. They do a great job. The downside is that they're not comfortable to carry for any distance... but they weigh nothing and offer pretty decent protection, so not bad at all. I prefer my Fusion F1, but it cost about 3x more...

It sounds very easy, and it is indeed very easy to play all the notes... however, to play then *right*, it takes far more practice/effort than you first think. The first time I heard it I liked it and went and played it from memory. Something wasn't quite right, I thought. Then I went back to the original. Ah... so many little details that together make a huge difference!

I would have been not long ago, but my Mesa D800+ has a variable one built-in that works very well

That's just one way to use it, for speaker protection. You can definitely turn up the cut off frequency higher into the audible range and get very useful results too. Bass is not that much about the lowest frequencies, for most people, even if they don't realise it until they check. I used to have a Thumpinator, but once I tried a frequency-adjustable one, the Thumpinator went, as I often found useful to go above its rigid cutoff of 30Hz

Need one? Probably not. But they can come very handy. I would get a frequency-adjustable one, something like the Broughton Audio one. Small, simple, and not extremely expensive. I find it very useful to tame unwanted 'boomy' sound you get in some stages/rooms. THAT will be audible. It's surprising how much you can cut while still sounding fat and big. It helps getting a fat but clear bass, I find.

I've had a neck made and bought a couple of preamps... no trouble, but won't be top quality either (no surprise). Communication can be tricky, so be concise and use bullet points if possible...

Not the answer my wallet wanted to hear... but fortunately it's a cheap pedal Thank you! I must try one of these. The sound seems right and the size is perfect...

I haven't seen the new all maple bass, but if it looks half as good as the one I used to have, it'll be a beauty. However, the neck dive was annoying in the end. It was made worse by the fact the bass was very light, but I wouldn't want a heavy body just to help a bit with the neck dive. A suede strap (which I also have) just grabs whatever you're wearing: it's ok if it's a jacket, but if it's a t-shirt, you end up with a diving bass anyway and a t-shirt pulling out from the side looking very odd. It sounded good, 'though.

True. About half an inch!

It looks like it's a good thing he's gone. People with temperament like that are a liability. I'm not the calmest person, but even I would not leave a band hanging. It looks like you've got it covered for the upcoming gig... do it that way and try to get a replacement for the future. I'd personally never go back to playing with that drummer. You need people you can rely on, and accept criticism when is due.

That would be a good bass for sure, but it'll easily add another £500 or so, depending on options, than the Schecter.

I had a Cort GB74. It had a slimmer neck than I like but it was a very well made bass. However the electronics were very disappointing, especially the preamp. Still... they're not that costly, and I got mine used for £150 (yup), a beautiful natural/maple one that weighed just over 7 lbs. The Sires... I have just tried a 5 string V7 (Jazz) and I thought it was incredible, especially considering the price, but even at a higher price. I have heard of them being heavy but this one was not overly heavy. Judging by the quality of that one, I'd definitely keep Sire in my radar. It was very very very nice. The Sire P7 comes in some nice finishes... the least favourite of mine is the Tobacco sunburst... but it seems to have the J pickup farther from the bridge than the others, and that could be a very cool configuration.

well, I changed my mind. I'm keeping it. It's just too nice to play. The Yamahas have an interesting look and sound good but they've never felt "right" when I tried them.

I know it has a volume, but the pedal I mentioned earlier was too sensitive. If I wanted to quickly increase or lower gain *a little bit*, I'd have to readjust the volume too, which is not so easy while on the go, as a small tweak made my bass inaudible or too loud. Most overdrive pedals will also increase the volume when turning gain up, but not an increase that would be problematic. So just wondering how sensitive this pedal is.

heathen!

I am tempted to keep it... but removing that preamp and installing a 3-band John East U-Retro (which I already have in my drawer, doing nothing, waiting for the right bass) with its wonderful semiparametric mids control... I suspect that I would like the bass a lot more then. But it just seems to me I'm trying to make it sound like the Maruszczyk Jake I have... so what's the point? I wish I had kept an older set of DR Fat Beams to try it with, as the right strings could transform the bass, perhaps... Hmmm...

I took it to rehearsal today, very very very carefully, alongside my passive Maruszczyk P/JJ (a Jake). I like the neck on the Model T better... even if the Jake's neck was specified by me and they built it just like I asked. I love it. It's a great neck... but the Model T is really really nice. However... I think I'm going to send it back. When I finally get the sounds I'm after, it turns out that I'm making it sound like the Jake. The EMG P sounds very nice on the Model P, and that's something I never really loved on my Jake: the P pickup alone is ok but not smile-inducing like the EMG on the Model T. The Model T is nice... but not nice enough for me to have two terribly similar basses... where the Jake wins with its double J and general vibe. I know the comparison today wasn't fair as the Jake has strings that feel and sound just right, while the Model T has strings that I dislike profoundly because they're way too bright... but it seems the character of the Model T is something I'm fighting against [*] while the Jake's character is more to my taste. [*] nothing wrong with it, just a little too aggressive and bright for my liking (although the EMG P sounds great). It's a shame... it's a really good looking bass and feels really nice to play.

I like the sound of that! Do you find that changing the drive setting alters a lot the volume? I mean, yes, it will affect the volume but is it so much that small changes in drive will make you change the volume too? I have a Joyo Ultimate Drive which is based on the OCD as well and sounds nice... but when I need to adjust the drive, the volume either drops or increases a lot even for relatively small changes in drive... which makes adjusting it while playing live a little more complicated. I'd love it if the volume change weren't as drastic. On the video the changes in volume sound reasonable but there could be a lot of compression going on... What do you think?

I'd love not to notice. I sold quite a few basses over the years mostly because I didn't get along with the neck after trying to like it... and some were really nice. Lucky you!

Totally. They're good instruments, without a doubt. My 'niggles' were purely about whether this is the sound I want, and I should have started by saying that I don't normally get along with twin pickup basses, except things like the Warwick Corvette $$, where the two pickups are not at their 'usual' positions. Unfortunately these basses are not very commonly found in the second hand market, so if one really wants to try it, buying online and gamble is the only option. So the question is: do you think it will be a better bass than other similarly priced ones that you can find more easily? If the looks grab you, there's no question as there isn't really another one like it around. But if you just want a PJ style bass, there are lots of other options too. I have to say I like this better than the vast majority of PJ basses I've ever tried so far. I played the Model T a bit more this morning and now I'm at 99% keeping it. It feels right for me. It's a lovely neck, I got it playing very nicely with pretty low action smoothly, no buzz, I can still dig in and will sound good... and it does sound good. Now that I know where the "sweet zone" is for me, so I don't need but to tweak very slightly the blend or treble controls... I'm pretty happy with the sound. I'll take it to band rehearsal tonight and unless that reveals something negative, I'm keeping it.

Not as many hits? Ah, you haven't seen me! They ask me to play right at the back of the stage to avoid riots with women trying to climb up and get closer... it's a curse, but I live with it I might do some recording, could be fun... however all these basses have completely different strings, so not sure how useful it'd be as a straight comparison, but could be fun. Right now it's: Model T: very new nickel Ernie Balls Fender P: 3 year old stainless steel DR Fat Beams, I like them a lot but they have lost the very top by now. Squier P: Fender Original 60s pickup, Status black nylon tapewounds Maruszczyk P/JJ: Seymour Duncan SPB-1 replacement on the P. Original Maruszczyk nickels... they are very old and mellow and I like them as they are Maruszczyk reverse P: Delano something or another, fresh DR Fat Beams Stingray: two year old DR Fat beams... very mellow, but the preamp still extracts a lot of treble if/when I want to EBMM SUB: one year old (or so) DR Fat Beams we'll see...

I played the bass quite a bit more now. It's growing on me. Lots. Once I stopped messing with it and just played it, with minor adjustments as I went along... I started really enjoying this. That position on the blend knob with both pickups on and favouring *slighty* the bridge pickup is such a great rubbery "finger funk" type of sound. I love it. And the P on its own, adding a tiny bit of treble growls like a beast and has a pretty cool slap sound although there's still something on the upper mids that I don't quite like when slapped. Anyway... undecided still... but I'm very likely keeping it now. Oh, and I weighed it, 8.5 lbs... lighter than my Stingray indeed.

38mm is typical Jazz... Precisions can be anywhere between 42mm to 45mm... it's noticeable and it's not 2mm. There may be the odd Precision at 40-41mm but that's going to be rare... and that's 'slim' territory to me.

There are lots on the skinny side, but also lots around 42mm, which is pretty decent. For me 42-43mm is ideal, but I also like 44-45mm (like the Classic 50s series Precision) as long as the profile is shallow. Some brands seem to specialise on slim, so if you are looking at them mostly that's what you'll find (Ibanez, despite their lovely ATK range, seems to do mostly slim neck instruments as far as I can see) It's annoying 'though when you find a nice bass that only comes in 'skinny'. Like you, my hands are not exactly big, but I find Jazz bass necks less comfortable.

God, that was long!!!!