mcnach

If you want dirt cheap... on AliExpress they have some for $5-$10 (yes, that little)... I tried one and it definitely does the job. edit: I can't vouch for their longevity 'though mine worked when I sold the bass...

The discussions I was referring to all implied changing gauges. It was indeed checking the D'Addario PDF that states the tension for all their strings that I first realised the tension would actually be a bit lower (for my chosen string gauges) and if anything I'd have to loosen up the truss rod a bit.

I haven't had the chance to try a Harley Benton but I have also heard good things. I owned a J&D in surf green that looked identical to the bottom picture you posted (many people have compared hB with J&D suggesting they may be the same instruments, rebadged by either Thomann in Germany (HB) or someone else in the UK for J&D... Either way, the J&D was £119 and was the sweetest Jazz I've had... once I set it up. That was the downside: poorly cut nut (A slot was also too low and the string rattled, so it needed a new nut), sharp frets and a couple tall frets at the treble end... once I dealt with that, which didn't take long, it was fantastic. The pickups were slightly microphonic on mine, which surprised me (I thought microphonic pickups were a thing of the past now) but they sounded so nice that I just put up with it. I gigged with it no problem. If it weren't because I had to downsize and I'm more of a Precision/Stingray player, that bass would still be with me. I sometimes consider buying another!

Thank you! You hear so many wrong advice like "oh, watch that neck with the extra tension if you tune BEAD rather than EADG" etc... when you typically get quite noticeable lower tension. That, despite so many threads complaining about flabby B strings. You'd think people put 1+1 together

I wouldn't say that a shim may be required to make it 'playable'... but it can be something that improves playability noticeably.

Ah, I hadn't read this before I posted my previous reply. Exactly: adding a shim is a perfectly normal thing to do.

No need to remove neck? What if you decide to alter the neck angle with a shim? That's not exactly an unusual procedure on bolt-on guitars... I think it would be obvious that the repair to the neck pocket is not recent. They should (hopefully) be ok with it...

True. But when they came out people were raving at how loud they were! Remember? I had an RH450 for a couple of years or so. I didn't love it but it wasn't because it wasn't loud. That goes to show how little an extra 100 or even 200W matter, compared to other factors, and how "wasteful" the very low low end is.

That's beautiful! I bought the cream one but it took me a while to decide... black/maple is so...

I'm a fan of the Multidrive. Very cool thick overdrive tones can be obtained with that one. The Joyo Ultimate Overdrive was a pleasant surprise. It is quite versatile and covers quite a lot of ground. I didn't notice any low end loss. The one thing that puts me off is that on mine *sometimes* there's a little pop when engaging or disengaging. It could be just my pedal doing that...

Thank you Yeah, it's got to be fun, we don't make enough money to put up with the whole thing if it weren't

To me the semiparametric mids on the D800+ is a nice touch but I didn't need it. I found the D800 nice, but a little 'dark'. The D800+ has a 'bright' switch which stays on permanently in mine and gives it a character that I like a lot, before I touch the EQ. Turning up treble on the D800 just wasn't doing it. Now, the D800+ has a built-in adjustable High Pass Filter, which is its secret weapon, to me. The thing I love the most about the D800+ is that I can get fat, well defined lows without being boomy/overpowering. Playing a little with the voicing and HPF controls, and adjusting the bass EQ gets me a really nice sound easily. I cannot describe it better than that... The D800 was ok for me but didn't give me GAS. I am very happy with the D800+, however.

I once played a 'festival' gig out in a forest "amps will be provided". When I arrived, they pointed me towards a tiny tiny tiny 30W Gorilla practice amp in the corner. The sound onstage was... well, very difficult. I put the thing on a chair on top of a box so that it could point more towards my ears and I still could barely hear the thing. However, it did have a line-out which they used to send a signal to the desk, and out there in the field the bass was mighty. Yes, it can be done, but if you rely on it for stage monitoring it can be difficult. Not that this is an issue for the OP, of course.

Will you use them with the D800? Really curious to hear what you think about the result I hope the thunder tower doesn't topple over easily!

Really??? That's a shame if true. I still have two of those... I guess I will hold on to them as I'm sure I'll find some use for them in the future. I tend to replace the covers 'though, as I'm not a fan of labels on pickup covers:

Well, it made sense to me! Yes, I have a day job (for now! :D) and the cash was there, I also gig frequently (57 times in 2017, as I found out the other day), so it's worth my using something that feels better to be and gig fees quickly absorbe the extra costs... but if I had to use an LM3 for the rest of my days I would not cry either.

I used Nordstrand MM4.2 and Seymour Duncan SMB4A pickups on my OLPs and I don't remember any issues. edit: hmm, but I also tended to use replacement MusicMan pickguards. Although on one of the basses I kept the original pickguard, and worked fine with the Seymour Duncan. I think whatever you go for should fit or maybe require very minor sanding of the pickguard route to make any pickup fit.

Oh yes, that probably helped a lot. I can't remember what gauge I have on my Stingray, but it's either a 100 or 105 for the E, I suspect it's a 100 (I had various sets of each, and I can only find one set now, and several of 105)

The sound is not 233% better, I would be the first to admit But it makes me smile. It can sound very ML3-like with the voice control all the way anticlockwise, and get progressively coloured in very pleasant ways I cannot describe. Before I bought the LM3, I was able to borrow a D800 and tested it in one of my bands' rehearsal room alongside a Streamliner 900 and a LM3, through either 2x or 4x (yes!) TKS 112. The D800 seemed to have an extra quality missing in the other two, it sounded bigger and more authoritative, whatever I did to it... but the LM3 wasn't far off! It was enough to convince me to keep the LM3. It's an amp that just never disappointed me. I would never say it's the best sounding ever, but I know that if I have an LM3, I will get a good sound. As for the audience, I don't know... but I've had a few soundguys coming to me to comment on how nice my bass sounded, and a trombone player falling in love with my bass rig... he had not realised I was using the D800+ instead of the LM3 (nobody but bass players look at what bass players play through :D)... asking me what was different, was it the bass? what was it?

We had a large rectangular vinyl banner, but it wasn't always easy to fix it onstage. Then we started using a much smaller one, with a couple of standing poles. It was easy to set at the front of the stage, although on some stages we were too low and not many people would see it. The reason we wanted it is because we see lots of people taking pictures, and at least they'll have our name there. So many 'casual punters' asks us our name after a gig at non ticketed events, despite being advertised at the venue and our announcements... But then we lost the poles. And sometimes we are close to losing the banner too...

So clearly there's a market for those things then! I don't mind a certain degree of floppiness (for example, the Labella white nylon strings I have on my Jazz) but my Stingray with DR Fat Beams is terrible if I detune it so much.

I just don't think that amount of detuning is going to result in anything good. Fine to detune everything a couple of semitones or three, at most... beyond that it's going to feel terrible and sound not much better. Making it all the way to B on the E string? Try detuning your bass and see if you like the result. I don't. If you want a decent low B, you need a thicker string: that's a 5 string or a BEAD (for example) tuning dedicated bass. You don't need to spend lots to get a decent 5-string.

I love the LM3, but the D800+ is nicer in every way, for me. It's far more versatile, 'feels' bigger (not just louder), the combination of the voice control and the adjustable HPF is brilliant. That makes it worth the extra cash for me.

Hmmm, cool idea... but if I detune my E to B, that doesn't feel very good. And the interval between that and the A string is a little big to play things comfortably. I vote "not entirely convinced"

I have those in two of my basses, very useful. But not good enough if you want a low B. Great tool but it has its limitations.