Rayman

You could offer Alan 2K for his Lakland DJ5, I'm sure he'd accept .

I think Steve's nailed it there really. The only difference between the two, [i]in my experience[/i], is the price.

Yeah that looks nice. The body shape looks like it's a comfortable play too, a bit Soungear like.

[quote name='Hamster' post='145828' date='Feb 24 2008, 07:25 AM']The Wizard Thumper also has a very good reputation for around the same price. Hamster[/quote] +1 the Thumper is your best bet in my opinion.

I had TI flats on a Lakland JO4 I had, they were fantastic, nice feel, great tone, couldn't fault 'em.

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='145134' date='Feb 22 2008, 03:57 PM']Be great to see you there Russ [/quote] Looking forward to it mate. Just paid for the Marcus, picking up the K5 tonight, sorted. Looks like my 2 basses only rule just went up to 5 in the space of a month.

[quote name='ped' post='144916' date='Feb 22 2008, 11:46 AM']Definitely!! What will you be bringing? Can you find it OK? ped[/quote] Well as it happens I have a customer on the same road, so I know where Snowdon Rd is in St Annes. Gear wise, a choice of Villex loaded jazz, Stingray, Marcus Miller Jazz, OLP Tony Levin and maybe an Ibanez K5 depending on circumstances, so it's a question of what would be of interest to everyone. I guess the Villex jazz would be a definate possibility.

DAVE !! Long time no see mate. Russ.

Just spotted this, have you got room for another one?

Nice Al, very nice. Have you tried Thomastik flats? Nice bright click to them, not at all woolly like some flats I've tried, they were magic on that Lakland JO4 I had from Mike. Can you believe I'm on the brink of buying another Marcus Jazz? After selling the one I had from you, and regretting it about 5 minutes later. If I don't get it, a Lakland DJ4 might be next on the hitlist, haven't decided yet.

Very interesting, thanks for that. I was reading the piece, expecting him to say he'd dropped it a snapped it in half or something!!

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='141260' date='Feb 15 2008, 06:23 PM']Brilliant I sold mine ages ago and wish that I hadn't[/quote] Ditto. I'm very tempted to buy another one, I miss mine a lot.

Done, good luck.

I rehearsed with them today, top band, nice blokes, a good opportunity for someone.

No I wouldn't say I'd noticed it being neck heavy, but then I used to have a Thunderbird, so maybe I just don't notice it anymore!! I've been using my TL at home through the CD-BT1 via headphones, and it's great for that, I love the tone, so maybe I'll just use it for that and use the 'ray and the jazz live. I'm reluctant to spend money on it, but I have a MM eq on offer to me, and that's a possibility when I've got some cash. A used replacement pup is a good idea too, as long as it fits, as I'm not over impressed with the build quality of the one on the bass, but it sounds ok, we'll see.

I can understand that, the spacing at the nut is less than a stingray, but my fingers aren't exactly nimble either, and so far it feels fine to me.

Amp wise I'm using a little Roland DB500 combo, monster sound for a little amp, and I've used it for the past 3 years now. No I haven't had the pickguard off, but I did have a glance under the pickup to see if I could raise it a bit with some more foam. It seems tidy enough, if a little basic in quality. I guess the pots will be the same. I'm not really very tech orientated, and would leave pot replacements to my tech. However, I'm not sure how much I want to spend on the thing by way of upgrades. I'm in Stockport Pete if your ever around, you're most welcome. I think you're right Matt, one of the problems I'd heard about these before I got this one was how noisy they were, and how sheilding should be the first job.

Here's a quick review of my first impressions of the bass, in a kind of Harmony Central style way. Build Quality: Only a few issues, the lugs that hold the bridge screws in place aren't flush to the body of the wood, resulting in a small gap under the bridge at one corner. The nut looks like my 6 year old daughter cut and fitted it, shocking. The pickup is held up with foam, which as usual has been screwed down low, squashing the foam and meaning that if you want the pickup closer to the strings, you can't do it. The screws come up, but the pup stays put, so new foam or springs is required. Generally everything fits together pretty well, pickguard, neck pocket etc all sit together well, and the tuners seem smooth, and keep the bass in tune pretty well. The finish is a nice flame veneer, but there are quite a few flaws in the veneer itself, not the laquer though, that's fine. The control knobs are fairly straight, but jesus! What a racket from the treble pot, the loudest hiss you ever heard, and unuseable in a gig situation it was that bad. I ended up rolling the treble right back to kill some hiss. That leads me on to; Sound: The sound is not at all what I expected. What I expected was a fairly thin, tinny sound, with loads of mid but lacking bottom end. What I got was the pole opposite. This thing has loads of bottom end rumble, as much thump I'd say as my Stingray can offer and maybe more. What it's lacking in is top end, not at all what I expected. The awful hiss from the treble pot means that you can't have the pot beyond flat without creating a terrible white noise. Now this hiss doesn't happen as much when I play at home through my Tascam CD-BT1, but live through the amp it does. Having been in contact with Mr Levin himself, he tells me that one of the models he recently tried had the pots wired up wrong, so maybe this is the case with mine, I don't know. Through the Tascam, The tone is really nice, fat but punchy enough, with the bass and mid boosts flat, and the treble rolled up to full, but as I say, you can't do that live because of the racket from the treble pot. The low B is tight and punchy though, very nice. So this thing has a nice warm thump, very powerful sounding, but still with a punchy click, nice for playing jazz/hip hop/rock, which is what I wanted, however there is a noticeable lack of clear top end, whether that's down to the EQ or the pup I don't know, but the general tone choices seem limited at this time. Overall opinion: Well the reviews on www.harmony-central.com sum the bass up well. It's generally a great bass for the cash. Very nice to play, very comfortable, I played it all through a couple of rehearsals no problem at all. In fact, I switched to the jazz for a song, but thought "where's my bottom end gone?" So I switched back. The tone is really nice, fat, punchy, BIG sounding, but lacking top end for me. The general fit and finish is good for a bass at this price, but definately needs tweaking here and there, and in a couple of cases, ie the nut and treble pot, they need replacing. The neck was nice, straight out of the box, but needed a twist or two on the truss rod to bring the action down a bit. THIS IS NOT A STINGRAY. As long as you accept that this is a bass in it's own right, shaped like a 'ray, then you'll be happy. It's comfortable, sounds nice, and is worth having in your arsenal if you want an entry level 5er. I'm very pleased with it.

[quote name='Marky L' post='122193' date='Jan 17 2008, 02:20 PM']Do it. [/quote] This pic takes me back, ah those were the days: