acidbass

Ah the wonders of Basschat

I think this thread would be better appreciated in the 'Gear Porn' subforum - some great gear by the way!

Had an update today from the luthier! I went for the darkest possible ebony board, so that I won't require staining. I don't mind seeing a little of the grain as it will give it a bit of character, to my eyes anyway! He has also received a brown tort scratchplate and bone nut. The old fingerboard has been removed and the new ebony one glued on. Work cannot recommence for at least 24 hours to make sure there is a sufficient bond between neck and fingerboard. Pics to follow! I have decided to go for a flatter fingerboard radius also, 16" instead of the 12" of the original. Next step is to wait for the glue to set, then radiusing can begin as well as fine sanding and polishing. Next step - a pickup route for the new bridge pickup. Coming along nicely so far! Danny

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1374635' date='Sep 15 2011, 04:36 PM']He's just one of those guys that has a broad range of abilities and can nail a gig. People like Dizzy don't really want to book the Wooten's, Caron's and Manrings of this world. They want solid professional musicians not circus acts. Good reading, good time etc. No need for acrobatics. That's why Pino is up there. Why book a great soloist if the bass is never going to play a solo? Had a Bailey solo cd. Listened to it once or twice and then used it to catch dust for a decade before selling it on. Great sideman, not a great writer or leader. Great player, weak ideas....[/quote] +1000 to all of this! Very close to my own feeling about Wooten etc. I'd rather have Pino play a bassline down the phone than have VW in the studio if I were a producer.

Hi guys, The time has come to make a few minor adjustments to the saddle height on my Squier CV Jazz Bass - however I don't have the correct allen key and will have to order one. Does anyone know what size key (metric or imperial) fits the saddle adjustment on the Classic Vibe Hi-Mass bridge? I have sent an email to Squier but can't imagine they'll reply in a hurry, so thought someone on here might have the answer. Many thanks in advance, Danny

Hmm - the one about having the cabinet squarely on the floor at all times, I'm not sure about. There are definite advantages of tilting back a cabinet, as well as raising it off the ground closer to ear level.

[quote name='discreet' post='1372884' date='Sep 14 2011, 09:57 AM']I like 'em. I twang 'em with a pick.[/quote] As do I! I must say, the pick sound is really great, there's a certain metallic twang to it that I never got with Elixirs.

I bought a GREAT fake once, it was pretty much identical in every way except for the sound when I compared it to a real 58 - so much more bottom end and clarity with the real one. Very difficult to spot, I would echo the comments about buying from a registered dealer as mine was bought used from a local guy on a music forum and it all ended badly!

Stuck! Some great links there guys - many thanks for that

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='1373974' date='Sep 15 2011, 01:50 AM']Pardon?[/quote]

A friend of mine is writing a hip-hop album, and he hired Pino to play bass on a track - I heard the track last night (bass, drums, vocals and organ) and it is INCREDIBLE! Just recorded last week and my word, the guy still has it!

Smallest was to 0 punters - just bar staff and bouncers. The management insisted we played on anyway despite an empty venue and we got paid in full at the end of the gig! Largest was 18,000 at a festival, that was good

It's quite obvious that he's an Ampeg artist - I've never heard any 'reviewer' wax lyrical over anything as much before! I would argue that the tone he's getting is largely down to the Fender P with flatwounds too, there isn't really that much variation on offer from the amp that you can't get from most others. I'll hold my final judgement until I hear someone playing 'Magic Bus' through one - that is the quintessential muted pick sound of the 60s!

Have you tried the Aurora Project? I was in touch with them recently about a replacement Precision Bass pickguard, and they said they have over 70 templates for the Precision Bass alone! I'd reckon they've probably seen a guard like yours before, so maybe shoot them an email and they should be able to sort you out.

[quote name='Gunsfreddy2003' post='1366173' date='Sep 8 2011, 11:12 AM']Thanks for that - never heard of Minerva before but their prices look good compared to ACS and Ultimate Ears for example. Does anyone know much about them?[/quote] A friend of mine, Lee, is their PR and Marketing guy, and he was very helpful when I had a few questions about them recently. Maybe worth a quick email to see if they would be for you? I've read some very favourable reviews on audio forums too - I think they are linked from the Minerva site.

I'm a regular IEM user and would recommend to go for the best phones that you can afford. Double or triple driver phones are obviously advantageous for us bass player as you have a dedicated bass driver for the low end, although I've heard some mass-produced phones by Sennheiser and Shure that have really solid and tight bass response without the custom price tag. I'm currently using Sennheiser IE-4 phones, and while they aren't exactly blessed with a wide frequency response, they sound OK at the volumes I use them at. My guitarist uses a set of dual-driver Shure earphones, he swears by them although the first set he bought he had to get replaced as the left ear input was faulty! I'd love a set of customs eventually - you should check out a company called Minerva, based in England, very reasonable prices for custom moulds (if you want to go down that route) Hope this helps - have a listen to a few high-end phones if you have an audio shop in your town, sometimes they have the facility. Danny

I'm a long-time Elixir user when buying roundwounds, and I recently changed to DR strings. I wrote a review of them a little bit further down this forum actually, but the long and short of it is that I will be returning to Elixirs for my next set of strings.

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='1364144' date='Sep 6 2011, 02:57 PM']I think Wizards will be my next pup purchase for sure. I can't decide whether to get the Big P/J combo pups for the newly acquired Squier Jag SS, or just replace the j-pup? I'm a bit wary that the new Wizard j-pup would over power the stock p-pup on the SS. What do you think? If I was to replace just the j-pup, what would work best with the stock p-pup? Hammer, 64 or 84's? I'm defo getting a set of hammers for the fretless jazz though [/quote] I have a set of P/J Big Combo pickups going into my fretless bass at the moment - they are essentially a Wizard 84 Jazz bridge pickup paired with a Wizard Thumper, a little hotter output than the standard P/J set which is exactly what I'm after for a more responsive fretless tone. If you haven't decided by the time I get mine finished, I'll be leaving a full review over on the thread in 'Build Diaries' - maybe it might aid you in your choice Danny

Just choosing between a few different pieces of Ebony for the fingerboard - they range from very dark to lighter-coloured pieces with reddish streaks, pics to follow! Absolutely beautiful wood

Yeah Chris, I can't wait to get it back in action! It was a lovely bass when I received it from you and it can only improve with the mods - I have been in the market for a fretless bass with an ebony board and thought 'why buy another one when you can modify one of your own?' I really love the neck profile on the bass at the moment so it didn't make sense to buy a completely new neck, a new nut and fingerboard and she'll be good to go!

Hello all, This week, I'm bringing my old fretless Precision bass to a local luthier to get a complete overhaul done. I bought the bass originally from Beedster of this parish, around 3 years ago, as I wanted to get started learning fretless. The bass was originally fretted, but Chris had it defretted and the slots filled with a light veneer of wood. After I received it, I fitted a set of ashtrays to it, and it looked like this: [attachment=88294:19275_26...718280_n.jpg] A nice bass to look at and equally nice to play, although the fretboard has since taken a lot of knackering as it was unfinished rosewood and I had it strung with rounds. Over the past six months or so, my use for it in a live context had been somewhat limited, and it had taken a back seat to my other fretted basses. One day, out of boredom, I decided to take the whole thing apart and check out the innards, and at the moment it looks like this: [attachment=88295:DSC01896.JPG] So - my recent increase in appreciation for Pino Palladino, Tony Levin and John Giblin has convinced me that she needs to get back on the road, with some TLC required to make sure it sings once again! A list of the mods I'm going for: - New ebony unlined fretboard on the same neck - I love the profile, slightly narrower than most other Precisions I've played - Bone nut - Jazz pickup installed at bridge position (Wizard 84) - New P pickup (Wizard Thumper) - A complete new passive circuit with three knobs - Volume for each pickup and overall tone, with a Switchcraft jack and CTS pots - A custom tort pickguard to accommodate the extra knob - Cavity shielding - Dunlop Straploks Although I considering an active circuit, I am keeping the bass passive and am planning to use an outboard preamp (Sadowsky or Aguilar) with it, as I have a need for one for my other basses anyway. I might consider a new bridge and tuners eventually but for now the ones on it are fine. I will be stringing it up with Thomastik Jazz flats when it's done, with medium action to accommodate a bit of 'mwah'! Turn around time will be 2 weeks or so, as ebony is a very labour-intensive wood and will take a bit of time to get right. Needless to say, I can't wait for the finished article and will keep you all updated over the course of the overhaul. Cheers! Danny

Happy to meet, Basic! Lots of people from our wonderful island on the forum so hopefully there'll be a few local gig-sharing opportunities and such-like in the near future! Nice gear list too by the way Danny

I've been looking at something to warm up my passive Jazz bass in an ampless situation (which is 99% of the time for me as I use IEMs) I've pretty much narrowed down my options to the Aguilar Tonehammer, the MXR M80 and the EBS Microbass II, although to be honest the first one is slightly edging ahead as I can't see the benefit of an overdrive sound for a lot of my work, and have heard great things about the OBP-3. Hmm...might just buy one this week if funds permit!

I still see a lot of John's equipment on eBay - guitars, basses, amps, clothes, straps, strings, picks - the lot! This is one of his most sought after basses though AFAIK, along with the Franken-P and his Statii. I actually played one of his Alembic Explorers in the past - he owned a few and used one of them on the famous Shepperton Studios WGFA isolated bass track. Absolutely wonderful bass with an XLR output! I still consider him my main inspiration and always will.

I regret starting on a 3/4 scale bass, if I could do it all again I'd buy myself a Fender Precision and get stuck in!