Wilco

Top of my thoughts at the moment are either the new Orange Terror Bass 500 or the GK MB Fusion 500. Cabs as per my sig below. Anyone got any experience of similar set ups? Any thoughts on either of those two amps? Alternative suggestions at similar or slightly higher prices? My TC BH550 sounds great, but pretty sure I can improve on it.

In the book he says he used them on his Rickenbackers & he did notice a sustain difference on those. That probably drove his opinion then, but as you say, having so many Jazz’s to compare to now must have changed his mind.

I’ve only had a cursory glance at it so far, but one page I wanted to get to was about his ‘72 Jazz. Interesting comment about Badass bridges on that one, basically saying they make bugger all difference on Fenders over the stock BBOT. Many of us will have formed an opinion over the years on the value of a high mass bridge on a Fender, but from a player of that amount of experience with loads of Jazz’s to compare against, is that the definitive answer?

Only one that I’ve owned that I really hated - a 1999 MiM Fender Jazz 5 string. It was an incredibly dull & flat sounding instrument tonally when I got it. I thought i’d could cure that by putting a couple of Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders in it. It then turned into a louder but equally dull & flat tonal instrument!! Possibly poor quality wood both body & neck? Electrics worked fine & I changed the cap too. It was just a dog of a bass though.

How many times do you see that on a Fender Jazz - loads. You’re right, should no way happen when a custom builder is involved. I had a Jazz Deluxe once & the scratch plate & control plate didn’t line up on that. Not very Deluxe. Misaligned plates & gaps in the neck pocket are all too common on Fenders. Just general sloppiness & poor quality control.

You’re not wrong. I’ve just been on the Maruszczyk configurator & specced an Elwood to something similar as below (can’t do the Jake). That Elwood spec includes Delano pups & hipshot bridge & tuners. Build quality would be just as good & comes in at £1800........

I’m going to go against the grain here (‘pun’ intended) & admit to thinking it looks.......sort of alright. The spray around the pickups is definitely a step to far though, & the price is just ridiculous. Good to see a Fender P that aesthetically isn’t as boring as f**k though!!

A couple of pairs for me. Obviously I have a thing for wood grain & matching headstocks!

Yes, agreed. Better instrument depreciates faster - go figure. Saying that, I think a stronger used value is a particular strength of a Fender instrument vs pretty much any other brand. Maruszczyk’s are on a par or better with most others i’d say. Sandberg’s are a good comparison & their used prices are comparable. Given how good my SGC’s are & how little I paid for them, I gave up trying to understand the used bass market ages ago! 🤷‍♂️😂

I was thinking the same thing, but then I look at say a well specced Elwood or Jake price & they could still come under the price of a Fender Jazz/Precision Elite. I know i’d rather have a Maruszczyk given a choice of the two. Time will tell on Brexit, exchange rates & pricing, but if the £ falls further it’s obviously going to effect all foreign made brands anyway.

Geddy’s new bass book - very excited about that. Gear wise - nowt for once. In that unusual situation of being very happy with my current gear. How’d that happen?!?! 🤔

Since the 8th November I’ve had 15 marketing emails from Fender!! I suspect that is mainly due to Black Friday time, as 4 of those arrived on Friday alone. On all sorts of products too, in fact don’t think any of them were bass specific. Time to unsubscribe I think, as fell out of love with their products ages ago anyway!

+1 to that. I have them on my Elwood 5 stringer (also with a Delano pre-amp) & they sound great. Far livelier than the Barts they replaced.

You probably won’t want to see this then!?!? http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Sire_4_V7.html

Seem sensible enough. No mention of upgraded tuners though. The tuners caused issues on both V7’s I had. Still good value for money. https://www.sire-usa.com/new-features-2nd-generation-sire-bass-guitars-new/

These have a lot of similarities to SGC Nanyo’s. Ok, the headstock is different but the body shape looks the same shape. The jack socket area is reprofiled, but at the same location & angle. I’ve always wondered what the historic connection is between these two ranges? Is there one? T’interweb not really offering up much info about a connection, unless i’ve missed something. Anyone know?

I use these;- http://herculesstands.com/international/products/fretted-and-bowed-instrument/guitar/single-stands/gs200b/ Have to offset the Maruszczyk’s a bit due the Jazz shaped body, but easily fit into my gigbags & they’re stable enough in use.

GAS is indeed a terrible thing. I look at the basses for sale section here almost every day. I don’t know why as I have as many basses as I need, & I haven’t seen anything for sale in a long while that i’d want in preference to what I already have. Just done a straight swap on a cab, but that doesn’t really count. In fact the last thing I bought was a used 6 string acoustic........ my bad. Buying & selling is part of the bass ‘hobby’ for me, so a little frustrating having no need to do that at the moment. First world problem mind! 😆

Simple Minds a few weeks ago. Utterly brilliant & a public apology to anyone stood close to me on the night who might have heard me (badly) singing along. To every song...... 😄 Second time i’ve seen them live, but a bit surreal seeing them play in my home town. Especially when you consider it to be that musical mecca...... Swindon!

There can never be too many Rush re-issues. Or Rush stuff period 😁 This + Geddy’s new bass book are defo on my Crimbo list!

I am currently on a playing hiatus as 2018 has been a shite one for me too. My Dad passed away earlier in the year, I now have another household to basically look after re my elderly Mum, & more recently my wife has been very ill which will take another 6 months to recover from. I’ve had little inclination to play in a band & frankly have no time at the moment either. However, I still like owning the kit i’ve got although I have about half the value of your gear. I like the fact that when the opportunity at the right time presents itself, I am kitted up & ready to go. I like being part of the bass community too & reading about all things bass can be welcome distraction at times. Having £8k of gear sat around doing nothing i’d suggest is perhaps not the ideal thing. I’d say keep the best parts of any backline you have + keep your favourite basses - the ones you get some pleasure from just owning if you see what I mean. After taking a break & having a breather, you might find that your musical desire returns.

Agreed, but you missed my point. A used bass with some dings & dents etc has already depreciated by its max amount, hence fiscally makes more sense then a new relic or even a new standard obviously. Hence from a monetary perspective a bit of a nonsense to pay someone for some ‘damage’. And you’re right, it’s not just about the relic. It’s about marketing, & increasing the gross margin for those (insert your preferred word here) enough to pay for it....!

Erm, so why not just by a used whatever model, with some dings & bashes on already, at a much lower price than a new standard version of same model, rather than the inflated price of a new relic? Artificial relicing of a new bass makes no sense for a purchaser from a fiscal perspective. Very rarely works aesthetically either - most of the time it’s night & day difference between real aging & artificial relicing, no matter what the brand.

Cool - welcome back to being Nanyo-ed! Still very enamoured with mine.