One Drop

I can actually recall in an interview where he said he preferred the tone he got with a pick for most things, but fingerstyle looked so much more impressive live, being a reason he used it often then. Great stuff, love these threads!

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1419333415' post='2638793'] Originally the "Foam" Fender used was weatherstripping. There are loads of threads on it over on the Fender Forums and some EXTREMELY knowledgable people on there! [/quote] This. I buy new black tight weatherstipping and stick it to new replacement covers to get the identical effect. I think Fender is even selling it these days but it's just weatherstripping. I can't imagine replacing the foam would effect the value measureably.

Any decent P with a set of labella flats will get you as close as any bass will. He played various amps but mostly Ampeg, I find a little tube OD helps nail the tone perfectly for those old Stax songs. I don't put foam under the strings for that stuff, though I do to get a more Motwn than Stax vibe.

I'm not a fan of doublecuts and i only pay 4 stringers. I've tried a YY standard for fun and it was amazing to play, incredibly well built and designed intruments. Not really my cup of tea tiônally, though I understand the appeal. No one claims that when they get to those rices that they will be exponentially better soundiing or more playable than less expensive ones, you are paying for the time spent, construction methds, and the added costs associated with lots of customization. Of course the name means they can chsrge decently for their work, unlike a lot of less well known or appreciated companies who might be making smaller margins. Good for them if they can get what they ask for.

I picked up a '66 Starfire a few months ago, put some TI falts on it and it really sings. It's a very even sounding bass with a distinctive bottom end and really fun to play, very dynamic and expressive. I also have a harmony H-22 that has a very unique sound, much more cheaply built than the Guild, and lighter and smaller. I love them both but haven't played either ut yet.

I love tort and I really like it on some colours, a red trot on LPB can look great in a weird clashy sort of way. But to my eyes Firemist and Shoreline Gold just look lousy with a tort guard, the tort doesn't jump out and the gold looks muted when they are together. I have a '61 P refinned in Firemist Gold and the earl orangy tort just looks dull next to the gold. I'd love to put a parchment gueard on but I'm too afraid to remove the old nitro guard for fear of it shrinking. Colours are so subjective, I doubt anything but looking at pictures will help you decide.

Just wanted to say that Entwistles tone on in that clip, especially so clear on Sad About Us, gives me a slab woody. I can't imagine what a sensation hearing them live would have been like then, no one had ever sounded remotely like them. That bass tone must have been a shocker. I always put fresh Rotos on my P before a gig, and get a similar tone with quite low action through a Tech 21 Leeds pedal and my SVT. It's a powerful sound.

The quality of Jim's designs and the reputation that he has earned is reflected in the high quality of his competitors that are attracted to threads about his cabs. Maybe I'm going to far but it seems that way to me.

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1367313151' post='2063936'] Looks like a Deltalight and a cheap bullet in a thinwall cab. I must be missing something here as I don't see anything to get excited about. [/quote] Speakers are tweaked to his spec, excellent crossover, good tweeter, his ears. I guess the devil is in the details but hs cabs do sound marvelous no matter what they look like on paper.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1360007565' post='1963524'] Meh. Two years after the neo price crunch Jim Bergantino wakes up, realizes that the sky hasn't fallen after all, and resumes using neo drivers. It's not a bad thing, but hardly a stop the presses moment. [/quote] Maybe he wasn't making any margins with the price of the neo speakers, and was waiting to see if the prices stabilized before deciding to continue. In any case he developed the ceramic HD212 which is an astoundingly good cab, and if the CN212 are anywhere near these tonally with such a big savings in weight then he has done something great again. Any new cab from Jim is a stop-the-presses moment, for those that have heard them and like what he does. I'll take my NV cabs with my SVT over any cab out there, including the fEARful style ones and other PA style cabs I've heard. If I needed a more portable solution to what I use now I'd audition these in a heartbeat.

They deleted most of the thread on they started on TB where we asked questions and challenged some of their claims. Then they started a new one in the commercial section, and haven't answered when I asked how you control the mids on their tone stack, it's not very clear. Radio silence. Even if it was the best sounding tube amp in the world you'd have to be nuts to gig it. It looks like it was designed to be put in a penthouse apartment to brag about or at a stretch in a studio rather than real life use by a gigging bassist. Fender Super Bassman or 100T, Ampeg SVT, Morgan, new Mesa Prodigy and Strategy, Reeves, Matamp, etc, so many current great all tube designs with various features and specs, not to mention all the great vintage designs around, you'd be nuts to take a punt on an uncommunicative and amateurish company that doesn't seem to have any USP or particular leg up on the competition, IMO. I'm all for new companies trying to make it but these guys have to be aware it's not 1970 and you can't just make claims without backing them up anymore.

There are a lot of solutions for emulating the sound of various tube amps (or various sounds from a specific tube amp) but i've never played a SS amp or a pedal that had the feel of playing through an all tube amp. That bounce or whatever you want to call it is real and some players love it and some don't like it at all. Personally i love the feel of a good tube amp, it's a big part of why I haul my SVT around, and I really don't care if anyone in the world notices but myself. RE: The Walkabout, it's a gorgeously tuby sounding amp, has all the good things I like about the tone of an all tube amp, more so than any other SS one i've tried. The feel isn't there, though. I've never owned one becuse I'm a little afraid of the lack of power, but I guess i won't know until i try one on a few gigs.

If buying from the US a good one in very good shape can be had for around £6.5k, though dealer advertized prices tend to be higher. There was an insanely beautiful S/B one at Bass Emporium for a while at $10k, and Dan at Chelsea Guitars in NYC has a fabulous looking one he will sell for the same price. He makes extraordinary claims for it but I've played a few basses he's had in his shop over the years and he knows what's what, and only buys great instruments. I passed up an all original black '66 J with ovals, dots and bindings that he would have let go for $5000 a few years ago, and it was probably the best playing vintage J I had ever picked up, just seemed to play itself. He gets a lot of pros through his shop daily and a lot of very fine instruments go through that tiny shop, and he's been working that way for decades.

[quote name='bassintheface' timestamp='1363700041' post='2016035'] I'll take the pickups out tonight and have a look. Yeah, were both a bit microphonic. As in Wizard Pickups in Wales? Interesting............. [/quote] Yes, his rewinds sound as good as any I've heard. I would definitely determine if they are indeed microphonic before doing any work. If the bass is pristine it might be beter selling it for collector's value and finding another you like as is, it's a tough call. If the bass has been heavily played a PUP rewind won't change the overall value as much.

Pickups shouldn't sound weak, is one or are both possibly microphonic? I've come across a lot from that era that have been or need rewinding. My '73 had a slightly microphonic neck PUP, I noticed a break in the wire had been 'repaired' with a dab of solder. I sent it to Wizard to be rewound and it is one of the best sounding Js I'ver ever played now.

I saved up for a summer for my first decent bass, a 79 Autumnglo 4001. Turned out to be more of a fender guy but i still have the Ric, it's mint and sounds and plays unreal. Just not my sound, and being accustomed to Fenders the ergonmics are not quite there. Never had the slightest problem with the neck, either, which is exptrememly thin front to back and has not budged in over 30 years, even with huge variations in humidity, and Roto rounds on her. They built this one very well, no doubt and the woods must have been top notch. They are kind of love them or hate them instruments, I can see why they are so polarizing. There are also some great copies out there but they are not Rickenbackers when all is said and done, and the ones that sound most like the real thing have become quite expensive anyways. Sometimes there ain't nothing like the real thing, baby!

Looks like a '74 or very late '73 to me, from the mix of transitional parts. can't see if it has the long G string saddle screw from those pics, typical to '73 and usually gone from later instruemnts IIRC. Nice bass!

To stay on topic, don't keep your coffee in the freezer, it doesn't help with keeping it fresh and will just add unwanted moisture and maybe odours from other foods. To gain any advantage your freezer would have to be much colder than the -18°C most home freezers can go down to. An perfectly airtight container is the most important element in keeping beans or ground coffee fresh.

STAY AWAY from this maniac. How he stays in business is a mystery, he gives crooked junk dealers a bad name.

That's actually average. I like them around 9lbs, lighter is hard to find but possible.

I just find that a lot of the criticism of the QC and the fit and finish of new Fenders is unwarranted, based on all the ones I regularly try out in shops. I know Fenders intimately and can usually tell if one is not sounding or playing great due to setup issues. It doesn't make me an apologist or a die-hard anything, just someone with a judgement based on my own experiences. I've played plenty of Laklands, and a few Skylines have been real nice, but nothing radically better than off the shelf USA Fenders. They don't even make strict copies anymore, with their new PUPs, so they are out of the running if you are looking for a vintage Fender sounding instrument. Objectively the American Standards are consistently lighter than the Lakland Skylines these days, and I don't see where the Laklands are superior in any consistent way when it comes to production tolerances, woods used, quality of hardware, fretwork, etc. I've never tried a USA Lakland but they are in an entirely different price bracket and should not be compared directly. Look at this thread- it was started about a photo on their website, not even someone's experience with a real bass.

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1358113905' post='1933455'] Wrong. Any neck heel expansion (extremely minimal in only the most extreme of circumstances) would simply result in a very tight neck pocket...which is what any manufacturer aspires to on a bolt on neck design. I cannot believe that so many players here are arguing that a gap is no big deal - the reality is that it compromises, to some degree, the integrity of the whole design. Also another flaw in your argument is that by the very nature of seasoned timber, especially Maple, it will in fact SHRINK with age and not swell. Could the Fenders be leaving the factory with tight neck joints and improperly seasoned necks...that shrink leaving a gap in the pocket????? I would argue that this is in fact where the problem lies. With bolt ons Its all about stability. I have removed necks from many makes of bolt on neck basses and some are so tight that they could probably be plugged in and played without the screws holding the neck in place (Lakland for one). [/quote] That's why you see some of them with chipped paint around the neck pocket. Having a pocket that is tight along the sides of the neck offers zero sonic advantage to a Fender design bass. It's a very recent aesthetic point that has become synonymous with 'quality' due to the rise of boutique builders who make a point of reducing the gap. I know Fender never specced tight neck gaps until recently, it was not consodered desirable or important. I had a CS J that had a tight pocket and the nitro flaked the first time I removed it. Barely visible but a pain in the butt anyway. For good coupling the screws probably matter more than the amount of wood that is touching, anyway. I've been impressed with Fender QC the last few years, and the overall quality of their bass lines from Squier on up. They are a magnet for rabid bitching of every imaginable kind, though. Is it their continuing popularity that pisses folk off so badly?