grayn

Lovely bass there. I love my Fiesta Red Vintera Mustang. Great to learn on and will be good enough for gigs too.

Cheers, that's good to hear,

I've been using my trusty bass rig for years. A Gallien Krueger Backline 600 head, through a 4 ohm, MarkBass 2x10 traveller cab. Always got a very reliable sound. A few months ago I bought a new practice/back up combo, a Fender Rumble 500. Then I got the urge to have a slightly bigger rig and got an 8 ohm MarkBass 2x10, to run with the Fender Rumble combo. It sounded OK but kind of lacked focus/punch. I thought about replacing the Rumble with a MarkBass combo, so I tried the Mini CMD121P & CMD151P combos, with the additional 2x10 cab. I didn't like the sound at all and came to the conclusion that I'm not keen on Markbass combos, although I love their cabs. So I decided to stick with what I know, and got myself a Gallien Krueger MB500 amp head. At the same time I swapped my 4 ohm Traveller cab for another 8 ohm one. So now I have 2, 2x10 cabs with my new amp and kept the old Backline 600 as back up. Oh, and I sold the Rumble. The new GK head is a real belter and is around a 3rd the weight of the old Backline head. They share most of the same inputs and outputs and equalisation controls. Where the old Backline has an overdrive channel, which I never used, the MB500 has a foot switchable boost facility, which to me is far more useful. The MB500's front panel has the usual Gain, Master, Boost, 4-band EQ and Contour controls. And the conventional passive/active dampener and mute switches, are also present. The rear panel also follows the tried and tested conventions of dual speaker outputs, return & send for effects, footswitch input and tuner output, direct out with pre/post EQ and a ground lift switch. When I tested the amp, I used it with everything turned to 12 o'clock and immediately liked the clear, punchy tone that is natural to this amp. The 4 EQ controls worked well and gave me some superb and massive sounds. The MB500 is far louder than the old Backline head and sounds really good through 1 or 2, 2x10 cabs. Very pleased with my new set up. It's light, simple to operate and sounds just how I like.

That looks really nice and in remarkable condition. Congrats.

Cute Mustang, congrats.

Looks a real monster. Congrats😎

If you want the more traditional Mustang sound, the Vintera should be fine. The bag has a little padding, it's not just material but it's all very minimal. If you want to take it to band practice or gigs, you might want to invest in a reasonable quality bag. The Markbass gigbag isn't specifically for short scale but is very stiff and holds the bass very snugly, so I am more than happy with it. And it matches my cab.☺️

No. The Vintera, American Performer and JMJ have through the body stringing and the PJ has through the bridge stringing.

Tonally the difference is pretty much as you'd expect. Th A.P. has a lot more variety and blending the 2 pickups is producing some lovely results. I usually leave the tone on passive basses full on but just taking the edge off, with minimal tone reduction, again produces some very useable tones. The Vintera has a more traditional Mustang tone, which is again, as you'd expect, like a short scale Precision. Not quite as much thump as a P but nice and round, with a good middle presence. The bag with the A.P. is no better than the Vintera, IMO. Fortunately the shop gave me a great MarkBass gigbag, gratis. And I already had a decent gigbag at home for the Vintera. I would have gone for the JMJ over the Vintera but I hate relicing and TBH I'm very chuffed with the Vintera, although the A.P. is a definite step up in quality. I slightly prefer the A.P's Yosemite Split Single-Coil, over the Vintera's Vintage-Style '60s Split Single-Coil but that's my taste. They both sound great to my ears.

On the string length subject, both of these basses come with short scale strings as stock and I've just put some short scale flatwounds on the Vintera and they fit perfectly.

Sweet looking bass, congrats.

The Vintera has through body stringing, as well.

Got a brother for my Mustang today. A Vintera, that I'm going to string with flatwounds, for some sixties thump and click.

Congrats on a lovely bass. Sunburst and tort, really classic.😎

Totally agree, you only have to look at Bass Direct's website, under short scale, to see just some of the multitude of interesting short scales around these days. For those used to the long scale, the short scale may seemed cramped but within a very short time, you see and feel the benefits. I'm loving the ease of play and slightly lesser string tension. It really lets you get expressive.

I've been wanting to go short scale for a while but up until now, every time I've gone out to look at getting one, I've come home with another long scale. I've dabbled in the past, with a couple of cheap violin basses and a couple of Mustangs , one US, one Jap. Anyway, I did all my research and lusted after all sorts of obscure makes and models but all these basses were very long distances away and I do like to try an instrument before I buy, where possible. So I decided to try out one more Mustang. An American Perfomer series from Fender, in a lovely aubergine. This one had an added Jazz Bass pickup, by the bridge. The only other shorties in the shop, were an Italia Torino bass in blue, which looked nice but wasn't much fun too play and had rather dire pickups in my view and a Hofner Ignition Violin bass. The cheapest in Hofner's range, it was actually not that bad, although it was crying out for some flatwound strings. But the baby bass that I went to see was all I hoped for. Quite a looker, although I think Fender could reduce the size of the headstock a tad. Very playable, with a nice neck and good overall balance and feel. And those PJ pickups really, work together well, with a lot of super useable tones. It didn't sound like a compromise to my ears, it just sounded like a really cool Fender bass, that really benefits from the added Jazz pickup. And the finishing is really of a good standard. The metallic augergine paint job is super handsome. My only 2, minor gripes are the sad little gig bag you get with it. Fortunately the shop threw in a very nice MarkBass gigbag, which was a vast improvement. And for some reason, Fender put a protective plastic sheet over the bridge plate, held down by the bridge saddle mechanisms. That's just bloody annoying, as it's a hassle to remove and it buzzes against the strings until you do. Had a couple of good sessions at home with it now and I'm loving how easy and comfy it is to play and the strong tones it produces.

Looks like a great fix for giving room for the string binding not to rest of the bridge saddles. Nice one😎

I agree with what you said about head and heart. It makes sense to buy the Japanese, preowned but that 2600 is a real beauty and IMO Nordstrand Big Singles are probably the best bass pickups I have had/heard. Either way, you're onto a winner.

You've got a lovely pair😎

Italia Torino

Very cool, congrats. Great bass.😎

Congrats on a very nice looking and well made bass. I owned an Odyssey, over 25 years ago. All I can remember was it had Bartolini pickups, a brass nut and had a great build quality. Also it had a bridge with a tailpiece, which meant I had to find extra long length strings. I didn't even have the internet then and had to send a picture of it to that large, free music paper, you got in music shops and they IDed it for me. Thanks for the memory.😎

Love that video. Great pantomime and probably my fave Xmas song, with Greg Lake's. Oh yeah, ridiculous pickup positioning but fun.

Good idea to keep the family on board. The pink word is spreading🐷.