LukeFRC

now the second highest item in the bass section of Ebay UK

search through the sold ones on here, talkbass and ebay - see what they go for... or list what you'ld like to excange for.... pay your dues and stick an advert up to see what happens...

still going? The bass is crap, both lutheir and buyer made mistakes. If you want a AC bass talk to molan and buy it via the shop he works in. go and play said bass, or just your bass. or we could add another 18 pages...

[quote name='ChickenKiev' timestamp='1376858941' post='2180127'] Jazz Bass all day long, and then some. My first love. Whenever I look for potential new basses I look through countless different models from countless different manufacturers, including Warwicks. Then what happens? I land right back on a Fender Jazz. The looks of the instrument, astonishing. I mean they probably have the nicest looking body shape of all basses. That neck too. Perfection. Even if it looked disgusting, it'd still be immense. I mean the sounds it can produce. It's the Swiss Army Knife of basses. That's why you can spot them in smokey jazz bars all the way up passed busted up, packed to the brim punk and metal venues and on to massive stadiums featuring sellout rock artists. Versatility. I personally think that Fender struck perfection on the second time round (sorry Precision enthusiasts). Your Streamer might sound gorgeous and has its own pros and cons, much like the instrument that my heart belongs too, but it'll never hold a candle to it. [/quote] you can't make a jazz thump like precision.... you can get a streamer's (SS1 4 string) neck pickup closer than a jazz will get....

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1376739535' post='2178531'] Use a guitar with the midi pickup and stick it in whatever octave you want Done. Thank me later. [/quote] [quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1376740028' post='2178535'] Edited for correction [/quote]

[quote name='funkypenguin' timestamp='1376829035' post='2179563'] Assuming you haven't sold your streamer (ran into this thread on the off chance), fit a John East U-Retro preamp. Had one fitted to my streamer and it sounds awesome in active or passive modes [/quote] I stuck an ACG preamp in mine - and likewise I can approach fender like territory now...... (only active mind, but with that preamp you don't mind) But.... for a fender sound you can't beat a good fender bass. Boutique what nots, fancy preamps sometimes what sounds best is a good passive fender. The good news is that you can get a very good bass for not a lot. Like go and buy a top of the range USA model if you want - I picked up my jazz in a trade, it has an awesome fender/squier japan neck and it sounds awesome- in terms of value in the trade I think it was under £200 - and it's good. Theres something in the construction, pickups, number of frets.... it just works. Mind you I can get the ACGed Streamer close enough if I want! But don't bass gear have a custom Thumb bass with your name on it at the moment?

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1376846708' post='2179881'] Ohhhh... now here's where I sound really dumb. What's valve power stage? [/quote] An amp (generally) has two stages in it - a pre amp stage which amps up the signal from the instrument - then the signal goes through eq and any other gubbins and into a power amp that amps it up to the 3000w or whatever that your speaker cabs need. The preamp stage is what the gain knob controls - how much signal goes into this - while the volume knob controls the power amp stage. Solid state power amps can sometimes have valves in the preamp (Eden being the first example in my head) but don't need to be plugged into a cab to work. A valve powerstage (old Ampeg SVT, Fender Bassman etc) needs the resistance of a cab plugged in otherwise things go pop. If your amp has a valve power stage look for some really big valves and a local chiropractor - otherwise you'll probably be fine.

if valve power stage - yes it needs to be plugged in If not, probably not.

Silver series would be 1992, 1982 would be Squier series. What's the serial?

never heard of the gold series. do you mean squier series?

Pingray wots collection, of sunburst fenders a wall of warwicks above the Aztec sofa, ... Whoever, I forget who, has that Daphne blue jap jazz bass with the white stripe, and Gareths red jv jazz

you can go straight if you want - will (probably) sound more open with less roll off of high freq. Also depends on the input impedance of your amp. I quite like the straight to jack sound.

can I get away with entering this and not telling my work... not a problem unless I won!

This thread seems to be going around and around without actually getting anywhere.... AC makes lots of very good basses, everyone likes them - he makes one dog, sells it, turns out customer service isn't a strong point. Every tom dick and harry chimes in with their opinion, some of which are interesting, some of which arn't. Twelve pages later the same things go around and around again. So... we learn every luthier in the world can have a bad day, and one man band luthiers may be crap at customer service. Beyond that... it just all become so negative.... [quote name='E sharp' timestamp='1376505687' post='2175185'] Was saving up for my dream Status and probably looking close to 3k . Although this thread is only about A.C. , it surely must make anyone think long and hard about a new build . Certainly made me think , and I'm not even questioning Rob's work . [/quote] don't be daft. Ask around - now for each maker you'll meet one or two who maybe get something with major or minor issues.... and hundreds of happy customers. I'm pretty sure you could spend £3000 on anything status, overwater, ACG, sei, shuker, or the other british builders and have no problem at all. (Also EU legislation protects you from defects better)

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1376462141' post='2174145'] Erm... [/quote] that's what I was thinking too

if you were going to try and age a bass you think you would realise that the wood isn't going to discolour that much... if it's on the inside of a neck pocket!

[quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1376433463' post='2174051'] I have never played a JC bass and would have found the opportunity of playing this lefty as a coup, as I'm a lefty and have been disappointed by custom builds in the past. I think the photos show serious finishing issues, both in woodworking and lacquer. I worked for a luthier for 4 years and I can say that no instrument ever left the shop in such an appalling condition as was shown in these picks. Finish sinking does happen, [b]but that fingerboard was a total abortion.[/b] What really is of interest, is that the post on Talkbass from JC, implied that the owner may have photoshopped the pictures. Also, how does playing with a pick cause fret buzz? [/quote] aberration ?

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1376421080' post='2173792'] ...but this is t'interweb, you're supposed to shout at your screen and lambast folks you know nowt about! [/quote] I do that. Then remember you sold me a nice bass warwick once and are a decent chap so I feel guilty about all my lambasting.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1376391914' post='2173143'] Unfortunately Jimmy is a complete one-man show - he selects the woods, carves them, hand-winds the pickups, puts all the electronics together, does all the sanding and finishing, sprays and lacquers etc. etc. about the only thing he brings in is hardware (and even some of that is custom built for him). He spends pretty much his entire life building instruments and is really not a PR guy at all. In all my experience with him he's been very open and honest. When there's an issue he's accepted it and sorted things without a single quibble. He's also sold some things with obvious flaws and, again in dealings with me, he's explained these very clearly in advance. He's a very, very passionate guy and wears his heart on his sleeve - what you see is what you get with him and I've never had a problem with this. His rebuttal on TB in the face of a lynch-mob is pretty strongly worded and may not be the most PR-friendly way to respond but I can imagine how he felt on discovering that there was a tirade of abuse being fired at him in such a public way and from a bunch of people who'd obviously decided to hang him out to dry. Personally if I had the sort of problems the buyer had I'd get on the phone to Jimmy immediately and, again from personal experience, I'm sure he would have sorted everything without any bother. I can't help like the guy. He absolutely loves what he does and he makes some amazing instruments and puts his all into his, really quite small, business. It seems a shame that so many people on TB seem to be happy to put all kinds of labels on him without actually knowing him or how he works [/quote] Have you ever worked in catering? Worked on a busy week, say christmas, with a chef? So they are passionate, and brilliant at their job and really really good- but in my experience stick one and a sous chef and a KP in a dark hot little room for a week, working fast under pressure and they will (90% of the time) turn into utter swear-words. I wonder about these one man shop builders, stuck there with an order list as long as their arm, buyer of custom instruments constantly pestering them and bothering them, and trying to have a life as well... and mess ups and mistakes and stress induced bad customer service is probably going to result. I can't help thinking that if you get to that stage you may be better trying to take staff on, or using a shop as a customer centre. Thing is though with custom basses- I've looked at the videos that warwick put up on their website where they show how they build their basses - all computer controlled high precision small batch production -how people expect a single luthier to have (or be able to have) that sort of precision I don't know. [quote name='molan' timestamp='1376396421' post='2173258'] Jens Ritter is one of the few guys that always builds something really special for each major show he's at. He guards them with his life though and makes sure they are incredibly well looked after. [/quote] mind you he can point people round the corner to play a chinese version of them..... (google for the video if you don't know what that's a reference too)

I was wondering what your take on this all would be Molan - as I know you've had a few AC... it's all a bit of a mess really - best bet would be Jimmy take it back - refund and then spend a few hours sorting it out and he can resell it again. Mind you suggesting that "the buyer knows how to take photos that will show the flaws" and this isn't on is a bit out....

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1376312864' post='2171951'] Whatever the 'entire' story is, I think anyone who has seen this, or the TB thread, will think twice about AC if ever we're in a position to buy something of this level of expenditure. Meanwhile, some where in New York, a luthier is rubbing his hands together [/quote] agreed - it suddenly loses a lot of the appeal of a brand with a rep of making $5k basses that.. .well are possibly worth $5k. Mind you UK lutheirs are pretty competitively priced at the moment. [quote name='CHRISDABASS' timestamp='1376321097' post='2172090'] This is awful! Really sad to see! I would be flying out to the shop to take it back and sort it out directly! I'm only on page 7 of the talkbass thread......i hope it gets resolved! [/quote] it doesn't, I skipped to the end.... As I was reading it did make me think of your workshop though and the difference in quality of the basses you make- that I would look/pickup at your stuff and just presumed that of course all custom builders make stuff of this quality..... turns out from that talkbass thread that they do not

[quote name='BobVbass' timestamp='1376116595' post='2169833'] I really like the look of them but ... Really? Hmmm so the speed of sound in hardwood is about 3900 metres/sec in Aluminium it's about 6500m/s so are they really telling me that I'd be able to spot the difference over the length of a bass or that it would have anything to do with the sound anyway? Can't they just say they look great and unusual and sound great as they have a decent pickup and preamp? Maybe I'm just grumpy with a Spanish holiday sangria hangover [/quote] some people will tell you they can tell the difference in sound of maple body vs a alder body and I would think that is a smaller difference in sound. Wether they can or not, or if it's just some phycoacousitc trick that people think they can hear the difference.... thats a disscussion for one of the many other threads we've had on the subject. (plus I would have thought it would be stiffness rather than speed of sound in the materials which would make the difference in this example)