LukeFRC

I sent a bass to barcelona insured up to £1200 or so for £50 last year- interparcel are your friends.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1336668304' post='1649264'] <p> LukeFRC's post. [/quote]??

[quote name='AndyBob09' timestamp='1336665695' post='1649202'] Music is a language. As musicians, we need instruments to speak the language just as in spoken and written language, we need voices and writing devices such as pens, pencils, typewriters, keyboards to convey thoughts and opinion. In our case here, our bass guitars are these devices which help us speak and give us a voice in the language of music. In my bass bag, I carry a pencil. The pencil cost me £8. I use this to mark parts etc and make sure I never lose it and am extremely careful who I lend it to on rehearsals. I'd be devastated at losing my £8 pencil. Why am I telling you of my £8 pencil? Because over the years, I've lost a TON of pencils at rehearsals etc and didn't think twice about these cheap pencils that I'd lose - It was more the inconvenience of turning up to rehearsals with no pencil because I didn't look after the cheap ones. So, after 18 months, I still have my £8 pencil. Now, back to bass guitars. I think we all have a bass guitar that we've saved for for a while and love to bits and though we buy new ones, trade and sell them, they're all very important things in our lives - So why not look after them? Dents/dings are inevitable, yes but we should all respect them. Yeah, we all play pub gigs and gigs where our basses may get a bit more tattered than on other gigs, but is this really going to dictate how bashed we let our instruments get or dictate to us that we need an inferior bass to play on these gigs? It wouldn't for me. So from this, I'd say, rethink your rehearsal pencil. [/quote] flip, I'm an artist/designer by trade and I'm struggling to think of an £8 pencil. I had a wonderful jazz last year- a real joy of an instrument but it had been kept so well I was slightly scared to play it- i just had got it and it wasn't 'my bass' yet that I wouldn't have minded damage. Ultimately I moved it on. My old P bass used to get slung in the bottom of the megabus with just a gig bag! but it was built like a rock. My wick has been well played by the previous owner- and I love that- I love not needing to worry about it- of course I look after it and treat it with care but don't get anal. The JV is an odd one really- fantastic bass in good condition, like really good. And since I've got it they seem to have become more valuable, a lot of the time now I feel slightly nervous about taking it out- it's not going to go in the gig bag on the back of my push bike anymore! It's a shame as I would rather feel I can play it more- maybe that will change when I get a car or possibly it will get to the point where I will trade it for something I feel less precious about.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1336659552' post='1649070'] Which is why you should never buy a Fender (or any other mass-produced bass) without trying it first. And send it back. [/quote] see a year or so ago I would buy all sorts off here or the net without trying it first. I've not found a bad one yet but I'm not sure I would do it anymore. Maybe I'm just getting more picky?

distance selling regs mean you can send it back- you may find it harder to claim 'defective' as I'm sure fender have fairly wide tolerances but for £25 or whatever for recorded insured delivery I would send it back. I do also think that maybe you should think about what level of quality you expect- what you have is what I would expect for fender USA so it doesn't surprise me.

[quote name='jonnybass' timestamp='1336653248' post='1648931'] I can recall trying a natural shark with a single pickup passive tone and tortoiseshell pickguard back in the 90's in Soundcontrol in St Mary's St in Edinburgh. The neck was fantastic to play played a few wooden necked status basses since and they all feel nice and fast, but the sound was almost p-bass but If i recall it lacked a bit of oomph. might give you a new sound with flats/rounds (whatever you dont have on your p bass). jonnybass [/quote] Yeah, that was pretty much the sound of my old shark too. fantastic to play- lacked a bit of oommf I think i'll let it pass and go with a preamp on my Warwick- if I bought it I would probably just end up modding it somehow (mm pup?) and mmeh not the time or money at the mo If anyone else wants it give me a shout and I can pass on details....

[quote name='matski' timestamp='1336643027' post='1648734'] Something strange going on with this bass if you ask me... What's with the string spacing at the nut? That knob situation looks a bit iffy too. [/quote] well thats just a google search of a similar bass. The one I'm looking at is 4 string and kosher

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1336631695' post='1648526'] I know I'm biased, but I don't think you can go wrong with any Status bass. The wooden necked Status basses from the 90s are such good value as they are not in as much demand as graphite necks. Haven't played a Shark but I do have a wooden necked Electro and that is just exquisite. [/quote] yeah I love the necks. Dialemma i have is would i play it enough to justify having? I have a P bass and this is the same placement. hmmm

Warwick Streamer Stage One (1991) - lovely early one. I sold my first ever bass to buy a warwick of warwickhunt at a silly low price they were going for at the time. I half loved it and couldn't stand the tone. Eventually that went and I picked up my current one. A gumtree find, at a great price- another BCer got first dibs and gone round but it was too grubby for him- and the seller tried to add money onto the price. I had emailed and because I lived 500m or so I got second dibs. Yeah. It has been played and is just so smooth and well fitting. It weighs nothing (under 8lb if I remember) and just sounds so nice acoustically. Again plugged in the sound took some getting used to and for years there was almost a annual attempt to trade it for a passive jazz. Lucky no one took me up on the offer... and after a while a new amp opened up the tone a bit... and it became my number one bass- just so good to play. Last christmas a set of barts and a glock preamp came through the door. Well the barts were stunning but the glock soon got moved on. It's actually sat naked with not controls for the last month or so. Tempted to stick a ACG preamp in there- bank balance may say stick the the original one but with the new blend pot I need. hmmm Fender Squier JV P bass, first edition- what a bass. SD-01 p bas pickup. Feels perfect, sounds amazing so resonant. Sounds just like the P basses you hear on records. Dig in a a really growly sound emerges. Last year or so the wick has had moor play time but last week the P got played. I feel so lucky to have this bass.

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1336607047' post='1648486'] no opinions, but that sunburst one is lush [/quote] my first bass, warm tone. got superseded by a P bass as needed more punch in the band I was in. - tried finding out where it went, passed around basschat for a while then 5 owners later traded part exchange into a shop and they think it went overseas. Top top top quality bass, great neck. Oh well, sold it for a warwick streamer. The other one I've kinda been offered is natural with a tort scratch plate like this.... it's cheap for what it is.... but a good buy for me?? (ps if anyone else is interested PM me)

[quote name='Max Normal' timestamp='1336519200' post='1647070'] I thought that JV, SQ and E (plus A,B,C) were from the same production run and certainly look identical to me when I look at the dimensions, headstock logos and hardware. i thought that E-series are just more common and the last of the production run, and therefore worth slightly less. Maybe you are right though and they are worth the same as other MIJ basses I don't know. Any other Jap afficionados can help me? [/quote] there were several different production runs of JV alone! a few different runs for JV squier for export, then JV squier for japan, then JV fender logo for japan.... all of differing qualities and price points. For instance a Fender JV serialed P bass for the japanese market will be different than a Squier JV for the export market. So your E series looks from a distance like my one. But isn't that similar and if you are into 'collectorbillity' or whatever isn't in the same league. Like Musky says I would question the source of some of your information... Right that all sounds a bit negative- lets have some positive. You have a great wee P bass, fender japan necks are second to none- I'm willing to bet the feel on the neck would better almost anything you can find saying fender made in mexico or the USA, it's probably reasonably lightweight and I guess sounds brilliant. In conclusion a cracking early production japanese fender and not to be sniffed at.

My first bass was a status Shark. It looked like this: lovely for a first bass. And a while back I started asking around to see if anyone had one. And someone I was talking too (not on bas chat) got back to me, and has one of the earlier ones, single chrome pickup in what looks like the P position (?) and active circuit. Well, I had thought to spend my money elsewhere on a ACG preamp for the Warwick, but he's offered what seems a good price on it (i.e. less than the ACG preamp) I wondered if any one had opinions on this model of Shark bass model? I'm torn Look like this:

[quote name='GregBass' timestamp='1336472898' post='1645992'] Luke - the bass in question is passive. I am playing with the EQ to see if I can even out the response, but as the band hasn't rehearsed for a while I haven't had a chance to see how it sounds at playing volume. I practise on headphones, which sounds completely different of course! [/quote] passive as in passive pups and no preamp? hmm, if their is a preamp in there pull the volume to turn it off and see how that effects it. Other than that I would check the string heights. Also check the break angles at both the headstock and bridge end. The bridge is cool that you can effect height an break angle semi- independently. Oh and when you do all this set the EQ flat on your amp... if you're just using headphones it could be something to do with how they process bass frequencies.... [quote name='Emanew' timestamp='1336578834' post='1647863'] According to my experience, changing pickups or preamp are not the main way to change your sound. The point is : what is your pickup position on your bass ? it is fundamental. Closer to the bridge or neck ? A Precision can not sound like a Jazz Bass whatever the electronic. Secondly, Warwick basses have this particular tone. It is obvious with D and G strings. You do the right thing by getting upper your PU on D and G str. What wood is used for your warwick body and neck ? The strings gauge can also change the sound better than preamp. Conclusion Your Bass has its personnality (due to PU position and Wood) and no Preamp will definitly change it. You have simpler ways. Good groove [/quote] yes and no. Wood does have a effect, and pickup position a bigger one- but the pickups in my experience have a massive difference- my warwick with barts is utterly different than with active MEC's- [i] If I [/i]could be bothered I could try seymore duncan, fender, nordies whatever and they all would change the sound- some more than others. Preamp is less vital depending on what you have BUT the EQ point on the MEC preamps are reasonably unique compared to others and give a certain colour to the tone- which is designed to be part of the warwick sound.

[quote name='Delberthot' timestamp='1336534557' post='1647103'] Luthman-wow. That's not a name I've come across before but the basses look really good without being coffee tables [/quote] similar to them there's eve in east lothian. no idea if they are any good just seen some hung up in red dog music