Green Alsatian

I would have said starting in the job I'm in, 17 years ago, but then I wouldn't have suggested my brother try for a position, he wouldn't have met his wife, who was a friend of one of our workmates and my three-this-year nephew wouldn't be asleep in the next room right now. Gearwise - I've sold a lot of very good instruments for things that were more important at the time, or to help my folks out. The worst of it, is that buying replacements is a no-go since they're now too expensive (particularly the analogue synths I owned!). Oh well - plenty of other stuff to try out. I'm going to try to curtail regrets to a 12 hour period and as such, the 'no naked flames' situation I'm in at the moment is making me rue the microwave kebab I had at dinner. It did taste nice though.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1369747873' post='2092242'] [/quote] I bet there's an interesting story as to how that got stuck up there, sir. Hope it doesn't hurt when they pull it out!

The heel of the neck of a genuine one is flush with the back of the body for the through-neck. The heel of this one isn't and is clearly a bolt-on, rather than a later repair. Also, the neck pickup position is to far away from the end of the neck for a '69 - someone switch on the Hall-signal! Maybe they misheard 'Lenny' as 'Lemmy'.

I've seen this a few times and I swear it gets better each time!

I wouldn't take it too much to heart - I've been on a couple of forums that ran a monthly (or at least semi-regular) music competition and it was always a tiny number of members that would actually listen and vote, which is a pity. On one of the forums, we went from 10 regular entrants for a covers competition (the winner chose the next one) down to myself and one or two other bods who'd submit a tune, so it stopped, sadly. Towards the end (and a bit late, admittedly), we put a sticky in the top of each sub-forum to try to increase awareness of it - perhaps that might help here for the next competition with Skol's choice of pics. Speaking for myself, I seldom visit the recording forum and wouldn't have known about this competition except for the recent thread in General Discussion. (hence my late vote for Bilbo). The competition is now duly noted.

Mine arrived today, having had my interest piqued by this thread and they're well worth a pop at £50. (or less, as per Mr. Foxen's haggling!) It's very pink - not neon pink, as you'd get on many an 80's 'guaranteed for metal superstrat', but pinker than I am after moderate exercise. The finish is a bit blotchy in places, where the paint hasn't mixed properly and the red shows a bit more, but what does one expect for five tenners? Width at nut is 40mm and is a C-shape around the back. I haven't noticed any sharp fret ends on this one - tuners aren't the worst I've used and they keep it in tune. Bridge is the expected BBOT and does what it does. Strings are the expected cheapies, so I have a set of Fender flats en-route. Plugging it in - it sounds like a P-bass, so no surprises. The pickups have enough output, but they are buzzy at higher volumes when near other electronics like a PC etc - shielding the cavity will probably sort that out and I have some copper tape left. Rolling off the tone control actually drops a fair bit of treble (and silencing the buzz), so it's not an ornament like you get on some other cheapies. It's not as nice feeling as the Vintage Modified Squiers or the newer Vintage V4s, but you're talking a fraction of the price. It's miles better than the Kay Precision I started on, so it'd be a pleasant instrument for the beginner, or like me, something to plonk about on or take to gigs where one doesn't want to take their 'Sunday Best'. I'm going to play this at our gig next month, if it's still on. I know - useless without pictures, so have an unsatisfactory shot of it and a blurry one showing a bit of the redness in the paint:

A tidy result that - nice one! I wondered myself if the pickups were the same as the ones in the TRB at the time. I think they came out in the late 90s - I remember adverts for them in Bassist circa 1998 and seeing one in the flesh for the first time around then.

Boss!

I paid £140 for the one I had - well worth it.

I picked up a translucent blue 765A cheap about 5 years ago and the only other RBX I could compare it to is the newer 35" scale RBX775 that I owned a couple of years before that. I felt that the 765 was by far the better of the two as the 2-band EQ allowed for more tone shaping over the simple bass boost switch on the 775. The 765A felt better quality, even though the gold hardware had started to tarnish a little and the low B was decent, given that it's a 34" scale. I don't remember it being floppy. The EQ made enough of a difference when adjusting to taste. The neck pickup had a nice presence and the bridge pickup wasn't too nasal, so you could cover a wide range of styles. If it's cheap enough, I'd definitely give it a go - you'll easily make your money back if you don't like it.

I did a cover (well two variants) of this four years ago and the original, as Gunsfreddy has said is Eb. The bubble bit's just octave jumping Eb-Oct-Eb-Oct on a synth - I used a Roland Jupiter 6 and a Yamaha DX7 on this one: [url="https://soundcloud.com/eight-spiders/nobody-electronic"]https://soundcloud.com/eight-spiders/nobody-electronic[/url] I cocked up a bit on the timing as I played each bit 'live' and multitracked, so I recorded it with guitar, organ, electric piano and my home-made p-bass and transposed it to standard E: [url="https://soundcloud.com/eight-spiders/nobody"]https://soundcloud.com/eight-spiders/nobody[/url]

These basses not counterfeit goods. If they had a 'Rickenbacker' truss rod cover, then yes they would be, but they don't and are clearly branded for what they are - copies. No laws are being broken outside the US in the sale or trade of these items, same with copies of any other brand. If I were John Hall, I'd be vesting my efforts in improving the quality and image of my brand, rather than swatting flies which will not affect him financially. That said, I think the reason they aren't selling is simply due to them being expensive luxury item (around £1700) in this financial climate. I don't think for one minute that copies or feelings towards the company are the reason they aren't selling over here. I owned and enjoyed a 4001 for ten years and I would like another - love the look and feel of them and the sound is unique. It's the price of one that puts me off these days, but I know a copy wouldn't satisfy me having owned the genuine article. You only have to look at the number of folk who buy a P-bass copy, realise the love it and then lust after the 'real deal' American series. John could use this to his advantage. As a side note, I think the nail in the coffin for any copies would be if Rickenbacker licenced Cort (or similar) to make a version of the bass with a reduced spec as the likes of MusicMan, G&L and Lakland have done with their 'Sterling' and 'Tribute' and 'Skyline' series. Built to a price point, but still a quality instrument, albeit not as refined as the US-made instruments.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1369227684' post='2086565'] Check that pic of him on stage, where you can se the tail end of his bass. You can see the binding goes a bit under the bridge, rather than stopping right at the edge of the bridge. That's the tell of a copy. [/quote] Not a reliable tell - late 70s 4001s had the binding going a bit under the bridge. My 1982 4001 did too. Here are some pics of a 1979 model: [url="http://bassgarage.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/1979-burgundy-rickenbacker-4001.html"]http://bassgarage.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/1979-burgundy-rickenbacker-4001.html[/url] A modified 1977 model: [url="http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/2950852/p3_uiobuszti_so.jpg"]http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/2950852/p3_uiobuszti_so.jpg[/url] Probably why the copies of the late 70s did this too.

If I were the owner of Basschat, I would ban all discussion of Rickenbacker products and inform John Hall of this decision. Or have Basschat sponsored by Music Store Professional and tell John Hall to suck it.

Aye, Dolphin are online-only now. Dawsons had a Fireglo until fairly recently - I believe a fellow BC'er bought it.

I don't know of many sub-£500 active double MM basses. I know of three similar option with twin MM pickups: Rockbass Double Buck - not active, but has series/parallel switching via push/pull pots. [url="http://www.warwickbass.com/en/Warwick--Instruments--Made-in-China--Rockbass--Corvette--Corvette-$$--5-string--Features.html"]http://www.warwickbass.com/en/Warwick--Instruments--Made-in-China--Rockbass--Corvette--Corvette-$$--5-string--Features.html[/url] Retrovibe RV5B - difficult to get hold of now also not active or without the series/parallel. If you got one second hand, you could spend the change from your £500 installing a pre-amp. [url="http://www.probass.co.uk/RV5B.html"]http://www.probass.co.uk/RV5B.html[/url] Fernandes Tremor 5X - I don't know if these are still in production but they were around £300, so you could spend the change from your £500 on installing a pre-amp. This demo sounded pretty nice: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZT58JU4YQE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZT58JU4YQE[/url]

Even though the old Dawsons was within spitting distance of St. John's car park, it felt a hell of a lot further when I was carrying a Roland RD-300SX back to it!

What a handsome basstard! I do like that colour combination a lot.

Thanks. That's quite true, and I certainly don't hold it against them, more a mental note that the tone of the emails I received were from someone who [i]appeared[/i] to be not that bothered and that my asking was a chore for them. My experience with other similar companies has been more positive. Specifically, in the first reply I received, I was informed that they didn't stock parts but they were obtained by special order, with no mention of contacting a dealer to do this, which insinuated that they could order one. When I requested a neck be ordered, I received a blunt reply that they couldn't do that and I should seek out a retailer (I mentioned my location in my first email, for shipping estimates). It didn't annoy me, just something that I didn't expect, given that I work in service provision myself.

[quote name='dazza14' timestamp='1368186976' post='2074195'] They are! I had a vintage white Pbass copy with maple neck, it was a lovely bass but the neck was like a banana and the truss rod was inneffective, i tried looking for a replacement neck but couldn't get one so i sold it on to a bassist in a Clash tribute band, i think it's probably in pieces in a Biffa bin somewhere, great bass though. [/quote] I had a problem with a twisted neck in a Vintage fretless Jazz I bought for spares/repair and got in touch with JHS to query a new neck. They were pretty unhelpful to be honest, just told me that I'd have to go through a dealer (didn't tell me where) and it probably would cost £60. They told me I could probably get a luthier to sort it for 'about £40', which I doubted. However, I got in touch with Effect Power Supplies as they stock Vintage instruments asked if they could order one for me and they did - £59 and six weeks later (they had to wait for one to arrive from China) and I had my new neck. If anyone needs a replacement neck for a Vintage-branded instrument, I'd definitely recommend getting in touch with them. Very helpful! [url="http://www.effectpowersupplies.com/"]http://www.effectpowersupplies.com/[/url] I have a lot of time for Vintage instruments and £75 for the 'Jaco' is a super-bargain! I added a set of Wilkinson Alnico Jazz pickups to mine and it improved it even further!

The simplest answer to this is not knowing how a certain sound/tone was created and the unknown, coupled with curiosity is quite often irresistible. In addition to the gear, I'm also interested in what production techniques resulted in what I'm listening to. It doesn't necessarily have to be a sound I like, but if it's caught my interest, that's it! I used to do this with synths when I had a number of analogue synths. My favourite was the Minimoog, and in addition to creating my own sounds, diligently jotting the settings down in pencil in a pad, I'd try to recreate the sounds that I'd hear in various records. You didn't have any memories to download the patch, you operated the controls and shaped the sound until you thought you had it. I had a copy of the Steve Porcaro 'Star Licks' video, and although it doesn't pertain to teach one how to play like Steve, he shows you tips to recreate some of the sounds he'd used with Toto.

I had the Epiphone Thunderbird Pro-V Active and didn't like the sound as it didn't sound particularly Thunderbird-like (in comparison to the newer passive Classic IV) - just a generic twin soapbar active bass. If you like heavy basses and don't like neck dive, it might not be very comfortable for you. Epiphone have since moved the strap button from the top of the body to the back of the body where the neck meets the body. The first one I had (an early model) had the 'pickup problem' in which Epiphone put 4-string pickups in them, which meant that the low B and to a lesser extent - the G were very weak-sounding. The replacement I received sounded better, but the active electronics were rather noisy and there just wasn't anything 'special' about its sound. Another point to be wary of is that some guages of Low B won't fit in the bridge - you may need to use tapered strings for heavier guages. I did two gigs with it though and it handled them well - it's a rock-solid instrument and looks lovely - especially the natural and burst finishes!

I've bought two basses from Musik Productive and found their service to be good as Thomann's.

How close to the strings are each of the pickups?

This is one of those 'how to keep a bunch of idiots in suspense' things isn't it?