Grangur

Some time back @Lozz196 did a blind tone-test at the Hertfordshire Bass bash. Various basses with either maple or rosewood fretboards were played on stage behind a curtain. There were pairs of different basses; jazz, precision, Musicman etc. one of each pair had a rosewood fretboard and the other was maple. All pairs had the same strings; brand new D'Addarios and all were played by Lozz196. What came out was the maple necks gave a more bass tone and the rosewood gave a brighter tone. This may have been a coincidence, but it was interesting how this coincidence followed across 4-5 pairs of basses. Regrettably, I don't think any note was taken about which necks had skunk stripes. This too could have an influence, or maybe not. Maybe all the Rosewood necks also had alder bodies and the maple necks had ash, but this difference in tone was clearly there.

Silly question, but do you get hissing when there is no pedal in the circuit at all? I know this is sacrilege, but try it with just the bass and amp.

Someone else with experience in this is @Andyjr1515

I would expect the difference on a guitar is less marked than on a bass because the heavier strings would cause more vibration.

Don't know about Sires, and I've never owned a bass with an Alder body. But in respect of tone woods, if they all sounded the same, all bass bodies would be made from the cheapest wood that can be sourced locally to the factory. How much it matters to you may depend on what you play, how you play and who you play it with.

That's the problem with reproduction relics. Folk seldom get the details right. They usually over do it.

Here's the one Keef had: Edit - this is a re-production. Strange how the relicing is so frequently done on the body, but most noticeable signs of wear on KR's guitar are on the neck. Edit: Here's the actual one:

Thomann are really good at taking goods back for credit if on getting the instrument, you decide not to keep it. I've had a few deko basses. Kept 1 or 2 for a while and returned others. The question on whether to keep the bass really is down to what you want. I had a Harley Benton HBZ-2005FL NT Deluxe S Deko. They have this one listed as a Deko right now. It was ok. I was thinking of doing it up. What put me off was the pups being fixed in their height position. There was no way to screw them down lower without routing the body and they weren't on springs to make them higher by loosening the screws. I might have kept it if I'd had more time to play about with it. The neck also wasn't as flat as you really need on a fretless. My honest view is, hold out for a used bass on the market. Personally, I wouldn't buy anything new on a budget of £200.

Excellent result - if it works, getting the sound you want for £33 and some fun with a screwdriver. Fingers crossed!

Ahh.. so @Teebs, what you're saying is those who lost their avatars are the ones who're more more committed BCers than you are? What an admission!! 😯

Hey Mark

Sylvia, do you load your avatar by pointing it at a url, or by loading an image from your PC's hard drive? I suspect those who kept their avatars are those where the image is saved on a 3rd-party server. This would because the software only has to save an address.... but then again I could be wrong.

Its interesting. Where would you buy one from. Are the pickups the same width as Fender pups? Important for upgrading. The neck looks wider than a Fender jazz. Is it? Are the frets even height? Are the fret ends sharp? How does the weight compare to other basses? What was the cause/cure to the earthing issue? Thanks for posting.

We want vids! Pictures! Great stuff. Looking forward to the follow on. Enjoy the gig!

I'm curious too. Not that I would buy any. I don't gig, but by profession I'm a lighting engineer. * I notice they claim a life of 100,000 hours. I doubt that. LEDs lose light output over time. It's a fact. It happens. They might "work" after 100,000 hours, but what will the output be? What is the output on day 1? What also might happen is the colour can shift. You might find multiple lights will work, turning and changing colour, at different speeds and get out of sync... But 100,000 hours is a long life of 2 hour sets and maybe getting out of sync is exactly what you need at the Dog 'n' Duck. At £75 you've not got a lot to lose. * - I design lighting for commercial use. Not stage lighting.

Didn't really "like" that... I'm just showing off my infinite store of Reactions!

Nahh.. it'd never take off.

He does. All Overwater basses are active. Even the Scott Devine sig is active, but his own Overwater doesn't have any pre-amp. He has it wired passive.

On passive basses 500K pots give a more aggressive tone than 250K. Some like that, others don't. I recall someone I was talking with once who wouldn't stop talking about 500K being an "upgrade". It's not an "upgrade" unless the more "electric", metallic, clanky sound is what you want. My personal preference is to change back to 250 if 500s have been fitted. Blend pots are made by fitting a single pot that is 2 pots stacked and controlled using a single knob. So, you're, in effect winding pup-1 up and pup-2 down as you turn. If the pot is in the centre its actually making both pots/pups at 50%. What it does do is stop you from ever putting both pups at 100% and getting that dip in output at the top. I think I've got a blend pot here I've never used. If you're really sold on the idea and want to give it a go, and I can find it I can send it to you. But before you do, you need to think - this will leave a hole empty on your bass, as the 2 volumes become 1. What will you do with the empty hole?

If you listen to Scott, he says about students who come to him, talk about tone and think that adding an onboard pre-amp is "the answer". He's right it's not. Think this through; the bass the student is playing is probably not a keeper. It's another bass on the path. Adding an expensive pre to a cheap bass isn't going to be a financially sensible move. He's getting folk to think about other smaller, cheaper options before doubling the cost of the bass, while adding nothing to it's value. Sure, change how you play, change the strings, pickups (if you must), and the EQ settings. But if the bass doesn't have a pre-amp, its not always a great move to add one. SBL has a great ethic for getting youngsters to work with what they have. There's no selling section on the site. This is good for making GAS not a major feature there. It's about getting kids to be happy with what they have and learn to play bass, not thinking that up-grading will be the magic-pill that will get them to be just like their bass-hero. We've all been there; changing stuff and selling basses on because we've got the idea that the next £100 ebay "bargain" will be the big one, when new strings, flats or a twist of the knobs would be just the change we're really wanting.

Same for me on Android phone using a Chrome browser. I'm also getting a PayPal advert coming over the page in a pop-up. This seems to have started at the same time. And my avatar has disappeared.. not the end of the world, but it's happened at the same time. Is this anything to do with the new software you've installed that adds a "+" at the top of the page?

First, have you checked the lead from the bass to the amp? Next, clean the contacts in the Jack socket and connect the pump wires direct to the Jack socket. Does this rectify the problem? If yes, the problem is in the onboard electrics, not the pups or Jack. The OP talks about checking the output with a multimeter. He says it measures 10k. What? 10,000 watts? I think he means he checked the resistance of the pickups, maybe? But, where did you measure? If you didn't remove the pickups from the circuit you could have been measuring across the volume pot, with an open circuit pickup.

This is where the photo of the house delivered to comes in handy.

It's the sender DHL have a contract with, so it's the sender who needs to progress this. If it doesn't arrive you should get a refund from the sender. He/She, then uses their insurance to get a refund on the value of the item; assuming they insured it for the value. I've had a bass go missing I was sending to somewhere in the EU. That was DHL too. It turned up a few days later. Are they saying it has been delivered, or is it lost in the system? If they say it's delivered, then they need to show the sender a Proof of Delivery, with a name and a picture of the delivery address - they all take pictures these days.

Mrs G talks about the idea that my basses will gain in value. This isn't something I believe, but I don't discourage Mrs G having this thought. Didn't Jack Bruce's basses sell for silly money after he died? TBH, I doubt if they'll ever re-sell for more than they got when sold for out of his estate. Surely the time has to come when folk will ask, "Jack who?", that's if they don't already. Even an instrument previously owned/played by McCartney has to come to a time in history when they peak, (about 3 months after he dies), and drops slowly away as folk who remember him move on to other idols? I think I'll stick with the stocks & shares in an ISA account. I can sell out of that at any time and move between investments far more easily.