Sambrook

Now£25 Inc postage. (Brand new, by the way...)

There I was, in the middle of a very sensible Reduction In Force (I CAN'T do justice to more than 4 basses) when up pops this beauty on eBayI've always liked this bass, and it ticked a lot of boxes for me (mahogany, semi-hollow, f-hole, Matt finish, piezo), but I felt it was overpriced.

"No", says I, "be strong", then the seller dropped the price by £100!

Too good to resist, so the credit card took a punch to the nose...

When it arrived, I was slightly underwhelmed, but I knew I would be: I'd played two examples previously, and both were the same- the piezo just swamped the magnetic pickup, to the point where it served no purpose. The second tryout, I raised the pickup to the point where it could compete, and I could see the potential.

This one, though, was the other way around, the piezo was anaemic. Also, I didn't like the fact that although the neck is subtly lined, those lines don't extend over the top. This looks nice and sleek with the binding, but the player has to lean over the fingerboard to see where he is.

Also, I don't like the Chromes it came with, they always sound sterile to my ears.

SO ... Sell it on, or...?

Investigation in the cavity revealed a trim pot for the piezo, and the balanced sound works well.

Some 'skillful' use of yellow tape on the neck:

A new set of Thomastik flats, and it's become, and likely to remain, my favourite bass!

It's light, balances well, has nice simple controls ( vol/ tone x2 ), and sounds just fantastic with both pickups- tight and focussed with the Bartolini, and loads of girth and texture with the piezo.

I'm a happy bunny.

It says something about the state of the marketplace at the moment, that this hasn't been snapped up...

Tim bought my Ibanez Mikro bass, the whole thing was smooth and pain free.

Yes

This bass is so good, I bought it twice! Only recently bought it back from Jeff, on here. He had it a year, same for me previously, and I had it from new. So, saying it's 2 years old would have been quicker...

The sonic blue, plus white pickguard, and maple fingerboard just work really well together- it already looks vintage, I think. The pickups are monstrous, as we know. I had a Kiogon loom made for it, stacked vol/tone, so it does have more versatility than stock.

I also made a ramp for it, which works very well. 

In excellent condition, and dying to be gigged!

£300 delivered to mainland Britain, or I might be able to meet halfway, depending...

Cheers, Sean

Another lockdown purchase I'm having to rationalise.

These are familiar instruments to us on here. Well built, good quality workmanlike bass. This one has been upgraded slightly by me:

Fender hi-mass bridge.

Home-made, felt-backed ramp between the pickups.

It's also been set up very well, ready to sing.

It weighs a solid 10.5lbs, that's the only negative I can find. Fine on the knee, though.

The neck feels lovely, and the finish on it definitely does make it look, and feel, nicely worn in...

£200 delivered to mainland Britain, or I might be able to meet halfway, depending...

Cheers, Sean

This is a great little instrument maybe a year old, at most? I have it strung with piccolos, for when I pretend to be a guitar player. It lives in a gig bag in the bedroom outside of those times, so it's in showroom condition.

It works great as a piccolo, familiar string spacing, number of strings etc. I wasn't expecting much from it as a 'proper' bass, but it was excellent, really good P bass  tones. I'll include both sets of strings in the sale.

Nothing else to say really, just typical Ibanez quality. 38mm nut, 6.6lbs, dead easy to play.

£100 delivered to mainland Britain, or I could potentially meet somebody halfway, depending...

Cheers, Sean

The first picture is as stock, from the website. I have tinkered with it, as you'll see.

Stock, it was pretty good. Having a switchable humbucker in the bridge was a great idea. The neck is excellent, and the whole thing weighs only 6.6lbs!

However- it was slightly neck heavy, the neck pickup was slightly dull, and suffered in comparison to the bridge, and the E string was definitely quieter than the rest.

So- I did the following:

Fitted a Gotoh bridge.

Changed the angle of the bridge pickup (to better 'include' the E string), made a pickup surround to achieve that. 

Replaced the neck pickup with an Artec humbucker, plus new surround.

Fitted Schaller straplocks to new positions, as per pictures.

And finally, put Thomastik flats on. They are a long scale set, but fit well enough.

The result? A lightweight, well balanced , funky looking tone monster!

Each pickup position sounds fantastic- the neck pickup is pure P bass heaven; bridge position is very poky, almost Stingray ish, and being able to switch the bridge between series and parallel allows more variety still.

You'll either like the look, or hate it. I happen to love it. I can revert it to stock if needed. I will include the scratchplate and neck pickup, so the new owner can do that himself.

It's just great as is, if you can live with the diy approach.

£300 delivered in mainland Britain. I could do a handover/meet depending on where...

Cheers, Sean

Bought for my Retrovibe Tele bass (30.6 scale). The silks projected maybe a cm beyond the nut. Didn't affect the sound, but found I couldn't live with it. Shame, as they sounded fabulous.

Maybe 1 hrs play at most.

45-105 gauge

£30 Inc postage.

Cheers, Sean

Almost new set of Chromes, not sure of the gauge, as they came with a trade, they feel medium.

Cut for 4 in line Fender style headstock.

£20 plus postage (maybe £3?)

Cheers, Sean

I love the white nylon La Bella, and bought this on here, but have since decided to abandon the low B.

In excellent condition, £7 posted.

Cheers, Sean

Two Thomastik B strings, both in excellent condition, testimony to repeated efforts to like the low B. 

   Nothing wrong with these examples, I've just 'foreswarn' the low B. 

£10 each, post included.

Cheers, Sean

This looks lovely!

Do you know the weight, and is it neck heavy at all?

Cheers.

I would echo the above about the EDA 900. It fits like a glove, and plays really well. The piezo was very warm, not too harsh or brittle, and the magnetic pickup gave a lovely P bass tone. 

I actually hated this shape of bass, really disliked it on sight, till I saw one in orange metallic, then it all 'made sense'. There's one on eBay at the moment, right colour, wrong price...

Bought on here late 2020, in excellent working condition, in excellent nick visually as well. Comes with Boss power supply and 13 pin cable, so ready for 'work'.

I'm also selling my Godin A5 Ultra, if you fancy the complete package...

Thanks for looking.

Bought from Bass Direct October 2020, home use only. Condition is as new, I can't find a single mark on it. Comes with it's own gig bag, also in perfect condition.

It's an exceptionally versatile bass. The 3 band eq for the piezo is excellent, double bass tones on tap, and the magnetic pickup is awesome, tight but full of texture. The mix slider means you can go from Jaco to Ron Carter in a microsecond (should you need to!).

It's wearing a nicely played-in set of black tapes (La Bella), much better (imo) than the Chromes they come with. These basses are around £1,500 new at the moment, so I think the price is reasonable. I'm willing to post, but would be happier with a meet. Happy to have a day out to do that.

I'm also selling a Roland GR20 with the necessary cables, so if you fancy a complete synth access instrument, I could discount for both.

Thanks for looking.

54 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

Also given arthritis in my left hand: do fretless basses require significantly more finger pressure to get a clean note, or is it marginal?

I have mild arthritis in my fingers, and haven't found fretless to be a problem. In fact, lighter pressure gives more 'texture' to the note...

I remember someone on here saying the spacing of the pickups was a factor: they're further north and south than is usual...

FWIW, I have an old set of Thomastiks on my Retrovibe Tele, cut down to size. They work really well...

For what it's worth, I really rate mine. I did in fact sell it on here, bought it back after a year of missing it!

55mm, as far as I can judge it...

The TC Aeon works well, once you get the angle of attack right. Turn the tone all the way down.

Using a volume pedal helps too ...

I have the Retrovibe Tele bass, with the same neck and bridge pickup. I've changed the neck pickup for an Artec rail humbucker, and it sounds wonderful (TI flats, of course).

I can happily recommend them...

2 hours ago, Sambrook said:

My mother taught me...

 

Whistler's Mother?