Mastodon2

3 hours ago, thestick said:

Hi what is the string spacing at bridge? 
regards

Hello,

The string spacing is 17.5mm.

Thanks,

Dave

SOLD PENDING HANDOVER

Hey guys.

For sale here is my 1989 Pedulla MVP5. Built by the now-retired Mike Pedulla, this is an absolute corker of an instrument. I'm selling as it just doesn't get enough play time as I use my Warwick Thumb for 95% of everything I do now and I want some new toys, it's a shame to leave this sitting it's case, so it's time to move it on.

Specs:

Made in 1989 in Massachusetts, USA

5 string

34" scale

Neck thru

Maple body and neck

Flamed maple top and back

Schaller tuners

Bartolini P and J pickups

Ebony fretboard

Cherryburst finish

Brass nut

17.5mm string spacing at the bridge

Overall, the bass is in great condition for something built in 1989. It has some player marks; there is a chip on the side of the body, a patch on the back that wore through and was refinished by a previous owner and the lacquer on the side of the fretboard is chipped a little around the 12-15th frets on the low B side of the fretboard - pics included. The playability and tone are superb, as you'd expect from someone as renowned as Mike Pedulla. Deep and rich, great for the Jaco sound if you solo the bridge, the P pickup sounds really fat and rich on it's own and the pair in combo is fantastic - I generally run it with both pickups on equal, it sounds great. The pickups are a special set that were made for Pedulla basses. There had been some discussion as to whether Mike might let Bill Bartolini market them after Mike retired, but it never materialised, so that is another thing that is special and unique to these basses. With Mike now retiring, there won't be any new Pedullas born into the world. I am extremely grateful to have owned one and ticked it off my bucket list, I had wanted one since I was 17 years old and saw someone playing one in a band at a hotel I worked at. They really do look, feel and sound amazing.

The bass will ship in the original Pedulla hard shell case. The truss rod tool and the original truss rod instructions from Mike Pedulla are included in the case.

You are welcome to come and try the bass out in person if you like, I'm in Bedlington, Northumberland, about 25 minutes north of Newcastle upon Tyne. I can meet within some range of Newcastle if we agree on the arrangements.

For the sale, I can do cash if the bass is collected in person. Bank transfer and PayPal are options too, but with PayPal, there are of course additional PayPal fees to consider. I can ship UK or EU, shipping will be at the buyer's expense and of course, I will only ship insured, for the protection of me and the next owner of this fine bass.

I'm more than happy to provide additional pictures or answer questions about the bass, so please give me a shout if you wish. 

Cheers,

Dave

6 hours ago, Ricky Rioli said:

You might not think this image is clickbait....

 

 

....but look at his recently views:

 

G+L Series 750 L2500 unboxing - 5.5k

Lakland 55-64 Review - 3.9k

Reverend Triad review - 6k

Inside a cheap Gretsch pickup dressed as FENDER FRAUD - 24k

Perhaps there is just most interest in the topic than in his other videos?

I like his channel but I'm never going to bother watching him unbox something or review some generic FSO basses. On the other hand, learning about this deception that Fender have pulled on their customers is something I'd be interested in learning about.

I've been following the Talkbass thread since the beginning and his findings are corroborated by other owners. Is it a deliberate fraud, overstating the spec to help sell the bass, or is it an error? The marketing materials could have been made from outdated design documents, there could have been internal miscommunication, maybe it's an mundane as the guy who wrote the spec list for the website looking at it an assuming it's a humbucker because of the size and shape.

Either way, it's still a topic that deserves some attention, even if no one will ever be compensated in any form.

I'd like to go back to 2002 and get an original Ibanez K5. Impossible, I know. I'd also like the padauk to stay that nice orange colour, which is also impossible as it turns darker brown as it ages.

I'm not a big Korn fan, I like a few songs from their early years, but the K5 in the 2002 Ibanez catalogue was a dream bass for me. A shame that even if I could buy a mint condition one now, it wouldn't be the vibrant orange of the instrument in my dreams.

I still own my first bass. It receives more play time than anything else I own, despite everything I've bought since.

Of the Wal, Stingray or Thumb, the Thumb is, to me, unquestionably the most aggressive. It does it without needing a super hot signal too: the aggressive tone is inherent to the construction, mainly the woods and pickup position, rather than simply being a really high gain signal as a result of the electronics.

I also have a Spector Euro LX, the second I've owned and even with the Tonepump on 50%, its noticeably louder than my Thumb and requires an adjustment to the input gain on my amp to suit. On the other hand, I can swap from my Thumb to my Ken Smith, Pedulla, Sandberg etc and not have any significant difference to the volume. 

Some basses sound aggressive because of the electronics but I don't believe that to be the case for Thumbs. At least, its not the biggest part of the picture.

It's worth noting too that not all Thumbs are equal. The 5 strings sound more aggressive than the 4s and 6s to me. The 4s, in most cases, have two J bars, one in the mid and one by bridge and only the one by the bridge is slanted. 

The 5s and 6s have both of their pickups slanted and very close to the bridge. The 5s however have J bars and the 6s have soapbars. I think that makes the 5s just growl that bit more.

I saw this announcement over the weekend. It does seem a shame, any good UK-based craftsmen shutting down production, for whatever reason, is a big shame a loss to us here on these isles. 

As with other posters, I always felt like the Super Quads were the least attractive part of the package. I much preferred the look of the old Enfield basses where Martin was making what was effectively a single giant ramp cut from the top wood, with the pickup pole pieces exposed on the ramp. That's purely an aesthetic consideration, of course, but I wasn't such a fan of the giant black square looks of the Super Quads. I was also never totally blown away by the sound, but did love many other things about the basses so had considered asking whether they might have been open to building a bass with other pickups of my choice.

Alas, it looks like that custom build will never come to be. To be fair, I have been lusting more and more for a Sei bass and if I were to commission a custom build, it would likely be from them or an ACG as I love their modern styling and sounds. Perhaps however, I lack the patience for a custom build, as every time I want a bass I end up buying one quite quickly. If I placed an order for a bass with 6, 12 or 18 month waiting time, I'd probably want something different by the time it was delivered.

Still, good luck to Martin. He obviously knows what pays the bills and offers the best balance of stress, workload and income. There comes a point in all of our lives where we may want to consider paring back our responsibilities, freeing our time and if we're lucky, not losing out substantially on income, or even possibly increasing our income. I wish Martin all the best with the pickup and LED business, I'm sure he won't be short of work.

30 minutes ago, fleabag said:

Judging by how old this vid is,  would this be the Palladeum ?  Impressive tone, but Jeff could make anything sound good

 

 

No, that is a modified Fender Jeff used to use. Chris2112 will probably correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a Fender P body with a J neck and Bartolini pickups, though the neck wasn't wired up if I recall.

It was stolen, Jeff can't remember where or when, but must have been some point in the mid 80s. The pickups were what Jeff and Bill Bartolini used to make the pickups for the Dean basses and the Rithimics, as IIRC, Bill still had the design documents for the pickups that were I'm Jeff's old Fender.

As to the OP's question, yes the Rithimic is a great bass. Cort don't have the brand power to charge big bucks, so they can build a nice bass with great hardware and it doesn't cost the earth. If you like Jeff's sound, you'll probably like the Rithimic.

15 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Lace alumatone pickups? 

Indeed. I still have the original Dimarzio Willpower P pickup, I might put that back in one day or try the new Dimarzio Relentless pickup and swap the bridge pickup for a Dimarzio Super J.

Welcome to the club. Ken Smith basses are amongst the best money can buy. 

On 22/11/2021 at 19:45, Lfalex v1.1 said:

 

That's what I felt my Attitude 10th Anniversary lacked; A J at the bridge. 

Never did it, but swapped it for something completely different. 

(I'm assuming that the neck HB and P are still working?)

Yes you are correct, I don't often use the woofer or the dual output feature, I mostly run it as a P/J blend on a single output.

Interesting. Soften the Glare uploaded a new music video on Thursday which is basically just Ryan goofing around in his garage in front of a green screen, he is using a Thumb there.  

The move to Fodera is an unusual one and certainly not one I saw coming, I guess he had been keeping these Foderas a secret until the reunion shows. Very hard to tell what the sound is like as the show footage is so bad, but I'd be surprised if it had the growl of a Thumb, however the double slanted J bars will get a good sound regardless, in my opinion it is the best pickup combo / placement going.

Also, I'm in agreement with Chris above, Chad's voice is blown out, he loses his place in the second verse, doesn't keep the mic close to his face when he is singing and sounds out of breath. Should have worked on his cardio to combat the last point, but when your voice is done, it's done so there's nothing to be done there.

My main bass is a golden age Ken Smith, so no, I've never played anything in a shop that holds a candle to it.

There's only one or two shops in the UK that stock stuff on a similar level and I've never visited them in person and I doubt they'd have any of my "holy grail" level basses which could compete with my Smith.

1 hour ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

I looked at the photos on BD's website and the second to last photo of the headstock shows the "Ian Hill" signature. It is in the right place. So, unless the previous owner created his own IH signature, it is an IH signature model. The typical thin neck specs would also give it away but I cannot judge that from the photos. 

Spector Euro 4LX four string bass, poplar burl top, Second Hand and Ex-demo Bass Guitar Stock:: For sale, UK, EU, Birmingham, Manchester, London USA, on offer (bassdirect.co.uk)

In that case I stand corrected but you'll have to forgive me for having no faith in Bass Direct, their adverts have so many mistakes in them.

46 minutes ago, Bigwan said:

There have been other Ian Hill models in the past - I mean different from the current P only version. The one you mention is listed with a slimmer nut width in the listing than a Euro 4LX, although Bassdirect listings are all best taken with a pinch of salt. Never seen more mistakes than the short ads they put on Facebook!

See also "The bass has been cleaned and set up with low action". I bought a used bass from them which had roundwounds on it that were so old they were probably fitted when the bass was new in 1989 and low action that still had enough clearance to drive a double decker under.

30 seconds with the tools fixed it, but it shouldn't have left the shop like that.

2 hours ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Spector fans, is one of you currently selling lots of your Spector basses ? I've just checked Bass Direct's pre-owned section and there are several new additions. I think at least 5 (7 in total). Have to ask my wife to hide my credit cards in a safe place 😉 

There is one that is on there, or at least was last night, that is incorrectly listed. It's a black Euro 4 that had the hardware swapped out for gold items, it has been incorrectly listed as an Ian Hill model.

It was on sale in the classifieds here for a while. I must admit, my finger did flicker over the PM button the sale thread, but decided against it.

After I move house later this year I'm going to sell a few basses and fill the empty slots in the roster with limited edition Warwicks and perhaps a Warwick Streamer of some description.

Glad you got the bridge sorted @Al Krow, the bridge is the only thing that I find to be unimpressive on my Euro, it's perfectly machined etc, but I think it's a bit of a duff design for adjusting the intonation. Not that it's a job you do often, but it's so much easier to make fine adjustments on a Warwick bridge, for example. 

1 minute ago, Lozz196 said:

I like that, I’ve always thought that optimists play sharps as they’re reaching for more whereas pessimists play flats as they’re not quite getting there.

I have always felt that when someone is playing a melody or taking a solo and they play a bum note, if they hit a sharp note they sound over-excited and if they hit a flat note they sound really unenthusiastic and unmotivated. It has always amused me.

On 26/06/2021 at 12:07, Eldon Tyrell said:

New Rudy Sarzo signature bass. Features the Fishman Fluence pickups and preamp. Comes in red. Rudy clearly has good taste 😉

 

I saw this video on YouTube the other day. In all my years, I've never owned or played a bass that had a delay from playing a note to producing the sound. It sounds like Rudy has found a solution to a problem I didn't even know I had!

1 minute ago, Bassman666 said:

Massively regret selling that beast, would buy it back in an instant! 

The chain is broken, the bass is now lost to light. Sigh.

Oh well, if anyone does have a Thumb Dirty Blonde, or any other limited edition Thumbs, get in touch, I might start collecting them. I'm in the market for a Dolphin Pro I too. I should probably make a proper wanted thread.

Coincidentally, I was just talking to my brother about this bass:

I didn't buy it at the time although my hand was hovering. Now I regret it and wish I'd jumped on it. If you own it now, get in touch!

3 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Speaking of 2017... @Mastodon2 do you remember posting this on the Best and Worst Gear Purchases thread for that year. 

Amused me to read that back, not least as you've been one of the most useful contributors from my perspective with regard to the TonePump on my much loved Euro 5LX!

Yes, I do remember - looking back, that Spector 5 was a great bass, I wish I'd kept it longer. They say time heals all wounds, but the more time that passes, the more I think about what a pile of crap that Adamovic was. Pretty, but sounded as flat as the country it was built in.

After selling that Spector 5, I bought my Euro 4 which I think is the Spector I really wanted, now that is a great bass. My brother has it on loan at the moment as I haven't used it much recently.

Edit: just as I posted, I notice my Euro 4 has turned up in the post above mine!

On 22/06/2021 at 10:45, Happy Jack said:

Andy's heart is no longer in this. The Grosmann has been hanging around his workbench like a bad smell for far too long, he wants shot of it and is giving it only the most cursory attention. He fits the new preamp, the bass works intermittently for an hour or so and then it doesn't. Game over.

Was he doing the work for free? Because if he was charging for the work, that's not a great attitude to have.

17 hours ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Agree and then they should finally fix the wrong "boost only" info on the website too:

Euro4 LX by Spector Bass Guitars

CONTROLS Volume, Volume, Treble Boost, Bass Boost

They have been putting that misinformation out there for so long, I can only imagine they know they are wrong are just doubling down on it.

11 minutes ago, bagsieblue said:

 

Note the gain is: - Bass +14db to -4 dB, so lets say a quarter of the way for flat.   The Treble is quoted as   +14db to -12 dB, so lets say a almost half of the travel on the pot for flat.

 

Spector should have printed that on a little card and supplied it with every bass they sold with a Tonepump in it.