neepheid

Time to move this on.  This is a Gear4Music LA Select bass.  It is a P bass, with a bound body, 21 fret lightly roasted maple neck.  Comes with the originally supplied gig bag (not a fantastic bag, but it's better than nothing).  Yes, new, they are £150.  But, hear me out - this one comes with the following:

A Lace Aluma P pickup

Grover mini tuners (the stock tuners were garbage - I wouldn't inflict that on anyone - they went straight in the bin)

A triple string retainer

The ratty fret ends taken care of

I'll even throw in a generic split P pickup if you want to steal the Lace for something else.  Would prefer a local sale (ha, Aberdeen, good luck with that), but can post at buyer's expense.

This guy - https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products/hipshot-style-string-retainer-for-bass-guitars

(odd that they refer to it as "Hipshot style" when it's nothing like a Hipshot string retainer, but let's gloss over that).

Just thought I'd throw this in there in case you had pre-existing screw holes - this should drop right in...

Can I interject here? You can buy the exact string retainer which Sire use from a UK retailer. I'm about to head to work but will post a link when I get to the office.

15 minutes ago, chris_b said:

 

Wise words.

 

Always buy stuff that is better than what it replaces.

"Better" is such a nebulous term.  I'm happy with "different" - as in whatever coming in brings something new to the table.  Then my experience will be enriched - even if it doesn't work out, I will have a better understanding of what doesn't work for me.

Sorry for the lack of TE relevance, but I would like to add weight to the argument that watts is just a number beyond a certain point.

I use a modular system (Markbass Mini CMD121P IV + Markbass New York 121 cab) and I have a backup head - a TC Electronic BH250.  All of the following combinations (in order of wattage) are loud enough to be heard fine with a full band IMO.

Markbass full rig - 500W into 4ohm 2x1x12"

Markbass combo on its own - 250W into a single 8 ohm 12"

TC Electronic BH250 into a crappy rehearsal room Behringer 4ohm 4x10" (250W)

TC Electronic BH250 into 4ohm 2x1x12" (250W)

TC Electronic BH250 into single 8 ohm 12" cab (so providing a nebulous amount of watts less than 250W - TC shy with this info but I guess it will be less than 200)

At its most powerful (500W), I don't need the master up on my rig more than about a third in general when playing in the same room as a drummer, guitarist and singer or a drummer, singer, backup singer, keys, sax, trombone.  Even with the lesser powered stuff, it doesn't need to be cranked to be heard.

TL:DR - try the Elf with your 2x15" in the full band setting (and play with EQ) before you even think about buying anything.

30 minutes ago, 80Hz said:

(currently got my eye on an L-1000.. we'll see!)

Heh, are you me in disguise?  Seriously though, the wunkay is a fantastic bass, so glad I have one in my arsenal.

On 25/02/2025 at 12:35, 80Hz said:

So how are you folks getting on with your Z7s?

 

The tobacco sunburst one has caught my eye, and I'm on a gradual general mission to try bass styles I've never owned/played before (i.e. MM). I've never owned a Sire despite the hype.

 

Regarding general criticisms of the model encountered on the YouTubes, I tend to always play with a strap even when sitting, so I'm not too worried about how it might sit on the leg.

 

I enjoy a nice jazz bass neck tone, so I could see myself being okay with the neck/bridge output difference that some people have complained about - I'd probably use it as one or the other. Interestingly I see some people saying this has been solved on the 2025 update by the switch to a four pole neck pickup (I wonder if it still does a jazz neck tone though!)

 

Mostly I like the sunburst finish - in the promo photos the alder grain looks particularly refined - so this would be the primary motivation for a Z7 over a Z3.

 

Despite the janky detents, etc, is the preamp quiet?

 

Did I read that the neck pickup noise cancelling? That might be totally wrong.

 

Did you go for it in the end?  If not - now might be a good time - Thomann selling the sunburst one for an absolute steal for some reason - https://www.thomann.co.uk/marcus_miller_z7_4_3_tone_sunburst.htm

5 minutes ago, Delberthot said:

 

My wife is exactly the same. I've never been one for going clothes shopping or buying myself stuff so if I see something I like my wife is always supportive.

 

The only prerequisite is that she needs to like it as well - no ugly basses or jobby brown finishes 😁

Oh aye, she's observant too - some may know that I recently took in a second Thunderbird (different model though) and she was like "don't you have one like that already?"  I started to explain the differences, her eyes glazed over and that was the end of that conversation

No, I don't get this at all.  Mrs. Neepheid supports my hobby.  Occasionally she encourages me to buy a bass I like - genuine conversation: "Do you like it?"  "Yes."  "Then you should buy it."  She's even bought me a bass before.

The kind of nonsense highlighted by the OP makes me sad, because unfortunately for some other people it might be true

This Saturday, Nine Lives are playing at Grays Inn, in Mastrick, Aberdeen.  Please come - it's never been a particularly well attended venue in our experience

4 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

About 6 months ago I was playing in the Vintage, Wellington which is a decent music pub with densely packed and usually inebriated audiences. Anyone who has played there will know there is little delineation between the stage and the audience.  One young woman, tall, willowy attractive but very drunk came up behind me an wrapped her arms round mine whilst I was playing and started a conversation about which songs she wanted. It's remakably difficult to go on playing and singing with 6 feet of drunken young woman draped over you with your arms pinned to your side. In the end her boyfriend who clearly though it was hilarious came up and politely asked if I would like him to take her away. What is the etiquette in this situation?

Entirely depends upon the desired outcome - freedom from her clutches?  A punch in the mouth?  An STI?

4 hours ago, petecarlton said:

I’m a bit confused (and ignorant).  Does it not have the usual P pickup because it’s a Cabronita, i.e. do Cabronitas all have a TV Jones?
 

I suppose I’m asking what makes this a Cabronita?
 

 

The Cabronita P normally comes with a Fender Fidelitron pickup.  That's principally what makes it a Cabronita, plus the small pickguard, and the particular combination of P body, fat 50s neck, Tele headstock and reverse tuners.

@SimonH bought a Squier Jag H from me last week.  Fantastic, no-nonsense transaction, good comms, prompt payment, you can't say fairer than that.  Deal with confidence.

I can participate in this thread for the first time - I don't generally have more than one example of a type of bass at one time, but for now at least...

I guess there was the time when I briefly had two Squier Jaguar Hs in the house, but the grey one went back to Thomann as it got damaged in transit and they didn't offer me enough of a discount for me to want to keep it.

7 minutes ago, BillyBass said:

But surely, when you buy a T Bird, you aren't looking for an all rounder are you.

 

I've been gas free for over 6 months, but I would love one of these.

Not at all - bought purely for looks, I'm not ashamed to admit it.  But the Epiphone Probucker 760s are easier to make work in contexts other than rock music, according to my ears anyway - just a bit more open/even sounding.  It's all in the EQ though.  With enough knob twiddling you can make most basses bend to your will, which is why I don't really care what bass I play, as long as it makes me feel happy and distracts punters from my bag of spanners face...

On 27/06/2025 at 11:05, JJMotown said:

What is the difference in sound between the two birds?

This is just an initial take, in headphones, and it might be slightly unfair on the Classic Pro as I have not had a chance to change the strings yet (not doing that until I get chrome tuners).

To my ears, the Classic Pro is darker sounding, much more prominent in the low mids, whereas the Vintage Pro has a somewhat fuller range of sound, a bit more top end and a more balanced (but still very aggressive) attack.  The difference might close up a little when I fit fresh strings to the Classic Pro, so may revisit this question again.  But it is broadly as I expected.  The Gibson TB+ pickup, love it or hate it is a growly, mean sound, with that emphasis on the low mids, but retaining a full bottom end and a (possibly only perceived) lack of top end as a result.  The Epiphone Probucker 760 is more balanced - it's hardly "hi-fi", but it's an honest-to-goodness passive humbucker which is a tad easier to work with as an all-rounder.

It's all EQ-able of course - you can make the two sound like each other more or less by tweaking some EQ.

I don't like one better than the other, I know both work great in a live setting (because I played them both last night) and that's all that chiefly concerns me - I don't tend to evaluate basses predicated upon how they sound on their own much, hence my lack of vocabulary for describing such things.  But you asked, and that's the best I can tell you right now.

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

The Ep[iphone T-bird is nice, but I've got the set neck Embassy and that makes all the same noises IMHO.

I know, I owned a gold one a while back. Sounded great but I moved mine on for the somewhat less frequent complaint that it was too light.

Plus it doesn't look like a Thunderbird - and I'll be honest - my reasons for wanting to own Thunderbirds are at least 50% for the looks... Vanity, they name is neep.

4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

That's just confirmed i need to try a neck thru T bird.

Dave

Well, that was easy! 

8 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

As much as i love that purple T bird i had an Epi T bird once and it suffered terrible neck dive until i moved both strap buttons and all good after that.

Just wasn't the best built bass so sold it on. 

Would like to try a Gibson one or even the neck thru Epi version which i've read is a better built bass. Like the sound of them.

Dave

 

Both my T-birds are neck thru. I'm of the opinion that if it's not neck thru, it ain't a T-bird. That bolt on one they make just doesn't cut the mustard as far as I'm concerned.

Last night a new venue for Nine Lives - Maud Football Social Club.  Maud is a small village with an old woman's name in rural NE Scotland.  Incidentally, it's also where we rehearse, so in a way it was almost like a home gig for the band!

Early one too - 8.30-11.30pm, which makes a nice change.  So we rock up and are pleased to find a large, empty space for us to set up in, loads of power sockets - dream start.  Not an extension reel in sight.  We got set up, and got going.  A few folk came through from the main bar into the function area and we had folk up dancing most of the time.  I wouldn't call it super busy, but with a few folk up dancing in front of you it makes it all worthwhile.  We did have some trouble getting a decent sound - the area is quite wide and whilst this did give us the ability to put the PA speakers quite far forward, it created a bit of a dead spot where people were dancing, which got complained about.  Sorta solved it by angling one of the PA speakers in a bit to fire a bit more in their direction and that seemed to keep them happy, but we will have to think about counter measures for situations like this in the future - perhaps have a monitor wedge, not so much for our benefit, but for the dancers!

Got some nice comments after, some folk came up to chat to us and said they had a good time, so happy days.

Gear was a flock of Thunderbirds into the usual Markbass modular monstrosity.

And another thing... I don't want to hear about "Thunderbird neck dive" as a default from any of you so-and-sos in the future.  The way some people go on about it, I must own the only two well behaved T-birds on the planet FFS!

Enough!  Even the headstocks are still intact!  I don't want to hear it!

13 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

60th Birthday party in Camelon Labour Club in Falkirk area with BLOCKBUSTARZ glam band. Not a large audience but as it was a private party not much we could do about it.

Played this club a few times and every time they have an issue with us. 

1st - they double booked the adjacent hall for a funeral party and then complained to us about being too loud plus we had walk through the funeral party hall to the changing area in the pool room. 

2nd - committee guy that complained 1st time there was complaining about the load in door being open and all the heat was escaping and we had to use the main entrance door that was wide open because of all the smokers outside so WTF ?

Last night when we arrived girl behind the bar states in a rant that she wasn't told it was a live band ? what other kind of band is there ? There was no area to get changed as they had an all day wedding the following day and all the tables were stored in the pool room and we couldn't get access. We highlighted that we need a changing area same as we always had when playing there. She then suggested changing in the toilets and at that point i abruptly replied absolutely not. Its disgusting to be changing in a toilet. We have expensive outfits and nowhere to leave our personal belongings like clothes, spare outfits for 2nd set, wallets, watches and phones. If we cant get changed we'd be as well packing up cause this just wasn't happening. She started blubbering that its not her fault (bar manageress). As we pointed out its between her and the person that booked us. We had txt messages saying that all our requirements had been passed on to the club and when the woman that booked us arrived she was furious and said she came into the club and told them exactly what was required for the full night.

Singer said only option was to play the gig without the costumes as we were sort of thing but that defeats the purpose of booking a Glam band.

Anyways the buffet supplier arrived and i suggested we use the kitchen area if it was a cold buffet and that's where we went.

When we started to sound check at what was a reasonably quiet volume staff complained again that it was too loud and when we said its because the hall is empty at moment. Few quests had arrived early at this point and staff said they couldn't hear the orders from customers which was ridiculous. My volume was lower than its ever been for any gig. She didn't understand that you cant turn the drums down. They aren't thru the PA. Amps were set to match drum volume. We are not a loud band.

The bar staff were obviously being extremely childish and when not serving went thru to the other function room even tho there were at time 5 or 6 people waiting to be served.

Anyways  back to the gig itself. After a few songs we had the dancers up and that remained thru the night for virtually every song with some songs just a few dancers to others filling the dance floor. At one point there was absolutely no-one sitting down, they were all on floor dancing away.

Audience were great bar staff on the other hand a different story.

All in all we will never return to that venue. We've never seen such unwelcoming staff at a venue. From the word go they were being difficult and awkward as if we had caused the problem. The problem was a badly run club that has been cancelling their own booked gigs left right and centre for lack of ticket sales.

Got paid before we even started and the woman that booked us was over the moon with us and feedback from the audience was all good at the end of the night.

Band played really well with only a few very minor fluffs but audience never picked up on.

Happy Days.

Next week we are back at one of our fav venues The Dreadnought where we are always really well looked after and they are always happy to help the bands. 

Dave

Dave

Miserable fsckers!

1 hour ago, Skybone said:

Should have waved when you were in Snecky.

If I'd known, I'd have invited myself round for a cup of tea

Just now, JJMotown said:

What is the difference in sound between the two birds?

Not had had a chance to do a comparison yet.  Watch this space.  At work the now, going to a gig tonight (as a punter), so probably won't have any answers until Saturday...

4 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

Congrats Neepheid. Looks really nice. Is that the through neck/set neck model?

Through neck, Gibson USA TB+ pickups.

Well, technically it was NBD yesterday, but I drove to Inverness after work to get this bad boy and didn't get back home until late, so I couldn't be bothered filing the report until today.

I have assembled a flock (?) of Thunderbirds - saw this guy up on FB marketplace for a most agreeable price and couldn't pass it up.

It's even redder in person than these pics suggest - it's almost redburst rather than sunburst, and I really dig it.  Here it is with its rather more outgoing sibling...

Got a lot of extras with this one - Hipshot bridge (as you can see), the official hard case, strap locks (Schaller), a strap, a spare set of strings.  And the bonus of all bonuses, the slightly longer Vintage Pro/60s/64 T-bird fits in the hard case - just!

Happy, I am.  Except that because the Hipshot bridge is chrome, I really want to replace the tuners with chrome ones to match...

Jamais contente