bassbloke

I've owned and sold two. Much as I wanted to get on with it, it was just too wacky to be that useable. Many will disagree with me though.

Not asmuch of a steal as the £225 one contributor to this forum was asking for a ATK405.

You can happily run a transistor amp without a speaker load.

[quote name='machinehead' post='85816' date='Nov 9 2007, 10:25 AM']Looks like it's a 1998 DN 8*****. Needs new strings, new jack (haven't looked yet, might be only a loose wire which I can easily solder) and a littel TLC. Bottom pot (mid?) is noisy so might replace one or all pots. I also have an Aguilar OBM 1 somewhere which could be interesting to try. All in all, a very nice bass. Thanks for all your advice. Frank[/quote] So it has the large single slug pole pieces? I've found the stock preamp really doesn't do that bass justice. The OBP(?)-1 or an Audere or J-Retro will make a huge difference.

My old Carvin bass had a similar problem, which is why I like the old fashioned battery clip on my Jazz. See if you can get your hands on some adhesive foam to stick to the back of the battery compartment and push the battery against the contacts when the lid is clicked shut. Might be a cheap and easy solution and you won't run the risk of snapping of the contacts with a pair of pliers, which would be a real p*sser.

The obvious benefit of placing your highest bid at the last minute is that many people bidding on an item do so without taking an objective view of the value of the item on which they're bidding. Unless you're stupid or desperate enough to bid way over the odds for an item, chances are, someone will always outbid at the lats minute just, well, just because...

serial number will allow you do date it. First digit is year of manufacture, I believe.

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[quote name='finnbass' post='84272' date='Nov 5 2007, 11:38 PM']Very interesting review, thanks I have just ordered a JZ3-VB-3B Z-mode Jazz Pre - Vol, Mid/Bal, Tre/Bass model which I intend to stick in my Aerodyne. I have a standard Jazz with a J-Retro installed so I will be interested in comparing the two...[/quote] I wish I'd updated this review sooner. I ordered a second preamp for my other bass. This time I opted for a vol/vol/2band/tone model thinking that the two volume controls would be more useable than the sometimes hard to reach blend. I much prefer this to the 3 band model which still has a noticeable jump in volume as you move between front to both to rear pickup. The 2 volume simply doesn't have this problem and it's much faster rolling off an indiividual pickup. This still doesn't detract from the fact that the JZ3D is a great piece of kit. Since first installing the preamp, I raised the pickup height and lowered the gain of the low Z mode my bass sounds absolutely stunning now.

I'd second the Schecter. My mate has one and it sounds great. The standard model, not the Robert DeLeo has good pickups, looks good and sounds good. The Robert DeLeo model has not as good pickups but a satin rather than gloss neck that you might prefer. Sound Control must have some in stock.

What year is it? Does it have the Gotoh tuners or the Fender-badged Schaller lightweight tuners. I would say a reasonable price for, say, a 1996-1999 model in good condition would be around £500 - £550. I'd expect to knck seller down £50 because of the poor condition. Add £100 for a newer, up to 2002 model.

You have three options 1) Passive pickups with active preamp. So, Bartolinis, most Seymour Duncans, Kent Armstrong pickups with a Bart, SD, Audere, John East preamp. 2) Active pickups with onboard preamp. The most obvious example is EMGs which have an onboard preamp. So, just get voluem and basic tone, but the benefit of low impedance pickups, if you like that sound. The EMGs are a breeze to wire in - the pickups have simply push in connectors and the circuit comes pre-wired, you just need to ensure that you have sufficient space in the control cavity for a 9v battery. 3) Active pickups with seperate active preamp. EMG again. Much more tonal control. My preference is passive pickups with active preamp. Some preamps, such as the J-Retro or U-Retro have a bypass switch to give you that unadulterated passive sound - not tone controls.

Noisy pots and intermittent jack are nothing to worry about. Provided it's structurally sound (i.e. missing dot isn;t result of it being dropped froma great height) and you can get a good deal on it, then go for it. I think US Deluxe jazz Vs are great basses, especially if you drop one of [url="http://www.audereaudio.com/JZ3D.htm"]these[/url] in it.

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='83995' date='Nov 5 2007, 03:01 PM']there's 2x10 on top in the combo, and 2x12 underneath in the cab. I'm not really using the EQ much either, though I've noticed the Compressor just reduces the volume - lots - unless I'm winding it up. Then it seems to do it's job. I need to try my V-AMP through the FX loop, but it's getting round to it.[/quote] F*ck me. That's nice. Is one driver angled or rear firing? Where did you get this? I've found that the tone of the amp changes lots when you drive it. I've given up on using the compressor on my TVM600 - it just overdrives. However, the guy that fixed my TVM350 says that the opamps they use in the TVM350 are probably superior to the ones inthe TVM600, hence the better tone and that it could easily be modded. I have an APhex punch factory that sounds more transparent than the onboard optical compressor one ither head and I use that instead.

Sorry, are there 2 10" drivers in each cab? How are you getting on with the Tech stuff? You had a few questions about the EQ, but I've found it doesn;t really need touching - I just use the gain and master on mine and maybe adjust the mid for more or less bark. Other than that, it sounds great with tone controls set to 12 o'clock.

One exercise I find really helpful is to take an exotic scale, like the harmonic minor and work out all of the modes. It really opens up the finger board and helps you learn the sound of each scale. In fact, it was using this exercise that I discovered that the spanish phrygian and harmonic minor are different modes of the same scale.

I think there's a US ebay seller called Slonk who sells parts, a lot of which are good quality Japanese ones from, I think, basses made by Signature. There's some nice stuff on show. Another good seller is Sigler music who do pickups, bridges etc... They have a lot of the Fender Custom shop and Seymour Duncan basslines. You can also get badass bridges from them for a good price. Need to keep checking their ebay shop though. A good aftermarket preamp is the Audere JZ3. Again, exchange rates, which are becoming ever more attractive for buying from the US make all of the above potential bargains.