Linus27

Excellent lesson, thanks Greg.

For me its, Fretless Fender 62 Jazz with Ebony board, Bartolini pickups and light gauge Rotosound Swing 66 Nickel rounds (The nickel feature and light gauge is the important part) Ampeg Opto Compressor Mooer A7 Ambient Reverb Harley Benton Custom Chorus (No longer available but the best chorus I have ever used) Optional - Boss OC5 Octaver

Enjoy, they are amazing basses and the colour is so much better in the flesh. Saying that, I'm probably going to sell mine. As I mentioned in my original post, I bought it as a backup to take to Glastonbury but ended up not needing to take a backup bass. So its just sat at home, unplayed as I am predominantly a fretless player. I'm also thinking of having a break from music at the end of the year and possibly retiring after 40 years so I'm going to sell on some basses and this is one that will be going up for sale soon. Its a shame as they are amazing basses but no point having it if I'm never going to play it.

I've had this a lot on fretless basses and I've found fret buzz noise on a fretless is way more common than on a fretted bass for some bizarre reason. So the things I would check are the following. 1. Neck relief. With your left hand, press down the string at fret 1. With your right hand, press down with your thumb around fret 16 and stretch you fingers up to as close to the 7th fret and tap on the string to see how much gap there is to the string and the neck. It should be about a business card. If theres not then you need to adjust the neck relief. If you're not confident doing this then don't and leave it to an expert. 2. Neck grooves or dents. Run your fingers over the entire fretboard and feel for any imperfections, grooves, ruts, mark's etc. If you feel any then get some Martin Cox 0000 steel wool and Howard Feed and Wax Orange Bees Wax and Orange oil and rub the neck to smooth it out, wipe it down with a damp cloth and then coat in the Bees wax. Let it soak for an hour or two and then wipe off. I do this to my necks on a regular basis and they come up super smooth and shiny. This is what Tony Franklin does to his fretless necks. 3. Bridge. Try just raising the buzzing string at the saddle to see if this cures your buzzing. 4. Neck Plate. Loosen the bolts holding the neck a little and make sure the neck is seated in the pocket correctly. Check the E and G strings are evenly spaced to the edge of the neck and then tighten the neck back up. 5. Loose Scress. Check all screws are tight on the scratchplate, string tee, tuners, bridge, strap pins etc. 6. Shake it. Give the bass a gentle shake to see if you can hear anything rattling. I had a bass once that buzzed and it was the truss rod vibrating. 7. Nut. Looses the strings and re-position then in the nut. I'd even go as far as re-stringing the bass just to eliminate that possibility. If still no good, then take it to someone professional to have a look and set up.

I also run my Gnome 280w through my Barefaced Two10 and it sounds so much better through my TC 208 cab. It is much cleaner and punchier. I run my LM IV mostly through my Barefaced Two10 and the vintage colouring is noticeable. I think @Phil Starr worked out that the flat setting on the Gnome was bass at 10, Mids at 2 and Treble at 10 ..... I think.

I've always used rounds on my Jazz basses and my absolute favourite strings for my fretless Jazz basses are Rotosound Swing 66 Nickel rounds light gauge. They just sound incredible. However, I've started to string my fretless Precision basses with LaBella Deep Talkin flats in a light gauge and they sound, play and feel amazing. So I'm going to try a set on one of my fretless Jazz basses to see how they compare. I know most say that you get more mwah with rounds but I have always found I get more mwah with flats on a fretless so I'm interested how they compare on a Jazz.

Yeah I do as well, fretless, chorus, octave, optical compressor and sometimes a little reverb. Absolutely perfect.

I actually run my LM IV with all the dials at 12 and the two filters turned off and it gives me a really nice clean tone. Only occasionally depending on the room will I drop a bit of bass and low mid if I have to.

Oops, double post.

@andyhaines Tested my Gnome tonight and I can confirm that the fan is silent .... sort off. The fan noise is silent, no wooshy noise etc. The only thing you can hear is the sound of a component moving but it's so minimal that you can only hear it if you put your ear right next to the amp. At any other time it is silent and like I say, no fan noise in the traditional sense.

You are very welcome. I am using a 1987 Fender Japan 62RI Jazz Bass with Bartolini pickups and fretless Ebony board. I bought it new and it is the best sounding bass I have owned. It just sings and it beautiful to play. It is very beaten up as it has done thousands of gigs but has so much mojo. Its the one bass that will never leave me As for the Warwick head, I'll check tonight and let you know. Its not something I've noticed and its the one head that has blown me away and I've stuck with. I've even considered replacing the Little Mark IV with the V2 of the 600w head, thats how impressed I've been with it but the Little Mark does do a really good job.

Does anyone know if this pedal is available anywhere or is it just a case of joining the waiting the list 😪 Everywhere I looked was out of stock.

As a fretless player as well, I play a lot of melodic bass lines around the 10th, 12th, 14th frets on the D and G strings so I need a lot of clarity for these melodies to be clear. I use two rigs, a LM IV through a Barefaced Two10 and the Warwick Gnome Ipro 300 through a TC208. The latter is a beautiful rig, crystal clear, small and lightweight. The only reason I didn't mention the Warwick head is I can't remember how silent it is but I'll check tonight and let you know. As for my other rig, I totally understand what you are saying about MarkBass, I found the MB cabs to be exactly as you describe and got rid of mine when I had them some years back for those reasons. The heads however are super transparent and clear and I do very much like them. You'll notice a lot of electric Jazz bassists use them as they are very transparent. As for my Barefaced Two10 cab, its quite old school sounding so I'm looking at changing it for a LFSys cab. As an example of my style, this is the sort of playing I do so you can hear from the start after the harmonics intro I am playing a lot of melody which needs to be super clear.

Would something like a MarkBass Nano tick enough boxes? Not sure how silent they are but my Little Mark IV is mega quiet and the sound is very transparent. As another fretless bassist, just throwing a suggestion out there but ignore if no good. Keep us updated on what you do decide on as I would be interested.

I played for about 30 years without a compressor. I then switched to fretless permanently about 7 years ago and decided to give a compressor a go as some of the things I'd read said it was a benefit and because Pino uses one 😆 After a really good chat with @itu he suggested an optical compressor for fretless and recommend the Ampeg Opto as a starting point which had great reviews. I can honestly say it is incredible and has transformed my fretless playing and tone. I'm not sure exactly what it's doing but it just adds magic dust over my tone and makes it tighter and a lot more musical. Like I say, I've no idea what it's doing and I have it set quite subtle but I definitely know when it's not on and I couldn't live without out it. My chain is Bass > Tuner > Octave > Overdrive > Chorus > Reverb 1 > Reverb 2 > Compressor > DI

I remember quite a few music shops in my area that I bought a lot of things from. My first proper bass came from a little music shope called Nova Guitar Centre on the outskirts of Guildford. The shop was an absolute mess and run by the owner, Tony and his wife Diane who were so lovely, honest and real characters. Both smoked about 40 fags a day but were bonkers and Tony was a genius at setting up basses. He was huge I to his Japanese instruments and sold a lot of Tokai, ESP and Ibanez. I bought my first Tokai Jazz bass from him in the mid 90's and then in 97, my ESP series Jazz which I still have today and is the best bass I've ever owned. Sadly, as Andertons popularity grew, Nova couldn't compete and eventually closed, probably some time in the mid to late 2000's. My very last visit to the shop in 2004 was very unusual though. Tony had got into religion and prophecies. He said to me that in a few months, there is going to be a huge natural disaster. It will be gods way of cleansing the earth, removing a lot of bad and resetting things. It will be so big and obvious that it's a natural disaster that there will be no doubt that's it's not a terrorist attack. He then went on to say that after this has happened, God will turn his attention to the US as he's unhappy with the corruption and greed over there and again, there will be another natural disaster hitting the US and again, there will be no doubt that it's an act of nature and not a terrorist attack. Of course, I thought he was quackers but a few months later, the tsunami hit Indonesia on Boxing Day and then the following year, Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi. Anyway, also local to me was Andertons and I bought one of my first basses from them, a Washburn Force ABT b20 in crackle red when they were in their original location. They are still local to me so I pop in quite often. Also local to me was Kingfisher Music in Fleet which I used to buy things fro occasionally, usually for going on tour. I'm also someone who used to visit the Bass Centre in Wapping and I absolutely loved going there. It was brilliant. When we signed in 1998, I had it in my contract that I would get £5k to buy new bass gear. I headed straight to the Bass Centre and bought my dream bass, a Teal Stingray with maple neck. I also picked up a Status Energy, a Hartke HA7000 and a Hartke 4x10 and 1x15 with the aluminium speakers. The Stingray was an absolute disaster and never suited me, the Status sounded terrible so I swapped it and the rig was so big and powerful, I only ever toured with the 4x10. However, the Hartke HA7000 is still the best bass amp I've ever owned and used. Also local to me in Camberley, there used to be a music shop on the A30 in the 90's. It burnt down under suspicious circumstances and reopened in Sandhurst.

Satin necks. Matching headstocks on a bass with a maple neck. Amp and Cab overhangs. People who call a bass a guitar. People who call me a guitarist. Single cut basses.

This is my plan so far, get a Metro 20 which should do the trick.

I had a TC Corona Mini chorus along with an EBS, Electro Harmonix, Boss, Behringer and a few others and they have all come and gone. Nothing touches the Harley Benton Chorus, it is incredible and the sound I had in my head. I have also tried the MXR Octave pedals and actually have the octave deluxe version up for sale. Again, the boss one does it for me. As a fretless player, the two most important pedals for me are Chorus and Octave and both of these pedals give me exactly what I am after tonally. I would actually give up everything else before these two pedals The Mini Polytune is a good shout though.

I would also say, very much like his dad who also effortlessly flowed melodically around the fretboard, tastefully and always serving the song.

You are very welcome and I am super happy you appreciated it, thank you John does have quite an extensive back catalogue and he never submitted his performance right for a lot of tracks so there's probably more recordings of him that we are not aware off.

He sure was, I believe he and Rob used to buy lots of things off Ebay and make basses. I tried about 3 or 4 of his basses at The Gallery but nothing that I really wanted. I would love to have owned his black Fender Japan Power Jazz bass he played on some of the Simple Minds stuff. I would love to know what happened to it along with his natural Stingray. This is what Rob posted on Facebook back when John passed. "I’m sorry to say my dad passed away on May 14th 2023. He was an amazing man - genuine, charming and an utterly uplifting presence and it’s really heartbreaking that we won’t get to hang again. He burned brightly and departed elegantly, leaving a deep impression on all he met. John Giblin was also an incredible bassist and I wanted to use this post to pay a small tribute as he played an enormous part in influencing my playing, but his compassion and his character overshadow his music. He spent a lot of time looking after his good friend John Martyn in his final years. Kate Bush has some lovely words to say about John - “Everyone loved John. He was a really beautiful man in every sense of the word. Everybody wanted to work with him because he was such a great talent and everyone wanted to be his friend because he was such a wonderful person. I loved John so very much. He was one of my very dearest and closest friends for over forty years. We were always there for each other. He was very special. I loved working with him, not just because he was such an extraordinary musician but because he was always huge amounts of fun. We would often laugh so much that we had to just give in to it and sit and roar with laughter for a while. He loved to be pushed in a musical context, and it was really exciting to feel him cross that line and find incredibly gorgeous musical phrases that were only there for him. He would really sing. It was such a joy and an inspiration to see where he could take it. We’ve all lost a great man, an unmatchable musician and I’ve lost my very special friend. My world will never be the same again without him.” I only met John in later life but we instantly hit it off. Our views on music and all else were strangely aligned. He remains the only person I totally trusted on matters of bass tone and we enjoyed rummaging through ebay instruments even on our last chat. His style was rooted in soul and pop and he always had impeccable time and a real melodic ear, taking influence from Eberhard Weber as much as Jamerson and Jaco, he acheived the holy grail of establishing a unique voice whilst nailing all the attributes of a tasteful, grounding bass role. Phil Collins would rely on him to make a solid soulful rhythm section, while John Martyn would bring out a fluid and bluesy style coming more from his jazz influences. Peter Gabriel allowed John to stretch out melodically and Babooshka would never have been the masterpiece that it is without the beautiful fretless parts he imparted. Meanwhile check out the unique way he uses a delay pedal to bring a rhythmic excitement on Ghostdancing (live) with Simple Minds or his distinctive tone with british fusion pioneers Brand X. I made a little playlist of some of my favourite tracks. It’s by no means exhaustive, as he was a first call sessioneer for so many top artists. He wasn’t inclined to fill out a PPL form either so many of his works are quite difficult to identify! https://tinyurl.com/29a5d7xy I’m sure I missed some gems, so do let me know... Miss you dad"

A little update to my board which is mostly for fretless. A new addition is the Fender Bassman Driver which just adds a bit of grit. It's an awesome pedal and is perfect to cut through at certain points. The pedalboard is tight for space and not sure what I'm going to do when I get my hands on a MXR Bass Synth pedal. From right to left. 1. TC Electronic Tuner 2. Boss OC5 Octave 3. Fender Bassman Driver 4. Harley Benton CH5 Chorus (Best chorus I've ever had) 5. Walrus Audio Slo Reverb 6. Mooer Ambience A7 Reverb 7. Ampeg Opto Compressor 8. Sansamp BDDI v2 Preamp

I believe he is the son of the late great John Giblin who is probably my favourite bass player.