Linus27

Awesome news, welcome to the dark side 🤣

Thanks for the update. I'm still loving mine as well and have been playing it a lot recently. I agree, the stand is heavy but it's good quality. What tinkering did you do to the case?

That's awesome, I'm glad you liked it and it helped. Also, don't let anyone tell you that you get less mwah with flats, that recording was done using Rotosound Jazz flats

Thank you sir, that's very kind of you 😊

I had an Ash bodied natural Fender Precision with coated maple fretless board and it was incredible. It was so nice to play and sounded amazing. The below track was recorded using it and its one of my favourite fretless bass sounds I've recorded.

Not only do I prefer to play fretless, I actually find it easier. Its more natural and intuitive. Having played fretless exclusively for the last 10 years or so, going back to playing fretted feels really restricted and constrained.

Three months ago, all I owned was 4 fretless basses and had no intention of buying a fretted bass. However, an artist saw me play (fretless) at a gig in April and asked if I would like to play bass for them. It required a fretted bass so I had to pick one up. This led to playing a big festival gig so I picked up a backup fretted last month.

As a kid growing up in the 80's, fretless was right at the forefront for me, despite at the time not knowing it was a thing, I vividly remember listening to Sting and Paul Young thanks to my older sisters playing 80's music throughout the house day in day out. When I picked up the bass in the late 80's, one of my goals in life was to become a competent fretless bassist and these days, for the last 10 years, I've only played fretless. Only recently have I had to buy a fretted bass for a new project but it was super hard going back to a fretted bass with all those messy lines and dots all over the place, playing unlined fretless is so much easier. I've had 14 fretless basses in total and currently have 3 really good ones. Below are what I have or have had. Fender Japan 62RI Fretless Jazz x4 Fender Japan 60's Classic Fretless Jazz x1 Fender Japan 60RI Fretless Precision x1 Fender Japan Precision with Fretless Status Graphite Neck x1 Fender Mexican 70RI Precision with Custom Maple Fretless Neck x1 EBMM Stingray SR4 with Fretless Pau Ferro Neck x1 EBMM Stingray SR4 with Fretless Rosewood Neck x1 Warwick Streamer Jazzman Fretless x1 Limelight 60RI Fretless Jazz x1 Squire VM Jazz Fretless x1 Unknown Fretless Bass x1 I am super tempted to buy the cheaper Pino fretless as I think it would be fun to have in the collection. Here's a few pictures from what I can find quickly.

I wonder if the route that EBMM take if this bass seems popular from a sales point of view is they just make a basic fretless Ray24 using a range of limited block colours, basic hardware and a rosewood neck. Basically a £500 fretless Ray24.

Nice and good choice. Remember to post pictures when you get everything up and running.

That will be a nice bass if mine is anything to go by.

Yes, passive is an option by flicking the small switch. In passive mode, you only get volume, pickup pan and tone. In active mode, you get volume, pickup pan, tone, mids, bass and treble.

Here's a few pictures of my Fender Player ii Modified Active Precision in Metallic Forest Green. Despite it not really being the sort of bass I would gravitate towards, its actually a really fun bass to play and I'm super happy with it ...... for now (More on that later). I'm typically a fretless player, a Japanese Fender fanboy and a passive only snob. However, I was asked to play bass with a new artist and this included doing four shows at Glastonbury this year. I already had my gorgeous Fender Japan 60's Classic Precision which sounds and plays beautifully but because of the big occasion, I thought I better pick up a backup bass. I went back and forth from buying a Japanese Fender 62RI or 75RI Jazz, an American Vintage ii 54 Precision, a Japanese Stingray SR4 EX, a Fender Vintera ii Telecaster bass, a Squire 40th Anniversary Precision to sticking a fretted neck on one of my fretless basses. I had a week to go before heading to Glastonbury and the Fender Vintera ii Modified Active Precision in Metallic Forest Green was on my radar, not because I liked the look of the bass, I didn't because it wasn't a Japanese Fender but simply because I like the idea of a PJ configuration but more so that green is my favourite colour and a green bass would be my dream bass. I decided to head to Andertons to try a few basses out, probably with the intention of coming home with a Fender Vintera ii Telecaster bass as I liked the one I played when they first came out, I adore the look of them and it would make a fun and interesting back up. So I first tried one and mmm, yeah, I liked it again, but I didn't remember the neck to be this chunky or the bass to be this heavy so I had a slight doubt now. I then tried the American Vintage ii 54 Precision and what a bass. The tone, the playability, the build quality, it was simply on another level. I couldn't afford it but needed to make a decision so it was on the list and man maths was in full flow. I then tried the Fender Vintera ii Modified Active Precision, expecting it to be a bit nasty and I was massively surprised at how good it was. The neck was wonderful and the tone out of the box was really strong and punchy. I had no idea what half of the controls did and if I was in active or passive (I was in active) but it just sounded and played so good. My head was still doing man maths on convincing myself to buy the American Vintage ii 54 Precision and telling myself it's not a Japanese Fender but it was such a great bass that I couldn't fault it. As a reference, I tried a Fender Standard Jazz and it lasted less than a minute, it was horrible. Thankfully my wife was with me and she has amazing logic and reasoning and basically decided for me. If the artist I'm playing with at Glastonbury goes on and does a lot more afterwards then that's justification to trade up or buy the American Vintage ii 54 Precision but for now, it's not the time. Not the answer I wanted but I knew it was the smart decision. Don't buy a Stingray, you always sell them and never happy with them. Harsh but fair. The Telecaster bass is ugly (her opinion, not mine) but is heavy, chunky, I'll probably never play it when I have my Japanese Fender Precision which is fabulous and I'll get fed up lugging it about and never playing it. She's right .... again. That left the Fender Vintera ii Modified Active Precision which she said sounded really good but it would make a great bass for what I need right now, could be good enough as a fun alternative but could also easily be sold if things go no further or traded in for the American Vintage ii 54 Precision if they do. So that was that, a decision was made. So here it is and isn't she a beauty. The funny thing is, after all of this, it was decided not to take two basses to Glastonbury as space was premium and I just took my Japanese Fender Precision in the end which performed magnificently. Either way, I have no doubts and I'm super happy I still bought it. I did struggle a little to get a tone I was happy with but changing to a set of light gauge LaBella Deep Talkin flats pretty much fixed that. However, it looks like the artist I played Glastonbury with is going to go further so the American Vintage ii 54 Precision is still on the cards. However, I have plans for the Fender Vintera ii Modified Active Precision but we will save that for another post when the time comes. For now, here's some pictures along with my Japanese Fender 60's Classic Precision.

I played through an old Trace Elliot GP7 combo at Glastonbury this year. I was so excited to see it on stage and it sounded absolutely incredible.

Just goes to show how much I know, I said to the wife, that's a Fender Jazz Marcus Miller bass, really nice bass but didn't really realise they were out in 1985. She said, it looked really new so maybe they'd just come out. Didn't realise it was actually Marcus Miller playing 😆

No worries, I was interested as I believe you and I live in roughly the same area and the way you described the drummer reminded me of someone who I was wondering if it's the same person. More recently he was playing in a really good female fronted 3 piece playing 80's covers.

Can you say what band?

Another vote for Bartolini Originals. Best pickups I've ever used.

I wouldn't say fretless sounds dated. Pino obviously has his sound which he's showcasing here but in the hands of another player, its going to sound totally different.

Yeah, that's actually a good point, they don't really go in for the signature models as much.

As a fretless player, Pino and then later on John Giblin were my hero's when I was learning bass and I've even had punters say my playing is similar or they can tell the influence. I've had fretted and fretless Stingray's in the past and I really struggle to get on with them. The fretless worked the best for me and despite sounding great, played great with incredible build quality, when I pick up a fretless Jazz, it just sings more and suits me better. I am simply more comfortable and creative with a fretless jazz. I still wouldn't say no to one of the cheaper fretless Pino Stingrays as they are going to be wonderful basses but its not something I am willing to spend £3.5k on. The fact EBMM have released these bases, despite being between 20-40 years too late is a huge positive as they will be out in the field and available second hand which is when I may go for one.

Amazing, thank you

I've just bought a Fender Player II Active Modified Precision in Forest Green and I must say, its beautiful. It plays really well, is very well built for a Mexican bass and does sound quite punchy. I've changed the strings to a set of La Bella Deep Talkin flats and it has improved the tone. Not sure I'm fully settled on these strings for this bass so we will see but my only minor gripe is the pickups sound a little thin, certainly compared to my other PJ and P-Bass. So I'm toying with the idea of upgrading the pickups. As the bass is active and passive, the pre-amp is quite detailed with a volume, pickup pan and tone in passive mode and volume, pickup pan, tone, mid cut/boost, bass cut/boost, treble cut/boost along with a active/passive switch. It also runs on 18v. So my question is, can I just leave the pre-amp alone and change to any PJ pickups of my choice or do I need to find a set of pickups that can be used with the pre-amp and the 18v power?

My mind is made up, this will suit my band no end and allow for more creativity. I can get rid of my Octave pedal and use this as well as some of the other presets and features. I'm sold, take my money 😆