Linus27

I only play fretless and currently have 3 fretless basses. My fretless Jazz has LaBella Deep Talkin Black Nylon strings on it and they are very expressive with tension that's similar to rounds. It even says on the description that they are ideal for fretless and give long sustain. They are great for something like a Jazz or Stringray that is more articulate and cuts through a lot more. My main gigging fretless Precision has La Bella Low Tension Flats which sound really warm but also punchy and expressive. The tension is similar if not a little more to rounds. They are super smooth and shiny. I was considering changing them but I get so many compliments on the tone that I'm just gonna keep them on. Even the first gig I played with them, I got 3 or 4 comp,moments and even my mother in law was at the gig seeing me play for the first time and said after that she has no idea what I'm doing but my bass sounded so big and amazing. My other fretless Precision has Rotosound Jazz 77 Flats on it and I would probably say has the nicest, most natural tone. Warm round, punchy and can clank with the treble turned up. They do however have the highest tension which is why I just use this bass for recording only. When I recorded an EP last year, I tried all my basses in the studio and this one sounded the best, amazing in fact so everything was recorded with it. On some tracks though, I doubled up using the fretless Jazz with the La Bella Black Nylon strings because as I said earlier, these strings are very expressive so together it made quite an orchestral sound, cello like. When I had my fretless Stingray, I really struggled to get a good tone out of it, that was until I strung it with a set of La Bella Deep Talkin Black Nylon string. The bass then came alive and I never looked back and it sounded wonderful. If I get 5 mins together, I'll try and put together a recording of the 3 basses I do have with the 3 different strings so you can hear for yourself. One thing also to consider is to really boost harmonics, a chorus pedal and reverb pedal makes them sound massive.

I had an Ibanez Musician in the 90's after seeing them played a lot in the 80's. I loved it but it was super heavy. I would love a fretless Ibanez Musician in dark stain but they are super rare these days.

Difficult gig last night but also a huge honour to have played. Found out earlier in the year, one of my long term friends called Matt has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has only got about 18 months to live. We go way back, something like 32 years and he used to follow one of my old bands and eventually became our roadie. I actually met him in 1991 in the queue to see The Alarm at Brixton Academy and when my other friend introduced us, he told him I play in a band which Matt responded by saying, I bet you're not very good, you'll never play Brixton Academy with your band. Funnily enough, exactly a year later, we found ourselves playing Brixton Academy, not once but twice and my friend Matt was actually there as well. We'd planned to play him a private, intimate gig sometime in October, with family and a few friends. However, he found out he now only has 3, 6 to 9 months left so we brought the gig forward to last night. He had no idea so it was a huge surprise for him as he thought he was just leaving Cardiff to see friends in Reading. We had people flying over from Germany and driving to Surrey from Portsmouth and Cardiff. Anyway, as you can imagine, it was a very intimate gig which was in a beautiful church in Wokingham. We set it up as if we were doing a rehearsal so the 12 or so people were really close and involved and felt part of the band. We had a joint friend play some Alarm songs first and then we played. It was very moving with lots of tears and the family couldn't thank us and everyone enough. A very special gig and not quite processed it all yet.

Welcome to Basschat @CiciBass and thank you for sharing your Ashdown video with us. Have also enjoyed your Andertons videos with Lee although I wished you'd asked me to do the recent fretless one you did 😉

I used to be bass - lead - amp for about 35 years but now I only play fretless and in a band where I play quite a lead role, I am starting to discover pedals and I love it. I'm not going crazy and just have a small pedal board which contains a tuner, octave, chorus and reverb but I have just added a Zoom MS60 Stompbox. This seems to add some nice effects like tremolo which combined with chorus and reverb makes a lovely sound when playing harmonics.

Superb gig at The Mill in Elstead, near Godalming as part of their Millfest event. Wasn't quite sure how well we'd go down but we actually went down a storm and received loads of great feedback. The sound guy who'd never heard us before came up to us after and said it sounded amazing and wanted to know about us and even another bassist said to me after, "from one bassist to another, you are an inspiration". That made my weekend 😁

Excellent, thank you for the tip and I will do.

Thread resurrection, but just want to add that I used a Fender Rumble 500v3 tonight at a indoor Festival with my Fretless Fender Precision and I was really impressed with it. Loud, punchy and great sounding. My octave pedal sounded amazing through it, so much so that our singer complimented it mid song and then to the audience after. The band on after, the bassist was using a Stingray so different to my bass and he also sounded great. Seriously considering one now after tonight's gig.

I only play fretless so this is my simple little board. I've only just got the Zoom so haven't worked out any patches yet but it does have some nice effects that I'm liking.

I've been playing for 37 years and have gone through a whole host of basses, mostly Fender Jazz and Precision's but I have also had Stingray's, Warwick's, Laklands etc. My tastes do change and depending on the project or band I will use a bass that suits it best but its usually a Jazz or a Precision. For the last 10 years I've only played fretless so that brings a whole new range of basses but again, it's only a Jazz, Precision or Stingray. I've also settled down a lot in what I like or want or no longer have a need to gry other basses.

I tried a 40th Anniversary Squire Precision today and it was lovely. I need a fretted in my collection for a possible project so I gave it a try and I really liked it. Really well built, sounded really nice and felt great to play. I'd have no problem buying one. I also tried a 74 Telcaster which was incredible but the neck was about twice as thick and it weighed about 4 times as much. It also cost 9 times as much so I won't be buying it hehe

I use LaBella Black Nylon Flats on my Jazz and Stingray and they are incredible. For my Stingray it totally brought it to life 😁

After 36 years of playing, trying many different makes of basses, I know exactly what I feel most comfortable playing and that is either a Fender Jazz or a Fender Precision which includes Stingrays and the odd other similar bass. I know how they sound so its down to finding the best version of that bass possible and the colour or look that suits my preferences. Fender Japan tends to be my preference as I prefer a gloss neck which is more common on a Japanese Fender as opposed to a Satin finish. I like them to have US pickups and I prefer earlier Japanese Fenders that are made from Alder or Ash as they are heavier and feel nicer to play over the lighter Basswood bodies that they started to use from around 1994 onwards. I'm also happy to use a US or even good Mexican model if it ticks all the boxes.

This is my favourite, I adore this track and I had it played at my wedding by a live Uillean Piper. I love Sinead's version.

Ok excellent, thank you for your help 👍

Now this is interesting, Rotosound Flats are high tension but boy do they sound great recorded. Just so much presence but yep, I get they are high tension. A lovely alternative is LaBella Low Tension flats. Great tone and not high tension although higher than rounds.

Me neither.

Anyone have any thoughts on what this noise might have been at my gig the other day. Set up my rig which is my bass direct into my pedal board via a cable and then a cable direct into my amp and turned my amp on and it made a fast repeating clicking noise and no noise from my bass. Plugged my bass direct into my amp with a lead and it still did it. Unplugged the bass so just the power cable to the amp and connector from the amp to the speaker and it still made the clicking noise. I then pressed the ground lift button on and turned the amp on again and no clicking. Turned the amp off, pressed the ground lift button off and still no clicking. So not sure if pressing the ground lift on and off was a coincidence or not but I set up as normal with the pedal board and everything was fine for the entire night. Tested it at home the next day and everything was working fine. I've played this venue about 10 times with no issues and the only thing different in our entire setup was a new set of lights which was plugged into the same extension bank as I was plugged in to. Would this be the possible cause, or could it be something else or possibly the amp?

Thank you very much and I agree, an Ash body and Maple neck sounds amazing. I really should have a fretted bass in my collection (you can never have enough fretless basses though) and I think this new Telecaster bass will do just nicely 😁

It was one of my dream basses as well when I was starting out on bass after seeing Sting play a fretless version. Even if I hadn't, the Ash body, maple neck, black pick guard with 70's look is one of my favourites. However, I also have a fretless neck for it so I have my replica Sting bass and even though I don't gig with it, it's the best sounding bass for recording and used every Tuesday at rehearsals. If I ever see one for sale then I'll let you know 👍 Here it is with my other basses.

So what do we think the price point of these will be? I think either £1199 or £1299 but I'm hoping £999. A Spanish site has them advertised at €1250 Euro's.

I have a Mexican Fender FSR 70's Precision that came out around 2018 and the quality is equally as good as any US Fender I've had including the AVII 75 Jazz. It did come as standard with Vintage 62 pickups and vintage tuners and bridge but the finish, playability and build is incredible. I literally walked into Guitar Guitar, saw it hanging up, played it for 5 mins and bought it, it was that good and it only cost £800 new. I still have it now and adore it and it's my main bass for recording and rehearsing. I'm hoping these new Vintera basses or at least the Telecaster basses are just as good.

Oh my, I want that Telecaster bass, I just cant decide Sea Foam Green or Vintage White. Congratulations also to Fender for again not releasing an unlined fretless Precision or Jazz, good effort as usual 🙄

My rig from last night. Warwick Gnome I Pro 280, Barefaced Two10 and my Japanese fretless Fender Precision.