bassaussie

1 hour ago, Bassassin said:

Well, it's '75, so lawsuit era, technically.

I thought you'd enjoy that.

6 hours ago, W1_Pro said:

The thing is though, it's really only Wal that have experienced these vertiginous price rises....Think of the other UK builders from the same era...Wilkes, already mentioned, Overwater, Goodfellow, Jaydee, Pangbourn, Manson...when they come up, they come up at reasonable prices, I can't sell an OW original for £1200 at the mo, theres been a very nice example of a Goodfellow on for some time, with the price reduced accordingly.  I recently bought a Jaydee supernatural for just over a grand, same for the Pangbourn Warlord I have. Can this all be down to that chap from Tool using one?

You've forced me to make a horrible confession to legitimise my comment.

I ..... I ..... was thinking of guitars! Zemaitis springs to mind. Amazing instruments - but 50k or 100k amazing? Maybe not.

Your comment about Tool, do you mean in relation to Wal basses? I think it goes beyond him, although his influence is undeniable. I might be wrong, but I always thought Flea's use of one of BSSM had a huge effect on their value.

3 hours ago, Bassassin said:

It's a Fujigen model 2385, identical to the equivalent Ibanez - which might have been a sensible way to sell it, you'd think!

 

So it's a lawsuit bass?

Sorry - just winding you up! Couldn't help myself!

15 hours ago, oldslapper said:

Maybe Doug’s work just isn’t that well known. 

I think it's more that his work was never associated with some name player. With a lot of the brands that pull big money, at some point, some famous player took one and gave the brand street cred, then all the fans of that bass player had to get one as they needed to reproduce that sound. I'm not suggesting those instruments aren't great instruments - they are, hence the reason the famous bassist picked one up. But I do think that some of the crazy prices we see with certain instruments is more related to that connection with the famous player, rather than any real superiority of it compared to a Wilkes.

57 minutes ago, ead said:

Japanese made I believe.  Mine had a stunning flamed neck and board so I don't think it's the same bass.

The flame on the neck is really pretty. Amazing how often you see stuff like this, old "cheap" basses that had beautiful pieces of wood on them.

The name on the gigbag is probably closer to the truth.

50 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

All that is missing is the UV light!

 

All?!!! That's the main reason I bought a TE!!!

To be honest, I don't have the technical knowledge to completely follow all you've put there, other than that it seems someone decided to hotrod the thing. I guess if it's working well after a year of use, that has to be a positive sign.

4 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm trying to convince myself to split my 1110 combo into a 19" head and a 4x10 cab.

63kg is manageable for me though, especially as I've fitted castors, reading this thread makes me feel it's a bit special and more reluctant to start butchering....

Given that the TE stuff from back then is quite modular, could you not extract the amp part, and put it in a road case, then just use the remaining cabinet as a speaker box? At least that way you can put it back together if you choose.

I just noticed you had another thread on this amp. I was always under the impression that the internal speakers in those combos were rated at 8ohm, as the brochures always suggested you could add another 8hm cabinet to give full power. This would also make sense given that the AH150 at that time delivered (I think) 90 watts into 8 ohms, and 150 watts in 4 ohms.

Sorry, should've added that the AH150 is the actual amp in the 1110 and 1115 combos.

One of the things I always liked in those early brochures were the suggested rig combinations, which a few people above have commented on.

It might be fun to comment on any sightings of some of these combinations.

The one I always remember was Doug Wimbish when he came to Australia with Living Colour. His rig was 4 AH500s (or AH600, I can't remember which), 4 * 1048 (4*10"), and 4 * 1518 (1*15") - so basically, 4 stacks.  I saw them in concert, but he also did a presentation at a local music show, and it's difficult to explain how loud he was - I'm pretty sure Sydney Airport probably rang him up to ask him to turn down a bit as the Jumbo pilots were having a hard time telling if the engines had started up or not!

On 24/01/2021 at 12:06, DiMarco said:

I scavenged the internet and found  some gems.
Thought I'd share

Brilliant thread DiMarco. Thanks for sharing it with us.

I remember that Mark V catalog, I had it and probably read it 1000 times before I eventually got a Mark V AH250. TE were really difficult to get in Australia, and insanely expensive, but the sound - wow! I kept the amp for years, gigged it for years, and never had an issue with it. Just the best kit for bass.

24 minutes ago, thebrig said:

It's definitely his call, but could it be a genuine case of mis-typing £9000.00 instead of £1900.00 and just didn't notice his mistake at the time, and then just copied and pasted his second listing, again not checking his listing properly? Or am I being too generous in giving him the benefit of the doubt? 🤔

I think you're being generous.

Obviously he's believed that there's something very special about the instrument for a long time, and he's not going to be swayed on that point.

1 minute ago, thebrig said:

How much did he have it up for in October?

Same price.😂

Ultimately it's his call, he can ask what he wants. But you'd think a person who wanted to sell something would at least check what the market is valuing an item at.

This instrument was commented on a few months back. I'm really surprised to see it didn't sell. 🤣

1 hour ago, thebigyin said:

I have huge respect for Joe Hubbard hence joining the 2 year Bass Mastery Course but i'm a non reader and 16 weeks into it i just thought enough's enough this just isn't registering so i pulled out....maybe if i had aspirations to turn pro but i will never achieve that level

Fair enough. Ultimately it's about enjoying yourself. If that's not happening, then it doesn't make sense to continue.

1 hour ago, thebigyin said:

Well after 20 odd years playing Bass on and off i've decided to concentrate on Guitar....always had an Acoustic knocking about and learnt some fingerstyle ect, but bought an 80s Epiphone LP Standard a few months ago and little Blackstar 10w practice amp and find it much more enjoyable....really tried to up my game with the Bass learning theory but the big mistake came after enrolling on Joe Hubbards 2 Year Bass Mastery Course (at great expense) took the risk hoping this would make me focus and better my playing but been a non reader it went straight over my head and the endless meaningless drills just bored the tits off me, i'm just not a Jazz/Improve player just not good enough.....give me some good ol' 70s power chord Blues/Rock classics and some 80s Metal and it's happy days, wishing you all the best i've enjoyed the Forum it's been great but always deep down wanted to learn Guitar and progressing quite well.

You seem a little dismayed with not achieving much with the Joe Hubbard course. First, I have to preface what I'm going to say by saying that I have mad respect for Joe Hubbard, he's an incredible bassist, and really, there's not much more needs to be said. But I think his courses are aimed at a fairly specific genre of music, and fairly specific skills. There are a lot of good, successful bassists out there who can't do the stuff that JH teaches, and that's OK, because they don't need to.

Not trying to talk you out of pursuing guitar - I love guitar as well. But more saying that a course like JH's shouldn't be some benchmark that determines if you're good enough on bass or not, because I don't think that's the case at all. You could reel off a who's who of bassists who can't touch JH, but are still incredibly influential musicians, because they use the bass to speak the music they want to speak.

23 minutes ago, Cato said:

I've pretty much always played both, I've never seen it as an either/or situation.

At the moment I'm playing more skinny string guitar, but there's always a point where I'll want to add a bassline to whatever I've been doing on the guitar.

If I come up with something I like on bass then likewise I'll reach for the guitar to try and build on that.

I can't really imagine myself ever quitting one completely to concentrate on the other because I suppose see them as complementary skills, I'd say that being able to add guitar to my bass parts actually enhances my enjoyment of playing bass and vice versa.

I'm the same as you, always played both, and at present, same as you, I'm more focused on guitar. But I'll regularly pick up bass because it's what I feel at the moment.

11 hours ago, strabel said:

That info is not correct,knobs  are okay,but your bridge is not and looks like a Ibanez "Blazer" bridge.😉

http://www.ibanezrules.com/catalogs/us/1984/index.htm

That's a beautiful example of that model.

In answer to your question, unfortunately, the knobs aren't original. By this time, Ibanez were using their revolutionary "Sure Grip II" knobs (otherwise known as "a plastic knob with a rubber ring on it" ). Regardless, it's still a cracking example.

GLWTS.

43 minutes ago, BreadBin said:

Correct intonation is overrated anyway...

That was the first thing I noticed! At least it's in a straight line.

9 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

Lol, thanks for saying so bassaussie,  but if you look at the build diary sub-forum you’ll see projects far more ambitious than mine, there are BC-ers who are proper luthiers........

Do you have any idea about the origins of the TBird body? I've never seen anything like that before, but the woodgrain top really suits the body shape.

Shaggy, with all due respect ...... I think you should be banned from this thread. All I see above is three basses that tell me how inadequate I am!

I was already amazed by the fretless, which is an incredible looking instrument, and then you top that with the Thunderbird.

2 hours ago, Beedster said:

.... many of the new parts that sell below £100 on eBay are simply not very good ......

You read my mind.

I see these low priced parts from time to time, and I'll think "mmm .... very tempting". But then you add it all up ..... 80 for a body .... 80 for a neck .... 80 for all the parts ....... suddenly, you're competing with a Squier, only you have no idea what you'll end up with, and the resale value is going to be negligible. So I can see that patience and slightly more investment in a brand name would benefit the end result.

Question for Beedster (and others in the know).

When you're looking on Ebay, Reverb, or wherever, are there particular things you look for? Brand names, particular woods, anything else? And on the other side of that, are there specific things you avoid?

The most obvious answer for me would be Paul McCartney and his Hofner bass. He's stated for years that there were two reasons he bought the bass. The first was that it was symmetrical, which helped with him being left handed. The second was that it was significantly cheaper than other options such as Fender. George and John were willing to get loans to pay for their more expensive American instruments, while McCartney wasn't willing to do that.

50 minutes ago, Oldman said:

I do hope I’ve bought a “Magical Combination”  😂🤗

OK ..... maybe I overdid it a bit!

57 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Always amazes me just how many necks and bodies that together make for a lifeless and dull sounding instrument, when paired with a part from  another bass can sound completely different, a fact I discovered in 2005 when I bought a lovely looking but totally lifeless '75 Precision on eBay, took off the maple neck and put on a fretless neck and the bass sung. I put the maple neck from that bass onto the body of the fretless and it also sung.

I have a friend who lives locally, and who has a far more extensive collection that I do (or most people, for that matter ).

He's very into doing what you said - experimenting with different body and neck combinations, and from seeing the results of that, I totally agree with what you said. It's amazing how getting the right two pieces together suddenly transforms them into this magical combination that was completely unexpected.