Kiwi

There seems to be a lot of love in that instrument, given the carving. Any chance of some sound clips at all?

Hey David, I like the curly maple one. What attracted you to these instruments more than the others which have passed through your hands? Are they keepers?

I'm sorry to hear what's happened but at least the police have him. Would it be worth seeking legal advice about bringing a civil case to recover the costs due to his neglicence?

The Boogie stuff is very robust but not very portable. You probably have loads of other options out there, if you're willing to do a bit of research.

In a word, I'd say probably not. Completely different pickups Different woods Different neck joint...etc. Why do you like your jazz, if your preference is for the sound of your Rick?

Why do you need Road Ready cabs specifically? Is it just to match your amp?

Ped and I tried them out a while back. Monstrous, raw sound, squarely aimed at metal and rock players. I wish I'd had my V8 back then, it would have been a murderous set up. We thought they were extremely heavy but thats because they use huge magnets in the drivers.

[quote name='~tl' post='543269' date='Jul 17 2009, 02:56 PM']Yeah, I always buy packs of 10 of the Procell ones, they're great. Just bought some from this seller (who's slightly cheaper than the one you linked to), though I've not used them before. I'm sure they'll be fine though! [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160332996870"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=160332996870[/url][/quote] FWIW, this is what I do also. My sound engineer advised me that using rechargables wasn't a good idea because they have different discharge characteristics to normal batteries (ie. they lose charge very quickly rather than gradually). So I'll always end up being caught out by them on a gig, even if I test before going on stage. He recommended Procels to me and I've never looked back since. I buy them from the cheapest supplier on Ebay usually.

Like I said in my first post, graphite necks sell themselves. There's no point in playing one if you prefer the sound of or are used to wooden necks. Anyone critcising a graphite neck for not sounding like a wooden one might as well criticise vodka for not tasting like whiskey... ...and thats even assuming that everyone has the same ideal tone in mind.

tapping will be easier on a graphite neck, it'll absorb less energy. Whether it gives you the tone you're looking for it another thing entirely but it might be worth considering the Status Stealth.

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='542700' date='Jul 16 2009, 10:33 PM']I take your point, but don't graphite necks have an inherently brighter and more'zingy' kind of sound to them?[/quote] Some do, but it depends on their construction. Generally, the stiffer the fingerboard, the zingier they are. The use of stainless steel frets doesn't help either. Wooden fingerboards are much better IMO.

Thats a very interesting bridge. Looks remarkably similar to the spector bridges! If you do bypass the buffer preamp and take the signal from the piezos straight to the eq then you could end up with a very harsh and thin signal. Impedance matching is pretty much essential if you want to get the best from your piezos.

Firstly you'd need to have a buffer preamp between your piezos and the eq. so the impedance is sorted. Secondly, make sure the piezos are big enough to detect bass strings (ie. fat contact points that won't slip between the windings on bass strings) Thirdly, piezos add a sound that can only be described as being similar to an amplified acoustic guitar (ie pretty hifi and flat but not very aggressive). They'll be hard to hear in a rock context but in a trio might be worth using. RMC are good. Maybe start there?

Give Jon a call. He's a diamond. He will help you out if he can.

The problem I see is that there's noone out there who has refined the technology of graphite necks. Like Wil says, noone's really experimented with wooden fingerboards much, and I think there's a lot of potential there. I've tried some fantastic sounding graphite necked instruments but the necks been wonky, and the instruments that have straight necks are too brittle. Ped's Vigier, Nick's Pangborn and my Alembic are the only instruments I've tried where everything's perfect. So, it CAN be done.

They sell themselves, but not all necks are created equal.

I've owned a bit of kit in my time and sometimes I've felt that when we talk about what we've owned, probably what doesn't get shared enough is people's experiences of using and combining kit. So I'll start the ball rolling. Kit I've owned: [b]Amps:[/b] [list] [*]Jansen 50w 1x15 combo [*]Peavey TNT150 1x15 combo [*]Trace Elliot AH250 [*]SWR Studio 220 [*]Eden WT800 [*]Burman Pro4000 (x3, but I've only got two now) [*]Mesa Boogie Bass 400+ [*]Warwick CL150 1x12 combo [*]Warwick CL4 1x12 combo [*]Trace Elliot MP11 + Mesa Boogie Strategy 400 power amp [*]Gallien Krueger RB700 1x15 combo (x2) [*]Trace Elliot V8* [*]Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0* [*]Rack based component rig (TL Audio, Lexicon MPXG2, Class D 1u 700w x2 power amp)* [/list][b]Cabs:[/b] [list] [*]Peavey 410TX [*]SWR Triad 1 [*]Hartke 4.5XL [*]Loud 2x10 (x2) [*]Gallien Krueger 210RBH [*]Acme B2 2x10 (x2) [*]EBS Neo212 (x2)* [/list] [b]Best value rig:[/b] GK RB700 1x15 combo (by a whisker over the rack rig, for the tiltback feature) [b]Best sounding rig:[/b] Rack rig + EBS Neo212 (very modern sounding but also extremely articulate) [b] Worst value rig:[/b] Trace Elliot MP11 + Mesa Boogie Strategy400 (expensive and not very versatile) [b]Worst sounding rig:[/b] Trace Elliot V8 + 2 Acme B2 cabs (kept distorting) [b]Lessons learned:[/b] [list=1] [*]Some basses sound better with some amps rather than others (fat sounding basses sound better with fat sounding amps) [*]Parametric eqs are infinitely better than graphics for managing onstage acoustics [*]I was surprised by how many muddy sounding backlines I've used at shared billings [*]Mids are critical to hearing myself on stage and there are a lot of coloured mid-scooped sounding amps out there [*]2x10's are good for mids but the lows are often poorly focussed [*]Tiltback cabs are worth their weight in gold for small stages (the lack of bottom end response doesn't matter when the stage is vibrating too.) [/list] *still owned

congratulations everyone, really, really nice basses

[quote name='Dan_Nailed' post='539946' date='Jul 14 2009, 01:08 AM']These "inbetweener" Euro's are my favourites, as they're solid maple but 35" scale. Nothing wrong with the LX or NS5CR, but the green one of yours represents my personal choice.[/quote] The NS5CR's were made from 94 to 98. What years are you referring to specifically?

OK, so Mark King's design talents obviously speak for themselves. That lower cutaway and access to the upper frets still needs looking at. Status basses are limited in the custom options by the manufacturing processes that Rob uses. Try asking Rob to copy the neck profile off your favourite non-status bass some time.

Now that is a vast improvement on the headed version. The design is starting to come together. The soapbars which can do J and humbucking is a very sensible idea and look much more in proportion to the body. I don't understand why Rob didn't do that in the first place. I'd have one, headless, 5 string with two of those custom wound soapbars.

Winston was the bass player for Massive Attack and I've only ever seen him with the same Smith BT5. He and Randy Hope-Taylor share the bass chair in a functions band called the All Stars who are playing a series of free concerts at The Scoop by City Hall. In fact there's one on July 17th. [url="http://www.theallstars.co.uk/"]http://www.theallstars.co.uk/[/url]

I really like the sound of mahogany. Bubinga has a bad tendency to deaden the response of instruments. I've found this in my Smiths even with relatively little amounts and spoken to a number of luthiers about it and they agree. I'd suggest you stick with the maple, mahogany combination and vary the proportions to taste. Maple for snap, brightness, tight lows and rigidity, mahogany for growl and warm boomy lows. Even after all of the instruments I've owned and played, its probably my most preferred combination of woods. In fact, for the fretless I'm commissioning to match my Shuker headless 6, I've asked Jon to put as much mahogany in the neck as it can take without it becoming seasonally sensitive. Match it up with either an alder or mahogany body, I'd suggest. Think about what kind of fingerboard you would like too, that can make a significant difference.

Was Wilson using his BT5 though that CMD121 combo of his? Last time I heard him live, he sounded really scooped, in fact there was virtually no high end at all. Was it like that this time or was the sound better? I've tried the same combination myself live and found it really difficult to hear myself because of the lack of mids.