NeilMorrell

Are any other Contemporary J users having issuses with exceptoonally noisy actives (almost like something is breaking down) or is it just me. Just had to do my debut gig with a new band with the Musicmaster because the Overwater sounded pap. Never thought I'd be writing that?

For years I've gigged I've gigged with 5 Strings. I now own equal numbers of 5's and 4's with 3 each. However, the 4 strings are the cheap Acoustic, the "Stealth" Soundgear Fretless, and a Dwarf (Fender Musicmaster). So I don't own a "Normal" bass. I am actually thinking of getting one - either a "bitsa" 51 P, or an Overwater Classic J. Fancy a 5 String Fretless before bothering with that though. .

I once was late for a rehearsal because as I was about to leave, I realised that there were about 40 Met Police in FULL RIOT GEAR covering an Armed Response Unit in the street outside. No shots were fired and no one arrested - Turned out they were actually filming "The Bill". Looked dead real through my kitchen window though - laser sights and everything.

Nice looking MM there Stag. If anyone is interested, I may be able to get some accurate bodys made, If blanks are done, then they can be routed further to either Musicmaster or Mustang as per required. One thing! If you can't find the original bridge, DO NOT attempt to put a Squire Bronco Bridge (easily available on EBay, or I have one for sale - however, I have a "bitsa" 51 P Bass in mind at the mo so may use it on that) on a Musicmaster Body. The rear screw holes are not in the same place - and the bridge routs on the MM body are exactly where the back screws will go!

Well, it's 79. I picked it up in a right state in August 1989 (for £65). I patched her up here and there, but after a few years decided that she really need to be given the love and attention she deserved, and decided to get her back to something like normal. However, I'm not very good at stuff like that - particularly the sanding and painting, so at the start of November, I passed all the bits to someone who DOES. I got it back last week looking like this, Boy does she play well. Has a Seymour Duncan SHR-1b Pup in and sounds lush (as long as you leave it as far from the strings as you can!!).

The Zippo between the two is supposed to be for comparison. Ibanez CT5 Overwater (Tanglewood) Contemporary J 5 (in "Elsan Blue Sunburst")

I like the look of the Squire Jag S/S - Now THERE is a bass ripe for customisation - P/J config, and you could easily drop a J-Retro in there, If you can put up with the 30" Scale Length that is.

My last band recently split up, after 8 years, down to a guitarist being hell bent on doing agent gigs on the northern club scene. When a 5 piece, female fronted Classic 70s/80s Rock Covers band arrives at a booking after travelling 50/60 miles, and finds themselves advertised as "5 Piece Showband" or "Caberet Rock outfit" it does NOT instill confidence. He NEVER came to see us, not even a rehearsal. He was also swapping with other agents to get us bookings at places we wouldn't have played at in a million years. Then when you are NOT as advertised, you have to deal with the committee, or at least the concert secretary. Basically the agent does not give a monkeys if you get booked back or not, as long as he gets his commission. And don't get me started about bloody bingo!!

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1323345126' post='1462185'] Everyone's different, for example I don't get on with skinny necks so that rules out a fair few basses for me: -Fender Jazz Basses -Almost anything Ibanez -A lot of peaveys [/quote] Not all skinny!

If you start to learn on a poor quality/badly set up instrument, then you probably not stick with it. After Christmas the second hand shops are full of unwanted plywood. I've heard that the Westfield stuff is excellent, but generally I would steer clear of the really cheap stuff. The Ibanez Soundgears are great basses (I have 2, plus a Ibanez CT which is not dissimilar) - GOOD second hand stuff has the advantage that it holds it's value. However, the Overwater by Tanglewood J Bass starts around £399 and they are excellent. Probably starting to hit second hand now too if you're lucky. As for a decent Amp - compared with some of the crap some of us probably had when we started, there is no such thing as a bad amp these days. If you want to gig with it, at least 65w (for a combo) and a decent eq (and if you can, a horn) should see you right. Good news is that these days you can buy giggable amps that only need one person to carry. Again, second hand is good - buy one and if it's a flunker, sell it on (but not to me). And good luck!

Poo - I ordered something off the website last week (had no idea) and was wondering where it was. Sorry to hear the news - Sure you've far more on your mind.

Which one Jimbo? (was at Uni in Huddersfield in the mid 90's).

I have a Maine "Musician" 2x12 100w Combo. There was a 80w 2x10 version (Stage) and a 50w 2x8 (Club). It has 3 channels, has an enormous reverb tank and sounds almost like a valve amp. The speakers in mine are Fane. Mine is closed back, very heavy and practically bombproof. Fretless sounds fab through it with just a little reverb. I remember once being told that the guy that started Session had something to do with these amps.

[quote name='overwater' timestamp='1307897490' post='1266368'] The second container is now on route and should arrive in the UK at the beginning of July and is essentially a repeat of the first run – but with some technical modifications and upgrades born out of our experience with the first production. So no new models or finishes are included in this shipment (and I don't think we have any Aspiration Elite 5's - which were designated for 'production 3' - though I will check on this next week when I get the manifest..). Production 3 – which I am meeting with the MD of Tanglewood on Wednesday to specify, will include some new finishes, some left handed models and a couple of fretlesses (which for sonic reasons, will have different body woods to the fretted versions). The Elite Aspirations will include new top wood options and probably some 5 strings. We will also be addind a new a new passive 'sub £300' Aspiration – which we have also designed and made prototypes for and sounds and feels great and which we're really excited about! Production 3 will probably be built in late July/August, for September shipping – so should be in the shops during October. I realise the progress may seem ponderous - but I would rather take a little longer and get things right, than rush into larger production at the expense of quality control! With regard to the 'Limited Edition' models – we are currently finishing a small batch of basses here in the UK workshops. These are hand finished and assembled in the UK, signed and numbered by myself – the first of which should be available and on out web site within a week or two. I hope this answers a few of your concerns – and yes we will try to update the web site a little more often! But if anyone has any specific queries, or questions about our UK built instruments – please don't hesitate to give me a call on: +44 (0)1228 590 591 Thanks, Chris May [/quote] Has "production 3" happened yet then?

Here's my 1987 SR05

I'm currently having restored a 197? Fender Musicmaster Bass. It had been mistreated as a pup, and when I bought it in 1989, was in a fairly sorry state. Sadly, after being gigged into the Mid-90s, it was put aside "for restoration". Tis now being done and coming along nicely too. Serial Number is S832608, which is dated by most sites as 78-79. No Neck Date is readable, but in the Pickup Cavity was a paper sticker (which will be going back). It has a narrow red stripe across the top edge, has the initials "LC" followed by a date - 8 May 79. Will take a Pic when I get a mo - certainly before it all goes back together!!!

When I put the 2-band in my Ibanez, Chris did stress the importance of shielding the Control Cavity - not to rely on just conductive paint, but to get some proper shielding in there, as the circuit was a bit noisy without it. So, I obtained some Aluminum Tape and did the whole lot, and must say, I haven't had any problems since.

Ahhhh - Valve envy It was once explained to me thus. 1) That "Valve Tone" that is so, so useful to guitarists is far less useful to Bass Players. (Likewise - Class D Power Amps are so good for low frequencies - hence we are getting smaller and smaller gear - you wouldn't dream of building a Guitar Amp around one, because it would probably sound s**t.) 2) A head with 6x6550's (running at 50w per valve - which is pretty close to tolerance) would be better off on the floor, not bouncing around on top of a 2x18 or whatever it's plugged into. Vibration like that and Tubes don't mix!

I'm sure it's Laurance Blackadder isn't it? Was handed over to him (by Chris) when I bought some actives (for another bass) about 5 years ago, while he explained the wiring. Still got the post it note I scribbled the instructions on, and they still sound superb.

I play at Sutton Village Church in St Helens, Lancs (Formerly Herbert Street (or for the pedants,St Helens Junction) Independent Methodist). Have done so for the last 20 years or so. Although I do play in a couple of "Secular" bands (and no-one minds that) I really enjoy playing Praise and Worship more than anything else. Back in the late 80's, we found ourselves doing Kendrick to death ("Rejoice, Rejoice" and then "Shine,Jesus, Shine" (which seemed to be played at least 3 times in every service in Britain throughout 1989). Today, there is so much great music out there, with so much variety of style - I can slip between fretted and fretless and back to my hearts content. Being the only bass player in Church though is a bit weird. I would like to encourage the younger adults to consider taking Bass up. I've been playing Bass since my early teens. I was never encouraged much at school to develop an interest in music (where you practically had to be a prodigy by 11 for anyone to take notice of you at all), so now that my former Head of the Music Dept is getting to take notice (as his wife is our Minister), I find it even more satisfying. While I find a real freedom in Church (as I don't read dots), a couple of times I have had to really rein that in. As someone who likes to "noodle" around stuff like "Father God I wonder", being dropped in to play with Ishmael once was quite stressful. He was wonderful to work with though, and didn't mind a bit. Same happened a couple of years ago when Mark and Carrie Tedder came to our Church for a Worship weekend. On the Saturday Night, it was just myself and the Worship Leader (who was sitting in on Drums - normally a guitarist). It was wonderful, but I did spend a bit of time studying DVD's to ensure I wasn't going to spoil his songs too much. Following morning, for our "normal" service, the whole group played, so it was a little bit easier.

Noticed that bass last night. I'm currently having mine restored. To at least LOOK somewhat original.

I think one or two Overwater owners here are impressed with the Tanglewoods - such as Machines here in the "Overwater Basses by Tanglewood" thread. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/82230-overwater-basses-by-tanglewood/page__view__findpost__p__1379323"]http://basschat.co.u...ost__p__1379323[/url] To hear a comparison, here are a few of the range (but none of the J's, so not really a great comparison) compared with a Cumbrian J Series. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAvWWS4helw[/media] I'm very, very happy with my J5 but it seems that just recently, not all is tickity boo.

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1306408759' post='1245448'] QUOTE (gafbass02 @ May 25 2011, 07:32 PM) Anyone else remember 'HeartBeat' and '65Dba' or is that just me? I remember 65Dba, roadied for them at one point back before I gave up on religion (not knocking you guys, just wasn't for me) Brussels Spaceship anyone? They were cool as. [/quote] I auditioned for something with Ray Goudie down in Malmsbury in the very early 90's - It was going out to Belgium but was at the time "Un-named". Is that Brussels Spaceship then?

I'd leave it alone for now and see how you get on with it. However, if it's still unbearable, then I can offer a couple of ideas. First of all, try a different speaker and see if there is still a hiss. Is there a speaker socket on the back - maybe of the type where the internal speaker plugs into it via a jack, but can be disconnected if you want to try a different cab? If so - dead easy - else you will need to go internal to connect it up. Choosing an 8.5" driver suitable for an enclosure this size is never going to be easy but it might be the solution. Bigger Smoothing Caps (the two big ones near the Transformer) can help quieten a noisy amp. A pair of 2200mf caps, replaced with a pair of 4400mf for instance, makes no difference to the operation of the amp, apart from taking some of the hiss/hum out. Bit of an operation though, and it still might not help.