JohnFitzgerald

Jaco
Stanley Clark
Mark King
Johnny Brady - Local Guy, phenomenal player
Derek Forbes - Simple Minds

Oh lord, a five string Jazz fretless.
Identical appearance to my fretted bass.

What can I sell to get this...

Live at The Quick.

(Clips of which you will find on youtube and the whole thing on Spotify.)

Fabulous.

I don't think it's just me, I reckon we all have a certain taste that we tend to stick with and other things we just woudn't touch.

As I seem to rattle on about all the time, my main bass right now is the Squier Jazz V deluxe active in sunburst.

Being a Jaco fan of long standing, a fretless in the same vibe holds a certain attraction for me right now.

Here's the existing and the proposed.

I'm a bit samey, am I not ?

If it helps,, your suggestion for your backup is my main bass whilst I rebuild the Yamaha.

I love it to bits. Had it, I think, 6 years now and to me it's fantastic.

Actually, I might be talking b0077ocks.

Mine is a Jazz five string deluxe active, I think.

Whatever, they're the same money and worth £282 any day of the week.
It's why I struggle to see much more value in any bass.

Sometimes what you need to do to cut thorugh can be quite counter intuitive.

I'm a both pickups panned equal to centre sortova dude. Volume maxed, EQ flat.
This is on a Jazz five string active.

When forced to use an Ashdown ABM the other night, I found that I was forced to cut the bottom end quite substantially and wind on a good bit of bass to find my sound. Fat bottom end, prominent upper mid to slot in above the bass drum but unde the two guitars. If you listen to everyone else and identify where the gap is, that's where you'll want to be.

To me, it's about finding space in the spectrum and also in the timing. It's amoazing how good your sound is when you're not jostling for position in any of these areas.

If it helps with values, CC Music in Glasgow recently sold a Mark King for £999.

Depressingly, the bloke who walked in off the street and sold it to them over the counter got £400 for it.

3TS :-)

I should really add, this was through an ABM600 and an ABM 6x10.

I'm really not a fan of this setup. Far far too much thud, not enough voice for my liking.
I eventually had to roll lots of bass off and dial in a fair amount of mid to end up with a sound which wasn't just subsonic rumble.

Once I was happy getting my Jazz sound, I plgged the P in.
Instant rocky clank, but just not enough decent middly voice for me.
Guess, I'm just a Jaco fan.

Will go and listen to more Bobby Vega on a P and take it from there.

If I'm honest, a fretless Jazz VM would be my purchase of choice. It would sit so well with the 5 string, in the same colour.
I was just thinking of a P because it feels like I should.

It's been donkey's years since I played a precision bass.
Maybe 25 years.

Back then, my views on sound weren't perhaps as formed as they are now.
I had an original Squier Precision for a bit and then moved on to other things.

Recently, I thought I should maybe try out a P bass to see how we got on.
The main band these days is pretty straightdorward Rocky stuff, where I suppose a Precision fits right in.

So I tried one the other night.

Compared to the 5 string jazz, the neck was obviously much easier to get on with, but lamost uncomfortably narrow. Shows how used to the 5 string neck.


Sound ?

Yeah, I guess it really does do more than one sound.
Plucking position, tone control, fingers, plec, all of these help to vary the sound.
Always big and fat though.

The one thing I really did miss though was the bridge pickup of the jazz.
For the vast majority of things, I'm likely to have both jazz pickups full on.
That to me is the perfect sound. Lovely bottom end, but cracking upper mid voice from the bridge pickup.

The P just being single pickup, I just couldn't get that.
Plenty bottom, plenty top too, if you want. But upper mid ? Not so much for my taste.
I just miss it so much.

I'm not discounting it yet, but if a good old fashioned P bass is to be my rock n roll bass of choice, I think I have a way to go in terms of what I expect out of the sound. It ain't a Jazz, that's for sure.

Thank God for variety.

Edit to add.
This was the bass.
Alister the co-owner of the rehearsal rooms we use plays in a Floyd tribute band and was kind enough to give me a go on his.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfeYHnoeDKw&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfeYHnoeDKw&feature=related[/url]

Man, that's a pretty bass.

If only it wasn't for :-

1) I'm skint.
2) It's 4 weeks to Crimbo.

That would sit so well with my Squier 5 string Jazz .

[quote name='Soliloquy' timestamp='1322501946' post='1451669']
One thing I'd never do is take another gig because it was paying more money though.
[/quote]

Too try.

If you've committed to do something with some people, you must honour that commitment IMHO.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1322341929' post='1449761']
I accept that it's not the nicest headstock in the world but the bodies...hmmm...so reminiscent of a woman's hips and bottom..
[/quote]


I couldn't disagree more - in a nice way.
The headstock is just so distinctive and is a great feature.

All in my opinion of course.

My Squier Jazz is the best bass in the world.







For me.

No, that's what they sound like.
At least, the one I have here does.

As regards living without. Much as I would like these things, circumstances most likely dictate I can live without. I can but dream though.

Never heard of Mike Lull. Will go looking, it's at least nice to know they exist.

My main squeeze is one of these.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y6Wkaz5glw&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y6Wkaz5glw&feature=related[/url]


That's not me in the vid, I hasten to add, but the lad's a handy player.

Squier Jazz Active V Deluxe I think it's called. I should know, but it's such a long name I sometimes forget myself.

What would I gain by going to a boutique superjazz ?
Reason I'm asking is that it sound pretty damn mint to me already.
If I fed my own one some new strings, it would sound just as nice as this one.

Other than the sheer undeniable coolness of ownership, what would a Sadowsky or similar bring to the party ?

Genuine question.

Another hello from me.
Also north of the border.

and guess what.
There is a band gigging in these parts called Ernest.
Not Earnest, but close enough I think you'll agree.

I think it's possible to do low cost and decent quality all at the same time.

My Trace Elliot head (which is unmarked and immaculate order )and Peavey 410 together owe me a grand total of £160.
The sound is utterly immense.

Plenty of grunt, that's for sure, and a sound that I would do very little to change.
I like it so much that I sometimes open the cupboard, take a look at it and then close the cupboard again.

What would that sort of money have bought me new ?
Very very little.

Fat and thump yes.
Sharp top too, but that would be the HF component.

If I'm being super critical, there's a bit of the mid that I like ever so slightly missing.
I'm loathe to start EQing it back in though.
I view EQ as being something you use to fix a problem and by exception, not to get your voice in the first instance.

As an asides, once we got the mains on last night, the sound was mega through the PA.
Bring in the sidefills and that missing middle just comes back.

Still, if there's something I can do to lighten the load, I will.

Alex, I would have one of your cabs in a minute, but although the GAS may be willing, the wallet is weak.

Or a couple of 2x10s for the vertical stacking thing.

I'n a previous life, I used to be a joiner and still have the knack I guess.

Paul

Your whereabouts ?

Better for spreading the word.

Yeah, I think it's the heaviest lift we have.

Would be great for a residency.

The amp head is no bind at all. It's light enough to be no problem at all. It's one of the ones with a briefcase handle on the end. Put it this way, our lead guitarist brings a couple of Les Pauls and each of those are heavier than my amp head, so that's no real issue.

The cab though.
I could do with that bein lighter.

Maybe a TC cab, just like the one McNach just bought :-)

Had another run out last night with the Trace AH150 and the Peavey 410BX.

I can't seem to bring myself to do anything other than plug the Jazz bass active into it, both pickups on, EQ flat.
Engage pre shape, no EQ. Compressor set about 12 O''clock, there it is, just a great sound.

Currently running with the trim pot on the HF horn about 50 % and that leaves it sounding crisp but not too brittle.

With the pre gain set to just peak into the green area and the post gain at 1.5 out of 10, it keeps up with two Marshalls.

Who would've thought that such a great setup could be put together for £160.

If only the cab didn't wieght more than Luxembourg.

Might have to look into one of those modern light cabs.
It'll have to sound as good as this incredible old Peavey though.