uk_lefty

Boss bass limiter/ enhancer to bring out the "mwaaaaahhhh" - great for my fretless, still got to find a setting on it I like for my fretted basses. Tried a Boss bass chorus and just personally didn't like it so sold it on. Boss digital delay works nicely with it too. I use my fretless for heavier music too so distortion and fuzz (EHX Bass Blogger being the current weapon of choice) does very nicely

I recently played a 1977 left handed Fender P in a shop... it was not inspiring. The neck looked brand new and felt amazing, the body looked pretty cr@p really and turned me off a bit, the pickup was slowly decaying and weak sounding... I just couldn't get the classic P-Bass tone out of it that I have in my head. For £1,500 I'd rather buy a great bass and have change... if that's vintage and it holds its value then it's something to pass down to the children.

Optimistic bump...

So I took the opportunity to buy a Westfield P copy (left handed of course). I had heard that overall they were good quality for the price and could be got cheap second hand. I had won a 3TSB one for a tenner on eBay and just couldn't arrange to be at the seller's house exactly on the hour they wanted it collecting so I lost out.

I picked up one in all black today. I took it home gave it a good clean, oiled the fretboard and put on some semi-used Fender flat wound strings as well as an Allparts Fender-a-like string post and a black plastic thumb rest. So far I'm quite pleased with the sound, and would be happy playing it at a rehearsal, but a bit more presence and fullness in the sound would make me more happy. Good strings on a budget bass do make a big difference - the sound is so much better than I had expected.

The plan is to upgrade it piece by piece - I have a black wilkinson bridge with brass saddles on order, and some black Fender straplocks on their way too. I have been offered a Seymour Duncan pickup by a fellow basschatter, and soon I'll look at the pots, jack and wiring. I fancy putting on some black tuners too... but one thing at a time.

The bass is nice and light, sounds and feels pretty good and would be excellent for a beginner - probably better than the Tanglewood P copy I started on. The nut is plastic and needs to go, and I really don't like the headstock shape. i may replace the neck, I fancy an all maple Fender P style neck if I can get one that fits....

Hoping someone can help resolve this...
I picked up an LMB3 off fleabay to replace a compressor I had that was more for guitar than bass. I have a few issues with te pedal that I am hoping someone can help me iron out... Both problems experienced when using the suggested settings in the manual, brand new battery fitted.
The LMB3 is ok as an enhancer for my fretless in that it really brings out the "mwah", however this sounds delayed? Not sure that's a trade off I want to make.
For my fretted bass (jazz bass with Bartolinis) it definitely compresses the sound a little but doesn't smooth out peaks as much as I expected.
On both settings it seems to suck out some tone, I'm really not happy with that - it's a similar effect to changing my fretless from dual coil to single coil, just an immediate loss of presence and fullness from the sound.
Thoughts for resolving - I have only two thoughts to resolve this neither is guaranteed to work: have an EQ pedal in the set up to counter what the boss takes away, buy a boss Power adapter to see if it reacts differently to when powered by battery...?
Any advice will be gratefully received!
Thank you

Has anyone had their hands on the Schechter lefties? They have quite a good range, I've got my eye on a few of the Fender style basses, just wondering if they're worth the prices

Kramer strikers can still be bought new and cheap and they look very 80s. They have the look and with decent strings and amps sound pretty good too, definitely good value for money. Can probably still get 5 strings too, though my 5 string fretless lefty is something of a rarity I think

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1412323808' post='2567773']
For personal preference I went with the 1977, which also did a great job of demonstrating why you should never use sh*t-Glo as a colour for bass.
[/quote]
"Sh!t-Glo" love it

I think both the P and J comparison videos demonstrate more difference between body and fingerboard woods than comparative price or country of assembly IMHO. Ash/ basswood/ alder body, rosewood or maple fingerboard... Interesting stuff.

USA 77 won it for me too! Really good comparison. Good to hear the alder bodies properly alongside the basswood bodied Japanese model.

...and they've done one for Jazz basses too ... (and the Japanese Jazz wins)

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1411991623' post='2564557']
Why don't you like Ibanez? I'd have one over a Fender anyday (though that's purely an aesthetics thing, as I don't like the top horn on Fender basses). The SR1000 had been my main gigging bass for over 20 years & always got an "I love that bass sound" from fellow musicians".
[/quote]

Ibanez haven't made a bass I've desired really... Though the ones I've seen recently have turned my head. I know they make excellent quality gear, I just think that given a kid-in-a-sweet-shop scenario I wouldn't be running straight for the ibanez gear, just a personal preference thing

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1411997513' post='2564654']


The answer, perhaps, is here..? If one frequents other sites, one expects to come across rubbish sometimes. Stay on the true path, eschew others and remain faithful to BC. Simple, really.
[/quote]

True! I don't go back to that forum. There was a lot of hatred of Hartke and Warwick, I never really understood it. Just wondered if I was missing out/ could use it to my advantage in negotiating down the price of second hand Hartke amps!

I used to read on a different forum a lot of bad comments about Hartke. It is very easy to name them "Fartke" if that makes you laugh and yes they have aluminium speakers but having owned Peavey, Torque, Marshall, Vox, carlsboro, warwick and gallien Krueger amps and used trace and ashdowns before I have to say that my Hartke was the best.
Is there something I'm missing? My Hartke kickback was the best sounding amp of any I've owned. Curious to know why others may completely hate them, is it just irrational? Like the same reason I just don't want to drive a Ford or play an Ibanez even though I know they are rather good?

I'm not far from London but finding a lefty Aerodyne to try out will be difficult.

Thanks Joey I'd love one of those but I'm left handed so for a PJ Bass it's just the Aero sadly.

Thanks! Am I right in thinking there are Japanese Aerodynes and "others"? Or is it just export and non export Japanese? I think a PJ would suit me very well but just a little reluctant on spending so much on a bass if I have to change out the pickups, I don't really expect that from MIJ Fender, but hey my MIM Jazz has only the neck and body as original parts so I can't really comment too much!!

Does anyone own a Japanese fender Aerodyne bass? I'm seriously considering it because being a lefty I will have something uncommon and good quality with a painted headstock (superficial I know but I want it so much!!). However I remember reading an article years back saying that the Aerodyne P pickup did not compare at all to the traditional P bass tone - anyone foud this to be true with the Japanese model? I already have a heavily upgraded Mexican J so am also considering the Japanese 57 P as an alternative to the Aerodyne...
Thank you

PM on way...

It's a thing of beauty, the honeyburst is fantastic.

De-fret it

I have a similar era MIM jazz. The stock pickups were ok but replaced them with Bartolinis both the same size. I still needed to create a bit of space for a mm or so in the bridge pickup cavity but te bass is fairly scratched up anyway so I did it with a chisel!! Sounds very good with the Bartolinis in even with my limited soldering ability. If you mod the bass loads, in my experience, you will not get your money back if you try to sell so be sure you're making the instrument in to something you want, otherwise leave as is and sell to it's max potential price to fund the bass you want.

I have Bartolinis in my MIM Jazz and they give loads of clarity and zing with light strings on, not properly experimented through a gig rig but they aren't the punchiest or deepest of pickups though I'm sure some amp tweaking could get them towards that. Got a pair for less than £200 on thomann.

thanks - sent you a PM

An old mate of mine was briefly a pro bassist with a group on a record deal. He played a JHS Vintage active bass and a Behringer amp - didn't even own effects. He sold a Warwick to pay for a few nights out and was a sh!t hot player.

I have gigged more with my MusicYo fretless Kramer, as inapproppriate as it looks in a lot of situations, than anything else - it cost me about £275 new but i LOVE everything about it. I had a Warwick Streamer LX with gold plated hardware, and because it was never quite "perfect" for me i sold it for far less than it was worth - it was probably a £1,000+ bass new, it looked amazing to me but to people who don't care about Just-a-Nuts (anyone who doesn't play bass) and so on they complimented the Kramer more because it looked more badass. I've had loads of compliments on my modified Fender Jazz too - nobody knows its modified and most just say "woah! that's shiny!" or "wow, what's that metal thing?" or best of all "nice bass playing, mate!". Nobody has ever said to me: "good playing, but why don't you get a pedulla?"

Worst waste of money was buying an amp new - only made that mistake once. I only buy second hand amps and effects, being prepared to drive to pick up amps can get you some great gear amazingly cheap, and if you don't like it you sell it for at least the same as you bought it for - simple. When i'm not in a band i have a practice amp, when i'm in a band who doesn't rent kitted out rehearsal rooms i reluctantly buy a gigging amp second hand. By doing this I've played great amps for the bands and the basses they were needed for: old Peavey TNT and Marshall B150 for the loudest rock band in town, Torque 100w for something practical at Uni, a Vox Escort 50 watt for jazz and acoustic, a massive Carlsboro just because it was dead cheap, Warwick Sweet 15 for 80's ballad band, Hartke kickback for American blue-collar rock, and now a compact Gallien Krueger Backline 110 for living room bass-tickling. Whatever band i join next i have a good idea what power and what flavour of amp to go for - but it will be second hand

Crazy thing is at 17-18 i was a far better player with no chance of buying good gear. Now i can afford pretty much anything i want but i chickened out of a new Warwick $$ at £800 in 2006 and am currently chickening out of a new MIJ Fender P just because i don't think i'll use it. Now if i could buy it and give it to 17 year old me...!

Hi! For my 18th i got a 5 string fretless and I've never looked back - I'm a lefty it came up for sale at an affordable price and I'd been listening to Pearl Jam's "Ten" over and over for months. For more than not in the last 12 years its been my only bass for any style of music. I have marks on the fingerboard from roundwounds so about 7yrs ago put flats on and have used flats on it ever since. It is a different sound but it preserves the fingerboard better, and it sounds pretty badass too - plus flatwounds last for ages longer than rounds. I've mostly used Ernie Balls long scale because they're the right price and i like their sound on my bass - i'm pretty sure mine's a 35" scale too.
I might venture in to halfs next time it needs re-stringing but i'm in no rush as my string>pickup>amp combination with that bass is sounding just how i want it right now.