Musky

If there are side handles on your cab you could use something like luggage straps or bungies to hold it on.

I'm assuming you're looking for something with a cab rather than just a head here, and that you're happy to buy used. Ashdown might be the way to go - the Electric Blue can be had for under £200 new (and less used, obviously) or it's possible to pick up a MAG combo for under £200 secondhand. 5 band eq plus high and low switches. On the other hand you might want to snap [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=18568"]this[/url] up. Very good price inc. delivery IMO. Ashdowns are a bit marmite, but I've never heard a bad word said about the Cubes.

Interesting Jon. I had thought that 'Steel Adjustable Neck' on the plate usually indicated Matsumoku manufacture. Does that mean other manufacturers used these words as well (or as you suggest, that Mat were simply buying in the plates from elsewhere)? On a slightly different note, do you know if Mats always had this on the neck plate and if they didn't when did they start/stop using it? Any idea of any other brands that have used this wording?

Yeah, I suppose aside from the importer there's no reason to think they're built in the same factories. Even the Venturas seem to hae been sourced rom different factories at one time or another. References to Kasuga: [url="http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Guitars/rec/2889/wwwboard/messages/283.shtml"]http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Guitars...sages/283.shtml[/url] and here - [url="http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/product/Ventura/V-20/10/1"]http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews...ntura/V-20/10/1[/url] Post here refering to 'Steel Adjustable Neck' - sounds very much like Matsumoku, which I think you suspected. [url="http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Guitars/rec/160/wwwboard/messages/364.shtml"]http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Guitars...sages/364.shtml[/url]

[quote name='Bassassin' post='197121' date='May 12 2008, 01:20 PM']Aria Pro CSB300 (medium scale), in hard case, very reasonable BIN & cheap postage: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=260239543592"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=260239543592[/url] Edit: Bugger! Too late!! The jury's still out about the Royal Artist - beyond late 60s/early 70s JapCrap, I'm stumped for an ID! Bruno was/is a US importer, & Royal Artist one of their sub-brands, so it's likely pretty rare on these shores, certainly in that guise. Whether it's £250+ rare is very much another matter! J.[/quote] Good job that went - I would have bought if I'd seen it, and I'm running out of excuses why I [i]need[/i] another bass. Incidentally Jon, that Royal Artist would appear to be a relation of Ventura. There are a couple of posts around the net from people asking for info on their Ventura semis, and include the detail that it was "made by Kasuga". I'm guessing this has probably gleaned from the label inside. Old news?

You can pick this up at any electrical shop - just ask for 22 - 24 gauge (about 0.5 - 0.6mm) stranded cable. You can use any heavier gauge wire you might have around, it's just a bit harder to work with.

Fender were only using poly in the 70's, except for nitro on the face of the headstock as BassBod says. Fender were doing two coats of poly over a clear sealer at this time, so it's possible you're seeing the first coat or even the sealer under the top coat. Poly does age incidentally. I had the machine heads off my '74 P bass the other day, and even on the back of the headstock the covered areas were considerably lighter than the exposed area.

I think in your position I'd be thinking about picking up a better amp. The Yamaha has a reputation good enough to warrant hanging on to for a bit, whereas I suspect the practice amp is hardly a tone monster so you'd see an immediate improvement in your sound with an upgrade. Plus of course you'll need something louder for when you start gigging. You could look into a Ashdown MAG set up - they're a bit marmite, but second hand they can be picked up under £200.

[quote name='BigAlonBass' post='195150' date='May 9 2008, 12:54 AM']Hidden away in the Bass Amplifier Section. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/westone-thunder-1-bass_W0QQitemZ150245056557QQihZ005QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/westone-thunder-1-ba...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url][/quote] Not entirely hidden - it's listed in the bass guitars section as well.

A mate picked up a Zoom B1 with a power supply 2 weeks ago from Rock Stop on Charing Cross Road for only £25 - considerably cheaper than any of the online prices I'd seen. It does pay to walk into a shop sometimes.

Those guys design crazy pedals, with quite a refreshing business model as well. I downloaded the plans for a noise swash ages ago, but never got further than tucking away a 4 gang switch box to house it.

I've got the 160W version, which I bought secondhand about four years ago for £220 off ebay. I reckoned it was a bit of a bargain as it was collection only and the seller had zero feedback. It's a bit hard to guess how much one of these might sell for now - you don't see many in the UK and other brands are probably more fashionable right now. You're right about the quality though. It's very capable amp and louder than the wattage would lead you to expect.

If I remember correctly, this buying spree was dependent on exam results.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=337"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=337[/url]

[quote name='thedarxide' post='184093' date='Apr 23 2008, 08:33 PM']What's the attraction with those? I had a Westone flying v and it was nothing special at all. And is it West-One or Wes-Tone?[/quote] The Westone brand seems to have been resurrected, and by the sound of things the V you had was probably one of these. The Westones every one rate were made in Japan by Matsumoku until 1987 - I don't think they ever produced a flying V.

It also depends on your idea of cheap. Italia, Eastwood and DiPinto are a few names to look out for that produce new retro styled offerings. You might want to keep an eye on the JapCrap thread as well - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7473&st=280"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7473&st=280[/url]

It's a location guide for the CNC routers - the body is held by a stick in the neck pocket for the painting process. Fender started using these holes around 1980.

If you mean the sparkly Les Paul shaped thing he uses, it's an Italia Maranello.

Harley Benton used to do basses that were identical to those Artcores, only cheaper. More than likely from the same factory. Aria did something similar, but I can't for the life of me think of the model. And of course there's the Epi Rivoli, now discontinued but come up on ebay for the kind of money you're looking at.

An Eastwood Classic will set you back about £350. It's a bit more Gretsch inspired though...

The machine heads you can pick up on ebay without any problems - any gotoh style tuners should do the trick. Likwise the pots and jack socket, though you can also try Maplins. The knobs and bridge will be more of a problem. Brass parts were fairly popular in the late 70s and early 80s, but pretty thin on the ground nowadays. You might be better off looking for gold plated repalcements, though you're unlikely to find parts that look identical. Wilkinson does a gold plated bridge with brass saddles, but it doesn't have the two screws at the front that the Westone does. If it covers the screw holes on the body that shouldn't be a problem though. There wasn't anything wrong with the standard pickups, but if you fancy a change any p types will do. You're only limited by your budget.

I don't know how much he's charging for the bias feature so I can't actually say it's worth it. But it is really, really useful - it neatly gets round that 'the distortion almost sounds like I want - shame it isn't a bit grittier/smoother' feeling you can get. For the money he's asking I would have liked to have seen the Tube Driver with the bias built in. Unless you've got the cash to spare, I'd be more inclined to keep an eye out for a Blue Tube rack. It comes with bass, mid, treble, drive, master, bias and a handy contour control, as well as switchable boost and bypass (both from the front panel or footswitch).

You might want to look out for the Blue Tube, which was their recommended pedal for bass when they were still in regular production. I've got the rack version, which has the bias control. This is absolutely awesome as it doesn't just change the amount of distortion but the character of the distortion as well. It's amazing and I'm really surprised more valve pedals don't have it - I mentioned it to Dave Hall once, but he said it was very difficult to pull off (something about injecting a DC signal, or something ). I've also got the Real Tube which offers greater amounts of drive. I used it set with lower amounts of drive with a Rick for ages and was very happy, but found it robbed a bit of bass when using a Status Matrix.

[quote name='Cantdosleepy' post='179191' date='Apr 17 2008, 07:23 PM']Word. My brother got a Squire Strat Affinity about ten years ago. It's still the nicest guitar I've played in terms of pure playability and fun.[/quote] +1. I bought an Affinity tele about 6 years ago when the guy selling wouldn't split it from an amp/guitar package he had. I figured I'd move it on, but it played so nicely I've still got it. The electrics were uniformly rubbish though - there wasn't any sign of the thing being played but the switch was very intermittent, the pots crackled terribly and the pickups were weedy and thin. I do think it's playability was very much an exception to the rule though - I bought an Affinity Strat off the back of this experience, and it played much like you'd expect a cheapy to. No amount of setting up improved matters much. Incidentally, it seems to have been pretty much confirmed that Jim Deacon are the same as SX basses, and might well be a cheaper option than SX, particularly used. Just make sure you pick up a 20 fret version - the ones with 21 frets are the equivalent to the cheaper (and lesser) SX starter packs.

Whoa. Just trawling the net when I came across [url="http://electroharmonix.ronsound.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=47"]this.[/url] Apparently EHX want all dealers to stop listing on Ebay, and are going to be trying to stop 3rd party sellers who are currently undercutting authorised dealers. I'm not sure how exactly they can do this, other than refusing to supply authorised dealers who list on Ebay, but the upshot could well be higher prices. Whatever EHX are aiming on doing, it's kicking in on 30th April. If you're thinking about buying new you should probably get in sooner rather than later.