dougal

I've paid me £20. At first I was a bit... reluctant, but as stated elsewhere, it's a bargain, and a) I think it'll scare off the faint of heart and has slowed the market place down to a healthy stream rather than a raging torrent.

The only other bass site I've read regularly was uglybassplayer.com when I lived in the USA. I think there are many parallels between the two: the most obvious of which is the friendliness, and the community size (being small enough that you recognise names or avatars after a short time).

I haven't noticed much open hostility (steels self for incoming deluge of abuse), but then I avoid OT as I have my fill in the general and bass guitars forums.

I prefer to wear contacts: I have played in glasses but they tend not to sit very well on my sweaty face.

If I didn't have contacts, I'd [i]have[/i] to wear them. Blind as a bat, me.

+1: he did a lovely plate for my then P in black / pearl tort (far right below)

personally I'd always go for the xotic: the only disadvantage I can see is that the relative value of the Fender will [i]probably [/i]go up. But if it's a keeper, who cares?

and I'm not sure about the placement of the mini switches...

[b][size="5"][color="#ff0000"]--------SOLD GONE SAYONARA AU-REVOIR--------- [/color][/size][/b]

Up for grabs is my U-retro 01 deluxe (meaning it comes with a passive tone control) with black knobs.

I'm sure most of you know what this is. Technical details [url="http://www.east-uk.com/uretrodeluxe01.pdf"]here[/url].

Price is £120 shipped. No interest in trades, thanks.

History of this unit is that I bought it off here, had it in a peavey grind 6-string, put the original circuit back in when I traded it, and [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/204166-can-someone-talk-me-into-or-out-of-this-please/page__st__20"]was going to fit this into t-bird[/url], before changing my mind and flogging them both...

Unit can be collected from Egham or London City to save shipping.

[color=#ff0000][size=5]FLOWN THE COOP - SOLD - GONE[/size][/color]


Up for grabs is my Gibson Thunderbird.

I've been umming and ahhing about this bass for a while now: it's genuinely a great example of a thunderbird, it's just, it's a thunderbird, and not suitable for about 80% of the music I play.

It came to me the tail end of last year: I've played a couple of gigs with it, but the majority of the mojo is from a previous owner.

It's original apart from: the bridge, which has been replaced by a [url="http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=264"]superton[/url]e (I don't have the original) and the strap locks have been replaced with the locking kind.

It's been knocked about a bit, have a look at the photos. I'd say this bass if for a player, not a collector.

Bass is in Egham, local delivery can be arranged. I will happily ship ay the buyer's expense.

Comes with vampire case in a lovely pink / purple. According to the serial number, it was made in the [color=#000000][font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=3]Nashville Plant, TN, USA, [/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=3]August 11st, 2000[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=3]Asking £550 plus postage. Cash only as I'm downsizing and going monobasastic for a year. [/size][/font][/color]

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[color=#000000][font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=3]mark on the neck:[/size][/font][/color]

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[color=#000000][font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=3]Lump out of the headstock[/size][/font][/color]



Some light damage to the finish on the body:



marks on the lower bout

Well I sorted out a test bed:


'scuse the mess & all that







and did some recordings... and I have to say I'm a bit underwhelmed.

I had a play around with the active EQ, and it could make it sound a /little/ different, but not as much as I'd hoped.

See if you can work out which is which....

[media]http://thecheapshots.net/mp3/thunderdemo.mp3[/media]

I've only ever owned an ACG from this list. So he gets my vote...

And this is why I love Spoitify.

I see a post like this, and two minutes later I'm digging [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Willie Weeks's effortless groove on 'What's Going on'.[/font][/color]

[quote name='leroydiamond' timestamp='1365173870' post='2036361']
ACS moulded plugs are top class. I have been using them for several years. They are the best and my ears deserve the best. Hearing loss should not be taken lightly and tinnitus can be really debilitating.
[/quote]

+1

Never go anywhere without them.

Lost one at an Anthrax gig, was in the ear guy's lab the next morning getting re-fitted.

They are expensive, but worth it.

Our drummer has quite a nice electronic kit, but doesn't ever want to use it. Cymbals don't sound right, snare doesn't sound right... even to me.

I'm /never/ seen trying to stop the drummer ogling the cute blonde's arse.... does that count?




(photo one of 238 taken 1 every minute during a recent gig because I wanted to record a time lapse of the even for sh1ts 'n' giggles)

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1364990854' post='2033690']
Is this [i]really[/i] that bass if you want to make such a fundamental change to it ?
[/quote]

...and that is why I'm having such an internal debate - there's a very real chance that I'll pay to have this done, and it still won't fit the bill because it [i]is[/i] a thunderbird and no amount of John East trickery is going to change the fundamental sound going into the circuit.

I can tell already I'm going to end up with an 'effing super-J for a year, and that's just so... boring and predictable.

I'm planning on doing a year using only [i]one[/i] of my basses. Putting the rest in storage and trying to banish GAS by cutting it out and trying to become completely comfortable with a single bass.

The choices have been discussed elsewhere - what I want to know is how stupid people think one of my more esoteric plans is:

Take one thunderbird (stock... apart from the bridge has been replaced. Bought 4 months ago on here for £500. Love the bass in terms of style, think it's comfy to play, and it's a little different):


.. and put an East U-retro that I have lying around into it.



Cons:
* I have to have the bass routed out for the size of the circuit boards - from initial fiddling the pots will fit in the right holes, but the electronics won't fit without extra routing (i'd ignore the option of the passive tone control)
* Mini switch needs a new hole
* battery compartment has to be put somewhere (I'm thinking underneath the pick-guard?)
* re-sale value is pretty much destroyed as the bass can't be returned to it's former 'glory'.
* it seems like... sacrilege

Pros:
* it's unique
* I may actually be able to use the t-bird as my mono-tastic bass for the year
* It makes me feel a bit like John Entwistle with his fender-birds. Only not as famous. And I'm not changing the neck. And I don't have much hair.

My ACG already has this circuit in it and I've had j-retros in the past. I'm pretty sure the pups will work unadulterated.

I can have a bass that looks cool [i]and[/i] doesn't sound like a wet dutch oven after a night on the ale.

I'm just having second thoughts. Someone please convince me one way or the other...

I thought he'd recently re-signed with them to produce this: http://www.thomann.de/gb/esp_ltd_fb_4_frank_bello.htm



But now can't find any empirical evidence to support that.

Certainly I associate him with a Fender.

This is the best photo I can find on-line: note the crazed sparkle finish under standard blue:

Philippe bought a sadowsky off me.

Excellent communication; fast payment once the deal was done.

All around a good, honest, basschat transaction.

It was a blue P (looked like a 70's head stock decal) with a sparkle finish 'crazed' under a standard light blue finish.

I assumed it was has main bass with a new, sparkly, finish.

Album doesn't sound maiden-like: and I wasn't impressed with the singer on the recording, but live he came across much better.

Well batted!

Can you tell who it is yet?

Sitting in itsu waiting to be let in. Liking forward to it!

[color=#000000][font=arial][size=1][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Meet Dougal – I'm a bass player in his late 30s with great attitude, gear gear and great experience living in Egham, Surrey. [/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Since I was in senior school I've been playing rock, pop, funk, soul etc. I have loads of experience playing the electric bass in rock and pop covers bands (and a few original projects) and an upright mostly in a classical setting in orchestras [/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]I've got my own transport and live rig. [/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]I'd looking for a complete covers / functions band that plays funky pop and rock in the Berkshire / Leatherhead / Guildford area, but [/size][/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]I'm open to pretty much anything.[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]I have a real job. I don't love this real job as much as making music, but it pays my mortgage. I'm dedicated and hardworking and honest -- and my real job is my living. Music and being in a band will only ever be for fun. [/size][/font]


[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Gigging Experience:[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Started playing classical guitar age 11.[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Bass guitar followed at about 14, same time as I started playing double bass.[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Various pub bands - blues, Zeppelin, Beatles - are started, I play double bass in musicals, & a school orchestra.[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]This continues until I leave school at 18 & go to BassTech in London for an intensive course.[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Come out realising I'll never cut it as a session guy.[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Get to University in Salford, start a metal band. Play pubs & clubs around the place. [/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Move to London, get a job. Play double bass in a bluegrass band.[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Move to America with my Job. Join Epithet, a Death / Thrash / Black metal band in North Haledon.[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Epithet dissolves (with some lineup changes) into Liminal which gets some gigs before a work opportunity takes me to Tokyo in 2004, where I join an 80's metal covers band.[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Winter 2006 sees me return to the shores of my birth where I join a band that has as many monikers as it does gigs over about three years, playing rock & metal covers.[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]A work colleague introduces me to some fun loving guys and "The Cheap Shots" are the result. Playing pop and function / party music over the course of several years we get some good reviews and a couple of hundred facebook fans before imploding due to workloads, extra curricular personal & family commitments, and the inevitable musical differences.[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]And that leaves me here, now, looking for a band to play who knows what to who knows who...?[/size][/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Equipment:[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Markbass LittleMark 2[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Aigular 4x10[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Sadowsky RV5 [/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Rickenbacker 4003[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Gibson Thunderbird[/size][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]ACG SuperJazz #99[/size][/font][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=arial][size=1]Videos:[/size][/font][/color]
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http://www.pharosparcel.com/ do the same thing as interparcel, but across less shippers. Nice web-site though.

Never had to have an insurance discussion with them.

Thanks for all the feedback so far. Most thought provoking, as I suspected it might be.

Quick straw poll shows the votes as:

Sadowsky IIIIIIIIII
Buy a P-bass III (I just sold the P-bass, didn't work for me)
Buy a custom bass, or a ukelele: II
ACG I.5
ricky I.5

t-bird I
Buy a 5-string ACG I
Buy a stingray I (I just sold the ray, like the P, just didn't work for me)

The standout winner is the sadowsky. Which is as I suspected it would be, and if my head was screwed on right, would be what I would choose to go monobasstastically with. But it just seems a little... obvious. A little too far away from the fire & brimstone of the old testament, which is I think, what I'm looking for.

The nutter in me says go for the gibbo, but put the east u-retro I have lying around in it (would involve routing to fit it)

The masochist says the ricky, and then spend years and thousands sorting a dual rig... one for each pick-up.

The conspicuous consumer wants me to buy this, http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Xotic_XP4_3TSB.html , because damnit I'm worth it, and it will do everything I want. Probably. Until next week when I lust after this: http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Lull_P_Gold.html , because it's the [i]only[/i] thing that will make me sound like I want....

yorks5stringer: Yes, it's a stereo ricky.

LukeFRC: ACG. absolutely lovely to play. but my fingerstyle leaves a little to be desired in the upper mid-range so tends to sound a little bass heavy / boomy (not that the keyboard player would notice). But it has been the bass that's pushed out the Fender P, a sadowsky J and a stingray as it's just better than all of them. The neck is superb, the balance is just so, it's as light as a feather and I don't have to think when I'm playing it.

mcgraham: Fair point; but the other part of this is that I want to settle on a bass for a year: it may be the wrong bass, it may be the right bass, but the revoloving door over the last 5 years has had me have: an NYC sadowsky, 2 Japanese sadowskys (P & J), a US p bass, a Jap sting p-bass, one gibbo t-bird, a peavy grind 6-string, a 4003, an f-bass 5, a stingray, a jap jazz, an ashbory mini bass, an acg jazz, a sadowsky 5, a custom gw 5, a modulus flea bass, a bongo 5, a dingwall jazz, a warwick streamer fretless, a warwick thumb 5 fretless, a wishbass p-nut fretless, a carvin lb75-P, and a stingray 5: which, quite frankly, is not why I'm playing bass. That sounds more like a laundry list than a bass collection. Although I'd be lying if I said it hadn't been fun.

lojo: We did. But I was very drunk. And as I'm [i]slightly[/i] less belligerent now, and willing to give them one more chance...

So, I recently finished a book called "My Year Of Living Biblically" by A J Jacobs.

I am, devote, nay, militant, agnostic, but that's beside the point: it got me thinking.

There was a post on here recently, that said, something along the lines of "people like Jaco / Sheenan / Lemmy / Harris / Claypole are at the stage where they're so used to their instruments, that they are so much a part of them, they play everything they need on a single bass, that I can't imagine them playing anything else: and this is a good thing".

I'm paraphrasing massively, and possibly misreading into the previous thread, but again, beside the point: and it got me thinking.

I don't think I've been mono-bass-allic since I was... 18? And that's 20 years ago. So I think I've decided to try and take the plunge, and put the others away, and live monobassallicy for a year.

One bass. Anyone who has glanced through my feedback knows that would be unusual...

I've always been a "set the amp flat and let it rip" sort of person. So I don't see me suddenly changing my rig of... six years now. So we're all set there.

So, I hear you wonder, loudly, what has this to do with me?!?!

Well, I've still got four basses, despite a recent selling frenzy, and I can't [i]quite [/i]decide which I should go for.

I play in a covers band, mostly wedding / party stuff. I was told by the keyboard player recently that he couldn't hear the difference between any of them.

So, in honour of the religious right in America who would ask 'WWJD'... 'WWBCD'.... (What would basschat do?) votes on a postcard, please.

The nominees:

Sadaowsky M-series RV5:




Ricky 4003



ACG J-Type


Gibbo Thunderbird (not the P... that went to FunkShui...)



The 4th option behind the triangular window, is to buy something [i]complete[/i] new. But I don't know if I'm ready for that yet...

That depends [i]entirely[/i] on how well I know the person behind offer A.

If it's a friend, offer A every time. If I don't know them from Jack, offer B every time.