lownote

Hipshots?

I started with a Squier P bass, or similar clone.  Advantages:  dead simple, cheapish, very pick-up-able.  Can't go wrong and if you want more quality down the line but like the Squier you can always upgrade the pickup, wiring and tuners at low cost. 

Me, I'd be looking at the Sire Marcus Miller.  Or maybe the Cort C5 (it's got 18mm string spacing anf so many cheap fives haven't). For a sixth of your budget the Harley Benton B550 and B550FL are delicious  

Guitarchat is a site devoted to guitars.  Tryt this link https://www.guitarchat.co.uk/forum/27-guitars-for-sale/

Wrong thread - this section is for basses only.

Has this sold?

Peavey Grind 5.  Should never have sold it. Ditto my last of several Hohner B Bass Pro VIs.

Well, positive moves by Thomann re sending me a new bass. Wait and see but good so far.

Just the Chromes left now, pulling the others as I may be getting a fretted bass

Shame you won't post.  I'm far too far from you otherwise I'd go for it

I need the hive wisdom please.

I've just bought a B stock Harley Benton B550FL from Thomann Germany. When it arrived straight out the box it had a thumbsized impact bruise on the bottom edge of the body, and one of the pickup screws spun uselessly in its hole. Other than that it's a remarkable instrument for just £167. So I reported these issues to Thomann and today, with the email equivalent of shooting dark glances at me they had me photographing all the packaging and the bruise and they've now gone off to deliberate what to do about it. They could accept a return, or make me keep it. 

Now, I really like the bass.  The bruise on the body doesn't worry because as the bassist I can't see it. I have successfully replaced the loose pickup screw with a longer one of my own, which does work - although it's so long it's close to coming through the other side of the body. So I could live with the bass as is.  But the B stock price was less than a tenner off the brand new price, and Thomann themselves say B stock gear 'may have slight signs of use'.  Now to me a loose pickup screw and a significant bruise isn't slight and would certainly put off a buyer if I try to sell it on sometime. 

So do I keep it and let Thomann get away with offloading damaged goods, or return it for a refund?  They can't send me another because they're out of stock at the moment. 

First out the box review of this 5 string active/ passive bass, bought off Thomann as B stock for £167.

Light: 3.88 kg   or 8 1/2 lbs.  Absurd for a 5 string

Small?  Yup

Build quality: Superficially excellent. What i mean by that is that it has the air of a thing that's been very well made by a CNC machine with an extremely sharp eye to the cost of materials and production. You're just not sure how long everything will last in the long term. As to the B stock thing, there's a nasty graze 2x1 cm on the lower body edge so not very visible from the audience POV, BUT it's not exactly 'may have some traces of use' as Thomann say of their B stock!  And one pickup screw just falls out and has no traction in its hole. Bad.

Flexibility:  Passive mode is fine and barely different from active.  Battery runs out even if you unplug the bass, need to select passive before storing by pulling out volume knob.

Sound: Two humbuckers, silent, not every one's cup of tea but the tone suits my taste. B string's a bit boomy but may be pickup height, which could be difficult to adjust with one screw not working.

OEM strings:  Round. usable but why round?  It's a fretless.

Side dots:  On the note, perfect.

Tuners: Smooth

Action:  Good straight out the box, string heights exactly as I'd set them up, which is a bit spooky. Relief is very low for me < 0.2mm but no buzz so board must be good.

String width: Tight 17mm, OK if not ideal for me.

Overall:  For size and weight think modern less hippy version of the Vintage 940FL.  Previous reviews criticize the tuners and saddles but they're fine for me so far.

Value:  For £167 new?  Silly money. If Sire or even Squier made the same bass I'd likely pay the extra just for the more in depth quality, but if you need a fretless fiver and cash is very tight it'll do the job. 

Very bargain.

11 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

Question about Jazz basses .. do they have noisy pickups compared to a PBass ?? 

If fthey're single coil, of course.  If they're posh hum-cancelling no.  Many prefer the single coil effect.  To me it's like preferring a crash gear change from 100 years ago on your car because it's 'ethnic'.  Can't see the point, but that's just me. .

It has to be unlined fretless.  Not because that's good for rock but because I just think everyone should play unlined fretless 🤣🤣🤣

Purely my own experience, couldn't get it at all.  You have to keep winding them up to reach final tension and this process goes on for days. If you needed to change strings during a gig, not. I couldn't see the point of them.  And I can't comment on their final tone because I eventually lost the will to live (and keep winding) and flogged them.

So admire people who can solo on six string electric basses, and the Fodera looks the biz too - although I do get that's not the main point.

Vanessa Collier.  I thought blues were more less or boring; meaningful if you happen to be deeply disenfranchised and black, but otherwise unchallenging and somewhat robotic music for the musically uninspired if you're not. As blues maestro Dave Thomas once said to me when we met in  a music shop while I was buying my first bass "Play blues mate... it can be subtle but mostly it's easy, which is what you want". 

Then  I happened across La Collier and I've been hooked ever since. Visceral, exciting, a tight band and she herself can play alto and tenor sax, sing and play steel guitar. I might actually be interested in blues for the first time in 12 years since taking it up.   Check this out, especially the last half of the video

I have a Tonerider in my Revelation fretless P.  Sounds great, more classic than the Ents I'm pretty sure it replaced, and with more depth to the sound.  For a while I replaced the Tonerider with a Bareknuckle of dubious provenance, bought on here.  Probably not a fair comparison because despite being serviced by BK the pups had a volume drop ino the E string. If Bareknuckles don't all have that issue I'd say they were better than the Tonerider, but then they're 3x the price.  Ents are fine but quite hot, and don't bear A/Bing with better alternatives IME/IMHO.

Em...

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I bought some proper files once and that just rubbed on the plastic, no dig in at all.  No idea what was going on there - which is a legend I want inscribed on my tombstone.

2 hours ago, Ralf1e said:

As someone else on here said play in the dark sometimes. If you have a good ear it will help that muscle memory a great deal.

At last years Dereham Blues Festival the band I was in at the time were dropped last minute into subbing for a band in a dark club venue. Despite not being able to see no worries because i had fretless muscle memory.

8 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

Really? I had been playing for a year with one band before they realised I was using a fretless.

I think with a knowledeable audience, like at blues club or jam, expectations are raised, just as they are if you rock up with a six.  It's kinda "you better know how to play that thing, man".  And TBH I know that because I'm guilty of that prejudice when I'm in the audience. On the positive side I find getting an unlined out at a jam yields at least one gasp of astonishment from someone, usually the younger and more impressionable. 

1 minute ago, Boodang said:

Well, a few points in their defense;

Mwah sound is not compulsory. I've got a fretless strung with roundwounds which has an ebony fingerboard, with a scooped eq you can even slap it.

The point of them? Well, to my mind they're more expressive than a fretted. Cello style vibrato and slides being the most obvious. And unlike a fretted the whole board is available to use not just the bit behind the fret.

And as for white fret lines, Jaco and Mark Egan were/are on training wheels for a very long time.

yes, but think where Jaco could have got to without lines

Why fretless?  Makes playing a more crafty thing, less mechanical. 

You don't have to mwah....  I really dislike it.  

Think carefully about nut slot height. I have mine so I can drop the action and get 'mwah' if I want it, which is rare, but raise the action a tad and it sounds likle a normal bass.  For me around 0.3mm at the slot usually does.

For those who ask what's the point if you don't mwah, I would say you have the choice with very little adjustment.

I'm an unlined lover.  If you going to have lines you might as well have frets, IMHO only, obv.  But I would strongly urge you to consider buying one with dots on the notes: having to interpolate between the side dots to work out where the note is is just masochism.  It shouldn't cost much if you have to have the dots 'moved'. Bass Gallery charged me £30.

Cheap unlined fretlesses:  Revelation, Vintage V940FL.