lownote

Well, you know, Rich, even though I concede to you totally when it comes to knowing about Higgs bosons or juju or whatever goes round in wires, fitting the KiOgon loom did make a difference. Overall it's a cleaner sound and most obviously of all the cheap and nasty twangy top end is now a dignified subtle treble. Bottom end ain't wonderful, still a bit blurred and boomy/thuddy, not 3D and crisp and focused and all that. But I'm used to my Sire, which is awesome, and my other P bass is on flats so I'm not used to roundwounds on a P bass. And I'm in a raucous blues band, not a refained solo artist. So I've decided I'm not spending £130 on a Nordstrand or Oil City for a possible improvement, I'll just wait until a serendipitous buy comes my way maybe.

Dove and Booevil... The Telekasters...

Thanks pup peeps for all the ideas. It would seem the Nordstrand is the only straightforward plug and play solution. But £130? Man that's a lot of money. Oil City Pickups have offered to make me a bespoke one to my exact spec for the same money, only they need my originals to copy the shape. Having seen and heard a rather excellent vid of the stock pup being played https://youtu.be/3Qpu8-Y-BUc I'm holding off doing anything until I trial a KiOgon loom, hopefully today.

Eh, maybe it's just me

Brand new strings. Pocket fit is no Sire but I've seen worse. Difficult to describe. With my Toneriders in my other p bass I just get great 3 d sound. With this one I'm constantly fiddling with knobs but never get quality sound. And turning the tone knob up off 0 is hopeless, it just gets brassy and I dunno, cheap. I want deep chocolate thump.

Just bought one. Like many aspects of it but find the pickups quiet, muddy and boomy. And cheap and jangly sounding with the tone control anywhere but off. Can anyone who has done a successful upgrade of this bass recommend ideas. A KiOgon loom is probably a given, but which pickup? I like the Tonerider very much but they don't do a 5 string version.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1487176112' post='3237786'] When we're looking for paying work we have to be very flexible on what we will accept. I know rock guys that are playing in country cover bands because they have paying work. Blue [/quote] +1 In my short time on your planet my first band as a bassist was a country dancing ceilidh band. And I'm a blues/ jazz man. But they were pulling down £250-300 a night every couple of weeks. And they weren't much good. The really good ceilidh band round here pulls up to a grand a night and has a busy diary.

The only flats I have experience of are Daddario chromes. Are the LB fls stiffer or less stiff than them, anyone know?

I have no problem forgetting them. The trouble is it's between learning them and going on stage...

A friend told me to try La Bella FLs, claiming they're not as stiff to play as the others. Can anyone endorse that, I'm not in a position to experiment?

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1487155088' post='3237521'] Every time I try a bass with flats on, I always find the high tension unbearable. These might be an option to stick on one of my Basses for a trial. Then again I suspect Labella = expensive! [/quote] I said this to a pro chum the other day and he told me to try La Bella 760FLs (£43 ish) which he swears aren't stiff as a board. Haven't tried them yet to see if he's right though.

Peavey Grind V. Made badly in Vietnam of breathtakingly wonderful Brazillian walnut which would have looked far better alive and holding up a parrot this wonderful ugly duckling of a bass used to lap into my leap of its own accord. In the end I couldn't take the banter about its looks or name so mistakenly let it go.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1484754189' post='3218124'] Really does look like (a woman's) body. [/quote] See what you mean, but bad case of psoriasis, lol.

Every now and again I am forcibly reminded why it is a bad thing to be poor. Not being able to commission a Shuker would seem to be one of those epi-fannies.

Nick Davies, a pro I know, swears by La Bella 760 FLs and says they get better and better after 2 years. OTOH Berkeley teacher Danny Mo Morris has had a set of Thomasticks on his P for 16 years and to my ear the result is a dull muted thud - might as wel be a drum.

I'm not very experienced but I have been in that situation - especially hard stuck in the sticks 25 miles from the nearest city and with a local music scenes dominated by singer/guitarists and folkies. What worked for me is two-fold FWIW: - if you can can even vaguely interest yourself in a genre that lends itself to jams/open mic nights, like blues and to some degree jazz, start going and keep going until you've been heard by and met enough people to start talking about forming bands. It can take a while but once you're in the offers will happen. And if you don't especially like that genre you might find fellow travellers who want to play what you want to play. I'm not specially into blues but I'm now in a blues funk band through exactly this approach - go to festivals and gigs looking for a band you like without a bassist. Approach them and offer yourself for a try out on a 'no bones broken if it doesn't work' basis. You never know, they may have been saying they needed a bassist and didn't know where to start looking! Both those approaches worked 100% for me.

If you're close to an informed choice between two or three options I would suggest it's vital you try them all rather than theorising. I had almost decided to buy a Squier VM 5 string jazz a while back but some instinct made me go try it first. Glad I did, I hated it - especially when compared to the Sire.

Just weighed my v7 4 for you and with strap it's dead on 9 lbs

I've had three, two 4s and a 5. The 5s are not light, and I think they tried to adjust the issue a year ago. 4s are fine for weight if you've got a half decent strap. IMHO you won't get a better jaz bass for the money you're looking at spending. The body is very well finished even if the fittings are unremarkable. The genius is in the electronics, offering an ocean of customisable sound.

+1 Barefaced. While I've loved both my MB heads I can't get on with their cabs. IMHO they're dull and muddy, but that's probably my kaka hearing. Barefaced do 12 and 10 inch drivers. The 12s are colourless, the 10s more old school. Perfect for blues. I have the BF 210 which is around 13kg and also not bulky, which can be half the pain if carrying cabs. It comes in 12 and 4 ohm versions, the 12 being fine for most jobs with a big head. My 12 ohm with my MB LM2 will keep up with drums, lead and keys with the volume set at around 10 o'clock. If that's too heavy the 110 weighs 7.5kg and will handle up to 500w and the smaller gig.