Sean

Me too.

1 minute ago, Bassman1974 said:

Thanks Sean. How do you find the mids with them? My Jazz is so annoyingly boomy with the Toneriders that I just don't play it at all !

They're punchy and cut through a mix. A pair of Js is scooped by nature but these are bright and sparkly. I was so happy with them that I got Lee to make me a pair of splittable J humbuckers for another bass so that I could effectively have the same j pair available on a push-pull pot. 

He also did me P+J set that is brighter and less nasal than typical. They have longer bobbins. I've had three sets of pickupsfrom him and he's nailed what I wanted each time. He changes the recipe to capture what you need. 

3 hours ago, Bassman1974 said:

Many thanks for the recommendation Lozz,

 

I'm having some discussions with a chap from Toltec pickups about a bright overwound set that he's had success with in the past. If that draws a blank, I'll be on to those 74's !

 

Thanks again

I've only had excellent experiences with Lee Laverack, he's magic at understanding pickup requirements. I have a set of bright overwound J pickups here that are fantastic. 

29 minutes ago, Rexel Matador said:

This is a great idea!

You can also muck about with weighing and taping coins to the headstock to get an idea of balance of lighter tuners. On such a long neck (distance from the strap hanger to the end of the headstock) small weights can make a big difference.

Some years back Spector introduced bridges that weigh around 180g compared to the older bridges that weighed 500-600g. It was a quick way to drop almost a pound from the overall weight of the instruments and I've seen no discernible change to tone.  I posted about this a couple of times in the big Spector Fans thread. The consequences of this on a light bass is that it's going to make it neck/headstock heavy. I have an early Euro 5LX that is /was quite a heavy beast and when I replaced the bridge with a new light one, it did change the balance but it's a heavy enough pair of wings that it doesn't dive. Newer instruments tend to be lighter and some are "weight relieved".  

If neck-dive is the problem, we either need to lighten the headstock or get some ballast loaded on to the body. There are other options like moving strap-locks or adding extensions but that tends to be anathema to the Spectorati and it affects resale.

Solutions to either cure or reduce neck-dive:

1. Using a wide strap that has a suede/raw leather inside surface so it increases the friction
2. Lightweight tuners - make sure you compare the weights of what you're proposing to change out with what you're going to put in. If the new ones weigh 50% of what's coming out, see how the bass balances with two of the old ones removed so you get an understanding of how it'll balance before you commit to buying the new light ones. 
3. Get an old bridge. This is obviously going to add at least 400g to the overall weight of the bass. 

I bought a Vintage guitar from GAK about 6 years ago, it was absolutely shocking, the routing, the neck joints, fretwork etc. Everything that could have been wrong was wrong. It went back to GAK and Dennis Drumm from JHS (the brand boss) was in touch to apologise and they put it right within days, sending out a replacement that had been set up with my choice of strings and some extra goodies thrown in. The replacement guitar was really outstanding, and JHS stands by its products 100%. I've also dealt with JHS and Dennis over one of the Vintage ProShop guitars. Now, they are very good indeed, that one is a keeper.

My favourite GK of all. They’re magic. My regular gigging amp and this is an absolute bargain with the switch and (extremely tough but light) Gator rack bag. 

This needs a good home and taking out for regular gigs.

@Berserker is a top bloke to deal with too. You can’t go wrong. GLWTS. 

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

 

I bought mine on a whim just to see what it was like. Right now it's my main instrument, and is the only bass I've played over the last 12 months.

That's quite the endorsement. Do you use the floating trem? From what I've seen/heard this is one of the features of the instrument that makes it what it is and something that's completely lacking in some of the quality competitors' instruments like the Schecter Hellcat VI. 

I just voted Vintera.

I love it when there's a loophole and you can vote for the outcome that's already been decided. Makes me feel like a winner. 

Enjoy the Vintera. I've always fancied a Bass VI but have no idea what I'd use it for other than noodling at home. 

Question:

What about joint purchases for bands made out of band funds? 

Upgrading lights, new monitors, a new backdrop. My contribution is 20% and it's deducted from the band slush fund. 

@Mike Brooks was joined by Matt Gleason of Monty's at the South East Bass Bash last month and we had a demo of Monty's bass pickups. The P Retrowind was a stand out and one of the nicest P pickups many of us have heard. They are just gorgeous, UK made and although they're not cheap, as soon as we heard it you knew it was special. 

https://www.montysguitars.com/collections/bass-pickups/products/retro-wind-p-bass-pickup

I know @cetera @NancyJohnson and too many others to mention were there but I came away decided that the next P pickup I was going to buy would be one of those. And that is coming from someone who is a dyed-in-the-wool Toltec pickups fanboy. 

Toltec would be an excellent alternative. Either ay you're getting a UK handcrafted product with excellent support from a small friendly business run and owned by their GenX founders.

23 hours ago, Bigwan said:

Is the P a 40P5 by any chance?

Yes. 

Hypothetically, where would I place this Synth pedal in my signal chain? 

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

Or it's someone who thinks they can re-sell it for more money if they include delivery.

Going back a while,  over a year ago, I was looking to do some work on mine and googled the price of valves etc. While searching, 3 NoS ones came up being sold by Laney through eBay for £599 collected only. 

They sold all on the same day, I was stunned. All 3 then resurfaced on eBay from a seller in W-s-M at £749. This was 50% of what the last retail price was IIRC. 

Now, this was when sellers paid a fee on that listing, (nothing has changed in reality, it's just easier to remember prices from before the change) so if we do the maths, someone was prepared to "invest" £1797 up front, drive the 200 mile round trip from W-s-M to a Halesowen, put them into storage while waiting for them to sell for £2247 minus eBay fees, collection cost, etc. 

Really!?  It's a lot of outlay, effort and messing about to pocket £200-300 if you're lucky. But it shows that there are people out there...

1 hour ago, sky said:

still using the old sound city 🤣

Standard. 

I was very pleased this week that a similar thread ended up with the OP making a decision and taking action by acquiring something recommended in the thread. I reckon it happens about once a year. 😆

That rendition of The Sideboard Song never fails to impress me. They were amazing. 

I saw them twice, once years ago with Mick and then in the last 20 years or so at Chelt Town Hall. I remember being absolutely transfixed by Rabbit. 

They both had a very impressive pedigrees as session musicians and, although I've never seen the evidence, Dave Peacock swore that Chas Hodges was a much better bass player than him. 

On 14/11/2025 at 06:32, Kiwi said:

 I can't get on with that shrunken lower horn on the body...

I can't unsee that now. It's odd. 

8 minutes ago, MrSpace said:

Cool! Curious to know what those are used for - especially the one on the left?

L-R

1. Fret wire radius tool. Used to put a radius on fret wire before installing the new fret.
2. D’Addario String Cutter
3. Fret saw with gauge. It’s for cutting fret slots and the gauge stops you going too deep and ending up with firewood. 

On 27/12/2025 at 01:03, Linus27 said:

Thanks for everyone's help, it has been super helpful and I do really appreciate it. As a side note, my daughter has taken up bass and as a first bass, I bought her the HB Mustang and I am super impressed with quality of it, it is a really good bass for the money, in fact way better for the money than expected. So I'm going to take the plungexand buy the HB MV-5PJ. For just over £200, I cant really go wrong as a tester into the world of 5 string bass.

Brilliant! I love it when a plan comes together! I look forward to seeing how you get on with a 5. 

The only HB I've ever played was the little purple one at the SW Bash raffle this year. Impressive build and I said on the day, that if I was still globe-trotting for a living, I'd have ditched my B2A for one of those. 

2 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

Just re-read your OP and noticed ‘read tab fluently’. I think that’s quite unusual, but unfortunately not that useful (in this context). With one tribute band I have had the keyboard player send me the ‘bass pad’ in standard notation, to learn before the gig; otherwise I’ve been expected to learn the set myself.

Good point. I've only ever been sent notation and slash chord charts. And those have been rare.

4 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

I play in two tributes; one I do purely as I love the band (Cheap Trick)  

 

One day, I will venture North and see a Cheat Trick show. From what I've seen on YT, it's fantastic. 

Posh tools. 

These are from a little thing I did with friends recently just to gig the Hamer 12 and do some Cheap Trick songs.

First time for years on lead vocals for me, no rehearsal with the drummer, it's a little thrown together but it was a lot of fun. 

A friend's wife took the video. 

[sfx] gear is absolutely top notch and the support is fantastic, although it's extremely unlikely that you'll need any. 

22 hours ago, ezbass said:

I’ve settled on .73 mainly because of seeing & hearing Bobby Vega. I only use anything over 1mm for guitar.

Mike Brooks told me about Bobby Vega turning the pick so he uses a non-pointy corner to strike the string. I tried it and it's OK, it's different. I haven't stuck with it but I've focusing on other aspects of technique recently.