NickA

You mày be right. It's better than I originally thought. The table is pretty good, one mended split and no warping. But until we spend a load on it we won't know. Hopefully the orchestra coffers will get the end pin and sound post sorted, we'll get a better tail piece on there and then we'll see if it's worth doing the bridge. Thing is, it total repairs go over £1200 we could have bought a decent 60s Czech laminate.

They were quite reasonably priced once. You just have to be old. Anyway, looks like you can make your own!

Build tech beyond Electric Wood's cowshed there! Lasers indeed 😯 Though one of my Wals has a black plastic cover and the other a home made aluminium one ( the original was cracked and I reckoned ally would be better shielding; it is, but it makes no odds ), so not essential to the sound 😉

😁😁😁 It's an age thing maybe: In the 80s we'd all moved on from guitar bands ( and the word "cool" ), having discovered synths, sequencers, Wals and Alembics. In 1981 I really wanted a sunburst fender jazz bass and an Ampeg amp. By 1985, following 4 years of post punk funk & indie and a degree in electronics, I really wanted a Wal and a trace gp12smx. Not a passive bass in the house now ( double bass aside). Now ( passive instruments & cool )..THEY'RE BACK. Actually, the word "cool" ( briefly supplanted by "stealthy") has now been back for longer than it was ever away.😁. Same likely true of Fenders.

Think we're getting the block bored and a whole new 10mm end pin fitted. We found a useable tail piece on an old laminate bass that is even more broken. Dyneema is what I'll use to fit it; beats wire on basses and on boats! Interesting it improved the sound; maybe I should replace the wire on my own bass with dyneema ( yards of it in the garage). Might try changing the strings for an old set of helicores have. Bridge can wait for now - at least till we know what it sounds like!

Went to visit the orchestra's bass tonight. It's actually not a bad little thing beneath the bodges and the long list of things it "could do with". In truth it needs: A new end pin assembly fitting (probably about £250), the existing block is solid, but the hole is the wrong shape. It needs filling and properly reaming out to fit a larger end pin. A new tail piece (about £40 for the tail piece, another £10 for the wire and who knows for the fitting). The esisting one is a very badly modded 3-string one, painted wood, held to the end pin with think inflexible wire. A new set of strings (£220) A new bridge fitted (£150) ... the bridge on it has been turned 180o so is back to front, somone has then modified the curve of the bridge to match the fingure board; if we turn it the right way then the action is all wrong! The sound post putting back (£?? mabe £30) All told maybe £700 of work. On the other hand, it's a solid little 3/4 fully carved bass. Hard to tell what woods due to the heavy stain and varnish, bu the fingerboard is painted "hard wood" and it's a bit wider than the rather worn neck (which is narrow and probably the original 3-string one). There is some filler on the stretcher that supports the sound post (see photo of the inside), but otherwise the inside looks in decent order. No idea how much it would be worth if fixed up. I've known this bass for 20+ years and never had a good opinion of it, but maybe with some TLC it would be OK. We could bodge it by gluing the end pin into the block (West Epoxy! ... good idea, I have some in the garage), re-attaching the tailpiece using rigging wire or dyneema rope, putting up with the reversed bridge and re-using the existing strings. Then all we need is the sound post re-erecting. Opinions ladies and gentlemen please. Pictures below:

The warwick sounds very thin in passive mode as there is no bass or treble boost (though it's not quite passive due to the pickups having little buffer amps in them - and needing a battery even in "passive" mode)... I always play it with the bass and treble turned well up; thin sounding MEC pickups I think. I could put a "smile" on the amp's EQ, but it doesn't seem to work as well. I did nearly buy a Sandberg California and that sounded the same in active and passive modes. If passivle, combined with a favourite amp, floats your boat then great. And there is a particular sound you get out of a standard Jazz bass due to the pickups loading eachother so that the output of the parallel pickups is something like tha average of the two; whereas on an active bass (Foderas aside) the pickups are effectively in series whether you like it or not. Still don't see the point of the slab bodied, chrome pickupped, thumpy sounding, passive "Florence" though. The world has moved on. 🙂

Nerd alert! Dont read if you are set on vintage passive basses 🙂 The on board electronics work pretty well in my Wals and in the ACG-EQ-01 bitsa Jazz bass. The advantage on those is that the two pickups can be seperately filtered .. which you can't do with an external preamp without two preamp channels and a stereo wired bass. Even on the Warwick which has bass and treble cut and boost which the amp could do; Warwick would argue that the bost/cut frequencies are carefully chosed to match the bass ...which maybe true. On a single pickup bass it's not so much of an issue; though it's still nice to know that your cable and amp input impedance aren't affecting the sound. Still, I noticed this rather tasty MusicMan Joe Dart bass (https://www.music-man.com/instruments/basses/joe-dart) I could quite fancy one of those for some reason. Nowt but a volume knob and no "electronics" at all. Maybe becasue the stingray pickup is good and the body has some contours.

Yes that's the stuff really. My dad had care of all my local area's school cellos ...there was usually something fishy bubbling on the stove. Bass bags want to, ideally, replace the bottom block, or failing that, fill and rebore the existing block then taper fit a new end pin. We're talking £300+ for the latter, lots more for the former. Suggesting a whole new tail piece too £30+ for the parts). I just don't think it's worth it. Given the state and quality of the bass, I'm thinking "araldite". But going for a proper look later. Photos to follow.

A capacitor and a variable resistor = " electronics " .... Hmm. Debatable. Wikipedia says: The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification and rectification, which distinguishes it from classical electrical engineering, which only uses passive effects such as resistance, capacitance and inductance to control electric current flow. ..and that dolphin is a thing of beauty to hold and to behold. The sound is quite " distinctive " I agree 😁

Can't do that on a Wal! Bonus. ... well its slap sound's ok, but I'd not die for it.

Looks awful doesn't sound any better. Why would a good company like Sandberg make such a thing? Is it really cheap? Erm no. Maybe I'm just too retro myself these days to appreciate "retro". ...and will reviewers stop saying "passive electronics". A. Like this is a "good thing" rather than a missing thing, and B. If it's passive it doesn't have electronics.. it has wires.

I'll get some tomorrow when I pay it a visit on its sick bed.

Our orchestra owns this rather dodgy old bass. We loan it out to people who are bass less but want to play. It's broken, the bit the end pin goes into came out the bass, the strings went slack and the soundpost fell over. Needs bodging as we have Mahler 5 to play ( for our sins) in a few weeks. Advice on putting up a sound post and fixing the end pin gratefully received. We'd get bass bags to do it, but the cost would be more than the bass is worth I fear. Nb: the tailpiece is really a three string one drilled out for four strings, poorly attached to the end pin with solid wire not gut or cable and the bridge is back to front ... just to add to the woes!

Takes up a lot less space on the stage than my 4/4 double bass. Heineken Zero though? 😬

German for whale being Wal. Many Facebook posts from German bassists autotranslated to " I was out with my whale last night" etc.

@Richard R: Brawley 4 and 5 string, EBS session 60 amp, cheap Aeon sustainer, scales to weight basses with, cake @petecarlton: Shuker Nuclear Device Jean-Jacques Burnel Signature Lite P-bass, Mayones Cali 4 Triskelion travel bass, Bugera Veryron BV 1001M Mosfet head, Ashdown Studio 210 combo, bits and pieces - and cake @Machines: Dingwall D-Roc 5, Dingwall NG-3, Warwick Gnome 280w + Ashdown RM210 (probably) @Andyjr1515: SWAAPATWTBWADS Bubinga Fretless, probably Pete's Swift lightweight piccolo build and maybe also his (not lightweight) EB-3 tribute @Ander87: Some of the gear in his signature - Rickenbacker 4003, MM Stingray Special 4HH, Fender AO Precision 60s, a few pedals on a Nano + Ampeg SVT 2 Pro Premiere + Barefaced Six10 @Frank Blank: Jabba short scale fretted, Jabba short scale fretless, Nordstrand Acinonyx, QSC K12.2, whichever preamp I'm using at the time. @NickA: couple of Wals and a Dolphin. You've all seen and played the mk1 fretless, and the dolphin, but I got a mk2 5er just before the prices went silly. Some PJB stuff too. Might bring the double bass .. how big is the room?

I don't gig with the jazz band much, but I'm out to orchestra at least once a week. Bent tuners and a small chunk out the scroll ( trapped it in the door of my Skoda citigo ) is the limit of damage. The bridge is often knocked out of place by thumps on door frames, but that's easily put back. The only time my dB was badly damaged was when it fell over at home. The £1500 insurance funded repair improved the bass a good deal, so not so bad.

Dam you. I'm getting combo GAS (CAS?) which I thought I'd bansihed forever with my PJB rig. I'll admit that to get the PJB up to gig volume, the total kit (flightcase and PB300) is almost as heavy as the old 1x 15 trace .. the weight advantage is that you only have to take as much as you need and if you need all of it it carries in sperate bits, being modular.

Great post! I used that GK 2x10" in our local university's practice rooms during some jazz lessons. Great improvement on my old trace for dB, but I like the pjb and markbass stuff a lot better .. especially for doubling with fretless electric. The pjb has a built in fixed low cut filter and an input impedance that suits piezo pickups well... and I presume the markbaß does too. You can buy piezo pre-amps (sansamp etc) if you want more adjustability and features.

Tim tweaked my bass ( new strings, adjustable bridge, bridge and sound post adjusted) so well I have no desire to upgrade now. He does all his own work whereas I don't actually know who does bass bags' luthering. Tim's "sales room" is a bit chaotic. He works from a little house in the bum end of Leicester, cram full of cellos and basses ready for sale, waiting on work or just hanging around for a rainy day. You have to make an appointment. You can just roll up at bass bags, but it's better to call in advance to make sure someone is available to see you and escort you to the bass loft ( the total opposite of Tim's place, being clean modern and spacious with everything for sale). The owner David will talk the hind leg off a donkey and it's hard to leave without spending money! Beware.

Thwaites are excellent ... especially if you have £10k to £50k to spend! Last time I went in, a lot of their more affordable stock was out on rental to west end shows, but they let me play a nice one at £20k. 😬 They stock "student" basses too though. Tell them a budget and make an appointment, they'll line some up for you. If you want to dabble in 2nd hand bargains (and get the setup sorted yourself) try the double bass rooms in Hastings and give Tim Bachelar (Leicester) a ring. They have loads at all prices. Bass bags best for lower end new basses and good for non classical stuff ( rockabilly specific setups and pickups)..but it's a trek to Derby ( and/or a taxi from the station). A friend at orchestra has one of their laminated basses, it's not brilliant, but it's well setup, does the job and isn't going to fall apart.

I didn't get the impression Bass direct know much about double basses, guess this is their toe in the water.... But at least it means they've one in stock if someone wants to try some amps out. The chap who did the setup is a guitar specialist .http://cadillacguitars01.weebly.com/ Bass bags are good for mid range new basses. Mostly factory built but well set up. Tried a £6000 Eastman in there which was really quite good. They know their stuff, fit decent strings, there's no snobbery and you'll not get fleeced. There's better value on the 2nd hand market but more care needed too. Nb: no affiliation to BB, but they're just down the road from me and have done all kinds of little jobs.

That's how my dolphin is for sure.

Actually no. I'd never even heard of GR before now. Not over impressed with the GK combos though. I had a huge complicated trace Elliot 1x15" for years; sounded awful at low volumes and worse with dB...so went out hunting for something modern, with smaller drivers. A pro bass player I had some lessons with had a minimark and HIS teacher had a micromark ... But couldn't find one and happened on pjb (both combo and powered extension off basschat at very fair prices). The older ones with "neo" drivers are very neutral ( sounds like a double bass but louder sort of thing) the more recent ones ( eg compact suitcase) with piranha drivers are a bit brighter. I'd be happy with a markbass too i think.