Lfalex v1.1

Roasted neck? They've been doing flamed forumites for years over there! I own a 'Ray 5. Nice bass, but the way they behave on the EBMM forum can be pretty over-zealous at times. As mentioned before, some companies have their priorities right; =1 Customer Service =1 Making great instruments 3 Rectifying problems with people's basses 4 Giving open and honest advice on repairs and modifications 5 Protecting their brand image / company reputation by actually realizing that 1 to 4 (above) promote this aspect. Good examples of the above I have received; Patrice Vigier mailed me back within 24 hrs telling me how to carry out elecrics mods to the pre-amp in my Passion bass. Rob Green said "Ok, it'll cost more because I'll have to wind the coils differently so the outputs can be tapped" No problem. Even though it's not on the options list. The tech at Dana B. Goods (US) Warwick distributor mailed me back after 15min with a lengthy reply about a pre-amp/pick-up query. In each case, no fuss, no aggro. We are the end users of companies' products, and if the original manufacturers can't or won't help us, we'll just have to go elsewhere. Imagine the response if I wanted a Sterling 4HH with Series/Parallel/Singlecoil switching for both pick-ups and the 4band EQ from a Bongo?! EBMM possess the ability to make such an instrument. Most of us would pay a good deal more for a "tailored" (if not custom) bass. They're doing themselves out of potential sale AND repeat customers with their attitude (except they're made by Yamaha)

Good idea on the Hotwires, Rich. Hadn't thought of that angle! Rayman; You're kind of right, but it shouldn't sound as dull with fresh strings as it does. I thought maybe strings which might sound a bit light and clattery on any other bass could redress the balance.

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='922461' date='Aug 12 2010, 10:58 AM']I've always used rotosound ...Also got a great roundwound sound from the Attitude.[/quote] Not a fan of Rotos at all, I'm afraid. Am I to deduce from the second statement that you use flatwounds? Does Sheehan, too? I'm not a Fanboy, but none of the strings I've tried sound quite right. And they're all rounds. I might just have to revert to "Plan A"; DR Fatbeams or Hi-Beams. Any D'Addario or LaBella recommendations out there? The Attitude has lots of fundamental output and bags of lower mid-range. It's just that little bit of upper-mid singing and top-end sparkle that's missing. Thanks for your thoughts so far...

That's not Gospel, BTW, just my 2p from having owned 2 for a total of 6 years and played a few others here and there. Rich (OutToPlayJazz) would likely be able to give you his version of events. He's owned a few Statii from time to time! You DO need to try them out for yourself. I find the lack of head perfectly acceptable, but can see how some people might utterly loathe it.

That looks like a familiar concept- here's mine (so far...) I have an E-Pro in my Zoot. Tons of boost/cut and low noise, but the centre frequencies on the 3 bands (Bass, Treble, Bright) seem a bit off to me. Not my favourite EQ.

I'm struggling to find [i]the[/i] strings to use on this! So far; Whatever Yamaha shipped it with Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinkies Elixir Nanoweb Ashdown Nickels (I think) Currently using Stainless Elites I know Sheehan uses Rotosounds, but I don't like them- die too fast and too rough under the fretting hand. On other basses I use DR Fatbeams or Sunbeams or Elixirs. One consideration- My Attitude is a 10th Anniversary, and has a Phenolic fretboard rather than Maple. I play fingerstyle, and favour 40,60,80,100 or 45,65,80,100 Any recommendations would be most welcome. Thanks in advance! Alex.

As previously stated; The Gallery Bass Direct The Bass Merchant

I can't comment on using resistors for cross-talk reduction, but IIRC the "non-stacked" control plate uses 2x250k logarithmic pots for volume and 1x500k linear pot for tone purposes. If you want stacked controls, you'll need "dual concentric" potentiometers. I really have no idea what values these are available in! The capacitor values are right, though.

I have a '97 Streamer LX6 and an '04 Infinity SN4. Both very different. I [i]really[/i] like the J/JJ pick-up configuration on the Infinity/Dolphin. I've never had any issues with either bass. When I e-mailed Dana B.Goods (US distributor), they answered me at length 15min later, with all the info I'd asked for and more besides. There are a few designs I don't like (Stryker. Vampyre ain't great) There are a few design issues with some I do like (Thumb- nneck dive and and a tendency for it to jump off of my lap when seated) There are some I'd love- Dolphin, Streamer Jazzman, Corvette $$, Fortress Masterman, Streamer Pro M, Fortress Flashback, but which are discontinued, out of my reach financially, hard to find or difficult to justify alongside some of my current basses. In other words, it's pretty much all good!

I have a B2AV, too. Good to play for all the obvious reasons (mass, balance, size) Good, woody tone on GDA&E, but the B lacks weight of tone, probably due to the very low overall mass of the instrument. Ever heard a cabinet/amp start to run out of puff below low "D"? Sounds just like that!

(Being the Devil's advocate because I have an idea what your answer will be!) Why do you want the extra overall mass? I agree that in [i]theory[/i] the extra contact area between neck and body (on a neck-thru at any rate) might help stiffen the neck and assist in modifying (if not improving) the transmission of vibration to/from the body. If it's a bolt-on, I'd reckon that the screws transmit most of the vibration (Just look at a Ritter...!) Headlessness has its own set of benefits. Minimal mass resonating at the end of the neck is the main one, helping with stability and (presumably) deadspots. Better instrument balance is another. Size and transportability is a third. After that, it's marginal and subjective changes like the fact that most headless basses use zero frets, the addition/deletion of mechanisms such as string reservoirs/ Bendwells etc. I can see a train of thought emerging from this and the Steinberger/Streamline thread earlier...

45-105 wouldn't be that strenuous, as both Sunbeams and Fatbeams have round cores rather than hexagonal ones. In practice, this makes them [i]feel[/i] "less taut" under the fingers when fretting (even if they're tuned to the correct pitch) My concern would be length; Will you end up winding the thicker part of the string around the machinehead if you use 34" strings? The DRs are long enough for [b]at least[/b] 34" through-body stringing. Do you have to cut down your current strings in the same way, and does this work well enough? Otherwise, give the DRs a shot. They might just be what you're after.

Its all about.... Babooshka! Awesome playing.

Status Streamline V? I have a IV, and it's a [i]wicked[/i] little thing...

Roundwound recommendations? DR (Marcus Miller) Fatbeams. Nice and compliant, Slap friendly but good all-rounders. Not too rough on the fingers for Stainless steel. DR Sunbeams. Much of the above applies, but Nickel-plated. Higher output due to the Nickel content interacting with the pick-ups. Smoother under the fingers, too. A bit deeper and rounder sounding. Elixir Nanoweb Coated strings. Last for ages due to polymer coating. Good tone, too. I find them a bit "quacky" when used on Phenolic fretboards, and a Graphite neck won't help that much, either. On a wooden Fretboard/neck they sound more natural. Downsides? None of the above are cheap, but they [i]are[/i] generally available. As for EB Slinkys, the last set I had on my Yamaha were tonally good to start with, but died really quickly and felt like a cheese grater from the start. It wasn't painful/uncomfortable, but they felt rough and unfinished compaerd to some others.

[quote name='JTUK' post='919339' date='Aug 9 2010, 10:15 AM']I am a very firm believer that a £2500 bass made by a very good luthier is SO much better than £1500-2000 from a shop...at least, IME, but again, maybe it depends on who is making them.[/quote] It DOES depend on who's making them. And what their understanding, experience, design skills and QC are like. Some £1.5k instruments I've played in shops have been quite formidable. I doubt you'd find anything [i]so[/i] much better. Just different.

I am loving the fact that no-one (yet) has said; [i]"Nah, waste of money, mate!"[/i] So it must be a justifiable expense!

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='919226' date='Aug 9 2010, 04:31 AM']A boutique bass isn't necessarily an improvement over a manufactured bass in all aspects, the craftsmanship and sound tend to be more idiosyncratic. With a boutique bass you tend to sign up to a luthiers vision of what he thinks a good bass is.[/quote] That's a very valid point. But the corollary to that is that when you buy a mass-produced bass, you sign up to that manufacturer's ideal. Or worse still, some manufacturer's idea of what Joe Public's consensus says a good bass should be. All of which are potentially limiting. I know some players have grave reservations about buying custom-made instruments- You never know how it might turn out, and you [i]really[/i] have to trust your luthier. It's a great (and potentially costly) leap of faith. As for high-end, off-the-peg basses, at least you get to try before you buy. My recommendation would be to set a budget (with a bit of stretch in it!) and try to keep an open mind about the purchasing process. Try as many basses from as many manufacturers as you can and enjoy the opportunity to sample loads of instruments. For my third bass (and first new one) I spent months trying stuff out. At first I thought the world began and ended with an MIA Jazz. Then I found the Trace Elliot T-Bass, then Warwicks. None of which I'd heard of. I tried Dingwalls, Kubickis, Fenders, Musicmen, Steinbergers, Tobias, Pedulla, Zon, Spector, Status.. Everything. I thought I had it narrowed down to a Thumb thru-neck 5, then tried a Streamer LX 5 that was more to my taste even than the Stage 1 and Stage 2. Then I saw this dusty thing in a corner by a manufacturer I'd never even heard of before. Tried it and was sold. Knowing little about basses and having a bit of cash to splash, 16 years ago, I bought a Vigier Passion V (SeriesIII) I still own it and enjoy it today. I may not be the world's best player, and certainly wasn't then, but it's allowed me to grow into it. It was a lot of money, but I've had a decade and a half of pleasure from it, and in no way regret buying it. I hope you have a similar experience!

If it comes to the crunch, make your own? There must be masses of info on the net. Assuming you've got the time to experiment...

[quote name='M-Bass-M' post='917735' date='Aug 7 2010, 09:41 AM']Go on then...explain yourself [/quote] Ummm... I've already got a 'Ray5 (fretless) The last 'Ray 4 I tried (3EQ) was good. Did the 'Ray thing, and did it well, but that was it. I just can't abide pick-up selector switches. Must. Have. Pan. Pots. Or at least V/V/T/T! This doesn't bode well for the G&Ls. Which is a pity, as the last ASAT I played was really nice. Then there's the [s]toilet seat[/s] Bongo. The 4 HH I played when trying out basses last was superb (although I bought a Status Streamline). I don't mind the aesthetics, it played well, and the sound... Storming! Loads of variety available from the electrics; Neodymium HH pick-ups with a pan pot and a 4-band eq. Well made and finished, too.

[quote name='tauzero' post='915115' date='Aug 4 2010, 04:36 PM']No, but unplugging them would. There's a mixer that you could use to run off the DI in the For Sale section [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=97506"]here.[/url][/quote] The cheapo mixer I use for practice has enough gain to be able to plug even passive basses straight into its (channel) line inputs. I've not used a "real" amp at home for ages.

This has never disappointed me... Ibanez SRX700. They don't make this [i]exact[/i] model anymore. I also have a 'Ray 5 fretless, so I can claim to be relatively neutral!

Make mine a Bongo HH! (Runs away very quickly, being pelted with stones by both camps...)

Whilst actives certainly have their uses, I think passives sound more "direct". I reckon it's due to the shorter, simpler signal path. Two pick-up passive instruments seem to resolve (and be able to use) phase cancellation between the two pick-ups to achieve differing tones. The Jazz is a great exponent of this. Perhaps it's because the various EQ components in actives interfere with the phase coherence of the pick-ups' signal that it's less obvious on active basses. That, or the fact that the very process of EQ-ing masks some of audible effects of the phase-cancellation. Not sure. Just clutching at strings...

In one of my previous bands (a 5 piece art/indie rock outfit), I was nicknamed [i]"The Frequency Stealer"[/i] due to my tendency to go rocketing up the fretboard, overlapping with the guitars' lower registers. We periodically used keyboards, too, and it didn't really cause any issues. There's always room for a strung bass of some sort (ERB, Piccolo, EUB, Tenor etc.), even if a certain amount of "dodging" takes place!