Lfalex v1.1

How old is "old"? I have a 14-year old SMX head & 3 cabs (1203h, 1152 and 1084h) No issues at all from the cabs. The head glitched once, and I had it serviced and fully tested by an ex-Trace employee. He knew what was up before he opened it! The boards inside are connected by wires with push-fit spade terminals. Over time, they work loose. As a fix, he soldered all mine in place, cleaned the whole unit out, cleaned an re-lubed the graphic eq, replaced all the illumination, everything. That's all I've had in 14 years. Neither the amps nor the cabs are state-of-the-art by today's standards. They're perfectly giggable, but heavy! I'd avoid the 4x10 combos- They're MEGA heavy and bulky and top heavy and you can't lock your arms to carry them and the cabinet volume is less than the standard 1048 to keep the weight down, so you lose a bit of bottom end.

Nice mod. "Threadlock" compound would also work a treat, as (IMO) the amount of adjustment required (when it's not adjusting itself) is quite small.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' post='852205' date='May 30 2010, 11:06 PM']use a capo[/quote] Wonderfully simple! Excellent idea! (Wouldn't have thought of it myself)

Vigier Passion V S3 Warwick Infinity SN4 Yamaha Attitude 10th Anniversary 2004 MIA S1 Jazz Status Streamline

I own an MIA jazz (2004) and a Squire VM Jazz. Both very different. Both good, but the VMJ's reached the point that it needs new pick-ups and electrics if it's to improve further, and I'm not sure it's worth the expense. The last Classic vibe I tried was great, in terms of look, feel and sound. I'm beginning to wonder whether (with modern methods properly applied and correct QC) it's likely that poor quality basses in the £250-£300 bracket will even exist soon.

[quote name='Metalmoore' post='852190' date='May 30 2010, 10:29 PM']I love the custom nordy pup covers, makes it look like there isn't any pups there, just poles.[/quote] Ditto. Well executed.

Yup. Liking Genesis, ELP, Marillion, Liquid Tension Experiment. Also fond of earlier Supertramp and some ELO, but I'm not sure that they're truly "Prog". Got to say I prefer to listen to it than play it. Spoils my enjoyment if I have to analyse it too much!

All I can say is; [b]"Re-fitting is the reverse procedure to removal..."[/b] Yeah, right. (Visualizes people de-fretting their necks, sanding their 'boards down and refretting them to adjust the action...)

New? Perhaps A Warwick Streamer LX VI? The aforementioned Yamaha? One of more expensive Ibanez? Second Hand? What can you find? Smiths might be in budget, as might a Vigier.

This one! 2004 MIA S1. Nice, 2 piece Ash body in Trans Sunset Orange,Thru-body strung, Rosewood fretboard. Tried it against 8 other Jazzes, Musicmen, Corvettes, etc. and it comfortably bettered them all in tone and playability, and not just in my opinion. Now even better with DR Sunbeams on it. I also have a Squier VMJ with a BadAssII and FatBeams on it. Good bass, but [u]completely[/u] different to this! Edited for; Why do they not offer Stacked pots on new (MIA/MIM/CIJ) models? I'm tempted to do the Squier, but never understood why they stopped it ('62/'63?) in the first place.

FatBeams and SunBeams for me (from experience) I like the slighter softer feel under my fretting hand due to the greater compliance offered by round-cored strings. Other plusses? Extra output from the (Nickel (plated?) Sunbeams make my Jazz's output that little bit hotter without extra noise. They seem well made (no duffers in about 15 sets) and do last well.

That's a pity, your money will go a lot further if you do go down the second-hand route. I'd buy some of the equipment/instruments in the for sale sections like a shot if I had any money/ needed anything else.

Bass. Never had the urge to play guitar. Plus, my hands are like shovels

It wasn't entirely flippant. I had considered the implications, hence the knowing [i]idiot savant[/i] wink at the end!

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='847211' date='May 25 2010, 09:34 AM']Quite strangely, on the Strictly Tour, I've been eq-ing as I always do, making sure I can hear every frequency of the bass & sending the DI signal "pre eq" from the amp. The sound where we are on the stage is great, but all I hear is thud and boom out front. This weekend however, I sent the signal "post eq" and the engineer commented, "Wow, your bass sounds amazing this week." Hmmm... [/quote] I have employed this tactic before! pre/post EQ DI switches are underrated. That, and in A STUDIO, I deliberately left the EQ on my Vigier flat when messing around with levels etc. and then turned it on +15dB across the selected frequency (flick of a switch downwards) for the take/s. Sounded amazing. No-one noticed, except to say "That really came through well..."

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='847591' date='May 25 2010, 03:30 PM']I had a wife I didn't tell my basses about. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing her around for a while [/quote] Is she in a flightcase under the stairs?

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='847606' date='May 25 2010, 03:45 PM']Typically it's that standard area on a bass guitar - somewhere between C# and E on the G string. Sometimes (on Fenders and Stingrays mostly) I've also found them around G# on the E string. Soloing the octave down voice you will find that the pedal gates your note very quickly after you play it - this is what makes it very obvious.[/quote] Ok, that's improved my understanding of the issue. The G# (4th fret) E-string seems to be a common one for Fenders IIRC. 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th frets on G string, I'm not so familiar with. Stingrays are (semi) notorious for having the potential to have weak G strings. Have just tried widdling about using the octave on my Korg Pandora- through headphones. Aside from tracking issues (!) I can detect none of the gating effects you refer to on either my Streamline, Vigier or Warwick Infinity. My Jazzes are cased up at the mo' but I'll try 'em. Edit- Have you ever tried using a FatFinger or some similar? They fit onto the bass' headstock and can help to even out dead spots by altering the mass of the headstock. They're no panacea- they seem to mute harmonic content and can make neck-dive worse, but it may help..

[quote name='SteveK' post='847625' date='May 25 2010, 04:06 PM']Wow! Is Paranoid [i]still[/i] a pub band favourite? I remember playing it in one of my first "proper" bands in the early 70s.[/quote] Good tune's still a good tune, I guess.

Use the Megadeth or Big Country cover versions? More modern recordings, for sure. They're still in the right key, too (though probably not de-tuned)

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='847534' date='May 25 2010, 02:30 PM']Never had a deadspot or never had a deadspot "problem"? I've had basses which appeared fine on their own but the deadspots became obvious once I stuck an octaver between the bass and the amp.[/quote] Just to clarify; The deadspots only become apparent when using the OC-2, right? What notes are you playing- Whereabouts on the fretboard- up high? down low? Does the OC-2 have an octave down & 2 octaves down? and how do you blend them with the original signal. Just trying to get a feel for what makes the deadspots become suddenly obvious, and are the notes the same on every bass? I don't use an octaver, I can never get one to track well enough, and they never seem to sound "right" to me (and I don't think it's due to deadspots!)

[quote name='pantherairsoft' post='847365' date='May 25 2010, 12:03 PM']A fretless guitar!!!!!! What ever next.[/quote] Vigier have been making them for about 20 years. IIRC they're called Surfretters or some such...

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='847056' date='May 24 2010, 11:47 PM']...#2 I've asked specifically in this thread about whether graphite necks can make dead spot problems completely go away, and this is the first response I've had. Dead spots are a big deal to me because I use a lot of effects and dead spots are quickly shown up by tracking effects like the ubiquitous Boss OC-2, rendering certain notes in certain positions useless. Do graphite necks eliminate this issue? Other graphite neck bass users seem less than keen to endorse this particular performance improvement.[/quote] Okay. I'll [i]try[/i and give a reasoned response to this one. My MIA Jazz has Posiflex rods (graphite) in the neck. It still has discernable differences between how some notes ring and others... don't ring as much! Stand up 7th fret on the E string (B in standard tuning) The Vigier doesn't seem to have many, and those that there are are much less evident. Less evident to the extent that you tend to question your technique first and wonder about dead spots afterwards. The Streamline? I can't find any. I reckon that's due to more than just the carbon/graphite neck, though. Firstly, it's headless - so no resonating headstock to dampen out certain frequencies. Second, it's only got four materials used in its construction; The Carbon/Graphite cloth, the resin, the epoxy filler inside, and the (presumably) steel of the truss-rod. All of whose consistency can be controlled during manufacture. Thirdly, it's a monocoque- Neck and body are one fabrication. Does improved energy transfer thorugh the body help? Lastly, it's relatively lightweight compared to other basses- that may influence matters also. One final point. I've played about 12 Vigiers. A mix of S2, S3 and S4 Passions and Arpeges, including 3 or 4 Excesses. Whilst I wasn't that keen on the Excesses (apart from one!), The rest have proven to be remarkably consistent. I played one that was 5 later than mine in the line of production, and but for the finish and the Maple wings, it might as well have been mine. Likewise the Statii. The Streamlines vary VERY little from one to the next. Seems like you can have consitency (up to quite a fine point) from such instruments, but the corollary to that might be a loss of "individual character", but as we all know, the greatest contributor to the overall sound is the player and their playing style! Hope that (sort of) answered the question!

[quote name='E sharp' post='846749' date='May 24 2010, 06:50 PM']I'm suprised that no one has mentioned the Viger Excess models and the like , as they all now have wooden necks , graphite rods , and no trussrods (Vigier state the trussrods can affect the tone - as Ped stated) . This may be a good halfway house for many . Everyone should try one...[/quote] (I mentioned the Vigier Passion S3 back on Page1. It's a 10/90 through-neck) For some reason, all but one of the Excesses I've played have been a bit "ordinary". I do think that truss-rods make two differences, one practical and one sonic; If you've got a truss-rod, you can modify your neck relief to suit your playing style as well as / instead of tinkering with the action. If it's right from the outset, a rodless neck will be fine- provided it stays that way. Which is where the stability of carbon/graphite comes into play. Sonically speaking, the absence/presence of a truss rod is noticeable. My S3 just sings. However, when slapped, I find it lacks a certain "clanging resonance" that my Status Streamline has in abundance. That bass has a truss-rod. My Warwick Infinity does it best, but I reckon that's down to the heavy (and hard!) Zebrano body. If I ever ordered a custom wood/graphite instrument, It'd probably have a Zebrano body. Oh no! another idea...

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='846422' date='May 24 2010, 12:20 PM']But there's no way you're going to get a graphite neck to sound like a wooden bass and vice versa, so I reckon you need one of each. Or several of each![/quote] Works for me! Now I've got the justification, all I need is to find a Lane Poor/ Aguilar Modulus Flea in Silver flake, a Vigier Passion IV (S2) and a Status S2 (Neck through)... Oh and about £3K. For second-hand ones, naturally!

I own most of the available combinations apart from a graphite neck-through (Status S2 or Vigier S2) or a graphite neck with a wooden fretboard. I don't own a fully graphite-necked bolt on either (Status, Modulus, Cutlass etc.) I do believe that the prevalence of phenolic fretboards is a contibutory factor in the snappy tone of the graphite necks. I seem to favour unusual combinations. My Jazz has graphite rods in it, but in the absence of a "normal" one, I've no basis for comparison! The Vigier Passion V (S3) has the 10/90 Maple/Graphite neck-through. Sounds quacky, clicky and plasticky when played acoustically. Plug it in, and it's magic. Weird, but reliable and stable. I don't get the snap and bite. It just sings. My Yamaha Attitude has a phenolic fretboard, and exhibits some of the traits of a graphite-necked instrument. That said, a neck that hefty ought to demonstrate some inherent stablility! The Streamline is an all Graphite/Epoxy, and is different again. It is very snappy and responsive, but that may be down to the headless/bridge tuner design as much as anything else. It [u]is[/u] amazingly stable- it went across 900miles of France in the boot of my car without any issues at all...