redstriper

Well I fitted the new harness easily enough and I like it! The bass sounds smoother and clearer now and the character of the tone has changed in a good way, the controls also feel so much nicer than the standard set. But it still sounds a bit thin compared to my old bass and I might go for two 0.047 tone caps to remove even more treble. I emailed Flyjuice for some advice on your recommendation Jazzneck. Dan - I'd like to try one of the Jap reissues and the RW Jazz, also the US Standard AV and CS models, but they are all beyond my budget at the moment. This MIM one is far from shabby, especially with the new harness.

[quote name='owen' post='1364022' date='Sep 6 2011, 12:56 PM']SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE! I am in London for one night with a bunch of [b]'students'[/b]. I have just booked 6 tickets. Did I mention SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE! ?[/quote] Well done mate - keep my ticket for me and I'll c u there. PS: Glad you've forgiven me for the Dingwall debacle

I had a very similar experience to the OP. The shop is great and I had a wad in my pocket, but no way was I giving any of it to that moody grump.

[quote name='dan670844' post='1364077' date='Sep 6 2011, 01:44 PM']Have you ever thought about changing the cap's in the guitar? the older ones dont have a 0.47mfd cap in them Its a 0.5uf (polyester not ceramic) I think???. I think the higher value caps will skim more treble to ground, if you use the tone control, of course many have it wide open! Good luck with trying, I would try the '64's and try and see if you can get a red disc 0.5uf polyester cap, they sometimes turn up on the bay, you might wanna change the pots too! in fact you prob want to get a vintage rewire kit from guitar parts resource in the USA not expensive, and they are very good. I used to have a MIM jazz for the same purpose, I didnt want the old 'un stolen. In the end I got rid and got a MIJ non export, why?, with mim neck is diff 9.5 instead of 7.25" ,jumbo frets yuck. The jap '62 resissue jap non exports i have found are more true to the originals and can be had for a good price from isibushi on the bay even if they are second hand not a prob as they are built like tanks. The MIM to me just looks like a jazz it looks feels and sounds very different to me. Not to say they can't be nice guitars just not what I am after. The exception to this is the road worn of course thats a nice guitar no matter where it was made! but I find the fake ageing a little off putting, but they play great.[/quote] Thanks for your advice Dan. I am actually in the process, (soldering iron in hand) of fitting a new wiring harness with quality components. This one has a 0.47 cap and the designer (Ki0gon on this forum) suggested fitting 2 of these to reduce the treble even more - I rarely have the tone turned on at all. My old bass does indeed have the 0.5uf cap as you suggest. I will try this new harness and possibly a Wizard 64, but I may end up selling it and going back to my old one - shame it had jumbo frets fitted when it was 'customised' in the 70s.......

The late great Jesus Dread and the Prophets - sounds like Robbie in righteous style. More roots:

Yes we are a minority, but we always have been so we're used to it. You have reminded me of my roots BH and I'm going to stop thinking and start playing

Thanks for your wise words BassHertz, I think you have nailed it. It sounds like you have already trod the path that I am on and it makes me feel like stopping now, before wasting any more dough on a fruitless search. My old bass had a new solid maple body fitted in the 70s and that may be where it gets it's deep tone. The MIM jazz is much brighter and louder when played acoustically and it's lovely to play but it doesn't have the thickness and depth of the old girl.

[quote name='Phil Starr' post='1361908' date='Sep 4 2011, 04:55 PM']So that's me. Where do I go next?[/quote] It's up to you. You sound just like me except I've been playing 35 years without a lesson or any knowledge of music theory. In fact you're ahead of me with all that major and minor pentatonic business. The main difference is I play mostly original material which means I make up the bass line and no one can say it's wrong - which is nice. Punters don't care about how much theory you know or how fast you can play, it's more important to have the right feel which comes from your heart and soul. Forget the destination, enjoy the ride and realise you're already there. Oh and practise, practise practise................

Thanks for all the advice chaps. It's a minefield with so many pups to choose from and no definitive ones to go for. I don't fancy continually swapping pups in a futile search for the perfect tone, especially with the prices involved. VGS is right about EQing for reggae - I don't add bass, but remove all the treble and a lot of mids, leaving a nice simple deep tone. I love Pino's tone apart from the growl which I presume comes from a Precision rather than a Jazz bass - it suits his music, but not right for reggae. Doctor J - you might like the Wizard 84s which have plenty of growl to my ears and I might be interested in your DiMarzio Ultra Jazzes if you want to sell them. Fran - your advice is probably the best, I should stick with my old bass that I know and love/hate Chris B - yes the standard Fender Jazz was used on most classic Jamaican reggae and it is the right tool for the job without doubt. I do use EQ to get my sound, but it is not quite possible to remove the growl from pups or add the thick depth I get from my old bass.

Henry - the EB-0 certainly sounded deep and was close to the right tone, but I couldn't get on with the growl and lack of clarity. I must be more fussy than I thought and after 30 years of playing the same bass with 'my' tone, I'm struggling to find anything to match it. I have thought about the series/parallel thing and it might work, although it could be another blind alley - the soloed neck pup on my old bass is so much louder and deeper than any other Jazz bass I've played, including other 60s models. Chris, the more I think about it, the more I think it's more than just the pups. I have thought about swapping pups between the old and new basses to test the theory, but I'm not great at DIY and I'm scared of damaging the old ones and losing the one bass in the world that has 'my' sound. All this searching for the right tone is starting to do my head in to the point that I may simply sell the 2 new basses and go back to my heavy old hard to play beast and stop looking for a replacement altogether. It's not pretty, but it does the job and it feels so right - I still take it to 95% of all gigs.

[quote name='Rasta' post='1359182' date='Sep 1 2011, 08:17 PM']Ites dready, hope ya well. I've been really impressed with Lindy Fralins although they are expensive - nice rounded and defined tone. I've got a mate in Exeter who swears by Villex for his dub stuff and i've read they're quite warm sounding somewhere, lots of output so they maybe worthy of a look too. I had some Delano's at one point and they were great but again quite expensive...nice and defined, perhaps not as warm as the Lindy's though. I'm a Lindy man at heart...can you guess ; they were in my Laky JO5 as standard (sadly missed due to financial reasons) and my now 'bitsa jazz' had them in already when i got the bass, although they're slightly overwound customs i believe...sound lovely with flats and warm funky with rounds. Had Barts too in the past, found them a little thin as passive but not bad with a preamp, i have barts in my now Laky 5501 with a preamp.....sound alright but not as good as the passive Lindy's did in my JO5 in my opinion - still trying to get my head around active tbh. Got Wizards in my knackered fretless...think i actually prefer my old Fender pick ups that were in it, the Wizards left me a little cold really. Emg selects are good too if on a budget, i had a Hohner B bass in the past and loved the passive sound of them. Never had experience of Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio, good luck with your quest though matey....i'm having one hell of a trip into samplers & effects , a whole new world that i can't afford ...we're doing UK roots stuff with the Rooticals again, as a 3 piece minus Daddy Teacha as he's moved to London - we're doing stuff like Mad Prof, Vibronics, Disciples covers and a few riddims and originals......heavy scoop vibrations [/quote] Hail star and thanks for the info - sounds like you're keeping busy. I'm gigging a lot with a new band doing original reggae and soul music and really enjoying it. I bought a nice nearly new Mex Jazz and a Squire CV Jazz, trying to retire my old beast but neither have the depth of tone from the neck pup and I still take the old bass out for most gigs. Maybe it's not just the pups that give it that thick dub tone, but it's starting to do my head in that I can't find anything that does the job as well.

I am considering replacing the pickups in my Mexican Fender Jazz bass. I mainly only use the neck pup with heavy flat wounds and I like a really deep old school sound for reggae and soul music. My old (1963) Fender Jazz has a very deep smooth tone, but the new one sounds thinner and I am hoping a new pup set might help. I tried Wizard 84s, but they sound too growly and aggressive, I like a smooth deep and thick vintage tone with reduced mids and treble. In [url="http://www.atkinsonbasses.com/multimedia"]this comparison[/url] of 5 J pickups, I prefer the DiMarzio "Model J" followed closely by the Seymour Duncan Antiquity II, I also like the Duncan designed ones in The Squier VMJs. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks, Steve.

I gigged with an Ashbory exclusively for a year in a 12 piece reggae band. It worked great and became my trade mark - I'm 6' 4" by the way and zombies don't notice intonation Alternatively, I would suggest a fretless Jazz strung with Rotosound nylon tru-bass strings.

[quote name='silddx' post='1357034' date='Aug 30 2011, 11:41 PM']African Anthem - The Mikey Dread Show Dubwise[/quote] You make me feel so groovy

OK I get it now - it's an honour system where you only pay for it if you're honourable and it's not expensive anyway. I like this business model

It says [url="http://www.reaper.fm/purchase.php"]here[/url] you have to buy a license for $60 after 30 days

[quote name='51m0n' post='1356156' date='Aug 30 2011, 12:09 PM'] Hope it gives you something more than Cubase 1, any questions just ask![/quote] Thanks Simon, I will I'm going to wait until I get some free time ahead before tackling it and I must admit I'm not really looking forward to learning all the new stuff after just about getting to grips with cubase. After 5 years, I'm still finding new short cuts etc. - I'm a slow learner. But Reaper sure looks pretty and all those extra plug ins are calling....... I wonder if my Waves diamond pack will work with it, or whether I'll even need it? Also don't know whether to install it on the macbook or windows xp laptop, both about 4 years old - what do you think? Steve.

[quote name='YouMa' post='1354805' date='Aug 28 2011, 10:31 PM']Take a look around things have really come on.[/quote] OK I'm convinced - I'll try Reaper.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='1353051' date='Aug 26 2011, 09:21 PM']I'd swap my ashbory for a fretted Kala in an instant if I could.[/quote] I thought that until I tried the fretted U-Bass. I found it harder to play than the Ashbory because you have to be very accurate with fretting to avoid buzzing and choked notes and it doesn't sound as nice imo. I bought a stick on fret board for the Ashbory, but that had the same problem as the U-Bass - frets don't work well with such fat strings and such a short scale ime.

I know TABs are frowned upon by some musos on here so ignore [url="http://www.broz-reggae-tabs.com/tablatures/3077-tablature-The-Israelites-Desmond-Dekker"]THIS[/url] if you're one of them. I haven't checked it for accuracy but hope it helps.

Most pro bassists that I meet have been playing the same bass for years and have no interest in new gear and none of them are on this or any other forum - they're too busy playing that same old bass. I've bought and sold too many basses since joining BC and catching the GAS and yet I still prefer the bass I've been playing for the past 30 years. And yet I'm still here and still tempted by so many beautiful basses.............. I hate you all.

[quote name='crez5150' post='1350373' date='Aug 24 2011, 03:47 PM']Kool tracks.....[/quote] Thanks man. It was mostly recorded live in my front room with a few overdubs and no out board gear. I'm sure a pro would pick all sorts of holes in it and I'd love someone with better gear (and better ears) to mix it. A previous project also mostly recorded live at home on Cubase 1 [url="http://myspace.com/redstriper"]here[/url]. Sorry for half inching the thread.

Well if you need any of those things fairy nuff, but I don't - or do I ? I'm still finding new tricks in Cubase 1 and I don't have the time or desire to learn new stuff that I don't need and can't afford. I started recording many years ago on a TEAC 1/4" 4 track with a room full of boxes and I find Cubase 1 does so much more in a laptop than that whole room could manage. I do have Waves Diamond plug ins and Melodyne for extra fx, but I could happily live with the packaged Cubase plug ins if I had to. Cubase 1 is used for all my recording sessions over the past 5 years and it has never crashed or lost any data. I think there is a lot to be said for being familiar with whatever tool you use and to work within it's limitations, it's the music you record that matters and no new software will improve that. I'm still playing my '63 Fender Jazz bass and I consider Cubase 1 as a wonder of modern technology! Having said that, I'm not a professional audio engineer and I use the cheapest mics and gear that I can find. I would love someone to give me a copy of the latest version really. You can hear my latest album recorded in my front room on Cubase 1 [url="http://myspace.com/tacsiband"]here[/url] if you can be bothered.