Buzz

Pisssssss, missed out on that one. Tempted by the 500 still on GAK for £250...but it's a lot of money to pay and I've got mega bills for housing...Euugh.

[quote name='tombboy' post='402372' date='Feb 6 2009, 08:54 PM']With all due respect.... what a load of tosh... IMO of course! What about Musicman Stingrays (I know, Leo had a hand, but then so did Sterling Ball) or Rickenbackers? Both iconic to a certain extent and superb quality both in build and sound. As for the guitar comparison and Gibson's 'lead' as such... The 'Strat' and the 'Tele' may have something to say about that. Apart from that Buzz, I agree with you entirely! [/quote] I worded it badly, I concur about Rick's and Stingrays, they're iconic bass designs, BUT they're not as old as Fender/Gibbo, and for those people going for the "classic" bass image they really are the only two companies that have been going and built up some sort of classic status. It's a bit hard to phrase it, bit like mojo for the brand name so to speak.

Gibson are the only real alternative in terms of "classic image" basses, as theirs have been around nearly as long, and they've got very different designs, but like mentioned, it speaks volumes for Fender's designs that people choose Fender over Gibsons (who, arguably, are in the same position as Fender are with basses when it comes to guitars such as the Les Paul, SG, Flying V and Explorers, plus some of them semi's). Fender's designs work, and work well at that. As some people would say: No need to reinvent the wheel, just tweak it and improve it now and again, but it still follows the basic design. Remember, it's taken Fender 50 years to put a more substantial bridge on their ranges (new for 08 was the HMV), when items like the BadAss replacements have been on sale and very popular for 20 years.

[quote name='Tinman' post='402284' date='Feb 6 2009, 07:17 PM']Got me some serious interest in either a VMJ or a Classic Vibe Jazz. Trouble is, being stuck in the wilds of Lincolnshire, I have little access to decent music shops where I could try them. Which of the two would you advise I went for and why? Ta Pete[/quote] As a VMJ owner, unless you want the quite frankly lovely maple neck and body, I'd go with the Classic Vibe on specs, mostly because it comes with a synthetic bone nut, the HMV bridge, and you might prefer the pup's sound as the VMJ is quite dark sounding imo. However, it does lack the brilliant satin neck of the VMJ (could be replicated by wirewooling the gloss neck though), and the hardware on the VMJ has been doing the rounds for years as it's standard mexi jazz fair (normal bent tin and plastic nut). Probably a try before you buy one chap.

Yes and No. Fender are in the somewhat unique position of having both the Jazz and the P-Bass as industry standards, partly because they were initally the only ones around for a small period of time but also because they both were "right" first time round, not to mention they were good quality instruments in the 60's amongst a sea of copies and dross. It just so happens that the neck dimensions fit a happy medium, some people are happy with both, some people with only one, but hardly anyone is unhappy with both. S'bit like guitars, there's load's of "super strats" around from other manufacturers, who just build up and modify the design slightly, there's probably only a few dozen different designs for retail. There is a glut of image based purchases around currently, what with the rock, pop and indie scenes using p-basses a lot recently.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6172&hl=dha%20vt5"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...mp;hl=dha%20vt5[/url] The build thread for the previous version of that amp series from the prototype onwards, note the revisions at the end leading to the VTX series. Has reviews too.

I haven't used their rounds in a while, although I think there might be a set on my t-bird (red silks and are roughish, but fairly boingy). From what I recall they were a bit rough on the fingers. Their flats are lovely and smooth, sound alright as well on a bass that's got decent pups (they just sounded very dark on my VMJ), however they could be used to make a suspension bridge out of as their tension is so high, felt quite even across all the strings though and triplets were a breeze, fretting is of course harder due to the stiffness.

Wipe easy wood floors, red painted walls, and lots of carpet...are you SURE you're not building a love shack? Really? S'looking good though!

That's looking rather tasty.

Ooh, I like that recessed jack socket, don't see them often enough.

OOoh oooh, I'm the first! You're a WIZARD Harry

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='397501' date='Feb 2 2009, 07:14 AM']Use IE for porn that way the other half doesn't notice the history deleted......[/quote] That could possibly be the most stupid thing I've heard in quite a while.

They keep cropping up (as to mentions of the VMJ) because for the money, they're seriously good basses. They're still limited by what they are though, passive jazzes/p's but as a backup or even a main, they're worth it. I think the glut of them appearing 6 months later is the people who buy them to try them out for various reasons, and rather than having a place for the bass they're surplus...and get moved on when cash is needed or gas for something else comes up. I'm hanging onto my VMJ still, for the time being at least.

Buy a Jazz type bass. I've found on my Aerodyne that the p-pup overpowers the J-Pup even when turned down a fair bit, but you'd be alright if you had a matched pair like OBBM suggests.

You've only been playing 7 months eh? My advice: Buy a cheap righty and learn to play the more common way, it opens up a much bigger market for basses. Then the world is your oyster. Pretty much any bass will do metal and indie, barring fretless ones of course. This is coming from a left handed writer who plays bass the normal way.

B = Linear A = Audio. You need to get a Linear pot for it to function in the same way, not a logarithmic (aka audio).

Peavey Milestone III was my first: Was alright, bit noisy, wasn't particulary memorable apart from the tone control doing pretty much nothing at all. Started playing because I wanted something different to do as a hobby, never really been overly serious, and currently I'm 120 miles away from my basses while I'm at uni this year.

Ian from S.M.A.R.T has an account on here, not seem him around for a while though, but you could PM him to find out what's up. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showuser=1573"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showuser=1573[/url]

Hahaha, fantastic. His other stuff is good as well Very much in the vain of Weird Al Yankovic, s'good.

I think now that they've sorted out the initial problems they had when they shifted production to China a couple of years ago, it's all going to be gravy from now on.

Ben, PJ's do repair work do they not? I'll be suprised if they don't have a router there.

[quote name='ednaplate' post='396510' date='Jan 31 2009, 10:52 PM']This is the best by far. Can anyone beat it? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120367273169&ssPageName=MERC_VI_RSCC_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT&refitem=180275895145&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=active_view_item&usedrule1=StoreCatToStoreCat&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget&_trksid=p284.m184&_trkparms=algo%3DDR%26its%3DS%252BI%252BSS%26itu%3DISS%252BUCI%252BSI%26otn%3D4"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...52BSI%26otn%3D4[/url] What a stupidly long link too...[/quote] You could probably buy an entire '62 strat for that money. That's insane.

[quote name='hubrad' post='395690' date='Jan 30 2009, 07:59 PM']Hmm. I'm stuck with IE6 as I use Win2000 Prof - nice and stable but lost support from MS. They're pulling support from WinXP in a while.. anyone think that'll give them time to iron out all the Vista incompatibilities? Plucking up courage to switch OS to Linux or just get my hand deep in my pocket and buy a Mac![/quote] They're not pulling support for XP till at least 2012, if not 2015. They got shouted at by big businesses after Fista failed to be a viable update and there was no problems with XP.

I'm up for a £10 scre....oh, [i]oh[/i], [b]that[/b] kind of screw...ah, righto.

Like I said, I'm happy for you that you're building something to your specs as that's always nice to see, and have I at any point said "stop, it's a bad idea"? I don't think so, but you very much came across as trying to sell us something in the OP. I still think you've not given all the variables enough thought though. I do hope it comes together for you though. As to the rest of you who are trying to comdemn those members who are challenging the idea, I'd much rather be told my idea is flawed and has a good chance of turning out to not be what I'm expecting, along with the area's I need to rethink, than to be slapped on the back by a load of yes men who really wouldn't give two shits if it ended up being useless and costing me a fair bit of dosh and time. Shame on you methinks.