Twincam

18 hours ago, Shaggy said:

 

Surprised I didn't think of that. Its one of my fav things to play. I've played it on all sorts of basses and it lends itself well to each different bass tone. Still best on a p bass though, i had a 96 fender usa special edition (the most p bass, p bass I ever heard lol) which nailed it. 

Classic P bass tone here! Stuart's guitar's a bit loud mind.

3 hours ago, stewblack said:

15" is all I can tell you. Oh but I could upload audio of the fart. 

That's a critical failure of the coils surely!

Had more time with the amp.

Lovely harmonics and sustain. More volume than I need for home use and that's through a sealed 1x10. Nice eq easy to use, obviously has a baked in "Ampeg" tone. So maybe not for everyone. I think it's fantastic. 

Compared to my previous low watt valve bass amps (Wem dominator bass mk2 & Traynor bassmate), it's far more refined, with more bass, less floor noise. But then again it's modern so would expect so. The Traynor was a fantastic little amp, The pf20t is better. 

Well the amp arrived next day, great service.

Can't really play it to loudly, but did have a little go at low volume. 

Sounds good so far. Only going through a 1x10 sealed cab with tweeter. But has plenty of bass and seemed like it will have plenty of volume for my needs. 

Gain wasn't as much as I thought, 2 band sr eq didn't overload it as I feared. Although pushing things I could get a very pleasant overdrive, though volume was right down. Seems like it's the perfect wattage to get those tones without annoying the neighbours too much lol. 

Seems very well built. Slightly larger than I imagined.

No unusual hum. You can hear the actual transformer if you put your ear right next to it. And nothing unusual coming from the speaker. One of the quieter all valve amps I've heard. So pleased there. 

2 minutes ago, 40hz said:

Too good a bass to let go. Sentimentality wins!

They are great basses! 

It's unbelievable that video was made 4 years ago and his instruments haven't really improved. 

Quality instrument, with a cool name! 

Funny twice a seller hasn't let me put the volume up, each time the item was knackered upon getting it home. Few times it's happened via buying a used item online untested too.

So unless I can crank it a little bit I reject it. I mean 5 or so seconds of increasing volume (So not to suddenly shock anyone) is not going to hurt anyone. 

Bull the seller didn't know! Unless it's something loose which is very possible. Speakers don't just all of a sudden not work and start farting out. Check the driver(s) for coil rubbing because they are ok at low volume, soon as there at volume fart city.

I check for coil rub now as routine, even if I have to remove a grill, also taking along a multimeter you can check that any coils are intact and showing a correct ohm reading. 

I suppose buyer beware etc but I would be tempted to contact the seller (politely) and say hey this is knackered. May or may not get a good outcome but why should you have to shell out for something that wasn't right.

1 hour ago, TheGreek said:

"Bass" in "Collectables" - all sorts of paraphernalia come up - everything from mirrors, badges, trays and bar towels. This where I acquired the Bass Clocks I have.

Ah the bass clocks. I was looking for one before, forgot about that. 

It's only for home use and to feel all warm and fuzzy, basking in valve warmth lol. Seriously though I do prefer the warmer, slightly compressed tone of valve.

Last valve amp I had was a 15w wem dominator bass mk2, ok for home and recording use. Seriously loud and small gig worthy with a guitar though.

I might bid on this. 

Question what were you searching for to find this? Lol

I'm excited! First bit of kit ive been excited about for a good while. 

I've coveted one since they came out. Had to ask my girlfriend's permission, since she was eyeing something up. I cant wait to show her and talk incessantly about it's valve tone, she will be well impressed. 

Does anyone know around about what the factory delivery time is? i ordered via Kennys. Says allow up to 7 days, but hoping I get it Now! Haha

11 minutes ago, alexa3020 said:

Twincam - I Couldn't agree more! The shop in question was PMT - perhaps a smaller independent store would take the time to do this.

Funny was in a pmt recently and yeah bass I tried had a string height of at least one double decker. 

I think larger shops yeah it would be difficult to setup every instrument on the wall at once, but there should be a system. Instruments setup before there put up and one or two checked over the course of the day. All staff members should know how to correctly setup a guitar/bass. 

5 minutes ago, alexa3020 said:

Thanks for the advice twincam - I had no idea what ski jumping was (I do now after a little investigation).

Antylocker - I'm waiting for that moment when I just know its the one I want. It was hard to tell in the shop I tried as the setup was not great - I don't know if its typical that display basses are not set up particularly well!

It's a big put off unsetup instruments in shops. Because you really can't get a feel for the instrument. And you don't know if it's a good one or not. Tone as well will be somewhat affected. 

Surely every instrument when it's put on a wall could have had five min spent on it adjusting the truss rod and bridge. 

Your more likely to buy something you can play well than something that isn't. 

Just now, lemmywinks said:

This is what he's bought:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_baritone_7sb_dlx_serie_deko.htm?sid=553157f82f9c4050bf30a19d8025e769

Here's what I don't understand - the guitar comes with matching knobs and rail humbuckers so why have these been changed for odd parts drawer knobs and a Jazz bass pickup? Instead of spending £20 on a bass pickup he could have bought 6 individual bridge saddles and done the job properly.

Lol this is the mystery. Could be the pu or circuitry had an issue. 

More likely though he just fancied bodging, while laughing maniacally as lightning strikes around his workshop. While his assistant hands him random bargain bin parts at random. Testing the string spacing carefully with a sausage. And cutting the nut with a angle grinder. 

Its alive! 

The only input I will add is if trying any used Fender is be wary if it's not already got a good action. I've seen more than a few used older Fenders with varying ski jump issues. In fact I've had a couple that had had ski jump issues myself. Thankfully I can sort that myself. You can't always see a ski jump either. These have all been USA ones too. So if the action is jacked up be wary. It could be that the owner has just left it unsetup (which basses hate over long periods!) but it could be to hide issues. 

Btw I'm not being unkind to Fender here (I like there instruments), this applies to any other make of bass that's over 15 - 20+ years in general. 

9 hours ago, lemmywinks said:

Good point, there's a "D" stamped here:

That's a bit naughty really.

If he's not stating that there deco instruments then that is wrong! 

Nothing wrong with getting a deco instrument in working order and selling it, if stating the fact. But keeping it hidden that the instrument had been marked as not suitable for playing then butchering it even more and whacking the price up is a disgrace. 

51 minutes ago, afterimage said:

Keep looking in classifieds but if you can afford the Ampeg pft20 

Are at £299 at Kenny's 

I seen those. But are kenny's reliable? 

I fancy getting an all valve amp (Just the head) for home bassing and will plug it into a bass cab. I know of course there's bass amps suitable for this, however they all tend to be a bit on the expensive side. Every time I see a used one that is suitable, it's miles away! Wish I never sold my 15w wem that was a cracking home amp (essentially also a guitar amp).

So thought might try a cheap guitar one. Does anyone know of ones suitable for bass, only has to do home playing volumes, needs to stay clean at that volume though. 

14 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

Pickguard - Jean-Luc Scratchplate would be a silly name

No joke my gf spotted your name on here a few days ago and thought it was rather amusing. I too agreed. Lol.

3 hours ago, fretmeister said:

After a couple of weeks playing it with the factory set up - I like it a lot.

I have had to adjust a little playing the G string due to the usual EBMM habit of only having a micron movement before falling off the fretboard but I'm getting the hang of it.

 

It's not as clanky as my former metally self would have preferred but it does suit the big band stuff far better. The low B seems stronger too. I'm guessing that the string was being choked a bit even if I couldn't hear any buzz.

I too struggle with the mm g string. Although actually it made my technique better. 

I think higher action can sound better, but it depends on the bass and player. But certainly it can improve it, even if no fret buzz was presemt before. Some people don't believe that though. I think it's because the player ever so slightly plays harder and the strings vibrate in a larger arc allowimg the pickup to really capture the movement. It could also be that sometimes moving the strings away from the pu have a more pleasing effect. 

On 16/09/2018 at 21:37, fretmeister said:

As an experiment I put my Ray 5 back to the factory set up specs for the action.

 

I measured it carefully as per the EBMM set up guide. I also removed a shim I had put in the neck pocket.

i use 40-125 strings so I tweaked the rod, again to meet the factory spec setup.

 

I was quite surprised how high the action was for a factory set up. No doubt others would find it medium or low!

 

But saying that, I’m playing big band stuff and fret rattle is a huge no-no, and now there is very little. 

Not sure I’ll keep it this way, but I will try it for a couple of weeks and see if I like it better this way after getting used to it.

Feels quite different! 

 

Most factory setup specs are on the slightly higher side of what's achievable with level frets. I recently also looked at the Ernie ball site.

I will be pragmatic and say it's I think its to cater to every type of player. Rather than get around poor fret work etc. 

There was an old 1960s (i believe) advert, for a bass guitar posted on here some time ago, where the manufacture guaranteed 3mm action Lol. 3mm is a huge gap looking at the E string, it's amazing to think a more modern 2.3 - 2mm e string height looks so different. 

Love listening to isolated bass. 

1. Because you really get to hear the intricacies of the player.

2. You get a sense of how tones etc then work in a mix. 

3. Makes me feel better about my bass playing, as plenty of great players still sounded a bit rough solo and made plenty of string/fret noise, overtones etc. But sound fantastic in the mix. 

15 minutes ago, PJ-Bassist said:

Musicman published a few videos on YouTube a few years ago with Joe demonstrating some of their basses - perhaps this is a partnership they've been working on for a while.

It didn't sound like he's using flats in the video @eude posted.

He may not be using them in the vid. However Eb cobalt flats don't sound like traditional flats anyhow And have more a roundwound tone.