Misdee

I nearly bought one of those Hellborg basses. A local shop had one at the time ( around 1997/8)) and it was a a powerful beast of a bass. Apparently Jonas asked Status to make him a bass that was as close to his Wal 4 string as possible, but with one or two tweaks, the 36 volt circuit probably being one of them. My main bass in the mid-1990's was a headed Status Empathy, and I think the tone-shaping controls on the Hellborg were essentially the same with switchable sweepable mids ect. My bass teacher at that time had a Wal Custom and when I plugged in my bass into the same amp his Wal was literally about twice as loud as my Status, despite the fact that the Wal was 9 volts and my Status was 18 volts. Maybe the 36 volt circuit in the Hellborg was to address that disparity. Difficult for me to say with any certainty because "headroom" has always seemed like a bit of a vague concept to me, and it's all a long time ago now! In terms of sheer output though, there was no competition. The Wal was way more hot than my Status.

To each their own!🙂

Master built Warwick Vampyre 5 and Peavey amps? That is really quite esoteric taste in gear you have, if I might say so. Nothing wrong with Warwick basses (or Peavey amps) but a Vampyre? Are you sure?

Thanks, that's very reassuring to hear, and I know how well you know Spector basses! . Especially considering that, generally speaking, I tend to leave conventional boost and cut active EQ circuits flat anyway, I will probably go for another Euro, maybe a Doug Wimbish. That has got a rosewood board, maple body and different pickups to the CST, so might be audibly different in tone. I'll have a think about that.

Nowadays the bass market is flooded with active Jazz-style basses. Back in the mid-1990's when the T-Bass came out that certainly wasn't the case here in the UK. An boutique Jazz Bass with a preamp in it was quite a novelty and highly desirable for British bass players who didn't have easy access to brands like Sadowsky who had popularised that style of bass. The T-Bass was aimed at that niche, but in retrospect maybe it was just a touch too innovative to have a wide enough appeal to most bass players. I think the angled tuners probably put more people off than they won over.

That's very interesting to know. I've recently got myself a CST with an ebony board. I've had very little chance to play it yet for one reason or another, but enough to know that I definitely want another Spector, just with a significantly different sound to the CST. The big question is whether I get another Euro, albeit a slightly different one, or USA-made bass. It's a long time since had my hands on a USA Spector but I remember them as being pretty amazing but financially out of my reach at the time. Thirty odd-years later now I can afford one but then again nowadays there's the Euro option with the new Legacy preamp ect. There's a decision to be made factoring in diminishing returns and whether a Euro is a "proper" Spector. What I can say is that my new CST is a meticulously-made bass and very good value for money in the current new bass market considering it costs substantially less than something like a new Stingray Special or a German-made Sadowsky Metroline ect..

It's so ridiculous that it has to be true. Presumably he didn't understand how to use an allen key.

I've got a Z3 4 string and I would say that for £400 it's pretty stunning value for money. Plays like a proper bass, sounds like a genuine old Stingray. The only things to note are that the neck is more like a P Bass than a conventional Stingray profile, and that ultimately the price probably puts limitations of the long-term durability of some electronic componants and controls. For £400-ish though it's a great proposition. Were it not for the complicated situation with my haemorrhoids keeping me at home nowadays I would definitely gig my Z3 down the Dog And Duck in preference to my more valuable basses. Sounds just as good as an expensive bass and eliminates any worries about getting damaged or stolen. Mine weighs 9 pound 3oz, so decent managable weight for a Stingray-style bass, too. A very useful and enjoyable instrument.

That bass is so beautiful I actually find it quite upsetting.

I'd be a liar if I said that purple/black colour scheme was my cup of tea, but I'm sure to be in minority (probably of one) on that, and may you both enjoy your new Spectors a lot. More's to the point, I'd be very interested in the fullness of time to hear about any perceived differences in sound and overall feel between these new S.E versions and previous offering with the Caribbean Burst and maple board.

I've got three Yamaha basses, a BB2024X, a BB2024 and a BB2025. On balance, I would say that they are my favourite basses that I have ever bought in forty-odd years of playing bass and owning a lots (lots and lots) of high-end and vintage basses in that time. Those 20 Series basses really were something special, with a unique tone that you can't get from any other Yamaha bass, new or old, or indeed any other bass from another brand. I've played and owned much more expensive basses I didn't like half as much. Those particular Yamahas have got a unique sonic personality that sets them apart. When I got my BB2024X not long after they came out I was shocked not just by how good it was but also how much it confounded my expectations. Despite having all the grunt and growl of a good Fender, the sound was surpisingly unlike a Fender and had all the richness and depth of a high quality active bass. I don't like polite-sounding basses, and my Yamahas always sound big and asseritive. Needless to say with Japanese-made Yamaha instruments, the build quality is top-notch. I had the brainwave of trying flats on one of my Yamahas after seeing Jah Wobble playing his BB2024x, and with a set of Thomatiks on it that bass takes on a whole new dimension of interesting possibilities. Excels at reggae, hip hop ect (and probably a lot more besides) with those strings on. If Yamaha did a proper authentic reissue of the BB3000 I'd definitely be up for getting one of those, too. I had a BB P34 for a while but, despite being beautifully constructed with a nice slim neck, it just didn't do it for me like my other Yamahas. Not a criticism more an observation, but I found the sound of the P34 to be a bit on the lean side. Maybe that leaness can be attributed to the maple laminate in the core of the body. What's for certain is that it sounds much more like a conventional PJ than the 2024x et al, which makes sense if you consider that it's the first BB to use conventional Fender-style pickups.

I am delighted to see that you have rediscovered the joy of bass with your much-missed Suhr. They're top quality instruments, and an active Jazz Bass like that really can do it all. May you get much pleasure from playing it. That said, may I offer some well-meant but unsolicited life advice without causing offence? It's just that now your financial and domestic situation has eased a bit I would strongly recommend putting some thought and planning into how to improve things even more in that respect going forwards. That might mean holding off a bit before putting financial resources into buying many more basses. Take it from me my friend, there isn't a bass in the world that is more important than a stable and happy home for you and yours. I am speaking from personal experience when I say that we all need a safe haven in this world, and no bass, however nice, will provide that for you. I know it's none of my business, but there, I've said it anyway.🙂

From the the golden age of Japanese-made instruments.Yamaha basses from this era are a combination of bulletproof construction and top-class design. Well-worth trying to resurrect.

At my local liquor store the Korean owner would routinely spray the very stinky homeless people who made up a large part of his customer base with Febreze and an air freshener called Ozium and it seemed to work pretty well. They kept coming back, anyway. I doubt any Pedulla case, however well-travelled, has seen the same levels of poor personal sanitation that those poor wretched souls were subjecting themselves to. Might well be worth giving that combo a try.

Leave it closed with a fair few of those silca gel sachets inside, as well airing it and spraying it ect.

Sweden is ,however, a society which tolerates one of the highest levels of taxation in the world. Myself, I would be happy to live in such a country. Convincing the wider British public to submit to such a system would be pretty much an impossibility. The whole of the developed world is moving away from that kind of a social model. Public spending is something to be restricted and cut back, not expanded to include people who think they have a right and a need to express themselves. The Swedish system has its roots in progressive liberal ideas that flourished in the 1960's and 1970's. The reality is that in countries like Britain and the USA we are heading back to the 1920's where ordinary working people were kept in a state of anxious uncertainty as a way of keeping them more useful, more profitable and less troublesome to their employers. More work, less pay, less rights.

I would just like to point out that technically speaking I am Scottish. I could actually play for the national team and claim residence after independence. Regardless of that, I am quite happy to subsidise methadone and deep fried Mars Bars for some time yet, just so long as I don't have to listen to Runrig ever again. 🙂 The reason I mention Scotland is that in recent history they have made a point of passing some "progressive" legislation that the rest of the UK would not dare even contemplate, ie student finances ect. In light of that, I could see this scheme appealing to Scottish politicians aiming to boost what I believe they nowadays call "soft power", ie the idea that Wet Wet Wet et al enhance Scotland's international profile and influence. Personally, I'm sceptical, but I suppose you never know.

The way the British society is increasingly leaning, right-wing populism based on feelings and prejudice rather than facts, I seriously doubt any government would spend even a second considering whether to pay a living wage to artists. Can you imagine the public outcry? "My mum's waiting for a hip operation and Kier Starmer's paying for some kid to sit on his ringpiece and learn how to play the bass!" The press would have a field day. We are a nation of philistines, and it's going to get much worse very soon. There is no chance of this ever being adopted in the U.K, except possibly by Scotland, and they would expect England to pay for it.

10CC are one of those bands that were so high profile during their time, but have been kind of air brushed from history subsequently. I remember well how important they were in their heyday, but they are seldom cited as an influence by musicians nowadays or feted in the mainstream media for their extraordinary talents. I think a lot of that has to do with 10CC being an unapologetically clever band. In their own way, they were a kind of Mancunian Steely Dan. Every track was an art project, and they tried to be playful and provocative with the pop music medium they were working within. Therein lay their downfall, because particularly after punk rock happened anti-intellectualism became the only acceptable stance for critics and the listeners they influenced. The fact remains however, that 10CC were a very popular mainstream band in the 1970's, just like ABBA and ELO. They had UK Number 1 singles when that was still a big deal. They were ever-present on radio, regularly on television, did big live shows, loads of people liked their music and bought their records. 10CC wrote great songs that really connected with people, not surprising if they've got people a songwriterwith pedigree like Graham Gouldman in the band, and they definitely deserve to be rediscovered and given the credit they deserve.

It used to exist in the U.K. It was called Income Support.

Regarding boutique P basses, I think the law of diminishing returns is particularly pertinent. Most bang for your buck is to be had at around the USA Fender price point, in my opinion. That is not to say that less expensive versions are not worthwhile. A £5000 Olinto ,on the other hand, might be somebody's forever bass, I'm not putting it down, but despite never having played one myself I would wager that it sounds and feels like...a P Bass. Probably a very good one but essentially still a P Bass. As I've previously mentioned in other threads, there's a certain point with vintage and boutique traditional Fender-style basses where what your paying for is magic realism, not anything tangible or actually necessary in a practical sense.

OCD - controlled exposure and response. It's the only way.

Whether you need a Precision might be the wrong question. Maybe you should ask yourself if you enjoy a Precision. If no one has asked you to provide one in a professional context then in an immediate sense, no you don't need one. Whether you would you get some extra joy from playing one would seem to be the more pertinent question. If you would then it could be a good purchase if you can easily afford it. My go-to bass for well over a decade has been a USA Lakland PJ with a Jazz neck and roundwounds that I use mainly as a P Bass. I've had it a long time and it serves me very well for just about everything. It's boringly reliable and I seldom find it can't sound appropriate for whatever style of music I'm massacring at any given time. Most of the time though just the Precision pickup sounds right for the music, whatever the genre.