such

There is/was an identical one in my local Cash Converters. I bought a brand new SX jazz in a shop nearby, and while it has a beautiful quartersawn neck and sounds as good as my more upscale jazz, the fretwork was ridiculously bad. They literally used noticeably different sizes of fretwire on one board, next to each other. Took me hours of grinding to level and it's still the least playable of my basses. Still, sounds and looks great and isn't going anywhere.

[quote name='Monkey Steve' timestamp='1496305188' post='3310291'] we are men, and thus we are basically 12 forever If you disagree, just consider your response if somebody gave you a Scalextric for your birthday - (i) a childish waste of somebody else's money or (ii) wow, brilliant? I'm guessing there aren't many (i)s [/quote] no, I'm not childish at all. Btw, the (i) you drew looks nice, although is a bit nsfw

Happy Birthday, Andy. I also remember my dad being 33, I clearly remember being 7, I'll be 37 in a couple of weeks my first son is just 2 months old, I wonder what age of mine he'll manage to remember...

Love the looks of these. I've had a GB94 (called Custom 4 these days I think) and that's my "I wish I'd kept it" bass. Although my tonal taste changed since then and I don't think I would love its sounds as much now - it was very modern. I've had a Lakland 44-02 just a bit later and they are different animals - the Lakland being much mellower. In five string versions, the difference might be even bigger, as Corts are 34" - the B strings are good though, I've tried 75, 95 and Rhithimic 5, no complaints.

I started in mid-90s and it was the 90s rock that made want to play. Jeff Ament and Robert DeLeo were particular favourites, players such as Les Claypool and Flea were important too. Always had a soft spot for Jamiroquai since day one as well, and Sade's "Greatest Hits" was spinning quite often in that early period of romantic life, so I always wanted to play more than just rock. With my first bass I bought an instruction book written by Wojtek Pilichowski where he recommended some listening (got me into fusion rather soon).

I know a very good studio engineer/producer who's also a brilliant bassist and owns several 70s jazzes as he finds them the best basses ever. I won't mention his name as he's somebody in Poland and here he's just unpronounceable He thinks it's a combination of things (obviously), but the biggest part being a heavy ash (not swamp ash) body with its grain filled by Fullerplast, that very dense, heavy stuff. He had a couple of newer basses refinished this way and claims to get very close. Then of course the pickup position, the pickups themselves etc...

So how are these (the combos particularly) in long-term use? I've been going ampless for a year now, or rather it's been almost a year since I sold my rig after realising I didn't really need to take it anywhere anymore. Now I might need one again (function band). Price, portability, reliability and good sound are important. The new Rumbles look good too, which is not a bad thing. Need to buy new as well. Can these be recommended?

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1495395576' post='3303471'] Pretty much the same for me, I prefer to use the A string for notes above D, as being thicker, and over the bassier part of the pickup on my Precision, the notes have more depth to them. [/quote] that's why I've always been a fan of reverse P pickups. Had them in a few old Yamahas I've owned over the years (still got one) and in a quirky old Polish custom job. The tone is more consistent as you cross strings, D and G are more honky anyway, so their part of the pickup counteracts that a little, being closer to the neck.

can't believe this thread cannot even fall off the first page

I thought I'd drop this here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtNmoCv1QCg

you guys are not helping. I think I'll have to take a sentimental journey this year (my first good bass was made in that very workshop with many of the same staff working).

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1462283937' post='3041736'] So, as I'm sure there are people who own both, how do these compare to an actual Fender, an American, not Mexican? I imagine not as good, but by what factor? [/quote] Don't own a Sire, but I've got a Japanese Fender Marcus, and A/Bd it to a natural ash/maple Sire at one of the BC bashes. The Sire was a leftie, so kind of hard to judge the playability, but the quality was there. Felt a tiniest bit rougher around the edges (still good for a mass-produced bass, mind) when it comes to fretwork, nut ect - but then my Fender is 10 years old, had the nut swapped to brass, frets dressed recently and over the years I perfected setting it up for it to play itself. When it comes to the woodwork, fit&finish, components, all was good. I'm planning to get a fretless and a M7 later this year. I also played a 5-string version unplugged for a couple of minutes at a jam session, a guy brought it, and everyone was impressed, including players with expensive custom axes and even a maker of such. On stage the owner sounded as good as everybody else.

not sure about his take on those particular topics, but I would give a shout to Mike Mondesir (current Billy Cobham's bassist). Lives in Stratford area if I remember correctly. He is a good teacher, goes deep. I even know of singers and pianists who take lessons from him. Joe Hubbard is somewhere to the north as well, but it might be outside the town already. Speaking of which, Dave Marks is based in St Albans and is a seriously good tutor too.

good news

It's awful what you guys have done to this thread. It must be making the OP feel very embarassed. Good to finally see it on the second page.

I actually like the tone of the HC best in the video. Which makes me happy, as I was thinking about getting something noiseless for my Fender Marcus, but was a bit concerned about the sound (which I'm 100% happy with at the moment, just tired of the hum).

at last year's LBGS, in the quiet (good thing) corner next to the loos there was Michael Pedulla himself, and had a Pentabuzz with him. My friend who came down from Poland especially for the show, and who has a thing for high end basses (has some Zons, Mayoneses and is actually a Warwick endorser) tried it and the only thing he didn't like about it was the long wait. So he bought a second hand one from Basschat marketplace almost immediately. I tried it and loved it too, and I do want one in my future, but what I actually do on a fretless is making it sound more woody and thumpy, so not a perfect bass for that. What it does do though, it does best. I liked that Marleaux Diva at this year's show, too.

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1458593000' post='3008976'] Some of these are looking really nice, especially the all black ones. So what is the deal with this builder? Those showroom pics are insane, does he have the body/neck mass produced, buys them in and customises them to spec? [/quote] Adrian is a Polish guy who's been living in Germany most of his life. The workshop is an old family luthier business in Polish mountains, previously they used to make guitars and basses for other (less succesful) Polish brands, at least sice about mid-80s. They have direct access to high quality wood, and their woodwork has always been very good - they needed good designs and customer base which is what Adrian provides.

no worries! During packing I also found another surplus pedal that I didn't remember I still had, so I guess I need to create a "for sale" thread after the move

I'm moving houses over next few days so I won't get around this, but I've got one I don't really use (although it sits on my pedalboard and I switch it on occassionally). I don't have a box for it but the condition is good (not being stepped on very often). I'll let it go cheaply if you're still interested.

I think it wouldn't be hard to dim the LED a bit. And I totally agree with the colour choices for respective coil configs and their tones.

good job for having Bartozzi at your booth

yes, I've just seen that. Very very tempting. I mentioned somewhere an Elwood that [i]might[/i] be for sale. Well, the owner (my friend) took it to LBGS, compared to some Stenbacks, Mayos etc and it doesn't seem to be for sale anymore. [IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/34i0lzq.jpg[/IMG]