EdBod

I changed the pickups on all but one of the Fenders I owned to non-Fender ones. The best Fender Jazz I owned was a Marcus Miller made in Japan. I kept those pickups which were very good but the preamp was awful so I put in a John East preamp which was fantastic. The neck with perloid inlays was amazing. However, the bass was far too heavy so had to go. I now own two Sandbergs (nice and light) and have never felt the need to change them in any way.

I’ll check it out Cuzzie. I use a Boss GT-1B which I love. It’s replaced all my analogue pedals.

I always shape the tone a bit on all basses I’ve owned (I use a parametric equaliser). I tend to cut at around 300Hz to remove some mud. Possibly a small boost at 2K to add some sparkle. My amp has a high pass filter so drops frequencies below about 35Hz. I usually have both pickups and tone full. The passive tone is really useful to remove a bit of edge if needed.

That Ultra Jazz looks great. Just read the specs. I’ve not played one. I’ve owned a Fender USA Standard Jazz (2012) which was nice but I was a little disappointed with the build quality (neck pocket was not tight). I replaced the pickups with Aguilar 70s which are great. After owning many basses (Sadowsky, Xotic, EBMM, Lakland) I reached the conclusion that I prefer passive basses although I do own a passive bass with active EMG JVX pickups which is a slap monster. The Lakland replaced the USA Jazz. It was much better built and I transferred the Aguilar pickups. Probably the best Jazz style bass I owned up to that point. Fantastic quarter sawn neck. Trouble was it was a bit “boring” and I treated it too carefully. I wanted something with more growl and replaced it with a passive Sandberg TSBS with 70s pickup spacing. Fabulous bass. Probably one the best build basses I’ve owned. And oodles of lovely passive growl. It has the Sandberg Alnico 5 pickups. Hotter (more winds) than the Aguilars and not as polite but that’s what I was after. I never previously liked aged finished but this has been done incredibly well. So, a big thumbs up for Sandberg. I’ve previously owned a Fender USA Jazz, Fender USA P and Fender MIJ P (1994 Fujigen factor). The MIJ had TI flats and was the best of the bunch. I regret selling it but I’m not really a P bass guy. I went for Fender because I wanted the name on the headstock. Still do a little! I decided I’d never buy Fender again but maybe the Ultra could change that. Happy with Sandberg for now though. PS... my Sandberg TSBS is Roquefort blue, not the really loud yellow that it comes in by default. I like the yellow but don’t think I could live with it!

Thanks for your replies Fionn and Dave which are very useful. Sounds like the MB500 and 200 are both great amps. The 500 is more versatile in that you can connect two cabs. I need two 112 cabs rather than a 210 or 212 so they're easier to carry (bad back!). The 112 only weights about 33lbs.

Hi Guys. Is anyone using a GK MB500 head with 2 GK Neo 112-ii cabs? I think the head is rated at 350W with 1 cab and 500W with two (each cab is 8ohm). Does the MB500 have the famous GK "growl"? Is the MB Fusion 500 a better bet? Is this rig big enough to fill a small hall (say 200 people)? WIll one cab do it or would I need both? Sorry for all the questions and for piggy backing on this thread but I didn't want to start a new thread as it's related to this one anyone. Cheers :-)

I have the Warwick RockBass Corvette which is made in China (as with all RockBass stuff). Got it from eBay. It's a fantastic bass. Has the same MEC pickups as the German version and adjustable nut. After playing a non-active bass this active bass blew me away. The factory in China has the same quality control as in Germany so the basses are good. However, the guy I got mine from had no idea how to set up a bass and it was all over the place. I thought I'd got a dud but I followed the excellent setup video on the Warwick website and now it plays like a dream (I'd recommend every bass owner watch this!). I'd definitely get another if anything happened to it.