Dood

As a teenager, my mum took my friend and I down to the Marshall factory for a tour. An experience that I will never forget as a wide eyed and impressionable young Dood! Jim may have been in that day but we didn't get to meet him (although I did get to meet him on numerous other occasions at guitar shows, so much so that he remembered my name!) On the tour, back then, Marshall number 1 wasnt in a glass case and Production Manager (i think) Steve Yelding dumped it in my lap whilst we were rummaging through the piles of amplifers I could only ever dream of owning. A surreal moment, but there was an inevitability that I'd end up with an old Marshall amp at some point. I have a 68-69 Super Bass that makes all the right noises!

Absolutely agree, all of these names that I used to read about all the time in guitar magazines when I was a teen (and onwards). I'd pour over those pages pre-internet learning about amplifier design. Really fascinating to hear these memories and experiences! I feel sure it fuelled my interests (not to mention hassling a certain british valve amplifer manufacturer for schematic diagrams to study! - We used to receve them by letter or, if I was very lucky, fax!!!!)

Recently I was looking for a now-discontinued Gotoh (OEM?) bridge for one of my basses and I posted on BassChat to see if anyone could identify it. @lemmywinks very kindly found a spare that he had stashed away and offered to send it to me for a crazy good price. Well wrapped and signed for it just arrived and its just what I was looking for! Thank you Steve! Happy Dood!

Yeah!!!!! Isn’t it always the case that you need that very thing after you’ve consigned it to music gear heaven 🗑️🚮 😄

You and me alike! I have boxes of stuff! I really need to clear it all out!!! (Sadly no suitable bridges but I’ve just PM’d you!)

You absolute legend!!!! Yes please, that’s the kitty!!! PM coming, I really appreciate it, gotta love Basschat!

Yes! Definitely would love to see thank you

https://g-gotoh.com/product/404bo-4/?lang=en I think after lots of searching for a cheap replacement, I’ll keep an eye out for a Gotoh 404BO (or possibly SJ model) - which is in keeping with the whole “MIJ” thing. Gotoh came back with some tech specs, if it’s helpful for anyone else. Minimum string height on these bridges is 11mm for the SJ (Steel saddle) and 10.5mm for the BO (Brass saddle) models.

This is why I love coming to Basschat, there’s always something new and interesting to learn. I looked the names up to see what they meant and this sums up my point about rubbish bass bridges masquerading as “high mass”: Pot metal (or monkey metal) is an alloy of low-melting point metals that manufacturers use to make fast, inexpensive castings.

Nice to see a full HT for the preamp valve, rather than starved plate types. I’m intrigued by this one, I don’t think I ever played through a Marshall Bass State before despite having used plenty of the guitar Valvestate gear in my six stringin’ years. I still want a DBS 7400…

Here ya go! https://el34world.com/charts/Schematics/files/Marshall/Marshall_b150.pdf

"Tone Metals!! Do they even matter?"

I remember watching a review somewhere demonstrating what cheap die-casting looked like. When the bridge was bent it just seemed to crumble. Pretty much any bridge under £20 new is probably made from that, or at least, very cheap materials I am sure.

Ahhh ha ha! yes. yes of course! I didn't even think to check the user manual! (Some did have a list of part numbers in, so I like your thinking there!) I did download it a while back, so thank you for the reminder and for searching the bass part number for me too. As for the Schaller, I had my suspicions! They mentioned the brass rollers but nothing else. That's not to say that I don't rate Schaller! The hardware is very well made.

They definitely found their way on to the Power Jazz Basses as stock,(E9 serials I think) but not every year. (Hence wanting to get one or two for my E7 serial PJ’s without them). So, maybe as a Japanese OEM, they are, or rather were out in the wilds! They are really solid bridges and, as I mentioned above, have a tidy quick release; a key-hole method rather than slots in the rear section.

Thank you Stub! I’d had a look through the examples on Amazon. There’s actually a few on there that are manufactured by Sung-Il who make bridges for quite a few “quality bridge” manufacturers (Babicz) and its possible to grab some with steel base plates (though it seems the steel is a bit soft according to reviews). I’m also side-steppping anything that is die-cast. Bridge adverts that don’t specify what they are made of usually means they are and although pretty on the outside are poor under the chrome plating. One of the issues I have with adverts for “high mass” bridges - they look chunky but are made of factory floor sweepings ha ha!! I’m not sure what Ibanez made their bridges out of. I’d expect that the mid-range models at least are zinc. Hmm! Looks wise, we’re on track and, if the saddles went low enough (they don’t) the ABM bridges look superb.

Thank you, I’m hoping that if the price of these is a guidance, the base and. Saddles are also made from brass, or steel, but that information seems to have been omitted from the website. I’ve communicated with Dr Lars himself in the past, I’ll send a message when I’ve narrowed the options down. Cheers!

Thank you for sharing the track, sooo good!

I’m sure there are others like me who anguish over pretty much every purchase ever and go in to waaaaay to much detail to study all related alternatives before the wallet even gets to twitch. So, I don’t think there’s any piece of music gear I have ever regretted buying. Maybe some items I had to get in order to make do. I built my first ‘big’ bass amp and cabinet as well as a distortion “preamp” because they simply weren’t reachable for me financially at the time. Maybe that says a bit about the kinda buyer I am? I dunno! (Obsessional, massive nerd, hashtag bass4lyfe ya had yahda) If there was ever a bass that I didn’t think I’d keep falling in love with though and that was actually the first page I tore out of Bass Player Magazine and stuck on my wall in a Wayne’s World “She will be mine” moment. Took me years to finally get round to buying one and I use it pretty much every day!

I’d listened to the track and I now I have an insatiable urge to strut through town… 😊

Wow, I’ve just been checking out the website and the other pedals on offer. They offer some really interesting products, I’d love to hear those 4 compressors!

I’ve just been recording a review of the EBS Runsten. It has isolated outputs that can be configured for 9, 12, 18 or 24V as well as being able to deliver enough current to power a Neural DSP Quad Cortex alongside other pedals. Worth a look! https://ebssweden.com/content2/accessories/ebs-runsten-multi-dc-power-supply/

Hey helllooo ‘chatters! I’ve been searching the internet to see if I can find an old bass bridge replacement that came as standard on my Fender Power Jazz Bass Special. It looks very similar to the Gotoh 404, https://g-gotoh.com/product/404bo-4/?lang=en so this could be a modern alternative, but I wondered if anyone has seen this style floating around anywhere? On the subject of Gotoh, I wouldn’t be surprised if they OEM’d parts - actually fairly sure they did as the FB30 tuners they have available are a like for like replacement for the tuning keys on all of my Japanese Fenders. I’m after two of these bridges in black. If you have suggestions for alternatives, I need low profile types and, like these bridges, quick release versions. I’ve been through the usual contenders from hip shot, babicz, the Quan clones and the like, I’d love to find something that has a steel base plate and brass saddles. I think I’m asking too much!

Funnily, I was just looking at cheap replacement bridges and noted a comment on one of the budget brands that despite having an all steel base plate, a customer found that several they bought all evenutally bent too easily, so maybe worth buying in to a decent branded example.