HowieBass

The Squier active preamp is, to my ears, quite restrained and I think the bass still sounds like a Jazz; you just have more control when you're looking for a particular tone. The mid control comes in handy if you want to fill the mid-scoop that you usually get when both pickups are fully on, plus there's a 'slap switch' which boosts the bass and treble. The three band EQ frequencies are Bass - 100Hz, Mid - 1000Hz, Treble - 10KHz. It uses a volume + blend rather than two volume knobs and the pickups on mine are also totally quiet when soloed.

Excellent news!

Sounds just about perfect! http://www.visitscotland.com/ awaits...

Very nicely recorded; whilst not something I'd usually listen to I can imagine it working very well as film and television theme music - you know the type where they have an airborne camera swooping over cliffs and spectacular panoramas... come to Scotland...

If you can cope with a Squier logo and active 3 band-EQ preamp then the Squier Deluxe Jazz Active might be worth looking at. http://www.fender.com/en-GB/squier/series/deluxe/deluxe-jazz-bass-iv-active-4-string-ebonol-fingerboard-3-color-sunburst/

Congratulations and well done!

I think 90s era Vesters were made in Korea so that's probably an in-house designed bridge. A similar situation exists with my '86 Westone bass, the bridge on it is a Matsumoku (Japanese) design.

You've possibly got a BCer nearby who's handy with a soldering iron. You could contact GAK in Brighton to see if they offer a repair service in case nobody here can offer practical help or look online for local luthiers who work with electrics or amp technicians.

Smashing!

I imagine it'd be like adjusting a Ric but I'm sure someone with better knowledge will come along shortly to confirm/deny this... but firstly, do you need to change the neck relief at all or is it just a case of the previous owner liked a high action?

If, that's IF, the shim is a full pocket shim it raises the whole neck and your comment about the saddles holds true. Partial shims that do not occupy the whole neck pocket can change the neck to body geometry and tilt the neck backwards or forwards or even correct a misaligned neck to make it align with the body correctly. In my experience it's better to set the relief first without referring to whether you get fret buzz or not (so use a method like checking the gap at the 8th fret with a business card which is usually .012" thick - that's the gap to aim for when you have a capo on the E string at the 1st fret and you're holding down the string at the last fret) and then adjust the saddles to get the action; if the relief is correct then fret buzz should occur over most of the neck if you take the saddles too low. I wouldn't use the existence of fret buzz in certain areas to get the relief right though it can diagnose if you have too much relief (buzz near the top frets) or too little relief (buzz near the nut), assuming of course that the frets are all levelled correctly.

Definitely give nickel roundwounds a go if you haven't tried them yet, the difference in feel when playing fingerstyle is noticeable; I'd never go back to steels again though I'm quite happy playing steel flatwounds. Oh and by the way, I started out using a pick when I first played bass many, many years ago but now play exclusively fingerstyle as I feel it gives me more control over dynamics so I totally understand your choice, but a pick certainly gives definition and attack to a note which is what you'll have heard on a lot of recorded music. Hope you get sorted soon anyway!

Regarding playing with a pick; I'd wrongly assumed that as a lapsed guitar player that's how you'd played before adopting bass; my mistake. What you have in your bass I think should pretty much nail a classic rock tone, though from what you've said above I can't tell if you've already gone down the roundwound string route and didn't get along with them? I used to play nothing but steel roundwound strings for many years but I now much prefer the smoother feel of nickel rounds and they're a warmer, less strident string than steel rounds when new. Since none of us can hear what you're hearing or where it may be lacking I think it might be worth your while taking your bass and amp head to a decent music shop/store (sorry but I don't know where you live so can't offer any suggestions) and try your bass through a few cabs to see whether your Ashdown cabs are the limiting factor and whilst there try your bass through whatever else is available (other heads/cabs/combos) and see if the tone you want is found in another rig.

That's been up for sale before and I thought it had sold

Interesting, so they're saying that the induced noise picked up from your bass has no ground connection through the amp. Have you tried doing what they say and if so did it work?

'Sonic Ferret' - now that's a band I'd go to see!

I look at those layered wooden knobs and can't help thinking 'expensive Belgian chocolates' LOL

Distance selling regulations are a very good safeguard when buying new instruments sight unseen, particularly from UK retailers. The last 'new' bass I bought was my Squier Jazz and that's a great bass and the only bass I've needed to send back for a full refund was a new Vintage P bass which looked like it had been put together by a total incompetent. I've also bought several secondhand basses without having handled them and none have been what I'd consider 'unplayable' and in fact mostly all either good or great.

Yeah I think that's worthwhile, I've noticed with my Cort B4FL that boosting the bass can muddy up the sound and you can actually get better results cutting rather than adding tone with active basses.

I don't know what range of frequencies are triggering the onboard limiter in your amp (I think they're most susceptible to lows) and I know this sounds counterintuitive but you might actually enjoy a better 'bass' sound if you back off the bass tone control on your Cort - the Bartolini preamp might be boosting where you don't need it?

Ah I suppose you'd say I'm a bit of a trained observer (I did degrees in astronomy and then visual art LOL)

I've started doing that more just recently, so less floating thumb involved and it actually feels quite a good way to play.

I thought we felt as much as heard low frequencies when it gets loud? http://gapersblock.com/transmission/2010/07/22/beyond_vibrations_the_deaf_musical_experience/ @Painy - it might well be that the bass boost is adding to frequencies that don't contribute greatly to the perceived volume levels (I think that filter is centred on the sub-bass region where your rig will struggle to amplify it well) and you've got a bit of a hole in the bass frequencies (though where the bass and mids cross on that graph is about 150Hz which is about D3, the 12th fret on the D string so it ain't that 'low'). However, if you've a chance to boost in the 100 to 300Hz region (via an EQ pedal or amp) then that might help...

@linear - Yeah having a shim when it's not needed is pointless and as Grangur said could be the reason for the fret buzz you're seeing. However the reason for your fret buzz could also be too much relief in the neck. You're right in thinking a shim does affect the action and a full neck pocket shim to raise the whole neck is one solution when the saddles bottom out and you still have an unacceptably high action (which is where I was with my Curbow 5 bass). Partial neck pocket shims act to tilt the neck backwards (with the shim at the back of the neck pocket, nearer the bridge) or forwards (with the shim at the front edge of the neck pocket) if the neck and body have alignment issues - some basses have a micro-tilt adjustment as part of the neck to body attachment arrangement.

Double octave neck with the split P pickup further back than a standard Fender?