jmccabe

Basses that look out of proportion, for example where they have particularly fat necks (e.g. loads of instruments that have more than 5 strings; if you want 6 strings, get a guitar 🙂). Also, the Overwater Scott Devine J-Series just look wrong to me. I saw one in a pawn shop recently, and it just looked wrong; the neck and bridge are just too skinny. Then again, if you've got tiny hands and still want to play bass, good on you! Also precision basses; I just don't like how they look.

Wow - can't believe it's been so long but, as I get massively annoyed when things just stop, I thought I should add what happened after this.... I gave it to the guy in Nick Fisher in Hereford (not actually NIck Fisher, just his shop, which isn't Nick Fisher any more as Nick's in the, err, nick for kiddy-fiddling, although he might be out by now) who passed it on to some geezer called Lawrence who, I believe, does that sort of thing. He had a fiddle with it, decided he'd done the best he could and any more work would be stupidly expensive, and gave it back to me. He only charged about £15 for what he did, and it's definitely better than it was, but still not great, at the time. It's been in a case for a while though as I hadn't used it until recently. It doesn't seem as bad as I remember though, although still not a patch on the Dean Edge Pro, but usable, and the string spacing makes it easier to slap/pop than on the 5-string Dean. HTH

I had one in the mid-80s. I got it from Thomson's music shop in the piazza in Paisley and it was second-hand when I got it. Unfortunately I had problems with it, probably after only a few days. When it worked I seem to remember it sounded fine, and the phaser was a cool addition, but the fuse kept blowing. I took it back and they tried to fix it, supplying me with a Pearl valve amp while it was getting fixed (that was a nice amp!). Eventually they came back and said they'd failed to fix it and offered me a new Carlsbro Stingray Bass amp instead. As that was the one I'd really wanted but hadn't been able to afford, I jumped at their offer (and I've still got it), but I have a sentimental desire to get hold of an Intermusic again!

[quote name='fatback' post='896390' date='Jul 16 2010, 11:24 AM']I can't see the belt clip model at all on the Sadowsky site. Maybe it's been phased out.[/quote] I think it has from what I managed to find last night.

[quote name='RussFM' post='896351' date='Jul 16 2010, 10:46 AM']Something like this?[/quote] Err- yes, something like that, but preferably not discontinued :-) Interestingly, I looked at the Aguilar site and I found the OBP-2SK which is an internal 2 band version - something like that might be worth thinking about as it's got stacked bass/treble pots. On the rockbass there's 2 volume controls, one for each pickup, and a single tone control so potentially something like that might do the job for me. Thanks though John

[quote name='fatback' post='895625' date='Jul 15 2010, 02:12 PM']I have a Sadowsky belt mounted preamp that is just the kind of thing you need. Could clip onto the strap just as easily. i leave it sitting on the amp, as it happens. Amazing improvement to the sound. Dunno if they still sell them though. I'd sell you mine if I could find a DI pedal version of the same thing quickly.[/quote] Thanks for that. Has it got a model number or name or something that might help me find one online?

I've got a Dean Edge Pro 5 string active bass and a Rockbass fretless 5 string. The Rockbass is extremely quiet compared to the Dean so I was thinking that maybe there's something I can get that will plug in to the Rockbass and mount on the strap and do a bit of amplification just to bring it up to the same sort of level as the Dean. The main aim is to make it simple just to swap from one bass to the other, mainly at practise sessions. I've got alittle JHS flyspeck headphone amplifier I was given as a present years ago that could potentially do the sort of job I want, but perhaps there's something out there that would be more appropriate or better quality? Thanks for any info you've got. John

Thanks for that. For what it's worth, it was me that put the review on Harmony Central. Badass was a thought, but the problem is the length, well, the problem with the bass is the distance between the bridge pickup and where the body curves isn't very far which is why the monolithic ones dangle a bit (i'll try to post a pic one day). The badass is quite long in that direction so would also probably 'dangle' or would need a bit of routing to the body or even a base plate or something.That ABM stuff looks interesting. I'll take a closer look when I get a chance. Thanks again. Btw what part of glasgow are you in? I was born in Govan.

Dear All I was wondering if any of you have, or have considered replacing the bridge on their Dean Edge Pro 5 String. If so, what did you replace it with and how difficult was it? The standard Edge Pro 5 bridge is one of those finger style things but on mine (and I presume on all the other ones, but...) nearly all of the fingers hang out over where the body starts to curve. You can't see it from the front, but from the side it looks a bit stupid. Also they're not that sturday as far as I can see. I got some strings that have quite small balls on the end and they're not very secure in the slots. Finally I find the sadlles a bit of a nuisance to adjust because it's awkward to get in to the allen nut to loosen them off depending on the angle of the string and it's not easy to make accurate small adjustments. Anyway - I'd be grateful for any useful information anyone has on this.

[quote name='bassatnight' post='605859' date='Sep 22 2009, 05:35 PM']Derek Forbes once of Simple Minds Paul Webb once of Talk Talk Mick Karn Ex- Japan Youth - KillingJoke Steve Severin - Banshees Bedders - Madness Not sure of his name but he played bass on the third associates album Sulk, the bass is lovely and dark.[/quote] Michael Dempsey probably - he was mentioned earlier. I wouldn't put Mick Karn as underrated, I thought everyone thought he was brilliant :-)

[quote name='grahamd' post='605779' date='Sep 22 2009, 04:36 PM']Didn't Jah Wobble play one too back in the day? Now there's a player…[/quote] I believe he did, and yes, there is a player! Wasn't he in PiL at the same time as John McGeoch? I see that Russell Webb was also in PiL at one point - I wasn't previously aware of that. Him and McGeoch were later in The Armoury Show together with Richard Jobson (Skids) and John Doyle (Magazine).

[quote name='nick' post='101181' date='Dec 7 2007, 11:57 PM']Good call on Barry Adamson, he's first mention on this thread & rightly so. He used a Ibanez Rickenfaker for much of his time in Magazine[/quote] And also his Ovation Magnum. Phenomenally ugly instrument, sounded great in his hands though!

Thanks for that link. That's a difficult one! The Friday Forum show's sold out and Thursday is so phenomenally inconvenient, and Saturday - can I put up with the flack from the wife if I go to Manchester??? Aaaargghhh. Birmingham, Bristol or Cardiff would be so much better!

Russell Webb played some brilliant lines on that Armoury Show album. Apparently he was also in Slik with Midge Ure as well as The Skids. McGeoch was a fantastic guitarist, such a pity. Magazine are one of my all-time favourite bands; McGeoch and Adamson worked together really well. I like bands where there isn't any real prominent instrument all the time, and Magazine fit the bill perfectly. Along with Dave Formula's keyboards everything fitted brilliantly. I guess that's one of the reasons I like Duran Duran so much - they also have no real "main" instrument (well, most of the time) everything just fits together nicely.

[quote name='markytbass' post='288515' date='Sep 21 2008, 01:55 PM']The Aria basses are quite good more so the older Japanese built one's.[/quote] This one was built in Japan, I believe in the Matsumoku factory. If so, according to the www.matsumoku.org website, it will have been built in 1984. I bought it in '85 I think but I was its first owner. They weren't particularly expensive, list price was about £229 or so, and it competed with the Westone Thunder 1A (I preferred it to the Thunder 1A for some reason - John Taylor may have influenced my decision :-), although I think I paid £185 for it. It didn't seem like a huge amount at the time, but given what you can get these days for that amount, perhaps it was! [quote]If a set up and fret dress sorts it out then you should get many more years out of it. Don't be too put off by the prices on ebay, they are generally quite low at present.[/quote] I've no real intention to sell it so that's not an issue, unless an SB-1000 came up in good condition for hardly any money [quote]I've got some rellies in Ledbury, 2 of my cousins live in Lower rd and my Uncle and Aunt live next to the telephone exchange. Before that they managed a farm on the Eastnor estate near the Welly.[/quote] Oh yes. I nearly rented a place in Lower Rd once. It's a bit busy down that way though! I have an ex-colleague, Nick, who lives down there. All the best John

The bass I want setting up is an Aria Laser Electric Bass, the "Heritage" (passive) version. I've seen them go recently on ebay for £125 so you might think it's a bit daft to spend probably upwards of £70 to set it up, but I've had it since new (1985) so it's got sentimental value My main bass is much nicer. I'm on the New Mills Estate in Ledbury. Why do you ask?

I've been tweaking the truss rod a bit and got the relief fairly reasonable, and I've been adjusting the bridge saddle height and intonation, but I've got some buzzing around the 3rd fret. I could loosen the truss road again and give it a bit more relief, but I still thing a little less relief would be beneficial, especially as I don't think shimming the neck would help with the relief as it is! Anyhow it looks like the first couple are worn more than the others so I think the frets need sorting out. From the stuff I've found on the web it looks like you're best to use nicely curved tools to get that sort of thing right so I'd rather leave that to someone who isn't likely to make a pig's ear of it (or at least, if they do, you have some comeback on them :-) John

Thanks for that. I know Music City, but I didn't know there was a guitar shop in Friar Street. I'll get in touch and see what they suggest.

Hi I've had a look at the "recommended" thread, but there wasn't much listed near me apart from Bassurgery, but their website's dead so I don't know whether they still exist or not. I'm looking for someone to do a good setup job on my 4 string; preferably someone in the Ledbury/Malvern/Hereford/Worcester/Cheltenham/Gloucester/Tewkesbury area. If anyone can recommend someone nearby it would be greatly appreciated. Ta John

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='286054' date='Sep 17 2008, 04:57 PM']Greets, Generally, the older Aria necks are *very* stable as they're a sandwich of three pieces of quarter-sawn maple with the centre piece reversed. If yours has the 2 + 2 tuners on the headstock you should be able to see the stripe up the middle of the neck.[/quote] Yip - here's a picture of the neck on mine. . [quote]I'd recommend having the frets re-crowned & levelled followed by a setup.[/quote] Having read more about fret dressing etc, I''m tending to believe that's the sort of thing that also needs doing. Did I mention some of the bottom ones look a bit worn? [quote]About a year ago I took my 1981-built Aria TSB-400 ([topic="21920"]Third one down[/topic]) into the Bass Gallery in London as the first three frets were showing signs of significant wear. £75 later (excluding strings) they'd tweaked the rod, levelled the frets, & set the action so low that I had to raise it a tad to suit my style.[/quote] That's exactly the sort of thing I'd like, but I'd leave the action low as I like it that way. All I need though is to find somewhere near me that can do it! I'm in Ledbury in Herefordshire so anywhere anyone can recommend near there would be good. It felt like a new bass. I have some interesting news however - last night I got the nut off the truss rod and had a reasonably good look at it; the damage I thought was obvious doesn't seem too bad at all. So I lubed the thread and put it back on and it seemed to work a bit better. I also took off the neck to see if there was already a shim under it as it sits at an interesting angle but there's nothing there. I used a carpet join cover thing (door threshold?), a metal one, to check the straightness of the neck and it seems reasonably ok under no load, so I'm going to continue carefully trying to add a little bit more to the truss rod for a couple of days and see if I get anywhere. If I knew a good guitar tech nearby I'd take it there instead! Thanks for your message. John

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='284838' date='Sep 16 2008, 10:58 AM']I'm going to suggest something is wrong with your neck. Do you know how to check the neck relief? Hold down the string against the first fret and the last fret (or as near as you can). The string should *just* clear the 12th fret. I'm going to guess that you'll have a big gap in there. That would mean radging up your truss road a lot but you'll need to fix it first. I very much doubt that parts are standard - you'll need to get the right bits.[/quote] I compared the relief between the Aria and the Dean. On the Dean I can slide a sheet of paper under it easily but two sheets are held in place. On the Aria it's not quite as good; 3 sheets are just about held in place. So I don't think the problem with the relief is massive but it could probably do with being a little bit less. It is possible though that I need to get some fret work done though, as the ones towards the nut are a bit worn compared to the ones towards the bridge (oddly enough!). John

Hi Since getting my new Dean Edge Pro I've started tinkering with the setup on my old Aria Laser Electric (Heritage) Bass, but I seem to be having problems getting a lower action. I've read loads of bits and pieces here and there and I think I know what to do, but I've hit a snag. I've tried tightening the truss rod a little at a time but the last time I noticed that the nut where the allen key goes in appears to be cracking up a bit. I haven't really forced it or anything, but there is some damage there. So my first question is are the threads, diameters and lengths of these nuts fairly standard or do they vary hugely from brand to brand? If they're pretty standard then presumably the nice nickel one from WDMusic will fit. Secondly is a more general question. I've lowered the saddles quite so that they're very close to bottomed out but the action in the middle of the neck still seems quite high. However after the 15th fret or so I'm getting quite a lot of buzz. From what I've read that suggest that there's too much relief (the place I read that said "buzz on the high frets -> too much neck relief, buzz on the lower frets -> too little neck relief, buzz all the way up -> strings too low). That is why I'm trying to reduce the relief by tightening the truss rod so that, at some point, I can raise the bridge saddles back up a bit. I've also been looking at the possibility of shimming the neck but as far as I can see, if I shim it at the nut end of the join I should be able to overcome teh buz on the high frets but it will make the action at the middle frets even worse. If I shim at the body end of the join then I'll have to raise the sadlles quite a bit which might end up with the action being no better in the middle frets. So I'm a bit not sure what to do. Comparing the neck to the Dean it certainly looks like there is too much relief there, i.e. it's much more bent, but the Dean is a thru-neck so does that make a difference? Finally there's a possibility I would take it along to an expert to get it sorted out, but I was wondering what that's likely to cost and whether anyone knows a good place near the Herefordshire/Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border. Thanks for any advice. John

Bit late to reply, but I've been using minidisc for years with no problems. The only thing is that mine is an old one (Sony MZ-R30) so recording off to PC has to be done manually (i.e. no USB). Check out how much you can get a NetMD or HiMD player for on ebay (make sure it's got a mic input - some of them haven't). John

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='241809' date='Jul 17 2008, 03:19 PM']Some of you guys who like me, like to record their rehearsals, may find this of use - [url="http://www.expertverdict.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product1_12552_-1_22071_11051"]http://www.expertverdict.com/webapp/wcs/st..._-1_22071_11051[/url][/quote] I find my Sony MZ-R30 much more convenient, although I'd quite like one of these for the extra recording time... [url="http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1143471806570"]http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1143471806570[/url]

Just thought I'd let you all know that I've gone for the 2nd hand Hartke The_Rev mentioned earlier. It weighs a ton, but it does sound pretty good (and there's a matching 2x10 that I might look for to join it in the future). I'm going to make a little dolly to cart it around on so that the only lifting is into and out of the car Thanks