King Tut

Glad I don’t live near Stockport!

Wonder if they’ll bring one out with a glitter finish . . . . . . .

Our band leader, Del, was given some of their strats. He reckons they’re pretty decent for a budget guitar. He gave one away to an audience member when we played Alford and unbeknownst to us, the audience member turned out to be a luthier! Bit random!

1 hour ago, tom1946 said:

How hard is this to fit? I can change pickups but don't know much about active stuff. The bass is a ibanez mezzo 2 band active which is rubbish.

Well this is designed to drop directly into a Jazz Bass so I would imagine the pot shafts are too short to fit through the wooden front of a bass. Other than that you just feed the pick-up wires into the screw terminals and solder the ground wire from the bridge onto the appropriate lug of the Jack socket. The hardest bit for me was squeezing it all into the cavity. If you look online you’ll be able to find the depth of cavity for it to fit ok.

6 hours ago, Manton Customs said:

Approx 5 kg/ 11lb

Thank you!

On 08/12/2022 at 16:43, ossyrocks said:

That does look nice.

 

Who's going to ask the obligatory question first? I'm not, as I'm not looking for a Jazz, but if this was a P, it would be my first question......

me! Weight pls?

I bought this J-Retro from here recently on a whim. Having fitted it to a Bass Collection Jive Bass, I think I'm preferring a passive vibe, and my Sire V9 scratches my active itch, so I'm putting it back up for sale. Just looking to get most of my dosh back so want what I payed for it which is £115 inc UK postage. All works as it should, some swirls in the chrome but looks worse in the pics than it does in real life. Treat yourself for Crimbo!

I've got way too many. I'm currently gassing for a Squier 40th Black n Gold P from Thomas ay £299 - bargain. Do I need it? Absolutely nt. Managed to resist for today but it's so easy with online sales! Another facet of my addictive personality!

Looks really nice. I know the early ones had a great reputation but you doing hear a lot about their more recent offerings so thanks for the review!

1 minute ago, Sparky Mark said:

Be aware that doing this work invalidates any warranty. Damage to screw heads will be the most obvious sign the chassis has been opened.

Yup - try not to mark the screw heads!

2 minutes ago, goingdownslow said:

Just brought my can of Deoxit in from the garage and waiting for it to reach room temperature. I'll report back later.

When you put the top back on, note that two of the screws are different from the rest. The two that AREN’T self tappers go in near the handle

9 minutes ago, goingdownslow said:

Hmm, where do I spray?

 

If

If I were to release those those two latches would the pcb come away with the exposed pot on it?

I’m no expert so please do it at your own risk!! On the cylindrical bit between the pcb and the front panel there’s some holes, I pushed the tube from the spray onto these, gave a squirt and gave it a few twists. Made sure it was unplugged first. Please someone chime in if this isn’t safe!

4 minutes ago, goingdownslow said:

I may have been one of the early ones to mention hearing this 'crackle' on the master volume.

I still have it. It has not got any worse. It only does it when adjusting it with a signal into it.

It seems to be more of 'that's the way it works' on this amp, than a dirty pot.

Does anybody not get it?

I don't get it since I've sprayed the pot with switch cleaner. My older tube version got progressively worse and would eventually crackle without a signal going through it when turned. Both quiet now.

I spent a bit more time with mine today. I reckon the clip indicator is before the gain control but after the pad. The clip indicator on my valve version is definitely affected by the gain control so this must be the reason for the extra volume control. I've found the gain control on the M version DOES affect the tone but in a much more subtle way than on the M. The tone gets a little more aggressive as you crank it and if i roll the tone off the bass, I can hear some distortion on the bottom end - not particularly attractive distortion, but with the bass tone control open, the top end masks that distortion and it sounds more gnarly.

In order to get a load of top on the T version, I have to nail the treble control, have the mid control set to 2.5K with lots of mid on. Which is a shame because to get the best stage sound I like to set the mid to 220hz, boost it and roll the bass off. With the M version, I can keep the mids at 220hz and boost them, nail the treble and have the Ultra High engaged and the tone really cuts through. Not tried this live yet but will get the chance tomorrow night when I'm doing a christmas party. Shall report back!

Mine has finally arrived and I’ve had a 15 minute play to compare it with my tube version. The front end at first seemed more intuitive than the T with just a gain knob rather than gain and volume. Having said that the gain didn’t seem to affect where the clip light comes on (short of pressing the pad button) and it didn’t seem to make a huge difference to the tone, although I do need to spend more time with it. 
 

I can coax a load more top and high mid out of this than I can the T and it reminds me a bit of an old Trace SM 300 I used to gig with - which means I’m liking it lots and will probably use it in preference to the T.

As others have reported, I have the scratchy volume pot, as I did on the T. I lived with it on the T but it started to get worse until recently when I think it was affecting the actual volume. I took the top off and gave the inside of the pot some servisol which seems to have cured it so will do the same to the new one when I have a moment,

I’ll try and report back with further findings after Saturday’s gig.

I’ve got a set of these in a four string Jazz and the really are the Mutts! Free bump!

Mine has apparently been out for delivery since this morning. No sign of it arriving and I reckon it’ll be back in the depot by now grrrr!

I've just ordered one. I regularly gig the Valve version and have been looking out for a mosfet one for a bit. I'll see how the EQ's compare and keep one as a spare. Many thanks to the OP for this!

12 hours ago, geoffbyrne said:

I might have some spare in the cupboard.  Be tomorrow (Sunday) before I can check.  This is the stuff that glows in the dark when exposed to UV light - right?

Thanks so much Geoff but I’ve got some on the way now!

12 hours ago, BlueMoon said:

Amazon sell it via Amazon.de

 

Not sure if as a UK customer you can source via this outlet.

 

I just got some last week!

Just had a look. I can buy from Amazon.de. The postage is much cheaper but the initial price is lots higher! Still cheaper than buying from source though so thanks for the heads up!

I want to fit Luminlay fret markers to two of my basses. Luminlay want £20 to ship to The UK - anyone know where I can source them without being ripped off for shipping?

I've got one of these that i use for a mild drive, really rate it. GLWTS and free bumpity bump!

12 hours ago, TheGreek said:

I reckon that the typical toaster plays better than most Rics.

Oof harsh! 😂

I bought a Classic Vibe Jazz Bass from Graeme. Communication was great. There was a screw up with the Courier and Graeme was quick to let me know what had gone wrong and how he was going to rectify it. Bass arrived quickly, as described and properly packaged. A great transaction, deal with confidence.

First time out gigging this head and first time for both BB2s although I’ve gigged a single one lots. It was only for show really and was probably overkill. The recent addition of a Schroeder 1212L to the arsenal means one of these cabs might pop up in the for sale section soon!! Anyway, it looked real cool!