HeadlessBassist

In the case of this thread, the dead truly live again!

It’s mainly the scarcity that is pushing the prices up. Obviously the premium graphite necked stuff is going for all the money these days, but the wooden necks with graphite rods are catching up fast. I’m heading down to Kent on Friday to pick up a really nice ‘94 Series-1 wooden through neck instrument. Even that will be up for around £900 if I choose to move it on.

You know something? Watching Pino playing in the John Mayer Trio, I always wondered why he always stood right in front of that massively tall Ampeg cab. The obvious answer is that it’s the only place he could actually hear his Precision strung with flats. He would have had less of an issue with a Jazz on rounds.

You'll be looking at the oddly named. P5 4-string. They're very good basses.

Nice review, BeLow. I miss the print magazines for Bassists too. I might just have a look into one of these, after I'm done looking into Klos basses...

Yes, MarkBass amplifiers tend to make vintagey, wooden basses sound very gritty and growly. I get a completely different sound from my MarkBass 210 tilting combo than from my TC Electronic stuff. MarkBass tends to have a very boosted, yet honest sound. You hear literally everything, whereas the TC's are very smooth and sweet sounding, but heavily processed.

Didn't they have a sort of primitive parametric eq too?

The series before was called the American Special, wasn't it? There will probably be another similar product with a couple of small improvements and something taken away (my bet is truss rod above the nut and skunk stripe on the back of the neck, like the cheaper Mexican instruments and the newest American Ultra II.)

Possibly a good thing for us lot - Out of sight, out of mind (and hopefully less out of pocket!)

26 frets? That's two better, isn't it?

I can understand that completely. The T-Bass was always a fantastic instrument. If you know, you know. As for WAL, huge respect and huge values, but rather meh to play.

Those cheap "Flea Bass" models in lurid colours that were truly awful to play. Hopefully they all ended up in a skip [trans. dumpster]. Big Block Precision - always wanted one and recently missed one on the 'Bay. 90's Dean basses. I had a couple of pupils who had them and they always seemed like pretty nice things.

There seem to be a few around at the moment. Here's one at the Gallery which isn't massively overpriced. https://thebassgallery.com/products/status-the-groove-iv?variant=46633760096489&country=GB&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&srsltid=AfmBOopiVE_OhOYCJI10FBQKQCVp94KLIt_xYO2A1eqkpV2Q84UAe-LKR94

Are they selling the basses as well?

I see you've just blown your cover as one of the Geurrilla Skeptics 😎

A very clean and clinical Precision, maybe. Less nasal mids and more even. The fingerboard is less radial too, very flat and even response all the way up the board.

That's the weird looking mid 80's John Page designed one, isn't it? They only made them for about a year if I remember rightly.

I had one about 15 years ago. The passive single pickup one. Fantastic bass. Sold it to a guitarist friend who is even now using it for bassing duties with a pro 60s band and he still loves it over a decade later.

Headless is the way forward (Headless convert here for the last 37 years.) The 4-string is still quite a new product. I've seen a couple used as new ones around for around £525.

I'm going to go left field with my usual reasonably priced choice. Slightly radical looks, great build quality, excellent balance, lovely clean sounding preamp, seven piece laminate neck, roasted maple fingerboard and serious playability for the money - Cort Artisan Space Bass 4. I've had both the 5 and the 4 now, and the 4-string version is still blowing me away with it's speedy neck'd playability and portability. Oh, and you can have a brand new one for just over £600. What's not to like?

What usually happens when you take three years off is you play like the aliens came in the night and surgically swapped your hands for somebody else's!

I noticed over the last few weeks that when you go to select 'Series' on the Fender site, American Performer isn't in the list anymore, but the basses are still listed as available at around the £1400 mark. I hope they carry on, as they're great basses, especially if my American Performer Mustang is anything to go by.

Continuing from what the OP was saying [eight pages ago], I'm the opposite. I've owned countless Jazz basses and quite a few Precisions, from Squier Classic Vibes, MIM Standards, American Standards, American Professional to American Vintage. The only one that I took to was the American Professional with the Alnico 5 in one side of the split coil, and Alnico 2 in the other. It was the perfect blend of clear highs and thick lows. I also loved the 63 neck shape. Suited me down to the ground. Sadly, I sold it a couple of years ago, as leaving one pro band left it parked in my music room for over a year not being played. And if it's not being played, it's not earning money and has to go. (Hard and fast personal rule.) My general problem with the Precision is that it gets buried in the mix. The Jazz bass somewhat less so, as it has the rich and toneful bottom end, flat-ish mids and the clear and sparkly top end, so can still punch it's way through a little more. So professionally, I mainly play Jazzes. (American Original 60s and FSR hand-stained American Standard.) They just do the job really well. Oh, and as others have said, it doesn't matter a jot what other band members think to your sound. You're the bass player, and it's you that has to be happy with your sound. When quizzed about your bass sound, most non bass players tend to say, "Yeah, it sounds like a bass." I rest my case, your honour.

Ah, I've seen that in a Scott's Bass Lessons video interview with [I think] Nicole Row (Incubus' bass player). I seem to recall that her luthier in LA put it in one of her basses.