synthaside

Hey Bassy folk 

Just received a fantastic custom oak stain bass stand I ordered off Facebook in the post Christmas blues   :-S  and while typically I keep my buying on more " official platforms such as here  or face to face"  
I was very impressed by the guys photo's and prices and I  figured that as i'd had a disappointing Christmas  of bass stuff ....  Why not treat myself.

It arrived this morning  tracked Royal mail and for even someone who  Got a GSCE   "F"  in woodwork  was an absolute doddle to assemble , The build quality is excellent with  lovely soft foams to protect the bottoms of guitars
its also waxed rather than stained to protect the finishes and my floor , I'm rather pleased , more than enough to recommend him  but obviously this is no way paid or asked for so I wont link directly.

His prices and dimensions are as follows  , he's based in  wales and was willing to do collection withing reason but teir 4 may have scuppered that. 
hipping to me in London was extra at cost .

3 bay 522 L x 758 H x 465 D £78 
4 bay 643 L x 758 H x 465 D £82
5 bay 764 L x 758 H x 465 D £86
6 bay 885 L x 758 H x 465 D £90

Reply or message and i can pass his details on.

Welcome welcome 

Golden rule of truss rods ..... if in doubt ...  don't turn it more than a 1/4 turn , 

Onto new  gear .....   In my experience the traben stuff are more style over substance they aren't bad instruments per say but you are paying more for the styling than the substance. 

When I first started playing in  1999 /2000 I was desperate for an black and white Epiphone explorer because to me it was the coolest thing i could imagine .... After playing it in a store their resident  bass guy talked me into trying a thunderbird because ....   first because he could modify it so it wouldn't neck dive  and not having to hold a silly weighted instrument up with my fretting hand would  let me learn to actually able to play it worth a damn ,  He aslo had an inkling that If grew out of the music i loved as a young teen, I could use the tbird for all sorts of rock

l love the Tbird he was right and 20 years later I still have it  along with many more expensive instruments and i still use roto swing RS66's on it too. 

You are lucky at least in one respect  there are so many wonderful basses available very  cheap these days for example many of the Harley Benton's' s blow many of the midrange basses I've tried out of the water , then i would spend as much money as i could on a great  at least 250 watt amplifier because it will last you forever .

 I'd recommend one of these  https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mb_4_sbk_deluxe_series.htm?glp=1 , 


 

I also disagree here 

My Old smoothie Ray goes from Dubby,  mutey jazz machine , Grindy Drop D rock ,  up  to Screamy pop punk ,  with a stomp on  my  Tubescreamer   Really just a mid boost and volume lift)  and a spin of the treble pot  its up in bark town.

If i wanted to "fake it" upright  i have been  know to quickly drop the mutes on the E and A  then play up the dusty end  rather than the money zone.   
The Ray It has rapidly become my only gigged and rehearsed Bass ,  invading practice too aI was feeling lazy and grabbed my remaining jazz for last nights noodling and within  10 minutes i had conceded and gone to get the Ray ... its just " HOME"

There's some surprisingly versatility even the one pickup config , where you play , rolling back volume ( surprisingly how much this effects the bite of the bass like gain)   Bass and Treble Mutes   and right hand technique all play into it , it also helps that the smoothie is not string aligned like a standard ray they sit astride them.

That was my exact reason why i moved off metal strings on it " it its doing enough to amplify the sound in the body , having  steel strings  sound like  cats fighting on  a trampoline every time you move your left hand.

Dump the bronze ... sound like the Fonze ???  no thats crap .....

I have an Old Aria AMB-50 , they are really cheap to pick up used and are ovation knock offs , with the ABS back  , i've got it strung with Black Nylons  and its more than loud enough to keep up with accoustic guitars ...  in fact that thing projects so much you  feel it 😉

Oops turns out they are bit more money these days   https://thebassgallery.com/products/aria-amb-50b-5

After years and years of never quite being satisfied with my tone  ,  flitting through gear and pedals i've finally settled on  one i've  been very happy with, which works for almost everything i play ,  My 2 band Stingray old smoothie .... volume at around 50% ,  Treble at around 65%  bass at around 40% ish ,  then run it through my  zoom b3 compressor  patch " opto comp"  which i believe is a Aphex punch factory sim , the comp is on for rock and off  for less " loud songs ..... other than that I use the Proco Rat sim for  standing in the way of control , I can get the same tone from the studio's Ashdowns , to my markbass rig ,  or straight to the desk with the markbass sim .....  1 bass and pedal to rule them all ... I even took a train to a gig with "unknown backline " ... I know right O.O

 

Yup , I have done this with two drummers , who who was just amazing but sadly was promoted up at Harrods and now has no time to do much else  .

But how  it thundered out  from behind me ... and it left me oddles of space to just have the bass ring out ,   our other drummer other took quite some time to learn it  and i do feel it dosent quite have the same Gravitas.

We also do a mean version of this , the trick is to have a drummer who is confident enough to get the fills right 😉

I was looking at that .... telebass on the trade sites but my thoughts ... hrmmm its not Maple , i'd not really get on with it.

I seem to be the odd man out here ... I love me a maple board ... not one of those horrible satin things ....a good honest to goodness Nitro Lacquer .
Its a tone thing for me ... i have two excellent jazzes and its always the maple i go for its brighter and more adaptable as i can turn the town down to find my mud
but not get the bite back when im playing somthing that needs it.

I'm a in a band that aims to do this ,  called Guilty Pleasure ,  female fronted 90's rock  Wheatus ,  Avril Lavinge ,  sixpence none the richer  , Savage garden alongside the more rockier  and acceptable , greenday , and covers staples

The bands aim is  to hit that  90's and early 2000's stilton factor 😉 im currently in talks to try to avoid doing  "busted"  mainly  because i don't want to have to jump up and down in time on  " thats what i go to school for" ,  which willeend up with 6'4 of me hitting my head on ceilinings and getting concussion
Instead pushing pushing for Stacie's mom .... that songs go it going on 😉

This was a result  of realising it was always the more cringey oddball numbers we did that got better reception ...along with the audiance age being more
20- 40 somthings  who are likely to be  down the dog n duck on a thursday night.

The bridge definitely is ... perhaps bigger than the humber 😉

Have you tried putting  the magnum III in there you might be surprised how well it fits ......  😉 Mine is in a Mag 2 case

I'm  actually the current custodian of Flat Eric's Grey-burst  Magnum III ...
for anyone who has never played one of these they don't sound anything like you think you might think there all mud ... but they really growl and bark when you need them too , interesting ... did you add the thumb rest along the top to mimic  a magnum II's  mine doesnt have one and it would definatly improve playability.

Synth / lyle 

" uses internet magic "

here

https://web.archive.org/web/20180102111515/http://www.sabreguitars.co.uk/about/

cool isnt it ... this is why  nothing ever really goes away online ... Think before you post folks 

I have never wanted anything so much that i cant have .... that is fantastic ... i had been looking at something similar on a stand website and they go for close to if not over £200 ...   https://www.stand-made.co.uk/product-category/multi-guitar-stand-racks/retro-style-multi-guitar-stands/

I reckon if you dad ever needs a sideline he'd have a queue going out the door.

hrmmmmmmmm

Don't suppose you fancy a trade on this for my 70's Classic  Jazz from the same series ?
 

I have the Hotone thunder bass , somewhere .... >.<  moving is a bi***  but i remember it actually sounding very reasonable  a little SVT ,  if a little hissy into my old trace elliot 15 inch cab  could have easily been bad connections or power ... for the hiss , for headphone practice  pretty perfect ...  but wouldnt you just be better off using a laptop , some IR responses and a cheap interface.

That's what's special about the old smoothie Ray;s  its an original design prototype that was rejected by an admittedly going deaf leo fender .

The blurb  :

"Old Smoothie" StingRay, a faithful reproduction of StingRay prototype #26, designed for Sterling Ball during his time spent testing and developing the original prototypes back in the 70's. Named for its smooth even tone that is reminiscent of the highly sought after vintage Music Man StingRay sound, "Old Smoothie" has been precisely reproduced including the one-of-a-kind custom made 10 pole piece pickup design, body headstock and pickguard shape, 34-inch scale maple neck and fingerboard, low profile narrow frets, hardware, and active electronics. 

As a proud owner of one of these  ( in my moderate stable of basses , I literally don't pick up any other bass) they are phenomenal , I didn't ever think anything would ever move me away from a jazz width neck ,  I even ceased looking at the classifieds on here , for months on end ...  I have a chocolate burst  with the white scratchplate  ....   and yes you will struggle to find a replacement ..... I tried to find a black replacement but couldn't ..

The pickup in these is a 5 string  width allowing the strings to rest between the poles to tame a lot of the bark ..... ( unless you dial it in on the classic 2 band eq )

I've just paid a substantial deposit on a house otherwise i'd consider this as a backup and sell every other bass I own.

The chap who started ovation did it as an side to his other company making / designing  helicopters for the US army ,  https://www.kaman.com/
if you look at the neck stamp it says Ovation a kaman company , ( as does my  Magnum IV  )  he had been a life long guitarist but was an engineer first businessman second and guitarist third., shame he's not more well known  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kaman

Experimenting with ABS , inventing the roundback accoustic guitar  hell the bridge system on our basses puts the golden gate to shame and its got more mass than it ;-)

I’ve recently bought a bass of Flat Eric, I  had contacted him regarding advice on Vintage Ovations and one thing lead to another. Wonderful chap would deal again and you should deal in absolute confidence.  He was very accommodating and even drove down to London to ensure the bass arrived safely.  We both agreed that couriers shouldn't be trusted with Vintage things that ultimately can’t be replaced for the actual monetary value we have to place on them.

I am now the proud new owner of My unicorn bass … a Grey burst Ovation Magnum III … I think it’s 83 which makes it 2 years older than me …

Short of the odd strip of electrical tape connecting the two halves of the pickup cover ...  and the fact that the pickups don't align correctly, they are sort of scootched in  i don't see a huge amount different .

One of the more veteran old smoothie owners may be along shortly...  there is definitely something about the neck though I play a jazz normally and stuggled with big P necks ...this is smooth as they come.

I bet the body is probably butcherblock larch scrap with copious amounts of Glue which is whats giving it its stone esq weight .

Nothing is wasted in the USSR 😉  except the people .... * ducks large object thrown by other half*

Well back from rehearsal ... woah nelly that's big tone ... definitely cutting through  very happy camper right now .

I have called in my Russian better half to read the details from the manual, The model of the bass is " Belarus" , most of the manual is the usual details you'd expect, 
like length, number of octaves achievable etc and like the amount of certain metals and stuff.

She  says  what specfically did you need reading from it it's a lot of technical language, I'm not gonna translate it without significant effort

In hindsight, I should have probably given her a wipe down after the 2 hour getting to know each other session, i spy mucky fingerprints already .....
I could have sworn the one I played had detents in the Eq .... this doesnt ???