CustardFilled

Hi everyone - just a quick heads up that our AMA with Brian Ritchie is now live on the /r/bass subreddit. Please do stop by if you would like to put a question to him.

The thread is up now, and Brian will be back to answer questions in an hour or so - if anyone wants to ask a question but is unable to make it, just pm me and I'll post on your behalf.

Hey all, just thought I'd post a heads up - upright bassist extraordinaire Miles Mosley will be passing by reddit's bass forum this evening for an Ask Me Anything, so if you want to put questions to a bassist who's worked with Jeff Beck, Avenged Sevenfold, Mos Def, Kendrick Lamar and, most recently, Kamasi Washington, now's your chance! The AMA will start at 8pm BST - more info here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bass/comments/67c8k1/ama_announcement_miles_mosley_monday_1st_may/

Hey all -

This Friday, at 10pm BST Adam Kubota of Postmodern Jukebox will be joining us on [url="https://www.reddit.com/r/bass"]http://reddit.com/r/bass[/url] to participate in an AMA, a kind of live, community driven interview.

Adam's performed with Postmodern Jukebox live and on a host of fantastic tracks and collaborated with the likes of Rachael Price, Kat Edmonson and Anthony Braxton, amongst many others - it should be an interesting read!

Hope to see some of you there!

Can only repeat what kodiakblair said really, very happy with my Vantage and Dave was excellent to deal with!

How did those all go so quickly...? :|

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1454092504' post='2966434']
Bad form on Thomann's behalf IMHO. If they couldn't supply, then they should have sent you a normal model. Particularly this long after confirmation.
[/quote]

Presumably there was at least one, but it went elsewhere?

[i]Coldflows[/i] - got any pics?

Update: the order has been cancelled, apparently it should never have been confirmed to begin with. Shame, I was intrigued.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1453884097' post='2963673']
@CustardFilled - what's the news on your active LP?
[/quote]

All quiet - have sent an email enquiring!

In other news the Jazz has found a new home - nice to think these deco instruments can be offered another chance in life

Bump!

If you've been watching the deko thread in the bass section you might have spotted this jazz I picked up the other day, which I now offer to the good people of the marketplace. I've given it a bit of a setup, along with new DiMarzio DP123 pickups and Rotosound Tru Bass 88 strings, and it sounds rather good.

It was classified as a decorative piece, but this seems to derive solely from the small imprint just below the neckplate - otherwise it plays and looks like a new (and upgraded) bass. Here are the full specs as per the [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jb_75mn_black_vintage_series.htm"]thomann site[/url]:

[CODE]
Harley Benton JB-75MN Black, vintage series electric bass, bolt-on neck construction, american ash body, canadian maple C-shape neck, thomann maple fretboard, block inlays, 20 frets, 864 mm scale, 38 mm nut-width, double-action trussrod, Wilkinson Alnico vintage JB -style singlecoil pickups [replaced, as above], electronic 2-volume & 1-tone, deluxe chrome hardware, classic PB-style tuners, Daddario 045-100 Strings [replaced, as above], color hi-gloss black
[/CODE]

I'm asking £150, which is effectively the sum of its parts, plus what I paid in shipping. Pickup from London or Oxford!

[quote name='Coldflows' timestamp='1453508566' post='2960284']
Loads of basses and guitars up just now! Hop to it!
[/quote]

Anything interest you?

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1453477199' post='2959868']

@CustardFilled - what's the status of your active LP?
[/quote]

All quiet from Thomann since the confirmation. Perhaps it was a phantom...

It's a great improvement, much more articulated mids and highs, with a nice little punch in the bass. Was similarly impressed with the Split Ps I put in my p-bass really.

Given what I paid originally along with shipping and the new hardware, I was thinking £140 would be pretty fair.

Dimarzio Model Js + spare Rotosound tapewounds + a little set up = a rather smart deko bass. I'm not sure I can quite justify keeping another bass though, so I might open it up to the classifieds. Thoughts?

Well apparently they've confirmed the order. I must admit, I have no idea what to expect from a £42 active Les Paul copy, but I'll be sure to post an update as and when...

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1453112803' post='2956360']
DEKOS INCLUDING BASSES MAIN SITE.

This LP actually was an active one. Gone now. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_l_1000_vb_progressivedeko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...ressivedeko.htm[/url]

[/quote]

Put in a punt on that one, will see what happens!

Will be changing out the pickups/strings on the JB-75 today, will post the results later!

[quote name='mr zed' timestamp='1452593563' post='2951356']
My white Harley Benton B550 Progressive arrived just before Christmas. Needed a truss rod tweak and now all is good. I have put Schaller Straplocks on and made a scratchplate (which I think improves the looks). Cost so far is £70. Plays nicely and sound great in both passive & active. Very happy.
[/quote]

That looks simply excellent, nice job!

[quote]i believe that scuff is the D stamp, clearly someone went a bit overboard with it! did this model come with wilkinson pickups? my sunburst one did and they sound pretty good to me![/quote]

Yep! I need to adjust them a little before I can really comment, but yeah they sound basically fine, perhaps slightly tinny xD

Well here's how much Jazz bass £40 or so gets you (apologies for the phone quality pictures)...





The deco status presumably derives from the scuff in the finish just above the neck plate, as pictured; otherwise I've not really been able to find anything untoward.

It looks great as a whole, and the gold saddles work rather well with the aesthetic. The neck seems good ergonomically, although the wood feels (understandably) a bit cheap to the touch.

Never a huge fan of the clangy d'addario strings, but I'll probably sub them out for some Rotosounds when I get a chance. The bridge pickup needs lowering a bit, and both are a bit tinny in quality, but they're not as bad as I was expecting. Am undecided as to whether to sub them out for something like the Entwistles or something a tier or two above.

Overall though you can hardly complain for the price. I can't say the scuff bothers me overly, nor probably would it concern anyone if I decided to move it on. A bit of tinkering and it's more than playable, and I think it could actually be a rather good instrument for not a lot of money!

Got a confirmation on one of the maple jazzes, interested to see how it turns out!