Jonesy

You'd hate seeing me play a Thunderbird then. I'm far too many stone past being able to call myself stocky 😂 I really want to like the JC, but I think the body is a bit too cumbersome for me. This is the 2nd one I've had and 2nd one of sold for that reason. Maybe the 3rd will be different.......? I know what you mean. This shaped tuners on a bas designed before 1980 don't look right to me...

Very nice, those are both lovely. Unfortunately my PB Jack Casady will likely be out the door to make way for the bird. I think the Babicz is what I'd go for if replacing the bridge. I'm just not sure if putting a £140 bridge on a £300 bass makes much sense. Feels kinda like a boy racer putting a spoiler on a Micra.

Ah, nice! That's exactly the sort of thing I was thinking of. Did you have e any issues with height when fitting it?

Good shout, I was wondering about replacing the single saddle but didn't think about buying from AliExpress. Cheers for that!

Well, you're partially to blame for me asking this question. Your NBD thread for your thunderbird reminded me how much I miss my Classic Pro. I have eBay alerts setup and occasionally get a bite, but I thought I'd check Reverb....there's one up in Chester and it just so happens I'm up near Blackpool next week. If all goes to plan, I should be picking it up while up there. It has one missing original saddle that has been replaced by a brass one and I just got wondering if there was a cheap replacement bridge that would drop in just so everything matches. I don't mind the 3 point bridge tbh. Sure, it's not as easy as a BBOT, but it does the job and it's not exactly rocket science to work with. I'm more curious if there was a cheap alternative that I was missing. Actually, I'm glad you replied to this first as I have a potential bone to pick with you. I'm also looking at a Vintage Pro and tempted, but keep on telling myself I don't need 2 Thunderbirds. I should stay away from NBD threads 😂

Just to resurrect an old thread...... Is it just Babicz and Hipshot that make a replacement for the 3 point bridge? I'm just looking around and am surprised there isn't a generic drop in or Wilkinson don't make one seeing as it's a much maligned piece of equipment. I'm about to ask a stupid question, but here goes........is it possible to buy something like this and drop it in? https://northwestguitars.co.uk/collections/bass-bridges/products/4-string-bass-guitar-bridge-dual-load-bb404 I know it won't be a straight drop in and will need new holes drilling, but what else would I need to think about besides...... - Getting the string spacing as close to the original. Is there a 'safe' amount of leeway to give here? I think the 3 point has something like a 17.7mm string spacing, would a bridge with 18mm be OK? - The height of the bridge. Would any 'generic' bridge like the above need a plate underneath it like the Babicz? Or will there be enough headroom to raise the saddles to get the action OK?

Bassists have an area on stage to move about on that's roughly shoulders width. You stay in that area and look slightly bored whilst playing. Anyone who moves out of their area, or looks remotely excited whilst playing, should have their epaulettes stripped and be excommunicated from the bass players union.

Can't tell you I'm afraid, I'm not too well up on their models. Annoyingly, the few I've noodled on have been nice basses and I know they make good instruments. It's more just a mental thing that my brain doesn't like 😂

Yamaha basses. A company that makes speed boat engines, calculators and motorbikes can't make good guitars. Single cut basses where the top bout runs half way up the fretboard. Shudders.

I really like it, it's a great price point for a signature model from a brand like Spector and it's pretty unique to their line up. Maple boards with matching headstocks usually doesn't work for me, but there's something about it that I really like, maybe it's the matching purple blocks? I was umming and arring over a Pulse II (in ultra violet - so purple works for me!), but this def throws a spanner in the works!

Good to hear that a bit of tinkering has made your setup sound better! Orange make good bass amps, especially if you're looking at playing heavier stuff, and they'd be perfect for you at some point. The only reason they likely haven't been mentioned is your budget and current playing situation. If you're just using the amp to play at home then you don't really need more than a small 15w combo. I have a Fender Rumble 15w and it's a great little amp that I'd happily recommend to anyone, it's one of these: https://www.andertons.co.uk/fender-rumble-15-v3-bass-amp/ TBH, anything like a Fender Rumble, Ashdown Studio, Ampeg Rocket, Orange Crush, Laney Digbeth etc will be perfect for home use. Keep it in the 15-25w range as anything else for home use is overkill. If you have your eyes on gigging in the next year or so then you'll need 250w minimum, so it might be worth picking something up that's a bit bigger and louder. The stuff like the Trace recommendation above will be perfect and will sound great, they're just a little out of fashion so tend to go on the cheap side nowadays. I'm not sure what Orange stuff is within your budget at the gigging level, probably not much unfortunately. I had an Orange Tiny Terror head and it sounded huge, so I'd definitely recommended it, but you're looking at £580 new and that's just for the head, so you'll need to buy speakers on top. If you're looking at pedals to add a bit of spice you have a few options. Seeing as you're a beginner then you could pick up a multi-fx unit like the Zoom B1four (£90 new, or £100 with the expression pedal) there are a few benefits to this like - it can be used as headphone amp so your practice setup is nice and compact and it'll have a ton of other effects to play with eg. tuner, preamps, distortion, fuzz, phasers, wah. You might not use 90% of the effects on there, but they're a good introduction to pedals. If you just wanted to stick to a cheap pedal to add some grit (not heavy distortion - but that should be OK depending on what sort of heavy stuff you play) then you can't go too far wrong with a Behringer BDI21. It's £20 new and is a clone of the Sansamp Bass Driver DI, so you're talking Ampeg in a box and you'll be able to get a decent tone for heavy stuff.

I think Frank Bello can decide what's metal enough for himself 😂

Hope the band meeting went terribly and you're sick of the bunch of bum holes. Did you hear though, the prices of vintage Gibson Ripper's have plummeted in the last few days. Terrible timing and all that. I'll give you a ton for it. On a more serious note, whatever you decide to do, keep the Ripper and some sort of music in your life. Sounds like you just might need a change of scenery rather than leaving the planet.

Heya and welcome to the wonderful (and expensive!) world of bass playing! Where abouts are you in London? I'm sure there'll be someone here nearby who would be willing to meet up and take a look at the setup of your bass. Starter packs are great for getting going, but the bass will almost 100% need to be setup properly to eliminate fret buzz and get a decent action. Even if no one is near to you, a decent setup is worth paying for when you're looking at budget guitars. Or, like @neepheid mentioned, there are loads of handy videos on YouTube walking you through what you need to do (if you're handy. Word of warning if you do give it a go yourself - don't give the truss rod more than a quarter turn at a time). If you still fancy an upgrade though, there are 2 ways to look at it as to which you should do first... - Guitar first. If you're just learning and playing at home then I'd upgrade the bass first. It'll feels loads better, encourage you to pick it up more and just play the thing. Most basses still need a setup to suit the player, but if you go second hand and get from here you'll almost certainly get something that doesn't need to be tinkered with. - Amp first. Do this if you're gigging. A bad bass through a good amp will sound loads better than a good bass through a bad amp. However, bear in mind that the increase in size and volume doesn't make a gig worth amp too convenient to play at home. Most of the time I'm practicing at home I use headphones and Zoom B1Four or a 15w Fender practice amp - even with this I have the volume at roughly at 7/8 o clock and it's plenty loud enough.

What do your Ric's wear? There's nothing else wrong with mine apart from the few mm tail lift after using 45s for 15+ years. Mine currently has the 43-100 TI Jazz flats, so I'm hoping the low tension doesn't do much more harm, or at least slows down any further damage.

Mostly 45-105, so nothing outrageous. Somewhere, a long time ago I thought I read something about Ric recommending low tension strings (maybe even TI Jazz flats?) to avoid the tail lift. I could well be wrong, but that's probably what put the strings causing the tail lift I to my head

I got fairly clanky with........ Roto swing stainless steels Sansamp BDDI (though I imagine any tubey pre will do) Both pups max Tone fully open And then playing with fingers and quite a low action, but just over the fretboard and quite aggressively (ala John Entwistle) so I can whack the strings off the board. I don't know what the HW bridges are like, but I have a few mm of the dreaded Ric tail lift nowadays. I can't be sure, but I put that down to the Roto's. I had them on it for 15+ years though and it's nothing that impacts playing.

Thought you were gonna post a pic of you from your early days when I first read that 😂

I really like his playing on this cover of Running up that hill by Kate Bush - loads better than plodding along on C for 4 mins! There's also a vid of him and Ian from SBL talking through it that is worth a watch.

Congrats on the new bass! I loved my classic pro and it's the only bass I regret selling. Those pups are just the epitome of a Gibson bass tone - mean and massive with a dark growl that'll put hair on your ball sack. Love em. That purple vintage pro is gorgeous too, what a fine flock you have there!

Would something like these help you see the pedal board better? https://www.gear4music.com/orchestral/accessories/music-stands/lights

Andertons has them as being in stock on July 7th........not that I'm longingly looking at the Bristol Fog finish and thinking about selling a bass to make room or anything..........

As a newb to Spector this could be a silly question, but here goes... Why do a lot of 4 string models come with PJ pups and then you get to the 5 string of the same model and they have humbuckers?

I was asking a similar sort of thing in another thread recently and the general consensus seemed to be, if you want that Spector sound then a Pulse is a good mixture of price point/tone/quality. Especially if you whack a Haz preamp clone in it. I'm not sure what the differences are between the I and II apart from the finish and QMT though. And no idea if it's worth paying extra for the Euro.