Jonesy

2 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

 

I've been using a variety for Tech21 stomps for years and years and my main bit of advice is actually the opposite of that of the honourable member for Hemel Hempstead; the Tech21 units have enough of a peak output to drive a poweramp, so I've always run these units into the effects return of a head or a poweramp, thus bypassing any pre-staging the amp may have.  I've done this on a variety of heads (Trace/Ashdown/Matrix) and am currently doing the same on a Darkglass A/O 900w head.  Just let the BDDI shape all your tone.

 

 

This is what I would do too. I've used the BDDI in the past like this and currently use the VTDI this way.

If you're after that Sansamp tone, it's the surest way to get there.

Hello! Have you got any examples of what tone you're after? It's a funny thing describing sound with words, one person's zing is another person's thump!

What strings are you using and how old are they? New strings have a brighter tone to them, so that'd probably be the first place I'd look. Something like rotosound swing bass will do the trick as they're up there with the brightest sounding strings. 

Make sure you're using a pick and dig in. 

All of that with the BDDI (what settings are you using too?) should get you fairly metallic sounding.

Has anyone got any info on the Aria Pro 2 Magna fretless? Any good or bad points about them? Ones come up for sale not too far away and is pretty tempting......

Yup, the second 70 comes down to the cost, which is why you get a 62-70US. No idea why that doesn't change with time as the price increases though?!?

11 minutes ago, obbm said:

The Revelations look interesting, anyone know how much?

I think they're about £200ish for the P and £250ish for the PJ. However, they've been waiting for a shipment for months apparently so are a bit hard to find now. I spoke to them a few weeks back and I think they're due in August, so hopefully not too long to wait. The red P is being discontinued though and replaced with a white model

1 hour ago, Paolo85 said:

I play fretless purely for fun. No band, no studio. That seem to be Jonesy's plan as well at the moment. Have owned two unlined and two lined. I find that I enjoy unlined much more. Having the lines pushes me to look more. Not having them pushed me to listen more. Ultimately I have settled on a lined HB JB75fl because for what I am looking for, you cannot beat it in terms of value for money. But sometimes I think about replacing it with an unlined. Which is why I am following this thread closely. But it looks like options are not infinite on a budget.

Bang on. This is definitely something for me to have a go at rather than play in a band with (maybe one day I will though?) and I think the way you've put it about unlined forcing you to listen more is what I what unlined for too.

I think the only options for unlined at the bottom end are.....

The 2 Revelations......

https://www.revelationguitars.co.uk/guitar/rpb-65-fretless/

https://www.revelationguitars.co.uk/guitar/rpj-77-fretless/

DiMavery.....although I have no idea what it'll be like

https://www.ltt-versand.de/en/sound/musical-instruments/basses/34627/dimavery-mm-501-e-bass-fretless-nature?gclid=CjwKCAjwoMSWBhAdEiwAVJ2ndrAH0Bjks_No6ISjnQpGNsFee1MCAfe_N3qoQcydblywEdcI1S9oqhoC51UQAvD_BwE

Stagg BC300FL

Vintage V940FL

And that's pretty much it unless we're looking second hand and can pick up some sort of Aria or Westone. I think Warwick made a Rock bass fretless too.

Out of those I think I'm leaning toward a 2nd hand Westone (or similar, if one turns up) or a Revelation.

I think in an ideal world it'd be unlined, but I'm not completely against lined. More like 80% against it 😆

From what little experience I've had playing fretless (which is only about 45mins, so very little!), it just felt like having lines was a bit like having stabilisers on. I don't look at my left hand lots when playing, but I kind of want to remove the safety net and I reckon unlined would be more of a challenge.

The other reason probably has something to do with Jaco. A lot of basses in the budget fretless world are Jaco clones and I'd rather not have a lined sunburst jazz without a scratch plate.

My budget is about £400 max, but I'd be happier picking up something for nearer £200 to be honest. 

Has anyone played an Aria Magna fretless? There's an unlined one come up near me for pretty cheap. I found a thread with people talking about the fretted version and it seems the post MIJ Aria stuff is ok, nothing to write home about but decent enough if it's the right price?

The volume of reviews could be the issue here rather than Google purposely hiding them. Their algorithms will remove anything they think is spam, so a business getting 150 odd reviews in the last few hours is getting logged as suspicious and probably banked for review to make sure they're legit. They might come back.

I thought some of the reviews were harsh though tbf. It's a crappy thing that they've done, but some of the reviews were written by people saying they were just going to go for a look at the venue and they've cancelled because they found out about the charge. They hadn't actually used the barn, but reviewed it anyway.

It'd be a bit like giving a bass a bad review because of an issue you heard about, without actually playing it.

A referral scheme makes sense and isn't a bad idea in principal, plenty of businesses use them. It sounds like they've just thrown that out there as a way of trying to deal with all of the negative backlash though.

'Oh stinky poo, we've made a bad decision. What can we say to get out of it'

There's no way that original email was written with the intention of introducing a sort of loyalty scheme with preferred suppliers.

And the classic pro before them, that's the only bass I genuinely regret selling. They're dirt cheap, feel great and sound monsterous!! I tried a classic pro and the full fat Gibson at the time and thought the Epiphone sounded much bigger. Little things like the machine heads were better on the Gibson, but the Epi ones were still decent

3 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Well, I thought it was expensive till I found out a boggo T-Bird is £2044, suddenly an extra £350 for the (entirely sensible) upgrades doesn't seem too much.

They're whaaaaaaat? I thought they we're in the £1.5k-ish territory - just looked and must have been thinking about the non reverse models. £300 extra for all of the upgrades def doesn't seem too bad then.

4 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

His version of Stormy Monday Blues is pretty much the go to version for most Blues bands.

I'm just listening to 'Call on me/That's the way love is' and, although the 70s albums are good, I'm much preferring his earlier stuff. Spotify seems to have some pretty huge gaps in his discography, but I'll get through what they have and check out the rest on YT.

13 hours ago, chris_b said:

There's none better than Bobby Bland. . . .

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahw5YpAnxW0

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCRALCd5PKA

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrCmZS_atEU

 

I hadn't much outside of 'Ain't no love.....' so gave 'Dreamer' & 'His California Album' a listen this morning. I really liked them, but sometimes when he sings he sounds like he's coughing up a loogie! 🤢

It costs a lot and might not be anything that new......but look at it! It's very easy on the eye.

I guess either way you look at it, it's mostly aimed at collectors rather than players, but they've addressed quite a few niggles with the bridge and eq options with this.

So, hot on the heels of the Gene Simmons T'bird, Gibson release.....another signature T'bird!

OK, so it's not a Grabber/Ripper reissue that I'd love to see, but this one makes a lot more sense to me though. I mean look at it. PHWOAR!

https://www.peachguitars.com/gibson-rex-brown-thunderbird.htm

It's been a while, so have some great slow blues from Johnny Winter....
 

Good point!

I was thinking that the only body I'd be happy to put a fretless neck on would be the Harley Benton PJ. However, I do have a G&L SB2 Tribute that I could see if I could find a fretless neck for.....

The only unlined neck I could see on allparts was a finished PBass one for £407. I'll do some measuring and see if it'd fit. My only drawback is that I think I could get a decent fretless bass outright by the time I factor in the cost of fitting a decent neck. 

The G&L tribute Kiloton fretless is tempting (despite being sunburst and lined) at just over £480. It'd be nice to try one before ordering one in though. 

Ah, what a gorgeous bass! I used to have one and it was the P bass that turned me back on to P basses. This model has the US pups and upgraded hardware, they're lovely basses and have amazing necks. Enjoy your new purchase!!!

I'm going to sound extremely fickle here.......but I'd rather not another sunburst bass. Otherwise the revelation PJ would be my go to choice. In an ideal world I'd have an unlined PJ in lake placid blue......but without the £2.3k price tag the Tony Franklin comes with. However, I think revelation are the way forward. I spoke to them the other day and they should have the unlined P in the UK in the next month or so....but in white now as the red is discontinued.

The Dimavery MM is an interesting choice though. From what I hear they're up there with Harley Benton in terms of quality and equally cheap.

2 hours ago, bartelby said:

You're all wrong! It's Cronos...

 

I'm joking, btw...

Hahahaha! It sounds like he just has a knackered input jack and is just pulling the lead in and out. 

I do love 'Warhead' though, such a tune!

Good shout! I've seen a couple of thunders come up here and there and will keep an eye out for one.

I hear P&O also look out for them when they need boat anchors, what was yours like?

2 hours ago, Waddycall said:

There was no nut, no tuners, and no predrilled fixing holes so it takes a little bit of work but it’s not tricky.

there are side dots at 3,5,7, etc note positions (not between fret positions like some)

Ta for the extra info. I could get away with doing most of that, but would have to tap out when it comes to drilling holes I reckon.

2 hours ago, Paolo85 said:

That's probably what you meant with buying a HB for the neck but unlined there's the HB B-450fl. I have never tried it though

Ah, I didn't know HB did an unlined fretless. Ta for the heads up, I doubt that neck would fit in the PJ body I have, but the bass itself is another option.

I do like the look of those and when I was searching through the forum the Portamento was getting a lot of love. If one came up second hand and in budget I'd jump at it as I've heard nothing but good things.

However......trying to balance GAS vs the waiting game will be difficult!!

Nice! Really like it without the control knobs too. 

Did you have to do much fettling with the neck, or does it drop straight in? I'm guessing it doesn't come predrilled too? And one last Q......are there side dots on the neck in the right place?