Treb

It's common knowledge that vintage SWR amps tend to run hot by design. AFAIK it doesn't have a built in fan to keep things cool. Having a preamp valve inside just adds to that warm and cosy feeling...

I was under the impression it is called ELF (Extremely Loud F*cker).

I looked at a picture of the amp's guts. There's a poor excuse for a heatsink inside, right underneath the tiny fan. A bigger box design would have allowed the inclusion of speakon connectivity, gotten rid of the hump on the top cover and resulted in a better thermal design. Small and light weight amps are nice but is there demand for an amp so small as the ELF?

729 here too, BTW it's Bona not Bono. U2 would wish they had a bassplayer of his calibre...

You know the drill, no pics no bass...

This way nobody can be tempted to ever hookup an instrument cable...

And an interesting history. IMO these basses should never be separated, but that's just me.

Interested in how the one with the P-pickup sounds. Gary Grainger used to use a battered pre-EB Stingray with an added P-pickup in the middle and late 80's, but I doubt he used it often. I only know him of his awesome Stingray sound. Nice pair of basses!

You need a 1/16 inch allen key for the saddle height screws on a USA made Stingray. Turn clockwise to raise.

Don't forget hard and soft knee and the auto mode where it sets attack and release automagically. I have one, great piece of kit. Not the cheapest option.

If it's fret-clunk you raise the saddle a bit at a time though I must say that IMO a wee bit of fret-clunk is the salt & pepper in a great bass tone. Listen to Dance Me Home by John Scofield. Nice Stingray sounds (slap and fingerstyle) by Gary Grainger, I would love to own his old Stingray. For some it is Bernard Edwards, my Stingray hero is Gary.

Schaller makes a BML bass tuning peg. Note that these have a slightly longer stem than the Schaller-made tuners on EBMM Stingray basses. By the looks of it the BML tuning keys are reversible left-right. Not 100% sure tho...

If you are adept with a soldering iron you could also tin the wires right after stripping the insulation. Prevents fraying the wires when inserting the wires into the terminal blocks.

A bog standard (if there ever was one) J-Retro comes factory preset at all the right places. Very musical preamp. John clearly knows a thing or two about designing great preamps. I discussed with him briefly over email about his J-Retro with "Marcus voicing". Decided to go for standard voicing on my DJ-Retro. I really like the flexibility of the mid-sweep and the pull bright switch of the J-Retro design. It does have a gentle EQ curve built in though. If you don't want that coloured sound already added the J-Tone may be the one for you. Whichever one you choose you will not be disappointed.

John makes great stuff. He's also very responsive to emails. I have a DJ-Retro in my Lakland, fabulous preamp.

[quote name='MOSCOWBASS' timestamp='1510050927' post='3403462'] ... it was 200 watts [/quote] And weighed in at 200 kg give or take a few kg...

Great looking and sounding bass but not quite my cup of tea. Excellent demo by Michel van Schie (the best bassplayer in the Netherlands if you ask me). Keep in mind that you get a handmade bass by Sander, I think the price reflects that. Order one now and get a €500 discount, sounds like great deal. AFAIK Sander runs a one man business.

What a beauty!

[quote name='Yaanmengk' timestamp='1505975691' post='3375529'] It comes with the original case for that price I should've specified, I meant home as in Singapore so I would not get taxed for importing the guitar. [/quote] There's no levy on imports in Singapore? Wow, lucky you!

I can buy two new ones for 1800 and 1850 euro respectively, so 1600 euro for a used one seems quite steep. OK it does have a BEM neck but that only has visual appeal, in terms of tone and playabilty it isn't any better or worse than plain maple. Does it come with its case for that price or do you have to fork out more for a case? Importing one from the US is an option, do factor in the customs duties & VAT. These can amount to ~25% (where I live), sometimes importing one is a bad option financially... YMMV.

Considering its age it might be necessary to check the electrolytic caps (cracked/bulging) in it. That said I see only two opamp types in its service manual: NJM4556 and NJM4558. If you replace these with sockets first you can experiment with pin-compatible opamps.

Check the MusicMan website. It has pictures with control layouts and pickup switching.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1505399134' post='3371623'] Sterling H, all years, can switch series/parallel/single coil on a ceramic magnet pickup. The HH and HS models are ALL series mode. Unless things have changed or I've made a mistake! [/quote] No mistakes made here, you're spot on.

Bit of a zombie thread but here goes: the Sadowsky pre was designed by Alex Aguilar (later he started Aguilar amplification with Dave Boonshoft). The OBP-1 is a further development of the Sadowsky pre. Both are two-band boost-only preamps, both have the bass @ 40Hz and the treble @ 4KHz. They sound quite similar but not identical. The Aguilair is said to be "warmer" sounding FWIW. I find that the OBP-1 can add some volume too. Roger Sadowsky prefers the sound of his 2 band FET preamp to opamp based three band preamps. His Will Lee model has a three band EQ (a combination of his 2 band and an opamp based mid control). The John East preamp in my Lakland DJ is a stonking great preamp. Really fantastic sounding bit of kit and really well made. John is very responsive to emails and very knowledgable.

Would like to try the Nova Dynamics but it rarely pops up used. Probably better cause I may have to many comps already (three: TC Spectracomp, EBS Multicomp and the Keeley Comp Pro). Would like to try a Cali76 compact bass one day...