Naetharu

Hi folks, Thank you so much for all your replies its been very helpful. After some careful consideration and reading what you all have to say I've bitten the bullet and ordered myself an active Maruszczyk Jake. Best wishes James

I've just ordered myself a Jake 4a a couple of hours ago I'm based down in Essex so if that is any good you're more than welcome to come and try it out once it arrives. It should be here in around two weeks since I am having a custom pick-guard made for it before its sent out. Edit: I am also quite often up in Huddersfield if that helps anyone too. Feel free to PM me.

Cheers folks, that's some really helpful advice there. I'm going to have a good think before I place my order Best wishes James

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1438700316' post='2836510'] If it's got a passive pickup & the EQ is active then the bass should just sound like a normal passive bass when the active circuit is switched off. I would say however that more options does not necessarily make for a better bass, in my experience at least. [/quote] Humm, I was assuming that having the option of active eq and thus more tonal variation would just be a bonus. Can you see a down side to that? If so I would be very interested since it adds around £100 to the price of the bass to have the active electronics.

Hi folks, I am about to put an order in for a Maruczszyk Elwood and I wanted to tap your wisdom. I have the option of either a simple passive bass or an active one (Glockenclang preamp) which can be switched between active and passive modes. What I am wondering is whether the active version in its passive mode is going to sound the same as a simple passive bass? Does the fact that the bass has active electronics colour the sound in passive mode at all or should it be a simple case of more options and thus a better bass?

Did you pay via Paypal? If so, it's well worth contacting them with a formal claim if you have no luck. I've had to do a claim via them before for a computer that was broken on arrival and while they are not the best to deal with I did get all my cash back.

[quote name='sprocketflup' timestamp='1438343845' post='2833722'] So its a case of try before you buy then I guess. Might be a bit tricky as ill most likely be ordering from Thomann lol [/quote] If I were you I would email them and ask for a lighter bass - from my experience their customer service is very good and chances are they can check the weights (at least from comparative feel) before sending one out to you. I'd certainly give it a go.

I have a buddy that got a fender guitar (Strat) via the ADE program for his 30th birthday. Its certainly a very nice guitar, but I would say that it was massively overpriced for what he got. I guess it is a case of how much of a fender fan are you? If you really love the brand, and you want something totally unique then perhaps it could be justified, but in the end you are going to be paying way over the odds for what you are getting. I don't recall the exact price he paid for his Strat, but it was well over £2000 for a guitar that was really nothing different from ones you could get for around £1200, at least in terms of quality etc. Personally I would be inclined to perhaps investigate some other builders to see what they could do for you. It may be that the ADE bass is right for you but when you are talking about that kind of price, there are a lot of interesting things on the table and some of them might be very well worth looking at. Out of interest, have you considered the Maruczszyk basses from Public Peace? I've only played one but it was really somethiing and the prices are fantastic for what they are. It might be worth emailing Adrien ([email protected]) and asking if he is able to do you one with that kind of paint scheme. I know they are very happy to do most modifications etc so you could well be in luck, and with them you are pretty much able to ask for any other custom options that take your fancy which could be a nice bonus. Anyhow, best of luck with the bass! James

Just another +1 for Hydrogen here - started using it this month and its utterly simple to program (I can get a good drum track sorted in seconds for basic practice, and a mere few mins for more complex stuff). Very very good program and free too - certainly worth checking out before paying for something.

Humm this looks really interesting. How does it compare to the Ibanez SR range in terms of tone and feel? I love my SR for its weight and sound but I find the neck is a bit too thin for my hands.

Fantastic advice here folks, thank you so much! Just a quick question about the compressor - I notice that quite a few of you are saying leave it out for now. The reason that I have it is that I play a few songs that have a mixture of slap and finger-style, and I play with a pretty light touch. I was using the compressor to even out the dynamics a little so that I don't have really quiet finger-style playing nor massive booms when it comes to slaps/pops. Will using the compressor for this purpose make it considerably harder to get an easy tone? many thanks again James

Hi mate, that's actually really helpful. It might sound silly but I just didnt quite know where to start. At least that gives me a method as such to begin with and work out from. Cheers!

Hi folks, So I am just starting to play bass with other people rather than simply at home. I'm just hoping that someone can help me out with the basics of how to dial in a good bass tone that is usable in a band context (playing brit-pop/lightish rock). My set-up is an Ashdown Mi-Bass 2.0 going into a pair of 112 Mi-Bass cabs (three band EQ), an MXR compressor (the one with the five dials and little LED strip) and an Ibanez SR300 (Three band pre-amp). I'm just a little confused at where to even start so any advice would be really appreciated. best wishes James

The worst thing of this kind I have ever come across was a story from an uncle of mine who is a vicar. He was doing a funeral and the relatives had asked for the song 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' from the Wizard of Oz soundtrack - a perfectly nice song that is no doubt fine for such an occasion. However, they failed to stop the CD after the song and it moved on to play 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead' which is perhaps not quite what they had in mind.

Just purchased an MXR M87 compressor from Matt. Excellent chap to deal with. Very quick to respond, kept me informed throughout. Deal with confidence Many thanks! James

Thanks for all the replies folks! These all look like good options. Given my pretty limited budget right now I think the Thomman might be a good option to start with. Five pedals is pretty much my aim as I would quite like a good tuner, a chorus and an octave in addition to the fuzz and compressor. I doubt I am going to go beyond that any time soon - the music I play is not very effect heavy, but its nice to have a few options to thicken up the tone now and then. all of the suggestions are really appreciated best wishes James

Hi folks, I'm just starting to build my pedal board (right now just a compressor and fuzz pedal) and I'm wondering if you could point me in the direction of a reliable and good quality power-supply / power-brick that I could use for gigging. I've looked around and there seem to be loads of different ones out there, and I'm just not sure which might be good? Many thanks James

Aye, its that thick subtle sound that I am really after. I don't really want a 'special effect' sound but rather something that can just thicken up the tone. I'm going to try and find a store that has one of the Dr. Green Octo-Dose pedals that someone mentioned above. Sounds like that might be just the ticket.

I'm in Burnham on Crouch ( kind of between Southend and Chelmsford) - I've only lived here a few months having moved down from York, so I'm not too sure about how easy it is to get to places from here yet.

Hi folks, Many thanks for all the feedback - sorry for being slow to get back to you - work as been keeping me busy for the past day or so. I've checked the neck and it looks straight to me, but its quite hard to be sure. I'm going to get my guitarist friend to have a look too when I seem him tomorrow. As to the height of the strings, when I fret at the 1st and 24th there is just enough space to allow the string to vibrate. I don't think the action is especially low on the bass - it feels about the same as my Squire P-Bass. I loosened the truss rod 1/4 turn and that seems to have resolved the issue. The bass strings are very bright (brand new steel wound strings) so there is a certain amount of noise but its not the nasty buzz that was there before. Prior to the truss rod move the sound was overwhelming and came though the amp where as now the bass sounds fine from what I can tell. Out of interest, does anyone know a good place in Essex that I could go for a quality set-up? Best wishes James

Hi folks, Being new to bass I am not very clean on what all the different effects are yet. I\ve been playing on an Ashdown Mag-300 amp and it has a rather nice feature called a 'Sub Harmonic' which seems to place a subtle deep note about an octave below what you play thickening up the sound. I'm keen to use my lighter amp most of the time since the MAG is a beast to move around, so I'm wondering if there is an effects pedal that I could get to replicate the sub-harmonics? I've tried a friends behrenger octaver but that seemed to be quite different - it sounded much more like a 'special effect' where as the Ashdown MAG setting is very subtle and just thickens up the tone nicely. Any help would be much appreciated James

Hi, I've not tried the combo but I have the Mi-Bass head and 112 cab - the sound is pretty nice. Once you get the gain up to the right level it has a nice deep tone that seems fine to me for practice / rehearsal. For gigging I'm tempted to pick up a Fender Rumble 500 as I do think the Ashdown lacks the bottom end a little but its certainly not bad.

Hi folks, So I started playing bass a couple of months ago and its pretty much turned into my main passion in life! Anyhow, I've now joined a band and am off to my first rehearsal tomorrow with a view to do the first gig in a couple of weeks. As you can no doubt imagine I'm pretty nervous about it (an excited too!) and so I was just wondering if any of you experienced people have some tips that might help me out. Anything you have picked up over the years that someone as green as me might not think about would be very useful. Best wishes James