thegummy

Putting the question of fingerboards aside, I think it's a mistake to buy something where any significant aspect of it bothers you. I think it's more likely to get more annoying over time and quite unlikely you'd just grow to like it.

I'm wondering if I've not explained myself clearly.

I'm talking about getting the sheet music to a song and going through the notes like "that note is a C and the chord at that time is C so I'll write "R" above that. Then there's a G next, still under the same chord so I'll write a 5 above that."

Then I can look at the bass line and see which scale tones are being used when.

The process of writing the numbers out isn't improving any aspect of bass playing or writing, it's just arbitrarily converting it from one format to another.

I think you're mistaken that the act of just looking at a bass line and writing down which scale tone each note is would help someone develop anything other than the ability to do that itself.

It's once that's written out that the useful study can be done.

So it would be more like someone laboriously knitting themselves a sweat band before every time they went out marathon training. So they wish there was a place to get pre-made sweat bands in order to skip the part that doesn't actually help them with their running.

28 minutes ago, dodge_bass said:

I don't *think* this exists - mainly because most people do it either on the fly or by taking time to transcribe a line / solo / groove and part of that process is understanding how it works with the harmony around it. Everything I play / compose I have a solid sense of how it's working with the harmony at any given point. Is this something you're trying to develop or do you have a different reason for wanting to know this info? 

It's just so I can study basslines from good songs without having to work it all out first.

I've done some myself like this but it's very time consuming for me.

Anyone know of a resource where songs are written out in a way that shows the chords of a song and the bass notes played in it as they relate to the chords?

E.g. something like " R \ \ 3 5 | R \ \ 6 \ " if you know what I mean.

2 hours ago, Doctor J said:

A P bass is two single coils run in serial, which cuts the lows and highs, leaving plenty of lovely mids your amp can project and your ears are great at hearing. The average guitar humbucker is wired this way too, it's a great way of being heard. Think of the EQ being like the lips in a sad face

A J bass with both pickups on is two single coils run in parallel which works differently to serial, in that it cuts the mids, leaving lots of low lows and high highs. It's a great sound for some applications but, generally, you've got to get the mids back in there to be heard.

If you want to cut through with a J bass, only run one pickup and don't run a disco smile EQ on your amp.

Isn't it because on a Jazz bass there are 2 pickups picking up each string in different locations so when they're added together some of the frequencies get cancelled out while on the P bass, even though the pickup comes in 2 pieces wired together, each string is only being picked up at one location?

I think that's more to do with it than series/parallel thing because you can wire J pickups in series and it sounds very different but not like a P. It's a possible option for the OP though - to either wire the pickups in series or even add a switch that switches between that and normal.

Favouring one of the pickups rather than having both on full might also help cut through.

P.S. I'm jealous you have the Flea Jazz - I see it every time I'm in the guitar shop and it just looks so beautiful. I fear by the time I can afford to buy it they'll be out of production.

Does anyone have any info on the bass sound on Eric Johnson's Ah Via Musicom? Specifically the track "Desert Rose" but other tracks also.

One of my favourite bass sounds but can't find any info on it really.

Is it just a DI'd Jazz bass? Were any amps used also? Any other info at all, even strings, playing style, pickup etc.

Fingers crossed!

6 hours ago, Dood said:

To be fair, they are in Poland, maybe something was lost in translation! - I can confirm that the basses I have reviewed from them have all had "really rounded edges" if we weren't to call it "rolled"!  Very nicely finished too without being able to feel the fret edge.

Nice one, great to hear that as I've always really liked the idea of a Maruszczyk with their website letting you customise everything.

On 06/09/2019 at 18:19, Dood said:

Off the shelf basses include Maruszczyk and Sire basses. Some Ibanez basses offer a "premium fretboard treatment" but its is less pronounced than some rolled F/B's I've tried. I've also found that pretty much any premium Fender Japan bass I have played has always had a really excellent fretboard treatment, whereas some, such as the Nate Mendal (Mimsy) bass doesn't (Which is odd as the Steve Harris P bass does have a great feeling "edge") 

There are of course many more, but they are the ones that came to mind immediately!

 

I emailed Maruszczyk asking if the fretboard edges were rolled or if it was possible to request that and he didn't seem to know what I was talking about.

4 hours ago, drTStingray said:

There are different levels of this. I've seen close up photos of bass fretboards with what are described as heavily rolled edges - these have a pronounced radius between the edge and the surface of the fretboard. The Musicman ones are more subtle, and it is done by hand as part of the neck finishing process. For that reason there may be some minor variation. 

My older Musicman basses have a much more pronounced edge to the fingerboards - indeed the profile seems slightly different as well. With hand finishing there's going to be minor variation. 

One of the differences with the US Musicman Sub is the neck finishing - as well as being painted they also reduced the level of work by hand on the edges of the fretboards (per Sterling Ball). 

Here is the Sire version - it looks heavily rolled to me (machine as opposed to hand finishing) - you would have problems with this on many basses because of spacing from the strings to edge of fretboard. 

Wow that is pretty extreme in that photo, I don't think I'd want that. It's more just taking the sharpness off.

3 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

Even the cheap Ray4 has a really nicely finished neck. One of the best feeling necks on a cheap bass I've ever felt!

It felt quite nice when I tried it out in the shop but it was a rosewood fingerboard I tried so will have to wait and see what the maple feels like when it arrives.

I've never actually played a bass with rolled edges but in the 6-string guitar world it's a must for me - I tried out a Mexican Fender to try to save some money but the hard edges were so distracting after being used to the rolled ones on my American models.

So far all the basses I've been playing don't have rolled edges and has been okay so not sure if maybe it's less of a necessity on basses or maybe just that I haven't experienced the rolled edges to compare the others to so I don't know what I'm missing.

One person says they are and another says they aren't.

Does that mean some are and some aren't?

On the full-fat MM Stingrays that cost a couple of grand, are the edges of the fretboard rolled like they are on American Fenders or square like on Mexican Fenders?

I asked on here about trying out the Stingray sound and was recommended the Ray4. Tried it and really liked it so traded in a PRS guitar and now just waiting for it to come in stock.

If I continue to like it over the coming months I might get one of the full on 2k models but I do prefer a rounded fretboard if possible, so are they like that?

It's interesting that the posts vary to the point of one person talking about how great a 200 quid bass is while another says that only a bass costing over 2000 really hits the spot.

Not being sarcastic to either, genuinely find it interesting how much opinion can vary. There will be many different reasons for each of their conclusions.

Can be very confusing for less experienced people to really know the market; is the cheapest bass essentially as good as any or is it totally rubbish? What about 500, 900 etc.? Does adding a thousand or two to that get a noticeably different quality? Is anything under this high price going to have compromises?

(They're all hypothetical questions, just a range of varied possibilities that could be true to someone who hasn't had experience across the board.)

Possibly one thing that's certain: whatever the sweet spot is of getting a great bass for the lowest price, going above that gives fewer and fewer improvements for more and more money.

3 hours ago, mcnach said:

 

A combination of things. I love how it sounds, and feels, but I just tend to use my Stingray more. A lot more. I had 5 basses capable of Precision type sounds right now: the two Marusczcyk, the Schecter Model T, the Squier Matt Dirnt (with a maple replacement neck that I found) and the Classic 50s Fender. They all sound different, and lately I realised I preferred the slightly less wide neck I put on the Matt Dirnt. This is a very light bass, I put a Seymour Duncan SPB-1 on years ago, and although it wasn't as nice as teh Classic 50s, it feels a bit more comfortable and I play it a lot more... So the Classic 50 was a candidate to go. I actually put a few basses up for sale, including the P/JJ Maruszczyk, the SUB, and others... but as usual, anything with Fender on the headstock sells first.

I asked for £600, expecting some degree of negotiation. I got £525 for it.

 

Cool man.

I like the Marusczcyk website, can't believe the price you can get a completely customised bass for.

Do the fretboards on those have rounded edges like American Fenders or square edges like the Classic 50s?

On 17/08/2019 at 11:05, mcnach said:

End of an era.

Many gigs played, photographs with it included in my band's second album (even if I didn't record with it)... and this bass is no longer mine: I sold it last night.

I'll miss it. But it was not getting much use these days and I decided to sell 2-3 instruments in order to pay for my new Sandberg VM4... and this one was sold before the others.

 

What caused it to go unused if I may ask?

Just go back to bridge pickup basses?

I only ask out of interest as I have the same model but the honey blonde version (I also hated the gold pickguard, touching it gave me the heeby jeebies). The red looks amazing with white pickguard.

How much did you get for it if you don't mind saying?

In reality, no one needs any instruments.

On a less extreme level, no one really needs more than 1 bass guitar.

Without focussing on the word "need"; if you don't already have a short scale J it will give you an extra option and that might be reason enough to get it.

If you do already have a similar one and just like the new one, my advice is to look at it in a year's time (or even 2 or 5 years time). In a year's time do you think you'll look back and think your life would have been better with the extra 25 quid a month? If you're in a position where that wouldn't really have made a difference then definitely get the bass as it will bring you some pleasure. If you think about it on a longer term it's even less of an impact (fiver a month over 5 years etc.)

Obviously it doesn't really work out like that because you don't give the bass back after that period, you continue to own it or sell it and get at least some of your money back. It's just a thought process I use to help me decide if something is worth purchasing; i.e. how much my life will actually be affected by the purchase vs. how much pleasure it will bring me.

43 minutes ago, Basscabman said:

Yeh, Bigger CTS pots and a different capacitor. 

Fair enough.

What values did you go for out of interest?

23 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

What's the difference between the Sub Ray 4 and the Ray 4? Is the Sub an old model that's been replaced by the Ray 4?

I can answer that since I've been looking in to them - you're correct.

I think the only difference is the headstock has the sterling logo instead of a sub one which is a bonus imo.

27 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I do know a couple of bassists from pretty high profile punk/Oi bands that use Squiers. One of the bands was very high profile back in the day. And slightly  off-post but Pete Shelley used to use very cheap Epiphone guitars. 

Could imagine it might be a form of reverse snobbery for some punks, like "we need an expensive guitar as much as we need interesting chords!"

9 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I got 10% off a Squier from a Nottingham music shop - how famous does that make me?

More so than me, let's just say that lol

2 minutes ago, gazhowe said:

Check out the money back guarantee offered by Thomann who have great customer service and are happy for you to try things out and return with no questions asked.  You would obviously need to be careful to ensure that the item is returned in pristine condition but it's well worth considering IMHO.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/helpdesk_moneyback.html

That does look primising, the fact they double the time they're legally required to let you return it confirms they're not just being forced to follow the law and are happy to do it. I did wonder if maybe the bigger companies like Thomann and possibly GuitarGuitar would be fine with the returns since they possibly deal with such high numbers that they're not hurt by losses.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Will have to look at how much it costs to send a bass to Germany but I'd expect it's reasonable and worth it.

Happy to spend a certain amount to try it, my first thought was to look in to possibly hiring one for a week but the prices I found for instrument hire were laughable.

Cheers!

13 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

If you're in Glasgow I'm sure GuitarGuitar have one of each of the ranges of MM. Stick your head in and play them, they don't seem to mind how long you're there for. Or buy and return as others have said. 

See even if I sat there for say an hour (which would surely be quite excessive) I really don't feel I could get a good idea even in that time. I'd need a few days of decent sessions to properly get an idea, not to mention in the shop I wouldn't be able to see how it sounded in the mix.

Re: the Distance Selling Regulations return - it's a bit of a controversial one. I know that legally they'd have to refund me but I have heard business owners say that they hate being forced to do that and I completely understand. I don't know if I could, in good conscience, cause them to loose money by having to sell it as B-stock purely because I didn't personally take to the sound.

That's not to say I'm not grateful for the suggestions though.

Very glad to hear that the lowest priced range Sterlings still get in the ball park of "the sound". That was an outcome I was hoping for.

1 hour ago, bassix said:

Lozz is actually taking about himself! 😂

That aside doesn't Joe Dart still use an old Mexican jazz? 

Kinda of weird, I was just going to reply to Lozz's comment to say that between me posting the question and now, I'd read that Joe Dart's Jazz is a Mexican! Quite a coincidence.

And I don't doubt for a second the MiM's sound great - my main bass is a Mexican Fender. I had theorised the reason I rarely see famous players with Mexicans is because they get endorsement deals from Fender so either get the higher end ones for free or at such a reduction they might as well buy the higher end ones.

My friend knows a guy who isn't exactly a star; has had a few TV appearances on Jools Holland and such backing up artists but not as a known name himself and he can apparently get any Fender for half price. So I imagine anyone more famous gets even better deals than that.

8 minutes ago, ezbass said:

A Sterling Ray4 will get you right into the proper sound for just £340 and if you buy one and have it delivered, you could try it out at home for up to 7 days and then return it if it didn’t suit you under distance trading rules. https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/150915289490008--music-man-sterling-ray-4-mint-green

I have always loved the look of that one but wasn't sure if it got "the sound".

I know that P's and J's at that price very much do get the respective sounds but for some reason I wasn't sure if Stingrays were different in that regard.

Sorry I think I've missed some key info.

If I do decide I want to add it, I couldn't actually afford one of the full fat 2 grand plus models, it would be the ones around 800 new I'd be looking at.

So if even those don't really give "the MM sound" then it's back to the drawing board (or probably just giving up on the idea).

Gumtree is good cause it has the location search (though I rarely seem to find much anyway) but I never get how to use forums since there's no way to search by location and they usually don't have the location in the title, only when clicking in to the thread. Any tips on that?

Just another quick question re: the 2 vs 3 band EQ variations - do they sound the same when flat?

Appreciate the replies so far

P.S. I'm in the Glasgow area but I don't think I could accept an offer so generous even if someone was willing to lend me one!