sykilz

Those Squier P specials are quite nice, IMO not quite as well finished as Yamahas, but I'd imagine sound wise it's similar style. As stated above, the Ibanez is active, but oddly enough the Yamaha put out a hotter...i.e louder, signal to the amp than the Ibanez did. The newer Ibanez have a better eq system than the one I had , that had a style sweeper, which never quite did it for me. Not sure that Squier is worth £200 though, think they were about that new, and it's certainly not that rare, I saw several in music shops round Essex a few years back!!
A plus for the Ibanez was that it was so light you hardly knew you had it on the strap, I've been tempted by an Ibanez 5 string if I get another one.

Just had a measure, the Yamaha at the nut is 40mm wide, and 20mm deep, up at the 12th fret the depth is 21mm. I have a Mex jazz, that's a bit fatter front to back surprisingly. Having re read your post, seems like you're a rocker, the Yamaha will deffo sound good playing that sort of stuff!!

Just had a measure, the Yamaha at the nut is 40mm wide, and 20mm deep, up at the 12th fret the depth is 21mm. I have a Mex jazz, that's a bit fatter front to back surprisingly. Having re read your post, seems like you're a rocker, the Yamaha will deffo sound good playing that sort of stuff!!

I've owned both, and yes the ibanez is way lighter and neck is way thinner, but having said that my Yamaha BB I still own and gig regularly, and the Ibby lasted about a year. The neck on the Yamaha is by no means big, it's a 40mm nut and mid size depth I'd say, nowhere near as fat as an average P bass, but a little thicker than an av Jazz bass. I swapped the Yamaha tuners for hipshots, and it now balances perfectly and weighs approx 8 1/2 lbs, so not super heavy.
Sound wise, IMO, the Yamaha just slays the Ibby, the Ibby was pretty ....dull to me,or overly thin if you cut the bass, whereas the Yamaha is just a huge sounding bass, with the 3way toggle you get the P style thump, both pickups give you a Duff Mckagan like bite, and the rear is all biting and snarling.
What type of music are you going to play, and what amp will it be going through?
If it were my money I'd 100% go for the Yamaha, though the Ibby isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, just not for me!!!

Usually spread a bit, but when Foo Fighters were over a while back, we were playing the same day as them ( some televised festival or other ) so did a tribute section with 4 of theirs in a row and it went down a storm, absolutely brilliant.

I think if the new guys have recorded and released music with the band, that helps validate the line up, I'm thinking Alice in Chains, a fave of mine, through tragedy have only two of the original four, including the very distinctive vocals of Layne, but the new singer has recorded some decent albums with the band IMO, and live he manages to nail the older material and sound as near to Layne as possible without mimicking him, again, IMO.

Especially watch yourself on mic stands if you have one, in a similar situation I was just leaning in to sing when a drunken gent crashed backwards into my mic, which shot just past my head as it crashed to the ground, if I'd been singing into it I'd have lost a few gnashers for sure!! Heads up!!!!

A rocked up Tina Turner overload version of Proud Mary. Women just go mental for it. It's an okay song, but the ladies get very ....loud and loose.....when we start the mellow intro. Ho hum......

Below is my mim jazz, which came with the white guard, I immediately swapped out for the black, but two years down the line, the maple has darkened a bit, and I've just swapped back to the white, it's a different vibe but I like both, so am no help to you whatsoever. Lovely bass you have there though.

Some music stores also sell on ebay, sometimes for less money than their websites, worth checking.......(sometimes more!!!) I tend to shop around the websites already mentioned and ebay. As far as I know I haven't had any fakes!!

Turns out it wasn't as momentous as Mick would have us believe, anyway...

http://www.nme.com/news/manic-street-preachers/92565

Mojo, I had an Ibby SR300 a while back, sold it on because it had the style sweeper e.q. which never worked for me, but it balanced perfectly, and weighed little more than the strap it was hung on, it was stupidly light. However, in comparison to the Yamaha ( I still have and use the BB I got from you, though I put some light weight tuners on it, that made it balance and significantly reduced the neck weight ) it felt a bit cheap and somewhat flimsy, although nothing actually broke it just felt a bit fragile to me.

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1458936777' post='3012323']


Yeah but you're talking Steve Harris there.. You don't play hard metal with a P, unless you're Steve Harris. You don't play metal with flats, unless you're Steve Harris.. Etc
[/quote]
Spot on, and to be fair, not even sure Maiden qualify as metal nowadays, I've fallen by the wayside on genres recently!!

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1458843002' post='3011518']

Basses for metal, most players of that genre seem to use active basses I wonder if it is the tight compressed sound of an active bass that is needed to fit into the mix?
[/quote]
Although there's always an exception to prove the rule...!!! ( and this against three guitarists)

Eddie Vedder, and Ann Wilson.
Guess I like the deeper voices!!!!
Although if I could choose any voice to have myself when I sing ( if that makes sense ), then it'd be Terrence Trent d'Arby.

We never soundcheck, just adjust to the drummers volume, much as I'd like to, but it usually works out o.k.....I wear substantial ear plugs so don't get the actual sound anyway as we're far too loud for me......sometimes a muso friend will help out pointing and gesturing, other gigs when I'm sure the sound is not good, the punters couldn't care less, they're all out to get pissed and jump about a bit. Know your audience!

Strangely enough, Doomed, I got my Mex Jazz from PMT Southend, and the neck fit is perfect, whereas the US ones they had there had huuuge gaps!!! Proves your point though, bought unseen is a gamble!!!

I had the less powerful Tour 450, which is pretty much identical other than power, and it was a good, solid amp, never let me down, not a particularly characterful amp, but had a very usable e.q . to me it sounded not dissimilar to my friends Ampeg pro 7 (?) amp, which cost him huge money....!!!!! Heavy buggers though by todays standards, but well built. Hope this helps a bit.

[quote name='doomed' timestamp='1456496238' post='2989648']
Various 'scientific' guitarist reasons... 😉, admittedly the genre demands volume but it's hard work sometimes, a few weeks ago I thought we'd finished one night and took a plug out, "Let's just do that new one again..." says he, which we did, I can truthfully state I wouldn't stay to watch us in our normal type venue without good plugs.
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Same here, that happened at our last gig, if I was in a pub and we were playing, I'd leave. Lots of people don't though..!!!!!

Still remember my band years ago played a nightclub, we were there while they were turning on / trying out the p.a, they played Alice in Chains 'Down in a hole' and the power through the subs....phew!!!!!!!

Glad you posted this, I liked the first two albums and assumed they'd disappeared after that, will check out the newer stuff..!!!!

Agreed, the bass tone is awesome on Mindcrime, and, to be fair, most of Queensryches earlier stuff. Their later stuff was so drab I never noticed if the bass sounded any good. Strangely enough I'm quite enjoying the new album with the new singer ( sorry Mr Tate!!), much more in their earlier style, though I suspect a less kind fan would scream " rip off"...

If you want something a bit more metal, Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime is a masterpiece, the storyline and lyrics are interesting and the music, for me, makes it one of the finest albums of it's generation.

Marillion - Brave, the story of a young lady found about to throw herself from a bridge , not knowing who she was and why she was there, and told as her back story. Fantastic, moody album.

In the world of grimy pub rock, with a band that has a vocal only p.a. then you need something to be heard above the drums, as they're the ' constant' , maybe a 1x15 with 125watts would be enough....who knows....but in my experience a 4x10 is your best bet to get a decent thump going, in any venue,and my amp is a TC, so puts approx 250 'actual' watts into my 4 ohm cab , although usually I'm below half volume on the dial.