bobbass4k

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='534520' date='Jul 7 2009, 11:13 AM']The exposed polepiece issue should be easy to circumvent. MEC, Bartolini and EMG (to name but three) all do [i]most[/i] pick-up styles without exposed poles J, JJ/TJ, P, MM, Soapbars etc. SD do soapbars without polepieces, too! This opens another avenue; Purchase a bass whose design you like and which meets your other criteria, then swap the pick-ups out. For example, Imagine a Bongo H/S 4 with pole-less barts! Mmm. Tasty. A nice, smooth, uninterupted look.[/quote] I have actually looked into this before, I was gonna get some quarter pounders for my fretless, but I couldn't find them anywhere poleless, same with some other pups I looked at, could just have been looking in the wrong place, any specific UK sellers you know that have a good range of poleless pickups? I syill need some for my fretless

[quote name='thedontcarebear' post='534521' date='Jul 7 2009, 11:14 AM']I don't know if it's just me, but, what? Play with one hand, and screwdriver in the other or something?[/quote] Probably should have been clearer on that, yea, on my fretless the saddles are on screws, same on my guitar so you can hit a 12'th fret note then adjust it with the screwdriver till the tuner says it odesnt suck anymore On my spector, the saddles are just free blocks, kept in place by their neighbours, so I have to chekc what the intonation is, completely slacken the string, then move the saddle (which isn't easy, usually involves pliers) at a guess, then retune, and check the intonation again, lather rinse repeat

Oh well, I spose I can still get a really nice stock bass, I figured a grand probably wouldn't cover it, so I spose my question becomes what's available at that price point nowadays? second hand isn't a probelm, to be honest I'd prefer it as I could get far more mileage out my expenditure. Specs wise, here's the full OCD list (just remember, someone asked for this): Hardware: 4 string 34" scale Active with a good preamp (not sure what's available) and active/passive switch 2 Pickups, preferably humbuckers (not sure if they exist withoutu exposed poles though) single coils are fine too, a decent distance apart, the bridge pickup can't be too close to the bridge. That's one of my biggest beefs with my spector. Absolutely no exposed poles. I think they're the single ugliest thing on the planet and completely ruin many a great bass. May seem a tad OTT, It's purely an aesthetic thing, but I just hate them. Preferably a thru-neck but I'm not married to it, a deep scooped heel is important though, I play a lot of high register stuff and need unbridled access to the whole board Ebony fretboard 24 Frets, another non-negotiable point, otherwise I'd have given in and got a fender already Fret markers, but not too fussed Brass nut A bridge whose intonation can be adjusted while playing. Not sure if it means a loss in quality, but that's another pet hate of my spector, I need the intonation to be perfect all the time, and it's impossible to adjust on my spector's bridge let alone while playing Nice simple, small, closed tuners, I hate the ornamental fireplaces that stick out of the top of fenders Looks: Body shape wise, warwicks are probably my favourite, the horns shouldn't protude too far, and the maximum protusion of the curves should be very near the bridge end, and it should be quite curvy (if that makes sense) Neck wise, i like wide but shallow No black, white, green, yellow, purple, gold, silver......I'll save some time and say blue, red or orange, or natural wood (as long as it's dark) are the only finishes I'd go for, prbably prefer natural wood Pickguards aren't out of the question, but only black Sound: Sound's a difficult one, all I can say is I don't like the sound of warwicks (as all my other requirements are met by a warwick you might hav realised) It needs to be versatile though, most of my sounds come from my pedals but a lot of s them are very transparent so the tone stll shines through. To be honest I've never heard a bass that can do all the tone I want, I want the spector growl, the j bass twang and the p bass boom, I know something will probably have to give somewhere Wow that's a lot of fussiness, any help would be appreciated, what's out there that fits that very specific bill for a grand (or possibly a little more)?

Thats pretty much what I figured, I only really thougt of a custom because I haven't seen a lot of production models I like, like I said I'm rather picky, ive never really found the exact combination of looks, sound and features I want, and for that kind of money compromise really isn't an option. It's not like I want it carved from the wood of the yggrdasil and the pickups handwound by blind tibetan monks using magnets salvaged from the wreck of the titanic, I just want a specific spec in a specific style, any chance of getting that for a grand?

Looks like I might be coming in to some money soon, and seen as I haven't bought a bass in 5 years I've been considering indulging myself with a lovely high end bass, but as I'm very very picky about my basses (2 pickups, no exposed poles, 24 frets, the list goes on) there's only a select few production ones I've seen I actually like, so I've been thinking about a custom. My question is how much do custom's usually run for? Had a look round the shuker website and there's no pricing information but I love the look of his stuff and I know he's very well regarded round these parts, Ideally I'd be looking to spend £1000

No thanks

I still haven't managed New Born by Muse, the riffs are easy enough on there own, it's just my left hand is knackered by halfway through the intro, I spose I just need to work on my left hand strength

Only trouble I've had with allparts is they ship stuff to my biling address despite puttng a different delivery address, little annoying but the stuff was good and on time

Nice board man, how do you find the hairy balls? I really shouldn't be looking at dirt pedals but I remember hearing about those a while ago but not much since. Also is that a mammoth clone I spot in the bottom right?

[quote name='Silent Fly' post='528618' date='Jun 30 2009, 01:56 PM']I am not entirely sure I understand. It should be possible set the dry signal (aka "Direct Level") as loud as the -1 Oct (aka “OCT 1”) with the stock OC-2. Are you referring to the bypassed signal vs the -1 Oct?[/quote] I assume he means that the oct1 volume is lower than the direct signal, even on the same settings, if you run it with oct1 volume at max and direct signal at min the signal is noticeaby quieter, I'd be interested in fixing this aswell, presumably it's just a result of the synthesizing they use to generate the octaves

I havent got any direct experience with any of those, but at that kind of price point there's no coloration, I've got a very simple looper on my boss dd-20 and it sounds great, as far as I'm aware loopers are fairly simple, they do just record whats going in and play it back, so I'd be suprised if any affected the tone at all

Love the site, not sure my modded bad monkey is ever leaving my board, i got to use a stock one recently and there's just no comparison for bass, yours is miles ahead. That oc-2 mod sounds very interesting too, any idea when you're gonna start doing those?