karlthebassist

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='648896' date='Nov 8 2009, 04:35 PM']What do you really like the sound of? At the end of the day, you're going to hear twenty or thirty different opinions based on personal preference. Obviously I'm going to say look for £700 worth of used Status or Jazz bass, but with most good basses you're going to be able to get different sounds by playing in different locations of the strings. For instance, a great solo sound from a back pickup (if you have two!), a good mix from the mid point in between pickups, a Precision thump if you just use a front pickup, or a smoother more upright type sound by playing over the edge of the fingerboard. Perhaps you need to think in terms of the merits of all the basses you like? Here're some of my thoughts on the merits and sound of various basses... Precision - The classic rock bass. Simple & thuddy. More expensive versions can sound more hifi, but at the end of the day, a simple bruiser and great with it. Gets a little lost in a live mix, but that's what it was always meant to do. Make bass lines blend in. The necks are chunky and made to last. Jazz - Great for soloists, great for basic lines, great for slap & other techniques. Perhaps the Jazz was the first "do anything" bass? Lovely thin necks and very fast players. The Jazz also has that individual "honk" to it which is very appealing. MusicMan - Snarly, higher frequency sound. Great for slap & fast funk playing. Relative position of neck versus body means that Rays are really comfortable to play. Very good sound for cutting through the "mix" live. Some say the Ray is a on trick pony, but I think there's more to it than that. Warwick - Get a twin humbucker Warwick and you're laughing! Great basses (eg. Corvette or Streamer $$) with huge punch. Great build quality & growly, woody sound. Obviously, with all these basses, there are going to be some better than others, as they are all mass produced. There will also be many other options out there for your money, such as used JayDees, used Status, used Sandbergs, used Laklands, etc, etc. Spend some time with some in a store and see what sounds and feels right to you. I've probably said a load of things here that you already know, but I hope some of it will be helpful Rich.[/quote] Now, one trick pony is what I've often suspected of the Stingray. I cant see me playing medolic chordal lines on it somehow. My P bass has a nice bright and detailed sound thanks to the replaced electronics and i know what youre saying about the p-bass getting lost in the mix as stock - hense why i changed my pickups... jazz basses really dont do that much for me other than the slap sound - and i dont really get into slap much so its a bit pointless for me. I had a warwick for three weeks once - didnt get on with it at all. unfortunately my local music stores are really really quite crap for stock. so thats not an option. status is always something ive fancied. probably headed though, but its finding one i guess... Never looked at JayDees before. As for stuff i like - i dig a sort of modern-high fidelity sound really. I set my LMII to give me a little oompf in hi and hi mid, with a bit of a cut in low mid and a boot in low. i like it to growel and crunch when you did in hard, but be able to produce a smooth finger tone when played with as fleshy as possible. i never really use any adjustment on tone controls or pickup selectors but adjust my playing position/style. I'm gonna have to have a look for a status.

mind you, saying that... the price is a bit steep and i think in terms of bang for buck the gotoh wins hands-down.

If you have a P or J bass then I'd say just get one. They are better than the stock units in every way, look good and if installed propperly you can get the string spacing nice an even. But yes the Badass I does not fit directly onto the fenders without making the action uplayable. the II goes straigt on. if you need the action lower than you can easily achieve with the II jsut shim the rear of the neck pocket about .050" to set it back a little. easy. youd love it.

[quote name='uzzell' post='648808' date='Nov 8 2009, 02:37 PM']You should definately consider [url="http://http://www.sandberg-guitars.de/"]Sandberg[/url] They have something for everyone, but with your budget you'll be looking at good quality second hand.[/quote] I mean like [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=54793"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=54793[/url] that looks pretty much PERFECT as far as looks go. that is in fact stunning. a chap i know just got a jazz version which is lovely. nice and slim his jazz is too. within my budget?

Yeah I'm cool with Jazzes, but I've had a hard time in the past getting a beefy enough tone out of them. [quote name='chris_b' post='648802' date='Nov 8 2009, 02:33 PM']If you want proper and versatile [i]and[/i] change from your £700, you should be trying out a Lakland.[/quote] Now a Lakland is something I would REALLY like to try. What sort of model are you thinking? The 44-02 really grabs me as being rather sexy - theres; a guy on here selling one i think, but wants like 900, plus i dont have the money yet anyway. Are the Skylines as good as a USA made bass? Juan Alderete is one of my favorite players at the moment and he switched to Laklands from Fenders I noticed...

like [url="http://www.fender.co.uk/products//search.php?partno=0194062764"]http://www.fender.co.uk/products//search.p...rtno=0194062764[/url] is lush in my opinion. am i ever likely to see one second hand? and for what sort of moeny?

So I've been playing for 5 or 6 years and have had a number of basses in that time - maybe 20, but nothing special. The nicest ones I have ever owned have been my current MIM P-bass which I have installed active basslines P/J pups in and a badass II bridge, a black MIM Jazz with bartolini pups, and an Ibanez SRX-500 whihc I had for a very short time. So now I've got a bunch of stuff up for sale including two basses and a load of effects so I can fund my first propper 4 string bass. I think my budget would be in the region of £700, and for that reason I would be looking at second hand to maximise what I can get. Ever since playing bass I have dreamed about owning a Stingray. 4 string, Black/Black plate with Maple board, but have never REALLY played one propperly to find out what sort of tones I can get from it. Another dream bass would be a MIA P Bass, black/black plate with Maple (see the theme here?) But are any of these basses virsatile enough? I am really into a lot of different styles of music and would play in a band that does pretty much anything. My main band atm is a covers band that does stuff like beatles, stones, rem, the jam, clash, kinks, ocean colour scene and my current main bass (the aformentioned MIM p bass modded) does the lot. I play fingerstyle mostly, or pickstyle when needed. At home i play a lot of melodic lines, chords etc, also some slap and the p-bass does fine - but i wouldnt say no to some more frets.... Somthing like an ibanez SR1000EFM prestige REALLY grabs my attention as they look stunning, and i like ibanez necks, but ive never played one... A MIA P-bass Delux would possibly be ok, with the extra pup, but i really dont know what other options i have, and where I can play the basses?!?? Please any suggestions would be greatly apreciated. I just want a quality instrument that I can use every day without fuss. Cheers chaps.

Hey guys (and gals), Some of you may remember a couple of projects I started back in March/April. Well if not, here are the original links: Bolt-on "traditional stylie" - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=44429"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=44429[/url] Thru-neck headless jobby - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=44449"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=44449[/url] Well, they have been sitting dormant since the last posts as I have not had any holiday since starting them, but now I'm off for two weeks, so I shall be seeing how much I can get done! [attachment=35968:P1010165.JPG] So what needs doing.... Well, on the first bass I need to re-finish the body as the Halfords paint can spray job has not come out very well at all. Then I'm going to re-make the scratchplate from a better quality material and also make a rear control cavity cover. Neck pocket needs tweeking slightly as it appears to be pulling the neck down to one side, but I think this is more to do with excess paint in the pocket as it was perfect before I painted it. Either that or the wood has shifted a little. Another think I'm not sure about is the pickup... I've opted to use a spare Status soapbar that I have in the bridge position, but I am now thinking of routing new holes and fitting a pair of Warwick MEC humbuckers, one in the current position, and one in the standard P-Bass position. Other than that it'll just need bolting together and setting up. I have a nice Gotoh bridge for it. On the second bass there is a bit more that needs doing. When strung up, the bridge saddles will not go low enough to get the strings closer to the board - even when acounting for the fingerboard radius and frets being in place. So I am going to sink the brigde rails into the body a bit. I shall do this by either sinking them in individual pockets, or by shaping a dip running from the back of the pickup hole right through to the body's tail, using the two bubinga stripes either side of the bridge as the edges of the trough and blending the shape up into the ash wings. I think it has the potential to become a rather interesting feature on the bass. Other than that, I need to finish the blend from the back of the neck into the body, radius the fingerboard, finish the body egde rad around the tuners, make a nut, finnish sand and oil/wax/polish the body, install frets, electronics and setup. The build to get into the state you see it now took 3/nearly 4 days. I expect that it should take about the same amount of time to get the bass to the stage where I can start thiniking about finnish and frets. Sorry for the epic amout I jsut wrote... Hope to update you all on the projects within the week! Karl [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=26144&hl=karlthebassist"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...=karlthebassist[/url] Oh, and there is this too!

This is cool. I can't hear your clip though because of some reason or other. Anyway, I'd say, PM 7String, and ask him what gauge/make his strings are. Email the manufacturer and ask for the gauges that they supply in the strings you require So an F#, B, E, A, D, and possibly G I asume you like heavier strings for downtuning and keeping the tension usable so prolly 125-45's + a big one for the F# Then ask them for the tension measurements at pitch. They will most likely only have the tensions for standard tuning off hand, but you never know. You can then have a fair idea of how much more tension will be on the neck with your tuning/strings. From memory, a tuned E sting is actually under less tension than the A! So this might apply for the F# too. In which case, if you went for the 5 sting option, then having a F# and no high G might only add a couple of extra pounds tension overall. And a quality bass like the ones you mention looking at should easily be able to manage a couple of extra pounds. See what I'm on about or have I explained it like a cock? As for pickups/EQ. Standard EQ's may struggle with the frequencies of the low fundimental as they usually roll off below 20-30Hz, but I'd say the majority of passive pickups should have no trouble "seeing" the movement of the strings and giving you a signal. Graphite/brass nut could be useful, but I guess the real problem could be getting the strings into the tuners and through the bridge. But things can be modified....

Hello all, I'm looking into buying a Stingray or USA P-Bass, so I'm selling a bunch of stuff to fund it. Up here are the following Jim Dunlop CryBaby 105Q, white, the one with the little knobs on the side to adjust Q and Level, good nick, £75 Boss ODB-3, the yellow overdrive that everyone has at some point owned, rather battered, but solid and fully working, £35 Boss Octave OC-2, a bit scruffy, but again its solid and works just fine, £40 Aphex Punch Factory Optical Compressor - very good condition, have enlarged the power input hole slightly to accept Boss power adapters/links. Not 100% sure if I will sell it yet but open to offers. Please feel free to PM me with any questions or offers. Karl [attachment=35726:P1010160.JPG]