Tokalo

I’ve avoided Fenders since I took up bass 7 years ago because the broad  opinion here at BC is that you can quite easily get more bass for less money.
 

But this MIM came up at a low enough price that I reckoned I could sell without losing if I didn’t get on with it, so I took a punt.

First impressions were:

1 It’s really light (8lb/3.3kg on bathroom scales);

2 Played acoustically, the tone is phenomenal;

3 It’s grimy (yuk) - it’s 3 years old;

4 Through an amp, the alnico 5 pickups might as well have been made of jelly for all their supposed punch.

However… I then noticed the neck pickup was set really low - over half an inch from the strings. I guess it hadn’t been setup since it was purchased.

So I swapped the full old strings for Pressurewounds and did a full setup (using the Fender Owner’s Manual for measurements), including raising the pickups to their recommended height.

Oh boy is it good now! I don’t understand why the pickups are so noiseless (through headphones), but I do now understand how these pickups were pushed as an upgrade to the Standard series. They’re very direct and resonant.
 

And talking of upgrades - that seems  to be something smart about a Fender: replacing parts is so easy (there’s a black pickguard on its way already because the white one looks like it’s yellowing - and I think all black will go better with the maple fretboard).

I have a couple of questions, if anyone can help:

1 What is the ratio of standard Fender machine heads? These move a bit inconsistently especially compared to the tuners on my G&L Tributes;

2 How do I degrease a gloss maple fretboard- I don’t think water alone will cut through the grime?

Several reviews elsewhere mention sharp frets and dead areas on the fretboard, but that’s not the case with this example. And isn’t that the problem with MIMs? You just don’t know if you’ll get a duff one.

As for me - I feel very lucky today.

Resurrecting old thread because I had the same issue this morning with a MIM Fender Player Jazz truss rod.

I found a spanner in my bike toolbox that fitted really well. It's a T30 Torx (in Imperial, that's 7/32" but the tip is graduated so it gave n excellent grip).

According to Rod Liddle in today’s Spectator, the average age of punters is 40 (and of performers is 50).

I suspect they are trying to change this - probably before all the middle-aged regulars lose their hearing (or they find out how much they will have to pay for their kids to go to university).

1 hour ago, martthebass said:

 

Cheers Dave, much appreciated.  The theraputic nature of playing in a band can't be overestimated!

Our drummer (in his 60s) has a form of motor neurone disease. The band has given him a sparkle that he’d lost through redundancy and other misfortunes. He was fine up to lockdown, but his deterioration has now started to affect his playing.

He knows, and we know, that he’ll have to leave soon - but none of us want to have the conversation. It’s heartbreaking to take away one of the few things that gives him a sense of fun.

I was looking at buying one last year, but came across a video in which the bassist said the humbuckers were way too noisy. It put me off, but when I saw Lobster’s video recently it made sense.
 

If I hadn’t seen that video, I could have purchased the bass and got lots of wrong idea about humbuckers and controlling noisy pickups etc.

I’ve just checked a few UK retailers and most have the old text (I’ve messaged Andertons, PMT, Mann’s, Peach and my local - Coda Music). Only GuitarGuitar seems to have corrected their site.

I’ve bought a G&L Tribute Kiloton, a Guild Starfire I and some Thomastik flats over the past 5 years, all with no issues (shipped from Germany to my address in England).

Would a Fender Aerodyne fit the bill? 

(Way above my budget, but gives me GAS)

I’ve recently partaken of a G&L Tribute SB-2. This is a PJ with a jazz neck, with the added bonus of being passive; the pickup sounds awesome. I imagine a US version would be top notch.

16 hours ago, BreadBin said:

I get this a lot, I'll start keeping score!

Same here.

I think I could do almost every Pink Floyd song between 1971 - 1979, due to a teenage obsession.

But when I heard (unannounced) Foo Fighters cover of  Welcome to the Machine it hurt my brain - I knew I recognised the notes, chord progressions and so on. But it took about a minute to name the song because of the different tone/instrumentation.

1 hour ago, Burns-bass said:

a balding, post-50 year old man who is slightly overweight and buys loads of gear they can’t play very well

That’s me!

I’ve found throughout this forum that members who fit this archetype are always ready to laugh at themselves.
 

Some of those things I can’t change about myself, but for what I can (overspending and playing bass) I find the underlying criticism implied within the humour to be a great motivator.

I occasionally find myself up at the 14th/15th fret, but only because I have to play a high B or C. I have an aversion to touching thin G strings - the A string just feels more bassy.

(It also justifies the time spent getting intonation right 🏆😉)

I got a response by email from Wendell at Sire:

Batteries will drain as long as the bass is plugged in, however, it doesn't drain fast enough in passive mode compared to active mode.

(not sure quite what to make of “fast enough”)

I’ve just discovered that my Sire M7 works in passive mode with the batteries removed.

I’m assuming that if Active is switched off, batteries are completely disconnected. 
(It would be handy to know this for definite, but it doesn’t seem to be included in any specs).

On 15/02/2022 at 18:21, bass_dinger said:

On the day, I was okay.  In fact, it went rather well.  No midweek rehearsal, just three musicians (drums, bass and keys or guitar) and three vocalists.  Some songs were different in the service than in the pre-service run through, but we seemed to adapt to the new style very quickly (after one bar of hearing the guitarist's strumming pattern).

 

Listening back to a recording of one of the songs, I found myself rather liking the riff that ran through the chorus (and then realising that it was me who had played it...).

 

Onto next week, and we have been asked to play this by someone in the congregation who seems to quite like it . . .  

 

 

It feels pretty much driven by the bass (double-stopped with some 10ths and minor 10ths) and the drums - high-hat especially plus Hammond organ, minimal acoustic guitar, and a huge drum and bass sound for the chorus.

 

I know what I will be practicing tonight (and in the 80 minutes prior to the Sunday service)!

 

Any advice?  In particular, is there any chorus effect on the bass?

 

 

 

     

We do a reggae version of Trading My Sorrows (at practices only). We can’t play reggae, so it must sound dreadful. But it’s still great fun!

Please excuse this if it’s complete ignorance on my part, but is it usual for basses with an active/passive switch to play (in passive mode) without any batteries inserted?

It turns out a Sire M7 will.

I was under the impression that with active bases the battery was always engaged, regardless of the mode selected.

It appears the Sire M7 is really a passive bass with an optional active mode.

I like it even more now I don’t have to worry about battery failure!

I also purchased an SB-2 from GuitarGuitar in January: the surf green version with a maple fingerboard.
I changed strings immediately because the EXLs felt scratchy against the frets.
Once it was loaded with TI flats however, it became a thing of joy, beauty and wonder. Such a pleasure to play.
Then I read this thread and thought I should take the protective film off the bridge because it looked a bit “bumpy”.

But… there is no film on the bridge.

I guess it must have been a fault with one of the layers below the chrome - see pix - and (eventually) I swapped it for a replacement, which is fine (i.e. awesome!)

I’ve just found this thread thanks to @northstreet and I owe Mick a huge thank you for giving me boxes to post a bass I was trying to sell 4 years ago in 2018 (so I owe him an apology for the delay as well!)
He had no need to help, and took no payment: a real gentleman, and a brilliant introduction to the BC community.

Bought a case from Keith today. Got to say, he’s a generous chap regarding both my purchase and with his time - chatting about playing bass: plenty of good advice given kindly! 
Thanks.

Double the Tribute (which may have been a severe punishment in Roman times, but it seems rather brilliant today).

The SB-2 arrived yesterday while my wife was away on a work trip.

I quite like the Bach before 7 slot on Radio 3. I find it keeps the rage incidents on the morning commute down to single figures.

Got a new base last week (I blame the snow – I worked from home due to the travel warning a couple of weeks back, and found I could fill some of the time I was waiting for network connections by looking for bargain basses on my tablet. Ahem.)

I don’t have easy access to a guitar shop with a decent range of basses, so I am dependent on basschat for working out which guitar will suit me best. Based on what I’d read on here, I began to focus on G&L, with my criteria for my next bass being: passive, 38mm nut width, not JJ pickups.

There was a B-stock Tribute Kiloton on DV247 with about £120 off. It was white, with the reduction for a “chip in paint by the neck joint”, although there was no photo of the actual bass/damage on DV247 website*. 

It arrived, as promised, in 4 working days from Germany (got to say, I was impressed with the communications from DPD via their app).

First impression out of the box is that it’s a bit chunky. Reviews mention the slimline SB body, but it’s about twice as thick as my Squier VM Jaguar. In terms of weight, though, both have basswood bodies but the Kiloton (counter-intuitively) is half a pound lighter.

The plastic scratchplate protector had been removed, and there was no documentation at all in the box. The strings are not the standard stock  d’Addario EXLs (no coloured ends or silks), and feel like they’re nickel-coated. I’m guessing that this is an ex-display model, and that the strings have been changed at least once. The serial number dates the bass as Sept 2017. However, the scratchplate has no scratches, so there are no actual signs of wear, and everything else is fine apart from the paint chip and the neck joint, which isn’t the neatest: some of the cuts appear not to be perfectly straight.

Plugged into a practice amp, at first it was all about playing with the 3-way switch, working out which is series, parallel and single coil. Online reviews mention the increased output through the series setting, and this is clearly the case. The neck is nice and quick; the large inlay dots somehow make it look wider than it actually is. The tuners are smooth (noticeably smoother than the Gotoh GB707s on my step-son's SR1605).

I was asked to play in a one-off band at a local church 4 days after it arrived so had an early chance to give it a proper test, playing through their huge Peavey combo. I instantly had to turn the master volume on the amp down from 5 to just under 3: this MFD pickup is certainly as hot as all the reviews suggest! The thing with the three-way-switch pickup variations is that they have such different outputs that I decided to stick to just one: in this case the parallel because it was a church, and I didn’t want to blast them away with the series option. I’m afraid my ears aren’t good enough to tell how closely this sounds like a Stingray, j-bass or p-bass in the various pickup settings: all I know is that there is a lot more variety than I expected, and that I can see each having its place.

To me, the bass sounded brilliant – deep, rich, clear and with incredible sustain, I’ve never really considered why sustain is important to a bass, but now I think it means the full tone of the note lasts longer: for any notes of a minim or more in length, the outstanding, full timbre of the Kiloton just keeps shining though. And there’s no worries about getting lost in the mix: you won't.

Even with the unknown strings , I didn’t want to stop playing. It's made me aware of my poor technique (particularly right hand) – there’s no hiding place with such a powerful pickup, but I’m looking forward to the challenge as it means more time playing this bass. Next step is some new strings, probably GHS Pressurewounds as I’ll be playing a fair bit of pick and I hate string noise.

Overall, this was an excellent purchase, and for the first time, I can't imagine needing (or even wanting) any other bass. 

* BTW The paint chip is about 1cm across and ugly, but only visible to the player, and there’s no damage to the neck joint. I reckon a dab of tippex and some superglue on top will be good enough for me: I’m not selling this beast! 
 

Sound Quality    3/5

Very bright, especially with the d’Addario EXLs it came with. I upgraded the strings to some Elixirs, but it was hard not to notice that with both sets of strings, the pickups are sensitive to high frequency harmonics, giving a kind of “halo” effect. Sometimes, it can even sound like you’ve got a chorus pedal on, and I had to uninstall my strap locks because if they moved in their sockets, the pickups would ring out.

On the plus side, the 3-band EQ gives you loads of variety and control, and along with the sweep between two humbuckers you really have a wide range of sounds to play with. If you don't want a humbucker sounds, there's a  switch which gives you the option to change either/both pickups single coil or enhanced single coil.

Reliability/Durability       4/5

My first impression when the bass arrived was that the neck was slightly offset - that is, looking from the front, the E string was closer to the top edge of the fretboard than the G string was to the bottom, allowing for the varying thickness of the string itself. GAK were great, and quickly sent a replacement bass, which was fine. (I noticed a similar problem in photos of one or two other SR300Es I had looked at, so I'm not sure if this is an issue with the neck pocket on cheaper Ibanez basses?).

Despite being played weekly, I’ve got to say the bass still has an immaculate appearance – I’m pleased that there’s no sign of any knocks, dents or even scratches, so the finish seems quite robust, and the 5-piece jazz neck feels solid and plays really fast (and it looks lovely too!). The bridge is bulky enough, and you can load strings from the side, so there’s no need to thread them through holes. The tuners are Ibanez standard, and maybe they would benefit from being upgraded to a higher ratio if this bass is used for gigging.

Price/Value        5/5

It seems to me this is an outstanding bass for just over £200 new, even with upgrades to new strings and possibly tuners.

General Comments

I bought the SR300e 9 months ago, after about 2½ years of playing. I already had a battered old entry-level Spector NS2000, and had added a used Squier VM Jaguar out of curiosity. I quickly realised that the narrowness and playability of the Squier neck vastly increased the pleasure of playing bass, so wanted to change the Spector (42mm nut width) for bass with a jazz neck. I also wanted a second bass for my main (rockier) band - the Squier has TI flats, which sound great in my church band, and I didn't want to ruin such glorious strings by whacking them with a pick every week.

 The first thing you notice is that it is so light, and it's hard to imagine a more comfortable profile. You get so many different sounds from all the pickup/EQ permutations – it easily fitted in with the Coldplay/U2-type numbers my band plays.

 I reckon GHS Pressurewounds are the perfect string for this bass. They seem to give the bass a power boost, and at the same time minimise the string noise. With the Pressurewounds, the SR300E feels like a serious bass with plenty of character. A veritable bargain.

Wait till one of them is 16,  picks up your bass and Inot 3 months is not only far better than you, but gigging in the most popular band in school. Can't get any time in the practice room now!

One thing I discovered is that not all 9v batteries are equal.

When I got my used Squier Jag (the full length version, with active bass boost), I found the battery cover kept popping open and poking me in the belly. A few months later, I changed the old Asda battery for a branded one. Suddenly, i could play the bass without being stabbed. On inspection, the asda battery is a couple of mm wider than the Energiser, just enough difference not to fit in the compartment.

Who knew?!

4 hours ago, bonzodog said:

I used to like Craig Charles funk and soul show that was always on when I was driving to gigs but don't think it's on anymore

I think Craig Charles in now on Radio 2 on saturday evenings.

The show does seem to be packed with good tunes, whenever I catch it.

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