bassmachine2112

I have a black one and have to agree that the bridge upgrade is long overdue on all the t-bird models. Weight -it is quiet light feeling-good. It is a long bass but once you adjust to the length I have to agree about the slap monster lurking underneath the rock monster face. My main reasons for buying a pro 4 were maple neck without the glue join at the headstock through body construction improved bridge active circuit price black finish is georgeous very happy for the price and a nice bass to play and sounds very good

hi,what flats have a good E string the ones I,ve tried have very good A,D,G and thud,dead E string. Looking for a set of flats that sound and behave like rounds.Now that is like an oxymoron

Watts I,m afraid, 500 watt would be about right. Plenty headroom for tone.

yo,Stick with the Rick,it seems that you don,t play a Rick ,it plays you. Good set up is very important,those single coils don,t muck around-get them right and it,s heaven time.I,ve found that a very light gauge of strings works best 30-90 set and balance the pick ups to each other not necessarily whack them up to full height.One way is get the neck one almost full up where it sounds nice soloed then adjust the bridge to the same volume near enough and you,ll not be far away.Another thing is they like a flat neck relief unlike the others They do grow on you and you,ll be loving marmite soon.

hiho,here we go-After many years chasing the elusive sound/tone and amassing a collection of basses and amps n stuff. I now have a core setting for my amp,pre amp set up which sounds good with whatever gets plugged in but every bass has it,s own sound/tone.With loads of tweeking I can get them all sounding similar,not the same but similar apart from my Rick.Leaving everything the same,eq,gain etc,they all have their own voice ,If your on a musicman although they have a big sound it would be rude not to have a wee bit of slap and tickle on it but I always sound like me.Some basses make you play, sound different.When I play my t-bird I do play F,B the low ones up the neck cause it,s a long way down the deep end,whereas my p-bass feeling shorter gets the deep end treatment even though I changed the neck and didn,t notice it had an extra fret till I tried to intonate and wondered why the saddles had to be moved so far forward-ooops.Musicman is shorter feelin again although they all have the same scale length and I know the Rick is 3/4 of an inch shorter. It,s in your fingers has a bearing as well cause we attack the strings different and hear dynamics differently or should I say interpret the tune in our own way whether it,s clank time , thumpy dub or slappy happy time which you can do in real time with your hands which sometimes you can see the faces all looking your way with delight sometimes and what the f$%& was that at other times. Hard one to answer if there is an answer. Moral-listen to the tune ,play for the tune and be yourself,it doesn,t work all the time but you can have some real magical moments when it hits the spot. It,s fun and frustrating sometimes but it,s fun none the less or I,m turning into a BASS nurd.

Hi,if you get a decent pre-amp DI box,sansamp,hartke bass attack or the more expensive stuff like radial tonebone etc you will hear a Rick sing.They do like a bit of gain on the amp side and a some presence if you like it.

If you fill a pub you deserve to be given a share of the bar profits and entrance money-The only reason your there is to fill the till,if you don,t you will not be back .It is that simple. Venues that cater for young bands doing the original thing should be ashamed of themselves charging them money to pay by the back door-you have to pay for the use of the PA,the sound engineer,you didn,t sell 100 tickets etc,of course you,re not going to fill the place on tuesday night. They could point out that they are providing valuable experience for the future and if they didn,t do it there would be no place to play. Worst case for them is that they cover their feet or they would not do it. It is worth their while to do this believe me that,s why they do it with the promise of a thursday night then if you bring them in a friday then the local support slot,any of this familiar to anyone. Right tin hat on and first on the couch

Still waiting to see the bubble burst finish. I,ve had my 4003 for 12 years now and adjusted the neck when I got it and haven,t touched it since-super stable and the finish is second to none. I have replaced the bridge with a hipshot which was a great move to me and the vintage tone circuit which has transformed a great bass into something I can,t explain in words. Clubby necks can,t say I,ve noticed but p-bass and musicman are big wide things .J-bass is very thin but if you like that type of neck get a thunderbird.After I,ve been playing a p-bass,musicman and a bird then dig Rick out ,Rick just feels right,you can play for hours and it is comfy to the point that I don,t notice it. They are pricey but they will last you .

ahoy there,try Andy at wizard cause he can rewind your original ones or could make up whatever you want. Great guy to deal with and very reasonable.

Framed full size picture-cheaper and can cover up some dodgy walls but you have to hear it in the mix. That is where they work.

I was just wondering if anybody had done a pick up/pre amp thing but the stock ones do the job and don,t sound shabby. I have noticed they are quiet picky on strings though.It sounded ok on flats but better with rounds more zing. The bridge is a massive improvement on the stock gibson/epiphone one which I haven,t heard anyone comment on. I love the fact that it,s active cause Gibson doesn,t do active on a bird.Another big factor is the construction of the neck which hopefully will put to bed the broken headstock bogey that Gibsons have.

Better get ma tin hat on then and get on the couch

Hi ,got an epi t-bird pro 4 and it,s great.Love it so there are a lot of marmite bass lovers on here. They are different from the fender norm industry standard sound. T-birds,Ricks,musicmans all have their own voice and followers it seems at times that the fender camp just shout out about how right that sound is. Who is right . Love yer Bird I say their just jealous that the,ve got coffee table basses with matching slippers and pipe.

Ditto on the stagg one-cheap n cheerful and does the trick due to the bottom bit swivelling. Always wondered what they catch-o-matic ones were called-well cool but stagg is cheaper and does a great job

Hi, been wondering this myself-would a pick up change make a good difference or the pre amp.It might be the pick ups are fine and a pre amp is the way to go or maybe the pre amp is fine and the pick ups have to take a walk. Would it make a big difference or best left alone and get on with it. Sometimes what you hear in your head is a sound that is impossible to recreate. I,ve found in the past that the in the mix sound which is killer if you solo it on the desk ,you would not believe what it,s like.I have done this with guitar players and most of them haven,t taken it on board and reverted to their all top and massive bottom sound and wrecked the recording sonically. It is a hard one to get right a sound that pleases you when playing alone and one that works when full band.The old maxim rings clear-you can,t polish a t%$d unless you have a tin of turdoshine which isn,t as good as it says on the tin. Isn,t it fun the world of perfect sound,keeps us goin for a lifetime. Moral is go for the in the mix sound and maximise what you,ve got. Hope this makes sense .

I,m surprised to hear about your low output. I,ve got a 1999 4003 and its louder than a musicman,p-bass with a wizard thumper,meausered at 14k and a t-bird. Pick ups are not right up either and I,ve got light strings on-30-90 set and it is loud and meaty and really kicks with the vintage circuit. I use a pre amp DI box-sansamp and hartke bass attack and it sounds great.Amps are set flat-marshall and roland with powered extension. They do like a bit of gain and some presence and a slight cut in the mids as there is loadsa mids which can sometimes make them muddy.

I,ve got the head and 2 peavey 2x10,s,4 ohm run at 2 ohm full power and no problems-massive sound and loud as.Good value s/h and not to shabby new either.

I,ll rise to the challange-mitsibishi colt-roland 15" combo,marshall 2x12 combo,2 guitars,1 bass all in cases,2 mike stands,mikes,drum mikes,cables,mixing desk,power amps,multicore cable,effects racks,fx pedal board,di boxes,band toolkit,spare strings n things.

got the head version with 2 x 2x10 4 ohm cabs big sound for small outlay,though I prefer my roland with powered roland extension cab. They both have their merits,marshall big n beefy,roland,tone to die for and very big n beefy. Great buy though,would be happy with either.

Here,s a quick review- The dogs danglers,otherwise known as The Bass

I use them for tone cause they have a different sound to the fretted one,it gives you a different dynamic and are great for fast pull off runs and hammer ons and of course the old drones.It,s the old chestnut ,use all the tools in the box and blind the world with smoke and mirrors.

hi,I,ve got a 99 jg 4003 and it,s a blinder. I have fitted a hipshot bridge which has been a very good move,black scratchplate and now a vintage tone switch which gives another dimension to the 4003. Overall I would go for a 4003 and the vintage tone circuit which you can get from rickysounds for £16 and a bit of soldering or a later one with it fitted as standard. I,m very happy with mine and had no issues whatsoever with this bass and the build quality is second to none and the most stable bass I have more so than my rock solid musicman. The best bit is every time you open the case and there it is waiting for you.I still get a tingle after all these years and how do you put a price on that.

Thought as much ,what a good oportunity wasted to do something special.Mind you it,s all down to costing and marketing. Some custom shop then,a few guys with some spray cans.

hi,what,s the difference between a custom shop epiphone thunderbird and a run of the mill epiphone thunderbird. Is it just a paint job or is there more to it.

the other thing is that you sometimes spray black undercoat under a gloss red topcoat to bring out the red,sounds daft but there you are I,ve done this myself spraying cars and bikes.I always spray black under a red. Then again may be a sunburst gone wrong.