SamPlaysBass

I’ve got a Professional Jazz V mk 1 from 2017. I bought it after trying it in a music shop and being blown away by the B string as well as the general fit and finish. Clear, articulate and as useable as the other strings. I set up a finance agreement on the spot. Modern Fender is doing something well. 

Everything is sold. Feel free to close. Cheers all!

Cheers all - designacable it is!

1 hour ago, rmorris said:

Is this for amp head to speaker cab ? Or a PA ? What sort of length ?

My apologies - head to cab with speakon connectors. And / Or a speakon to 1/4” for those days where you’re borrowing someone else’s cabs.

Welcome to the most exciting Saturday morning post on Basschat.

I would like to buy new speaker cables. I have previously bought speaker cables from Amazon (Stagg, if I recall). They do the job for 6 months or so and then they decide they don’t want to be speaker cables anymore. Then they get placed in the bin and I buy new speaker cables (after wedging off the speakons just in case they come in handy). 
 

Where can I buy good quality, not expensive speaker cables that may outlast a year or so? 
 

I’m not adverse to making my own if need be, but I would like someone to hold my hands through the specifics of ordering the correct cable and accoutrements.

Cheers guys, hope your week is more exciting than this post. 

Cab is gone. Pre-amp is sold Pending! 

Cab is provisionally sold.

It’s got no right sounding this good. It doesn’t sound sterile, just perfectly even and dynamic up and down the entire range of the bass. 🤯 

I'm very reluctantly selling my Wayne Jones Audio Valve Pre-amp and Powered 1x10 cab, both in excellent condition. 

The pre-amp is amazing. Based on an Avalon 737 pre-amp, Wayne Jones tweaked the designed and frequencies to best suit bass guitars and as a result, he has created an unbelievably wonderful sounding DI. I used this head at a recording session with the wonderful Martin Levan, who is Andrew Lloyd Webber's sound engineer as well as producer of John Martyn's Grace and Danger and Iron Maiden's first album. He knows good bass tone. The man has golden ears and declared this pre-amp as 'very, very nice'. Shame my playing was average. Nonetheless, this is an amazing pre-amp. Warm, studio-quality sound for on-the-road applications. Each frequency point in the EQ corresponds to each string on a 6-string bass. Long story short, it's very responsive, articulate and outright outstanding. A sound engineer's dream, a producer's secret weapon.

Secondly, to accompany the wonderful pre-amp, I have the matching powered 1x10 Wayne Jones cab. This cab has been lightly used, and is very reasonable to cart about. It's a 500 watt power section shoehorned into a diminutive 1x10 cab. It weighs about 18KG, has useful carrying handles, and is loud as tits. It can also be used to power an extension cab of your choosing, or blow the wigs off the front row on its own. It's a very, very good cab, built to exacting specifications with a 'money-no-object' attitude. It's great. I've heard rumours that these cabs make great studio monitors due to their clarity, design and general brilliance. It is matched perfectly to the pre-amp, and as such I'd be very much looking to sell them together. 

They will come with the relevant power supplies, muting foot switch and all necessary cables. 

I'm selling them as I am now in a 'rawk band', and will now spend the next year or so being carted about in the back of a big, smelly and slightly urine soaked van. I don't want to take these wonderful pieces of equipment on the road in these conditions. If our conditions ever improve, I'll likely buy a bigger Wayne Jones system. Until then, here they are up for grabs. 

£850 for both. Or £450 for the pre-amp, £450 for the cab. This rig brand new would be in the region of £1700, and that's before you ship it from Australia to UK, pay Boris the rest of your life savings in tax, wait years for it to arrive and grow so old you can't actually play anymore. Therefore, this is the next best option. 

Cash is king, as I'm going to be very poor soon. Any questions, don't hesitate to drop me a message.

Sam

IMG_1868.HEICIMG_1867.HEIC

Cash is king, as I'm going to be very poor soon. Any questions, don't hesitate to drop me a message. 

IMG_1862.heic

2 hours ago, Ed_S said:

If you ever see an Ashdown ABM1000 on your travels, I'd urge you to give it a go. Might not hit the spot, but with some decent cabs it's the closest I've ever found to the 'feeling' I think you're describing, just with the basic tone of the ABM preamp and Class D power/weight. The only thing I find different on the dynamics side is that where a valve amp will eventually run out of steam when you push it hard into the red, the ABM just keeps kicking harder. I don't know whether it's that power module or the particular way they've put it to use (or maybe just that mine rolled off the bench as a very hot ship, even for the class) but it almost feels exciting to be connected to that much well-controlled power. Perhaps how those Ferrari owners feel until they run out of petrol 🙂 

I’d love to try some of the big boy ABMs. I’ve yet to try an ABM 600 at full throttle, and the ABM 1000 seems a rare beast indeed. I think you’ve found a unicorn with yours - don’t ever sell it! If it’s got half the go that a valve amp has, you are on to winner. 

I bought an Ashdown CTM 100 a few years ago on finance. It was quite big, a little cumbersome (despite it being small in the valve amp world), had a limited tonal range and got dirty quite quickly, meaning on a large stage the amp and the DI were getting a bit hairy. In that band, I needed a fairly clean sound and Class AB and D amps were better suited for my gigs. I ended up swapping the CTM for a bass, swapping that too and ultimately making a loss of several hundred pounds.

...And I’d do it all again because valve amps are magical. It had a limited tonal palette but what it did, it did really well. Think Entwistle’s Live at Leeds tone. It looked great sat on a 4x10 and the response from a valve amp is just different to class AB and certainly class D amps - everything is more immediate, sparkly and just better. Valve amps respond to inputs differently. Dynamics are different. Better, in my opinion. 
 

Most of my thoughts could probably be written off as pseudoscience or perception, but I don’t care. I loved owning a valve amp and I’d wholeheartedly recommend one to someone who fancied one. No, you won’t be able to put it in a rucksack and take your gear in in one trip (🙄), but I find most of the practical points of owning and running a valve amp a bit like buying a Ferrari and being disappointed when it doesn’t do 40mpg. They aren’t designed with convenience in mind, and they are (in the bass world at least) a luxury item that needs more care and attention. 
 

Buy a valve amp, experience the highs and lows, sell it on if/when it does your head in and let someone else experience the same cycle. 

I’ve been running an RH450 for years and never found myself needing any more power. However, 750 is a bigger number than 450 and this is very important. 
 

*Adds to cart*

😉 

It’s a little bit left field, but I use a Wayne Jones Audio Bass preamp (into two powered speakers). It’s based on an Avalon 737 DI, so has the right DNA for what you are looking at. However, to gig it, I use two Wayne Jones Audio powered 1x10 cabs which may not be the cheapest overall solution. Sounds great, though! I have a friend who’s a stockist and sorted me out. 

https://shop.waynejonesaudio.com/product/wjbp-stereo-valve-bass-guitar-pre-amp/

The Markbass LM3 (or tube variants) sound very, very clear, but have no headphone out. I’d be inclined to look at the TC BH550/800. Prices are competitive second hand, sub £300 in some cases. I prefer the EQ section on the TC, and both of these are more conventionally designed than the Wayne Jones stuff so it’s more compatible with the gear you’ve already got. I’d avoid the BAM 200 unless you were heavily price dependent, in which case the Trace Elf and Warwick Gnome would be worth a punt. 

A quick update - I’d asked politely to be refunded, which appears to have fallen on deaf ears. I called my bank who have raised a complaint with the guilty party. In the meantime, the bank have refunded me £110 whilst they look into it all. I’ve sent them the details of this thread as well, which the bank were happy to be told about. 
 

PayPal, as you expect, were not of great use as I authorised the payment, but my bank were sympathetic. May be an avenue worth taking if anyone hasn’t already. 

Strange you say that, I’ve got a Mojomojo on my board that I haven’t used forever! Cheers guys, I’ll definitely get on it. 

I’ve joined a new project which is firmly in the soul-rock subdivision. Great people as well, but a little different to my disco-funk background. I’ve switched up my gear a bit after a little studio trip, trying to get a better sound. I’ve put flats and a foam mute on my 70s Squier P bass and I’ve got a Wayne Jones Audio set up with his powered cabs. It sounds great, but it’s very clean. 
 

I’ve been hunting for a SansAmp but I’ve missed out on a few (one to the now notorious ScamsAmp scandal of Christmas 2020). They are rock solid in pricing, straying well north of the £105 I sold my old one for. I’ve got a Behringer BDI but it isn’t quite as good. I want something that’s warm and vintagey. I’m not looking for Darkglass distortion, I’m trying to get that tubby, rolled off Pino in John Mayer Trio or Duck Dunn vibe.
 

It’d be great to have a DI that I can whack on my pedalboard and make festivals (remember them?) easier and less complicated, as well as warm up my studio monitor style gigging set up. 
 

So, warm and vintage valve-y DI for somewhere around the price of a second hand SansAmp (bonus points for cheaper) that’s not the Behringer version? 

I’ve had many years trouble free buying/selling/trading on Marketplace. Bass players in general are a nice bunch and seem to be less problematic compared to other instrument communities (a complete generalisation of course, but something I’ve observed in time). 
 

Since ScamAmp-gate, I’ve recently sold an amp to recoup some funds and I’ve upped everything from a seller’s perspective - complete photo documentation of packing and a video of everything working beforehand, paper trails everywhere and PayPal G&S only with the buyer incurring the 4%. Reputation is everything on these sites, we don’t want people soiling the name of what I can honestly say has been one of the friendliest, most welcoming and knowledgeable communities around. The advice on this thread alone has proved that. 

I love everything about this build. The neatness of the control cavity that no-one will really see says a lot. I’ve owned some lovely gear and a lot of them look like spaghetti junction in there. And the subtle cracked finish is a dream come true. Little details maketh the bass! 

On 24/12/2020 at 15:48, GuyR said:

I'm putting every available £ into used Sansamps. Seems you can get 10x your money back.

Haha, well played! The ol’ ScamsAmp scandal of Christmas 2020! 

23 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

A couple on Gumtree:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/squier-by-fender-jv-62-vintage-precision-bass-.1983-made-in-japan-export-model./1373940677

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/squier-by-fender-jv-62-vintage-jazz-bass-.1983-made-in-japan-export-model.-/1373941899

How much?! Wow. They’re beautiful, mind. 

I have also been conned by Mick Mason as it would seem. Paid for the SansAmp on Monday 14th Dec 2020, said it would be 48 hours via courier. A week later, nothing. Said the courier picked it up on Thursday. Asked him for a tracking number - radio silence. I think he’s gone quiet judging by this thread. Had a chat to Krishna from Barclays this morning who said I have to give him 15 days before the bank will take action. I hope a SansAmp arrives before the 29th 🤷🏼‍♂️ 

Whilst I’m at it, the Nate Mendel P basses don’t lose any money all. I’ve been waiting for a few years in the hope they’ll reach £500 (top whack MiM money) but they’re still still at £800+!
 

I love the ‘Aero’ fret ends. That’s something really worthwhile doing. I love the design and the engineering know-how going into this. 
 

Keep us posted! Definitely the beginning of something beautiful. Very impressed. 

18 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I think it is impossible to predict as it isn't really based on anything other than perceived value, and there is no way to predict what perceived value will be. So just rarity and whatever was flavour of the month, as people have said people spend a fortune on 70s fenders, when in the 80s the standard wisdom was you didn't touch one with a bargepole as they were terrible.

I have played a JV strat and it was ok, not really any better than any current strat, but that isn't really important.

In a world where people pay actual money for a Kay without the intention of burning it to keep warm, there is absolutely no logic to these prices so no way to predict.

Great point Woodinblack. I didn’t intend for this thread to be about finding the next money spinner necessarily. More curious as to the trends we start to see on Basschat, for sale sites etc for usually unremarkable or just ‘good’ items for sale that seem to be picking up a premium, justly or unjustly. 
 

The Klon Centaur always springs to mind. That is the pinnacle of this thread! A good pedal that has reached the outer echelons of ridiculousness through internet hype alone. Crazy! 

19 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Agree, whenever I’ve used a Peavey, be it amp/cab or combo I’ve been more than happy. Strange really, they just never seemed to me to be that fashionable, even when all bass gear was heavy, yet the sound is superb.

Definitely. Laney is another brand that offers brilliant gear for peanuts. That said, the Klipp guitar amps are skyrocketing in price now. Sometimes it takes a long time for the legendary status to be acquired and then people start hunting them down. 

13 hours ago, machinehead said:

I'm going to change the direction of this thread slightly and offer the Fender USA Jaguar bass as a future classic and one that will hold its value well. It was only available for one (maybe two?) years.

All other Jaguar basses are Japanese made.  The USA version is a PJ so that offers another difference.  The fact that I own one in the best colour, olympic white, has no bearing on my opinion. 

Frank.

They are great looking basses, and yours will probably secure top whack for its US made appeal. Where it’s made has such an impact on things. That seems to be a key factor - Japanese budget instruments becoming big money, American stuff holds its value for the remainder of it its life. Most Chinese stuff is carted off to the bin until something gets a great reputation.