The59Sound

The amount of bad setups on basses out there that make demo vids unbearable! 

Every time I see a MAG combo at a rehearsal room, I shudder! Can never get a decent sound out of it. Laney RB series heads are seriously underrated...

Tuned BEAD would make sense but standard... I would fear for the neck. 

On 24/09/2017 at 15:33, The59Sound said:

The Hi Beams I received were the real deal. I would have no worries.

Hi-Beams are once again reduced on Amazon - I picked a set up for just under £20 if anyone is interested. No problems with QC either. 

If it was so great, why sell it? 

YouTube clickbait video. Bass 'experts' are ten a penny nowadays. 

Went to GuitarGuitar today and played a CS Jazz relic by Master Builder someone or other...

Beautiful bass to look at - my favourite colour combo; candy apple red, tort pickguard and rosewood neck.

But upon playing and hearing it, it just feels and sounds like a normal Fender MIA Jazz in my humble opinion. It was priced at £3.2k... but in a blind test could have been any MIA Jazz to me.

I have played old Fenders that sound 'old' but this just looks old yet sounds modern.

Just me?

1 hour ago, walbassist said:

Thanks for the replies.  I already use La Bella white nylons on my fretless and really like them, but for me I think the tension would be too low on a fretted, so I was looking for alternatives.

I think the .115 gauge is a decent tension.

I did really like SIT Silencers when I tried them. 

I would second white tapes - much brighter than traditional tapes and have more in common with pressure wounds. 

On 05/10/2018 at 18:01, mcnach said:

 

That's the gauge I use, on two basses so fat (a Jazz and a Precision). Fortunately I did not need to widen the nut slots but on some basses you might have to. They feel reaaaaally soft. I like a mid-low action (I haven't measured it but that's my impression from playing other people's basses), and I do have to weak the truss rod a bit to avoid excessive fret buzz (when switching from DR Fat Beams 45-100), as they're really low tension. The extra flexibility feels a bit strange at first but I love it. The only thing is it encourages me to bend strings like crazy

 

Thank you for that. I'm a big fan of Chromes and love their fresh sound but always wished they were more flexible - I'm hoping these are the answer! 

Very Markbass! 

A good show. If you can entertain an audience, you're a good bass player - regardless of skill. 

Pretty impressed with this Orange Burst so far. For sure sounds more modern than my Blueberry. 

13 hours ago, mcnach said:

However, over thepast year or two I've also developed a taste for the Labella White Nylon tapewounds. They're not 'thumpy' like most other tapewounds. They can be quite bright and do slap well, but what I like the most is how tight and focused they can sound on the low end, with strong low mids and very good definition. On a Jazz, in particular, they work very well.

Ha! Ironically, I've just purchased some white tapes in the .115 gauge. I have done a fair bit of research on these and found they should be similar to 40-100 rounds in tension.

How high do you usually set your action with these strings? Never used gauges this big before. 

On 20/09/2018 at 23:51, The59Sound said:

Would be great to hear some sound clips!

Anyone?!

4 hours ago, mcnach said:

 

How would you compare the Sunbeams to PureBlues, both in terms of sound and feel (coarseness and flexibility)?

I like Fat Beams a lot, but I'm finding SunBeams very nice on a couple of basses (PJ types). I keep hearing about the Pure Blues and I'm curious...

You're in luck sir, just went from Sunbeams to Pure Blues to Fat Beams all on the same bass!

All very similar in terms of flex and tension. Maybe the Pure Blues are a tiny bit more flexible?  

Sunbeams are smoothest then Pure Blues then Fat Beams.

Sunbeams seemed to keep their brightness the longest. Pure Blues were brighter than Sunbeams when first installed but seemed to lose that inital brightness quite quickly. Fat Beams were not that bright to me when first installed but took a long time to lose any of that 'fresh' sound. Even six weeks after installing them they still sound very good. 

The Fat Beams are the best steels I've played - they just punch and cut through a mix so well.

Sunbeams are my favourite nickels on the whole - they're brighter than Fat Beams (IMO/IME), super smooth and bring back some of the mids that Fat Beams don't have. I did like Pure Blues better though before they lost their brightness! 

On 01/10/2018 at 18:35, Mike Vincent said:

Hello Paul,

We are really striving to get some distributors in the U.K.  Any suggestions on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Right now, you can contact our international sales rep. Tim Pfouts at [email protected] for more information.

Best regards,

Mike 

Thanks Mike for the info. It would be great news if we could get a UK distributor. 

They still do XLs in 40-95 gauge? 

Pulled the trigger! If it has a more modern voicing and I can dial back in some of those lows then I think we'll be onto a winner. 

I would say try Prosteels if you're a fan of 7350's. 

1 hour ago, PJ-Bassist said:

Don't yet have an opinion on DR's - they were 23£ from Amazon so thought I'd take a punt (hope they are not fakes)

If they were supplied by Amazon, you'll be okay. 

If you like Sunbeams, try Pure Blues.

My fave rounds right now are Roto RBs! 

Do you know what distortion EHX uses for this? If it's the OD Glove, I would be very tempted. 

Do you know also if the bass and treble is boost AND cut? 

2 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Play a gig in a 70s style hard rock band. When a group of 20 somethings walk in, see if they stay more than 5 minutes.

Blue

Why wouldn't they? I know loads of younger guys who love Zep, Bad Company, The Who etc. 

3 hours ago, dudewheresmybass said:

for a timmy type sound - the v1 danelectro transparent overdrive is great and keenly priced.

the mojo was ok but I found it a little farty for my taste

I recently picked up both the joyo OJ and the Orange burst. 

Both are bloody good pedals for the outlay.

To be honest I have hardly looked at any drive pedals since I bought them - in particular the burst. I have had compliments wherever I have used it, saying that the bass sound has so much authority and substance to it

I had the Pure Sky which was great but had to let it go because it had a slight bass cut at certain settings. How does the Orange Burst compare?